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Middle East Newsline - Arms, Defense, Strategy

SAMPLE REPORT

MONDAY,MAY 31, 2004
AFTERNOON REPORT
VOL. 6 NO. 205

NEW SAUDI COMMANDO UNIT PROVES METTLE
U.S. FOCUSES ON SYRIAN BORDER
ISRAEL NAVY SEEKS ASSAULT PLATFORM

SOUNDBYTE:
"We have not been accepted by the Iraqis."
-- Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Lugar urges the United States to draft an exit strategy from Iraq.

MIDDLE EAST DIARY

In Washington, Greek Cypriot President Papadopoulos arrives in U.S.
In Kuwait, Kuwait and Lebanon discuss military cooperation
In Khobar, Saudi commandos free Al Qaida hostages
In Manama, European naval task force begins Gulf operations
In Abu Dhabi, German trainers graduate Iraqi police cadets
In Dubai, UAE consortium bids for Saudi telecom license
In Muscat, Britain and Oman discuss cooperation
In Khartoum, Sudan dedicates new security headquarters
In Cairo, Egypt examines condition of 600 detainees in Lebanon
In Damascus, Britain and Syria discuss EU trade arrangement
In Jerusalem, Knesset votes on Sharon's withdrawal plan

NEWS DIGEST

U.S. WAR IN IRAQ

ISRAEL, PA CONFLICT

GULF DEFENSE

MIDDLE EAST DEFENSE

MIDDLE EAST ENERGY

U.S. WAR IN IRAQ

U.S. FOCUSES ON SYRIAN BORDER
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The U.S. military, withdrawing from Sunni and Shi'ite cities, has been ordered to stop Islamic insurgents from entering Iraq from Syria.

U.S. officials said the military has redeployed marines from Faluja to the Syrian border. They said the marines have been operating in the Anbar province in an effort to prevent the flow of Al Qaida-inspired insurgents from Syria into Iraq.

"They were able to go ahead and pull some of those forces back out to not only secure the borders," Maj. Gen. John Sattler, Central Command operations director, said. "But also to work the towns along the Syrian border, which is important to make sure that there are no safe havens in those towns."

Officials said the military has determined a priority the prevention of foreign insurgency movement from Syria to Iraq. They said thousands of mostly Sunni insurgents from throughout the Middle East have arrived in Syria for the trek to Iraq.

The U.S. effort to stop Islamic insurgents from crossing the Iraqi-Syrian border has been bloody. On May 29, three Marines were killed in Anbar during what officials termed security and stability operations. No further details were reported.

For his part, Sattler said the U.S. military has contained the flow of insurgents from Syria into Iraq. But he said the 900-kilometer border between the two countries provides lots of opportunities for insurgents.

"They [marines] were able to go ahead and pull some of those forces back out to," Sattler, in a Pentagon briefing from Qatar, said, "not only secure the borders but also to work the towns along the Syrian border, which is important -- all the same reasons: to make sure that there are no safe havens in those towns and, in addition, to work civil military operations projects, bring some degree of commerce, bring money into the town and go ahead and enhance the quality of life."

In May, the military killed more than 20 people at an Iraqi facility near the Syrian border said to have been used as an insurgency way-station. Officials dismissed assertions by Iraqi sources that those killed were revelers at a wedding party.

"We have very good intelligence that indicates beyond our shadow of a doubt that that safe house was in fact being used as a safe house to bring fighters across the border and into Iraq," Sattler said. "It was a halfway house where there were clothes there, there were weapons there, there were false documentation there."
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U.S. WARNS OF DANGERS IN TURKEY
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has warned its nationals to stay away from Turkey.

The State Department has asserted that Americans could come under attack over the next few weeks in Turkey. The department said the violence could be connected with plans to convene a NATO summit in Istanbul in late June.

In a travel advisory, the State Department warned of the prospect of huge anti-U.S. protests in Istanbul before and during the summit, scheduled for June 27. NATO plans to hold preliminary meetings three days earlier.

"Americans should also avoid demonstrations, bearing in mind that in the past, similar demonstrations have sometimes turned violent," the department said.

The advisory also asserted that security measures would hamper movement in Istanbul. The department did not elaborate.

"Americans traveling in Istanbul should avoid the area of the NATO summit," the advisory said. "Security will be extremely tight, disrupting movement of people and traffic throughout the city."

Thousands of Turkish police, security forces and soldiers have been allocated to protect the NATO summit. The United States plans to send more than 1,000 security officers to ensure the safety of visiting President George Bush.

