• Bush admin's Iraq WMD claims hang over Syria chemical weapons debate

    White House officials strongly suggested Thursday that Bashar al-Assad's regime has used chemical weapons against rebels because of a nerve agent found in victims near Aleppo.

    By Andrea Mitchell, Jim Miklaszewski and Jeff Black, NBC News

    The specter of the bogus claims that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction — used to justify war —  hangs over the debate on how world leaders will respond to the possibility that Syria deployed chemical weapons.

    Obama administration officials say they know they have to deal with the Iraq WMD legacy and will need definitive proof to persuade Russia, Syria’s only remaining ally in the U.N. Security Council, that Bashir Assad’s regime used deadly sarin gas against the opposition in the country’s bloody two-year civil war.

    One senior U.S. defense official told reporters Thursday, "We have seen very bad movies before" — referring to previous instances where initial intelligence was proven wrong.

    President Barack Obama has called the use of chemical weapons by Assad, a "red line" that if crossed would be a "game-changer" in the U.S. response to Syrian aggression.

    The White House said Thursday that the U.S. believes "with some degree of varying confidence" that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons — specifically the nerve agent sarin — against its own people.

    A letter from the White House to members of Congress said the assessment was based on "physiological samples" but called for a United Nations probe to corroborate it and nail down when and how they were used.

    "We are continuing to do further work to establish a definitive judgment as to whether or not the red line has been crossed and to inform our decision-making about what we'll do next," a White House official said.

    The White House said Thursday that the U.S. believes the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, an act that President Obama has previously said would be crossing a "red line." NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

    "All options are on the table in terms of our response," the official added.

    U.S. intelligence agencies say that blood samples from two attacks last month in Aleppo tested positive for sarin.

    Still, those sources say there is “no absolute proof” deadly agents were deployed by Assad's troops.

    Administration sources tell NBC News they still have not been able to connect all the dots to prove who actually used the chemical weapons, whom they used them against, or when or where they were used. 

    Secretary of State John Kerry discussed Syria with his Russian counterpart in Brussels last week, but the Russians remain unpersuaded to take action against the Syrian government, and the international community is demanding hard evidence to prove Syria is using chemical agents.

    The proof, however, could be difficult to obtain.

    A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said that the United Nations can't take action based on intelligence from one country, said a team of experts assembled to investigate chemical weapons in Syria remains "grounded" in Cyprus because the Assad regime has blocked it from entering the country.

    After two years of Syria's bloody civil war, the Obama administration inched ever so slightly toward U.S. military intervention on Thursday. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    The U.N. has repeatedly called on Syria to let its inspection team in.

    "The fact-finding team is on standby and ready to deploy in 24-48 hours," the U.N. spokesman said. 

    Syria's information minister, Omran al-Zoubi, said in an interview with Russian TV that the government has not and will not use chemical weapons and blamed potential evidence of their existence on "armed terrorist groups," the state news agency reported.

    The chemical weapons investigation and counterclaims recall the experience in Iraq, where U.N. inspection teams were hampered in their effort to find weapons of mass destruction amid U.S. intelligence reports suggesting they were being hidden by Saddam.

    It was the alleged existence of the so-called WMD the George W. Bush administration used to justify war in Iraq.

    Despite a massive search by U.S. forces, no weapons of mass destruction ever turned up.

    Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz.,  was swift to react to the latest reports that Syria used chemical weapons, saying, “I think it's pretty obvious that red line has been crossed." He said the administration should now consider a military approach in Syria he has been advocating for two years that falls short of boots on the ground.

    “That is to provide a safe area for the opposition to operate and  to establish a no-fly zone and provide weapons to the people in the resistance who we trust,” McCain said.

    A White House official called for a high level of scrutiny, but also caution.

    "Given our own history with intelligence assessments, including intelligence assessments related to weapons of mass destruction, it's very important that we are able to establish this with certainty and that we are able to present information in a way that is airtight," the official said.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

    Related: White House: US believes Syrian regime used chemical weapons

  • White House: US believes Syrian regime used chemical weapons

    Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters in Abu Dhabi that the United States has "a reasonable amount of confidence that some amount of chemical weapons was used" by the Syrian government.

    By Kristen Welker, Jim Miklaszewski, Courtney Kube and Tracy Connor, NBC News

    The White House said Thursday that the U.S. believes "with some degree of varying confidence" the Syrian government has used chemical weapons — specifically the nerve agent sarin — against its own people.

    A letter from the White House to members of Congress said the assessment was based on "physiological samples" but called for a United Nations probe to corroborate it and nail down when and how they were used.

    "We are continuing to do further work to establish a definitive judgement as to whether or not the red line has been crossed and to inform our decision-making about what we'll do next," a White House official said. 

    "All options are on the table in terms of our response," the official added.

    Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters at the Capitol that the U.S. believes chemical weapons were used twice, but the letter doesn't specify that.

    "Our intelligence community does assess with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent sarin," the letter said.

    "We do believe that any use of chemical weapons in Syria would very likely have originated with the Assad regime," it added.

    "Thus far, we believe that the Assad regime maintains custody of these weapons, and has demonstrated a willingness to escalate its horrific use of violence against the Syrian people."

    Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he had not seen the evidence supporting the assessment, but added that use of chemical agents "violates every convention of war."

    Sarin is a man-made nerve agent that has been used in terrorist attacks in Japan and possibly during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. In large doses, it can cause convulsions, paralysis and death.

    The U.S. has long believed that Syria was stockpiling chemical weapons. Intelligence reports indicate that it has sarin and the nerve agent tabun along with traditional chemicals like mustard gas and hydrogen cyanide. A 2011 CIA report said Syria was also developing the potent nerve agent VX, which could render a city uninhabitable for days.

