News items that look towards Ezekiel 38 & 39

[Shammu]

Gorbachev founds new Russian political movement
AFP
By Olga Nedbayeva AFP - Saturday, October 20 12:00 pm

MOSCOW (AFP) - Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev founded a new political movement on Saturday aimed at fighting democratic abuses in Russia, but not at challenging President Vladimir Putin's rule.

"We are putting our hopes in the efforts that Putin is making" to reform Russia, Gorbachev told some 200 delegates at the founding congress of the Union of Social-Democrats in central Moscow.

But Gorbachev, 76, who will lead the movement, also highlighted "negative tendencies," including a lack of real political debate, pressure being put on non-governmental groups and high levels of corruption.

"We are fighting for power, but only for power over people's minds," said Gorbachev.

His new movement is not a political party and will therefore not take part in parliamentary elections in December.

United Russia, the dominant party in the Russian parliament, is set for a landslide victory in the elections after Putin announced earlier this month that he would run as its top candidate.

The deadline for parties to register for the elections passed on October 17.

A statement issued by the movement said that "the potential for free democratic choice and political competition is being limited.... This is why social-democrats are uniting to fight for the values of freedom and fairness."

Gorbachev was the last general secretary of the Communist Party and is generally unpopular in Russia as he is associated with a period of political upheaval and economic collapse.

After his attempts at reforming Communism fell through and the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, he became head of the Russian Social-Democratic Party, which failed to win any seats in the 2003 parliamentary elections.

He has received numerous awards in the West and is a frequent speaker at international events. He has a more visible public role in Russia as head of the Gorbachev Foundation, which funds charity and education.

In his speech on Thursday, Gorbachev praised Putin for not changing the country's constitution to allow himself to run for a third consecutive term, when his period in office runs out next year.

"The president was under pressure and the fact that he did not give in to it is important from the point of view of democracy," Gorbachev said, referring to calls for Putin to change the constitution.

Putin, who came to power in 2000, remains very popular in Russia as he is credited with the country's economic revival and with boosting Russia's role in world affairs.

Russians are to elect a new president in March 2008 but there is still uncertainty about what role Putin could play in Russia's political future and who his favoured successor might be.

Gorbachev founds new Russian political movement

[Shammu]

“Powerful Iran” war game to be held
Tehran Times Political Desk

TEHRAN, Oct. 20 (MNA) – A massive war game codenamed “powerful Iran” will be held near Qom on October 23-25, the Commander of Basij (volunteer) Forces in Ministries and Organizations Masoud Chinigar-Zadeh said on Saturday.

The maneuver in which ten thousand Basijs will participate is aimed at boosting the Basij forces’ defense capabilities, Chinigar-Zadeh insisted.

The commander said the main characteristic of this war game is that it will be held far from capital Tehran and in the vicinity of Qom.

Through maneuvers Basijs show that they are always prepared to protect the country’s borders against any possible invasion by the enemies, he pointed out

“Powerful Iran” war game to be held

[Shammu]

Lebanon fires on IAF jets for first time since cease-fire
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST    Oct. 25, 2007

Lebanese troops opened fire Thursday on IAF warplanes flying low over southern Lebanon, but no hits were reported, Lebanese officials said.

Lebanese soldiers opened up with machine guns and light anti-aircraft weapons mounted on armored vehicles at two planes that flew by just east of Marjayoun near the border at midmorning, a Lebanese security official said. A total of 150 rounds were fired, he added.

A senior military officer also said the army "confronted" the Israeli planes, but gave no details.

It was the first time Lebanese troops had opened fire on Israeli aircraft since the August 14, 2006 cease-fire that ended the Second Lebanon War.

It is also the first time since February that the Lebanese army, which deployed in the south after the fighting, has fired on the Israelis.

Since the cease-fire, the IAF has conducted regular low-altitude flyovers over southern Lebanon, a tactic that has sparked protests from Arab nations and the international community.

The UN has condemned Israel's flyovers. In November 2006, the UNIFIL peacekeeping force's chief liaison officer, Col. Alexan Lalan, told The Jerusalem Post that the daily IAF flyovers were strengthening Hizbullah and creating new militants for the Shi'ite group.

"The flyovers harm the credibility of UNIFIL, the credibility of the LAF and the credibility of the state of Lebanon," Lalan said in a phone interview from his office in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura.