The United States also called on Americans to be on the alert for suspicious packages or unattended baggage. The State Department urged U.S. nationals to immediately report any suspicious movements to Turkish authorities.
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ISRAEL, PA CONFLICT

ISRAEL'S GOVT. IS PARALYZED
JERUSALEM [MENL] -- Israel's government has been paralyzed by a strategic dispute between its prime minister and a majority of Cabinet ministers.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip and much of the West Bank has been blocked by a majority of the 23-minister Cabinet. Sharon, despite a stinging defeat by his own Likud Party earlier this month, has refused to withdraw his plan, endorsed by U.S. President George Bush.

"It's [failure to approve the plan] a stinging slap in the face to the U.S. president," Meir Shetreet, a minister at the Finance Ministry, said.

Sharon, faced with the opposition of many of his own Likud ministers, has threatened to fire Cabinet members and bring in the opposition Labor Party. But on Sunday the prime minister shelved his pledge to hold a Cabinet vote on the withdrawal plan. The following day, Sharon, fearing a revolt by some coalition partners, canceled an appearance in the Knesset to outline his withdrawal plan.

"I am determined to pass this plan, even if I am forced to change the composition of the government or to take unprecedented political steps," Sharon told the Cabinet during the seven-hour meeting.

Sharon and his allies have painted a dire scenario of any Cabinet rejection of the withdrawal plan. They asserted that rejection of the plan would spark a crisis with the United States as well as with Egypt and Jordan. The prime minister warned that this could harm Israel's security posture in the Middle East.

Israeli military chiefs appeared to differ over Sharon's plan. Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon told the Cabinet that a staged plan would only intensify the war with the Palestinians and increase their missile attacks. But military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi-Farkash asserted that the benefits of the plan exceeded its risks.

Cabinet sources said Israel Security Agency director Avi Dichter dismissed the prospect that an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would result in a takeover by the Islamic opposition group Hamas. But the sources quoted Dichter as saying that an Israeli withdrawal would be followed by increased Palestinian rocket attacks on the Jewish state.

"I asked the prime minister how this plan would improve Israel's security and help fight in the war against terrorism," Housing Minister Effi Eitam, who opposes the plan, said. "The room turned quiet and then the prime minister said the plan is not a security program, but a political one. The military was being asked to provide a security envelope."

During the Cabinet session, Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu urged Sharon to end his efforts to promote the withdrawal plan. Netanyahu said that based on a weekend discussion with U.S. ambassador Dan Kurtzer, the Israeli minister believed there would not be any significant U.S. backlash in wake of the abandonment of Sharon's proposal.

The finance minister urged Sharon to consider a plan for the withdrawal from three Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip rather than all 25 settlements in the region. Netanyahu said such a limited withdrawal would maintain the pledge Bush issued in April in support of some of Israel's positions on final status issues that concern a Palestinian state.

Earlier, an American Jewish leader, Morton Zuckerman, was said to have delivered an angry letter from the White House to Sharon regarding his failure to launch the withdrawal plan. Zuckerman was also said to have warned Sharon of a crisis in Israeli-U.S. relations.

On late Sunday, Sharon's chief aide, Dov Weisglass, flew to Washington to meet U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Officials said Weisglass plans to reassure Ms. Rice that Sharon will win Cabinet approval of his withdrawal plan.
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HAMAS'S KASSAM PRODUCTION APPEARS HURT
TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Israel's military has assessed that it has damaged Palestinian missile production capabilities.

Israeli officials said a series of military operations over the last month has damaged the capabilities of Hamas in developing and producing the Kassam-class short-range missile. They said the operations have eliminated at least one Hamas production line as well as two leading members responsible for the program.

"The last month has shown that Hamas is having much more difficulty in manufacturing and deploying the Kassam missiles," an official said. "It doesn't mean that they have lost their capacity. But it's getting increasingly difficult."

On late May 29, an Israeli AH-64A Apache attack helicopter fired a missile that killed two senior Hamas operatives responsible for the Kassam program. The operatives were killed as they were riding a motorcycle north of Gaza City.

The operatives were identified as Wa'il Nasser and Mohammed Sarsour. Nasser was described as a leading Hamas military commander and responsible for Kassam missile production while Sarsour stored missiles in his home in Gaza City.

Israeli military sources said Sarsour, 30, directed Kassam operations against Israel from the northern Gaza Strip. They said he helped finance the production of the Kassam missiles as well as other weapons for Hamas.

