Rockets kill 30 in Ukrainian city as rebels launch offensive

January 25, 2015

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Indiscriminate rocket fire slammed into a market, schools, homes and shops Saturday in Ukraine's southeastern city of Mariupol, killing at least 30 people, authorities said. The Ukrainian president called the blitz a terrorist attack and NATO and the U.S. demanded that Russia stop supporting the rebels.

Ukrainian officials rushed to defend the strategically important port on the Sea of Azov, beefing up military positions with more equipment and sending in more forces. The separatists' top leader declared that an offensive against Mariupol had begun — then later toned down his threats as the scale of the civilian casualties became clear.

President Petro Poroshenko held an emergency meeting of his military officials and cut short a trip to Saudi Arabia to coordinate the government's response. "The time has come to name their sponsors. The help given to militants, weapons deliveries, equipment and the training of manpower — is this not aiding terrorism?" Poroshenko said in a recorded statement.

Russia insists it does not support the rebels, but Western military officials say the sheer number of heavy weapons under rebel control belies that claim. An AP reporter saw convoys of pristine heavy weapons in rebel territory earlier this week.

The rocket attacks came a day after the rebels rejected a peace deal and announced they were going on a multi-prong offensive against the government in Kiev to vastly increase their territory. The rebel stance has upended European attempts to mediate an end to the fighting in eastern Ukraine, which the U.N. says has killed nearly 5,100 people since April.

Mariupol, a major city under government control, lies between mainland Russia and the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula. Heavy fighting in the region in the fall raised fears that Russian-backed separatist forces would try to capture city to establish a land link between Russia and Crimea.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry said three separate strikes from Grad multiple-rocket launchers hit Mariupol and its surrounding areas Saturday. "The area that came under attack was massive," Mariupol mayor Yuriy Khotlubei said. "The shelling was carried out by militants. This is very clearly Russian aggression that has caused terrible losses for the residents of the eastern part of our city."

The Donetsk regional government loyal to Kiev said at least 30 people — including a 15-year old girl and a five-year old boy — died in the attacks. A Ukrainian military checkpoint near the city was also hit and one serviceman was killed, the Defense Ministry said.

The RIA Novosti news agency cited Ukrainian rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko as saying an offensive had begun on Mariupol. He spoke as he laid a wreath Saturday where at least eight civilians died when a bus stop was shelled Thursday in Donetsk, the largest rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine.

Zakharchenko swiftly backtracked, however. He denied that his forces were responsible for Saturday's carnage, saying it was caused by Ukrainian error. He also said the Ukrainian defenses positions around Mariupol would be destroyed but the city itself would not be stormed.

But the Organization for Security and Cooperation's monitoring mission said the attack on Mariupol was caused by Grad and Uragan rockets fired from areas under rebel control. Rebel forces have positions 10 kilometers (six miles) from Mariupol's eastern outskirts. On Jan. 13, a bus near an army checkpoint north of Mariupol was hit by a shell, killing 13 people, an attack Ukraine also blamed on the separatists.

Yulia, a Mariupol citizen who asked that her name not be used for fear of retaliation, told The Associated Press by telephone Saturday that her stricken neighborhood had no power or heat in the middle of winter due to the attacks. Many residents had boarded up their windows, fearing shattered glass from further attacks, she said.

Reinforcements were being drafted into the city and the Mariupol-based Azov Battalion was being equipped with more heavy weapons, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a posting on Facebook. Security services also detained a spotter suspected of giving rebel fighters coordinates to launch rockets, he said.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk had ordered regional leaders Friday to draw up economic blueprints to put the financially struggling country on a war footing. Ukraine began its fourth wave of mobilization this week, building up manpower for its faltering war effort.

Fighting has also been intensifying for the government-held town of Debaltseve, 50 kilometers (31 miles) east of Donetsk. The main roads into the town are under separatist control and rebels have vowed to surround the Ukrainian forces stationed there.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the rebels' new offensive "has been aided and abetted by Russia's irresponsible and dangerous decision to resupply them in recent weeks with hundreds of new pieces of advanced weaponry."

"I join my European counterparts in condemning in the strongest terms today's horrific assault by Russia-backed separatists on civilian neighborhoods in Mariupol," Kerry said in a statement, citing reports of dozens wounded as well.

He urged Russia to close its international border with Ukraine and withdraw all weapons, fighters and financial backing from the separatists or face increased U.S. and international pressure. The European Union and the U.S. have already hit Russia with sanctions for its actions in Ukraine, moves that have hurt the Russian economy.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini echoed Kerry's demands. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also condemned the Mariupol shelling and what he called the increased presence of Russian forces in Ukraine.

"Russian troops in eastern Ukraine are supporting these offensive operations with command-and-control systems, air defense systems with advanced surface-to-air missiles, unmanned aerial systems, advanced multiple rocket launcher systems and electronic warfare systems," he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack on Mariupol, saying the rockets "appear to have been launched indiscriminately into civilian areas, which would constitute a violation of international humanitarian law," according to a statement issued by his spokesman.

He denounced the rebel leadership's unilateral withdrawal from the cease-fire and "their provocative statements about claiming further territory," according to the statement. A peace deal signed in September in the Belarusian capital of Minsk envisaged a cease-fire and a pullout of heavy weapons from a division line in eastern Ukraine, but that was repeatedly violated by both sides. Foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany agreed Wednesday to revive that division line but the rebels on Friday rejected the whole Minsk deal.

Senior envoys from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE issued a statement Saturday convening an urgent meeting next week to restart the Minsk peace process.

Raf Casert in Brussels and Yuras Karmanau in Kiev, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

South Sudan finds hope in honey

26 January 2015 Monday

A harvest of honey from the equatorial forests of South Sudan will help its struggling poor and, through the pollination of bees, improve the nation's crop yields, those involved say.

Spring production over the coming weeks is expected to deliver 60 tonnes, double the volume of an initial batch of exports last year to Kenya.

South Sudan's honey harvests had suffered because decades of fighting closed off the former main trade route through the north.

"Honey production is not a panacea. We're not trying to save the country or eliminate the conflict, but we do want to do our part," Madison Ayer, head of development charity Honey Care Africa, told Reuters.

Honey Care Africa has been working since 2013 in South Sudan, where it sees potential to collect honey from bees immune to the problems that have depleted colonies in the United States and to a lesser extent in Europe.

