Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings. I liked to be among you for a few of minutes. They allowed me to do so for that long only or else I would have liked to be among you always.
I wanted to be with you on the tenth of Muharram for a few of moments so that we reiterate together and make the whole world hear us saying our final choice and reiterating our pledge to Al Hussein who stood all by himself facing 30 thousand men. He was a true manifestation of his father Ali Bin Abi Taleb (Peace be upon him) who used to say: “By Allah, were I to confront them all by myself and they were as numerous so as to fill the whole world, I wouldn’t have cared or felt scared.” Al Hussein was put before two choices: “The bastard son of a bastard has put us before two choices: war or humiliation”. Forever and no matter what the challenges and the dangers might be we tell all those who bet on scaring us, weakening us or threatening us that we are the companions of Abi Abdullah Al Hussein (Peace be upon him) who said: Humiliation, how remote!
The televised word
I Take refuge in Allah from the stoned devil. In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, The Lord of the World. Peace be on our Master and Prophet – The Seal of Prophets – Mohammad and on his Chaste Household, chosen companions and all prophets and messengers.
Peace be on you my master and Lord Abu Abdullah and on all the souls gathering around your holy site. Peace be on you as long as I remain alive and as long as night follows day. May Allah make it not my last visit to you. Peace be on Hussein, Ali the son of Hussein, the children of Hussein and the companions of Hussein.
Peace be on you scholars, brothers and sisters. Peace be on you all and Allah’s mercy and blessing. May Allah reward you and us generously for the catastrophe afflicted on the prophet of Allah and his Household peace be upon him.
First I would like to thank you all for this great attendance, for the faithfulness, the pledge, the commitment and the patience. You have spent last night awaken. Still you woke up early and spent all this time under the sun. As in all the previous years, neither the hot summer nor the cold winter hindered you from attending the meeting of faithfulness with your lord Abi Abdullah Al Hussein (Peace be upon him).
I thank you for your massive attendance. May Allah Al Mighty accept your efforts.
On the tenth of Muharram – on the day of the martyrdom of Abi Abdullah All Hussein and his Household and companion and what afflicted him – I along with you offer our consolation and solace to the Master – the Prophet of Allah (peace be on him) and the Household of the Prophet of Allah (Peace be upon him), our Imams (peace be upon them), our Master – Baqiyetullah on Earth, the grandson of Imam Hussein, the Lord of Our Time May Allah make his appearance near – his righteous deputy, His Eminence Imam Leader Sayyed Ali Khamenai (May Allah prolong his age), all our great religious authorities, our Islamic nation and all Muslims especially the followers of the Prophet (Peace be upon him and his Household).
We announce our consolation and solace on this day which we mark annually to renew our commitment to our line, faith, pledge, path, steadfastness, will and determination to continue on the path on which the prophets, messengers, good men and millions of martyrs died. Karbala is but a great prominent link in this historic, great prophetic track which will remain forceful until the Hour of Resurrection.
Brothers and sisters! As we have talked about Ashura on the past nights and postponed talking politics until today, I will say a couple of words in principle.
First: We must point out, highlight and remind that the true threat to this nation, all its states, peoples and governments is the US-Israeli project – the US administration whoever its president is. It’s this enemy who occupies Palestine, violates its sanctities and attacks the Palestinian people and the peoples of this region. It’s the greater plunderer of our wealth and the capabilities of our nation. It’s this American. It’s this Israeli. What is required from our people always is that it becomes aware of this truth and not be deceived by this new American deception.
The Americans tried during this year to present themselves as defenders of human rights, the freedom of peoples and the democracy of the Arab world. We know these crook hypocrites. We know their history which is pregnant with supporting dictatorships. All of these dictatorships enjoy the support of the US administration on the political, media, intelligence, military and all other levels. Now when the people revolted and America found that its followers are collapsing and tumbling, it renounced them.
Brothers and sisters! Do you know that this is the nature of Devil as Allah portrays him in the Holy Koran? On Doom’s Day, the Devil does that. When the Devil reaches with his followers a dead end, he renounces them. He depicts himself as innocent. On the contrary, he says he had no power on them.
What asserts the devilish nature of the US administration is that it abandons its followers, allies and tools at the first turning point. It abandons them and searches for its interests and for means to lessen its casualties.
Our Arab and Islamic peoples must know that the US administration is the enemy and the threat. Didn’t these peoples hear US president Obama days ago addressing the Jewish Lobby and the Jewish organizations in America saying: ‘My administration gave the security of Israel what no other administration gave.” That’s true. Even more, under Obama, the CIA turned from a great inveterate intelligence body which works on essential cases to a detective in Lebanon for the Mosad and the Israeli security apparatuses? It spies on this fighter and on that fighter. It searches for an arsenal, a rocket platform, a leadership headquarters and the house of an official. The US intelligence apparatuses turned to small spies at the service of Israel and to defend Israel.