In 2003, the sources said Sarsour stored Kassam missiles in his home in the Sabra neighborhood. Sarsour's home was targeted by Israel's military in June 2003.

Hamas was said to have encountered a technical deadlock in the development of the Kassam. The Islamic insurgency group has failed to effectively extend the range of the Kassam beyond its maximum of 12 kilometers, military sources said. They said Hamas has been unable to obtain the hardened steel casing required to maintain missile flight and stability.

Nasser and Sarsour were also said to have been responsible for a range of suicide attacks in both Israel and the Gaza Strip. They included two attacks at the Erez border crossing this year in which three Israeli soldiers.

A former bodyguard of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin, Nasser was also said to have ordered development of a suicide boats in attacks against the Israel Navy. In January 2003, a Hamas-developed raft filled with explosives unsuccessfully sought to ram into an Israeli navy vessel.

Regarded as the Hamas military commander in the northern Gaza Strip, Nasser also attempted to smuggle suicide bombers recruited from Egypt. He was said to have been the prime mover of the Kassam missile project in the Gaza Strip and the use of the weapon in attacks on Israeli communities.
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GULF DEFENSE

NEW SAUDI COMMANDO UNIT PROVES METTLE
ABU DHABI [MENL] -- A new U.S.-trained Saudi counter-insurgency unit has succeeded in releasing more than 50 hostages held by Al Qaida.

The Saudi National Guard unit employed four U.S.-origin CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to land about 40 commandos on the roof of a Western housing compound near Khobar and battled Al Qaida insurgents in an early-morning raid on Sunday. The Saudi commandos succeeded in freeing Arab and Western oil workers taken hostage by the insurgency group.

The number of casualties remain unclear. The Saudi Interior Ministry said 22 people were killed, including an American, a Briton, an Egyptian, three Filipinos, eight Indians, an Italian, a Swede, two Sri Lankans, three Saudis and one South African. The ministry said the insurgents failed in their attempt to bring a vehicle full of explosives into the compound.

The Interior Ministry said only one of the four Al Qaida insurgents -- described as the ringleader and a leading fugitive -- was captured. The arrested fugitive was identified as Nimr Al Baqmi.

The ministry said three Al Qaida insurgents commandeered a car and escaped in the direction of Dammam, 10 kilometers north of Khobar. The insurgents were dressed in Saudi military uniforms and used the hostages as human shields.

"Security forces wounded the leader of the group and arrested him, one of the most-wanted," the ministry said in a statement. "The three others, one of them wounded, fled from the [housing] complex."

The new Saudi commando force was said to have been established after the Al Qaida attack on Western targets in Riyad in May 2003. Diplomatic sources said the force -- composed of veteran Saudi combatants -- was trained and equipped by the United States in skills employed by U.S. Special Operations Forces. The United States has been asked to upgrade the National Guard in a proposed $900 million contract.

Officials said other Saudi security forces tried twice to storm the Oasis compound. In one attempt, the forces withdrew after discovering bombs planted by the insurgents.

But at about 5:30 a.m., the National Guard arrived with heavy-lift helicopters and about 40 commandos descended onto the roof. For the next 90 minutes, the commandos battled the Al Qaida insurgents throughout the vast compound and office complex. Officials said two commandos were killed and another eight were injured.

Saudi officials said the new commando unit was trained and directed by the U.S. military. But they denied a report in the Kuwaiti daily Al Watan that U.S. marines participated in the rescue operation.

The commando force was backed by another special unit located outside the walled compound. In all, about 200 special forces members -- including sharpshooters -- were outside the compound in search for insurgents trying to escape. The special forces came from Saudi Army and Navy.

The U.S. embassy said its personnel has been advised not to leave the so-called diplomatic quarter in Riyad until further notice. An embassy statement said the movement of American personnel at the U.S. consulates in Dhahran and Jedda have also come under similar restrictions.

"The U.S. Mission in Saudi Arabia wishes to advise the American community that on the morning of May 29, 2004, terrorist attacks were carried out against at least three Western targets in the city of Al Khobar," the U.S. embassy said in a statement. "Foreign nationals, including Westerners and Saudi citizens were killed in the attacks. In light of the terrorist attack in Yanbu on May 1, 2004, and this latest attack in Al Khobar, the embassy reiterates its previous warning strongly urging American citizens to depart the country."
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U.S. SELLS MISSILE DEFENSE RADAR TO BAHRAIN
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has decided to sell a missile defense radar to Bahrain.