    Syria's information minister, Omran al-Zoubi, said in an interview with Russian TV that the government has not and will not use chemical weapons and blamed potential evidence of their existence on "armed terrorist groups," the state news agency reported.

    A spokesman for the rebel Free Syrian Army, Fahd Almasri, claimed Syria has launched chemical attacks in nine places and was poised to do so again at the Lebanon border and in Damascus "when Assad knows he is finished."

    "Now is the moment to find a solution very quickly," Almasri told NBC News in a phone interview.

    President Obama has said the verified use of chemical weapons by the regime would be a "red line" and a "game-changer" for U.S. and international military intervention in the Syrian civil war.


    "Precisely because the President takes this issue so seriously, we have an obligation to fully investigate any and all evidence of chemical weapons use within Syria," said the letter, which was signed by Obama's legislative director, Miguel Rodriguez.

    The letter was a response to a request from a bipartisan group of senators who asked the White House for answers after the Israeli military’s top intelligence analyst cited photographs of people "foaming from the mouth” as evidence of chemical weapons use.

    Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the development “deeply troubling.”

    “While more work needs to be done to fully verify this assessment…it is becoming increasingly clear that we must step up our efforts,” Corker said.

    “I should make clear, however, that it if it comes to the use of military force, before the president takes any action to commit U.S. forces to any effort in Syria or elsewhere, I expect him to fully consult with the Senate and seek an authorization for the use of military force."

    Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the assessment could spark a dangerous reaction from Damascus.

    "I am very concerned that with this public acknowledgement, President Assad may calculate he has nothing more to lose and the likelihood he will further escalate this conflict therefore increases," Feinstein said.

    The White House official called for a high level of scrutiny — but also caution.

    "Given our own history with intelligence assessments, including intelligence assessments related to weapons of mass destruction, it's very important that we are able to establish this with certainty and that we are able to present information in a way that is airtight," the official said.

    NBC News' Kasie Hunt, Kelly O'Donnell, Robert Windrem and Charlene Gubash contributed to this story

    Slideshow: Syria uprising

    A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.

    Launch slideshow

    Related:

    'Suffocating in the streets': Chemical weapons attack reported in Syria

    Obama warns Syria's Assad not to use chemical weapons

     

    This story was originally published on Thu Apr 25, 2013 11:56 AM EDT

  • US teen accused of seeking to join al Qaeda-linked Syrian group

    By Alex Dobuzinskis, Reuters

    An 18-year-old Chicago-area man accused of planning to join an al Qaeda-linked group fighting in Syria has been arrested by the FBI, the agency said on Saturday.


    Abdella Ahmad Tounisi of Aurora, Illinois, was taken into custody late on Friday as he prepared to board a plane at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport bound for Turkey, the FBI said in a statement.

    It added that Tounisi was a friend of Adel Daoud, an American accused of trying to stage a bombing outside a downtown Chicago bar last year. The agency said Tounisi had not been involved in that plot.

    Tounisi appeared before a U.S. magistrate on Saturday on one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He was ordered held until his next court appearance on Tuesday, the FBI said.

    A criminal complaint accused Tounisi of making online contact in March with a person he thought was a recruiter for Jabhat al-Nusrah, the militant Islamist Syrian group that the U.S. government calls a foreign terrorist organization operating as a wing of al Qaeda in Iraq.

    The supposed recruiter was an FBI employee working undercover, the agency said.

    Tounisi said in emails to the FBI employee that he planned to get to Syria via Turkey and was willing to die in the Syrian struggle, the complaint said.

    Syria is in the grips of a civil war that began in 2011 as a revolt against President Bashar Assad and has killed more than 70,000 people.

    On April 10, Tounisi bought an airline ticket for a flight from Chicago to Istanbul. On Thursday, the undercover FBI employee gave him a bus ticket for travel from Istanbul to Gaziantep, Turkey, near the border with Syria, the complaint said.

    Tounisi's attorney, Michael Madden, of the federal public defender program could not be reached for comment.

    Tounisi faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted.

    The 2012 arrest of Daoud, 19, also involved his alleged communication with an undercover member of the FBI. The fake bomb that Daoud tried to detonate outside a Chicago bar was provided to him by an undercover FBI agent, authorities said.

    Daoud was indicted on two counts of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and maliciously attempting to use an explosive to destroy a building. He pleaded not guilty in October in federal court.

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Former US soldier accused of fighting with al Qaeda group in Syria

    via YouTube

    Video of US Army veteran Eric Harroun filming militants celebrating a crashed helicopter was cited in the FBI affadavit. This clip has not been edited or verified by NBC News.

    By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A former U.S. soldier has been charged with fighting with an al Qaeda group in Syria after allegedly posting photographs of himself posing with military hardware on the internet, officials said in a statement.

    Eric Harroun, 30, of Phoenix, Ariz., was accused of using a rocket-propelled grenade while fighting with the al-Nusrah Front, an alias of al Qaeda in Iraq, according to a statement issued on Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia.

    “Harroun, a U.S. citizen who served with the U. S. Army from 2000 to 2003, was charged by criminal complaint with conspiring to use a destructive device outside of the United States, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, if convicted,” the statement said.

    “According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Harroun allegedly crossed into Syria in January 2013 and fought with members of the al-Nusrah Front against the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria,” it added. “The affidavit alleges that Harroun was trained to use an RPG by members of the terrorist organization and that he fired an RPG and posted online multiple photographs of himself carrying or posing with RPGs and other military weapons.”

