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Fox News crew shot at in Gaza

FOX News reporter David Lee Miller was shot at by Israeli troops while reporting from Gaza. The exchange, shown in this clip, between the anchors and the correspondents on the ground is very telling of the ostrich mentality at FOX News. Two of the three anchors, thousands of miles away from the incident, attempt to excuse Israel: "If you're somebody and you're a long ways away and you just see something and you don't know who it is, sometimes you just start shooting". One is utterly incredulous: "Really?" After exiting the scene with his crew, the journalist, David Lee Miller, had time to put together that the shots originated from the Israeli position several hundred yards away.

Partial transcript of the incident

FOX HOST: Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas, says, "Israeli's incursion into Lebanon could start a regional war." We got David Lee Miller there, live, in central Gaza. David Lee, I see you have your flak jacket on. What's happening?

DAVID LEE MILLER: Right now, Brian, fortunately, not a great deal. We're on the outskirts of Abala[sic] but yesterday at this very location -- in the city here -- some 12 Palestinians were killed. At least half of them, according to local sources, were militants. One of them was also a policeman and this is normally a very busy roadway. This is Sala Adini[sic] street. This is the main artery that cuts through the Gaza strip. It goes from the very bottom to the very top of the script. As you can see for yourself, it is a ghost town at this hour. Not a single car is on this road. The reason for that, the Israelis have effectively now, they have cut Gaza in half. There is a strong Israeli presence here. This is the first time that there Israeli troops in Gaza since the withdrawal last summer. And just over my shoulder, off in the distance -- you can't see it in camera range -- there are Israeli tanks. There are Israeli tanks and there has been some military activity from shelling and for that reason, as you point out, we are wearing the flak jackets.

[..]

MILLER: ...and despite this action in Gaza City, targeting the Foreign Ministry building that is all but gutted at this hour, militants in Gaza today did continue to launch rockets from the northern part of the strip, over the border into nearby Israeli towns and... whoa! We just go fired at. That's the end of this [broadcast], I think. I don't know if you guys can still hear us.

HOST: Go... Do what you need to do.

MILLER: I guess we're still on the satellite here.

HOST: David, do what you need to do to be...

MILLER: someone... fire at us.

HOST: Where... Where...

MILLER: Yes?

HOST: [unintelligible]

MILLER: You see the camera shot don't you guys?

HOST: Right. Get into a safe place.

MILLER: I think... It sounded... Yeah, we're actually hunkered down behind our vehicle... it's difficult to ascertain who fired that shot. A single shot but...

HOST: It's ok.

MILLER: Oh, someone's firing. I think we are going to boogie out of here. I... but as we do that -- before we just rush into the car, we don't want to make any sudden movements here. We're going to get into the vehicle guys.

HOST: Ok. Hold on... David, David, get in the car. Get in the car. Go. We'll come back to you later.

MILLER: We're going to get into the vehicle guys. Get in the vehicle... We're in the... You know... Ok, it's difficult to tell who's firing at us. Again, I don't know if we're still up on the satellite.

HOST: David, is that an armored car?

MILLER: Overhead we can, over... We're in an armored car. That affords us a great degree of protection. Another concern that we do have in this location, is that overhead, we can hear off in the distance -- again, it's difficult to ascertain how far in the distance -- an Israeli drone aircraft. And it is from those aircraft that the Israelis have launched a number of airstrikes. So, that is an additional concern that we have broadcasting from this location. So, again, I don't know how far away that gun fire was. If it was Israeli gunfire it's difficult for us to say. It could just be someone with a weapon. For the most part, the area we're talking to you from is deserted. We still have that camera picture up and there is no one in sight here in front of us. The road is complete empty the buildings are abandoned. On the left side of your screen, just out of camera range, is one of the abandoned Israeli settlements. There is absolutely no one, no one that we can detect. So, at this time what I'd like to do is communicate with my photographer and see if we can get him to safety.... Pierre, are we going to get in the vehicle here and very slowly but deliberately leave the area. Ok, that said... We still hear shots... We're going to take our camera down, guys, and we're going to talk to you from a safer position. We're going to go.

Who is Hezbollah?
By John Walcott
McClatchy Newspapers

Iran began trying to export its brand of Islamic rule to Lebanon soon after its own Islamic Revolution in 1979. Its early efforts failed, however, and Hezbollah, the Party of God, was formed by Shiite Muslim clerics only after Israel invaded the country in 1982 to root out Palestinian terrorists. Although it's now a political party that's represented in the Lebanese cabinet, Hezbollah has ignored demands to defuse its military wing, the Islamic Resistance, which has become the most potent military force in Lebanon.

Its goals include destroying Israel, promoting Islamic law and advancing the cause of Lebanon's traditionally disenfranchised and impoverished Shiites, who are the largest religious community in a country long dominated by a Christian and Sunni elite.

Backed by Syria and Iran, Hezbollah's initial aim was to drive the Israelis out of Lebanon. But after American, British, French and Italian troops were sent to Beirut in 1982 to help restore order after Israel's Christian Lebanese allies massacred hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of Palestinians in two Beirut refugee camps, Hezbollah began attacking them, as well.

In 1983, suicide bombers destroyed the American Embassy in Beirut and the U.S. Marine headquarters at Beirut airport; the latter attack killed 241 Americans. Hezbollah terrorists also hijacked TWA Flight 847 and took Americans hostage. Imad Mugniyah, who masterminded the hijacking and many of the kidnappings, remains one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists.

Some Hezbollah members, though, run social welfare programs while their radical colleagues are mounting terrorist operations and attacks on the Israeli military. Funded largely from Iran, Hezbollah has built schools, medical clinics and other facilities in Lebanon's Shiite south, as well as its own television station, al Manar, which the Israelis bombed this month after the group fired rockets into Israel.

Its social programs and its campaign to force the Israelis to withdraw their troops from Lebanon, which they did in 2000, helped make Hezbollah a political force as well as a military and terrorist one. But some Lebanese think the group may now have overplayed its hand by plunging Lebanon into another war.

Who is Hezbollah? (http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/world/15047532.htm)

Conflict over Mideast, Iran, North Korea stifle U.S., Russian unity
By William Douglas
McClatchy Newspapers

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to show unity Saturday, agreeing in principle that they need to work together to help defuse the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and to keep Iran and North Korea from becoming nuclear powers.

But a news conference after the two leaders met on the first day of the Group of Eight economic summit here exposed the divide between them over how to handle the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and how to quash the nuclear ambitions of the Tehran and Pyongyang governments.

U.S. and Russian officials failed to agree on a deal that would help Russia enter the World Trade Organization, a 149-nation group that sets rules for international trade and investment.

And Bush's promised private talk with Putin over his retreat from democratic freedoms in Russia produced a pointed jab at the White House's most ambitious attempt to promote democracy.

"We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly," Putin said to a roomful of laughter.

"Just wait," Bush responded.

The so-called G-8 summit was supposed to deal primarily with energy security and showcase an economically resurgent Russia. But the pressing issues in East Asia and the Middle East and questions about Putin's commitment to political, economic and press freedoms has changed the focus of the annual two-day event.

Bush and Putin denounced the escalating violence in the Middle East spurred by Hezbollah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers last week. Israeli forces have been on the offensive ever since, bombing Beirut's airport and other targets. Hezbollah has responded by firing rockets into Israel.

Bush again said that Israel is justified in its actions, and Putin agreed but added a caveat: "At the same time, we work under the assumption that the use of force should be balanced."

On the Iranian and North Korean nuclear problems, Bush said that he and Putin agreed that "we've got to work together to send a common message to both that there is a better way forward."

But both men sidestepped questions about whether Russia would support a United Nations Security Council resolution that imposed sanctions on Iran. Russia, which has a veto in the U.N. Security Council, has expressed opposition to sanctions on both countries.

Putin also has raised fears on both sides of the Atlantic by cracking down on Russian media freedoms, recentralizing political power in the Kremlin and using his country's natural resources to coerce its neighbors.

Bush said he conveyed his concerns to Putin, relaying stories he heard from the Russian civil society leaders he met when he arrived in St. Petersburg on Friday.

"I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world like Iraq, where there's a free press and religion, and I told him that a lot of the people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same thing," Bush said.

Putin replied that Russia is committed to expanding freedoms - on its own terms.

" . . . We know for sure that we cannot strengthen our nation without developing democratic institutions, and this is the path we will certainly take," he said. "But certainly, we will do this by ourselves."

U.S. and Russian officials tried to paper over the differences between the leaders by announcing cooperative efforts to bolster international cooperation in tracking potential nuclear terrorists and improve the global response if terrorist obtain a nuclear weapon. The so-called Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, however, merely expands the already established Proliferation Security Initiative, a U.S.-led group of nations that cooperate in seizing dangerous weapons while they're in transit.

Conflict over Mideast, Iran, North Korea stifle U.S., Russian unity (http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/world/15047531.htm)

Israel: Iran aided Hezbollah ship attack
Posted 7/15/2006 3:09 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AP) — Elite Iranian troops helped Hezbollah fire a sophisticated radar-guided missile at an Israeli warship in a surprise blow by militants who had been using only low-tech weapons, Israeli officials said Saturday.

Israel initially believed that an aerial drone armed with explosives hit the warship, but it became clear that Hezbollah had used an Iranian-made C-802 missile to strike the vessel late Friday, an Israeli intelligence official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.

Tehran did not respond to the charge, which was not mentioned in Iranian media reports Saturday.

One Israeli sailor was killed and three were missing after the attack. The ship was returning to its home port in Israel, the army said.

About 100 fighters from Iran's Revolutionary Guard helped import, equip and fire the missile at the Spear, a missile ship cruising off the coast of Lebanon, which is under an Israeli naval blockade, Israeli officials said.

Hezbollah was founded by the Revolutionary Guard during Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. The Islamic republic's elite corps of more than 200,000 fighters is independent of the regular armed forces and directly controlled by Iran's supreme leader.

"We can confirm that it (the ship) was hit by an Iranian-made missile launched by Hezbollah. We see this as a very profound fingerprint of Iranian involvement in Hezbollah," Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan told The Associated Press.

The Shiite militant group had been firing only highly inaccurate Katyusha rockets at Israeli targets. Israel appeared surprised that the guerrilla group had more high-tech weapons.

Israeli officials speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information said that Hezbollah also has Iranian-made drones that are more accurate than missiles, as well as longer-range projectiles that could hit Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub.

An Israeli military official said the Spear's missile detection and deflection system was not on during the attack, apparently because the sailors did not anticipate such an attack.

The military official said the ship is one of the most technologically advanced in the Israeli fleet, boasting an array of high-tech missiles and a system for electronically jamming incoming missiles and other threats.

Nehushtan said another Hezbollah radar-guided anti-ship missile hit and sank a nearby Cambodian merchant ship around the time the Spear was struck. Twelve Egyptian sailors were pulled from the water by passing ships, Brig. Gen. Noam Fieg said.

Nehushtan said the body of one of the four Israeli soldiers missing in the attack was found on the damaged warship. Other Israeli military officials said two bodies had been found.

Israel launched an offensive after Hezbollah guerrillas crossed the Israel-Lebanon border on Wednesday and captured two Israeli soldiers. Israel has bombarded Lebanon's airport and main roads in the most intensive offensive against the country in 24 years, while Hezbollah has launched hundreds of rockets into Israel.

Israel: Iran aided Hezbollah ship attack (http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-07-15-iran-ship-attack_x.htm#)

Turkey slams Israel on Lebanon strike
July 15, 2006

Turkey, one of the few Muslim allies of Israel, on Friday criticised Israeli air strikes on Lebanon as "inhumane" and "excessive" and urged an immediate ceasefire.

"There is nothing humane or understandable in punishing Lebanon for an act by Hezbollah," Turkish Prime Minister Reccep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters in the northeastern city of Ardahan, the Anatolia news agency reported.

"Israel must reconsider its stance," Erdogan added. "In my opinion, Israel is increasingly isolating itself from the world."

Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign on Lebanon two days ago and imposed a blockade on its northern neighbour after the killing and capture of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas, in a flare-up that has raised fears of a regional war.

At least 62 Lebanese civilians have been killed and some 170 injured in the bombings.

"We would be deceiving ourselves if we do not call what is going on there a war...There is an excessive use of force," Erdogan said.

Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul urged all sides to agree to a ceasefire quickly in order to prevent further escalation in the volatile region.

"I invite everyone to a ceasefire quickly. If a ceasefire is delayed, I see the risk of an escalation and the complete destruction of the opportunity for co-existence," Gul told reporters here.

The Turkish foreign ministry lamented Israel's "use of excessive force" and the civilian victims of raids.

"We call on Israel to stop its military operation at once in order to prevent this dangerous escalation from leading to grave developments. The kidnapped soldiers must be released at once," the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier, the ministry advised Turks to avoid travel to Lebanon in light of the conflict and Gul said his ministry was working to enable to return of Turkish citizens in the region.

Turkey, a non-Arab Muslim nation with a secular system, has been Israel's main regional ally since the two signed a military cooperation deal in 1996.

But ties have gone through cooler periods with the Islamist-rooted Turkish government voicing criticism over the Jewish nation's actions in the region.

Turkey slams Israel on Lebanon strike (http://www.terra.net.lb/wp/Articles/DesktopArticle.aspx?ArticleID=295348&ChannelId=4)

US, major allies differ in response to Israeli attack
July 15, 2006

Major US allies have condemned the ferocity of Israel's military attack on Lebanon, revealing a clear split with Washington's moderate call for restraint.

Cries of alarm mounted worldwide after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered armed forces to intensify the offensive in response to rockets hitting towns in northern Israel, killing two and wounding 50.

As the civilian death toll in Lebanon mounted above 60 and Israeli warplanes hit buildings, roads and Beirut airport, French President Jacques Chirac questioned whether Israel was seeking Lebanon's destruction.

"One may well ask if there isn't today a kind of wish to destroy Lebanon -- its infrastructure, its roads, its communications, its energy, its airport. And for what?

"I find honestly -- as all Europeans do -- that the current reactions are totally disproportionate," he said in a live television interview on France's national Bastille Day.

Chirac's comments, echoed across most of Europe and in much of the rest of the world, conflicted with US President George W. Bush's dogged defence of Israel's right to defend itself.

Bush has not publicly criticized the scale of the Israeli assault, blaming Lebanese militia group Hezbollah and radical Palestinian Hamas for sparking the crisis.

Hezbollah guerrillas seized two Israeli servicemen Wednesday, leading to Israel's first ground incursion since it ended its occupation of the south of the country in 2000.

Bush telephoned Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, however, vowing to push Israel to limit the damage it is wreaking in Lebanon.

