ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: Federal News Radio
02March2011 8:38amEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: CAIRO (AP) - Egyptian officials say two U.S. warships have entered 
The officials say amphibious assault ships USS Kearsarge and USS Ponce, entered the canal on Wednesday morning from the Red Sea. They say USS Kearsarge is carrying some 42 helicopters on board. (read full report)
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: DEBKAfile
01March2011 3:33pmEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Just two days after two Iranian warships reached the Syrian port of Latakia via the Suez Canal, Friday, Feb. 25, an Iranian-Syrian naval cooperation accord was signed providing for Iran to build its first Mediterranean naval base at the Syrian port, DEBKAfile's military 
The base will include a large Iranian Revolutionary Guards weapons depot stocked with hardware chosen by the IRGC subject to prior notification to Damascus. Latakia harbor will be deepened, widened and provided with new "coastal installations" to accommodate the large warships and submarines destined to use these facilities.
Iran has much to celebrate, DEBKAfile's military sources report. It has acquired its first military foothold on a Mediterranean shore and its first permanent military presence on Syrian soil. Tehran will be setting in place the logistical infrastructure for accommodating incoming Iranian troops to fight in a potential Middle East war.
According to our sources, the "cadets" the Kharg cruiser, one of the two Iranian warships allowed to transit the Suez Canal, was said to be carrying were in fact the first construction crews for building the new port facilities. (read full report)
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: Global Security
01March2011 7:30amEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: The U.S. military is moving air and naval forces in the region around Libya to be ready to carry out any orders it is given related to the crisis there. But officials say no decision has been made on whether or how to use U.S. military power.
But naval and air forces in particular are flexible, and can be in one place one day, and another place fairly far away the next day.
Pentagon spokesman Colonel David Lapan says although the U.S. military has not been ordered to do anything regarding Libya, it is making plans and has started to move forces, just in case it is ordered.
"We have planners working various contingency plans, and I think it's safe to say as part of this we are repositioning forces to provide for that flexibility, once decisions are made," he said.
Lapan says the military is working to ensure that when President Barack Obama says he has asked officials to prepare "a full range of options," as he did last week, that there are in fact options researched and ready to be presented to the president, and implemented if necessary.
Military officials are reluctant to say exactly what options they are preparing. But experts outside government say the possibilities include imposing a no-fly zone, delivering humanitarian supplies or weapons to revolt leaders, evacuating foreigners, and potentially sending in troops to establish or maintain order. No one is seriously talking about that at this stage. (read full report)
GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING:
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: YNet News
23February2011 12:04pmEST
GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Two Iranian naval ships arrived Wednesday afternoon at the Port of Lattakia in Syria, after crossing the Suez Canal Tuesday, Iranian news agency IRNA reported.
An Iranian senior official told IRNA that Iranian Navy Commander Admiral Habibula Siari is slated to arrive to Damascus later on Wednesday, accompanied by a delegation of military officials.
The source noted that the ships' arrival will be marked by a special ceremony at the port, which will be attended by officials from both countries.
The delegation is scheduled to stay in Syria for "a short time", and will then continue sailing in the Mediterranean Sea, the source noted. (read full report)
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: Philly
23February2011 4:30amEST
GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: JERUSALEM - Two Iranian warships sailed Tuesday from the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, the first such trip in at least three decades, eliciting Israeli allegations that Tehran is seeking to dominate the Middle East.
The vessels headed toward Syria but were expected to remain in international waters as they passed the Israeli coast.
In Tehran, the deputy commander of the Iranian navy said that Iran had "surprised the Zionist regime" with the journey to the Mediterranean.
"The world arrogance [United States] should know that the army of the Islamic Republic is fully prepared to defend the holy ideals of the Islamic Republic, and this readiness grows day by day," Brig. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi told the official Iranian news agency IRNA.
In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley declined to say whether the transit in and of itself, or the Egyptian decision to allow it, was a provocation.
"We will be watching carefully to see where these ships go and the implications of that," he said.
Egypt is the gatekeeper of the strategic canal that links the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.
Egypt's military rulers, who took power from ousted President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, appeared to have no choice but to allow the passage. An international convention says the canal must be open "to every vessel of commerce or of war."
Iranian warships have not passed through the Suez Canal since 1979.
In sending warships to the Mediterranean now, Iran was asserting itself as a regional power and testing whether Egypt's new rulers will stick to the pro-Western line of the Mubarak government. Some said the voyage also signals that Iran is ready to come to the aid of regional allies, including Syria and Iranian proxies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced Iran late Tuesday, but he did not refer directly to the two warships.
"Iran seeks to exploit the earthquake" now shaking the region, he said. "It is seeking to bring down democratic reform. It is seeking to prevent it. It is seeking to shut down the lights and create another era of darkness like the one we have in Tehran." (read full report)
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: The Washington Post
23February2011 3:47amEST
GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: CAIRO - Iranian officials on Tuesday hailed the passage of two warships through Egypt's Suez Canal as a milestone in Iran's effort to play a greater role in maritime affairs.
