Story 1: Hamas weighing military draft
The top security official in Hamas-ruled Gaza said he is considering setting up a bigger military force, first with volunteers and eventually with conscripts as well.
Such a step could further tighten Hamas' control of Gaza and deepen the rift with the group's Western-backed rivals in the West Bank. Hamas seized Gaza by force in 2007, wresting control from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Currently, Hamas has a paid security force of about 18,000.
Interior minister Fathi Hamad raised the idea of a broad-based force today during the inauguration of a new police building. He said his ministry is "open to the idea of voluntary recruitment and then going to conscription." He gave no details.
Mr Hamad's spokesman, Ehab Ghussein, said the ministry is currently looking only at voluntary recruitment, not at a possible draft, and that the final decision would be up to the Hamas government. "We deny that the Interior Ministry will impose a draft" on the residents of Gaza, Ghussein said in a statement.
Story 2: Iran: U.S. will likely attack 2 Mideast countries within 3 months
In an interview aired on Iranian state television Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran expects the United States to launch a military strike on "at least two countries" in the Middle East in the next three months.
Ahmadinejad did not specify whether he thought Iran itself would be attacked nor did he say what intelligence led him to expect such a move.
It doesn't take much to understand that this is a clear and obvious threat by Ahmedinajad against the US, not the other way around.
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