"President Bush asserted that he will exert pressure on Israel to limit damage inflicted on Lebanon through the ongoing military operation," said a statement from Siniora's office.

Around the rest of world, however, leaders bluntly condemned Israel's response.

"In my view, Israel is making a mistake," said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. "It will only lead to an escalation of the violence."

In Italy, Prime Minister Romano Prodi said he recognized Israel's legitimate concerns and condemned the kidnapping of the soldiers.

But "we deplore the escalation in the use of force, the serious damage to Lebanese infrastructure and the civilian casualties of the raids," the Italian leader added.

The Vatican secretary of state, Angelo Sodano, said: "The Holy See deplores the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign country," adding that he felt for the people "who had already suffered in defence of their independence."

Germany called on Israel to consider the longer term impact of its strike on Lebanon.

"On the one hand, Israel has the internationally recognised right to self defence. But at the same time we ask our Israeli friends and partners not to lose sight of the long-term consequences when they exercise this right," German deputy government spokesman Jens Ploetner said.

"Here we think care should be taken about the situation in Lebanon, which is a fragile entity as a state and could be further destabilised," he added.

Already, Israel has imposed an air and sea blockade on Lebanon, shut the only international airport by bombing its runways and damaged the main Beirut-Damascus highway.

Iran, which with Syria is a sponsor of Hezbollah, called on the United Nations to step in. "The international community and the UN must intervene to stop this crime," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said during a visit to Greece.

In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim state, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was quoted by the state news agency Antara as saying: "Indonesia repeats its call for Israel to stop its military action."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for restraint on all sides but kept closer to the US line.

"I totally understand the desire and the need for Israel to defend itself properly and I also understand the plight of Lebanon and the Lebanese government, not to say the many Palestinians that are suffering as well," Blair said in London.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was meeting with Bush before hosting a summit of Group of Eight powers in Saint Petersburg, said he would formally place the Middle East crisis on the agenda.

"I consider that all sides implicated in this conflict should immediately stop military action," Putin said.

The Norwegian foreign ministry said it had summoned Israel's ambassador to protest over the military strikes.

"We feel the Israeli attacks on Lebanon are completely unacceptable," Norwegian foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne Lene Dale Sandsten said on Norwegian national radio NRK.

Ambassador Miryam Shomrat replied that Israel was acting in self-defence.

US, major allies differ in response to Israeli attack (http://www.terra.net.lb/wp/Articles/DesktopArticle.aspx?ArticleID=295374&ChannelId=4)

Arab League meets in Cairo over Mideast crisis

15/07/2006 5:47:00 PM

Arab foreign ministers have met in an emergency session in Cairo, facing an uphill battle to contain a Middle East crisis that threatens to engulf more countries in the region.

Arab foreign ministers have met in an emergency session in Cairo, facing an uphill battle to contain a Middle East crisis that threatens to engulf more countries in the region.

The ministers met at the Arab League headquarters for a closed session, and and will reconvene later to adopt a final declaration.

Egyptian public television, quoting diplomats present at the meeting, said the foreign ministers will condemn the Israeli military operations and recommend a diplomatic solution to the crisis, as well as an exchange of prisoners.

Since the capture of two Israeli soldiers by the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah on Wednesday, attacks by the Jewish state on Lebanon have killed dozens of civilians and rained destruction down on infrastructure, including the country's sole international airport in Beirut.

Israel has also been leading a punishing air campaign in Gaza since a teenage Israeli soldier was snatched by Palestinian militants on June 25, sparking the worst Israeli-Palestinian crisis in months.

Both Hezbollah and the Palestinian groups which claimed responsibility for the capture of the Israeli soldier have demanded the release of Arabs detained in Israeli prisons.

But the Arab League meeting comes at a time of profound differences among Arabs on how to confront the situation in the region.

Egypt and Jordan have recongnised Israel and established diplomatic relations with the Jewish state, whereas neighbouring Lebanon and Syria have long been implacable foes of Israel.

On Friday, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak condemned Israeli military aggression in Lebanon but also indirectly criticized Hezbollah for harming Arab interests.

The leaders warned of the risk of "the region being dragged into 'adventurism' that does not serve Arab interests", according to a joint statement published by the Petra news agency after the leaders met in Cairo.

Similar language was used earlier by Saudi Arabia, which indirectly accused the Lebanese Shiite fundamentalist movement Hezbollah of "adventurism" in provoking the Israeli onslaught and putting all Arab nations at risk.

But other Arab states warned of a spiralling crisis in the absence of a strong stance by Arab governments.

"Arab people will sooner or later take matters in their own hands if their governments do not find serious ways to give them hope," Lebanese foreign minister Fawzi Salloukh told participants at the Cairo meeting.

"We count on Arab support, solidarity and assistance and we do not doubt that all Arabs will denounce what is happening in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories," he said after a meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa Friday.

He said he hoped that the emergency meeting would adopt a resolution where the "Arab nation would regain its grandeur", according to Egypt's official news agency MENA.

On Friday Lebanon called on Arab League member states to help stop the "systematic destruction" of the country.

"Israel seems to be executing a clear and well-programmed plan aimed at destroying Lebanon and its infrastructure in a savage manner," Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said in a letter to Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, current head of the Arab League summit.

Three United Nations envoys -- Vijay Nambiar, Alvaro de Soto and Terje Roed-Larsen -- sent to Cairo by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to seek a diplomatic solution to the crisis were also due to take part in the Arab League meeting expected to last one day.

Arab League meets in Cairo over Mideast crisis (http://www.terra.net.lb/wp/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?ArticleId=295401&ChannelId=1)

US vetoes UN resolution urging end to Israeli attacks in Gaza

14/07/2006 2:02:00 AM

The United States vetoed a UN resolution calling on Israel to halt military operations in Gaza, as the Security Council prepared for an emergency debate on escalating violence in Lebanon.

The United States vetoed a UN resolution calling on Israel to halt military operations in Gaza, as the Security Council prepared for an emergency debate on escalating violence in Lebanon.

US Ambassador John Bolton said the veto was a response to the "unbalanced" nature of the draft text which he argued laid a disproportionate amount of blame on Israel for the current crisis in the region.

"Passage would have undermined the credibility of the Security Council, which itself must be seen by both sides as an honest broker in the Middle East conflict," Bolton said.

Ten of the 15-member council voted in favour of the proposed resolution, drafted by Qatar, while four abstained.

The vote came hours after Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian foreign ministry in Gaza, which caused heavy damage and wounded 10 children.

What has become the worst Israeli-Palestinian crisis in months was sparked by the June 25 abduction by Palestinian militant groups, including the armed wing of Hamas, of Corporal Gilad Shalit on the Gaza border.

The vetoed resolution had condemned Israel's retaliatory assault and called for an end to military operations and the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops.

It also condemned the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel and Shalit's abduction.

The United States, Israel's staunchest ally, last used its veto in the Security Council in October 2004, to block a similar draft demanding that Israel end military operations in northern Gaza and withdraw from the area.

Bolton said the United States remained convinced that the best way to resolve the immediate crisis was for Hamas to secure Shalit's "safe and unconditional" release.

The Security Council vote was also shadowed by events in southern Lebanon, where Israeli jets Thursday pounded targets in retaliation for the capture and killing of its soldiers by Hezbollah militants.

Council members will convene a special meeting on Lebanon on Friday morning.

Beirut had requested the debate and called on the Council to "adopt a complete and immediate position for a ceasefire," after Israeli air strikes left at least 46 civilians killed in the deadliest attacks on its territory in a decade.

US President George W. Bush, on an official visit to Germany, blamed Hezbollah and Hamas for the growing violence but also urged Israel not to respond in a way that undermines Lebanon's fragile government.

"Israel has a right to defend herself," Bush said after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Israel's UN ambassador Dan Gillerman, hailed the "bold" US stand in blocking the Qatari resolution and defended Israeli operations in both Gaza and Lebanon as acts of justifiable self-defence.

"Israel will not be held hostage to terror," Gillerman told Council members as he blasted Hamas and Hezbollah militants for acting as "executioners" for Iran and Syria.

The Palestinian observer to the United Nations, Ryad Mansour, slammed the US veto, saying it would do nothing to resolve the current crisis.

"We are highly disappointed and frustrated at the council's continued inability to act while innocent Palestinian civilians continue to be brutally killed by the Israeli occupying forces," Mansour said.

Just hours before Thursday's Council vote, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan announced that he was sending a three-man crisis team, led by his special political adviser, Vijay Nambiar, to try and defuse the situation in the Middle East.

Speaking to reporters in Rome, Annan told reporters that he was "profoundly worried" by the increase in violence and condemned any attacks on civilians.

Annan's team was to leave for the region Thursday evening for a week-long mission that will begin in Cairo with meetings with Egyptian officials and Arab League foreign ministers.

They are then expected to travel to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Syria.

Annan's deputy spokesperson Marie Okabe said the secretary general had been working the phones with all the major players in the region, including the Syrian and Egyptian presidents and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"He really is personally very engaged in trying to do his best to calm things down," Okabe said.

US vetoes UN resolution urging end to Israeli attacks in Gaza (http://www.terra.net.lb/wp/Articles/PrintArticle.aspx?ArticleId=295382&ChannelId=4)

Hezbollah rockets hit Sea of Galilee town
(Reuters)

16 July 2006

JERUSALEM - Rockets fired by Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon struck deeper into Israel than ever before on Saturday, hitting the Sea of Galilee town of Tiberias, and wounding 15 people across northern Israel.

It was the fourth straight day of rocket barrages since fighting erupted after two soldiers were captured on a raid into Israel by Hezbollah militants, who also killed eight Israeli troops in ensuing clashes.

Four Israelis, including a five-year-old child, have been killed and 300 hurt by about 700 rockets fired since Wednesday at an unprecedented number of more than 20 towns. Over 100 Lebanese, mostly civilians, have died in Israeli air raids.

The Hezbollah rocket barrages have sparked widespread panic that has sent thousands of Israelis fleeing the north and many others heading for bomb shelters.

Israeli officials said three barrages of Katyusha rockets slammed into Tiberias, a town about 35 km (22 miles) from the border with Lebanon, injuring eight people and damaging two residential buildings.

“We could not believe this would happen to us. It was very scary. We are frightened and intend to escape with our children,” Ayala Aloni told Israel’s Ynet news Web site after the first rocket hit.

In Karmiel, another Israeli town struck by rockets, the mayor urged residents to stay with relatives in the south of the country until the violence subsides. Several people were injured in an Israeli Arab town across the road from Karmiel on Friday.

Israeli media said Defence Minister Amir Peretz was expected to declare a state of emergency for northern Israel.

Israeli generals urged the public to remain calm in the region where about 750,000 Israelis were under rocket threat, but cautioned it may be weeks until they subside.

“We have to be ready for some more days, perhaps more than that, perhaps weeks, to face this reality,” the Israeli army’s operations chief, Gen. Gadi Eizenkot told reporters in Tel Aviv. ”We have to prepare for a continued campaign, not to panic.”

The army said people living north of Haifa and Tiberias should stay inside buildings below the fourth floor. Radio announcements urged Israelis to avoid travel to northern Israel, and public events have been cancelled.

The Israeli army believes Hezbollah has 10,000 to 12,000 rockets in its arsenal with ranges of 30 to 70 km (18 to 45 miles), suggesting they could reach far beyond Haifa or Tiberias.

Hezbollah rockets hit Sea of Galilee town (http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/July/middleeast_July282.xml&section=middleeast&col=)

Middle East stands on the brink of wider conflict

Liz Sly, Christine Spolar and Cam Simpson
July 15, 2006 12:46 PM
Chicago Tribune
(MCT)
Once again, Lebanon is burning. Once again, rockets are raining down on northern Israel. Once again, the region that has seen war erupt on average every six years since 1948 stands on the brink of conflagration, yet this one could engulf the entire Middle East.

As Israel presses its offensive against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement deep into Lebanese territory and Hezbollah defiantly launches missiles back over the border, U.S. and Lebanese officials are predicting no early end to a crisis that many fear could rapidly escalate out of control.

With their act of bravado in seizing two Israeli soldiers last week, Hezbollah's guerrillas unleashed a volatile brew of competing agendas, sectarian rivalries and unresolved hostilities that extend far beyond the borders of tiny Lebanon, to include Iran, Syria, the Palestinian territories and the fate of U.S. involvement in Iraq.

''The situation in the Middle East can get out of control very quickly. What seems like a border flare-up can turn into a regional conflict in a matter of days,'' said Michael Oren, a military historian and senior fellow at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem academic institute.

''I think this can be seen as the beginning of a regional conflict,'' he added. How can you stop it? There doesn't seem to be a diplomatic option.''

The clashes escalated for a third straight day Friday, with Israeli bombs leveling the Hezbollah leader's home and office in crowded southern Beirut and Hezbollah striking an Israeli gunboat off the coast. The violence has dominated President Bush's weekend discussions with leaders of the Group of Eight nations in Russia.

This is not yet a regional war. But in the scope and intensity of Israel's strikes deep into Lebanese territory, the conflict has moved far beyond the usual cross-border spats that regularly embroil Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah guerrillas.

Israel has hinted that Syria could be next unless Hezbollah is restrained. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has warned that an attack on Syria will be viewed as an attack on Iran. Hezbollah has declared that it is ready for ''open war.''

Bush, while calling for Israeli restraint, has declined to call for a cease-fire. That has suggested to some in the region a willingness to let the conflict roll with the chance that it could bloody Hezbollah's nose and, by default, Iran's.

Lebanese officials in Beirut say they believe the United States is unlikely to press for a cease-fire, as the current fighting could weaken the position of Hezbollah and, by proxy, Syria and Iran, according to a senior Lebanese diplomat.

The danger, however, is that Hezbollah will feel pressured to respond with greater force, further escalating the crisis, and possibly drawing Israel into strikes against Syria or Iran, the diplomat said.

In Washington, a senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said the U.S. was disinclined to seek a cease-fire ''because the Israelis have made it abundantly clear that that's not what they're going to do.''

Instead, he warned that the situation could worsen significantly in the coming days. A ''fairly long and drawn-out process'' lies ahead, he said.

But conflicts in the Middle East have a habit of not only dragging on but also spiraling and this one could easily take on dangerous new proportions, analysts warn.

In Tehran, most ordinary Iranians are convinced that Hezbollah's move was timed to ease pressure on Iran and its nuclear program at the G8 summit and at the United Nations Security Council later this week, said Babak Rahimi, who is on the Iranian and Islamic studies staff at the University of California, San Diego and is currently visiting Tehran.