U.S. officials said the radar would serve as an important element of any emerging missile defense system. They said the radar would also have advanced air defense capabilities.

The Defense Department has awarded a $43.6 million contract to Lockheed Martin for an AN/TPS-59[V]3B radar system to Bahrain. The contract would also include associated supplies, equipment and services under the Foreign Military Sales Program.

Under the contract, Lockheed Martin's Maritime Systems and Sensors, based in Syracuse, N.Y., would supply the L-band AN/TPS-59[V]3B. A Pentagon statement said the radar marks a complete, lightweight, transportable, long-range, solid state radar.

The AN/TPS-59[V]3B radar was meant to be capable of operating as an automatic, three-dimensional, theater ballistic missile. The radar can also conduct air defense surveillance.

The Pentagon statement said two percent of the contract would be conducted in Bahrain. The statement said the contract will be completed in 2008.

The United States has been helping Bahrain in the procurement of major systems. In 2002, Bahrain was designated a major non-NATO ally of the United States. Manama has served as the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet.
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MIDDLE EAST DEFENSE

U.S. ASKS TURKEY FOR ADDITIONAL BASING
ANKARA [MENL] -- The United States has asked Turkey to provide additional support for the mission to stabilize Iraq.

Turkish officials said the U.S. Defense Department has issued a series of requests connected to the support of the American military in Iraq. The officials said they include additional access to air and sea bases, additional training as well as the transport of convoys through Turkey into northern Iraq.

Ankara has already agreed to limited base access to the U.S. military, including the air force facility at Incerlik. But officials said the latest U.S. requests went beyond the 1980 Defense Cooperation Agreement between the two countries. They said the requests included the expanded use of Incerlik.

"They do have proposals regarding air bases," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said. "If these proposals are within the framework of the agreement, they will be accepted."

The U.S. request came amid difficulties in transporting cargo from Kuwait through southern Iraq. Officials said private contractors could no longer obtain risk insurance for such deliveries, which move through hostile Shi'ite and Sunni areas.

Turkish Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug has acknowledged that the General Staff has been contacted by the Pentagon. Basburg said on May 27 that Turkey has received several requests from Washington. He would not elaborate.

"We have received certain requests from the United States," Basburg said. "The requests are being discussed. We cannot say we have reached any conclusion."

Officials said the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan would consider the requests. Under the 1980 agreement, the United States can maintain up to 48 fighter-jets in Incerlik.

Other U.S. requests include expanded access rights to the Turkish air force base in Konya in central Turkey. In all, Turkish sources said, the United States wants access to six ports, four airports and two army facilities.

Officials said the military will raise Turkish demands for the preservation of its interests in northern Turkey. One demand was that the United States help eliminate the Kurdish Workers Party from northern Iraq. About 4,700 PKK fighters were believed to be in the area.

"In line with Turkey's security requirements, Turkish military units will stay in the region as long as presence of the terrorist organization in northern Iraq continues," Basburg told a military conference in Istanbul. "The whole world has realized that terrorism is the most serious threat against peace and security in our age."

Turkey's military has also called on the United States to lead the effort to eradicate terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Senior commanders pointed to Turkey's proximity to areas of instability.

"When we examine regions of crisis in which stability could not be provided, we see that Turkey is located in close proximity to those regions," Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok said. "Turkey has a quite significant position. Turkey's position and proximity to those regions constitute a significant chance for the international society."
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U.S. WARNS TURKEY, UAE TO TIGHTER NUKE CONTROLS
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has urged Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to impose stricter controls on technology exports to halt the trafficking in weapons of mass destruction.

U.S. officials said the network headed by Pakistani nuclear chief Abdul Qadeer Khan continues to use Turkey and the UAE for the transfer of nuclear technology and components to such clients as Iran, Libya and North Korea. They said the Bush administration has begun discussions with Ankara and Abu Dhabi.

Companies established in Turkey and the UAE were found to have cooperated with Khan's network, officials said. They warned that Turkey and the UAE could be hurt by a reduction in the transfer of U.S. technology and trade unless these countries tighten export controls.

Officials said Turkish companies appeared to comprise a new source of supply for nuclear weapons components. They said unidentified Turkish firms have manufactured electronic parts for advanced P2 centrifuges for Libya.

A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said a shipment of centrifuge components was sent from Turkey to Libya in March 2004. The report said the Turkish shipment arrived in Libya via the UAE port of Dubai, the leading way-station of the Khan network.