O Arabs! O Muslims! O peoples! O political forces! Do not be taken by the US administration. It is America which is occupying your Palestine and your Al Qods and threatening your holy shrine. It is America which is responsible before the Israeli enemy for detaining thousands of Palestinians in jails besides displacing, torturing and besieging thousands others in Gaza and the West Bank. It is this America which we must recall on the tenth of Muharam so that we do not mistake the enemy as a friend. He who doesn’t have insight mistakes the enemy for a friend. We must remember that the enemy is this US administration and its tool in the region. Israel is not its ally but rather its tool. It uses Israel as a spearhead to humiliate the Arabs and the Muslims, to vanquish Arabs and Muslims, to impose the US will on Arabs and Muslims, to furnish itself with arms market and to plunder the oil in the countries of Arabs and Muslims. None of us must ever forget that.
Second: Also in this framework, all of us must remember that the US administration – after its former project of a Neo Middle East was frustrated by the resistance movements in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq and the awareness of the peoples in the region and the opposing resisting countries on top of which come Iran and Syria – woke up with the awakening and revolution of the Arab peoples to renew the Neo Middle East project but from another gate. It is the gate of ordeal, internal struggle, sectarian and factional sedition and tribal, national and racial strife. That’s because this is the only option which is still available before America and Israel to reproduce its domination over the region. We must all be aware of that. In this framework, we stressed and we still stress that we must avoid sectarian and factional speech or instigation because that serves Israel, America and the enemy of this nation; it does not serve this nation. We must all respect each other’s sanctities. Here I stress on the fatwa of His Eminence Imam Khamenai (May Allah prolong his lifespan) to respect all sanctities and symbols of every section and faction.
Third: In this framework, we come to Al Qods, Palestine, the central cause and the axis of the struggle in the region. Today we must warn against the judaization which is taking place. We are not talking about a judaizing project. There is actual judaization. Everyday new steps are taken for achieving total judaization of Al Qods. Days ago, houses were demolished in West Al Qods. They daily take decisions to build thousands of residential units. Now there are parts of Al Qods Mosque which are threatened of demolition due to reparation works. What we fear and what we must fear is that amid the occupation of the Arab peoples in their internal crises, that Israel ceases the opportunity and strikes a final blow to Al Qods Mosque. Anyway, that’ll be the worst folly Israel ever perpetrates since the establishment of this usurping entity. However, the peoples must be aware, present and alert because there is a danger of this kind which is threatening sanctities. Palestine must be the primary central cause no matter how difficult internal national situations were and no matter how struggles and conflicts aggravated in any country. This is what we believe in and what we work for.
Fourth: As far as the Arab options are concerned, we bargain on the awareness of these peoples and the options of peoples. In Tunisia, the people gained victory over their tyrant and carried out elections. We hope that the Islamic and national forces live up to the expectations and ambitions of the honest and noble Tunisian people.
In Libya, the people gained victory over their tyrant. Here also the political forces are responsible for achieving the ambitions of this people who offered thousands of martyrs.
In Yemen, the great challenge still exists. Some are trying to tear Yemen and take it back to sectarian and factional ordeal to liquidate the revolution and its targets and ambitions. That requires great awareness.
In Bahrain, the people are caring on their peaceful movement despite all aspects of suppression, deception and hypocrisy. They still insist on achieving their legitimate national goals.
In Egypt, great changes are taking place. This made Israel shake. Even Barak mentioned that with apprehension. We all look at Egypt with hope because any true change in Egypt is for the interest of the nation and the interest of Palestine. Any true change would turn the strategic milieu for Israel in the region as that would limit Israel’s options in the region. That would put Israel before a historic crisis and a crisis of existence. This is the great challenge before the Egyptian political forces which win in the elections and form the new authority in Egypt. It’s the challenge of Palestine, Al Qods, Gaza, the West Bank, Camp David and the stance from this entity. We hope and we bet that the Arab peoples won’t be deceived with all of this US hypocrisy. When the Arab peoples overpass their internal ordeals, they will return to their normal posts where the forces of this nation and its peoples are mustered so as to face this central cause. As such these Americans will flop as they had already flopped. Hereof I move to Iraq and then to Syria and finally to Lebanon.
In Iraq today and within few days, it is supposed that the US pull out from Iraq be wrapped up. There is a US defeat in Iraq. It’s a true defeat. The Americans didn’t come to Iraq to pull out from it. Their goal and expectations were to stay in Iraq, control Iraq, and establish legally and field fortified military bases for scores of years. However the heroic resistance in Iraq, the steadfastness of the Iraqi people, the steadfastness of the political forces and the high expenses of the US occupation in Iraq imposed on it to take the decision of withdrawal. I will also tell you that the Iraqi resistance operations did not receive Arab and international media coverage and that many of the resistance factions used to circulate video tapes and CDs on its clear qualitative strong effective operations on Arab and international satellites. Still the world used to neglect these operations, and still a great number of the Iraqi resistance operations were blacked out to serve the morals of the US Army and the US administration. This asserts the nature of the media and satellites which control the Arab and Islamic world.
