Just what we needed. Emboldened by the lack of an effective response from the United States and the West, ISIS is developing driverless car bombs. The bombs feature a fake driver with laser eyes so as not to arouse suspicions of the authorities.
Breaking: Border police stop car bomb at Beitar Ilit checkpoint
A car with Israeli license plates pulled up to the Beitar Ilit checkpoing on Route 375 on Sunday morning in a very suspicious manner. Police stopped the car and discovered a powerful bomb inside.
The security forces identified the vehicle as it was approaching the
checkpoint and thought it seemed suspicious that the driver was
traveling especially slowly.
The driver was asked to stop the vehicle.
"He was acting suspiciously, so we had to question him," the officer responsible for the checkpoint said.
Prior to his arrest the suspect stalled when he was asked to turn off the engine of his vehicle.
At
this point, a border policeman put his hand on the keys to turn the
vehicle off and the suspect began to drive while half of the policeman's
body remained inside.
After the vehicle proceeded for a few
meters, the policeman drew his loaded personal weapon and pointed his
gun at the suspect, ordering him to stop.
After the suspect was
arrested, the security forces noticed he was wearing a wig. At this
point they discovered the powerful device in the vehicle.
Border Police sappers were called to the scene to neutralize the device. The suspect was taken in for questioning.
Route 375 is a back road from Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem. The checkpoint is just north of Beitar Ilit, one of the largest Jewish cities in Judea and Samaria. Typically, police waive Israeli vehicles through the checkpoints. Fortunately, this time they did not.
The IDF stopped two 'Palestinians' driving an explosives-laden car at the Oranit Junction (not pictured) on Highway 5.
The white four-door hatchback with Palestinian plates was stopped at the
Oranit checkpoint on highway 5 northeast of Tel Aviv after it "drew the
suspicion of security guards" according to police. Inside the car, the
Defense Ministry said their security guards found a gas canister hooked
up with electric wires which they say they believe was an explosive
device.
The driver and passenger were taken from the car and arrested, and a bomb sapper robot was sent to dismantle the device.
After the incident, traffic on highway 5 near the scene was stopped in both directions, causing major gridlock.
The Defense Ministry said the driver admitted to planning a bombing and that both suspects are now in custody of police.
Highway 5 runs from Ariel to the coast, and once past the checkpoint (you know, one of the ones that Machsom Watch and their friends would like to close so that the 'poor Palestinians' can bring their bombs into Israel and murder us all) could have reached any point in Central Israel.
The car was stopped for a routine check at the checkpoint on Highway 5
that transverses Samaria from east to west, and leads directly into the
northern outskirts of Tel Aviv.
One of the officers noticed a bag between the driver's legs. Inside
it was a gas balloon, connected ot electric wires. He was taken to
interrogation and admitted, under initial questioning, that he had been
on his way to carry out an attack.
The checkpoint was closed to traffic and Highway 5 blocked in both directions, as sappers handled the bomb.
A car bomb went off at rush hour on Thursday afternoon in Hezbullah's southern Beirut stronghold. Five people have been killed, at least 20 injured.
Television footage showed the twisted and blackened remains of
several cars being doused with hoses by emergency services. The blast
also tore off the facades of several nearby buildings.
About 20 people were wounded, the witness said.
The Lebanese capital has been hit by a series of bombs in recent months,
including one last week which killed a former minister and political
adversary of Hezbollah.
The BBC says the bomb is not one of the biggest of the
recent incidents, but its impact was considerable because it was
detonated during rush-hour.
Hezbollah's al-Manar TV station said the blast destroyed part of a facade of a building in a densely populated area of Haret Hreik district.
The attack is the latest in a string of bombings in southern Beirut
that reflect Shiite-Sunni hatred exacerbated by the Syrian civil war, in
which Hezbollah has taken an active part beside Bashar Assad's
government forces.
It sounds like we're going back to the days of the Lebanese civil war.
Hezbullah is blaming Israel for an explosion that took place in southern Lebanon's Dahiya district on Tuesday morning.
"This is the
work of agents trying to create strife in Lebanon," Hezbollah
parliamentary Deputy Ali Meqdad said while visiting the site of the
explosion.
Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar said, "This malicious
act clearly bears the fingerprint of the Israeli enemy and its tools,"
according to Lebanon's Daily Star. Ammar said that no member of
Hezbollah was hurt in the explosion.
But despite the accusations leveled against
Israel, there were reports of celebratory gunfire in Bab Tabbaneh in
Tripoli, the scene of anti-Shiite and anti-Assad clashes.
