Video - Egyptian TV: Simpsons Episode Proves Syria War Is U.S. Conspiracy.

Hardline Iran Website IUSN Publishes Names and Photos of Iranians KIA in Syria.

Hardline Iran Website IUSN Publishes Names and Photos of Iranians KIA in Syria.HT: UskowiOnIran.

Hardline Iranian University Students News (IUSN) today published the names and photos of 15 Iranians killed in action in Syria. Among the names published is Seyyed Mehdi Mousavi, the deputy commander of Ahvaz’s 10th Basij Zone (top photo), Al-Monitor’s Arash Karami reported today.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said this week that Iran does not have any troops in Syria. IUSN’s report questions the truthfulness of that claim.

In a report to the Senate this week, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Iran provides billions of dollars in military and economic aid to Syria and train pro-regime and Iraqi Shia militias as well as deploying its own personnel. Iran’s ally, the Lebanese Hezbollah has also committed thousands of fighters to Syria.

It was not clear why IUSN chose to begin publishing the names and affiliation of Iranian KIAs in Syria at this time. With the exception of statements by Iranian officials or commanders in support of the Syrian government, discussion and debate over Syria in the Iranian media is almost non-existent.

Mandela funeral could trap 'peacedove' Rouhani, might run in to 'Great Satan' Obama.

Mandela funeral could trap 'peacedove' Rouhani, might run in to 'Great Satan' Obama.(HD).

The funeral service of Nelson Mandela could be a "trap" for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani because he could run into US President Barack Obama, a hardline Iranian daily warned Sunday.

The Islamic republic has yet to announce who will travel to South Africa for Tuesday's memorial service and next Sunday's funeral for the late president and Nobel laureate.

Hardline newspaper Kayhan warned in an editorial that if Rouhani attends it could bring him face to face with Obama, "head of the Great Satan government".

"Some domestic and foreign media outlets are using the funeral ceremony as a pretext to push Rouhani towards a meeting with the head of the Great Satan government," Kayhan said.

Rouhani, a moderate, defeated a pool of conservatives in a June presidential election after vowing to engage with the West.

Since then there has been a thaw in ties between Iran and world powers.

The most remarkable development was a 15-minute telephone call between Obama and Rouhani in September, as the Iranian president was ending a visit to the US for the UN General Assembly.

The call was the first contact between leaders of the two nations since diplomatic ties were severed more than three decades ago over the hostage-taking at the US embassy in Tehran.

The Kayhan editorial, headlined "Satan lays a trap, this time in Johannesburg", recalled comments by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after Rouhani's September trip to New York.

"Some of what happened in the New York trip was not appropriate," Khamenei said at the time, without elaborating.

Iranian hardliners and conservatives took that as indicating the supreme leader was unhappy the telephone chat had taken place.

Since that conversation, Iran has struck a landmark nuclear deal with six world powers including the United States in another sign of a thawing of ties.

The interim agreement reached last month following a decade of gridlock would freeze parts of Iran's controversial nuclear programme while easing some of the crippling international sanctions against it.

It is not clear if Rouhani will attend services for Mandela, but he sent a message of condolences following the death of the iconic South African.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has also tweeted a message saying: "We in Iran join the people of South Africa in mourning the death of Nelson Mandela, who inspired humanity with his courage&compassion." Mandela, who died late on Thursday at the age of 95, had visited Iran in 1992 and again in 1999.Hmmmm.....If anything this is the 'Superbowl' for Al-Shabaab, White Widow and consorts!

Video - Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah: The US Will Be Held Accountable if Israel Bombs Iranian Nuclear Facilities.

Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah: The US Will Be Held Accountable if Israel Bombs Iranian Nuclear Facilities.

Following are excerpts from an interview with Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, which aired on Al-Mayadeen TV and was also broadcast on Al-Manar TV on September 3, 2012.