Anyway, what took place in Iraq is a true defeat. The resistance forces and the sacrificing people of Iraq must celebrate this great victory even if there are remarks on the endings. Still in general there is a very great historic victory which is achieved by the Iraqi people and the Iraqi resistance. This must be brought to light and uncovered before the whole peoples of the region. When Israel is defeated in Lebanon and Gaza, that means that Israel is being overpowered. When America is defeated in Iraq, that means America is being overpowered. As it was overpowered in Iraq, it might be overpowered in any other country. However the Americans want to lessen the impact of the defeat; thus they are depending on evoking smoke and misleading events. In this framework, what is taking place in Syria, the threats to Iran, the story of the Saudi Ambassador to Washington and all what is taking place in the region is to preoccupy the peoples of the region from eye-witnessing the defeat of the US Army which has presented itself as the only great power in the world but was defeated by the Iraqi men and the Iraqi fighters.
Unfortunately, I say that the Americans have managed to do so to a great extent. If you watch the Arab and international satellites where is the headline on the US withdrawal from Iraq?
Where are the footages of tanks and soldiers withdrawing? Yesterday I read in the newspapers that perhaps there are still 19 or 9 thousand or 900 US soldiers. I don’t know. Well how did the 150 thousands withdraw from Iraq? No one felt or watched that. The Americans managed to cover that. In fact when we watch satellites we find that the first headline is Syria; the second Egypt; the third Libya; the fourth Tunisia; the fifth Yemen and I don’t know what the sixth is. If it is still possible, they may talk about the US withdrawal from Iraq. This is deliberate and not by chance. Thus today the responsibility of the resistance forces in the Arab and Islamic world especially in Iraq, the responsibility of the Iraqi people and media and the responsibility of every faithful media is to show the defeat.
On the tenth day of Muharam, we felicitate anew the new historic event in which blood gained victory over the sword. The Iraqi people who were fighting with machine guns, RPJs, bombs and Katusha in the best circumstances could defeat the most powerful army in this world ever. If the Israeli Army is the most powerful army in the region, the US Army is the most powerful army in the world. Still it was defeated in few years. It was defeated with blood, jihad, resistance, determination and will. What is most important today is being alert to what might take place following the US withdrawal from Iraq, US devilry and the ordeal project it seeks in the whole region. That depends on the awareness of our Iraqi brethrens and their dialogue, mutual understanding and tolerance besides their commitment to their country and their unity.
Here I come to Syria. Our stance from the very first days is clear. We are with reform in Syria. We stand with the regime which resisted and opposed hegemony and supported resistance movements. We say yes for addressing all reasons and aspects of corruption or disorder. We say yes to all forms of reform which the Syrian leadership accepted in fact and which the Syrian people call for. However some do not want reforms in Syria. They do not want security, stability, civil peace or dialogue either. Some want to destroy Syria. Some want to make up for their defeat in Iraq. Syria is a partner in defeating the Americans in Iraq. So some want to make up for their defeat in Iraq and for their great strategic defeat which is very much possible – I’m not saying it is an absolute defeat but rather very likely defeat – in Egypt. The change of the regime in Syria is for whose interest? Is it for the interest of Palestine or the Palestinian people? Is the change they call for in Syria for the interest of Al Qods or the nation? No!
Anyway, whenever someone tries to hide something, it appears in the slips of his tongue and his features. The so called Syrian National Council which was formed in Istanbul and which some western and Arab states view as a legitimate representative and a converser in the name of the Syrian people is headed by Burhan Deeb Galyoun. He is a university professor. Two or three days ago he said: If we could change the regime and take power in Syria, we want to cut our ties with Iran. (That is quite clear). We want to cut our ties with the resistance movements in Lebanon and Palestine. (He named Hezbollah and Hamas). Well, these are accreditation cards for whom? These are accreditation cards for the Americans and the Israelis. Well, Professor Galyoun, what will you do with Golan Heights? He said he will resort to the international community to see what they can do. We want to negotiate with the international community. This comes 20 or 30 years of negotiations which led nowhere. So it becomes clear that their expectations are to severe Syria’s ties with the resistance movements in the region to which Syria represents a source of power and vice verse. They want to fall anew in the bosom of the international community for the sake of Golan Heights. This is the alternative proposal, the alternative authority and the alternative regime! There is even worse. I used to stop here. The brethrens used to have two viewpoints: whether we comment or not. However, making a comment overweighs according to me. One of the leaderships who considers himself belonging to an Islamist organization in Syria said if we managed to change the situation in Syria, we will cross the Lebanese borders and go to Lebanon to fight, punish and dwarf Hezbollah. Great! These are accreditation cards for whom? They are for America and Israel. That’s because Hezbollah is the enemy of America and Israel. It’s Hezbollah who defeated Israel and established for its defeats in the region. This is intended for the Syrian people. It is also intended for every Lebanese who tells you to have patience and wait because you are reading things in Syria in a wrong way. On the contrary, the past couple of days revealed that we were reading things in a very correct way. The essential point is attacking the resistance movements. It is not reforms and addressing corruption and multiplicity which are required in Syria. What is required in Syria is treacherous Arab regime. This is the truth. With our respect to those who demonstrate in Syria and those who fight having something else in mind we tell them to be aware because they will be exploited in a project of this kind. There is a project that goes against their conviction, religion, culture, national belonging, nationalism, Syrian identity and true belonging. However anyway, these statements and these positions made us more convinced in the validity of our position. We frankly say that we want and call for calmness in Syria, dialogue in Syria, peace in Syria and to address things calmly. We condemn sanctions. We condemn any form of ordeal or any aspect of sectarian and factional instigation. Indeed, I foretell all those who threaten from across seas and oceans that fleet, legions, convoys and battleships have come from behind seas and oceans but were destroyed on Beirut’s shores.