"Every flyover creates new Hizbullah militants and new sympathy for Hizbullah since it shows and demonstrates that UNIFIL and the LAF are not powerful and able to stop them," Lalan said.

Lebanon fires on IAF jets for first time since cease-fire

[Shammu]

Putin assistant: Russia meets all its obligations on Bushehr power plant
Moscow, Oct 25, IRNA

Russia-Bushehr Power Plant-Iran
Russian President Assistant Sergei Perikhodkov underlined Russia would meet all its obligations for construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant and its fuel provision.

He told reporters here Wednesday, "Russia intends to honor all its obligations in the framework of contract with Iran to build Bushehr power plant and supply its fuel."

Responding to a question concerning a claim made by an Israeli daily that the Zionist regime Prime Minister Ehud Ulmert during his visit to Moscow urged Putin to promise not to deliver nuclear fuel to Iran, the Russian official said, "Bushehr nuclear power plant is totally under supervision of International Atomic Energy Agency and there is no contradiction with its regulations and approvals." After Putin returned from Iran, Ulmert went to Moscow and talked with the Russian president on Iran's nuclear program.

Putin assistant: Russia meets all its obligations on Bushehr power plant

[Shammu]

Turkey: U.S. Won't Stop Iraq Invasion
Prime Minister Says American Objections Will Not Deter Fight Against Kurdish Rebels

ANKARA, Turkey, Oct. 25, 2007

(CBS/AP) Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that U.S. objections would not stop Turkey from crossing into Iraq to eliminate Kurdish rebels. The Turkish military said it had killed more than 30 insurgents who were poised to launch an attack on the border.

President Abdullah Gul said Turkey is running out of patience with the Kurdish separatist attacks. A steady stream of U.S.-made Turkish fighter jets roared into the skies near the Iraqi border, loaded with bombs.

The Turkish military said it had spotted a "group of terrorists" near a military outpost in the province of Semdinli close to the border with Iraq on Tuesday and fired on them with tanks, artillery and other heavy weaponry. It said the group had been preparing for an attack.

In a statement posted on its Web site, the military said the troops kept firing on the group as they escaped toward the Iraqi territory. The report increased the official number of alleged rebels killed since Sunday to at least 64.

The Bush administration is urging Turkey not to launch an incursion that would destabilize Iraq's autonomous Kurdish north, the country's most stable region. But Erdogan said the U.S. desire to protect the north would not hinder Turkey's fight against the rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, who use mountain bases to rest, train and get supplies in relative safety before returning to Turkey to carry out attacks against government forces in the heavily Kurdish southeast.

"They (the Bush administration) might wish that we do not carry out a cross-border offensive, but we make the decision on what we have to do," Erdogan said during a visit to Romania. "We have taken necessary steps in this struggle so far, and now we are forced to take this step and we will take it."

He said that the U.S. should repay Turkish assistance for the invasion of Afghanistan with support for Turkey's struggle against the Kurdish rebels, who want autonomy in the southeast.

"Right now, as a strategic ally, the USA is in a position to support us. We have supported them in Afghanistan," he said.

The leader of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, used as a base by the PKK, spoke recently to CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer about the rapidly-building tension along the border with Turkey.

Massoud Barzani, seen at left, said there was no military solution to the decades-old conflict between the PKK and Turkey, and urged both sides to reach a political solution.

Barzani told Palmer that during the past three months, as Turkey stepped up its attacks on the rebels using artillery and airstrikes, "they haven't wounded any of the PKK fighters". The claim contradicted the Turkish military's purported count of 64 militants killed.

"If Turkey comes up with a peaceful solution, and the PKK refuses it, we are ready to do anything against the PKK. But if Turkey is using the PKK as an excuse to fight with us, we are ready to defend ourselves," Barzani said.

His comments revealed the deeply-rooted mistrust between Kurds and Turks that drives the simmering conflict in Kurdish Iraq. The stability of the region, which remains a bastion of relative peace and tranquility in Iraq, would be destroyed by an all-out battle between Turkish forces and the PKK. (Special Report)

Asked whether he would support U.S. military action to crackdown on the PKK, he again said it would bring no positive results. The border region is rugged and mountainous, and the militants know the area well.

"Even if all the U.S. Army goes in, they won't find one PKK guerilla," Barzani said.