''That's the rumor here, that the timing of this is not a coincidence,'' he said.

However, the ferocity of Israel's response has caught Iranians off guard, in turn fuelling the convictions of hard-liners who believe U.S. pressure on Iran's nuclear program is just a prelude to an inevitable attack against Iran. ''They're saying this nuclear stuff is just a ploy, and that what is happening shows that their true intention is to attack us down the road,'' Rahimi said.

But pressing the fight against Hezbollah represents a dangerous gamble not only for Israel but for the United States.

One risk is that Lebanon will fragment, reigniting the civil war that ravaged the country for 15 years, and further destabilizing the region. The new government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora is fractured, weak and in no position to act to restrain Hezbollah.

Notably, this is the same democratically elected government that was hailed last year by U.S. officials after the dramatic Cedar Revolution forced the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.

For the U.S., there is the additional risk of a backlash in Iraq, where the Israeli assault on Shiite Hezbollah has angered many Iraqis and the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has emerged as one of the most formidable political and military figures in the newly installed and still fragile Shiite-led coalition government.

In visits to Tehran and Damascus earlier this year, al-Sadr pledged the service of his private militia in support of ''any Arab government'' that was attacked by the United States, a remark widely interpreted as a threat to stage another Shiite uprising in Iraq.

''You will see an increase of radicalism in Iran, in Lebanon, and most definitely in Iraq,'' predicted Rahimi. ''I'm sure Muqtada Sadr is enjoying all of this very much.''

There is also a risk for Hezbollah that its bravado could backfire. Its stature as the only militia permitted to carry arms under the terms of the cease-fire agreement that ended Lebanon's civil war is predicated on its role as the defender against Israeli aggression. And the latest clashes with Israel have given Hezbollah the opportunity to assert that role.

But as Lebanese contemplate the prospect of yet another war, some are starting to question the wisdom of allowing the militia to operate unchecked along the Israeli border

''Most Lebanese view Hezbollah's latest operation as a dangerous gamble,'' said an editorial in the Beirut Daily Star. ''Although they do not have much sympathy for the Israelis, who destroyed their country during a brutal invasion and occupation, they do fear Israel's signature brand of retaliation - collective punishment - at a time when their country is already passing through a period of instability.''

In a commentary in the pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper, retired Lebanese army Gen. Elias Hanna went further. ''Where is the deterrence if Israel is replying militarily and on this scale with such tactical and operational freedom?'' he asked. ''The future of Hezbollah and its credibility are based on its ability to deter the enemy.''

Hezbollah also has won little support so far from Arab governments that have been increasingly unnerved by the empowerment of the Shiite majority in Iraq as a result of the U.S.-backed democratization project there, and the increased leverage that has given Iran in the region.

Arab condemnations of the Israeli onslaught have been at best lukewarm. And at the White House, spokesman Tony Snow took the unusual step of quoting directly from a Saudi Arabian statement on the conflict.

A ''distinction must be made between legitimate resistance (by Palestinians) and uncalculated adventures undertaken by elements inside Lebanon and those behind them without recourse to the legal authorities and consulting and coordinating with Arab nations,'' according to the statement, which was released by the official state news agency, SPA.

''These elements should bear the responsibility for their irresponsible actions and they alone should end the crisis they have created,'' it said.

''People are criticizing Hezbollah more than in the past,'' said Robert Malley, Middle East Program director of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. ''There are people pointing out that this is not an Arab cause. This is a Persian-Shia cause.''

Syria too has been uncharacteristically silent in the face of Israel's onslaught against the country it has historically regarded as its protege.

<SNIP>

''Every Israeli action against Arabs feeds Arab anger against the U.S., and undermines its influence,'' he said. ''Regardless of any cease-fires or short-term outcomes, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, Islamist extremists like al-Qaida, and Iraqi hard-liners like Sadr can play a spoiler role at any time, and broaden the conflict at minimal risk.''

Middle East stands on the brink of wider conflict (http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564770525903454322)

Regional war feared as Lebanon crisis worsens

Israel has intensified its relentless bombardment of Lebanon, destroying the Beirut headquarters of the Hezbollah leader and pounding the country's ports amid growing fears the conflict could spiral into regional war.

Eighteen civilians, including children, were burnt alive when a helicopter gunship hit a convoy of families fleeing an offensive that has left the country almost cut off from the outside world and waking up each day to new scenes of devastation.

Israel killed at least 34 civilians on Saturday, including 15 children, bringing the death toll over four days to 103 people - all but four of them civilians.

With missiles also slamming into no-man's land between Lebanon and Syria, Russia warned that there was a "real threat" that the fiercest conflict between the two neighbours in a decade could engulf other nations.

"There is a real threat of the involvement of other states in this conflict," Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said ahead of a G8 summit of world leaders in Saint Petersburg likely to be dominated by the crisis.

In an emotional televised address to the nation, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora called for an immediate ceasefire and the end to the "collective punishment" of his country.

Splits have emerged within the international community, with some United Nations Security Council members rebuking Israel for "disproportionate" use of force but the US President George W Bush insisting the Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah stop its attacks.

"Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and that's why we have violence," he said.

"The best way to stop the violence is for Hezbollah to lay down its arms to stop attacking."

But the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, does not agree; he described Israel's concerns as legitimate but said its response was disproportionate.

Mr Putin called for an immediate ceasefire.
Arab League

The crisis also prompted Arab League chief Amr Mussa to declare the Middle East peace process "dead" after an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers over the Israeli offensives against Lebanon and Gaza.

Israel extended its offensive to bombing grain silos the ports of Beirut and Tripoli as well as the harbour in the city of Jounieh, the latter the first strike yet on a mainly Christian area.

UN and hospital sources said 18 civilians, including nine children, were burnt alive when missiles from an Israeli helicopter gunship slammed into a convoy of residents fleeing border villages in south Lebanon.

The Israeli military expressed regret over the civilian casualties but said it targeted an area used as a missile launch ground by Hezbollah who must take responsibility for "endangering the civilian population".
Hezbollah building destroyed

War planes struck again at the headquarters of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, destroying the nine-storey building and causing panic in surrounding streets.

It was not clear whether Nasrallah - who declared "open war" on Israel after a similar attack on his headquarters and home on Friday - was in the building at the time.

"We will wipe him out at the first opportunity. That's why he had better pray to Allah," Israeli cabinet minister Zeev Boim warned.

The newly built lighthouse on the seafront in Beirut was also bombarded, while the military said it attacked the Beirut headquarters of Hamas - the first time the Palestinian militant group has been targeted in this offensive.

The four days of raids have left near-apocalyptic scenes of power stations burning, black smoke billowing from the paralysed airport, roads riddled with craters and collapsed bridges.
Syria

In another unprecedented action, an Israeli fighter bomber fired four missiles about 200 metres beyond Masnaa, the main crossing point between Lebanon and Syria, Lebanese police said.

But the Syrian Government denied its territory had been hit and Israel's head of military operations General Gadi Azincot said later that Syria was "not an objective of our operation".

As a fresh barrage of guerrilla rockets rained on northern Israel - including for the first time the Galilee town of Tiberias - Israel warned that Hezbollah could strike as far as the commercial capital Tel Aviv.

Four Israelis have been killed and scores wounded, sending tens of thousands of residents into bomb shelters or fortified rooms.

And the military said it had deployed a battery of anti-missile Patriot missiles in its third largest city of Haifa, which was hit by a Hezbollah rocket attack on Thursday.
Israel recovers sailor's body

Israel recovered the body of one of four sailors missing from a ship which was damaged while patrolling off Lebanon on Friday; it said the ship was attacked by an Iranian-made rocket.

The death brings to nine the number of servicemen killed since Wednesday. Iran denied any involvement.

Israel's onslaught was unleashed after Hezbollah guerrillas snatched two soldiers on Wednesday, opening up a new battleground following a similar deadly offensive against Gaza over the capture of another soldier by Palestinian militants three weeks ago.

Lebanon remained virtually cut off from the outside world after Israel imposed an air and sea blockade, launched repeated strikes on its only international airport and bombed the main highway to Syria.

As foreign governments sought to evacuate stranded nationals, Beirut residents were stocking up on basic goods and making plans to flee to the relative safety of the mountains outside the capital.

Israel also pressed on with its air assault on Gaza on Saturday, killing two Palestinians in helicopter strikes after the US on Thursday vetoed a UN resolution calling on Israel to halt its military operations there.

At least 78 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed since Israel launched its assault on Gaza, which the UN has warned is causing a humanitarian crisis in one of the most densely populated areas on earth.

Both Hezbollah and Palestinian militants holding the soldiers are demanding the release of prisoners from Israeli jails, something Israel has rejected outright.

Regional war feared as Lebanon crisis worsens (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1687596.htm)

Pour out your fury upon the people of Lebanon and Gaza

By Gilad Atzmon

Al-Jazeerah, July 15, 2006

Two weeks ago it was Palestinian resistance fighters who abducted a legitimate military target, an Israeli soldier. Yesterday it was a similar overwhelmingly orchestrated heroic attack by Hezbollah resistance fighters. Both attacks are there to send a message of resistance: Israel will never succeed in imposing its sickening unilateral notion of ‘peace’. Indeed, the unilateral disengagement may have had a magical effect on the Israeli voters as well as some Zionised western leaders such as Bush, Blair and Merkel. Yet, the inhabitants of Gaza and the villagers of Southern Lebanon are slightly less impressed with the Israeli inclination towards peace. In Gaza and in Southern Lebanon it is rather clear that Arab resistance forces will oppose the Israeli unilateral agenda ‘til the end of time. They all know that as much as it takes two to tango, peace will never prevail unless the Palestinian cause is properly addressed. In short, the different forms of Israeli unilateral disengagements from Lebanon, Gaza or even the West Bank (to come) are not going to provide Israel with peace. Quite the opposite; Arabs are no fools, they know very well that Israel escaped Lebanon after being militarily humiliated for two decades. They know as well that Sharon ran away from Gaza not exactly because he was searching for peace. Palestinians also know that it is just a question of time before that happens in the West Bank. If to be precise, since 1973 Israel’s power of deterrence is shrinking. Since 1973 Israel hasn’t managed to defeat any of its enemies. On the contrary, time after time it is the enemies of Israel who are able to dictate Israeli political and tactical manoeuvres. In the last two weeks it has been two relatively small paramilitary organisations who use guerrilla techniques who managed to bring Israel to unleash its full military might against innocent civilians both in Gaza and Lebanon.

Yet, the Israeli reaction to attacks by Palestinian militants and Hezbollah is rather bizarre. Although, both Palestinian militants and Hezbollah were originally targeting legitimate military targets, Israeli retaliation was clearly aiming against civilian targets, civil infrastructures and mass killing directed against an innocent population. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that this is not really the way to win a war or confront that particular sort of combat known as guerrilla warfare.

I would argue that once again the Israeli government serves us with a fascinating glimpse into the mindset of the Israeli collective psyche. I will try to elaborate on this issue.

Due to some clear historical circumstances, the Israeli army was originally formed to combat Arab armies. It was designed to win conventional war in the battlefield. It was set up as well to exhaust Israel’s neighbours’ will to fight while exercising some overwhelming air superiority and nuclear threatening policies. Since the end of the cold war, things changed. Israel isn’t threatened anymore by its neighbouring states. Moreover, in the most recent years it has become clear that it is actually the Palestinian people who will eventually shatter the dream of a Jewish national state.

Strangely enough, Israel has never adopted or revised its military doctrine to fit into the new emerging conditions. Indeed it retrained large parts of its fighting units as policing forces, it transformed some of its tanks into policing vehicles. Yet, it has never gone through a vast military doctrine shift. Very much like the Wehrmacht at the time of WWII, the IDF is still a classic follower of the offensive military doctrine. Hitherto, rather than winning in the battlefield, the IDF is now hopelessly exhausting itself in two fronts fighting relatively small paramilitary organisations. But the situation can get worse, it is rather possible that Palestinian heroic enthusiasm will spread to the West Bank. When this happens, the IDF will find itself engaged in a total war just a few kilometres from Israel’s most densely populated centres. Seemingly the so-called ‘strongest army in the Middle East’ is fighting a desperate war it can never win, neither tactically nor morally.

Tactically, we have enough historic references to conclude that no colonial army has ever won against guerrilla warfare. The reason is simple, the more destruction a colonial army spreads, the more popular the guerrilla fighters become amongst their surrounding supportive population. This is absolutely the case in Gaza and in Beirut today. The more carnage there is in Gaza, the stronger the Hamas becomes. The more bombs dropped over Beirut’s Airport, the more will young men be willing to join the Hezbollah.

But it goes further, both the Palestinian militants and the Hezbollah were very clever in picking pure military targets. While in the past, the Palestinian paramilitary groups were typically associated with suicidal attacks against Israeli civilians, this time it was Israeli soldiers and pure military posts that were targeted. In other words, it is rather impossible to dismiss the fact that Palestinian militants and the Hezbollah were actually operating as legitimate resistance paramilitary groups fighting a colonial army and occupation forces.

However, reading the news from the Middle East, it is rather obvious that the Israeli government has no clear agenda to counter the current daring military operations against its army and if this isn’t enough, the IDF has no means to counter such guerrilla assaults. Today’s merciless collateral damage in Beirut as well as in Gaza proves that at least militarily, Israel is in total despair. It has neither the political nor the military answer to counter Arab resistance. But here comes the catch; Israel doesn’t need an answer as such, it doesn’t even look for one.

Israel is a racially orientated democracy. Its leaders are engaged in one thing only, i.e. maintenance of the their political power. As far as the Israeli political game is concerned, the rule is very simple, the more Arab blood you have on your hands the more you are suited to get on with your governing job. This rule obviously was in favour of Rabin, Sharon, Barak and Netanyahu. Olmert and Peretz are still quite far behind. Both the prime minister and his defence minister lack some real experience in military and security matters. Hence they have a lot of catching up to do.

In other words, Peretz and Olmert have to provide the Israeli people with a glorious spectacle of merciless retaliation. They have to prove to their keen voters that they have internalised the real biblical meaning of ‘an eye for an eye’. Looking at the carnage in Beirut today it somehow seems as if they even try to give the old Hebraic say a new meaning. As devastating as it may sound, this is exactly what the Israelis want them to do. Within democratic Israel the biblical call "pour out your fury upon the goyim” is translated into a Jewish secular pragmatic political practice. This isn’t sad. This is a real tragedy. And I wonder whether there is anyone out there who is still overwhelmed with the Israeli unilateral peace agenda?