Before all of these developments that are taking place in the region, we always insist that we do not deal with the Lebanese affair as if Lebanon is an isolated island. Indeed, this is an essential principle. No one can and it is not correct that any one deals with the situations in Lebanon or all what is taking place in Lebanon apart from what is taking place in the region. In fact, they are deeply and forcefully connected to what is taking place in the region. Hereof and from our understanding of priorities, we were always and we still insist on civil peace. We still insist in transgressing ordeal no matter what its reasons are and no matter how much the atmosphere is instigating and no matter how much oppression and falsehood there are. In Lebanon there is much oppression and falsehood. Others from abroad also help in that. For example, yesterday they were threatening. A figure from the Syrian Opposition showed up on a satellite outlet and said that Hezbollah in the North is breaking into hospitals and arresting the Syrian wounded. Does anyone believe such a speech! Still this is said with much indolence on essential Arab satellites… If anything takes place in this country, no matter how trivial it is, they blame Hezbollah for that. This is really a good indicator because it means that their true obsession and preoccupation is Hezbollah. Thus in everything whether trivial or important they hold Hezbollah responsible for what is taking place – and at times what is not taking place in fact. Still we show patience and tolerance. Some want to push things in Lebanon towards internal ordeal. Well we do not want any form of internal ordeal and we must face that with wisdom, patience, awareness, tolerance and overlooking things.
Indeed, we also call in Lebanon for addressing governmental disorder and to activate governmental action because this is a true national need. In this framework, we reiterate our assertion on the importance and the validity of the demands of the Reform and Change Bloc. The government and the Premier are Inshallah serious in assuming national responsibilities. These issues must be addressed so that governmental action dash in a good way.
We assert achieving justice as far as the false witnesses file is concerned. We assert on doing justice for the officers who were unjustly and aggressively arrested. These false witnesses must be punished because the issue was not that of false witnesses. Their role did not end with putting the officers in jail. They also caused great political events in the country. Some people are confused. They consider that the false witnesses file had to do with four respectful officers and a group of respectful citizens who were hurled to prison. That’s not the whole story even though this is great oppression. The false witnesses led to enmity between Lebanon and Syria, to instigation in Lebanon, to sharp divisions, to factional and sectarian tension and to the killing of tens of Syrians unjustly.
What is strange is that political forces and personalities in Lebanon make a big uproar for some Syrian kidnapped who are not kidnapped. They say they are 12. However there are three who are lost. Well, where are the 12? Everyday they evoke the issue and condemn it while they were silent and they remain silent on scores or hundreds of Syrians who were killed in Lebanon due to false accusations and false witnesses. So this is not a trivial file. No one is underestimating it or belittling it. No one deals with it as something marginal or transient. Still what is most important is the continuous current Israeli intimidation whether through spies and collaborators or through CIA agents. That’s because day after day, it is being proved that the CIA is mobilizing spies for Israel or spying apparatuses which the Resistance, the Army and the concerned security forces are discovering gradually among other Israeli violations and aggressions. We really don’t know what Israel is preparing for Lebanon.
In this framework also, we stress on the threefold formula that provides Lebanon with invulnerability, strength and dignity: the Army, the people and the Resistance. These are the elements of power to which we adhere. As I said yesterday, we on Ashura like to deliver a message which is not new but decisive, clear and final to all those who conspire and nurture hopes or wait for changes. This Resistance in Lebanon with its arms, organization, fighters, mind, culture and presence will remain Inshallah. This Resistance in Lebanon Inshallah will carry on, and all your conspiracies, connivance and psychological, media, political and intelligence war will not be able to harm it. We will adhere to our resistance. We will adhere to the arms of the Resistance. On the tenth day of Muharam, I will tell you more. Day after day our number is increasing. We are improving. Our training is enhancing, and our confidence in the future is increasing. Our arms are developing. If anyone bargains that our arms rust, we are able to replace the rust arms, and we are able to modernize everything.
There is a true misunderstanding concerning arms. Some say that the arms of the Resistance are the reason for chaos and disorder or some security unrest in Lebanon. See how much deception there is in that! This is deviltry. Deviltry is the mission of the devil. What arms are used in civil war? What arms cause ordeal? What arms lead to killing, robbing and causing skirmishes? We are all Lebanese and we all know that the Kalashnikov, the M16, the gun and at most the BKC or RBJ and hand grenade are weapons which all Lebanese possess. Well did it ever happen that a security skirmish or a civil war ever take place and a Zilzal Rocket or a Raad Rocket or a Kheibar Rocket or rocket launchers or Rocket of (Haifa and far behind Haifa and even further behind than Haifa) was used in it? Never! If any skirmish takes place in the country in whatever region, the Kalashnikov, the RBJ, the BKC or the hand grenade is used. These are owned by all the Lebanese. Let no one say he does not own weapons. Arms of this level are possessed by families, clans and individuals. This is the problem of internal security and not the arms of the Resistance. Those who want internal security must seek to address the crisis of this kind of arms: how do we control them; how do we organize them? As for those who want to disarm us or thinks of disarming us from Zilzal Rocket, the far range rockets, rocket launchers, maritime defense capabilities or aerial defense capabilities, by that they would be offering a great service to Israel. That means what Israel failed to achieve in 33 days while backed with the whole world, world technology and satellites, air force, reconnaissance planes and the most developed weapons, they want to achieve through dialogue, through political talks or through the media. I will tell you that this will never take place and will never be achieved.