    “Harroun allegedly participated in attacks led by the al-Nusrah Front and was part of an RPG team, for which he carried anti-personnel and anti-armor rockets,” it said.

    600 terrorist attacks
    Al Qaeda in Iraq has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization since October 2004.

    “The al-Nusrah Front is one of several aliases used by the 'al Qa’ida in Iraq' terrorist organization, and since November 2011 the group has claimed responsibility for nearly 600 terrorist attacks in Syria,” the statement said.

    U.S. officials have called for Assad to step down in Syria and have offered non-lethal support to the rebels, but there is concern about militant groups like al Qaeda affiliates fighting alongside other rebel forces.

    Israel fears al Qaeda elements will establish themselves close to the border and threaten to fire chemical weapons and long-range rockets captured from the Syrian army into Israel.

    The statement said Harroun appeared in a federal court in Alexandria, Va., Thursday.

    Harroun was arrested on Wednesday upon returning to the United States at an airport outside Washington, Reuters said. He has a hearing scheduled for Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

    He was medically discharged from the army after being injured in a car accident, according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint, Reuters reported.

    The criminal charge of "conspiring to use a destructive device outside of the United States" carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

    Harroun appeared in two videos that indicated he was engaged in military action with rebel forces against the Syrian government, Reuters reported. In one video, he said: "Bashar al-Assad, your days are numbered. ... Where(ever) you go we will find you and kill you," according to the affidavit.

    In March, the FBI conducted three voluntary interviews of Harroun at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, during which he stated that he wanted to fight with the Free Syrian Army against the Assad regime, the affidavit added.

    Harroun allegedly told the FBI that during his fighting in Syria he shot about 10 people but did not know whether he killed any of them, the affidavit said, according to Reuters. He also said he hated al Qaeda and did not know any al Qaeda members, the affidavit said. On Wednesday in the United States, the FBI conducted another voluntary interview during which Harroun allegedly said that he knew the al-Nusrah Front had been designated a terrorist organization, according to the affidavit.

    The U.S. Attorney's office said a lawyer would be appointed for Harroun, Reuters reported.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

    Related:

    Syrian rebels ask US to shoot down Assad's warplanes with Patriot missiles

    Arab nations set to declare the right to arm Syrian rebels

    Syria chaos looms large over Obama's Israel trip

  • Hillary Clinton recovering after fainting, suffering a concussion

    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reportedly fainted from being dehydrated and suffered an apparent concussion in the incident. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    By NBC News staff

    Updated at 6:45 p.m. ET: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fainted days ago and suffered a concussion after becoming dehydrated because of a stomach virus, the State Department said Saturday.


    "She has been recovering at home and will continue to be monitored regularly by her doctors. At their recommendation, she will continue to work from home next week, staying in regular contact with Department and other officials," the State Department said in a statement.

    State Department officials said Clinton, 65, fainted earlier this week, although they would not specify when the incident occurred.

    Saturday evening, the State Department issued a statement from Dr. Lisa Bardack of Mount Kisco Medical Group and Dr. Gigi El-Bayoumi of George Washington University:

    "Secretary Clinton developed a stomach virus, leading to extreme dehydration, and subsequently fainted.   Over the course of this week we evaluated her and ultimately determined she had also sustained a concussion.  We recommended that the Secretary continue to rest and avoid any strenuous activity, and strongly advised her to cancel all work events for the coming week.  We will continue to monitor her progress as she makes a full recovery."

    NBC’s chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman said Clinton’s exhausting schedule could have made her susceptible to fainting. Clinton is known for her grueling travel schedule and has earned the distinction of being the secretary of state who has traveled the most.

    “If a patient has been logging millions of miles a year and is tired and not eating or drinking the right things in a couple of days, a shift in blood volume can cause fainting,” Snyderman said.

    This isn’t the first time Clinton passed out after having a stomach bug. As a U.S. senator representing New York, Clinton fainted in 2005 during a speech in Buffalo after complaining of a stomach virus.

    A history of fainting could indicate underlying heart problems, Snyderman said, specifically “that the heart is not pumping correctly.”

    “Heart valve or thyroid issues can be more common in older women,” Snyderman explained. “The standard protocol would be to have a cardiac workout to make sure her heart rhythm and heart valves are normal. You worry about the heart not beating correctly. That’s a very simple thing to check.”

    She said that given Clinton’s past fainting episode, her doctors would likely put her through a cardiac stress test.

    The concussion will have doctors “watching her like a hawk,” Snyderman said, particularly if Clinton hit the side of her head. If Clinton hit the back of her head, her brain would be better protected, she said.

    Clinton canceled a trip to Morocco earlier in the week because she wasn't feeling well. She was scheduled to be in Morocco to officially recognize the Syrian rebels who have been engaged for nearly two years in an armed battle against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

    Kevin Lamarque / Reuters, file

    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came down with a stomach bug earlier this week and fainted, suffering a concussion. Here she is pictured speaking during a news conference at Stormont Castle in Belfast, in Northern Ireland, on Dec. 7.

    Due to her health, Clinton will no longer testify at a House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday on the attack on a U.S. mission in Libya.

    "I am sorry to learn of Secretary Clinton's ill health and I wish her a quick and full recovery. It is, however, unfortunate that Secretary Clinton is unable to testify next week before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the investigation into the terrorist attack that killed four Americans and left others injured," committee chairwoman Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said in a statement.

    Deputy Secretary William Burns and Deputy Secretary Thomas Nides will provide testimony in Clinton's absence.

    "Although I respect Bill and Tom, we still don't have information from the Obama administration on what went so tragically wrong in Benghazi that resulted in the deaths of four patriotic Americans," Ros-Lehtinen said. "We have been combing through classified and unclassified documents and have tough questions about State Department threat assessments and decision-making on Benghazi. This requires a public appearance by the secretary of state herself. Other cabinet secretaries involved should also be held publicly accountable."