Pour out your fury upon the people of Lebanon and Gaza (http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2006%20Opinion%20Editorials/July/15%20o/Pour%20out%20your%20fury%20upon%20the%20people%20of%20Lebanon%20and%20Gaza%20By%20Gilad%20Atzmon.htm)

Labanese PM Promises to Extend Control
- By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, July 15, 2006

(07-15) 13:02 PDT BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) --

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora pledged Saturday to extend his government's control over all of Lebanon, signaling he wants to end Hezbollah's autonomy in the south — a top Israeli demand.

But he said he needed the United Nations to first press for a cease-fire to halt Israel's devastating military blitz, which has killed at least 106 Lebanese since Wednesday, most of them civilians.

"We call for working to extend the state's authority over all its territories in south Lebanon, in cooperation with the United Nations, and working to recover all Lebanese territories and exercising full sovereignty of the state over those territories," Saniora said in a televised address to the nation.

His voice cracking with emotion, Saniora criticized Hezbollah without naming the group, saying Lebanon "cannot rise and get back on its feet if its government is the last to know."

"The government alone has the legitimate right to decide on matters of peace and war because it represents the will of the Lebanese people," he said.

Saniora called for the United Nations to intervene to stop bloody cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in south Lebanon.

"We call for an immediate and comprehensive cease-fire under United Nations auspices," he said.

The Lebanese Cabinet has refused to condone Hezbollah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers Wednesday, an action that triggered Israel's offensive on Lebanon, the worst attack on its neighbor in 24 years.

Saniora did not elaborate on how his government would work with the United Nations to reassert Lebanese authority over its entire territory.

Israel reacted coolly.

"It's an excellent declaration but he doesn't need our permission... We have to see what they do and not what they say," Vice Premier Shimon Peres told Israel's Channel 2 TV. He said Lebanon has to prove it is serious by deploying troops on the southern border.

"A foreign body (Hezbollah) has entered the area and it's your job to get them out of there," he said.

Saniora declared Lebanon a "disaster-stricken country" and accused Israel of executing an "immoral and illegitimate collective punishment" of the Lebanese people.

He appealed for national unity and spoke to the Lebanese people, saying: "We will surpass the ordeal, and we will face up to the challenge. We will rebuild what the enemy has destroyed as we always did."

Labanese PM Promises to Extend Control (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/07/15/international/i130236D86.DTL&type=printable)

Arab leaders split over Hizbullah

Foreign ministers of 18 Arab countries hold emergency summit in Cairo over Israel's expanding assault on Lebanon. Saudi foreign minister appears to lead camp of ministers criticizing Hizbullah's actions, calling them 'unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts'
Associated Press

Foreign ministers of 18 Arab countries held an emergency summit in Cairo Saturday over Israel's expanding assault on Lebanon, but squabbles over the legitimacy of Hizbullah's attacks on Israel — including the capture of two Israeli soldiers that sparked the four-day battle — appeared likely to keep participants from reaching a consensus, delegates said.

The Saudi foreign minister appeared to be leading a camp of ministers criticizing the guerrilla group's actions, calling them "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts."

"These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them," Saudi al-Faisal told his counterparts.

Supporting his stance were representatives of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, the Palestinian Authority, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, delegates said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem lashed back al-Faisal, asking "how can we come here to discuss the burning situation in Lebanon while others are making statements criticizing the resistance?"

Moallem emerged as the leader of another camp of ministers defending Hizbullah as carrying out "legitimate acts in line with international resolutions and the U.N. charter, as acts of resistance," delegates said.

The rift appeared likely to prevent participants from issuing a unanimous resolution over Israel's bloody incursion into Lebanon — the worst Israeli attack on its neighbor in 24 years.

'Frustration and bitterness among Arab people'

Earlier, Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh presented his fellow Arab League members with a draft resolution condemning Israel's military offensive and supporting Lebanon's "right to resist occupation by all legitimate means" — language frequently used by Hizbullah to justify its guerrillas' presence in south Lebanon.

The draft, a copy of which obtained by The Associated Press, also demanded the release of Lebanese captives and detainees in Israeli prisons, and supported Lebanon's right to "liberate them by all legitimate means."

Salloukh, a Shiite close to the mainstream Amal faction as well as the militant Hizbullah, said Arab governments were not doing enough to protest Israel's assault on Lebanon.

"What our Arab brothers have called `involvement' has only resulted in frustration and bitterness among Arab people," Salloukh told participants at the meeting Saturday.

"If (Arab) governments are not serious and determined ... our people will sooner or later take things into their own hands," he said.

Israel launched its offensive after Hizbullah guerrillas crossed the Israel-Lebanon border on Wednesday and captured two Israeli soldiers. Israel has bombarded Lebanon's airport and main roads and destroyed Hizbullah's headquarters in south Beirut. Hizbullah has responded by launching hundreds of rockets into Israel.

At least 79 Lebanese have died, mostly civilians.

Arab leaders split over Hizbullah (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3276145,00.html)

Lebanon PM demands ceasefire, appeals for aid

Following Israel's military pressure on Lebanon, Fouad Siniora tells reporters, 'we'll work to extend state's authority over all its territories, in cooperation with United Nations in south Lebanon'; adds 'Lebanon is last to know what is happening, but first to pay price'
Roee Nahmias

Desperate cry for help: Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called on Saturday for an immediate ceasefire, saying Israeli attacks had turned Lebanon into a disaster area in need of international aid.

"We call for an immediate ceasefire backed by the United Nations," Siniora said in a televised message to the nation. "I declare today that Lebanon is a disaster zone in need of a comprehensive and speedy Arab plan ... and (it) pleads to its friends in the world to rush to its aid."

Dozens of people, most of them civilians, have died in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since Hizbullah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight on Wednesday. Four civilians have been killed by Hizbullah rockets in northern Israel since.

The Israel Air Force's strikes have caused great damages to Lebanese infrastructures – bridges were bombed, naval ports and airports were completely destroyed, and buildings in the Lebanese capital were ruined.

In his speech, the Lebanese prime minister again tried to renounce his government's responsibility of what was taking place in Lebanon. He implicitly hinted that he accepts Israel's stance and that his government plans to work to deploy its army on all the country's territory – a move which Hizbullah has opposed so far.

"The government declared from the beginning that it did not know about the kidnapping operation in advance. Israel has no right to destroy Lebanon. Lebanon cannot fulfill its role if it is the last to know what is happening, but the first to pay the price," the desperate prime minister said.

'Israel responsible for the humanitarian disaster'

Without saying the explicit words, Siniora drew a clear red line opposite Hizbullah, saying that "the state is the only legitimate element for decisions of war and peace. We will face this war united, all of us together."

"We are facing a lot of aggressiveness. We won't hesitate and will not hesitate and give in to this aggressiveness and will use all means against it. I would like to note that the government made a decision in its latest meeting, according to which it will protect its citizens, and that its right and duty is to deploy its sovereignty on all its territory," he said, again hinting at Hizbullah.

"We call (for) ... work to extend the state's authority over all its territories, in cooperation with the United Nations in south Lebanon," A visibly emotional Siniora said.

The UN maintains a peacekeeping force in south Lebanon where Hizbullah is active.

"We see Israel responsible for the humanitarian disaster taking place in Lebanon. I declare from here that Lebanon is a battered country which needs a quick international Arab aid plan," Siniora added.

Lebanon PM demands ceasefire, appeals for aid (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3276174,00.html)

Tiberias attacked by Hizbullah rockets

Second rocket barrage hits northern city, lightly injuring one person; 31 people suffer from shock. Third barrage hits open areas north of city. Tiberias bombed for first time Saturday afternoon, all its beaches evacuated. Residents: 'City not prepared, we feel unprotected here'
Sharon Roffe-Ofir

Resort town under attack: Hizbullah fired several rocket barrages at the northern city of Tiberias on Saturday evening.

At around 6 p.m., five rockets began landing in the city one after the other. Some 31 people were hurt, including a man who was lightly injured after his house was directly hit by a rocket. About thirty people suffered from shock.

All the injured were taken to the Poria Hospital in Tiberias for medical treatment. Later, at around 7:25 p.m., a second barrage landed north of Tiberias.

About 54 people were injured by Katyusha rockets in Tiberias throughout Saturday, including seven who were wounded by Shrapnel. The rest suffered from shock.

An inquiry revealed that five rockets hit the city, one of them landing near the Pagoda restaurant on the shores of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). The restaurant is closed on Saturday, so there were no injuries.

(http://www.ynetnews.com/PicServer2/20122005/836618/RM17189845_wa.jpg)
Tiberias hit by rockets Saturday evening (Photo: Doron)

Magen David Adom crews, fire fighters and police forces deployed in the rocket landing areas. Many residents gathered to watch the wreckage, but quickly left the area following a police announcement that warned of another Katyusha barrage expected to hit the area. residents were asked to leave the place and enter secure zones.

Ilan Shukrun, an eyewitness, was about 100 meters (328 feet) away from the place hit by the rocket.

"We heard a terrible noise. My children started crying, it was terrifying. We keep on hearing about falls in Kiryat Shmona. Maybe this is the time to support the residents there. No one was prepared for it," he said.

Shukrun also said that the bomb shelter infrastructure in Tiberias was not prepared to contain residents during warnings.

"The residents have not been prepared. Most of the shelters are being used as storerooms. We feel we have no protection here," he said.

The Azablos family members, who live near one of the houses that was directly hit by a Katyusha rocket, complained that there was no shelter for the area's residents to use.

Many of the residents were angry at the Tiberias mayor, who said in an interview following the first rocket barrage in the afternoon that there are enough bomb shelters and that the infrastructure for the residents was ready.

Eli Abu Hatzeira said: "We have no bomb shelter, so we take our place behind a wall inside the house when we hear the warnings."

The second Katyusha barrage on Tiberias occurred when residents of the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood were in synagogues.

One of the residents said: "In spite of the Katyusha barrage that landed in the afternoon we did not imagine that it will also reach our quiet neighborhood."

Usually, the residents said, there are a lot of children and families in the area, who did not arrive following the first rocket barrage.

In another neighborhood in the city, in which a Katyusha rocket landed between two apartment buildings, dozens of the residents went out and protested, saying that they were not afraid. Some of the residents were in need of medical treatment due to anxiety and fear.

The Katyusha barrages enraged some of the city's resident: "It's time for the government to understand that we must pay them back."

'Katyusha hit a place where children usually play'

The dog of one of the families living in a building that was directly hit by a rocket was seriously injured in the first Katyusha barrage on the city. He was treated by a veterinarian.

"It's a miracle that my children were no hurt. Every Saturday we build a swimming pool on the balcony outside, but this time, because we are renovating, the children were at home and the Katyusha's shrapnel fell exactly on the spot where the pool is placed every Saturday, Niva Liani told Ynet.

Liani was also angry: "It's about time that once and for all we show them who we are, and then maybe it will be quiet."

"We have to bomb them in like kind and not bombard some poor headquarters and say that we bombed," said Dikla Abadi. "We have to hit their people, just like here Tiberias residents in the middle of their Shabbat dinner are shaking from fear. It’s time they also start to shake."

Other residents were also angry: "We have to hit them hard. It's impossible that our life routine is hurt, that people are making their way to a synagogue and a Katyusha falls at a neighborhood. We have to teach them a lesson."

"Our country has the abilities and it should use them and not fear what the world might say about us hurting their citizens. They are doing the same thing to us and it's important that the world knows it," said Zion, who lives in the city.

Tiberias' residents found it difficult to get used to the new reality.

"We can't believe how Kiryat Shmona's residents have been living like this for years. This has never happened to us. We don’t know how to deal with it and we have no intention of starting to get used to it," resident who arrived at the Katyusha's landing site said.

"We always said that this would not happen to us. We offered our relatives from the Krayot to come and stay here, and in the end we are being bombed," Sara, a city resident, said.

In the meantime, Tiberias' residents were called to spend the night in secured zones.

Tiberias attacked by Hizbullah rockets (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3276154,00.html)

Navy was unaware of missile threat

Initial probe into attack on missile boat Friday reveals Navy had no intelligence of possible missile threat in area where boat was operating; missile, aircraft interception system has been turned off due to presence of IDF planes in sector
Hanan Greenberg

The actions taken by crewmembers of the IDF missile boat that sustained a direct Hizbullah missile hit Friday, prevented a great disaster that could have resulted in numerous casualties, an initial inquiry into the incident reveals.

Brigadier-General Noam Page of the Navy said in a press conference Saturday that the Navy was unaware that a missile threat existed in the sector, and that the boat's crew had acted accordingly.

Missile boats are equipped with a missile interception system capable of automatically intercepting any missile or aircraft approaching it. However, as the boat was operating in an area where a large number of IDF planes were present, the Navy had refrained from activating the system.

Navy sources said that had they known the Hizbullah was in possession of missiles of the type used against the boat Saturday, the missile interception system would have been turned on.

‘We’ve been hit’

The initial investigation revealed that at 8:45 p.m. crewmembers on board the vessel were preparing for Shabbat dinner when a loud blat was heard. One of the ship’s commanders has informed the Navy’s control command: “We’ve been hit.” In the first few minutes after the strike, it was unclear what hit the boat, and the sailors concentrated on extinguishing the fire that broke out at the landing pad after 50 kilograms of explosives penetrated the vessel’s body.

Large Navy and Air Force units were dispatched to the place and began assisting the forces on board the boat.

Simultaneously, the crew conducted a damage control routine aimed at establishing what systems sustained damages in the attack. At the first stage it was decided to pull the boat away from its position using another boat, and at the same time to surround it with additional crafts in order to protect it from being hit again.

A senior Navy official said Saturday that the fire on board has repeatedly erupted after being extinguished as a result of the heat absorbed by metal objects on the boat. Only after the crew managed to contain the fire and tend to the damages it was discovered that four sailors were missing.

Navy was unaware of missile threat (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3276221,00.html)

UN council keeps silent on Israel-Lebanon conflict

By Irwin Arieff 49 minutes ago

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Saturday again rejected pleas that it call for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon after the United States objected, diplomats said.

Washington argued in closed-door talks that the focus for Middle East diplomacy for now should be on the weekend summit in St Petersburg of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, council diplomats said.

It was the sole member of the 15-nation U.N. body to oppose any council action at all at this time, they said.

"We would expect much more from the Security Council," Lebanese Foreign Ministry official Nouhad Mahmoud told reporters after the council meeting, singling out the United States for blame.

While Washington has been very supportive of the Lebanese government in the past, "when it comes to Israel, it seems things changed," Mahmoud said. "Destruction is still going on, people are still dying ... and here we are impotent."

The council planned another discussion of the conflict on Monday, and hoped to soon begin work on a "substantive" response to the conflict, said French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, the council president for July.