On the day of tough, decisive and historic choices, we wrap up the tenth of Muharram as we do every year. You and I will tell the whole world that here in Lebanon we took the initiative since 1982.
We conclude as we do every tenth of Muharram. You and I will tell the whole world. Here in Lebanon we took the initiative since 1982. We did not wait for the international community, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Conference or any one in the world. With our will, determination, youth, men, women and humble capabilities we resisted, fought, offered martyrs, restored our land, freed our prisoners and restored our dignity. With our resistance we will guard our land, dignity, honor and country against harm inflicted by anyone in the world.
No risks, threats, intimidations, events or changes will prevent us from performing this obligation and responsibility. We belong to the Imam who stood once all alone facing 30 thousand men. Every one of us is not alone facing these. We are tens of thousands in Lebanon. We are full-fledged trained fighters who are ready for martyrdom. We are the adorers of Abi Abdullah Al Hussein (peace be upon him). We are a force which is still ignored by the enemy. The enemy will remain ignorant of this power. Every enemy will be taken aback through its forceful presence and innovation in any field of confrontation.
Thus on the tenth of Muharram we say: Time of bargaining on our dignity, honor, presence, nation, land and sanctities for whatever price is over. Circumstances changed radically. Thus we wrap up renewing our pledge to Al Hussein (peace be upon him). We tell him: O our master! O our Imam! As you sacrificed everything for your great goals and preferred that you be killed along with your Household and companions for the sake of your aims, we will guard this path. However, we will also make a victory out of your blood, intellect and culture. Our call and pledge to you on the tenth of Muharram will persist to be.
Brothers and sisters! After all martyrs fell and Al Hussein remained all alone but still strong, tough and radiant, he made a call. The call was not for the army which was before him. It was rather a call to all those who are held in the loins of men and the wombs of women all through history until Doom’s Day. His call was “Is there anyone willing to support me?” The answer will always be made with the blood, spirit, position, intelligence, jihad and resistance: “At your service, O Hussein!” May Allah reward you generously and bless your efforts. May Allah forgive you and us. Peace be on Hussein, the children of Hussein and the companions of Hussein. Peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.
Saker;
In all modesty, I had predicted that he will show up in person for ASHOURA’ this year…, I just knew it in my guts and I said it to myself the night before….
This was a real turning-point for Hezbollah…., new markers have been laid from Turkey to Iraq to Gaza…
SHN knows that he has already alternate routes to Syria’s traditional supply lines, should that happen…, but it won’t as far as we can see NOW…
Hezbollah is on a real War Footing….and its arsenal is growing daily by leaps and bounds; and Tens of thousands of new recruits have joined its ranks…
Best,
Joe
Dear Saker;
The Iranians showed clear footage of the Beast of Kandahar…. the RQ-170 which they claim that they have “downed” electronically….?
How is that possible?
It looks quite astonishing because from what I could see from the Video of the IRCG and pictures of the real thing, it looks spanking new and without a damn scratch on the body of the bird….
Best,
Joe
Hi Joe.
I have not looked into this. Could you please give me the links to the article you mention, video, photos, etc. Once you give me that, I will gladly reply (I already have a little idea).
Cheers,
The Saker
Dear Saker;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6uEmq5wl6hU
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/world/middleeast/iran-shows-us-drone-on-tv-and-lodges-a-protest.html?_r=1
To Make.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Iran Shows-Off Downed Top-Secret U.S. Drone (Video)
The BBC’s James Reynolds says the video appears to support Iran’s claims
Iran Shows U.S. Drone On TV, And Lodges A Protest — New York Times
Iran exhibited images of a downed C.I.A. stealth drone on state television Thursday. The 2.5-minute video clip was the first visual evidence to emerge that Iran had possession of the remote-control surveillance aircraft since American officials confirmed over the weekend that it was missing.
The drone — which appeared to be in good condition despite Iranian claims that it had been shot down — was displayed on a platform, with photos of Iran’s revolutionary ayatollahs on the wall behind it and a desecrated version of the American flag, with what appeared to be skulls instead of stars, underneath the left wing.
Read more ….
More News On Iran Showing Off The Downed U.S. Drone
Iran airs footage of downed US drone (Video) — Press TV (Iran)
Iran shows intact drone, boasts of cyberattack — CBS
Iran airs footage of US drone, protests ‘violation’ — AFP
Iran shows film of captured US drone — BBC
Iran Drone Video: Iranian TV Airs Footage Purporting To Show Downed Aircraft — Huffington Post
Iran shows video of captured US drone — AP
Why Iran’s capture of US drone will shake CIA — BBC
LOL
Cheers and best from Hezbollah-Land of the bravest….