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  • State Dept: Missing American journalist Austin Tice believed held by Syria regime

    James Lawler Duggan / AFP - Getty Images, file

    Freelance photographer Austin Tice, seen in this July 2012 picture taken at an undisclosed location, has been missing since Aug. 13.

    By Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

    The U.S. believes missing American journalist Austin Tice is in the hands of the Syrian government, a State Department spokeswoman said, after a YouTube emerged purporting to show him at the hands of his captors.

    Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Monday that the State Department was unable to verify the accuracy of the video, which appears to shows Tice with masked men that one expert described as a "caricature of a jihadi group."

    Nuland said that the video “may have been staged” and added, “There’s a lot of reason for the Syrian Government to duck responsibility, but we continue to believe that, to the best of our knowledge, we think he is in Syrian Government custody."

     

    The battle for Aleppo: My 18 days with the Syrian rebels

    Former U.S. Marine Tice, who worked for outlets including The Washington Post and media group McClatchy Newspapers, has been missing in Syria since Aug. 13.

    He posted on Twitter on Aug. 11 saying he had been celebrating his birthday with Syrian rebels.

    McClatchy reported on its website Monday that Tice was “alive and in the custody of armed men” and quoted Tice’s parents, Marc and Debra, as saying the video was “reassuring.”

    It quoted a statement from the Houston couple saying:

    “Though it is difficult to see our son in such a setting and situation as that depicted in the video, it is reassuring that he appears to be unharmed. It is evident that the current events in Syria are challenging and difficult for everyone involved. Our wish is that peace and stability can once again return to the people of Syria and that our eldest son, Austin, will soon be safely returned to our family.”

    The video clip, which shows masked men carrying guns, came to light after it was shared on a Facebook page associated with supporters of the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

    Dad hopes Ex-Marine in Syria will turn up safe

    NBC News could not confirm the authenticity of the video. The New York Times reported that several analysts expressed doubts about the authenticity of the video.

    The Washington Post also quoted Joseph Holliday, of the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, as saying the video did not ring true and that the "captors" appeared to be wearing Afghan-style clothing rather than those normally associated with Islamists in Syria.

    “It’s like a caricature of a jihadi group,” he told the newspaper. “It looks like someone went to the Internet, watched pictures of Afghan mujaheddin, then copied them. My gut instinct is that regime security guys dressed up like a bunch of wahoos and dragged him around and released the video to scare the U.S. and others about the danger of al-Qaida extremists in Syria. It would fit their narrative perfectly.”

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  • US: Deaths of Osama bin Laden, other top figures put al-Qaida on 'path of decline'

    One year ago, U.S. Navy SEALs launched a nighttime raid on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed former al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. NBC's Amna Nawaz reports.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    WASHINGTON -- Osama bin Laden's death sent al-Qaida into a decline that will be hard to reverse, the United States said on Tuesday in a report that found terrorist attacks last year fell to their lowest level since 2005.

    Describing 2011 as a "landmark year," the United States said other top al-Qaida members killed last year included Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, reportedly the militant organization's No. 2 figure after bin Laden's death, and Anwar al-Awlaki, who led its lethal affiliate in Yemen.

    "The loss of bin Laden and these other key operatives puts the network on a path of decline that will be difficult to reverse," the State Department said in its annual "Country Reports on Terrorism" document, which covers calendar year 2011.

    The report attributed the killings, which included the May 2011 raid in which U.S. commandos shot bin Laden in Pakistan, to improved cooperation on counterterrorism. But it also said al-Qaida is adaptable and poses "an enduring and serious threat."

    Slideshow: After the raid: Inside bin Laden's compound

    Farooq Naeem / AFP - Getty Images

    U.S. forces found and killed the al-Qaida leader in the affluent Pakistani town of Abbottabad, where he had been living in a large compound.

    Launch slideshow

    While saying there were no terrorist attacks in the United States last year, the report asserted that the U.S. government remains concerned about "threats to the homeland," citing the foiled 2009 Christmas Day attempt by the Nigerian "underwear bomber" who sought to blow up a Detroit-bound aircraft.


    The report included a statistical annex prepared by the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) that showed the overall number of terrorist attacks worldwide fell to 10,283 last year from 11,641 in 2010.

    Panetta: Only a 'small handful' of top al-Qaida targets left

    The number of worldwide fatalities fell to 12,533 last year from 13,193 the year before, according to the statistics, which NCTC issued in a report published on June 1.

    That was the lowest level since 2005, when there were more than 11,000 attacks and more than 14,000 fatalities. The general decline in terrorism-related fatalities -- which peaked at more than 22,000 in 2007 -- reflects, in part, less violence in Iraq.

    The report added: 

    Sunni extremists accounted for the greatest number of terrorist attacks and fatalities for the third consecutive year. More than 5,700 incidents were attributed to Sunni extremists, accounting for nearly 56 percent of all attacks and about 70 percent of all fatalities ... Secular, political, and anarchist groups were the next largest category of perpetrators, conducting 2,283 attacks with 1,926 fatalities, a drop of 5 percent and 9 percent, respectively, from 2010.

    The State Department report said that as al-Qaida's "core has gotten weaker," affiliated groups have gained ground, citing al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula as a particular threat and voicing concern about al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

    Slideshow: World reacts to death of Osama bin Laden

    Arshad Butt / AP

    Osama bin Laden is dead following a military operation in Pakistan and the US has recovered his body, US President Barack Obama announced Sunday night.