Contacted by a Reuters reporter, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said, "I am not familiar with this incident."
"The war in Syria has found its way to Lebanon
long ago because of Hezbollah's involvement in it. You can see it in
Tripoli, Beirut and Sidon and in this morning's car bomb attack,"
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said. "This fight is between the Sunnis
and the Shiites and Israel will not intervene in it," he stressed.
One person was killed and 37 injured in the bombing. Some reports say 53 people were wounded. One person described it as the worst bombing she had seen in Beirut since the 1980's.
Marwan Charbel, the Interior Minister, was attacked by angry civilians when he visited the bomb site and the army had to fire bullets into the air to break up the trouble.
Carole Mansour, who owns a shoe shop near the affected area, told AFP
that everyone panicked and ran in different directions when the
huge explosion occurred.
"The smoke was so high," said Mansour, who added that Hezbollah
members dressed in civilian clothing were quick to deploy around the
bombing site.
"I started following the sounds of the screams of people. My
employees ran to the site to try to see what was happening because they
have relatives there."
Amin said that the blast added to the tight sectarian and political divide in Lebanon over the war in Syria.
“Hezbollah is very clear about fighting by the side of Assad,” our correspondent said.
“Lebanon is vulnerable to what’s happening in Syria because it has so many groups; Sunni, Shias, Druzes and Christians.”
Lebanon is vulnerable to what's happening in Syria because Hezbullah is fighting on Assad's side. If Hezbullah stops fighting for Assad, Lebanon will have nothing to do with what is happening in Syria. Then again, if Hebzullah stopped trying to attack Israel, Lebanon would have a quiet border too, but so far, that has not happened either.
Breaking: Blast near AKP headquarters wounds 10 (with video)
I apologize at the outset - there's a video at the bottom of this post, and after way too much time I cannot figure out how to configure it not to go on automatically (I don't think the CNN Turk media player allows you to do that), so scroll down and shut it off until you are ready to watch it.
Istanbul police chief Huseyin Capkin said the device was placed on a motorcycle and set off by remote control as a police vehicle drove past, near the AK Party building and the offices of a conservative business association.
“As a police vehicle carrying 21 officers was passing by, a remote control bomb on a motorcycle exploded. Our teams are carrying out the investigation. Ten policemen were wounded, but none of them are in critical condition,” Capkin told reporters.
Kurdish separatists, far left groups, far right groups and Islamist militants, including al Qaeda, have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.
“There are wounded people, many ambulances are coming here after the explosion,” a witness told Reuters.
“It was a very strong explosion like an earthquake,” another witness told CNN Turk television.
And from the second link....
Television footage showed a wrecked light commercial vehicle, and a witness told Dogan news agency it had exploded as a police vehicle passed by.
Television footage also showed a fire engine and police vehicles surrounding the area, and shattered glass from nearby buildings littering the street after the explosion in Istanbul's Sutluce district.
Was this how the Syrians decided to greet the new United States ambassador, Robert Ford?
Syrian sources close to RPS confirmed that four suicide car bombs exploded in Aleppo two days ago killing seven and injuring many more. The car bombs were detonated in the Ashrafieh area mostly populated by the Kurds. The Assad regime has successfully suppressed the information from reaching the outside world.
No one has taken responsibility for this new violence inside Syria.
Some experts claim it is the work of the regime itself as a warning shot across the bow against any uprising by the Kurds à la Tunisia. They fuel their argument with the fact that the regime in Damascus has always claimed that without Assad, Syria will become another Iraq. These explosions were intended to show the people in Syria willing to rise that such an outcome will bring death and destruction the way Assad administered against the innocent in Iraq.
On the other hand, some analysts believe that the suicide car bombs, an Assad specialty, used with abandon in Iraq, may have come home to haunt the regime from the very same people Assad sent to Iraq to haunt others. They chose this moment and the Kurds to send two signals: The Assad regime is not acceptable nor are any separatist ideas often expressed by the oppressed Kurds.
It also wanted to demonstrate that the Assad regime is weak and that the people of Aleppo can rise. Sending military reinforcements to Aleppo is counterproductive to the regime because the majority of the foot soldiers in the Syrian army are Sunni Muslims. Turning their guns on Damascus is the last thing Assad can afford in a post Tunisia atmosphere. RPS is told that Syrians are stunned how little it took to send the president of Tunisia fleeing to Saudi Arabia.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