Joe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6uEmq5wl6hU
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/world/middleeast/iran-shows-us-drone-on-tv-and-lodges-a-protest.html?_r=1
To Make.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Iran Shows-Off Downed Top-Secret U.S. Drone (Video)
The BBC’s James Reynolds says the video appears to support Iran’s claims
Iran Shows U.S. Drone On TV, And Lodges A Protest — New York Times
Iran exhibited images of a downed C.I.A. stealth drone on state television Thursday. The 2.5-minute video clip was the first visual evidence to emerge that Iran had possession of the remote-control surveillance aircraft since American officials confirmed over the weekend that it was missing.
The drone — which appeared to be in good condition despite Iranian claims that it had been shot down — was displayed on a platform, with photos of Iran’s revolutionary ayatollahs on the wall behind it and a desecrated version of the American flag, with what appeared to be skulls instead of stars, underneath the left wing.
Read more ….
More News On Iran Showing Off The Downed U.S. Drone
Iran airs footage of downed US drone (Video) — Press TV (Iran)
Iran shows intact drone, boasts of cyberattack — CBS
Iran airs footage of US drone, protests ‘violation’ — AFP
Iran shows film of captured US drone — BBC
Iran Drone Video: Iranian TV Airs Footage Purporting To Show Downed Aircraft — Huffington Post
Iran shows video of captured US drone — AP
Why Iran’s capture of US drone will shake CIA — BBC
LOL
Cheers and best from Hezbollah-Land of the bravest….
Joe
@Joe: I found some footage and I did a little looking into that. Basically, and assuming the Iranian did not just shoot down the real RQ-170 and show a mockup, it appears that they did manage not only to break the RQ-170 datalink, but actually to take control over it. If that is true, then its one heck of a nice hack, kudos to them. There are also simpler options just as basically jamming the datalink and then either find the crashed RQ-170 once it runs out of fuel (US version so far), or to catch it in midair with some type of net or other device. I am surprised that the RQ-170 software does not include some self-destruct capability in case the contact between the RQ-170 and its operators is lost.
As for seeing it in the first place, that is much easier than what people think. First, low-observable aircraft are only low-observable in certain radar-bands (frequencies), second they are only low-observable in certain aspects (not all around), and third some good guesswork makes it possible to predict with some accuracy where they will fly through. This is how the Serbs down the US F-117A.
Lastly, remember that even though the Russians did eventually backstab the Iranians at the UNSC they did sell them some *very* capable air defense systems (such as the Tor-M1 9K330) and that the Iranians have an huge expertise in engineering and reverse-engineering. This is not some technologically backward country like Libya, and I am not at all surprised that the Iranians gave Uncle Shmuel a ‘black eye’ (yet again).
I wonder if the RQ-170’s software was written in Israel, LOL!
Cheers,
The Saker
Dear Saker;
Thanks for your precious input….
Funny you should say that at the very end….about Israhell/Software…LOL
Remember that we have heard in south Lebanon about 2 months ago and again few weeks ago, that Hezbollah did indeed down electronically a couple of IDF drones…but they did not confirm or deny the story and did not show any footage or pictures….could there be some link between those incidents?
Best;
Joe
Here we go again Saker;
This is a first response from the Zio-Turks….
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/monitor_breakfast/2011/1208/Turkey-Materials-likely-destined-for-Iran-nuclear-program-seized-video
Best,
Joe
Joe: if I remember correctly Hezbollah as decrypted the signal the Israeli drone was sending back during its overflight of Beirut the day that Harari was killed. Which would indicate that Israeli software is not nearly as secure as they think. Now with the US drone this really depends on the software stack and protocols used to operate these drones. I never worked with such technologies but I would suspect that they use several forms of encryption for the operation of this drone, something like a highly secure and possibly slow “handshake” between drone and base to authorize control (that would be done on the ground) and then a faster highbandwith encrypted protocol for the actual operations. Somehow, the Iranians managed to a) jam the original signal (not too hard) b) take control of the drone (very hard) and c) operate the drone (hard but probably easier than b).
That is only a guess. I wish somebody with actual experience of this stuff would chime in :-)
Cheers,
The Saker
There are rumours that a Russian ECM station was used to interfere with the signals of this aircraft:
http://www.militaryparitet.com/teletype/data/ic_teletype/12971/ (in Russian)
See also the comments from Valen in this blog:
http://elhangardetj.blogspot.com/2011/12/tiene-iran-en-su-poder-al-monstruo-de.html (in Spanish)
Anyway, I am absolutely amazed. This is a bigger feat than the downing of a F-117 by the Serbs in 1999. The Iranians have a very sophisticated (much more than the already retired F-117) and top secret aircraft intact! Now imagine Russian and Chinese engineers getting access to it.
The case seems pretty much confirmed, it doesn’t seems to be a hoax or a propaganda (unless the Iranians made a very realistic mock-up of this aircraft). The US also has admitted that the Iranians have the RQ-170:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/05/us-military-sources-iran-has-missing-us-drone/
The only thing that I find strange are all those banners and nets in front of the aircraft, preventing us to see its landing gear. Could it be that this part was damaged?