    Launch slideshow

    It also reported an increase in terrorist attacks in Africa, due largely to Nigeria's Boko Haram militant group, as well as in the Western Hemisphere, which it attributed chiefly to FARC insurgents in Colombia.

    Daniel Benjamin, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism, said last year was also significant for the "Arab Spring" of popular protests and what he described as its rebuff to al-Qaida's ideology.

    "We saw millions of citizens throughout the Middle East advance peaceful public demands for change without any reference to al-Qaida's incendiary world view," he said, adding that upheavals also present risks.

    "Revolutionary transformations have many bumps in the road," he added. "Inspiring as the moment may be, we are not blind to the attendant perils."

    U.S. counterterror officials say that after years of drone strikes and other activities against the leaders of Al Qaida, the group is no longer able to pull off a major attack against U.S. interests, such as 9/11. NBC's Mike Viqueira reports.

    The report cites Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism.

    It added: 

    Al-Qaida and its affiliates and adherents are far from the only terrorist threat the United States faces. Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, continues to undermine international efforts to promote peace and democracy and threatens stability, especially in the Middle East and South Asia. Its use of terrorism as an instrument of policy was exemplified by the involvement of elements of the Iranian regime in the plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in Washington, a conspiracy that the international community strongly condemned through a UN General Assembly resolution in November.

    It highlighted that Syria was "mired in significant civil unrest for most of 2011" but "continued its strong partnership" with Iran.

    The report added:

    Syria has laws on the books pertaining to counterterrorism and terrorist financing, but it largely used these legal instruments against opponents of the regime, including political protesters and other members of the growing oppositionist movement.

    The State Department also highlighted other forms of violent extremism around the world -- including attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that killed at least 88 people; anarchists in Greece and Italy targeting government offices, foreign missions and symbols of the state; as well as dissident Republican groups in Northern Ireland.

    The National Counterterrorism Center's annex also highlighted:

    • Attacks on government facilities decreased by about 43 percent from 2010, from 796 attacks to 453 attacks in 2011.
    • There was a sharp increase in the number of attacks directed at energy infrastructure, including fuel tankers, fuel pipelines and electrical networks, rising from 299 attacks in 2010 to 438 attacks in 2011.
    • The number of attacks directed at public places declined in each of the past five years, from a high of 4,121 attacks in 2007 to 2,186 attacks in 2011.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Family wins $323 million against Iran, Syria over terrorist attack

    View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.

    By NBCMiami.com's Amara Sohn and msnbc.com's Jim Gold

    Updated at 6 p.m. ET: A Weston, Fla., family has won a landmark $323 million court decision against Iran and Syria, six years after their son was killed by a suicide bomber in Tel Aviv. When they’ll see the money is another matter.


    A U.S. federal judge awarded Tuly and Cheryl Wultz the judgment against Iran for financially supporting the Islamic Jihad movement and Syria for allowing the group to train in its territory. The lawsuit was filed by an Israeli advocacy group on behalf of the family. The award includes $300 million in punitive damages.

    Tuly Wultz remembers like it was yesterday how the terrorist looked moments before the April 17, 2006, blast that killed his son, Daniel, when they were vacationing in Israel. They were having lunch in Tel Aviv when the suicide bomber approached, standing 2 feet away from Daniel Wultz, 16.

    Read the original story at NBCMiami.com

    “I tried to jump on Daniel but he already detonated and the bomb was over 40 pounds of explosives,” Tuly Wultz recalled in an interview with NBC Miami. He was severely injured, and his son and 10 other people were killed in the attack by an Islamic Jihad militant.

    “My heart is still bleeding for Daniel. I’ll never be recovered from that,” the father said.

    Daniel Wultz died from his injuries on May 14, 2006.

    On Monday, the sixth anniversary of his death, his parents received word of the court victory.

    Wultz Attorney Robert Tolchin told msnbc.com that with the court judgment in hand his clients can seek Iranian and Syrian assets to collect the award.

    Tolchin said he couldn’t be specific, but he would explore “various avenues.”

    “There is a lot of litigation by people seeking the turnover of Iranian assets,” Tolchin said. “The Iranians have kept U.S. courts busy.”

    The case was brought under a special provision of federal law that allows U.S. citizens to take court actions against foreign states providing support for terrorism.

    As in the Wultz case, Iran often does not fight against a judgment, but hires major U.S. firms to fight the collection of the award, Tolchin said.

    Syria, on the other hand, did fight the claim and was represented in court by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

    "This is a sad result following from a tragic incident," Clark told msnbc.com. "Compensation should come from persons clearly responsible who committed the act. The idea that you can become a multimillionaire by getting some friend or relative killed is not terribly healthy."

    Watch the most-viewed videos on msnbc.com

    Clark said he defended Syria only over the issue of it being a sovereign state that should face the same protection from lawsuits as all states, which are considered equal under United Nations principles.

    There were no facts to support the idea that Syria or Iran were present or had advance knowledge of the Tel Aviv bombing, Clark said.

    He took issue with the federal law that allows a few Americans injured by terrorist acts to be paid “a lot of money” when thousands more, especially soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, cannot have the same access to compensation when they are hurt by roadside bombs or in other non-combat attacks.  

    "Iran and Syria are foreign states with substantial wealth and that have expended significant resources sponsoring terrorism," wrote Judge Royce C. Lamberth in his ruling.

    "Barbaric acts like the April 17, 2006 suicide bombing have no place in civilized society and represent a moral depravity that knows no bounds."

    The Wultzes say they are pleased with the decision, which they say is just one step towards justice and a way to ensure their son’s death was not in vain.

    “This judgment was important because it’s the first time that there’s a judgment that concerns terrorism against Syria,” Cheryl Wultz said.