The charity has worked in Kenya for a decade, but droughts can be a problem for honey-making there so it sought to expand. It looked at Tanzania, but decided South Sudan had greater untapped potential.

Zambia too has developed production sufficiently to allow international export and internet sales of honey from wild bees that live in rain forests.

"There is high potential indeed. When I get reports of honey exports from countries like Zambia of 300 metric tonnes and then I look at our forests here, I feel we have much more potential," Jabob Moga, a bee expert in South Sudan's agriculture ministry, told Reuters by telephone.

"With a little understanding, it's a good source of income... It's a win-win kind of activity."

Honey Care Africa has invested $1 million in South Sudan and local farmers have received income of more than $75,000, benefiting more than 400 families.

While Sudan's oil wealth helped to fuel the conflict, corruption and rivalry that led South Sudan to be split off from Sudan, reviving honey production can aid recovery among the poorest in one of the world's least developed countries.

"When I get the money from the honey, I pay the school fees of my children. I buy other things like sugar, tomatoes, onions. I keep some money with me for emergencies in case my children get sick," Lilian Sadia James, one of the South Sudanese beekeepers working with Honey Care, said.

Relations between Sudan and South Sudan, which gained independence in 2011, remain fraught, leaving little hope of re-establishing the south-north route.

Honey Care Africa therefore is exporting to Kenya with a view to eventually shipping more widely.

At the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization Barbara Gemmill-Herren of the International Pollinator Initiative said "building markets with Kenya makes a lot of sense" for South Sudan. But she also cautioned that previous projections of "rivers of honey" had disappointed.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/africa/153796/south-sudan-finds-hope-in-honey.

Sri Lanka says military 'sabotaging' post-war reconciliation

Colombo (AFP)
Jan 29, 2015

Sri Lanka's new government on Thursday accused the military of trying to sow unrest to sabotage its efforts to bring about ethnic reconciliation in the war-ravaged north of the country.

Sri Lanka has promised to give greater autonomy to the mainly Tamil northern peninsula, which was worst hit by the decades-long civil war, and remained heavily militarized under the former administration.

The government said it was investigating allegations that two senior military officers were training 400 troops to provoke unrest in Jaffna, capital of the northern province.

"We have information that saboteurs are being trained in small batches of 10 at a time and they are being deployed in Jaffna," said government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne.

Senaratne said the men had been ordered to carry out small-scale incidents across the former conflict zone to give the impression that the new government had no control.

Sri Lanka's new President Maithripala Sirisena has moved quickly to reduce the role of the military in Jaffna since he was elected on January 8, sacking the retired army general who ran the province and replacing him with a former diplomat.

The country's Tamil minority voted in large numbers for Sirisena, whose predecessor Mahinda Rajapakse oversaw the brutal military crushing of a Tamil separatist insurgency.

Rajapakse's regime won popularity for ending the 37-year conflict, but he was blamed for failing to ensure ethnic reconciliation between the Tamils and the island's Sinhalese majority.

Senaratne, who is also health minister in the new government, said senior military officers had been in contact with the former president's brother, ex-defense secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, about the alleged bid to destabilize Jaffna.

He also said the new government would return land taken from Tamil residents in Jaffna for commercial exploitation by the military.

He said there was no justification for the military to retain seized land in the area, where it has established hotels, restaurants and farms.

An army spokesman said the complaint had been brought to the attention of military chief Daya Ratnayake, but declined to comment on the allegation.

The United Nations estimates that at least 100,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka's Tamil separatist conflict between 1972 and 2009.

Senaratne said the government was working on releasing some 275 Tamil prisoners who have been held in custody for long periods without any charges brought against them.

The authorities are already investigating claims that Rajapakse tried to use military force to remain in power as election results showed he was headed for defeat.

Police have questioned several people, including the then chief justice Mohan Peiris, who was removed from his post on Wednesday.

The government has already committed to granting limited autonomy to Tamils in line with a 1987 law that has never been fully implemented.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Sri_Lanka_says_military_sabotaging_post-war_reconciliation_999.html.

Plans to Create Russian National Orbital Station Confirmed

Moscow (Sputnik)
Dec 16, 2014

Russia's space agency Roscosmos is currently looking at plans to create a national space station that may be included in the new Federal Space Program, Roscosmos head Oleg Ostapenko said Monday. "I confirm that we are looking at this variant as a likely direction," Ostapenko said.

Ostapenko added that the high-altitude station is also being considered as a base for Russia's lunar program. "There is also this variant, we are currently considering it," he said.

In September, Roscosmos said it was planning to launch a full-scale moon exploration program in 2016-2025. According to the reports, the new orbital station will also be used to test manned spacecraft for the lunar mission. Spacecraft will first be delivered to the station, and then continue to the Moon.

In May, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that Russia was considering dropping out of the ISS program, and re-direct its funding into more promising space projects.

A Russian space engineering source close to matter told Russian media in November that the country was looking to build its own orbital station, with the project set to begin in 2017. The station will use modules constructed for the International Space Station (ISS), the source added...

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Plans_to_Create_Russian_National_Orbital_Station_Confirmed_999.html.

NASA Voyager: 'Tsunami Wave' Still Flies Through Interstellar Space

Pasadena CA (JPL)
Dec 16, 2014

The "tsunami wave" that NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft began experiencing earlier this year is still propagating outward, according to new results. It is the longest-lasting shock wave that researchers have seen in interstellar space.

"Most people would have thought the interstellar medium would have been smooth and quiet. But these shock waves seem to be more common than we thought," said Don Gurnett, professor of physics at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Gurnett presented the new data Monday, Dec. 15 at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

A "tsunami wave" occurs when the sun emits a coronal mass ejection, throwing out a magnetic cloud of plasma from its surface. This generates a wave of pressure. When the wave runs into the interstellar plasma -- the charged particles found in the space between the stars -- a shock wave results that perturbs the plasma.

"The tsunami causes the ionized gas that is out there to resonate -- "sing" or vibrate like a bell," said Ed Stone, project scientist for the Voyager mission based at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

This is the third shock wave that Voyager 1 has experienced. The first event was in October to November of 2012, and the second wave in April to May of 2013 revealed an even higher plasma density. Voyager 1 detected the most recent event in February, and it is still going on as of November data. The spacecraft has moved outward 250 million miles (400 million kilometers) during the third event.

