Breaking: Would-Be Capitol Hill Bomber Nabbed

Updated 3:25 p.m. The Washington Post, citing an Associated Press report, identifies the suspect as Amine el-Khalifi, 29, and says he was an illegal alien who overstayed a visa issued many years ago.

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A man of Moroccan descent was arrested Friday on his way to carry out a suicide bombing at the U.S. Capitol Hill building, Fox News reports. The attack did not present any serious danger though, as the FBI had been monitoring the suspect for quite some time.

The man believed to be in his 30s, thought that he was carrying out an attack on behalf of al-Qaida, the report says, and he was aided by FBI agents posing as al-Qaida members. He was apprehended while driving to the target, following a short stop at a Washington, D.C. mosque to pray. A senior government source told Fox that the scenario was "all very controlled," while Capitol Hill police released a statement saying, "at no time was the public or congressional community in any danger."

The case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Virginia, the Washington Post reports, and the office confirmed "that there has been an arrest of a suspect in Washington, D.C., in connection with a terrorism investigation."

The attempted attack comes on the heels of other recent terrorist plots in the Washington, D.C. area. In October 2010, Virginian Farooque Ahmed was apprehended after a plot to attack the Metrorail system. A self-radicalized Massachusetts man, Rezwan Ferdaus, was arrested in September for plotting to fly an explosive drone into the Pentagon or Capitol building. And last October, federal agents disrupted an Iranian government-tied plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington and bomb the local Israeli and Saudi embassies.

Egyptian Liberal Slams American Islamists

The most powerful oppressors of liberal Muslims in modern times aren't Arab dictators or armies, according to Essam Abdallah, an Egyptian liberal intellectual. Abdallah, who teaches at Ain Shams University in Cairo, writes that the main threats today emanate from "Islamist lobbies" such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and the National Iranian American Council (NIAC).

Months into the "Arab Spring" revolutions that swept across the Middle East last year, it became apparent "that the Western powers, and the Obama Administration have put their support behind the new authoritarians" of the Middle East, Abdallah writes. Islamists like the Ennadha Party in Tunisia, the Muslim Brotherhood, and some members of Libya's ruling Transitional National Council "have been systematically supported by Washington at the expense of real liberal and secular forces."

In Washington, the two main forces of the "Islamist lobby" are "Muslim Brotherhood [Ikhwan] fronts" (which Abdallah defines as CAIR, MPAC and the Islamic Society of North America) and a "pro-Iranian lobby" spearheaded by NIAC.

Since the early 1990s, CAIR and its allies "have attacked Copts, Southern Sudanese, Lebanese, Syrian reformers, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Muslim dissidents in the United States," he writes. "The Ikhwan of America demonized any publication, book, article, or interview in the national media or local press raising the issue of secular freedoms in the Middle East."

During the 1990s and continuing into the years after 9/11, Middle East dictators joined Islamists in working to crush supporters of liberal democracy. Egypt's Hosni Mubarak; Syria's ruling Assad family; Libya's Muammar Gaddafi; Sudanese ruler Omar Bashir and "Khomeinist regimes" in Iran "fully supported the so-called Islamophobia campaign waged by CAIR and its Iranian counterpart NIAC against dissidents calling for secular democracy in the region," Abdallah adds. "The dissidents were accused of being pro-Western by both the Islamists and the dictators."

Today, the Islamist networks are targeting Walid Phares, whose 2010 book "The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East" predicted the reform campaigns which swept across the region last year. "As a freedom activist from the Middle East, Phares is a force driving for a strategic change in U.S. foreign policy towards supporting secular democracies in the region," Abdallah concludes.

Read Abdallah's article here.

Verizon Drops "Bridges" Television

"Very low viewership" is being blamed for a decision by cable provider Verizon FIOS to remove the Muslim-oriented Bridges Television from its lineup starting March 15.

The decision removes Bridges from 4 million FIOS subscriber homes throughout the country, a spokeswoman said. Verizon also is pulling the Funimation channel, which offers anime programming, for the same reason.

Bridges, which started in 2004 near Buffalo, was created to provide programming for Middle East and South Asian audiences while also trying to enhance the image of Muslims in America. It airs programs such as "Democracy Now" with Amy Goodman and a weekly discussion show hosted by Arab American Institute President James Zogby.

The network's greatest attention, however, came as a result of tragedy when founder Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan murdered his wife by stabbing her more than 40 times with a pair of hunting knives, and beheading her in February 2009.

