DTN News: Israel TODAY May 19, 2009 - Israeli Police Officers Searching For Drug Smugglers Along Israel's Border With Lebanon

DTN News: Israel TODAY May 19, 2009 - Israeli Police Officers Searching For Drug Smugglers Along Israel's Border With Lebanon

(NSI News Source Info) JERUSALEM - May 19, 2009: Israeli police officers dressed in military uniform walk during an ambush targeting drug smugglers along Israel's border with Lebanon, early Thursday, March 19, 2009.

Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah guerrillas have been battling for years along this frontier. But a quieter war goes on here every night, one between Israeli Police's narcotics teams and the smugglers who have turned this jumpy border into the main conduit for heroin bound for Israeli drug markets.

Pakistan: Troops Attack Taliban Supply Lines, Encircle Mingora

Pakistan: Troops Attack Taliban Supply Lines, Encircle Mingora

*DTN News: President Obama is determined to match our words with our actions, because Pakistan's government is leading the fight against extremists that threaten the future of their country and our collective security. SOURCE: GlobalSecurity.org

(NSI News Source Info) PESHAWAR - May 19, 2009: Pakistan’s military said Tuesday they were locked in fierce street battles with Taliban fighters in the Malakand region, where a rights group accused both sides of killing civilians, AFP reports. The military reported intense battles in Mingora, Matta, Kanju and Takhta Bund. Military officials said government forces were advancing on several fronts towards Mingora, the Taliban-held main town in the Swat valley. The blistering offensive against militants has concentrated increasingly on the valley in what the government calls a mission to ‘eliminate’ militants. The military said there were fierce clashes in the Taliban-held town of Matta as well as in Kanju, which is a short distance from Mingora, with four soldiers and 14 insurgents killed in the two towns. Footage broadcast on a private Pakistani television channel showed armed soldiers standing outside locked shops in the main bazaar in Matta, a bastion of Mullah Fazlullah who has led a two-year uprising to enforce Islamic law. ‘Troops continue to close in on Mingora, from where Taliban are trying to escape but our strategy is not to let them flee,’ a security official said. He said the chief objective in coming days was ‘to take over the Taliban’s main headquarters in Peochar,’ where commandos opened a new front last week. Intense battles were also reported in Takhta Bund, described as the main Taliban supply route. Authorities say more than 1,030 militants and at least 53 troops have been killed in a three-pronged onslaught launched in the districts of Lower Dir on April 26, Buner on April 28 and Swat on May 8. But Pakistani commentators praised the military for moving into towns, warning operations would be deadly but were vital for the military to really flush out Taliban strongholds. ‘This is the first time the army is doing something like this against Taliban militants,’ defence and political analyst Talat Masood told AFP. ‘Even US troops never engaged in street battles in Afghanistan... Obviously there will be more casualties when you face the enemy frontally. Here you are very close to the enemy and directly in their firing range.’ ‘The militants do not want to abandon their strongholds.’