"This remarkable event raises questions that will stimulate new studies of the nature of shocks in the interstellar medium," said Leonard Burlaga, astrophysicist emeritus at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who analyzed the magnetic field data that were key to these results.

It is unclear to researchers what the unusual longevity of this particular wave may mean. They are also uncertain as to how fast the wave is moving or how broad a region it covers.

The second tsunami wave helped researchers determine in 2013 that Voyager 1 had left the heliosphere, the bubble created by the solar wind encompassing the sun and the planets in our solar system. Denser plasma "rings" at a higher frequency, and the medium that Voyager flew through, was 40 times denser than what had been previously measured. This was key to the conclusion that Voyager had entered a frontier where no spacecraft had gone before: interstellar space.

"The density of the plasma is higher the farther Voyager goes," Stone said. "Is that because the interstellar medium is denser as Voyager moves away from the heliosphere, or is it from the shock wave itself? We don't know yet."

Gurnett, principal investigator of the plasma wave instrument on Voyager, expects that such shock waves propagate far out into space, perhaps even to twice the distance between the sun and where the spacecraft is right now.

Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched 16 days apart in 1977. Both spacecraft flew by Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 also flew by Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2, launched before Voyager 1, is the longest continuously operated spacecraft and is expected to enter interstellar space in a few years.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Voyager_Tsunami_Wave_Still_Flies_Through_Interstellar_Space_999.html.

Galactic Gathering Gives Sparkling Light Display

Boston MA (SPX)
Dec 15, 2014

At this time of year, holiday parties often include festive lights. When galaxies get together, they also may be surrounded by a spectacular light show. That's the case with NGC 2207 and IC 2163, which are located about 130 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Canis Major.

This pair of spiral galaxies has been caught in a grazing encounter. NGC 2207 and IC 2163 have hosted three supernova explosions in the past 15 years and have produced one of the most bountiful collections of super-bright X-ray lights known. These special objects -- known as "ultraluminous X-ray sources" (ULXs) -- have been found using data from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

This composite image of NGC 2207 and IC 2163 contains Chandra data in pink, optical-light data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope visible-light data in blue, white, orange and brown, and infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope in red.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Galactic_Gathering_Gives_Sparkling_Light_Display_999.html.

UK Plans to Drill Into Moon, Explore Feasibility of Manned Base

Moscow (Sputnik)
Dec 09, 2014

UK scientists have put forward goals for the country's recently-proposed Lunar Mission One program, the BBC reported on Monday.

The researchers plan to drill 100 meters below the surface of the moon, explore its geology, and assess the conditions for setting up a human base and an observatory.

Their primary interest will focus on the satellite's South Pole, the site of the deepest known impact crater (around 12km deep) in our Solar System.

The crater also is thought to contain rocks from tens of kilometers below the surface and even part of the lunar mantle, dug up by an impact that occurred more than four billion years ago.

The area of the South Pole that remains shadowed is much larger than that at the North Pole.

The uniqueness of its craters is in that sunlight does not reach the bottom. Unlike on the surface of the Earth, anything in the shade on the moon remains pitch black, as the spread of ambient light to areas that are shadowy is a bi-product of the Earth's atmosphere. Such craters are cold traps that contain a fossil record of the early solar system.

Although there have been more than 50 expeditions to the moon including the six manned Apollo expeditions, there is still much to learn, the BBC quotes Professor Ian Crawford, one of Lunar Mission One's principle scientific advisers, as saying.

"Until recently the European Space Agency had plans for a lunar lander (which have since been scrapped) and the scientific case for Lunar Mission One is quite similar," he told BBC News. "In addition, we propose to have a drill so there will be new science too".

The team hopes to raise the 500 million pounds needed for the project through donations from the public.

In return, donors will be able to send messages, pictures and even hair samples, which will be buried under the lunar surface.

Source: Moon Daily.
Link: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/UK_Plans_to_Drill_Into_Moon_Explore_Feasibility_of_Manned_Base_999.html.

India to Test Nuclear-Capable Agni-5 Missile on January 31

New Delhi, India (Sputnik)
Jan 30, 2015

India will conduct the third test of the Agni-5, a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, on January 31, a source at the institution responsible for the launch told Sputnik Thursday.

The India's Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), the country's premier defense research institution, will test-fire the missile on the same day that Avinash Chander will step down as its chief, the source added.

The Indian government terminated Chander's contract on January 13 citing his age.

The Agni-5 is a three-stage ballistic missile designed to carry a 1.5-ton warhead with a range of 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles). It has been dubbed the "China-killer" by media, as it is capable of hitting major Chinese cities such as Beijing.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/India_to_Test_Nuclear_Capable_Agni_5_Missile_on_January_31_999.html.

Wrath of Khan: Netflix show Polo-rises Mongolians

By Khaliun Bayartsogt
Ulan Bator (AFP)
Jan 29, 2015

The big-budget American series "Marco Polo", on the 13th-century Venetian explorer and his years at the court of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan, is riddled with historical errors, say Mongolian viewers and experts.

US movie distributor Netflix has spent tens of millions of dollars on the show, touted as its answer to HBO's huge hit Game of Thrones.

With swashbuckling swordfights, mass battles, intricate costumes and palace plots, the series portrays conflicts and rebellions in the Mongol empire under Kublai Khan, as seen through Marco Polo's eyes.

Kublai, the grandson of the great Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan, was a phenomenal warrior himself, reigning from 1260 to 1294, subjugating swathes of China and establishing the Yuan dynasty of Chinese emperors.

Mongolian viewers were excited to see one of their own being cast as Kublai's brother Ariq Boke and hearing the occasional Mongol phrase, despite most leading roles going to Chinese actors or those of Chinese descent, such as Briton Benedict Wong, who plays Kublai.

But according to Mongolian historians, much of the plot plays fast and loose with the facts.

Batsukh Otgonsereenen, who spent 10 years researching his book The History of Kublai Khan, told AFP: "From a historical standpoint 20 percent of the film was actual history and 80 percent fiction."

The fate of Ariq Boke, who briefly took power following the death of their father but lost the subsequent civil war, was particularly twisted, he said.

"The part where Kublai and Ariq Boke fight to a bloody death in front of their soldiers is completely untrue," he said. "Yes, Ariq did try to seize the throne, but in history Kublai and Ariq resolve their issues."

A concubine-assassin supposedly sent by a minister of the rival Song dynasty to seduce Kublai and kill his queen was another fantasy.