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  • Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich back arming Syria's rebels

    NBC's Richard Engel reports on the tense situation in Syria where an American reporter and French photojournalist were recently killed.

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    U.S. Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich lent their support to the idea of arming the Syrian opposition in its fight to topple President Bashar Assad, as a group of more than 70 countries prepared to discuss the crisis.

    Romney and Gingrich, speaking in Wednesday night's GOP presidential candidate debate, both advocated helping the rebels to defend themselves.

    On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton heads to Tunisia for a meeting of the Friends of Syria group of countries to look at ways to assist Assad's opponents, which now include hundreds of defected military officers and soldiers.

    Assad's tanks move in to Syria rebel stronghold

    The Times newspaper in the U.K., which operates behind a paywall, said the group would discuss a plan to set up a humanitarian zone along Syria's border with Turkey to protect protesters and also consider proposals to create aid corridors and send protected medical convoys into Syria to treat the wounded.

    Marie Colvin, an American-born war reporter for The Sunday Times newspaper in the U.K. and a French photographer, Remi Ochlik, have been killed in Syria. ITN's Tim Ewart has a clip from one of Colvin's last reports.

    The Times said the group's priority was to persuade Assad's regime to agree to a two-hour cease-fire every day in the city of Homs.

    On Wednesday, Syrian government forces killed more than 80 people in assaults on villages and an artillery barrage on the restive city of Homs, including two Western journalists, American reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.

    Journalist needs urgent medical care
    Syrian activists said at least two other Western journalists — French reporter Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro and British photographer Paul Conroy of the Sunday Times — were wounded in Wednesday's shelling.

    Amateur video posted online showed Bouvier and Conroy in a makeshift clinic.

    NYT: As others isolate Syria, Chavez ships fuel to it

    Bouvier had her left leg tied from the thigh down in a cast. A doctor in the video explained that she needed emergency medical care. Conroy appeared in the video and the doctors said he had deep gashes in his left leg.

    A statement by Syria's Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud said there was "no information" about Colvin, Ochlik and other foreign journalists in Syria who entered without official permission, the state-run news agency SANA reported.

    NBC's Richard Engel answers reader questions about Syria

    It warned all foreign journalists to come forward to "regularize their status."

    Speaking at a CNN debate in Mesa, Arizona, Romney said the United States needed to team up with allies to help the rebels.

    American, French journalists killed in Syria

    "We need to work with Saudi Arabia and with Turkey to say, 'You guys provide the kind of weaponry that's needed to help the rebels inside Syria,'" the former Massachusetts governor said.

    The Republican seen most likely to face President Barack Obama in November's presidential election, Romney said such support was needed to turn Syria away from Iran at a critical time when Tehran was possibly trying to develop nuclear weapons.

    Activists: Scores killed as Syria targets civilians

    "If we can turn Syria and Lebanon away from Iran, we finally have the capacity to get Iran to pull back," Romney said. He added that the United States should make it clear that military action would be taken if Iran pursued nuclear weapons.

    Gingrich slams Obama
    Speaking at the debate, Gingrich said that U.S. allies — which he did not name — were covertly helping destroy the Assad regime, and that there were weapons available in the region to arm the opposition.

    "There are plenty of Arab-speaking groups that would be quite happy. There are lots of weapons available in the Middle East," he said, taking a swipe at the Obama administration's policy on Syria.

    "This is an administration which, as long as you're America's enemy, you're safe. You know, the only people you've got to worry about is if you're an American ally."

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    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

  • NBC's Richard Engel: NYT reporter Anthony Shadid was 'absolutely brilliant'

    Willie Geist, Mike Barnicle and the Morning Joe panel remember New York Times foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid, who died Thursday in Syria of an apparent asthma attack.

    By Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent

    Anthony Shadid, the New York Times correspondent who died in Syria on Thursday, was better than the rest of us.  He wasn’t the fastest to a story, or the biggest daredevil or the most technical with a satellite phone.  Sure, he was good at all those things.  But he was absolutely brilliant at something else.  Shadid could hear the story.

    He could feel it in the tips of his fingers.  He could do what may be impossible.  He could make war subtle.

    This is what I mean.  During the often overlooked, ferociously dangerous 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, reporters in southern Lebanon generally rushed to the bombing sites.  The faster we got there, the fresher and more compelling our stories and pictures would be.  And there were incredibility compelling stories.  In the first three weeks of the conflict, Israel dropped as much tonnage of explosives on southern Lebanon as it used in the 1973 Mideast war.

    NYT: Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Anthony Shadid dies in Syria

    Hezbollah fired rockets indiscriminately into Israeli cities, driving thousands into shelters.  We rushed and ran and sometimes even dodged and the world watched and read.  Anthony covered it differently.  He’d go out in the morning and find some tiny village, tucked away on a hillside, where none of us thought to go.  He’d find his story in the details, not the fireballs.  It takes a sensitive ear to do that.  War is a loud place, full of emotions, explosions, gore, fatigue, pity, outrage and rage.  But Anthony managed to pick out the quiet notes, and hear the melody playing sotto voce under the cacophony.

    I say "us" because there is an "us" in the business, which is really more of a life than a career.  There is a small – tragically, dwindling – brotherhood and sisterhood of reporters who cover conflict, specifically conflict in the Middle East.  Anthony was one of our founding members.  When I first moved to Cairo in 1996, the first person I was told to look up was Anthony.  “He’s got a good feeling of what’s going on over there,” I was well advised.  Anthony and I were together in Baghdad during the 2003 US bombing.  Baghdad for all of 'us' was a defining period, an extended nightmare of car bombings, flag ceremonies, kidnappings and military acronyms.  I last saw Anthony a few months ago.  He looked great.  He was in a good place.