An AP Television News cameraman saw two F-4 fighter jets flying low along the Iraqi border on an apparent reconnaissance mission, a day after warplanes reportedly pounded rebel positions along the border. Separately, at least five F-16 warplanes loaded with bombs were seen taking off from a base in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, local reporters said. A batch of F-16s had took off from the same base earlier Thursday as well.

"We are totally determined to take all the necessary steps to end this threat," Gul said in Ankara before a visit by a delegation of high-level Iraqi officials.

Turkey is "expecting them to come with concrete proposals - otherwise, the visit will have no meaning," Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said.

The delegation is headed by Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi and will include Minister of State for National Security Sherwan al-Waili, said Yassin Majid, an adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"The political choice will be the first solution to solve the crisis. The Iraqi government insists on dialogue and cooperation to solve the crisis," Majid said.

Iraq has promised to shut down offices used by rebel bases. But Turkey wants Iraq and U.S. forces to destroy the bases and extradite the rebel leadership to Turkey.

Turkey's top leadership has called for both an incursion and economic measures against northern Iraq if Turkey's demands are not met. The self-ruling Kurdish administration in Iraq's landlocked north relies heavily on Turkish investment and fuel imports.

Turkish troops have killed hundreds of Kurdish rebels since Jan. 1, the state-run Anatolia news agency said, citing military sources. It did not say how many Turkish soldiers have died, but about 30 troops have been killed this month alone.

On Sunday, a rebel ambush near the border killed 12 soldiers. Eight soldiers have been missing since then; the rebels say they are holding them hostage and have distributed photographs and video.

U.S., Turkish and Iraqi officials are working to free the hostages, Matthew Bryza, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, said at a meeting in Ankara of officials from Black Sea nations. He also said Washington has increased the level of cooperation in intelligence sharing with Turkey.

Turkey: U.S. Won't Stop Iraq Invasion

[Shammu]

Russian bombers neared NATO summit on unusual practice run

Published: 10.25.07, 17:02
Israel News

Two Russian strategic bombers on an unusual practice run Thursday neared the Netherlands, where NATO defense ministers were meeting, the Norwegian military said.

Another set of bombers earlier Thursday flew unusually close to far northern Norwegian territory, but remained in international air space, military spokesman Lt. Col. John Espen Lien said. On both occasions, the flights started from the Russian Arctic.

Russian bombers neared NATO summit on unusual practice run

[Shammu]

Attack Iran and you attack Russia
By Pepe Escobar
Oct 26, 2007

The barely reported highlight of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran for the Caspian Sea summit last week was a key face-to-face meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A high-level diplomatic source in Tehran tells Asia Times Online that essentially Putin and the Supreme Leader have agreed on a plan to nullify the George W Bush administration's relentless drive towards launching a preemptive attack, perhaps a tactical nuclearstrike, against Iran. An American attack on Iran will be viewed by Moscow as an attack on Russia.

But then, as if this were not enough of a political bombshell, came the abrupt resignation of Ali Larijani as top Iranian nuclear negotiator. Early this week in Rome, Larijani told the IRNA news agency that "Iran's nuclear policies are stable and will not change with the replacement of the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council [SNSC]." Larijani will keep attending SNSC meetings, now as a representative of the Supreme Leader. He even took time to remind the West that in the Islamic Republic all key decisions regarding the civilian nuclear program are made by the Supreme Leader. Larijani actually went to Rome to meet with the European Union's Javier Solana alongside Iran's new negotiator, Saeed Jalili, a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), just like President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

In itself, the Putin-Khamenei meeting was extraordinary, because the Supreme Leader rarely receives foreign statesmen for closed talks, even one as crucial as Putin. The Russian president, according to the diplomatic source, told the Supreme Leader he may hold the ultimate solution regarding the endlessly controversial Iranian nuclear dossier. According to IRNA, the Supreme Leader, after stressing that the Iranian civilian nuclear program will continue unabated, said. "We will ponder your words and proposal."

Larijani himself had told the Iranian media that Putin had a "special plan" and the Supreme Leader observed that the plan was "ponderable". The problem is that Ahmadinejad publicly denied the Russians had volunteered a new plan.

Iranian hawks close to Ahmadinejad are spinning that Putin's proposal involves Iran temporarily suspending uranium enrichment in exchange for no more United Nations sanctions. That's essentially what International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammad ElBaradei has been working on all along. The key issue is what - in practical terms - will Iran get in return. Obviously it's not the EU's Solana who will have the answer. But as far as Russia is concerned, strategically nothing will appease it except a political/diplomatic solution for the Iranian nuclear dossier.