The Monday meeting would be the council's third since Hizbollah guerillas crossed over into Israel last week and captured two Israeli soldiers, triggering an intensifying military response by Israeli forces that has been met with a steady rain of Hizbollah missiles into northern Israel.

The Lebanese government called on the Security Council on Thursday to adopt a resolution imposing a cease-fire.

The plea was renewed on Saturday by Qatar, the council's sole Arab member.

Separately, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert assured the United Nations that Israeli forces would not interfere in a plan by U.N. peacekeepers to move Lebanese villagers living along the border with Israel out of the line of fire, U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno said.

Olmert's assurances came in a Saturday telephone call to U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan, Guehenno said.

Israel's Northern Command had previously warned U.N. peacekeepers to keep out of a zone several miles wide running along the Lebanese side of the border, he said.

Such an order would have been "impossible to comply with, unacceptable," Guehenno told reporters.

Olmert's assurances cleared the way for the peacekeepers to try to move the civilians on Sunday, he said. Arrangements would also have to be worked out with Hizbollah, he added.

UN council keeps silent on Israel-Lebanon conflict (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060716/wl_nm/mideast_un_lebanon_dc)

Israel batters Lebanese seaports, roads

Lebanese leader hints at anti-Hezbollah move
By Sam F. Ghattas
ASSOCIATED PRESS

4:44 p.m. July 15, 2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Warplanes bombed Beirut's southern suburbs again early Sunday, witnesses reported, after a day in which Israel tightened a noose around this reeling nation with the heaviest air strikes yet in the four-day-old conflict.

The Israeli air force on Saturday hit strongholds of the Hezbollah Shiite Muslim guerrilla group, bombed central Beirut for the first time, and pounded seaports and a key bridge. Then, in Sunday's early morning darkness, a dozen thunderous explosions shook southern Beirut, where Hezbollah is headquartered and much of the intensifying air assault has been targeted since cross-border hostilities erupted Wednesday.

Hezbollah's TV aired footage showing two long columns of smoke rising from buildings into the night sky. Lights were out across large sections of Beirut because the Israelis bombed power stations and the fuel depots feeding them.

Trying to defuse the crisis, Lebanon's prime minister indicated he might send his army to take control of southern Lebanon from Hezbollah – a move that might risk civil war.

In a more ominous sign that the struggle could spread, Israel accused Iran of helping fire a missile that damaged an Israeli warship, a charge both Hezbollah and Iran denied.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired waves of rockets ever deeper into Israel, and Israeli officials warned that Tel Aviv, 70 miles inside Israel, could be hit.

The death toll in the four-day-old conflict rose above 100 in Lebanon, and stood at 15 in Israel. The fighting broke out when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid.

Despite worldwide alarm, there was little indication either Western or Arab nations could muster a quick diplomatic solution. The United States and France prepared to evacuate their citizens, and Britain dispatched an aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean in apparent preparation for evacuations.

Choking back tears, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora went on television to plead with the United Nations to broker a cease-fire for his “disaster-stricken nation.”

The Western-backed prime minister, criticizing both Israel and Hezbollah, also pledged to reassert government authority over all Lebanese territory, suggesting his government might deploy the Lebanese army in the south, which Hezbollah effectively controls.

That would meet a repeated U.N. and U.S. demand. But any effort by Saniora's Sunni Muslim-led government to use force against the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah guerrillas could trigger another bloody civil war in Lebanon. Many fear the 70,000-strong army itself might break up along sectarian lines, as it did during the 1975-90 civil war.

Reacting to Saniora's statements, Israel's Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Lebanon must prove it was serious by deploying troops on the border.

“We have to see what they do and not what they say,” Peres told Israel's Channel 2 TV.

Iran, meanwhile, denied any role in the fighting, disputing Israeli claims that 100 Iranian soldiers had helped Hezbollah attack an Israeli warship late Friday.

There has been no sign in Lebanon of Iranian Revolutionary Guards for 15 years. But Iran is one of Hezbollah's principal backers along with Syria, providing weapons, money and political support. Many believe Iran and Syria are fueling the battle to show their strength in the region.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again condemned Israel's Lebanon offensive Saturday, telling Tehran's state television, “The Zionist regime behaves like Hitler.”

Despite global concerns, there were few signs of diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting.

President Bush, on a trip to Russia, said it was up to Hezbollah “to lay down its arms and to stop attacking.” But Russian President Vladimir Putin urged a balanced approach by Israel and said it appeared the nation was pursuing wider goals than the return of abducted soldiers.

Arab foreign ministers, meeting in Cairo, adopted a resolution calling for U.N. Security Council intervention. But moderates led by Saudi Arabia, bickering with Syria and other backers of Hezbollah, denounced the Lebanese guerrilla group's actions in provoking the latest conflict.

In one sign the West expects a drawn-out battle, the U.S. Embassy said it was looking into ways to get Americans in Lebanon to Cyprus. France said it had already decided to send a ferry from Cyprus to evacuate thousands of its nationals. The British were sending two warships, including the carrier Illustrious, toward Lebanon, in apparent preparation for evacuations.

In all, 33 people were killed in Lebanon on Saturday, police said. That raised the Lebanese death toll in the four-day Israeli offensive to 106, mostly civilians. On the Israeli side, at least 15 have been killed, four civilians and 11 soldiers.

Israeli warplanes demolished the last bridge on the main Beirut-Damascus highway – over the Litani River, six miles from the Syrian border – trying to complete their seal on Lebanon.

Four days into the Israeli offensive, Lebanese themselves remained divided over Hezbollah's operation: Some angry and terrified, others proud.

“No one has stood up to Israel the way the resistance (Hezbollah) has,” said a 33-year-old housewife, Laila Remeiti, one of about 130 people who have taken refuge at a Beirut government school.

But the toll across the country was clear, with bridges, seaports, military coastal radars and Hezbollah offices all attacked in intensive air raids and sea bombardments Saturday:

Fleeing refugees, including women and children, were cut down on a road adjacent to the Lebanese-Israeli border in an airstrike as they left the village of Marwaheen. The bodies of several children, one headless, were sprawled on the ground. Police said 15 were killed in the afternoon attack and an Associated Press photographer counted 12 bodies in the two cars.

At least three civilians were killed when another Israeli airstrike hit a bridge near the Syrian border, cutting the last land link on the main road to Syria and its capital, Damascus.

In the afternoon, Israeli forces hit central Beirut, striking the port and a lighthouse on a posh seafront boulevard, a few hundred yards from the campus of the American University of Beirut. The seaport is adjacent to downtown Beirut, a district rebuilt at a cost of billions of dollars after the 1975-1990 civil war.

The brunt of the onslaught focused more and more on Hezbollah's top leadership in south Beirut and the eastern city of Baalbek. Ambulances raced to a Baalbek residential neighborhood where black smoke rose from airstrikes. Israel also targeted the headquarters compound of Hezbollah's leadership in a crowded Shiite neighborhood of south Beirut for the second straight day.

Hezbollah in turn struck out repeatedly at Israel. Its rockets hit Tiberias three times on Saturday, the first attack on the city – 22 miles from Lebanon – since the 1973 Mideast war. At least two houses were directly hit, but only a few light injuries were reported, medics said.

Residents were ordered into bomb shelters, and Israeli media reported that hundreds of tourists were fleeing the city. Police used megaphones to urge bathers at the Sea of Galilee to seek shelter.

On Israel's second front, against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, Israeli aircraft on Saturday struck the Economy Ministry of the Hamas-led Palestinian government and three other targets, killing two people, Palestinian and Israeli officials reported.

Early Sunday, Israeli tanks approached the town of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, across the border from an Israeli town, Sderot, frequently hit by Hamas guerrilla rockets, residents and Palestinian security officials reported. Palestinian hospital officials said two people were wounded by Israeli artillery fire in the area.

Israel attacked Gaza on June 28, three days after Hamas-backed militants killed two soldiers and captured a third at an army post just inside Israel.

Israel batters Lebanese seaports, roads (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20060715-1644-mideastfighting.html)

Israel pounds Beirut's southern suburb

By Alaa Shahine 50 minutes ago

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israel pounded Beirut's southern suburb on Sunday, the fifth successive day of an offensive on Lebanon, with no sign that its attacks on the Hizbollah guerrilla group and civilian installations were near an end.

The air strikes, which killed 35 civilians on Saturday, including 15 children, were meant to punish the Lebanese government for failing to disarm Hizbollah and letting it menace Israel's northern border, where measures just short of a state of emergency have been ordered.

The bombing of Lebanese roads, bridges, ports and airports, as well as Hizbollah targets, is Israel's most destructive onslaught since a 1982 invasion to expel Palestinian forces.

The attacks started after the guerrilla group's capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border operation on Wednesday.

Air strikes in the early hours of Sunday damaged a flyover linking the southern suburb with the eastern part of Beirut, Hizbollah's al-Manar television reported, and the loud blasts were heard throughout the capital. Israeli aircraft have already flattened Hizbollah's nine-story headquarters.

The campaign in Lebanon coincided with an offensive Israel launched in the Gaza Strip on June 28 to try to retrieve another captured soldier and halt Palestinian rocket fire.

Israeli forces clashed with militants in Gaza on Sunday as tanks moved back into the north of the Strip. Tanks and armored personnel carriers, backed by helicopters with machine guns sending down bursts of fire, moved into farmland near Beit Hanoun, an area often used by militants for launching rockets.

Small groups of militants opened fire at the Israeli forces, but there was no report of casualties.

APPEALS FOR AID

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora repeated his demands for an immediate U.N.-backed cease-fire on Saturday. He denounced Israel for turning his country into a "disaster zone" and appealed for foreign aid.

His speech came hours after Israel bombarded ports in Christian areas for the first time and a helicopter missile hit a lighthouse on Beirut's seafront.

Israel has said the way out would be for Lebanon to implement a U.N. resolution demanding Hizbollah be disarmed. The Beirut government, led by an anti-Syrian coalition, lacks the unity and firepower to disarm Hizbollah, the only Lebanese faction to keep its guns after the 1975-90 civil war.

President Bush, who has declined to urge Israel to curb its military operations, said Syria should tell Hizbollah, also backed by Iran, to stop cross-border attacks.

An Israeli missile incinerated a van in southern Lebanon, killing 20 people, among them 15 children, in the deadliest single attack of the campaign.

Police said the van was carrying two families fleeing the village of Marwaheen after Israeli loudspeaker warnings to leave their homes. Many of the bodies were charred.

At least 104 people, all but four of them civilians, have been killed in the five-day assault, which has choked Lebanon's economy and forced tourists and foreigners to flee.

Four Israelis, including a five-year-old child, have been killed and 300 wounded by about 700 rockets fired since Wednesday at more than 20 towns.

The Israeli offensive forced hundreds of families to flee their homes in south Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburb and were placed in schools across the capital. Human rights activists said the makeshift shelters lacked basic services.

"They don't have enough blankets and medical supplies," Ghassan Makarem, one activist, told Reuters on Sunday. "The situation is disgusting."

The Israeli government gave authorities the power to shut schools, factories and public institutions in the north in a move that falls just short of a full state of emergency.

Israel has deployed Patriot missile batteries in the northern city of Haifa to intercept rockets.

It also warned the Lebanese army on Sunday against shooting at its aircraft and said it would not hesitate to strike "at any party operating against it."

Italy began evacuating nationals from Lebanon. Britain said it was sending two Royal Navy ships to the Middle East for a possible evacuation of British citizens. Thousands of people have streamed to the Syrian border and safety.

Israel says it aims not just to force Hizbollah to free the soldiers, whom the Shi'ite group wants to trade for prisoners in Israel, but to destroy its ability to fire rockets into Israel.

Israel pounds Beirut's southern suburb (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060716/ts_nm/mideast_dc_362;_ylt=Ao5R.NBxj9IaE_gYgWOZ31Zn.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--)

7 Media Workers Injured in 48 Hours of Fighting

Aaron Glantz, OneWorld US Sat Jul 15, 1:55 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO, Jul 15 (OneWorld) - At least seven media workers have been injured in less than 48 hours of fighting in Lebanon--all of them hurt by the Israeli military, a leading media watchdog group said Thursday.

According to Reporters Without Borders the count includes three employees of the Lebanese satellite channel New TV and four workers at the Hizbollah-controlled TV network al-Manar.

"So many journalists have been injured in the very early stages of this conflict, and we want to avoid dozens of journalists being injured or killed in the coming days and weeks," the organization's Washington representative Lucie Morillon told OneWorld.

"The more journalists that are injured the more difficult it is for us to know what's going on," she added.

Especially troubling to the watchdog group is the appearance that the injured news reporters were deliberately targeted by Israeli forces.

The three New TV workers--reporter Bassel Al-Aridi, cameraman Abd Khayyat, and assistant cameraman Ziad Sarwan--were injured when their vehicle was hit by shots fired from an Israeli helicopter as they crossed a bridge in the south of the country, where they had gone to cover the fighting. The attack took place while Israel was bombing bridges and other communications infrastructure.

New TV said despite being specifically demarcated as "press," the agency's vehicle sustained more damage than any other, "which suggests to us that it was a targeted attack against our vehicle."

While it has yet to comment on the injured New TV journalists, the State of Israel has admitted to specifically targeting the offices of Al-Manar, the television station owned and operated by Hizbollah.

Hizbollah's armed wing captured two Israeli soldiers during the week and most observers believe the group was behind more than 100 rocket attacks on Israel.

Three employees with Al-Manar sustained injuries Thursday when its premises in suburban Beirut were struck by a missile during an Israeli air raid. The station said its antenna was not destroyed and broadcasting was not interrupted.

"The Al-Manar station has for many years served as the main tool for propaganda and incitement by Hizbollah, and has also helped the organization recruit people into its ranks," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

But media and human rights groups say Israel has no right to target Al-Manar because it doesn't like the channel's content.

"While Al-Manar may serve a propaganda function for Hizbollah, it does not appear based on a monitoring of its broadcasts today to be serving any discernible military function," the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement.

Israeli officials have refused to rule out attacks on any area of Lebanon, however. In addition to bombing Hizbollah bases, and the home of the head of the group, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the Israeli military has bombed Beiruit International Airport, imposed an air and sea blockade on Lebanon, and hit the main highway between Beirut and Damascus, virtually cutting off the country from the outside world.

"Nothing is safe in Lebanon, as simple as that," Israeli Brigadier General Dan Halutz told reporters in Jerusalem. Halutz said even the central Beirut could be targeted if Hezbollah rockets continue to hit northern Israel.