"Mongolian Khans never wed or had concubines that were totally unknown," said Otgonsereenen.

"Kublai also did not live in a palace. He lived in his royal ger in Beijing, in a traditional Mongolian manner."

In a press release, Netflix described the series -- shot in Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Italy, rather than Mongolia or China -- as set in a world "replete with exotic martial arts, political skullduggery, spectacular battles and sexual intrigue".

But Otgonsereenen said the creators' research on Kublai seemed "very sloppy".

"I think they tried to show Mongolian history like Game of Thrones with conspiracy, betrayal, blood and sex," he said.

"Mongolian youth who watch this series might get the wrong impression of Kublai Khan being quite cruel and perverted."

- Big in the Middle Ages -

Polo -- played by Italy's Lorenzo Richelmy in the show -- was a Venetian merchant who spent more than two decades in central Asia and China with his father and uncle, serving for years as Kublai's minister and envoy.

After his return the story of his journeys, "Book of the Marvels of the World", also known as The Travels of Marco Polo, propelled him to mediaeval superstardom.

He was not the first European to travel to Asia but became by far the most famous, and his descriptions of the Far East are said to have inspired Christopher Columbus to attempt to travel there himself, only to discover the Americas instead.

But US critics panned the show, with news site vox.com's reviewer writing: "This is a show about Kublai Khan that doesn't realize it's about Kublai Khan because Marco Polo has better name recognition.

"Is it worth watching?" he asked rhetorically. "Eh, not really, no."

The series, released last month, has a 30 percent rating on review aggregator rottentomatoes.com, which describes it as "an all-round disappointment".

Nonetheless a second season has been commissioned.

- Neighborly tensions -

Some Mongolian viewers praise the series, and many welcome the space it gives their remote country on the global small screen.

Orgil Narangerel, who played Genghis Khan in a BBC documentary, said it was more accurate than any previous foreign portrayal of Mongolian culture.

"As a Mongol and an artist, 'Marco Polo' makes me feel like our dreams are coming true," he told AFP. "I watched all 10 episodes in just in one day."

Although Mongol forces conquered China and ruled it for almost a century, modern Mongolia is overshadowed by its giant southern neighbor -- a key market for its raw materials -- and fears being economically dominated by it.

China proclaims itself as the world's oldest civilization and has a historical tendency to co-opt successful invaders and declare them Chinese, including Kublai.

Mongolia was later part of Qing dynasty China, only securing independence in the early 20th century and falling into the Soviet sphere soon after, while the Nationalist Republic of China maintained a sovereignty claim over the country.

Amateur film maker Narantsogt Baatarkhuu said Marco Polo correctly showed China and Mongolia as "totally different countries with different cultures and ways of life".

Movie blogger Tegshjargal Jalanajav added: "To people who like to argue that Kublai Khan was a Chinese king, this show makes it clear he was a Mongolian king."

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Wrath_of_Khan_Netflix_show_Polo-rises_Mongolians_999.html.

Pro-Russian rebels reject peace deal, launch new offensive

January 24, 2015

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine rejected a previously signed peace deal Friday and launched a new multipronged offensive against Ukrainian government troops, upending recent European attempts to mediate an end to the fighting.

The main separatist leader in the rebellious Donetsk region vowed to push Ukrainian soldiers out of the area and said insurgents would not take part in any more cease-fire talks. Another rebel went even further, saying they would not abide by a peace deal signed in September.

Separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko said rebel fighters went on the offensive to gain more territory and forestall a Ukrainian attack. He declared they would push government troops to the border of the Donetsk region and possibly beyond.

"Attempts to talk about a cease-fire will no longer be undertaken by our side," Zakharchenko said. The peace deal signed in September in the Belorussian capital of Minsk envisaged a cease-fire and a pullout of heavy weapons from a division line in eastern Ukraine. It has been repeatedly violated by both sides, and heavy artillery and rocket barrages have increased the civilian death toll in the last few weeks.

Foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany agreed Wednesday to revive that division line, but fighting has continued unabated. The U.N. human rights agency on Friday raised its estimate of the conflict's overall death toll to nearly 5,100 since April.

The tentative peace deal forged this week in Berlin called for Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists to pull back their heavy arms 15 kilometers (9 miles) on either side of the line, although there was no agreement on a withdrawal of troops.

But rebel spokesman Eduard Basurin threw that agreement into doubt, saying the insurgents "will no longer consider the Minsk agreement in the form it was signed," although he added that they will remain open for peace talks.

Basurin's bold statement contradicted the official position of Russia, which has repeatedly pledged respect for the Minsk agreement, even though it has been reluctant to meet its end of the deal, which also requested the withdrawal of foreign fighters and the monitoring of the Russian-Ukrainian border by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Battles intensified last weekend over Donetsk airport, a gleaming showcase for the Euro 2012 soccer championship that has been reduced to rubble by months of clashes. Rebels eventually took control of its terminal. Fighting has continued on its fringes.

Zakharchenko said rebel fighters were advancing in three directions in the Donetsk region and also pressing their attack in two other areas in the Luhansk region. "We will hit them until we reach the border of Donetsk region, and ... if I see the danger for Donetsk from any other city, I will destroy this threat there," he said.

A top NATO official confirmed that rebels had pushed west and received reinforcements. U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove said air-defense and electronic-warfare equipment have been detected in eastern Ukraine — hardware that, in the past, coincided with the incursion of Russian troops into Ukraine.

A pro-Russian insurgency flared up in April in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. Russia insists that it does not support the rebels, but Western military officials say the sheer number of heavy weapons under rebel control belies that claim.

At the international economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, a Russian deputy prime minister vowed that Moscow would not be cowed by the sanctions the West has imposed upon Russia for its actions in Ukraine.

Igor Shuvalov warned the West against trying to topple Russian President Vladimir Putin, reflecting the Kremlin's view that the European Union and U.S. sanctions are aimed at regime change. "When a Russian feels any foreign pressure, he will never give up his leader," Shuvalov said Friday. "We will survive any hardship in the country — eat less food, use less electricity."

The Russian currency has lost half its value in recent months from the double blow of sanctions and a plunge in world oil prices. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said stern retribution would await anybody violating the peace. After a speech Wednesday at Davos, he rushed home to deal with the escalating fighting.