About UAV links, it is known that up to a few years ago the US was using them with no kind of encryption, to improve performance of communications. They started encrypting when they realized that Iraqi guerrilla had common satellite antennas linked to a notebook with a Russian commercial software that allowed them to get UAV signals and see what the Americans were seeing. I don’t remember where I read this, but if you want I can search.
I guess the Sentinel was now using a secure link. The Iranians showed a convincing video, and the US admitted to the loss, we just don’t know how the Iranians got the aircraft. They were either extremely lucky, or extremely skilfull and equipped with excelent systems, either developed in Russia, China, or by their own.
Saker;
Two things:
1- Hezbollah has been intercepting IAF drone footage for years without Israeli knowledge, PRIOR to Hariri’s assassination 02-14-2005…but it was only disclosed publicly last year…..
Remember the Ansarieh operation in South Lebanon in 1997 I think, whereby a top notch best commandos of the Israeli Navy, Army and IAF were ambushed at dawn in Ansarieh and 26 of them were cut to pieces by Hezbollah fighters who were in waiting, precisely because of that intercepted footage…They were able to GUESS that IDF was planning a covert operation in that sector and they waited them out….
2- VERY recently, only 2 months ago and again a few weeks ago, there was rumors of DOWNED IAF drones in South Lebanon….Electronically….
Best;
Joe
The RQ-170 US drone, BEAST of KANDAHAR IS DOWN and OUT…
The shoot down of the RQ-170 US drone by Iran just proves once more how obsolete Stealth aircraft are. Stealth was designed in the 1980’s as an air defense technology that was intended to be used against Soviet WW2 era AM pulse radar systems. The advent of plastic molded aircraft materials in the 1980’s made this possible and it was proven very effective against Iraq radar systems in 1990 but failed in Serbia in 1997. By then the Russians had caught up with stealth by converting all of there SA-3 radar systems with FM slope detectors and replacing all of the older radar systems with the newer S-300 radar systems that use Pulse modulated FM. This is why the F-117 was retired along with the SR-71 and the U-2. The current generation of Russian air-born radar sets can lock on to and shoot down an F-22/35 at 40+ miles and the S-300 can track a stealth aircraft out to 300 miles with lock on at 150 miles and shoot down at 75 miles. The days of B-52’s flying over downtown Hanoi or Bagdad or Iran are over with….
The F-22/35 are obsolete even before they are operational…. Due to simple and cheep electronic upgrades in radar technology systems. You can no longer afford to operate an aircraft that costs 30 to 45 million dollars each and 30,000$ an hour just to operate it. Drone and cruise missile technology are the only option left. 30 million dollar manned Fighter aircraft are obsolete due to operating and procurment costs. Just like the Kaisers battleships in WW1,You simply can’t afford to lose them so they stayed in port. The IQ-170 drone uses low cost plastic injection molded technology that only reduces radar cross section by 45db and glint by 20db at X-band less at S and l-band. The engine air intake on the top of the aircraft makes it susceptible to compressor stall if it is hit by a near miss missile with a warhead of 45kg or larger. The two bulges on either side of the air intake are for landing gear storage. The aircraft operates on a pre-programmed flight path and does not require remote control except for take off or landing. Under engine stall it will go into a flat spin and crash…. Due to no rudder. The last manned jet fighter will probably be the FA-18 and the F-20 Tigershark due to low cost of production. The F-15 and F-16 are 1970/80 technology that are over 30 years old. We currently have over 1200 Fighter jets F-15,16,18 in storage at Davis/Mothin air force base that have bad wing spars, landing gear cracks and structural failures due to age, that cost over 30 million dollars each and are total junk…. Along with another 600+ B-52’s, KC-135 tankers, C-141, C-130 cargo planes, P-3’s etc. All of these weapons were ordered under the Ronald Reagan administration and they are all obsolete or just worn out…. The weapons that fought the cold war and Vietnam are as obsolete as WW1 weapons would be today. The DOD must retool with new weapon systems that work instead of continuing to buy this junk from the 1980’s. Sold to the ZIOCONNED USA killers by Rumsfeld and DICK Cheney the assassins in Chief at OSP…..etc….
Best,
Joe
@Joe:The shoot down of the RQ-170 US drone by Iran just proves once more how obsolete Stealth aircraft are.
Now here I totally disagree.
First, you cannot put the RQ-170, the F-117A, the SR-71, the U-2, the F-22 and the F-35 in the same category. They are all COMPLETELY DIFFERENT platforms. Right there you can tell that the author of these paragraphs (who is it, btw?) does not understand what he is talking about.
Second, the downing of the F-117A had nothing in common with the takeover by the Iranians of the RQ-170.
Third, the author says that the Russian radars have made stealth technology obsolete, then this begs the question of why the Russians are also actively developing the PAKFA/T-50 (while the Chinese are working on their J-20, I would add).
Fourth, the F-117A, the SR-71 and the U-2 were retired for totally different reasons.
