Crossfire War – TEHRAN – RAFAH – GAZA WATCH – West Asia Theatre: Tehran – Gaza – Damascus – Ramallah – Tripoli – Khartoum -Riyadh – Rafah/El Arish – Al Gorah – Suez – Sharm el-Sheikh – Cairo – Jerusalem – Washington; Egypt Officials Warn of “events Highly Dangerous to The Region are Expected Saturday” – Egyptian – American – Israeli Forces in Or Near Sinai on High Alert
Night Watch: RAFAH TERMINAL – Debka reports the latest measures Cairo-Washington-Jerusalem are making to confront the massive attack-demonstration Tehran-Hamas are planning to wage on Saturday. Because of warnings from Egyptian security officials concerning “events highly dangerous to the region are expected Saturday,” the U. S. National Guard unit with the Multinational Force Organization stationed at the Al Gorah headquarters in El Arish has been placed on high alert and has also called in reinforcements from Sharm el-Sheikh. Sharm el-Sheikh is the Egyptian resort city on the Red Sea, which has for years been used as a site for high level international conferences and meetings between heads of state discussing regional issues which, as directed by Tehran, have become more alarming this year, a continuation of last summer’s war between Hezbollah/Israel in south Lebanon though it began in late June when Hamas was able to capture an Israeli soldier. Any further conference or meeting there Iran intends to control the agenda working through regional officials-heads of state in agreement with Tehran on regional development. [DEBKA]
With the massive attack-demonstration of 100,000 people planned for Saturday Tehran-Hamas intend to breakthrough the two-line police – security posts between Gaza and Sinai, from the Rafah Terminal at Gaza then 27 miles west to El Arish in northern Sinai where there are Palestinian communities Hamas intends to unite with. Israel, in preparation, has strengthened its position at the Kerem Shalom crossing which goes from Gaza to Egypt opposite the Philadelphia border strip. It is also being reported the Palestinian unit Fatah headed by Mahmoud Abbas is planning demonstrations in Gaza apparently to distract attention away from Hamas. The government of Egypt President Hosni Mubarak has kept the Rafah Terminal closed for two months since Fatah’s defeat in the street fighting, which has caused massive economic hardship and desperation in Gaza. However, there have been indications Abbas has been working with Tehran-Hamas behind the scenes especially when he chose a new cabinet for his administration that was noticeably weak. That is why I suspect the Fatah demonstration is also wanted by Tehran, even if it means new gunbattles, in order to increase the atmosphere of chaos in the region, this time engulfing Egypt.
Chaos creation is always at the center of Tehran’s foreign policy, a situation the Iranian government always finds strengthening for Iran and weakening governments opposed to them, in or out of West Asia (Middle East).