"If the enemy doesn't want to abide by the cease-fire, if he doesn't want to put an end to the suffering of peaceful people, Ukrainian villages and towns, we will smash them in the teeth," Poroshenko told top defense officials.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki voiced concern about the increasing bloodshed. "Ukraine has implemented cease-fire after cease-fire, but the Russia-backed separatists have responded with violence," she said, citing 1,000 attacks since early December and the deaths of 262 people in the last nine days.

Russia, she added, "holds the keys to peacefully resolving a conflict it started and bears a responsibility to end the violence."

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

Ukraine leader vows to retake separatist-held east

January 19, 2015

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's president vowed Sunday to reassert government control over eastern regions as the army unleashed a counter-offensive against Russian-backed separatist fighters vying for command over the airport in the city of Donetsk.

The separatist stronghold was shaken by intense outgoing and incoming artillery fire over the weekend as a bitter battle rages for the air terminal and surrounding areas. Streets in Donetsk, which was home to 1 million people before unrest erupted in spring, were completely deserted Sunday and the windows of apartments in the center were rattled by incessant rocket and mortar fire.

The warring sides exchanged rocket fire along several points in the roughly 350-kilometer (220-mile) front line. Regional authorities loyal to the government said two children, aged 7 and 16, were killed when a rebel shell hit their home in Vuhlehirsk, a town 75 kilometers (45 miles) northeast of Donetsk.

A little further west, in the rebel-controlled city of Horlivka, two were killed and another 16 injured as a result of rocket attacks, city council secretary Oleg Gurbanov said in a statement. President Petro Poroshenko told a crowd of several thousand gathered in the center of the capital, Kiev, that Ukraine wouldn't "give up an inch" of its land to Russian-backed separatists.

Hundreds of people, including Poroshenko, held up signs reading "Je Suis Volnovakha," referring to the 13 people killed when a passenger bus was shelled in the eastern town of that name. The message was an echo of the "Je Suis Charlie" tribute adopted after the terrorist attacks in Paris.

The separatists upped the ante last week by successfully taking over large sections of Donetsk airport, where Ukrainian troops remained despite coming under rocket attacks for months on end. Both sides have incurred losses in the close-quarter combat.

The rebels' progress has sparked a desperate Ukrainian fight-back supported by a hasty reinforcement of troops and heavy armory. Yuriy Biryukov, an adviser to Poroshenko, said on his Facebook account Sunday that Ukrainian troops had received orders to unleash heavy shelling of known rebel positions.

"Today we will show just how much we can smash their teeth in," Biryukov wrote from a location near the fighting. Separatist statements indicate Ukrainian forces may have attempted to burst into Donetsk itself, the first such effort since the unrest started in the spring.

The self-declared Donetsk People's Republic breakaway government said its forces had repelled a Ukrainian advance toward a bridge leading from the airport into the center. Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Sunday that four servicemen were killed in the previous day's clashes. The office of the General Staff said separately that three troops had been killed in the airport alone.

A new truce agreed in early December unraveled one week into the new year despite concerted international efforts to forge a lasting settlement. High-level peace talks expected to take place in Kazakhstan last Thursday were postponed indefinitely.

The U.S. has accused separatists of occupying territory beyond the line of contact agreed upon after a much-violated cease-fire deal in September. Russia, which has been unambiguous in its diplomatic support of the separatist stance, has accused the Ukrainians of weakening the prospects of that cease-fire deal reached in the Belorussian capital, Minsk.

In a sharply worded statement on Sunday, the Russian Foreign Ministry called for an urgent cease-fire. The ministry said Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Poroshenko a message last week about the necessity for both sides to respect the cease-fire and pull heavy artillery back from the line of contact.

Russia was "ready to use its influence on the separatist fighters to convince them to accept this version," the statement said. Instead, the Ukrainian forces renewed their shelling of Donetsk, the statement said.

A spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general said Ban Ki-moon was "alarmed by the severe escalation of fighting" around the airport and urged an immediate end to hostilities. In the largest single loss of civilian lives so far this year, 13 people were killed after a bus parked at an army checkpoint near the town of Volnovakha was hit by a shell Tuesday. Ukrainians swiftly accused separatists, who denied responsibility.

A fact-finding team from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Friday evening that the shells had been fired from a "north-northeastern direction." The Ukrainians said that assessment confirmed their suspicions as the area in question is under rebel control. Russia's Foreign Ministry insisted the OSCE report undermined Kiev's claims, but didn't explain how.

Associated Press reporters Lynn Berry in Moscow, and Mstyslav Chernov in Donetsk, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

Ukraine separatists claim victory in battle for airport

January 15, 2015

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russian-backed separatists announced Thursday they had captured the shattered remains of the Donetsk airport terminal in eastern Ukraine and plan to claw back more territory, further dashing hopes for a lasting peace agreement.

The airport, on the fringes of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, has been at the center of bitter battles since May. Control over it was split between the separatists and Ukrainian forces who had held onto the main civilian terminal. Reduced to little more than a shell-littered wreck, the building is of limited strategic importance but has great symbolic value.

An AP reporter saw a rebel flag hoisted over that building Thursday, although fighting still appeared to be ongoing. Ukraine insisted government troops were holding their positions at the airport. Alexander Hug, deputy head of an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitoring mission to Ukraine, said rebel forces carried out artillery attacks from within residential areas.

"These attacks ... attract counter-fire from positions opposite and other directions, which leads unfortunately to repeated civilian casualties and damage for infrastructure," Hug said. The rebel leader in Donetsk, Alexander Zakharchenko, said the separatist offensive would continue and its goal was to recapture all territory lost to government forces last year.

"Let our countrymen hear this: We will not just give up our land. We will either take it back peacefully, or like that," Zakharchenko said, nodding his head toward the sound of explosions coming from the direction of the airport.

If the separatists do advance further, that would undermine the chances of resurrecting a September cease-fire that laid out specific demarcation lines between the opposing sides. The rebels' disregard of that agreement appears to defy Moscow's public backing of the peace deal.

The likelihood of any further negotiations looks compromised against the backdrop of continued unrest. Separatist leaders in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk have declined to attend talks with Ukraine and Russia expected to take place Friday in the capital of Belarus, Minsk. They have instead dispatched envoys and said they refuse to take part in more talks unless specific results are achieved.

The battle for Donetsk airport took place as Ukraine held a day of mourning for 13 people killed Tuesday when their bus was hit by what the government says was a rebel shell. President Petro Poroshenko said respects would be paid for all people killed by rebel offensives.