    Rachel Maddow reports the sad news of the passing of New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid.

    He was relaxed and happy.  We were at the airport in Tunisia.  We’d just covered a year of the Arab Spring.  It was different from all those years in Baghdad.  It was interesting.  It was complicated.  It was big history.  It needed a subtle ear.  It was perfect for Anthony.

    It was his time.  I am so sorry his time was cut short.  I’ll miss his voice.  I’ll miss his compassion.  There’s so much more to reporting than just bullets, bombs, rebels and ballots, and nobody knew that more than Anthony.  Rest in peace, brother.

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  • Report: US may be forced to 'militarize' Syria crisis

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    Updated 9:55 a.m. ET: The U.S. does not want to "militarize the situation" in Syria, but fears this may be unavoidable, according to a report citing an un-named State Department official.

    The White House is seeking a diplomatic solution but the debate in Washington has shifted toward more robust action following the deadlock over a United Nations resolution, according to the report in Britain's Daily Telegraph.

    With diplomacy stalled, the bloodletting in the Syrian city of Homs continues. ITN's John Ray reports.

     

    The report said the Pentagon’s Central Command has begun a preliminary review of U.S. military capabilities in the region, which one senior official called a “scoping exercise” that would provide options for Barack Obama if necessary.

    “The decision-makers have not determined we are at a point of no return,” the senior official was quoted as saying. “There is still a window, it is just that that window is closing," the official said, adding that "nothing is off the table."

    “We definitely don’t want to militarize the situation. If it’s avoidable, we are going to avoid it. But increasingly it looks like it may not be avoidable,” the official if reported to have said.

    President Assad's British-born wife, Asma, has sent an email in support of her husband. ITN's Daisy McAndrew reports. 

    Observers agree that outright Western military intervention in Syria is unlikely as such a mission would be more difficult and risky than last year's operation in Libya. Its complex geography and ethnic mix make the removal of President Bashar Assad's regime difficult, and one option could be to arm rebel groups such as the Free Syrian Army.

    While the West and Arab allies discuss options, the humanitarian crisis inside Syria has worsened, with hundreds of rebels killed in recent days in the city of Homs. Assad's army fired mortars and rockets Thursday, the latest salvo in a weeklong bombardment aimed at crushing pockets of dissent.

    Mood of 'despair' as Syria bombards city of Homs for 5th day

    The United Nations chief on Thursday condemned the ferocity of the government assault on Homs. "I fear that the appalling brutality we are witnessing in Homs, with heavy weapons firing into civilian neighborhoods, is a grim harbinger of things to come," U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said after briefing the Security Council in New York.

    Activists and residents report hundreds of people killed over the last week as Assad's forces try stamp out opposition in Homs and as Thursday dawned, rocket and mortar fire rained down again on Baba Amro, Khalidiya and other districts. Armored government reinforcements also poured into the eastern city.

    The Syrian Revolution Coordinating Commission said at least 30 civilians in Homs were killed in bombardments on Thursday morning on mainly Sunni Muslim neighborhoods that have been the focus of attacks by the government forces led largely by members of Assad's Alawite religious minority.

    Such sectarian divisions have been coming to the surface as killings have increased on either side of the conflict.

    The main street in Baba Amro was strewn with rubble and at least one house was destroyed, according to YouTube footage broadcast by activists from the district who said troops had used anti-aircraft cannon to demolish the building.

    The video showed a youth putting two bodies wrapped in blankets in a truck. What appeared to be body parts were shown inside the house.

    Hussein Nader, an activist in Baba Amro, told Reuters: "Silence reigns for four to five minutes, then another barrage of tank fire or rockets or mortar rounds comes in."

    "Whole houses have come down and we do not know how many more have been killed. They are not advancing and it seems that they are content by continuing to shell Baba Amro until every inhabitant is killed."

    The U.N. estimates that 5,400 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising agains Assad began in March 2011. But that figure is from January, when the U.N. stopped counting because deteriorating security prevented verification of the figures.

    The White House said it was talking to allies about holding a “Friends of Syria” meeting in the near future and was considering delivering humanitarian aid to affected areas in the country.

    “We are, of course, looking at humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, and we have for some time. We’re consulting with our international partners, and we anticipate this being one of the focuses of the discussions that we’ll have,” Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said, according to the Telegraph.

    Influential figures in Washington have recommended setting up a “humanitarian corridor” or safe haven, while others, such as Senator John McCain, have said it was time to consider arming the rebels of the Free Syrian Army.

    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday the Arab League chief told him he intends to revive an Arab League monitoring mission in Syria, which has collapsed amid continuing violence there.

    Hillary Clinton lambastes 'travesty' of UN veto on Syria

    The U.N. chief provided no specifics, but the idea appears aimed at giving the regional group a boost after the league's earlier mission was pulled out of the country because of security concerns.

    "In the coming days we will further consult with the council before fleshing out details," Ban said. "We stand ready to assist in any way that will contribute toward improvement on the ground."

    Ban also reiterated his "deep regret" over the council's inability to speak in one voice to stop the bloodshed. Russia and China used their veto powers on Saturday to block a Security Council resolution backing an Arab League peace plan that calls for Assad to step aside.

    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expessed fury after Saturday's veto by Russia and China at the United Nations blocking action against the continuing violence in Syria, describing it as "a travesty."

    Libya has given Syria's charge d'affaires and his staff in Tripoli 72 hours to leave the country, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

    Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) officially recognised the Syrian opposition council in October as the legitimate authority in Syria after months of unrest against President Bashar al Assad.