The report said the shipment was not discovered by either Britain or the United States, which have led the effort to disarm Tripoli. Instead, Libya reported the Turkish shipment of centrifuge components, believed ordered at least a year earlier.

"One shipment of [centrifuge] components actually arrived in Libya in March 2004, having escaped the attention of the [Western] state authorities that had seized the cargo ship BBC China in October 2003," the IAEA report said. "Libya notified the agency of the arrival of this container and it has since been shipped out of the country."

U.S. officials said the arrival of P2 components to Libya in March has undermined assertions by the Bush administration that the Khan network was neutralized. They said Khan, with help from his Pakistani superiors, might have organized another network to continue shipments of nuclear components to such countries as Iran, North Korea and Syria.

The components sent by Turkey were also said to have included centrifuge rotors. The rotors are regarded as vital components and spin the uranium as part of the enrichment process.

Officials said that despite praise from the White House and State Department, Libya has failed to properly answer numerous questions regarding the whereabouts of the components for about 4,000 centrifuges ordered from the Khan network. They said the March shipment from Turkey also contained traces of enriched uranium that indicate Pakistani tests of the equipment.

Turkey was reported to be a way-station in the Khan network in a Malaysian police report, based on the interrogation of a Khan aide, Buhary Syed Abu Tahir. Abu Tahir named two Turkish nationals as being part of the Khan network, one of them a former employee of German firm Siemens.
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ISRAEL NAVY SEEKS NEW ASSAULT PLATFORM
TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Israel's navy has been ordered to examine an attack vessel meant to transport a battalion-size force as far as Iran.

Israeli military sources said naval commander Vice Adm. Yedidya Ya'ari has ordered naval planners to determine the feasibility of an amphibious assault ship to serve as a platform for a deep-strike attack vessel. The sources said Ya'ari has proposed the acquisition of a 13,000-ton amphibious landing platform to serve as a long-range attack vessel.

After two years of planning, Ya'ari ordered a suspension of work on the acquisition of up to three multi-mission corvettes in an effort to convert the navy into a strategic force. The commander presented his decision in early May during a meeting with the service's general staff.

Military sources said Ya'ari expressed dissatisfaction over negotiations with U.S. contractors for a multi-mission corvette. He said the corvette program -- which was to have been approved by Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon in June -- would not be cost-effective, nor would it provide the navy with unique indigenous capabilities.

Instead, Ya'ari advocated a plan to acquire one landing platform dock-type, or LPD-type, vessel capable of transporting 600 troops, helicopters and tanks up to 2,000 nautical miles. The platform envisioned by Ya'ari would be equipped with the U.S-origin Aegis radar and hold a crew of 115.

Several Western suppliers were expected to be contacted to design the LPD. Spain's Izar has built a 13,800-ton Galicia-class amphibious transport vessel. The Netherlands has built the larger LPD-type vessel, the Rotterdam.

Ya'ari's proposal was presented amid the navy's difficulty in installing Israeli radar and combat systems on a multi-mission corvette offered by Lockheed Martin. A defense official said Lockheed Martin rejected an Israeli proposal for the installation of a phased-array radar system by Elta Electronic Systems, a subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries. Lockheed Martin heads the Afcon consortium, which consists of Bath Iron Works and Spain's Izar and has insisted that its Spy-1 radar be installed on the corvette.

In April, Lockheed Martin's competitor, Northrop Gumman, presented another proposal to the navy. The proposal called for the sale of two U.S. Coast Guard-designed Offshore Patrol Cutter platforms, which would contain Elta's radar.

But military sources said the acquisition of an OPC platform would require a lengthy approval process by the U.S. government. Under the plan, Israel would purchase two of nearly 30 OPCs being contracted for the U.S. Coast Guard to help secure U.S. borders. Each OPC was estimated at costing $350 million.

Industry sources, including those from the competing consortiums, appeared stunned by Ya'ari's decision. They said the acquisition of an LPD vessel would require a change in naval doctrine that focused on small vessels. They envisioned difficulties in protecting a slow-moving vessel in enemy waters.
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ISRAEL CITED AS DEFENSE SUPPLIER TO CHINA
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The U.S. Defense Department has deemed Israel a significant defense supplier to China over the last decade.

The Pentagon, in a report to Congress, identified Russia as the primary source of military technology. But the report said Israel, France, Germany and Italy have also provided significant amounts of defense and dual-use technologies.