The separatists deny responsibility for the deaths and accuse Ukrainian forces of staging an attack in a bid to smear them. OSCE observers said the bus showed "damage consistent with a nearby rocket impact."

Ukraine and the West have routinely accused Russia of fomenting unrest in the eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies that accusation, although it admits that Russian citizens, including soldiers, are involved in the fighting in Ukraine.

In Kiev, the Ukrainian parliament on Thursday approved a presidential decree for three waves of military mobilization this year. Poroshenko said that was motivated by the worsening security situation.

Leonard contributed from Kiev, Ukraine.

Lack of aid deepens suffering in conflict-hit east Ukraine

January 14, 2015

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Valentina Dudareva's voice cracks with despair as she stands in the snow, surveying the bombed-out windows of her apartment block in Donetsk, the separatist capital in eastern Ukraine.

Cold, poor and hungry, Dudareva is among the masses of people trapped by fighting between the government and Russian-backed militias, reliant on outside help that often fails to arrive. More than six months have passed since Dudareva last received her pension — and the Russian food aid packages so trumpeted by rebel authorities are nowhere to be seen.

Anger she once reserved for the Ukrainian armed forces shelling the city is now directed at the separatist government. "They tell us: 'Go to the theater. There are tickets for sale!'" Dudareva said, dabbing a handkerchief to her cheek. "But I want to eat. I want my pension."

The U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has been sounding the alarm over a daily worsening crisis across the region, where fighting has raged since April. "Thousands of people are highly vulnerable and in need of assistance," the OCHA said last week. "Along with financial problems, many lack the ability to buy essential food and medicines and are living in frigid winter conditions."

The OHCA estimates 1.4 million people in eastern Ukraine are highly vulnerable and require assistance. Help is thin on the ground, although it is often promised. Since the summer, Russia has dispatched 11 columns of large white aid trucks with food and other basic supplies. The latest arrived in Donetsk one week after New Year's, carrying tinned goods, building material and — too late for Christmas — festive fir trees.

Despite the urgency of the crisis, the Donetsk headquarters of the Recovery Coordination Center are largely deserted. A spokesman for the center sits in a sparse office with a bare desk, no computer in sight.

Ukrainian authorities accuse Moscow of using the convoys for ulterior purposes — possibly to transport military equipment to the separatist fighters. There is no firm evidence of that, but the graver suspicion among many in Ukraine's conflict-hit Donetsk and Luhansk regions is that goods intended for the needy are being diverted to the black market to line the pockets of separatist officials.

In late December, disgruntled militia commander Pavel Dremov produced a video in which he accused the leader of the self-styled Luhansk People's Republic of pilfering Russian aid. "Out of 10 humanitarian convoys, only one has reached the people. Everything else has been stolen," Dremov said, standing next to fellow Cossack fighters in green military fatigues. "Is this what our people have died for?"

Those sentiments are frequently echoed by civilians in private, but they are too afraid to openly express criticism in a largely lawless region. In Donetsk, many bitterly complain that they have tried to officially apply for support, only to be rebuffed.

"We sent in applications ... but we haven't received a thing for eight months," said Pyotr Avdeev, whose home has been obliterated by shelling. "Nobody cares. Who the hell needs us retirees?" Although shops and supermarkets still receive supplies, money is short, particularly since Ukraine's government in November suspended banking services. With banks out of commission and cash machines not working, just getting hold of money to buy basic groceries is tough.

The banking freeze was part of an apparent Ukrainian plan to suffocate the separatists. But while rebel battle-readiness has shown no sign of diminishing, the most deprived in eastern Ukraine are running out of options.

The already thin aid supply could dwindle further if fighting resumes on a wide scale in the east. On Wednesday, exceptionally powerful blasts were seen on a web camera monitoring the Donetsk airport, which has been under siege for months; Leonid Matyukhin, a Ukrainian security spokesman, on Wednesday claimed the rebels now have systems to fire rockets with fuel-air warheads, which cause intense and extended blasts.

Some assistance has come from the charitable foundation of billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, whose vast wealth is founded on the industrial output of this coal-rich region. Akhmetov, however, is a contentious figure in eastern Ukraine. Although a major provider of employment, he is regarded with profound suspicion by many impoverished locals. Still, his standing improves with every consignment of goods that reaches separatist-held regions.

"Thank you to Rinat Akhmetov. I'm serious," Avdeev said. "If it weren't for Rinat Akhmetov, we would be totally screwed." Even those deliveries, brought in from other parts of Ukraine, have had trouble reaching their destination.

Amnesty International said it received reports before the New Year holiday of volunteer battalions fighting alongside Ukrainian government forces who prevented the Akhmetov aid convoys from getting through. The battalion justified its actions by arguing that the food and clothes in the trucks could ultimately help support the separatists, Amnesty says.

"The humanitarian situation in the east is very dire. People have not been receiving pensions and salaries for a long time," said Amnesty researcher Krasimir Yankov. "It's one thing to check the content of these convoys, but it's a different thing to force the population into starvation."

Peter Leonard contributed to this report from Kiev.

11 dead in bus attack that could doom Ukraine's shaky truce

January 13, 2015

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — An attack on a passenger bus in eastern Ukraine killed 11 people Tuesday, likely dealing the final blow to hopes that a short-lived and shaky cease-fire could take hold.

Across Donetsk, the city that Russian-backed separatists call their capital, explosions and the sound of shells whistling overhead are again unnerving the local population. The holiday period was spent in relative tranquility after a new truce was called in December between government troops and Russian-backed militia. But by late last week, that uneasy calm was steadily unraveling.

In the single largest loss of life so far this year, civilians traveling on a commuter bus from Donetsk were killed Tuesday afternoon by what Ukrainians say were rockets fired from a Grad launcher in rebel territory. Regional authorities loyal to Kiev said the bus was passing a Ukrainian army checkpoint at the time, putting it in the line of fire.

Leading rebel representative Denis Pushilin denied responsibility for the attack. The warring sides are now trading accusations over who is responsible for the breakdown in the truce that led to Tuesday's deaths.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said that separatist attacks in recent days suggest an attempted onslaught to push back the frontline is under way. Separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko said Ukraine's armed forces unilaterally resumed hostilities and that his fighters would respond in kind.

An AP reporter over the weekend saw a convoy of around 30 military-style trucks without license plates heading for Donetsk, suggesting that new supplies were coming in for the rebels. NATO's top commander, Gen. Philip Breedlove, said Tuesday that there has been a continued resupply and training of rebel forces over the holiday period.