Taiwanese Outpost Reaps Benefits Of Warming China Ties

Taiwanese Outpost Reaps Benefits Of Warming China Ties

(NSI News Source Info) KINMEN, Taiwan - May 19, 2009: From the Taiwanese island of Kinmen, it is easy to see across the water to China's industrial and trading city of Xiamen, just a few kilometres away on the mainland. For years, the mine-strewn island was a symbol of the tense relations between China and Taiwan, which split at the end of their civil war in 1949. A tour guide briefs Chinese tourists about the use of artillery shells at a knife shop on Kinmen island. Chinese troops would fire shells across to the island, where Taiwanese forces laid anti-tank and anti-personnel mines to deter an invasion. But now, a year after Beijing-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou took power in Taipei, things look very different. Chinese visitors now routinely include Kinmen on their trips to Taiwan and work to clear the mines is well under way. In the Chinning township, two busloads of tourists from the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang swamp a shop selling knives recast from the remains of the shells fired onto the island by Chinese troops. On the far side of the island, the site of a bloody battle in the dying days of the Chinese civil war between nationalist Kuomintang and communist forces, a team of Taiwanese soldiers have been clearing mines from the beaches. Thousands of communist soldiers were killed during the battle for Kuningtou. Now many mainlanders include the village in their standard eight-day tour of Taiwan and what was once a trickle of tourists has become a flood. They are among the more than 3,000 tourists who have been arriving in Taiwan from the mainland every day over the past few weeks -- something Ma says has benefited the island's sagging economy. This week marks one year since Ma, from the China-friendly Kuomintang party, took office, and during that time great strides have been made in improving fractious ties between the historic rivals. "Cross-Strait ties and diplomacy have witnessed the most significant breakthrough over the past year," Ma said Tuesday in Taipei. Three rounds of talks have led to a raft of agreements on regular direct flights across the Taiwan Strait, a steep rise in the number of Chinese tourist arrivals and greater economic and business cooperation. Even though Taiwan lifted its ban on people travelling to the mainland in 1987, relations between Taipei and Beijing worsened dramatically when president Lee Teng-Hui took power the following year. Ties soured even further under Lee's successor, Chen Shui-bian, who retired last year after eight years riling Beijing with what China considered his provocative pro-independence remarks. But with ties warming, people from Kinmen have bought thousands of homes in nearby Xiamen on the mainland and the number of visits by businessmen and tourists is only expected to rise as more restrictions are lifted. Even on the sporting side, there have been signs of positive change. Authorities in Kinmen and Xiamen are planning a race on August 15, when 50 athletes will swim from Xiamen to cross the once restricted strait of water separating mainland China from the Taiwanese island of Little Kinmen. Perhaps the most troubling and lingering legacy of the decades of tensions between the historic rivals is the mines littering Kinmen's beaches. Taiwan passed a law in 2006 requiring the mines to be removed from the Kinmen island group, just eight kilometres (five miles) off China's coast. Lieutenant General Lu Hsiao-rung, the chief officer in the Kinmen garrison command, said mine-clearance was straightforward, with more than 30 percent of 154 minefields on Kinmen and Liehyu, or Little Kinmen, already cleared. He has promised to remove the remaining mines as well as other unexploded ordnance under a seven-year plan launched in 2007. But Lu said hundreds of obstacles and spikes installed along Kuningtou's shoreline to deter a Chinese invasion would not be removed. In an ironic twist of history, islanders asked for the obstacles to be left in place, saying they had become a popular attraction with visitors from the mainland.

Indian Navy Commissions Sixth Landing Ship Tank / Indian Navy's Sixth Landing Ship Tank (Large), The INS Airava

Indian Navy Commissions Sixth Landing Ship Tank / Indian Navy's Sixth Landing Ship Tank (Large), The INS Airava

*Analysis: The Indian Navy would build 32 warships and six submarines using indigenous technology by the year 2012 (DTN News Defense-Technology News .... May 19, 2009)

(NSI News Source Info) VISAKHAPATNAM - May 19, 2009: Indian Navy to induct warship Airavat today; the world-class vessel has excellent weapon power and can refuel other ships.

Armed with 500 troops, 10 battle tanks, missiles and choppers here comes the Indian Navy's sixth Landing Ship Tank (Large), the INS Airavat. Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta will induct the ship at the naval base in Visakhapatnam today.

"Especially designed for amphibious operations, the ship has immense potential to lift ground troops and tanks, which can change the power equation during a war. Airavat in action: The ship can be used as an oil tanker to refuel other naval vessels and can be turned into a floating hospital in case of a disaster.

The enemy will be forced to protect their own coastline instead of waging war against us," said a senior naval officer from Naval Headquarters, New Delhi, wishing anonymity.

Apart from 500 soldiers, the ship can carry 10 Main Battle Tanks (MBT) and 11 combat trucks. Besides its ability to move with a huge Army, the ship will also be armed with Sea King and Dhruv helicopters for heli-borne operations both in mid-sea and enemy coastline.

"With a significantly enhanced weapon package, latest control systems and better habitability conditions, Airavat delivers considerable punch and amphibious capabilities to the fighting prowess of the Indian Navy.