    Germany said on Thursday it is expelling four Syrian diplomats following the arrest earlier this week of two men accused of spying on Syrian opposition groups in Germany.

    The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

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  • As al-Qaida recedes, new, hard-to-grip challenges confront US security

    At Tuesday's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, National Director of Intelligence James Clapper said Iran may be more willing to attack the U.S. at home and abroad. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    By M. Alex Johnson, NBC News

    Al-Qaida remains a threat, but intense U.S.-led pressure is working and could relegate it and similar organizations to having only "symbolic importance," the nation's intelligence chief said Tuesday.

    When and if that happens, the U.S. will no longer have the luxury of focusing on one dominant threat, James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told senators in the intelligence community's annual assessment of threats to national security.

    Rather, the "multiplicity and interconnectedness of potential threats, and the actors behind them, "will combine into an amorphous but critical challenge," Clapper said in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He was joined at the hearing by CIA Director David Petraeus. 

    While people find it easier to identify a single target — like the Soviet Union during the Cold War or al-Qaida during President George W. Bush's war on terrorism — "it is virtually impossible to rank, in terms of long-term importance, the numerous potential threats to U.S. national security," he said.

    Clapper warned that security challenges today cut across political, economic, military and transnational trends. They reflect a "quickly changing international environment" that includes new political and military developments, the rise of "nonstate actors" — like regional terror and paramilitary groups — and ever-increasing access by individuals to deadly technologies.  

    The good news, he said, is that the resistance to al-Qaida over the past decade has established that sustained pressure works.

    "The intelligence community sees the next two or three years as a critical transition phase for the terrorist threat, particularly for al-Qaida and like-minded groups," he said. "... As long as we sustain the pressure on it, we judge that core al-Qaida will be of largely symbolic importance to the global jihadist movement."

    Take our Facebook poll: Is the U.S. safer today?

    Clapper, a retired Air Force general and former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, was confirmed as national intelligence director in August 2010. 

    In his testimony Tuesday, Clapper and Petraeus talked in detail about al-Qaida and other threats to national security:

    • Al-Qaida: The death of Osama bin Laden deprived radical Islam of it "most iconic and inspirational leader" at a time when its capabilities had already been degraded by years of U.S.-led pressure, Clapper said. Al-Qaida's new leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is unlikely to change the organization's strategic direction, even though "most al-Qaida members find Zawahiri's leadership style less compelling than bin Laden's image as a holy man and warrior" and "will not offer him the deference they gave bin Laden." 

    As a result, "al-Qaida increasingly will seek to execute smaller, simpler plots to demonstrate relevance to the global jihad," Clapper said. In fact, smaller regional groups like al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and al-Qaida in Iraq are likely to "surpass the remnants of core al-Qaida in Pakistan" as threats to U.S. interests. 

    • Syria: It's only a matter of time before Syrian President Bashar Assad falls from power, Clapper said, but it could be a long time because of intervention by Iran and the militant Islamist group Hezbollah and military supplies from North Korea. That makes it difficult for the West to plan for "a post-Assad situation," he said.
    • Weapons of mass destruction: The spread of biological, chemical and  nuclear weapons is "among our top concerns," Clapper said, because "the time when only a few states had access to the most dangerous technologies is past."

    Biological and chemical materials "move easily in our globalized economy, as do the personnel with scientific expertise to design and use them," he said. 

    Open Channel: Israeli Embassy, US tourists among likely targets of bomb plot

    While no recognized countries are yet known to have provided direct WMD assistance to terrorist groups, that could change: "As governments become unstable and transform, WMD-related materials may become vulnerable to nonstate actors, if the security that protects them erodes," he said.

    • Iran: Petraeus said he believed the International Atomic Energy Agency's report in November — which said Iran is on the verge of a nuclear "breakthrough" that could allow it to launch a missile able to hit Israel and Europe — is accurate.  

    But Iran's willingness to allow IAEA inspectors to extend their stay in Tehran this week indicates that new sanctions on Iran's central bank are beginning to bite. (NBC News has reported that China, Iran's biggest oil customer, has recently reduced its purchases of Iranian oil after behind-the-scenes negotiations with U.S.)

    Msnbc.com: Will Iran make good on its threat against US?

    • North Korea: The death of supreme leader Kim Jong-il is unlikely to lead to any fundamental change in Pyongyang's isolation and belligerence, Petraeus said. There's no reason to believe, he warned that the new leader, Kim Jong-un, will stop the country's exports of ballistic missiles and other materials to Iran, Syria and possibly other countries.
    • Cyber-threats: Advances in information technology have opened the door to mass-scale collection of personal and governmental data by China, Russia and numerous independent groups, Clapper said.

    Unfortunately, "innovation in functionality is outpacing innovation in security, and neither the public nor private sector has been successful at fully implementing existing best practices," he said. That's shown by well-publicized intrusions into the NASDAQ computer system and International Monetary Fund networks, underscoring the "vulnerability" of the U.S. economy.

    • Health threats and natural disasters: Clapper pointed to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan as an example of what could go wrong even when a government acts appropriately.  

    "Although Tokyo responded adequately in the immediate aftermath of Japan's largest earthquake, the triple disaster contributed to Prime Minister (Naoto) Kan's resignation," he said. Beyond the immediate health and safety concerns, such developments open the way for militant groups to "challenge and potentially destabilize governments" that never would have been considered vulnerable, he said.

    "Although we can say with near certainty that new outbreaks of disease and catastrophic natural disasters will occur during the next several years, we cannot predict their timing, locations, causes or severity," he warned.

    Andrea Mitchell and Courtney Kube of NBC News contributed to this report from Washington.

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