"Those continue to provide a concern and something that we have to be thinking about," Breedlove said. Ukraine and the West have routinely accused Russia of being behind such consignments. Moscow flatly rejects the charges, although rebel forces are so well-equipped with powerful arms that the denials have become increasingly hollow.

"These are separatists that are clearly backed by Russia," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Tuesday, adding that Russia must do more to stop the violence and restore Ukrainian sovereignty.

In the rebel-held Donetsk suburb of Makiivka, the thrash of outgoing mortars shakes still-inhabited neighborhoods on a daily basis. Separatists have consistently denied using residential areas for cover, but there are ample eyewitness accounts undermining those claims.

Ukrainian responses to artillery lobbed out of Donetsk are woefully inaccurate and regularly hit houses and apartment blocks, often killing people inside. The separatist military headquarters in Donetsk said Tuesday that 12 people had been killed and another 30 injured in the preceding three-day period. It did not specify who had been killed.

There is little sign of life in Makiivka these days. People rush home from work or aid distribution points and occasionally come out of shelters to exchange information about where shells are landing.

Maria Ivanovna, a local retiree, told AP she is inured to the blasts and drew an arc with her arm to show how shells fly over her home toward the government-held airport on the northern edge of the city.

"We will survive the same way we did after World War II. Ration cards for bread. 300 grams (11 ounces) for children, 800 grams for factory workers and 1,200 grams for miners," she said. A senior U.N. human rights official said this week that developments look poised to go in one of three directions — a frozen conflict, an escalation in violence or an evolution to sustainable peace.

"In case of frozen conflict, we will more or less continue to be seeing (the same) human rights violations that we have facing so far," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. "But in case of escalation of hostilities, which is quite possible, we could also be seeing further internationalization of the conflict and far more human rights violations and suffering."

The grimmest of outcomes appears most likely. A hoped-for round of peace negotiations this week between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France has been put on ice — possibly indefinitely. Ukrainian military authorities talk like they are bracing for the long-haul and Tuesday laid out plans for a new round of mobilization.

Volodymyr Talalai, deputy head of the army's mobilization planning, said recruits will be drawn from all regions of the country. He gave no figure for how many people will be mobilized, but said that the primary aim of the upcoming drive is to enable the rotation of forces.

Unremitting violence is radicalizing the mood. One resident of Donetsk's Petrovsky neighborhood — one of the most intensely bombed — said she took up arms and joined the separatist army after a rocket hit a home in her neighborhood.

"A Grad landed ... and people were killed and blown to bits," she said, giving her name only as Vera. "How were we supposed to react? We are out here defending ourselves." Wearing a balaclava and cradling an automatic rifle, Vera said her 19-year old son too wanted to sign up, but that she refused to let him.

"I told them I would rather go myself than let my child do it," she said.

Leonard reported from Kiev, Ukraine. Edith Lederer in New York and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.

Italy lawmakers fail to elect new president in 1st round

January 29, 2015

ROME (AP) — Lawmakers failed to elect a new Italian president Thursday in balloting that tests Premier Matteo Renzi's ability to rally his fractured party behind a candidate that is also acceptable to opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi, whose support he has courted for the government's ambitious reform agenda.

Even as the names on the hand-written ballots from the 1,009 electors were still being read aloud, it was clear that, as expected, no candidate had come remotely close to the two-thirds majority needed to elect a new head of state in the first three rounds.

Electors will have another crack at it Friday. The biggest "vote-getter" was "blank ballot," a sign that broad consensus for a figure who is supposed to be above the political fray was still elusive despite days of political maneuvering by Renzi to secure backing for his choice.

Starting Saturday, the threshold for victory drops to a simple majority, enhancing the probability that sufficient agreement could be found among Italy's myriad of political parties and alliances. The Italian president's post is largely ceremonial, but his powers including dissolving Parliament in case of unresolvable gridlock. The president also seeks to build consensus for a new premier in case of government collapse — not a rare event in Italy. The office is supposed to be above the political fray.

First to cast ballots were senators-for-life, including Giorgio Napolitano, who reluctantly accepted an unprecedented second term as the nation's president two years ago after squabbling lawmakers couldn't agree on a new one. The 89-year-old resigned earlier this month, citing his age.

Just before the vote, Renzi pitched his candidate -- constitutional court justice Sergio Mattarella -- to his Democratic Party, which includes factions bordering on open-rebellion. Renzi's brash, almost imperious manner has alienated some in his own party. The secrecy of the balloting could be tempting for party rebels who want to sabotage his proposal.

Mattarella's political roots lie in the defunct Christian Democrat party, which was swept away by corruption probes of the 1990s. Mattarella escaped the scandals unscathed, and he essentially left politics several years ago.

Renato Brunetta, a top Berlusconi aide, speaking to Sky TG24 TV during the voting, expressed disappointment that Renzi hadn't picked someone to the media mogul's liking. Brunetta cited Berlusconi's backing for Renzi's reform agenda, including measures to make elections more likely to yield stable governments.

Renzi and Berlusconi had met in recent days to try to find common ground on a candidate. Berlusconi was stripped of his Senate seat because of a tax fraud conviction. He still leads a center-right bloc including the Forza Italia party he founded, although some prominent lawmaker bolted from his fold to form a smaller party in Renzi's coalition.

Nicole Winfield contributed to this report.

British mosques open doors to reach out to citizens

2015-01-29

LONDON - British mosques are to throw their doors open to the general public, it was announced Wednesday, in a bid to reach out to fellow citizens following "tensions around terrorism".

The Muslim Council of Britain umbrella group said it would be organizing #VisitMyMosque day on Sunday, where Islamic places of worship will share tea and cakes, answer questions about the faith and give an insight into the daily goings-on at a mosque.

"Mosques will also be inviting inter-faith leaders as well, and all will be invited to come together to demonstrate unity and solidarity during what has been a tense time for faith communities," the MCB said.

"#VisitMyMosque day is part of a national initiative by Muslims to reach out to fellow Britons following tensions around terrorism."

Some 15 mosques in England were among the first to confirm their participation in the idea.

The initiative comes three weeks after the attacks in Paris, perpetrated by Islamist extremists, which left 17 people dead.

Following the attacks, the British government wrote to mosques saying imams must do more to prevent radicalization in their own communities.