I cannot write a full description of what low-observable radar technology really is and how it really works, but I assure you that this guy is 100% wrong.
Let me just say here that while the F-117A is, indeed, becoming obsolete, the US F-22 is a fantastic machine with a huge potential left in it, the Russian PAKFA/T-50 is arguably the best fighter ever built, and the Chinese J-20 might well be the best strike-fighter ever built. Now the F-35 is, indeed, a really bad over-engineered, “does everything but nothing well”, fundamentally flawed already at the design stage “flying brick”. But that is not because US engineers are incompetent, but because the entire procurement process in the USA is totally FUBARed. Even so, I bet you the US engineers will, with time, make the F-35 into something mostly useful (as they did with the V-22 Osprey).
Sorry that I simply do not have the time to write a full detailed reply, but I assure you that the author if these words really got it wrong.
Cheers,
The Saker
Joe, this article you quoted is full of errors. A few notes to add to what Saker already posted:
“Stealth was designed in the 1980’s as an air defense technology that was intended to be used against Soviet WW2 era AM pulse radar systems.”
Stealth has nothing to do with modulation (AM or FM), but with wavelenghts. More modern radars use short wavelenghts (microwaves) in order to achieve a very good resolution of the target. The irony is that older radars, with bigger wavelenghts, are much better at detecting stealth aircraft than modern ones. The problem is: with bigger wavelenghts you get very poor resolution. That means you know there is something out there, but you can’t track it, that is, know its exact coordinates and speed, and it is much harder to guide a missile. The only way to improve resolution would be to use huge antennas, but that is quite impractical. Anyway, AESA (active electronically scanned array) radars with modern computer systems can be quite effective against stealth, though we don’t know for sure at what range they could detect and lock on a stealth aircraft. Both stealth aircraft and anti-stealth radars are highly classified. Many suppose that the Russian S-300 SAM system and the MiG-31 Zaslon radar were quite effective against “first generation” stealth (F-117, retired from service in 2008). S-400 and more modern AESA radar installed in the latest versions of Russian aircraft (Irbis-E, Zhuk-AE) should have some capacity against the more recent stealth aircraft (B-2, F-22, F-35).
Anyway, another thing to keep in mind is that stealth is dependent on aspect, also: according to the angle a radar is “seeing” an aircraft, it will be harder or easier to detect it. Of course, detection aspects of modern aircraft, specially stealth, is highly classified information.
The F-117 was downed by the Serbs by a combination of factors: they used an older radar system with long wavelenghts (S-125), and they knew the route the aircraft was going to fly (either obtained by intelligence, or simply because the USAF was using always the same route). The fact that that F-117 was not accompanied by ECM aircraft surely helped. One thing is sure: the Serbs did not use any super-high-tech system to shoot down that plane. They intelligently used older radar together with other methods in an unexpected way, catching the USAF completely by surprise.
“You can no longer afford to operate an aircraft that costs 30 to 45 million dollars each and 30,000$ an hour just to operate it.” The USAF would love if that was true, as these figures are quite cheap. In fact the F-22 costs around 150 million dollars. Even the JAS-39 Gripen, which is perhaps the cheapest modern fighter available, costs from 45 to 60 million dollars, depending on the version. Anyway, the comparison of the F-22 with German WWI battleships is good, and the fact that it wasn’t used in Lybia is a proof that not only it is extremely expensive to operate, but also the aircraft still suffers from technical problems that prevent making it fully operational.
“Under engine stall it will go into a flat spin and crash…. Due to no rudder.” With modern fly-by-wire systems that is not necessarily true. An aircraft can be very inefficient aerodynamically, but computer controls can compensate for it. The Sukhoi T-50 has much smaller rudders than the F-22, and that means that its fly-by-wire system is more capable than the one in the F-22.
“The last manned jet fighter will probably be the FA-18 and the F-20 Tigershark due to low cost of production.” Interesting this quote of an almost forgotten plane, the F-20 Tigershark. That was a deep upgrade of the F-5E Tiger II, proposed 30 years ago, but in the end the program was abandoned and only 3 prototypes were ever built.
@Joe: one more thing – so called “stealth” aircraft are not fundamentally different from other aircraft: they are not used alone, but as part of a “force package” which often includes AWACS, electronic countermeasures, jamming, refueling and so called “SEAD” (Suppression of Enemy Air Defense) which means that any radar which is switched on has to worry about being blow up by an anti-radiation missile. Some stealth aircraft have very powerful jamming and electronic countermeasures (PAKFA for sure) while others will fly escorted by specialized aircraft (F-117). Bottom line, it is wrong to oppose stealth and non-stealth. “Low rcs” (aka “stealth”) are just less visible (but never invisible!) to other radars, that’s it. In practical terms, it means that they usually can get closer before being detected. Remember, the power of any radiation is inversely proportional to the square of the distance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law) which means that the closer you get to any radar the harder it is to hide. Conversely, you also get to fire first if you are low visible. Anyway, I just wanted to give you a few pointers about the kind of stuff which needs to be kept in mind in evaluating stealth aircraft and what the downing of any one of them might or might not tell us.
Have a super-wonderful week end!
The Saker