The attack was considered an honor killing, but Hassan claimed it was he who was the battered spouse and that the murder was the result of years of abuse he claims to have suffered.

He was convicted last year and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Tehran Ramps Up Support for Assad

As Syrian President Bashar Assad fights for his dictatorship's survival, Tehran has increased support for its top regional ally. The number of Hizballah operatives and Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria to help Assad suppress the opposition is in the "high hundreds," Ynetnews correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai reports.

While some Iranian and Hizballah operatives are involved in the actual fighting to suppress opposition forces, most train Assad's troops on reconnaissance and weapons maintenance and provide intelligence to the Syrian military.

Syrian documents show Iran has provided more than $1 billion in financial assistance to help Assad overcome international sanctions for massacring his own people. Haaretz reports that a group calling itself Anonymous hacked into the emails of 78 employees in Assad's office.

In the email account belonging to Minister of Presidential Affairs Mansour Azzam, hackers found a pair of documents dealing with Iranian-Syrian relations. One document repeatedly refers to Syria's wish to "learn from the Iranian experience" in evading sanctions.

Approximately one-fifth of Syria's gross domestic product comes from oil sales. But the European Union, the largest customer of Syrian oil, has imposed an embargo and is discussing new sanctions against the Assad regime, which needs the money to pay the salaries of loyalist military and hired thugs who do its bidding.

The documents show that Tehran and Damascus discussed Iranian purchases of Syrian oil and Iranian plans to supply Syria with spare parts for its domestic oil industry. They discussed ways to bypass sanctions on air cargo and other flights by creating an air and ground corridor through Iraq. They also discussed creating a joint Iranian-Syrian bank to transfer money through China and Russia, who have worked to shield both rogue regimes from sanctions.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials are monitoring Syrian chemical and biological weapons stockpiles. Washington's concerns have focused on the possibility that these weapons could fall into the hands of groups like al-Qaida, which has called for a jihad to drive Assad from power. At a Senate hearing Tuesday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey stated that Washington is "watching the trend lines to make sure [the chemical and biological weapons] are still under control of the regime."

The Syrian people may not find that prospect entirely reassuring. Earlier this week, a Syrian army defector who served in the country's chemical warfare administration said that the military had used nerve gas (in violation of numerous international conventions) during murderous raids directed at Homs.

The defector, a captain identified as bd al-Salam Ahmed Abdul Razek, said the gas was used under supervision of Russian and Iranian experts who instructed Syrian forces on how and when to use them.

Hamas Leader Meets Ahmadinejad, Endorses Violence

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh completed a three-day visit to Iran where he advocated armed resistance to fight Israel and praised support from the Iranian regime.

"Gun is our only response to Zionist regime. In time, we have come to understand that we can obtain our goals only through fighting and armed resistance and no compromise should be made with the enemy," Haniyeh was quoted as saying in the Iranian news outlet Fars News Agency (FNA) on Monday.

"[The] presence of [the] Zionist regime inside Palestine is the root of all regional problems and this presence poses a threat not only to Palestine but also to the whole region," Haniyeh said.

He arrived in Tehran on Friday and spoke at a Feb. 11 rally commemorating the 33^rd anniversary of the 1979 Iranian revolution. "They (West) want from us to stop resistance and acknowledge Israel but I herewith announce that this will never happen," he declared. "Our message and the message of all those who lost their blood in the Palestinian lands is that all occupied lands will eventually be liberated from Israeli occupation."

In an interview Monday with an Iranian TV station Haniyeh praised Iran's "unconditional support" for the Palestinians. "Iran's support for the resistance and the Palestinian people stems from an Islamic commitment and belief and moral and political values."

"The reality is that the Palestinians are under occupation and the Islamic Republic of Iran has faithfully heeded their appeal for help," he said. "Iran never asked for anything in return for its support."

During a meeting with Haniyeh Sunday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "stressed Iran's continued support for the Palestinian nation, and said resistance is the only way to liberate Palestine from the occupation of the Zionist regime."

That same day, Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei told Haniyeh that Iran saw the Palestinian issue as a problem for Iran and emphasized that Tehran supports the Palestinian resistance.

Haniyeh traveled to Abu Dhabi on Monday. He already visited Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain as part of his second tour outside of Gaza since Hamas gained control of the Strip in 2007. Last month Haniyeh visited Egypt, Sudan, Turkey and Tunisia.

Saudi Blogger's Fate Unclear after Being Deported Home

Despite protests from international human rights groups, Hamza Kashgari, a Saudi blogger who sparked outrage among Islamists in the Middle East last week for his tweets about the prophet Muhammad, was deported back to his home country. The 23-year-old was arrested in Malaysia on Friday while seeking to fly to New Zealand for political asylum.