Hassan Nasrallah: If the Israelis behave as if there are no limits to aggression, we too will have no limits. Obviously, anyone could show up tomorrow and claim that Hizbullah has... We do not possess chemical weapons, and we will not use chemical weapons. The use of chemical weapons is prohibited. It is out of the question as far as we are concerned. But in any case, I don’t need chemical weapons, regardless of either the religious or practical aspects. [Israel] has factories, bases, and compounds, while I have missiles. My missiles counterbalance all of this.

Hassan Nasrallah: All options will be available for us. All the options are on the table. Perhaps we will not confine ourselves to defense.
Once, when Barak, the Israeli war minister, said to his soldiers: prepare to enter Lebanon. The day may come when we return to Lebanon" – I said to the mujahideen: "Prepare, the day may come when we enter the Galilee."

That still stands.

Iran will not tolerate an attack on its nuclear facilities. The response will not be limited to the Israeli entity. The US military bases in the entire region may serve as targets for the Iranians.

Reporter: So if Israel targets Iran, even by itself...

Hassan Nasrallah: America will be held accountable for this.

There is a misconception prevalent in the Arab world regarding Israel-US relations. We keep repeating this lie about the Zionist lobby – that the Jews rule America and are the real decision-makers, and so on. No. America itself is the decision maker.
In America, you have the major corporations...You have a trinity of the oil companies, the weapons industry, and the so-called "Christian-Zionism." The decision-making is in the hands of the alliance. Israel used to be a tool at the hands of the British, and now it is a tool in the hands of America.Source: Memri.

U.S. Accused of Running Over Egyptian Civilians

U.S. Accused of Running Over Egyptian Civilians.(MEForum).by Raymond Ibrahim
Jihad WatchFebruary 2, 2012.How many are the lies that Egypt's military regime has forwarded concerning its role in attacking and killing Egyptian demonstrators since it usurped power a year ago?
There were, for instance, the lies concerning the Maspero massacre, where the military slaughtered Christian Copts who were protesting the constant attacks on their churches.
Despite all the video evidence that the military ran armored-vehicles over Copts [apparently now removed by YouTube], the military regime insisted that it would "never, never" run over civilians; that the very idea was "impossible, impossible!" It even showed a video of a military-vehicle running amuck, claiming it was hijacked by Coptic protesters (it was later revealed that an Egyptian soldier was, in fact, inside driving).
More recently, Mohamad Tantawi, the head of the military—and de facto head of Egypt—said that the widely circulated video of soldiers beating, stripping, and kicking a female protester is "entirely fake"—a ludicrous assertion, even if Jimmy Carter supports it.
Who is the latest victim to be scapegoated for the military's crimes against its own citizenry? None other than the U.S.A.Ongoing accusations that American officials were involved in killing Egyptian civilians have prompted the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to deny it through a January 27 press release:

As we have stated in previous press releases, there is absolutely no truth to reports that U.S. embassy employees or diplomats were involved in hit-and-run incidents using U.S. diplomatic vehicles, injuring or killing protestors in January 2011 in Cairo. There is also no truth to statements alleging that the keys inside U.S. diplomatic vehicles are coded and can only be used by U.S. Embassy employees. On January 28, 2011, however, a number of our U.S. Embassy vehicles were stolen. After these vehicles were stolen, we heard reports of their use in violent and criminal acts. If true, we deplore these acts and the perpetrators. Egyptian authorities have conducted an investigation that has led to the recovery of some of these stolen vehicles.

Who is behind these accusations? The military? As mentioned, it did make similar accusations against Coptic protesters, saying they hijacked and manned the military-vehicles that ran over fellow Copts at Maspero—only to be exposed as lying by Al Dalil.
While it is not altogether clear who is behind these accusations—this report indicates a lawyer of a former Egyptian official being tried, while older reports mention "communiqués"—it is, of course, the military regime that stands to gain by this latest case of blaming the other.

Raymond Ibrahim is an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.