Other than choppers and tanks, it is also armed with WM 18A rocket launchers. To deal with air threat there are anti-aircraft guns along with shoulder launched surface-to-air missiles," added the officer.

The ship has also got a unique capability through its Chaff Rockets, which are used to clutter enemy sensor inputs on an incoming aircraft or missile.

Besides being a formidable amphibious vessel, the ship can also be used as an oil tanker to refuel other naval vessels and can be turned into a hospital ship in case of a disaster.

"It can be used as a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADAR) ship in case of tsunami, cyclone, earthquake or any other natural calamity," said an officer from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

According to security experts, the most enviable aspect is that the INS Airavat is designed for high endurance at sea for more than 45 days at a stretch. It is equipped with some of the best self-protection mechanism in the form smoke and fire detection systems.

The Airavat has been built in a record time of three years and it will be further upgraded to Magar class with improvements in its weapon class, sensors and indigenous contents.

Russia Scales Down Plans For Troops In Abkhazia, South Ossetia

Russia Scales Down Plans For Troops In Abkhazia, South Ossetia

(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - May 19, 2009: Russia will deploy fewer personnel at military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia than previously planned, a first deputy defense minister said on Tuesday. "We have no reason to deploy all [the planned] personnel at military bases in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Part of the contingent could be deployed in Russia [close to the border]," Col. Gen. Alexander Kolmakov said. He added, though, that the composition and the structure of military contingents at the bases "would be comparable to a brigade-level unit." Russia's Defense Ministry has said it plans to open one base in Gudauta, in the west of Abkhazia, and another in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, to be fully operational by the end of 2010. The ministry also said earlier it would deploy 3,700 personnel at each of its bases in the two Caucasus republics, recognized by Russia last year as independent states. Kolmakov said on Tuesday that Russia was in talks with Abkhazia and S. Ossetia on the transfer of land for the construction of company-level training grounds, which would be used for the training of personnel deployed at the Russian bases. However, larger-scale exercises, involving personnel from bases in Abkhazia and S. Ossetia, will be conducted in Russia, the general said. "The battalion-level and larger exercises involving artillery will be held at training grounds in Russia's North Caucasus military district," Kolmakov said. Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states on August 26 last year after a five-day war with Georgia, which began when Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia to try to regain control of the region. Friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance treaties with Abkhazia and South Ossetia were signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last November. Under the pacts, Russia has pledged to help the republics protect their borders, and the signatories have granted each other the right to set up military bases in their respective territories.