The Saudi government has yet to reveal is plans for Kashgari, but human rights groups worry that the liberal blogger will be tortured and potentially face the death penalty for blasphemy.

Kashgari originally fled Saudi Arabia after posting several presumably inflammatory tweets about the prophet Muhammad in the lead-up to the anniversary of the religious figure's birthday.

"On your birthday, I shall not bow to you," Kashgari wrote in one tweet. "I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more."

He quickly removed the tweets and issued a long apology but not before making himself a target for religious conservatives, many who began calling for his death. A Facebook page titled "Saudi people want punishment for Hamza Kashgari" now has more than 20,000 members.

In light of the apparent threat to Kashgari, human rights groups are speaking out against Malaysia's decision to return him to the Saudi government.

"The cold hard truth is that Malaysia has bent over backwards to please Saudi Arabia, breached international law by not allowing Hamza to seek asylum and instead handed him on a silver platter to his persecutors and condemned him to torture and near certain death," international human rights group Lawyers of Liberty said in a statement.

Nevertheless, the Malaysian government has defended its decision to return Kashgari home.

"I will not allow Malaysia to be seen as a safe country for terrorists and those who are wanted by their countries of origin, and also be seen as a transit county," Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was recorded as saying. He added that Saudi Arabia is a respectable country and that fears that Kashgari will face torture and capital punishment are "ridiculous."

Kashgari defended his tweets in an interview last week with the Daily Beast, noting that he was merely practicing his human rights to freedom of speech and expression. However, Saudi lawyer Sulaiman al-Jomaii said the blogger will need to repent in court if he hopes to avoid the death penalty.

Possible Third Attack on Israeli Targets Fails

For the third time in two days, terrorists targeted Israeli embassy staff in attacks attributed to Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hizballah.

The latest attempt failed Tuesday in Thailand when his bomb exploded prematurely, blowing off at least one of his legs. Bangkok police reportedly found more explosives in a house where the man was staying and his Iranian passport. A second Iranian reportedly is in custody and a third is being sought.

Four bystanders were hurt when the man threw grenades, including one at a taxi that did not stop to help him.

"The attempted terror attack in Thailand proves once again that Iran and its proxies continue to operate in the ways of terror and the latest attacks are an example of that," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said while on a state visit to Singapore.

Last month, Thai authorities disrupted another potential terrorist plot by arresting a Lebanese man with alleged Hizballah ties. The move followed a warning by Israeli intelligence that Hizballah wanted to avenge the death of its military chief Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a bombing four years ago last Sunday.

The incident came one day after attacks on Israeli embassy officials in India and Georgia.

The wife of Israel's defense attaché in India was among five people injured Monday after a bomb was attached to her van. Indian authorities say a well-trained motorcyclist was able to plant the bomb as the car was driving through New Delhi.

In Tbilisi, Georgia, a car belonging to the Israeli embassy also had a bomb planted in it, but that was defused without injury.

Press TV, the Iranian government's English-language news outlet and a favored source for some American Islamists, issued several reports accusing Israel of attacking its own embassies to gin up sympathy for it and anger toward Iran.

"Israel perpetrated the terror actions to launch psychological warfare against Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.

Jihadists, Criminals Roaming Free in Sinai

Security in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula has deteriorated precipitously since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak one year ago, with criminal gangs targeting tourists and security forces and jihadist groups becoming increasingly active.

The decline has accelerated in recent weeks. On Saturday, Egyptian security forces in the northern Sinai seized anti-aircraft missiles and TNT said to be bound for Gaza. The seizure came one day after three South Korean tourists were kidnapped. Egyptian officials said the South Koreans were released after negotiations with a village leader who had been jailed for weapon and drug offenses but escaped during the revolution that toppled Mubarak last February.

On Thursday, Bedouins reportedly kidnapped 17 Egyptian border guards in an apparent effort to free a fellow tribesman held for an illegal attempt to enter Israel.

On Feb. 3, masked gunmen kidnapped two American tourists from a bus bound for Sharm el-Sheikh and robbed other passengers of their valuables.

The kidnapping occurred three days after Bedouin tribesmen kidnapped 25 workers, most of them Chinese, as they traveled to a Sinai cement plant. The Bedouins have demanded the Egyptian government release their members of their tribe who were jailed in connection with a coordinated series of October 2004 bombings that killed more than 30 people at Sinai resorts.