"Over the past decade, Russia has been the primary source of foreign military technology, although China has also benefited significantly from transfers and sales of defense and defense-related technologies from Israel, France, Germany, and Italy," the report said.

The report did not elaborate on Israeli defense transfers to China. But it cited the Israeli cancellation of the sale of Phalcon airborne early-warning alert aircraft in 2001. The report, entitled "FY04 Report to Congress on PRC Military Power," said the Israeli cancellation hurt Beijing's efforts for an advanced AEW capability.

Since 1999, the report, said, China has sought to diversify its suppliers of military technology to avoid dependence on Russia. The report cited Chinese efforts for the lifting of the military embargo by the European Union, a move opposed by the United States. Britain has been helping China develop a constellation of seven micro-satellites with a remote-sensing payload.

"Efforts underway to lift the European Union embargo on China will provide additional opportunities to acquire specific technologies from Western suppliers," the report said. "In the near-term, Beijing likely will continue to look to Russia to fulfill its military procurement goals."

The report said China has been pursuing an advanced AEW program since the early 1990s. In 1999, it introduced the Y-8 AEW aircraft as one of the lessons of the 1991 U.S.-led Gulf war.

"Israel's cancellation of the more capable Phalcon program in 2001 forced Beijing to pursue other alternatives, including possible acquisition of the A-50/Mainstay AWACS aircraft from Russia or a domestic program," the report said.

The report did not cite Israeli involvement in other Chinese programs, including unmanned air vehicles. In earlier reports, the Pentagon asserted that Israel sold the Harpy attack UAV to Beijing.

"China is investing considerably in UAV development," the report said. "The PLA [People's Liberation Army] has a number of short- and medium- range UAVs in its inventory for reconnaissance, surveillance, and electronic warfare roles. Research is under way to develop a UAV that eventually will enable continual surveillance well beyond China's coastal waters."

The report said Beijing has focused on a security policy along its periphery that includes the Middle East. As part of the policy, Beijing has been establishing relations and a presence in the Middle East as part of what the report termed a competition with the United States.

The report also said China has been implementing the lessons from U.S.-led wars in the 1990s. They include the 1991 Gulf war against Iraq and the NATO campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999.

"The Gulf War sparked a concerted effort to update and refine PLA operational- level doctrine for joint and combined warfare to reflect the requirements of speed, agility, and precision in modern warfare and accelerate force-wide reform and modernization," the report said. "The Gulf War also spurred internal PLA debate on the implications of an emergent revolution in military affairs, in which the conflict became a point of reference for efforts to build capabilities in command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance [C4ISR], information warfare, air defense, precision strike, and logistics."
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MIDDLE EAST ENERGY

SAUDIS SEEK TO CALM FOREIGN OIL FIRMS
ABU DHABI [MENL] -- Saudi Arabia has moved to assuage foreign energy firms that the kingdom can protect them from Al Qaida attack.

Saudi Oil Minister Prince Ali Al Naimi met senior Western executives at Aramco headquarters in Dhahran in the aftermath of an Al Qaida attack in nearby Khobar on Sunday. Khobar houses many of the foreign executives who operate in Saudi Arabia's oil sector.

"No Saudi Aramco facilities or personnel were affected by the incidents and normal operations continue at all of the company's installations," Saudi Aramco, a state-owned company, said. "The company is committed to carrying out the Saudi Arabian government's policy of providing a reliable supply of oil to meet world energy demand."

In a statement, Aramco said its priority would be to "ensure the security of its employees, dependants, facilities and communities, by working closely with Saudi government authorities." The company said it has employed more than 5,000 guards to protect Aramco facilities.
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EGYPT PROMOTES ENERGY SECTOR
CAIRO [MENL] -- Egypt has been marketing opportunities in its energy sector.

Egyptian Oil Minister Sameh Fahmi has been briefing foreign delegations regarding the prospects for investments in Egypt. In a meeting with the Egyptian-French businessmen association, Fahmi said more than 170 oil and natural gas explorations were taking place around Egypt.

In a briefing on May 27, Fahmi said Egypt has begun exporting gas to Jordan. In the future, Fahmi said Egypt plans to export �liquified natural gas to France, Spain and the United �States.�

Fahmi said oil and gas explorations in Egypt peaked during �2002-2003 with revenues that year reaching $3.4 billion. The minister said revenues for fiscal 2004 could reach $4 billion.
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Arabic Edition