After Israeli Visit, A Diplomatic Sprint On Iran

After Israeli Visit, A Diplomatic Sprint On Iran

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - May 19, 2009: Now that President Obama has established what he called a “clear timetable” for Iran to halt its nuclear program — progress must be made by the end of the year, he declared on Monday — both American and Israeli officials are beginning to talk about how to accomplish that goal. US President Barack Obama (R) speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 18, 2009. Obama renewed his call for a Palestinian state and said Israeli settlement building in the West Bank must be "stopped." The latest on President Obama, the new administration and other news from Washington and around the nation. But even after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first visit to the White House on Monday, where he and Mr. Obama stressed common goals and played down their differences on strategy, it seemed clear that they still do not agree even on the basic question of how much time remains to stop Iran from gaining a nuclear weapons capability. So now begins Mr. Obama’s diplomatic sprint. His declaration Monday that “we’re not going to have talks forever” was a warning to the Iranians that his fundamentally different approach — serious American engagement with Tehran for the first time in three decades — must bear fruit before Iran clears the last technological hurdles to building a weapon. It is a strategy that some administration officials describe as “negotiations with pressure” — a combination of direct negotiations, reassurances that Washington is no longer seeking regime change in Iran, and an effort to persuade the ruling mullahs that the alternative to serious concessions will be painful: international sanctions that are far harsher and more tightly enforced than the weak mix of actions imposed so far by the United Nations Security Council. “There’s a three-way race going on here,” one of Mr. Obama’s strategists said the other day. “We’re racing to make diplomatic progress. The Iranians are racing to make their nuclear capability a fait accompli. And the Israelis, of course, are racing to come up with a convincing military alternative that could plausibly set back the Iranian program.” Neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. Netanyahu made any reference on Monday to Israel’s regular allusions to those alternatives. This was, after all, a first meeting. Their most obvious public differences were not over Iran at all. Instead, they centered on Mr. Obama’s insistence that Mr. Netanyahu should order an halt to new Jewish settlements in the West Bank before there can be any hope of serious negotiations with the Palestinians. True to form, Mr. Netanyahu said he was ready to restart the peace process but refused to say whether he viewed the creation of a Palestinian state as the ultimate goal. Mr. Obama pushed back — gently — saying that “all the parties involved have to take seriously obligations they have previously agreed to.” That seemed like enough of a public split for a first meeting. On Iran, the divisions are not as public. But they start with the fundamental issue of how much time remains to stop the Iranian program. “We’re looking at the same evidence,” Brigadier General Michael Herzog, the chief of staff to Israel’s minister of defense, said during a visit to Washington earlier this month. “We interpret it differently.” The American interpretation is that Iran could reach the capability to build a bomb any time between 2010 and 2015 — a window that cracks open right after Mr. Obama’s rough deadline to show that negotiations are working. But in their public comments, senior American intelligence officials say they think Iran would not have a serious nuclear capability until the end of that range. “We have some time,” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates insisted earlier this year. Mr. Herzog offered a grimmer assessment. “Under a certain scenario,” he said, if the Iranians decide to speed ahead, “they can have a first device by the end of 2010, perhaps the beginning of 2011, and that’s not very far away.” Presumably, that was why Mr. Obama went out of his way, with Mr. Netanyahu sitting next to him, to warn the Iranians that “we’re not going to create a situation in which talks become an excuse for inaction while Iran proceeds with developing a nuclear — and deploying — a nuclear weapon.” Mr. Obama’s strategy is based on a giant gamble: That after the Iranian elections on June 12, the way will be clear to convince the Iranians that it is in their long-term interest to strike a deal, trading their ability to produce their own nuclear fuel for a range of tempting rewards. For months, White House and State Department strategists have been debating just which incentives to offer the Iranians up front, and in what order. But they start with the prospect of opening the spigots of investment in Iran’s decrepit oil infrastructure, and even recognizing — and aiding — a civilian nuclear capability for Iran, as long as the country kept its hands off the nuclear fuel. Behind the scenes, there has been work on the other side of the ledger: How to escalate pressure if the Iranians drag their feet. Some tactics involve corner shots, like persuading the Chinese to stop blocking the imposition of some sanctions against Iran. And if, by year’s end, the Iranians still refuse serious negotiations, Mr. Obama’s aides have debated more extreme sanctions. One involves cutting off credit guarantees to European companies that do business with Iran. “That’s been impossible until now,” said one American official, “but it could become possible.” Mr. Obama raised a far more extreme possible sanction during his presidential campaign, though he has not discussed it publicly since his inauguration: Threatening to cut off the supply of refined petroleum products like gasoline to Iran. Of course, that would inevitably lead to Iranian cutoffs of crude oil exports, the country’s most effective conventional weapon. But Israeli officials express skepticism that any combination of new diplomatic openness and gradually escalating pressure will work. Their assessment is that Iran wants the bomb, full stop. Privately they raise doubts over whether Mr. Obama has really defined in his own mind what it is that constitutes, as he said on Monday, “moving in the right direction.” A senior Israeli who talked with journalists after the two leaders met said that to his mind, the only benchmark that really matters this year is a halt in Iran’s enrichment of uranium. Otherwise, he said, Iran just gets closer to a bomb capability every day that talks drag on.