Last week, saboteurs blew up a pipeline near El Arish which supplies gas to Israel and Jordan, causing a suspension of gas deliveries. It was the 12^th attack on the pipeline in the past year. Al-Qaida leader Ayman Zawahiri has praised the pipeline attacks and congratulated the jihadists responsible.

The growing anarchy in Sinai and more generally in Egypt poses a security danger to Israel. Writing in the National Interest, Bruce Riedel observes that many of those who have broken out of Egyptian jails during the past year have been supporters of Zawahiri and individuals who carried out a series of attacks on Sinai tourist hotels in 2005-06 in which more than 100 people died.

"For Israel, the chaos in the Sinai means the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)and intelligence community must reorient scarce resources to the South," Riedel writes. "Even a relatively small number of terrorists hiding in the remote mountains of the central Sinai would be a dangerous threat to the stability of the region. They could target the pipeline, the border, tourists at Sharm el-Shaykh and even American troops" charged with monitoring the Sinai peace accord.

Prominent Witnesses Line Up for Alleged Saudi Bomb Plotter

A Saudi man charged in Texas with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction may have a former top FBI official and a prominent academic known to work with radical Islamists in his corner.

Attorneys for Khaled Aldawsari say they intend to call former FBI Deputy Assistant Director Danny Coulson and Georgetown University Professor John Esposito among their expert witnesses.

Coulson, who helped supervise the FBI's Oklahoma City bombing investigation, will "address several shortfalls and improper tactics, techniques, and procedures that were used by investigators and law enforcement in this case," defense attorneys wrote in a notice to the court last week.

Though he appears on the defense expert witness list, Coulson told Politico that his testimony is not certain. "I do some defense work for different clients and was asked to consult on it by a law firm representing him," Coulson said. But he hasn't reviewed any evidence "has not yet formed an opinion about whether or not Aldawsari is guilty," Politico reported.

Aldawsari was arrested a year ago in Lubbock, Texas after a freight company contacted authorities about a shipment of concentrated phenol, a toxic chemical used to construct the explosive T.N.P. Subsequent surveillance showed that used multiple email accounts to send himself information about explosives and targets. One Feb. 11 email described preparation of a necessary acid as part of a "military explosive," while others discussed how to convert a cellular phone into a remote detonator and how to prepare a booby-trapped vehicle using items available in every home.

FBI agents later found a journal n Aldawsari's home indicating a desire to carry out an attack. "And now," one entry said, "after mastering the English language, learning how to build explosives and continuous planning to target the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad."

Former President George W. Bush's address was included in an email Aldawsari sent himself with the subject line "Tyrant's House." Other "NICE TARGETS" he wrote down included area utilities and the homes of three former soldiers who once were stationed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Defense attorneys say another former agent, James Thurman, observed an FBI test explosion in October and "will testify as to whether Mr. Aldawsari could have constructed a weapon of mass destruction that resulted in an explosion similar to the test explosion."

Esposito, who served as a defense expert in the Hamas-financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development will analyze Aldawsari's online posts and private journal entries and how they may have been influenced by "cultural bias and isolation" as part of a planned defense based on free speech. He also will testify about the meaning of jihad and "Islam's affect (sic) on Mr. Aldawsari's cultural and political beliefs."

Aldawsari's trial is scheduled to begin April 30.

German Court Convicts American Military Killer

An Islamic extremist who killed two U.S. soldiers last year in Germany was convicted of murder Friday and sentenced to life in prison. German Judge Thomas Sagebiel ruled Arid Uka's crime deserved "particularly severe guilt," a term which rules out the customary parole for such criminals after 15 years, Fox News reports.

The 22-year-old ethnic Albanian from Kosovo ambushed a group of American servicemen while they were in transit at Frankfurt's international airport, killing two airmen and severely wounding two others. The terrorist's attack was cut short when his gun jammed, saving the life of Staff Sgt. Trevor Brewer, who also took the stand in Germany. Uka was shouting Allahu Akhbar and had "hate in his eyes," the soldier testified.

Uka, who had a temporary job at the airport, claimed he was a lone-wolf motivated by online jihadist propaganda. In particular, he was shocked into by a scene purported to show American soldiers raping a Muslim teenager, but it turned out was a scene from Brian De Palma's anti-war film "Redacted."

The attack shocked Germany as the first successful Islamist attack carried out in the country. It also brought to international attention the problem of Islamist radicalism among Muslim Kosovars, whose nation was saved from genocide by a Western coalition.

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