Israeli officials called it a worrisome provocation at a time of upheaval and deepening tension in the Middle East.
The Iranian navy last year deployed its newest destroyer, the Jamaran, to fight Somali pirates operating in the Arabian Sea. Another recent mission took the destroyer to Sri Lanka.
Brig. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the deputy commander of Iran's military, was quoted by the country's official Islamic Republic News Agency as saying that the Suez transit had succeeded "by the grace of God" and describing Israeli officials' concerns as "negative propaganda."
Israel's vice prime minister, Silvan Shalom, said the timing of the crossing was an unmistakable message from Iran that it is attempting to expand its influence in the region.
"The objective is to signal to the leaders of the Arab world who the new leader is in the Middle East," Shalom said.
Shalom's remarks were the latest in a string of condemnations by Israeli officials, who have been monitoring the ships' movements. (read full report)
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: Counterterrorism Blog
23February2011 2:05amEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Iran’s leaders are closely watching the progress of two of their navy warships, the 1500 ton frigate Alvand and the 33,000 ton refueling and supply ship Kharg, through the Suez Canal. They reportedly will arrive at a Syrian port in a few days. The passage of Iranian 
UN Security Council Resolution 1749 ( March 2007) prohibits Iran from “supply(ing), sell(ing), or transfer(ing) directly or indirectly ... any arms or related material." All countries are obligated to prohibit the procurement of such items from Iran by their nationals, or to use their flag vessels or aircraft to transport such items. And, these prohibitions are further re-enforced by paragraph 8 of UN Security Council Resolution 1929 (June 2010).
In November 2009, Israeli naval units interdicted the German-owned freighter Francorp in international waters near Cyprus. The ship had called in Iran prior to its transit to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. The Israeli navy seized 500 tons of Katyusha rockets, mortars, bullets, and grenades concealed aboard the ship in containers belonging to the Iranian shipping line. The ship’s manifest had indicated a much more benign cargo destined for Syria. This is believed to be only one of many occurences involving illicit shipments of Iranian origin arms in violation of UN sanctions. (read full report)
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: DEBKAfile
19February2011 9:48amEST
GCIS/MSS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Cairo's approval Friday, Feb. 18 for two Iranian warships to transit the Suez Canal on their way to the Mediterranean has brought Israel and Iran closer than ever 
US State Department spokesman P.J Crowley said he was "highly skeptical" of the Syrian claim that the two ships' visit was for training. "If the ships move through the canal, we will evaluate what they actually do. It's not really about the ships. It's about what the ships are carrying, what's their destination, what's the cargo on board, where's it going, to whom and for what benefit," Crowley told a news conference.
He was responding to questions in the wake of DEBKAfile's disclosure that the Karg was carrying missiles for Hizballah and indicating that the US and all other UN members were authorized by UN sanctions against Iran to board and search Iranian ships suspected of carrying illegal weapons.
The war ships' passage through Suez has been delayed as Cairo and Tehran spar over an Egyptian navy inspection of the vessels' cargoes. (read full report)
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: DEBKAfile
09February2011 8:53amEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: A fresh surge of popular anti-Mubarak protest ripping across Egypt 
Vice President Omar Suleiman warned a group of Egyptian news editors that the only choice is between a descent into further lawlessness and a military takeover in Cairo. The distinguished political pundit of the 1960s and 1970s Hasnin Heikal saw no other way out of the crisis but a government ruling by the army's bayonets.
The arrival of US naval, marine and air forces in the Suez Canal's Greater Bitter Lake indicated that the crisis was quickly swerving out of control. (read full report)
ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: DEBKAfile
24January2011 07:55pmEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Less than 24 hours after the breakdown of its nuclear dialogue with the six world powers in Istanbul, Iran announced plans Sunday, Jan. 23, to senda fleet of warships, including a home-made destroyer, on operational and intelligence-gathering missions to the Red Sea and on to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. DEBKAfile's military sources: Parts of the fleet will in fact be deployed in the three waters around Israel's southern and western shores.
Tehran is taking advantage of the lack of military and diplomatic momentum on the part of US and Israel for a naval thrust to expand its range of operations and encroach on their areas of control.
The Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari spoke of three or four vessels including Iran's first home-made destroyer, Jamaran, with back-up operational units standing by for urgent support missions.
His deputy, Rear-Admiral Gholam Reza Bi-Gham said the deployment would last about a year and at some future time, long-distance submarines would join the fleet.
Since Nov. 2008, the Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols between the Gulf of Aden Straits of Bab al-Mandeb off Yemen so some of its units are not far away.
Both admirals reported that a flotilla of Iranian naval officer cadets would soon be dispatched to the Mediterranean and Red Seas to gain experience in these new areas and gather intelligence.