US Vice President Dick Cheney - who even Senator Hillary Clinton now refers to as Darth Vader - must be foaming at the mouth; but the fact is that after the Caspian summit, Iran and Russia are officially entangled in a strategic partnership. World War III, for them, is definitely not on the cards.

Let's read from the same script
The apparent internal controversy on how exactly Putin and the Supreme Leader are on the same wavelength belies a serious rift in the higher spheres of the Islamic Republic. The replacement of Larijani, a realist hawk, by Jalili, an unknown quantity with an even more hawkish background, might spell an Ahmadinejad victory. It's not that simple.

The powerful Ali Akbar Velayati, the diplomatic adviser to the Supreme Leader, said he didn't like the replacement one bit. Even worse: regarding the appalling record of the Ahmadinejad presidency when it comes to the economy, all-out criticism is now the norm. Another former nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, told the Etemad-e Melli newspaper, "The effects of the [UN] sanctions are visible. Our situation gets worse day by day."

Ahmadinejad for the past two months has been placing his former IRGC brothers-in-arms in key posts, like the presidency of the central bank and the Oil, Industry and Interior ministries. Internal repression is rife. On Sunday, hundreds of students protested at the Amir-Kabir University in Tehran, calling for "Death to the dictator".

The wily, ultimate pragmatist Hashemi Rafsanjani, now leader of the Council of Experts and in practice a much more powerful figure than Ahmadinejad, took no time to publicly reflect that "we can't bend people's thoughts with dictatorial regimes".

This week, the Supreme Leader himself intervened, saying, "I approve of this government, but this does not mean that I approve of everything they do." Under the currently explosive circumstances, this also amounts to a political bombshell.

As if anyone needed to be reminded, the buck - or rial - stops with the Supreme Leader, whose last wish on earth is to furnish a pretext for the Bush administration to launch World War III. If Ahmadinejad now deviates from a carefully crafted strategic script, the Supreme Leader may simply get rid of him.

Attack Iran and you attack Russia

[Shammu]

Larijani himself had told the Iranian media that Putin had a "special plan" and the Supreme Leader observed that the plan was "ponderable".[/i][/size]

I think this special plan is what Ezekiel wrote down 2500 yrs ago.

Ezekiel 38:10 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan

[Shammu]

Putin: US plans reminiscent of Cuban missile crisis

Russian president draws parallel between US plans for missile shield in Europe, 1962 missile crisis; however, Putin says tensions much lower this time because US-Russia relations better today

Reuters and AP
Published: 10.26.07, 18:30
Israel News

Russia's President Vladimir Putin drew a parallel on Friday between US plans for a missile shield in Europe and the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, widely regarded as the closest the world came to nuclear war.

"I would remind you how relations were developing in an analogous situation in the middle of the 1960s," he said when asked at a news conference about Washington's plans to station elements of a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.

"Analogous actions by the Soviet Union when it deployed rockets on Cuba provoked the Cuban missile crisis," Putin said after an EU-Russia summit in Portugal.

"For us, technologically, the situation is very similar. On our borders such threats to our country are being created," the Russian leader said.

However, Putin suggested the tension was much lower than during the Cuban missile crisis because Russian-US relations have moved on since the Cold War. He said he feels the United States is listening to Moscow's concerns about its missile plans and called US President George W. Bush a friend.

"Thank God, we do not have any Cuban missile crisis now and this is above all because of the fundamental way relations between Russia and the United States and Europe have changed," Putin said.

Speaking on another topic, the Russian leader said he would not assume presidential powers if he became prime minister after stepping down as Russian president in the spring.

"If someone thinks that I intend to move, let's say, into the government of the Russian Federation and transfer the fundamental powers there, that's not the case," he said at a news conference at the conclusion of an EU-Russian summit in Portugal.

"There will be no infringement on the powers of the president of the Russian Federation, at least while it depends on me."

Putin: US plans reminiscent of Cuban missile crisis

[Shammu]

Iran Warns: We're Ready for War

October 26, 2007
Telegraph
Duncan Hooper

The head of the Revolutionary Guards, singled out by Washington as a "supporter of terrorism", insisted that his troops are more than ever ready to defend the ideals of the revolution, according to the BBC.

Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini declared: "The hostile American policies towards the respectable people of Iran and the country's legal institutions are contrary to international law, without value and - as in the past - doomed to failure."

The sanctions, the most severe action taken against Iran since the aftermath of 1979 revolution, are designed to cut international financial support to Teheran's theocratic regime and target the Revolutionary Guards in particular.

Announcing the decision, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted that a "diplomatic solution" to the differences between Iran and the West was still possible but described the actions as part of a decision "to confront the threatening behaviour of the Iranians".

However, the move has deepened the rift within the international community over how to deal with Teheran.

Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated that the action was ill-thought out. "You can run around like mad people wielding razor blades," he said. "But it is not the best way to resolve the problem."

Growing frustration within the Bush administration at the blocking strategy of Moscow and Beijing against any United Nations measures on Iran is becoming increasingly evident.

Nicholas Burns, US Assistant Secretary of State, suggested that Russia and China are propping up President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime.

"The Russian government should stop selling arms to Iran and the Chinese government should stop investing in Iran," he told the BBC.

Iran Warns: We're Ready for War

[Shammu]

FoxNews is calling the drill "provocative" on one of their "news alert".

FoxNews this morning, broadcasted videos of soldiers marching like High School Bands, to form the US Flag, Star of Israel, followed by a Cross turning into a sword, then piercing the Star of David and the US Flag. They also have a swatztika.

[Shammu]

Turkey were coming for the Kurds

By DAVID RISING, AP
43 minutes ago

ANKARA, Turkey —

Turkey's top military commander promised Saturday to make Iraq-based Kurdish rebels "grieve with an intensity that they cannot imagine," while the prime minister said his nation would fight "when needed," regardless of international pressure.

The military chief, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, said Friday that Turkey would wait until Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with President Bush in Washington on Nov. 5 before deciding on any cross-border offensive.

But Erdogan said his country could not be pinned down by dates in deciding whether to attack.

"We can't say when or how we will do it, we will just do it," he said.

Clashes between government forces and guerrilla fighters have been escalating since the rebels broke a cease-fire in 2004. Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, fighters have killed at least 42 people in the past month. Those casualties included some 30 Turkish soldiers in two ambushes that were the boldest attacks in years.

"We are determined to make those who cause this sadness grieve with an intensity that they cannot imagine," Buyukanit said.

The bellicose comments come amid an increasing nationalist fervor in Turkey, with the country's red flag with white crescent and star _ and images of modern Turkey's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk _ draped over scores of balconies, displayed in the backs of cars, and sold by vendors walking the streets.

Thousands took to the streets of several Turkish cities, condemning the PKK and pushing for action.

Some 1,000 people chanted "down with the U.S.A., down with the PKK" outside the U.S. Embassy in Ankara and said they were ready to fight the Kurdish rebels, yelling "we're all soldiers."

Hundreds more people marched in Istanbul, while another 1,500 _ mostly children _ took to the streets of the predominantly Kurdish city of Sirnak, in southeastern Turkey near the Iraqi border.

Military helicopters shuttled more troops in to the mountains near Iraq, while patrols secured roads and checkpoints.

In a show-of-force exercise about 20 miles from the border, near the village of Ikizce, a group of Turkish tanks fired 10 rounds into the mountains toward Iraq.

Elsewhere, Turkish forces shelled two Iraqi areas along the western portion of the 205-mile border, Iraqi border guard officer Col. Hussein Tamr said.

Meanwhile, the PKK indicated it was considering the release of eight Turkish soldiers it captured in an operation on Oct. 21 in response to calls by a lawmaker.

Ahmet Turk, a Kurdish member of Turkey's Parliament, called Wednesday for the soldiers to be released unharmed.

Speaking in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniyah, PKK spokesman Abdul-Rahman Al-Chaderchi said the group was working on a response.

"Within a short time we will end the issue of the captives," Al-Chaderchi told The Associated Press.

A military campaign in Iraq could derail one of the few stable areas in Iraq, and trap the United States in an awkward position between key allies: NATO-member Turkey, the Baghdad government and the self-governing Iraqi Kurds in the north.

But talks between Iraqi and Turkish official on Friday failed to produce any breakthroughs and the Iraqi delegation returned home on Saturday.