Ethiopian Forces Return To Somalia

Ethiopian Forces Return To Somalia

(NSI News Source Info) MOGADISHU - May 19, 2009: Ethiopian forces, who pulled out of Somalia in January, on Tuesday crossed back into the war-torn neighbour following a fresh offensive by rebels to topple the fledgling government, witnesses said. But Ethiopia denied returning to Somalia. Witnesses in Kalabeyrka village, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border with Ethiopia, on Tuesday reported seeing troops in dozens of armoured vehicles mounting roadblocks. "Ethiopian forces have been checking vehicles in the Kalabeyrka area. They were asking people where they came from but they were not arresting anybody," said Abdurahman Afey, a truck driver. Ethiopia's state minister for communications Ermias Legesse told AFP: "No Ethiopian troops have entered Somalia." Another witness, Mohamed Sheikh Abdi said: "I have seen Ethiopian forces manning checkpoints in Kalabeyrka. They were many and there were also armoured vehicles including big trucks mounted with anti-aircraft weapons." While admitting that the situation in Somalia was deteriorating, Ethiopian Communications Minister Bereket Simon on Monday ruled out re-deployment. "We are not contemplating going back there for the moment," he said. "For the moment there is no immediate danger to Ethiopia." "There is no change in the situation," added Legesse. Kalabeyrka is located near Beledweyne, the regional capital of Hiran region in central Somalia, some 300 kilometres (185 miles) north of Mogadishu. Beledweyne is controlled by militias loosely allied to Sharif's government. Fierce clashes between hardline Islamist insurgents and government troops erupted earlier this month and in two days this week the rebels have seized two key towns north of Mogadishu, sparking fears they would advance to Beledweyne. The rebel onslaught has been led by the Shebab, a hardline faction accused of links to Al-Qaeda, and Hezb al-Islam, a more political radical group loyal to senior opposition leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. The fighting that began on May 7 has killed at least 110 people and displaced some 30,000, mainly in Mogadishu. Government forces in the capital only control a compound housing the president's office and a few ministry buildings, as well as the airport and the seaport, according to witnesses. The international community has called for an end to the fighting, accused Eritrea of providing support to Aweys' forces and urged all sides to spare civilians. Ethiopian troops rolled into Somalia in late 2006 to buttress an embattled government against an Islamist movement then led by now Somalia President Sharif Shekh Ahmed and Aweys. Their withdrawal sparked fears of a security vacuum as fighters of the toppled Islamist movement waged relentless battles against them, government targets and a small African Union peacekeeping force in Mogadishu. While Sharif later joined a UN-sponsored reconciliation process and was eventually elected president in January, Aweys has remained in the opposition and returned from exile last month to challenge his former ally. Insurgents now control much of southern and central Somalia, with forces loyal to the internationally recognised government pushed back to a few remaining pockets in Mogadishu and close to the Ethiopian border. The Horn of African country has lacked a central authority since the 1991 ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre sparked violence.