"In terms of international law there is such a thing as a legitimate military retaliation," disputed Yifat Suskind of the human rights group MADRE. "Israel was attacked by Hizbollah Wednesday morning. That was an irresponsible act and an illegal act and the targeting of Israeli civilians is a grave violation of international law. Those same laws also criminalize the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip and Lebanon."

"It is illegal to target civilians," she concluded, "whether one of the strongest militaries like Israel is doing it or whether an armed group like Hamas or Hizbollah."

7 Media Workers Injured in 48 Hours of Fighting (http://news.yahoo.com/s/oneworld/20060715/wl_oneworld/45361365131152986126)

Syria right behind Hizbollah
15 July 2006

DAMASCUS: Syria will support Hizbollah and Lebanon against Israel's attacks on the country, the ruling Baath Party said today, defying the Jewish state and its chief ally Washington.

"The Syrian people are ready to extend full support to the Lebanese people and their heroic resistance to remain steadfast and confront the barbaric Israeli aggression and its crimes," said a communique from the party's national command issued after a meeting.

It said Israel and the United States "are trying to wipe out Arab resistance in every land under occupation" and that President Bashar al-Assad was aware of the seriousness of the situation in the region.

The national command is the highest echelon of the Baath Party, which has been in power since 1963. The party considers the issue of Arab rights and regaining land occupied by Israel central to its legitimacy.

Assad, who is shaped by his late father's lifetime of struggle with Israel, was not at the meeting.

He has resisted Israeli and American pressure to abandon support for Hizbollah, whose war of attrition was instrumental in forcing Israel to withdraw from south Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday Syria must pressure of Hizbollah to release two soldiers it captured on Wednesday.
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The cross-borer operation sparked reprisals from Israel, including strikes that killed scores of Lebanese civilians.

Israel has kept up attacks on Hizbollah targets and devastated an array of Lebanese civilian installations, despite world criticism of its tactics.

The European Union has expressed concern that the confrontation between Hizbollah and Israel could spread to Syria and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi talked with President Bashar al-Assad over the phone on Friday.

It was the first such high-level contact between the Syrian leader and a Western official since last year's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Harir, which worsened Syria's relations with Europe.

Diplomats in Damascus said Syria was confident it would emerge from the crisis with a stronger position compared with the isolation it has been under since the Lebanese-Saudi billionaire turned politician was killed.

"The situation is dangerous but look at how many people are contacting Syria now," one Western diplomat said. "Damascus is back as a main player."

Syria right behind Hizbollah (http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3733219a12,00.html)

Israel gives Syria ultimatum

London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat says Israel gave Syria 72 hours to stop Hizbullah’s activity, bring about release of kidnapped IDF troops. ‘Israel will not end military activity until new situation created that will prevent Syria, Iran from using terror organizations to threaten its security,’ newspaper quotes Pentagon official as saying
Roee Nahmias

The London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat reported Saturday that “Washington has information according to which Israel gave Damascus 72 hours to stop Hizbullah’s activity along the Lebanon-Israel border and bring about the release the two kidnapped IDF soldiers or it would launch an offensive with disastrous consequences.”

The report said “a senior Pentagon source warned that should the Arab world and international community fail in the efforts to convince
Syria to pressure Hizbullah into releasing the soldiers and halt the current escalation Israel may attack targets in the country.”

Al-Hayat quoted the source as saying that “the US cannot rule out the possibility of an Israeli strike in Syria,” this despite the fact that the Bush administration has asked Israel to “refrain from any military activity that may result in civilian casualties.”

'Hizbullah made the same mistake'

The report also mentioned that President George W. Bush has repeatedly put much of the blame for the recent escalation on Syria.

“It is no coincidence that the Hizbullah operation comes at a time when the international community is working to impose sanctions on Iran due to its nuclear program and settle the score with Syria by establishing an international court to try those behind the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri,” the Pentagon source said.

According to the source, Hizbullah made the same mistake as Hamas when it did not predict the ramifications of its actions and ignored the regional and international changes since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The source said that Israel has indicated that it “will not end its military activity until a new situation is created that will prevent Syria and Iran from using terror organizations, such as Hamas and Hizbullah, to threaten its security.”

Israel gives Syria ultimatum (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3275886,00.html)

War Exposes PA-Hizbullah-Iran Connection
23:13 Jul 15, '06 / 19 Tammuz 5766
by Hana Levi Julian and Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

A source within the Palestinian Authority revealed Friday that Fatah and Hamas factions are allied with Hizbullah terrorists. The connection is not new, said the source, who asked to remain unnamed.

IDF sources added that Iran manufactured and supplied Hizbullah with the long-range rockets that have been hitting Haifa and other areas since Thursday.

"The Lebanese resistance movement, Hizbullah, and now its General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah, have affirmed commitment to aiding the Palestinians against Israeli attacks," the Palestine News Network (PNN) reported Thursday.

A spokesman for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of the Fatah faction headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, announced that the Hizbullah attacks were a "message and a mortal blow to Israel."

In a statement released by the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the spokesman thanked Hizbullah and noted that Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorists are also working together.

Israeli military sources examined a Katyusha rocket that exploded in Haifa on Thursday night and said it had been manufactured in Iran. Hizbullah denied that its terrorists had fired the missile, but experts' examinations revealed that it was the same kind of rocket that Hizbullah terrorists fired near Carmiel, a city several miles southeast of Haifa.

Iran has promised to pay for repairs resulting from Israel's bombing key targets in Lebanon as they work quickly to prevent Hizbullah terrorists from transferring the kidnapped IDF soldiers to Iran.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also promised Syrian President Bashar Assad that an Israeli strike on Syria would be considered an attack on the Muslim world and would bring a "fierce response."

Israel and the United States have openly blamed Iran and Syria for the Hizbullah war on northern Israel.

"The historical ties between Iran and Hizbullah are well known, and Syria also has very close ties to Hizbullah," said U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "Again, there's a long history there and it's well known," he reiterated to reporters at a news conference this week. He added that Syria "has a very particular responsibility" for peace in the Middle East -- as well as for bringing about the release of two IDF soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah terrorists Wednesday morning.

McCormack said there was a clear connection between last month's kidnapping of IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit by Hamas terrorists, and the Hizbullah attack on northern Israel and the abductions of two Israeli soldiers.

"If you look at these actions, these are deliberate attempts to try to escalate tensions in the region," he said. "Look at the timing...very clearly these are individuals here that are seeking to provoke a negative reaction in the region."

Hamas is headquartered in Damascus, and the historical links between Hizbullah, Syria and Iran are will known, McCormack added. He said that Syria is "hosting terrorist organizations in their capital...and is trying to determine for people living in the Palestinian Authority areas and the people of Lebanon what kind of future they're going to have."

He added, "You have a terrorist organization that is heading the government of the Palestinian Authority that is not a partner for peace."

War Exposes PA-Hizbullah-Iran Connection (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=107315)

Russian defense minister says Hezbollah uses 'terrorist methods'
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov on Saturday warned that other nations could be drawn into the escalating Middle East conflict, which he called "a war that has begun."

Ivanov appealed to the Islamic extremist group Hezbollah to stop using "terrorist methods" and said both sides must exercise restraint.

"We call on Hezbollah to stop resorting to any terrorist methods including attacking neighboring states," Ivanov said.

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At least 88 people have died in Lebanon, most of them civilians, in a four-day Israeli offensive sparked by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. On the Israeli side, at least 15 have been killed - four civilians and 11 soldiers.

Ivanov warned that other nations in the region could be sucked into the conflict, calling it "basically, a war that has begun." He called on both sides to quickly calm the situation.

"Both sides in the conflict must exercise extreme restraint, caution and foresee the consequences of their actions," he told reporters hours before the formal opening of the Group of Eight summit.

Hezbollah's taking of hostages and shelling of Israeli territory and Israel's response - "the use of military force in such a magnitude and against such objects as we have seen" - are unacceptable, he said, adding that only negotiations could resolve the crisis.

Russia is using its contacts with radical Muslims to try to promote a resolution, he said.

"Yes, we have contacts with the Hamas movement and we are using those contacts in order to lower the degree of confrontation and to convey our position on the unacceptability of using terrorist methods of fighting and of the necessity of diplomatic recognition of all the neighboring states," Ivanov
said.

Russia hosted a high-level Hamas delegation at Putin's invitation in March, when Moscow broke ranks with other members of the so-called Quartet of Mideast negotiators but failed to persuade the militant group - which leads the government of the Palestinian Authority - to soften its anti-Israel stance and renounce its goal to seek Israel's destruction.

Chavez: U.S. support for Israel to lead to Holocaust
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday that U.S. backing of Israel is responsible for flaming tensions in the Middle East and putting the world on course toward another "Holocaust."

"The fundamental blame falls again on the U.S. empire. It's the empire that armed and supported the abuses of the Israeli elite, which has invaded, abused and defied the United Nations for a long time," Chavez said in a speech during a military act in Caracas.

"I'll seize this opportunity to condemn categorically and fully the aggression that the Israeli elite is carrying out against innocents over there in the Middle East," he said.

Chavez was referring to a new explosion of Mideast violence this week as
Israel Air Force war planes began striking Lebanon after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others Wednesday in a cross-border raid into Israel. In response, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets at northern Israel.

The Venezuelan leader charged that Israel is using excessive force.

"Are we going to bomb cities and tell them that we won't stop bombing until they return the soldier? That's crazy," he said.

"Worse, it's craziness with nuclear bombs. (The Israelis) have their weapons of mass destruction and nobody criticizes them, nobody says anything because the empire is behind them," Chavez said.

Blaming the escalation on Washington's undue influence, Chavez said: "The U.S. empire's desire to dominate has no limits and that could take this world to a real Holocaust. May God save us."

Chavez is one of the most ferocious critics of U.S. foreign policy, even though his oil-producing country remains closely tied to the United States, its top market, through billions of dollars (euros) in annual crude sales.

The White House said Friday that United States President George W. Bush would not press Israel to halt its military operation in Lebanon.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said, when asked whether Bush had agreed to a request from Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora that he rein in the Israelis, "No. The president is not going to make military decisions for Israel."

Snow told reporters that Bush had spoken by telephone to Lebanon's prime minister among other Middle East leaders.

He said Bush believed the Israelis have the right to protect themselves, but should limit "so-called collateral damage not only to facilities but also to human lives".

Snow said Siniora had suggested a cease-fire, which Washington favored, but thought would be hard to pull off.

"It is unlikely that either or both parties are going to agree to that at this juncture," Snow said.

A leading Senate Republican on Friday urged U.S. restraint in supporting Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah, citing the problems it may cause in the war in Iraq and efforts to disarm Iran.

Senator John W. Warner, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, issued a written statement Friday calling on the Bush administration to "think through very carefully how Israel's extraordinary reaction could affect our operations in Iraq and our joint diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue.

cont'd next post

"This is a very critical time for the U.S. in the Middle East, and the Israeli actions will certainly have an impact beyond Lebanon and Gaza," Warner warned.

Rice urges Israel to 'exercise restraint' in Lebanon
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Israel on Thursday to exercise restraint in its attacks against Lebanese targets and demanded Syria press Hizbollah guerrillas to stop attacking Israel.

"It is extremely important that Israel exercise restraint in its acts of self-defense," she told reporters travelling with Bush in Germany.

Her comments, at a hastily arranged briefing, reflected a sharper focus on Israel than statements from Bush earlier, who said Israel has a right to defend itself with its attacks in Lebanon but that it should not weaken the Lebanese government.

Rice said the message was being sent through numerous diplomatic channels and added: "I think they understand the need to exercise restraint."

Israel struck Beirut airport and military airbases and blockaded Lebanese ports on Thursday, intensifying reprisals that have killed 55 civilians in Lebanon since Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers a day earlier.

Asked in a CNN interview about Rice's call, Israel's ambassador to the U.S. said Israel had exercised restraint since its 2000 withdrawal from Lebanon and believed its military offensive was now the right way to deal with Hezbollah.

Ambassador Daniel Ayalon said: "I think they (Hezbollah) misinterpreted our restraint for the last six years."

"If we do not want to see further escalation, deterioration, violence, this is the time to stop Hizbollah and what we are doing is the most effective (way) to stop them."

Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said he and Rice had spoken to Israeli officials and received assurances Israel's focus was on Hezbollah, not the Lebanese government.

He added that the officials said "the actions they are going to take are going to deal with Hezbollah, will be done in such a way to try and minimize collateral and civilian casualties, recognizing this is difficult because Hezbollah has put targets in civilian areas".

Rice said Syria had been "sheltering the people who have been perpetrating these acts" against Israel, including launching rocket attacks into northern Israel and abducting Israeli soldiers.

"Syria needs to act responsibly and stop the use of its territory for these kinds of activities. They need to bring all pressure on those that it is harboring to stop this and to return these soldiers and to allow the situation to be de-escalated," Rice said.

She said the United States supported a three-person UN team being sent to the region to try to defuse the crisis on the instigation of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Asked if there was a danger of the area slipping into war, Rice said: "I think it doesn't help to speculate about kind of apocalyptic scenarios. What we have to do is work day by day, hour by hour. That's what we're doing, and that's what a lot of others are doing."

Earlier in the day, Bush said that Israel had a right to defend itself against terrorist acts but it should not weaken the Beirut government.

"Israel has the right to defend herself," Bush told a news conference after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"Secondly, whatever Israel does should not weaken the...government in Lebanon."

The president's comment came in response to the escalating violence between Israel and Lebanon, on Thursday after IAF warplanes carried out strikes in Lebanon in retalliation to Hezbollah's abduction of two soldiers a day earlier.

On Thursday, a U.S. administration official gave a response on condition of anonymity regarding the crisis.

"We are urging restraint on both sides, recognizing Israel's right to defend itself," the official said.

The European Union on Thursday criticized Israel for using what it called "disproportionate" force in its attacks on Lebanon following Wednesday's raid by Hezbollah guerillas who killed eight Israel Defense Forces soldier and abducted two soldiers.

"The European Union is greatly concerned about the disproportionate use of force by Israel in Lebanon in response to attacks by Hezbollah on Israel," according to a statement issued by Finland which holds the EU's rotating presidency. "The presidency deplores the loss of civilian lives and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. The imposition of an air and sea blockade on Lebanon cannot be justified."

"The government of Israel is greatly concerned about the disproportionate use of one-sided language by the new European Union presidency concerning the situation in Lebanon," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said in response to the statement.

Russian defense minister says Hezbollah uses 'terrorist methods' (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738183.html)

Arab League declares support for Lebanon, calls on UN to step in
By The Associated Press

The Arab League said on Saturday after an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo that the Middle East peace process had failed, and called on the United Nations Security Council to intervene to stop the escalating violence.