"You have a precious opportunity, and an important responsibility: in explaining and demonstrating how faith in Islam can be part of British identity," said the letter from Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.

"There is a need to lay out more clearly than ever before what being a British Muslim means today: proud of your faith and proud of your country," it added.

The MCB accused him of insensitivity and stoking Islamophobia by appearing to make a distinction between religious and national identities.

In the 2011 census, some 2.8 million people said they were Muslim, or 4.4 percent of the population, making Islam the second-biggest religion in Britain after Christianity.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=69932.

Belorussian leader issues tough warning to Moscow

January 29, 2015

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — New cracks emerged Thursday in a Russia-led economic alliance, with the president of Belarus warning that his nation may opt out of it.

Alexander Lukashenko also sternly warned Moscow Thursday that his nation of 10 million will never be part of the "Russian world," a term coined by the Kremlin that reflects its hopes to pull ex-Soviet nations closer into its orbit.

"Those who think that the Belorussian land is part as what they call the Russian world, almost part of Russia, forget about it!" Lukashenko said. "Belarus is a modern and independent state." Lukashenko, who has been at the helm since 1994, has relied on Russia's economic subsidies and political support but bristled at Moscow's attempts to expand its control over Belorussian assets.

He was dubbed "Europe's last dictator" in the West for his relentless crackdown on the opposition and free media, but Belarus' relations with the United States and the European Union have warmed recently as Minsk played host to crucial Ukrainian peace talks.

Lukashenko said he wants to normalize ties with Western nations and issued a clear warning to Moscow that it shouldn't expect Belarus to follow suit in defying the West. In another signal of growing frictions between the two allies, Lukashenko, who plans to seek another term in elections this year, said he warned Moscow that he wouldn't step down.

"As for sending me into retirement, I harshly told them in the Kremlin that they won't succeed in bending me," he said. Last month, he accused Moscow of damaging Belarus' economic interests with moves to restrict exports to Russia, which he said violated the rules of the Eurasian Economic Union, a grouping that comprises Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

On Thursday, Lukashenko warned that if the agreements on forming the alliance aren't observed, "we reserve the right to leave the union." Belarus, sandwiched between Russia and European Union members Poland and Lithuania, has profited handsomely from Moscow's ban on imports of EU food in retaliation to Western sanctions against Russia by boosting imports of food from the EU nations and reselling the food to Russia.

The Russian authorities have retaliated by restricting imports of Belarus' own milk and meat and banning transit of Belorussian food bound for Kazakhstan through its territory on suspicion that much of it ended up in Russia.

Netanyahu warns Hezbollah will pay 'full price'

2015-01-29

By Ali Dia - MAJIDIYA

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Lebanon's Hezbollah it will pay the "full price" after missiles killed two Israeli soldiers Wednesday in an attack that raised fears of another all-out war.

A Spanish UN peacekeeper was killed as Israel and Hezbollah exchanged artillery fire -- the most serious clashes between the bitter enemies in years -- following the attack by the Shiite militant group.

"Those behind today's attack will pay the full price," Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying at a meeting with Israeli's top security brass Wednesday evening.

The two soldiers were killed when Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at a military convoy in an Israeli-occupied border area, the army said.

Seven other soldiers were wounded, but none were reported to have suffered life-threatening injuries.

The UN Security Council called an emergency meeting to discuss ways to defuse tensions between the two sides, who fought a month-long war in 2006.

Israel responded to the Hezbollah shelling with "combined aerial and ground strikes" on southern Lebanon.

The United States stood by Israel after the exchange of fire and condemned Hezbollah's shelling of an Israeli military convoy, which apparently came in retaliation for a recent Israeli strike on the Golan Heights that killed senior Hezbollah members.

"We support Israel's legitimate right to self-defense and continue to urge all parties to respect the blue line between Israel and Lebanon," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini appealed for an "immediate cessation of hostilities".

Lebanese security sources said that Israeli forces had hit several villages along the border.

Clouds of smoke could be seen rising from Majidiya village, one of the hardest hit. There was no immediate information on casualties.

A 36-year-old Spanish corporal from the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon was killed in the exchange of fire, officials and Spain said.

"It is clear that this was because of the escalation of the violence and it came from the Israeli side," Spanish Ambassador to the UN Roman Oyarzun told reporters.

- 'Very harsh' response -

Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli military convoy "transporting several Zionist soldiers and officers".

"There were several casualties in the enemy's ranks," Hezbollah said.

Israel said mortar fire was also aimed across the border at several military facilities. There were no casualties.

Hardline Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel should respond to the attack "in a very harsh and disproportionate manner, as China or the US would respond to similar incidents".

Army spokesman Brigadier General Moti Almoz warned Israel was considering further action.

"This is not necessarily the last response," he wrote on Twitter.

Hezbollah's attack was hailed by the Palestinian Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

"We affirm Hezbollah's right to respond to the Israeli occupation," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, while Jihad's Quds Brigade praised the attack as "heroic".

Israeli security sources said at least one house had been hit in the divided village of Ghajar, which straddles the border between Israel and Lebanon.

"Three houses were hit by rockets," said Hussein, 31, relaying what he had heard by telephone from relatives in the village of 2,000 inhabitants.

He said a number of villagers had been wounded but did not know how badly.

Other frantic family members argued with police to be allowed in to collect their children, who had been locked inside the village school for their own safety.

- Building tensions -

Tension in the area had been building, especially after an Israeli air strike on the Syrian sector of the Golan Heights killed six Hezbollah fighters and an Iranian general on January 18.

The day before the raid, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened to retaliate against Israel for its repeated strikes on targets in Syria and boasted the Shiite militant movement was stronger than ever.

Israeli warplanes also struck Syrian army targets in the Golan Heights early on Wednesday, hours after rockets hit the Israeli-held sector.

During a Wednesday evening meeting with senior military and intelligence officials, Netanyahu sent a warning to the government of Lebanon and to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"The government of Lebanon and the Assad regime share responsibility for the consequences of attacks originating in their territory against the state of Israel," he said.

Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said Wednesday's attack was the "most severe" Israel had faced since 2006, when its war with Hezbollah killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Israel occupied parts of Lebanon for 22 years until 2000 and the two countries are still technically at war.

Wednesday's missile attack was on Israeli forces in the Shebaa Farms area, a mountainous, narrow sliver of land occupied by Israel since 1967.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=69928.