Turkey were coming for the Kurds

[Shammu]

Olmert: I apologized to Turkish PM for any harm caused

Published: 10.28.07, 15:28
Israel News

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the cabinet ministers that he had apologized to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and to the Turkish people for any harm caused, in response to Ankara's claims that IAF aircraft violated Turkish airspace on the night Israel attacked an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor last month.

"If indeed Israeli aircraft entered Turkey's airspace, we did not mean to do so or to undermine the Turkish sovereignty in any way," the prime minister said.

Olmert: I apologized to Turkish PM for any harm caused

[Shammu]

'Saudi Arabia is not a passageway for any force in the world'   
Kuwait News Agency - 27 October, 2007

Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud said Friday his nation would never become a passageway or shelter for any force in the world.

This came in a press statement after inaugurating his nation's new embassy building at Kuwait's embassies zone.

Asked if Saudi Arabia would allow the US to use any of the Gulf's military bases to attack Iran, Prince Sultan said his country was not "a crossing point or shelter for any force in the world." Commenting on Iran's declaration to attack the Gulf region if assaulted by the US, Prince Sultan said it was not in Iran's interest to harass any side.

As for the issue of the three United Arab Emirates (UAE) islands occupied by Iran, he said this was a complex issue and these islands were Arab no matter what claims were made by Iran or any other side.

He said the new embassy did not only belong to Saudi Arabia as it was both Arab and Islamic, adding that establishing it in Kuwait did not make it an embassy in the traditional sense, but rather an embodiment of Kuwaiti-Saudi diplomatic cooperation.

Regarding Kuwait's care for about 120,000 Saudi nationals residing in it, he believed they were lucky to be in this nation.

On his part, Kuwait's Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah said this building was not only an embassy, but it was also Saudi Arabia's house in Kuwait.

He hoped both nations would always be close through further mutual respect as part of their 200-year historical ties, noting that such relations could not be described with words.

Asked if Prince Sultan's visit included discussing matters such as oil and borders, Sheikh Mohammad said these issues had been taken care of a long time ago a they were jointly settled since 1965.

Regarding extraordinary measures in the face of potential Iranian threats in the region, he believed there were not any Iranian threats against Kuwait, noting that every nation in the world has the right to take self-protection measures.

As for Saudi Ambassador to Kuwait Dr. Abdul-Aziz Al-Fayez, he said the embassy's inauguration was a historical occasion, adding that Prince Sultan's patronage of this occasion came from his deep respect for Kuwait.

This embassy would handle administrative affairs that would be limited in light of distinguished Saudi-Kuwaiti ties and constant consultations between the two nations' leaderships, he said.

Al-Fayez said before heading to Kuwait that he had met with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Prince Sultan and Interior Minister Prince Naif who all stressed serving Saudi citizens residing or visiting Kuwait.

The embassy will do its best in serving all Saudi citizens in accordance with rules and regulations, said Al-Fayez.

The inauguration was also attended by Governor of Riyadh Prince Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, as well as head of the accompanying mission of honor and chairman of Kuwait's National Security Apparatus Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

'Saudi Arabia is not a passageway for any force in the world'   

[Shammu]

VP Pleased with Iran-Syria Excellent Ties

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iran's first Vice-President Parviz Davoudi said his country's relations with Syria are at the highest levels possible, adding that Tehran has not set a limit on the expansion of its relations with Damascus.
   

Speaking during a meeting with Syrian Minister of Construction and Housing Hamud al-Husayn here in Tehran on Friday, Davoudi laid emphasis on the bolstering of joint cooperation by the two countries in the various grounds, specially in the housing sector.

He said Iran and Syria enjoy good potentials and capabilities for cooperating in the housing sector, adding that the two sides can embark on launching construction projects in the third countries through utilizing the said potentials.

Elsewhere, the vice-president noted the two countries' common stances on a large number of regional and international issues, and viewed cooperation among Muslim countries of the region, particularly Iran and Syria, as significant for the promotion of ties and friendly bonds among regional nations.

For his part, the Syrian minister reiterated the political resolve of Damascus to further enhance bilateral ties with Iran.

He also noted the two countries' growing and cordial ties, and stressed that the age-old and friendly relations between Iran and Syria serve the interests of the two nations.

Hamud al-Husayn further pointed to his visits to several construction projects in Tehran, and voiced his country's willingness to use Iran's experiences in the construction and development sector.

VP Pleased with Iran-Syria Excellent Ties