The Arab foreign ministers also adopted a resolution supporting Lebanon and the Palestinians, but also called on all parties to avoid actions that "may undermine peace and security in the region".

"We all decided that the peace process has failed and that the mechanisms, proposals and committees were either deceptive or sedatives or contrary to the peace process, or handed the process over as a gift to Israeli diplomacy to do with as it wished," Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said.

"This has led to and is leading to the collapse of stability in the Middle East... So there is no peace process," he added.

Speaking to reporters at the 22-member Arab League headquarters, Moussa said the group would turn to the UN Security Council for help.

"So we take it back to the United Nations, and maybe the date will be in September," he said.

"We are with all of Lebanon. The issue is not this faction or that. Lebanon as a whole is being subjected to a disproportionate attack," he added.

Lebanon had urged the UN Security Council to tell Israel to halt its operation, but the Council took no immediate action.

Ministers clash over Hezbollah's legitimacy
Ministers at the meeting traded barbs over whether Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah bore any responsibility for the escalation in violence that followed its capture of two Israeli soldiers.

The Saudi foreign minister appeared to be leading a camp of ministers criticizing the guerrilla group's actions, calling them "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts."

"These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them," Saudi al-Faisal told his counterparts.

Supporting his stance were representatives of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, the Palestinian Authority, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, delegates said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem lashed back al-Faisal, asking "How can we come here to discuss the burning situation in Lebanon while others are making statements criticizing the resistance?"

Moallem emerged as the leader of another camp of ministers defending Hezbollah as carrying out "legitimate acts in line with international resolutions and the UN charter, as acts of resistance," delegates said.

Salloukh, a Shiite close to the mainstream Amal faction as well as the militant Hezbollah, said Arab governments were not doing enough to protest Israel's assault on Lebanon.

"What our Arab brothers have called 'involvement' has only resulted in frustration and bitterness among Arab people," Salloukh told participants at the meeting Saturday.

"If [Arab] governments are not serious and determined... our people will sooner or later take things into their own hands," he said.

Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa issued a statement Friday calling on Israel to halt its military operations in Lebanon, and asking the UN Security Council to intervene. He met late Friday with United Nations officials in Cairo, including UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen.

In Kuwait, Saad Hariri, head of the anti-Syrian bloc in Lebanon's parliament, told reporters that his country "should not become a playground" for Middle East fighting.

"Israel has to understand that Lebanon is not a terrorist state but a state fighting for freedom, and the Lebanese have to unite and stay united," Hariri said.

"A clear Arab position on this [Israeli] aggression has to be issued [in the foreign ministers meeting]," he added.

Palestinian factions issued a statement Saturday calling on Arab foreign ministers to "overcome their differences, and take a united Arab position pressuring the American administration to amend its pro-Israel position, boycott Israel and support the steadfastness and resistance of the Lebanese and Palestinian people."

The groups, Islamic and secular, called on Arab governments to push for UN-sponsored negotiations to release Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners as well as the captured IDF soldiers.

In Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah was to meet Saturday afternoon with Ali Larijani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, whose country is a top backer of Hamas and Hezbollah.

The two would discuss "the situation after Israeli forces launched attacks on Lebanon, and search for way out," a Saudi diplomat said on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media.

Israel's Lebanon campaign, launched after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight on Wednesday, has killed at least 103 people, all but four civilians.

Arab League declares support for Lebanon, calls on UN to step in (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738698.html)

IDF officer denies report Israel planning to attack Syria
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies

Responding to a report in a pan-Arab daily newspaper that Israel presented Damascus with an ultimatum, an Israel Defense Forces officer said Saturday that targeting Syria is currently not on Israel's agenda.

"We're not a gang that shoots in every direction," the officer said. "It won't be right to bring Syria into the campaign."

The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported Saturday that Israel issued an ultimatum to Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to which a regional war would erupt within 72 hours if Damascus does not prevent Hezbollah attacks.

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According to the report, a Pentagon source said that if Syria does not try to influence Hezbollah, Israel could bomb essential installations in Syria. The source neither confirmed nor denied rumors that Israel had given Damascus 72 hours to comply with international demands.

The IDF officer emphasized that the Golan Heights frontier has been quiet since 1974, a factor which Israeli views as a vital security asset. The officer said that the Syrian air force as well as additional units are on high alert, a fact which hasn't escaped Israel's attention.

The source added that even though Syria is playing a negative role in the latest crisis, he believes that it had no direct role in the outbreak of fighting.

"Syria is a negative factor, but it is not strong enough in order to instigate all these events," the source said.

U.S. President George W. Bush called on Syria on Saturday to exert its influence to persuade Hezbollah to stop attacks against Israel.

At a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bush laid the blame for the upsurge in Middle East violence on Hezbollah.

"The best way to stop the violence is for Hezbollah to lay down its arms and to stop attacking. And therefore I call upon Syria to exert influence over Hezbollah."

In recent days, senior U.S. administration officials, led Bush blamed Syria for the escalation of violence in the region. Syria's ambassador to the U.S. regarded U.S. policy in the region as favoring Israel, which he said was not helping the situation.

According to analysts and senior officials in Syria, Damascus is aware of the threat of an Israeli strike. In recent days, senior officials warned Israel against attacking. Lawmaker Muhammad Habash stated that if Damascus is attacked, another front would open on the Golan Heights. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned Israel against attacking Syria.

Syria's ambassador to London said Friday that Damascus wants to remain outside the conflict in Lebanon. He went on to say that Syria demanded that Hezbollah stop launching Katyusha rockets at Israel.

On Friday, the ruling Baath Party said Syria will support Hezbollah and Lebanon against Israel's attacks on the country.

"The Syrian people are ready to extend full support to the Lebanese people and their heroic resistance to remain steadfast and confront the barbaric Israeli aggression and its crimes," said a communique from the party's national command issued after a meeting.

It said Israel and the U.S. "are trying to wipe out Arab resistance in every land under occupation" and that Assad was aware of the seriousness of the situation in the region.

The national command is the highest echelon of the Baath Party, which has been in power since 1963.

Assad, who has resisted Israeli and American pressure to abandon support for Hezbollah, was not at the meeting.

Hezbollah's capture of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers and barrage of rocket attacks incited major Israeli military action against Lebanese targets for the first time since it withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation.

Ahmadinejad: Israel would not dare to move against Iran
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday that Israel would not dare to move against the Islamic republic, state television reported.

Iran has denied Israeli suggestions that Hezbollah guerrillas could take the captured soldiers to Iran.

"The Zionist regime does not dare to cast a look with bad intentions at Iran," the president was quoted as saying by state television.

On Thursday, Ahmadinejad said an Israeli strike on Syria would be considered an attack on the whole Islamic world that would bring a "fierce response", state television reported.

"If the Zionist regime commits another stupid move and attacks Syria, this will be considered like attacking the whole Islamic world and this regime will receive a very fierce response," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The president made the comments after Israel struck Beirut airport and military airbases and blockaded Lebanese ports in reprisals that have killed 55 civilians in Lebanon since Hezbollah gunmen captured two Israeli soldiers a day earlier.

"He (Ahmadinejad) also said it was a must for the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to become more active regarding the new crisis created by the Zionist regime," state television reported.

Arab governments have agreed to send their foreign ministers to Cairo for an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.

But the 22-member League has not yet seen specific proposals for a joint Arab response to the Israeli attacks.

Major Arab governments other than Syria are not expected to give unqualified backing Hezbollah, or the Palestinian militant group Hamas which is holding an Israeli soldier hostage.

IDF officer denies report Israel planning to attack Syria (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738749.html)

Lebanon PM asks for UN help to deploy army in south
By Amos Harel and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies

Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered the Israel Defense Forces Saturday night to step up the rate of attacks against Lebanon. His orders were issued close to the time when Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora made a national address and called for an immediate cease-fire.

Peretz said that the IDF must continue applying pressure on Hezbollah, giving them no room to breathe, and continue expanding its bombing raids elsewhere.

Hours after the order was made, the Israel Air Force indeed launched a wave of bombing raids on the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs early Sunday, Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV and witnesses said.

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A total of some dozen loud explosions shook the capital, much of which was plunged in darkness after warplanes struck power stations and fuel depots feeding them.

The southern suburbs were repeatedly blasted by Israeli warplanes for most of Saturday, but the early Sunday raids were the heaviest since Israel launched its offensive Wednesday in retaliation to the capture of two IDF soldiers by Hezbollah guerillas.

Hezbollah's TV aired footage it said showed the new strikes. The pictures showed two long columns of smoke rising from buildings into the night sky.

The TV said a bridge linking the al-Hazmiyah district to the road that leads to the airport, south of the capital, also was targeted.

In Israel, the military confirmed that Israeli warplanes were bombing the Hezbollah headquarters in south Beirut.

The extent of the damage caused to the suburbs could not be established because the area is deemed too dangerous for journalists to visit. Most of the raids target an area known as the "security square," where Hezbollah has its headquarters, reportedly destroyed in a Friday air strike, and where some of its leaders live.

Most residents of the suburbs, which is in reality a part of the Lebanese capital, have fled their homes for the relative safety of the Beka'a Valley, a mainly Shiite region to the east of Beirut.

The UN Security Council on Saturday again rejected pleas that it call for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon after the United States objected, diplomats said.

Washington argued in closed-door talks that the focus for Middle East diplomacy for now should be on the weekend summit in St. Petersburg of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, council diplomats said.

The U.S. was the sole member of the 15-nation U.N. body to oppose
any council action at all at this time, they said.

"We would expect much more from the Security Council," Lebanese Foreign Ministry official Nouhad Mahmoud told reporters after the council meeting, singling out the U.S. for blame.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called Saturday for an immediate cease-fire with Israel, and asked for help in deploying the country's army in the south, from where Hezbollah has for days pounded northern Israel with Katyusha rockets.

"We call for an immediate cease-fire backed by the United Nations," said Siniora in an address to the nation. "We call to broaden the state's control over all of its territory, in cooperation with United Nations forces, in southern Lebanon."

Siniora also called on Lebanon to "work to recover all Lebanese territories and exercising full sovereignty of the state over those territories," Saniora said in a televised address to the nation.

His voice cracking with emotion, Saniora criticized Hezbollah without naming the group, saying Lebanon "cannot rise and get back on its feet if its government is the last to know."

"The government alone has the legitimate right to decide on matters of peace and war because it represents the will of the Lebanese people," he said.

He said the IDF assault, sparked by the Hezbollah abduction of two of its soldiers Wednesday, had devasted his country, and called for international aid.

"I declare today that Lebanon is a disaster zone in need of a comprehensive and speedy Arab plan... and [it] pleads to its friends in the world to rush to its aid," he said.

Deploying Lebanese troops on the southern border, now controlled by Hezbollah, would meet a repeated United Nations and U.S. demand. But the government fears that using force against Hezbollah could trigger another sectarian conflict in Lebanon, which was ravaged by civil war between 1975 and 1990.

The Lebanese army is about 70,000 strong, equipped with American, French and Russian weapons but virtually no air force.

Exchanges of fire intensified over the weekend between the two sides. So far, 106 Lebanese, mostly civilians, are reported dead. For Israel, in addition to the two soldiers abducted on Wednesday, there have been 16 dead, six during the weekend.

During the weekend the Israel Air Force carried out hundreds of strikes gainst Lebanese targets, mostly in the Beka'a and in Beirut.

After the IAF hit targets near Lebanon's border with Syria, military officials emphasized only Lebanese targets were attacked. "It's very important to understand that we have only targeted bridges and access points in Lebanon," an IDF spokeswoman said. "We have not bombed anything in Syria."

A Syrian official confirmed Israel had not attacked Syria.

Israeli naval gunships attacked central Beirut for the first time in Israel's four-day-old assault on Lebanon, striking a lighthouse and the city's seaport, witnesses said. Radar installations along the Lebanese coast were also destroyed.

Witnesses also said the Beirut seaport - the country's main commercial port facility - was also hit, as was the nearby seaport of Jounieh, which houses a Lebanese army base.

IAF planes also blasted Beirut's southern suburbs for the second time on Saturday, causing huge blasts, Hezbollah's Al Manar television reported.

The TV's correspondent said the Israeli airstrike targeted the Hezbollah stronghold of Haret Hreik, which was attacked by Israeli jets earlier Saturday.

IAF planes also launched four bombing raids on residential areas in the eastern city of Ba'albek, where senior Hezbollah officials have residence or offices, witnesses said. Heavy black smoke billowed from the area and ambulances were seen rushing to the scene.

One person was killed and 17 others were wounded in the air raids in Ba'albek in the Bekaa, the official National News Agency reported.

The houses of two senior Hezbollah officials in Ba'albek, Sheik Mohammed Yazbek and Hussein Musawi, were destroyed in the airstrike, security officials said. The Hezbollah figures were not in the buildings when they were hit.

Also Saturday, IAF planes destroyed the Beirut office of senior Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal but he was not hurt in the attack, a spokesman for the group said.

It was not clear if Nazzal was in his office at the time or if there were any casualties.

IAF warplanes renewed attacks on Lebanon early Saturday, targeting bridges, fuel storage tanks and gas stations in the east and south, security officials said.

IAF strikes killed at least 33 Lebanese civilians on Saturday.

An IAF missile wrecked a van near the southern port of Tyre, killing 18 passengers and wounding six, police said. The van was carrying families fleeing the village of Marwaheen after Israeli loudspeaker warnings to leave their homes. A police spokesman said more may have been wounded as the vehicle was directly hit.

IAF aircraft also bombed a Hezbollah office in southern Beirut's Haret Hreik district, and attacked roads, bridges and petrol stations in north, east and south Lebanon, killing at least 12 people and wounding 32, security sources said.

Jets destroying the headquarters and residence of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday. Hezbollah was quick to announce that Nasrallah had been unhurt in the strike.

The Haret Hreik neighborhood houses Hezbollah's security compound, a sealed-off bloc of buildings where Nasrallah has an office and residence, and where the Shura Council decision-making body is located.

IAF jets destroyed two bridges in eastern and southern Lebanon, the Lebanese officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Another strike targeted three bridges south of Beirut early Saturday, officials said.

IAF jets dropped leaflets on Beirut depicting Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah as a cobra threatening to strike out at the Lebanese capital. "To the Lebanese people, beware: He appears to be a brother, but he is a snake," said the green leaflet showing a caricature of Nasrallah's face, with his black turban rolled in the shape of a snake.

Packages of leaflets, tied to parachutes, were dropped at dawn in downtown Beirut, but were swiftly rounded up by Lebanese security forces, AFP reported.

