Iran has new base in Syria

Iran's IRGC gets new base in Syria within missile range of Western targets

Syria has granted Iran's elite military force a base near the Lebanese border for the deployment of intermediate-range missiles meant to strike U.S. and Western targets.

Syrian opposition sources said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been given the keys to a new base near Homs in western Syria. They said the base was located less than 50 kilometers from Lebanon and was being used for training as well as the deployment of the Shihab-3 missile, with a range of at least 2,000 kilometers.

The Washington-based Reform Party of Syria said IRGC has complete control of the Syrian military base. RPS said there was no Syrian presence detected in the facility.

"There is no Syrian presence at the base, which makes it a fully operational foreign base and the first of its kind in the country," RPS, based on intelligence reports from Syria, said.

IRGC has brought the Shihab-3 to the Syrian base. Syrian opposition sources said at least one battery of the Shihab-3 was seen in the base.

"Take a look at the map," a Syrian opposition source said. "You can hit a lot more of Western Europe, including U.S. military bases, from northern Syria than from Iran. Plus, there is also the element of deniability."

The sources said the IRGC presence in Syria was meant to help prepare for another war with Israel. They said IRGC was also using Syria as a base for any attack on U.S. interests in the Middle East.

Iran has made significant inroads in Lebanon and Syria. IRGC has been training and helping protect the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad as Iran opened Shi'ite centers throughout his country.

At the same time, Iran has been purchasing huge tracts of land in central and southern Lebanon in preparation of another war with Israel. The land has been developed for Hizbullah deployment of weapons, missiles and training bases north of the Litani River.

Hamas forms women's combat unit, trains children

Hamas believes that women should also join the jihad. Some women have been assigned by Hamas as suicide bombers. But Hamas also formed a combat unit for Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip.

Entitled "Al Mujahidat," or holy warriors, the unit has been training and equipping women throughout the Gaza Strip. The estimate is that 400 women have joined the unit.

The women, some of them university graduates, were trained in reconnaissance, sabotage, intelligence and firearms skills and rocket fire. Hamas has reported using the women in some operations.

Hamas believes in using all assets in the war against Israel and the West. Hundreds of Palestinian children, many as young as eight, were trained as gun-runners as well as human shields around missile launchers.

Even mosques have a role in the war. Since 2004, Hamas tripled the number of mosques from 200 to 600 in Gaza City alone.

The reason: many of the mosques have been used as weapons depots and training centers.

Saudis respond to U.S. boycott threat

Saudi Arabian Airlines wants American business. But the state airlines doesn't want Americans to bring anything that reminds them of home.

That means that the airlines has banned alcohol, pork, the Bible, crucifix or other non-Islamic religious systems as well as most Western books. In other words, Americans were welcome; their lifestyle wasn't.

The policy of the Saudi airlines has sparked calls for an American boycott.

The effort is being headed by Daniel Pipes, a leading expert on the Middle East and bane of the Saudi regime. Pipes called for the airlines to be banned from entering the European Union, United States and Japan.

Within a week, Saudi Arabian Airlines went into its Arabic and English websites and changed a few things. Gone was the ban on non-Muslim religious symbols.

Neither Pipes nor his supporters are impressed. Their assessment: the Saudi airlines was worried over a U.S. backlash and merely changed the websites.

The ban on Bibles and crucifixes still exists.

"Allowing non-Islamic artifacts into the kingdom is too momentous an issue to be conceded without a fight," Pipes said. "Nor would such a change happen so suddenly, within a week."

But the rapid response by Saudi Airlines to Pipes was still surprising. Amid threats from neighboring Iran and a power struggle within the kingdom, Saudi Arabia has become more vulnerable than ever. Riyad needs the United States more than the other way around.

The conclusion: U.S. pressure for reform in Saudi Arabia can work if Washington is determined.