Tamil Doubts Over Rebel Leader's Death

Tamil Doubts Over Rebel Leader's Death

(NSI News Source Info) May 19, 2009: The Sri Lankan military has released pictures of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran which it says prove conclusively that he is dead. State and private stations aired footage of what they said was the body of Prabhakaran, along with what looked like his Tamil Tiger identity card and tag. The army says his body has been positively identified with DNA testing. But rebel sympathisers say questions remain about when and how he and other rebel leaders were killed, and over apparently contradictory statements in relation to his reported death. Some among Sri Lanka's Tamil community and the influential Tamil diaspora doubt whether the rebel leader really is dead. Ambushed Video: Sri Lanka: govt says it has found Tamil leader's body "The government is eager to present this as its Ceausescu moment - with photographs of the body of the tyrant widely released to give the impression that a defining moment has been reached," one Colombo-based diplomat told the BBC - drawing an analogy with the filmed execution of the Romanian dictator in December 1989. "But there are questions surrounding Prabhakaran's identity tag. Is it really credible that a man reputed to have numerous lookalike doubles to avoid capture by the army would really carry this around with him?" The army says Prabhakaran's bullet-ridden body was found on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon, his last stronghold in north-east Sri Lanka. Army spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said the rebel leader had been shot in scrubland - probably in fierce fighting on Monday morning. That statement contradicted an earlier announcement - made on state television but never verified by the army - that Prabhakaran's badly burnt body was discovered on Monday. It said Prabhakaran had been killed after he was ambushed by commandos as he made a desperate attempt to break through government lines in an ambulance. He had been badly burnt when his vehicle burst into flames, it said. Our beloved leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is alive and safe Selvarasa PathmanathanTamil Tiger official State TV also said the rebel leader's body had been found with those of intelligence chief Pottu Amman and Soosai - the Tamil Tiger naval commander. But on Tuesday the army said Soosai's death had not been confirmed. Its version of events was first given by Gen Sarath Fonseka. "The good news from the war front is that the body of the leader of the terrorist organisation which destroyed the country for the last 30 years, Prabhakaran, has been found (on Monday) morning by the army. We have identified the body," he said. Moments later, the private TV stations Derana and Swarnavahini showed soldiers surrounding what the troops said was Prabhakaran's body, with his distinctive moustache and regulation tiger-stripe camouflage fatigues. Denial The government argues that there are perfectly innocent explanations for the differing accounts of Prabhakaran's death - that in war time what is happening on the battlefront can sometimes get confused. The BBC Tamil section's Jagadheesan Leklapoodi says that following the release of the photographs most Indian Tamil newspapers appear to have accepted that Prabhakaran is dead. "But the Tamil population around the world will only grudgingly accept that is the case," he said. "Prabhakaran is revered by some of them as the liberation hero fighting for their cause for over 30 years. Many of them will find it difficult to accept that he is no longer on the scene." So far the most influential pro-rebel website, TamilNet, has not acknowledged the death. Speaking before the release of the photos, a rebel official abroad denied Prabhakaran had been killed and said the Tamil Tiger leader was "alive and safe". "He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people," Selvarasa Pathmanathan said in a statement posted on the pro-rebel TamilNet Web site on Tuesday. But he offered no further details or evidence to support the claim, only drawing attention to what he said was Colombo's "treachery" in the killings of senior unarmed Tamil Tiger political wing leaders in the north-east, who he said had been shot as they carried white flags. While the land fighting between the two sides has finished - the propaganda battle continues undiminished.

Pakistan Expanding Nuclear Arsenal: Report

Pakistan Expanding Nuclear Arsenal: Report

*Analysis: Pakistan is in denial on everything from Islamic militants, Taliban, al Qaeda, Nuclear arsenal and so on. Pakistan denied it was expanding its nuclear arsenal, a week after the top U.S. military officer said there was evidence it was doing so. Pakistan is battling a growing insurgency by Islamist militants with links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Washington is considering giving it billions of dollars in aid to help fight the insurgents, who are also blamed for attacks on U.S. and foreign troops in neighboring Afghanistan. (DTN News Defense-Technology News .... May 19, 2009)

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - May 19, 2009: Pakistan is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal, raising questions in the U.S. Congress whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid to strife-torn country could be diverted to its nuclear program, The New York Times reported late May 18. Pakistan denied it was expanding its nuclear arsenal, a week after the top U.S. military officer said there was evidence it was doing so. Pakistan is battling a growing insurgency by Islamist militants with links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Washington is considering giving it billions of dollars in aid to help fight the insurgents, who are also blamed for attacks on U.S. and foreign troops in neighboring Afghanistan. The newspaper said members of Congress have been told about Pakistan's nuclear drive in confidential and public briefings by Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Pakistan's effort to build new nuclear weapons has been a source of growing concern in Washington, because the country is producing more nuclear material at a time when the United States is increasingly focused on trying to assure the security of Pakistan's 80 to 100 weapons so that they will never fall into the hands of Islamic insurgents, the report said. The administration's effort is complicated by the fact that Pakistan is producing an unknown amount of new bomb-grade uranium and, once a series of new reactors is completed, bomb-grade plutonium for a new generation of weapons, the paper added. President Barack Obama has called for passage of a treaty that would stop all nations from producing more fissile material. Obama administration officials said they had communicated to Congress that their intent was to assure that military aid to Pakistan was directed toward counterterrorism and not diverted, The Times noted. But Mullen's confirmation that the arsenal is increasing seems certain to aggravate Congress's discomfort, the report said. The briefings have taken place as Congress has considered proposals to spend three billion dollars over the next five years to train and equip Pakistan's military for counterinsurgency warfare, the paper pointed out. The aid would come in addition to $7.5 billion in civilian assistance.