Israel is attempting to put pressure on the Lebanese government and force Hezbollah to free two Israeli soldiers the group captured Wednesday. Israel has already bombed Lebanon's airports and blockaded the country from the sea, bringing trade and tourism to a halt.

Lebanon PM asks for UN help to deploy army in south (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738699.html)

Residents south of Haifa will have one-minute rocket warning
By Yuval Azoulay, Amos Harel and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies

A senior Israel Defense Forces official said on Saturday evening that should Hezbollah guerillas fire rockets that reach areas south of Haifa, a warning siren will be heard one minute before they land.

The head of the IDF Home Front Command, Yitzhak Gershon, also said that residents of hard-hit areas of the north that have been instructed to remain in protected rooms and bomb shelters should continue to do so and not go to work on Sunday.

The order is relevant to anyone living north of Route 85 between Acre and Amiad, as well as the residents of Carmiel, Tiberias, Migdal, Arbel, Kfar Zeitim, and Kfar Hitim. Gershon also urged residents of Haifa, its northern suburbs, Nesher and Tirat Hacarmel to remain in their homes.

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Defense Minister Amir Peretz signed a declaration on Saturday night declaring a "home front emergency," after barrages of Hezbollah rockets reached Tiberias, 35 kilometers from the northern border. The declaration will be brought before the government for approval on Sunday.

The approval of declaration allows senior defense officials - including the IDF Chief of Staff, Home Front Command, northern command and other officers - to issue orders relating to the protection and rescue of people and property.

The declaration would be valid in Israel's north, both along the northern border but also in Safed, Tiberias and Carmiel.

Army officials urged the public to remain calm in the region where about 750,000 Israelis were under rocket threat, but cautioned it may be weeks until they subside.

"We have to be ready for some more days, perhaps more thanthat, perhaps weeks, to face this reality," the IDF operations chief, General Gadi Eizenkot, told reporters in Tel Aviv. "We have to prepare for a continued campaign, not to panic."

In the first of two attacks on Tiberias on Saturday, one of three rockets directly struck a residential building, sustaining damage. The owners of the residence were abroad.

Two rockets landed adjacent to a stadium in Tiberias and near the town's Club Hotel. Six people were lightly injured from rocket shrapnel.

Authorities have asked that bathers on the coast of the Sea of Galilee evacuate the area for fear of further Katyusha attacks.

Early Saturday evening, four more Katyusha rockets struck Tiberias. Magen David Adom rescue services received a report that one of the rockets directly struck a house in the city.

In the second barrage, two people suffered light wounds while two others were treated for shock. A Nahariya resident also sustained light wounds when a rocket barrage struck the northern city on Saturday evening.

For the first time since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the IDF has deployed Patriot missile batteries in Haifa.

The missile defense system cannot destroy Katyusha rockets - hundreds of which have been fired at Israel from Lebanon in recent days - but could protect against surface-to-surface missiles, such as those possessed by Syria, the army said.

Additional rockets landed near Tiberias - in Kfar Hitim, Evron, and Abu Snan. One person suffered from shock.

Rockets also landed Carmiel, Hatzor Haglilit, Peki'in, Safed, Nahariya, and Moshav Ben-Ami, in the western Galilee.

Two rockets hit empty homes Carmiel and Safed. Another landed adjacent to Carmiel College, causing a brushfire.

Saturday's rocket strikes came one day after a woman and her 7-year-old grandson were killed and four others were injured when a Katyusha rocket slammed into a home in Moshav Meron. The victims of the strike were named as Yehudit Itzkovich, 57, and her seven-year-old grandson Omer Pesachov.

Early Saturday, dozens of rockets were launched, landing in Nahariya, Safed, Moshav Meron and the northern Golan Heights, causing no casualties or damage.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said Friday that Hezbollah has rockets with a range of up to 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) or more, an admission that brings more major cities within their range, including possibly Hadera and Netanya. This would mean that Hezbollah has rockets that could reach within 20 to 30 kilometers of Tel Aviv.

Halutz also put the blame on Lebanon's government for the numerous rocket attacks on northern Israel that have killed four people and injured dozens more.

Dozens of people were injured throughout the day Friday, as Katyusha rockets landed in the Galilee. Injuries were reported in Nahariya, Yesod Hama'alah, Kfar Szold, Kibbutz Hulata, Safed, Peki'in and Hatzor Haglilit. Kiryat Shmona was also hit on Friday, but no casualties were repoted.

The Prime Minister's Office responded to the attacks, saying it was "totally committed to bringing about a cession of this terror."

"These two Israelis, a woman and child, were totally innocent victims of the terror pouring out of Lebanon of which Israel vows to put an end to," David Baker, a spokesperson at the Prime Minister's Office, said.

On Thursday, two Israelis were killed by rocket fire and some 120 were wounded when scores of Katyusha rockets rained down across northern Israel.

Haifa hit by Katyusha for first time
Katyusha rockets struck Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, for the first time Thursday night, and the Home Front Command ordered area residents Friday to stay near bomb shelters so they could go inside as soon as they hear an air-raid siren. There were no casualties in the rocket strike on Haifa's Stella Maris area.

Hezbollah said Friday that Israel should expect an attack on Haifa at any time.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Daniel Ayalon told reporters in Washington that Thursday's rocket attack on Haifa was a "major, major escalation" by Hezbollah.

The rocket fire began in the early hours of Thursday, after Israel Air Force jets struck targets across Lebanon following cross-border attacks by Hezbollah during which eight Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and two others abducted.

Residents south of Haifa will have one-minute rocket warning (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738747.html)

‘Hezbollah missiles could hit Tel Aviv’
Web posted at: 7/16/2006 3:40:52
Source ::: Agencies

Jerusalem • The Lebanese Shi’ite militia Hezbollah has rockets capable of reaching Israel’s economic capital of Tel Aviv, an Israeli military intelligence official said yesterday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that Hezbollah was believed to have around 150 long-range rockets capable of reaching targets between 45 and 200 kilometres away.

He said that Israel believed the Lebanese militia could use these rockets to target Tel Aviv, a city of more than one million people located around 120 kilometres south of the Lebanese border.

Hezbollah guerrillas have fired several hundred rockets into northern Israel since the start of a four-day Israeli offensive in Lebanon launched after Hezbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in an armed raid.

Several hit the coastal city of Haifa, Israel’s third city located 40 kilometres south of the border, which together with its suburbs is home to more than a million people.

Civilian boat hit

A missile fired at an Israeli naval vessel off Lebanon hit a civilian boat, possibly from Egypt, the Israeli army said yesterday.

A spokeswoman said those on board were believed to have been evacuated, adding it was unclear if there were any casualties.

After initially saying the missile had been fired at an Israeli vessel in a fresh strike early yesterday, the spokeswoman later said it had been part of an attack late on Friday when an Israeli warship was badly damaged.

“At the same time as the incident took place in which an Israeli ship was hit, a merchant ship was also hit,” the spokeswoman said.

Israeli media said the damaged missile ship was hit by an airborne drone packed with explosives.

Four Israeli troops were missing after the warship was hit in an attack claimed by Hezbollah, Al Jazeera television said, as violence escalated between Israel and the guerrilla group.

Meanwhile Italy began evacuating its nationals from Lebanon yesterday and France was preparing to do the same as Israeli planes pounded the country.

Some 410 people left Beirut on an Italian convoy early on Saturday, Italy’s Foreign Ministry said. The group was mostly made up of Italians and other Europeans, who were expected to arrive in the Syrian port city of Latakia in the coming hours.

Two C130 Italian military aircraft will then fly the group back to Rome, with help from a commercial flight departing from Cyprus, the ministry said. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said France had alerted its navy and readied both civilian and military aircraft to help French citizens leave Lebanon, a former French colony.

‘Hezbollah missiles could hit Tel Aviv’ (http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=July2006&file=World_News2006071634052.xml)

Arab League Says Peace Process in Mideast is 'Dead'

Saturday , July 15, 2006

CAIRO, Egypt — Foreign ministers of 18 Arab countries passed a unanimous resolution Saturday calling on the U.N. Security Council to intervene to stop escalating Mideast fighting.

"The Middle East peace process has failed. The whole process should now be sent back to the Security Council for a complete overhaul," said Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

"We are going to the Security Council — this is a unanimous position — to discuss the whole situation from scratch," he said.

"If the Security Council fails, nobody knows what might happen next," he added, pronouncing the whole Mideast peace process "dead."

The league held an emergency summit in Cairo Saturday over Israel's expanding assault on Lebanon, but squabbles over the legitimacy of Hezbollah's attacks on Israel — including the capture of two Israeli soldiers that sparked the 4-day battle — appeared likely to keep participants from reaching a consensus, delegates said.

The Saudi foreign minister appeared to be leading a camp of ministers criticizing the guerrilla group's actions, calling them "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts."

"These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them," Saudi al-Faisal told his counterparts.

Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Mideast center.

Supporting his stance were representatives of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, the Palestinian Authority, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, delegates said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Another camp led by Syria defended Hezbollah as carrying out "legitimate acts in line with international resolutions and the U.N. charter, as acts of resistance," delegates said.

The rift appeared likely to prevent participants from issuing a unanimous resolution over Israel's bloody incursion into Lebanon — the worst Israeli attack on its neighbor in 24 years.

Earlier, Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh presented his fellow Arab League members with a draft resolution condemning Israel's military offensive and supporting Lebanon's "right to resist occupation by all legitimate means" — language frequently used by Hezbollah to justify its guerrillas' presence in south Lebanon.

The draft, a copy of which obtained by The Associated Press, also demanded the release of Lebanese captives and detainees in Israeli prisons, and supported Lebanon's right to "liberate them by all legitimate means."

Salloukh, a Shiite close to the mainstream Amal faction as well as the militant Hezbollah, said Arab governments were not doing enough to protest Israel's assault on Lebanon.

"What our Arab brothers have called `involvement' has only resulted in frustration and bitterness among Arab people," Salloukh told participants at the meeting Saturday.

"If (Arab) governments are not serious and determined ... our people will sooner or later take things into their own hands," he said.

Israel launched its offensive after Hezbollah guerrillas crossed the Israel-Lebanon border on Wednesday and captured two Israeli soldiers. Israel has bombarded Lebanon's airport and main roads and destroyed Hezbollah's headquarters in south Beirut. Hezbollah has responded by launching hundreds of rockets into Israel.

At least 79 Lebanese have died, mostly civilians.

Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa issued a statement Friday calling on Israel to halt its military operations in Lebanon, and asking the U.N. Security Council to intervene. He met late Friday with United Nations officials in Cairo, including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen.

In Kuwait, Saad Hariri, head of the anti-Syrian bloc in Lebanon's parliament, told reporters that his country "should not become a playground" for Mideast fighting.

"Israel has to understand that Lebanon is not a terrorist state but a state fighting for freedom, and the Lebanese have to unite and stay united," Hariri said.

"A clear Arab position on this (Israeli) aggression has to be issued (in the foreign ministers meeting)," he added.

Palestinian factions issued a statement Saturday calling on Arab foreign ministers to "overcome their differences, and take a united Arab position pressuring the American administration to amend its pro-Israel position, boycott Israel and support the steadfastness and resistance of the Lebanese and Palestinian people."

The groups, Islamic and secular, called on Arab governments to push for U.N.-sponsored negotiations to release Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners as well as the captured Israeli soldiers.

In Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah was to meet Saturday afternoon with Ali Larijani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, whose country is a top backer of Hamas and Hezbollah.

The two would discuss "the situation after Israeli forces launched attacks on Lebanon, and search for way out," a Saudi diplomat said on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media.

Arab League Says Peace Process in Mideast is 'Dead' (http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,203777,00.html)

Abbas, Rice discuss Israeli operations in Gaza, Lebanon
2006-07-15 19:02:09

Special Report: Israel launches Gaza assault
New clash between Israeli, Lebanese troops

RAMALLAH, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat revealed on Saturday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have discussed the Israeli "aggressions" against the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Abbas received a call from Rice on Friday during his meeting with visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch at Abbas' headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Erekat told reporters.

He said that "Abbas and Rice talked over means of stopping the Israeli aggression on both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon," especially the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

According to Erekat, both Rice and Abbas discussed ways to solve the Rafah crossing issue on the borders between Gaza and Egypt, as well as the Israeli soldier held captive by Palestinian militant groups since June 25.

Following the capture of the soldier by Palestinian militants, Israel closed all crossing points in and out of the Gaza Strip, including Rafah terminal which is the only crossing for Gaza people to the outside world.

So far, the Israeli army has launched a large-scale air and ground offensive that killed more than 85 Palestinians and destroyed the only power plant.

Erekat stressed that Egypt should continue its diplomatic efforts to settle the issue of the captured Israeli soldier and get Gaza Strip out of the current bottleneck.

The Palestinians want a swap to exchange female, younger prisoners and prisoners serving long sentence terms for the captive Corporal Gilad Shalit.

Concerning the turmoil on the Lebanese prospect, Erekat denounced Israeli air strike against Lebanese targets.

Erekat also condemned the Israeli "aggression" on Lebanon and appealed to the international community to intervene to prevent from a regional war. Enditem

Abbas, Rice discuss Israeli operations in Gaza, Lebanon (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-07/15/content_4837600.htm)

G8 begins with divisions over Lebanon
Web posted at: 7/16/2006 4:13:55
Source ::: REUTERS

st petersburg • Middle East conflict muscled its way onto the Group of Eight agenda yesterday, setting the United States, a strong backer of Israel, against those who say the Jewish state has been too violent.

US President George W Bush has called on Israel to avoid civilian casualties but has refused to tell it to halt its bombardment of Lebanon, which G8 partner France and the European Union have called an excessive response to Hezbollah militant attacks.

“This is a very serious situation and no one should pretend otherwise. This is a situation we have to calm down and we have to calm down quickly,” said a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“We understand that there were provocations against Israel, but we believe the use of force by Israel was disproportionate,” said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

The rising death toll from Israel’s four-day offensive and Hezbollah’s rocket attacks deep into northern Israel has overshadowed the formal agenda of the meeting of the world’s leading industrialised nations.

Russia, first-time host, had wanted to focus on security of energy supplies. But the leaders of Japan, Russia, Britain, Germany, Canada, Italy, France and the United States will instead discuss divisions over the Middle East, Iran and trade.

At a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bush firmly blamed Middle East violence on Hezbollah militants. The Kremlin leader agreed but asked for a “balanced” response from Israeli forces.

Bush’s national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, told reporters the Hezbollah attacks have “threatened to plunge the region into violence”.

Diplomats have begun work on a statement on the Middle East crisis but strains were quickly visible among the leaders.

France called on the G8 to agree that violence would not resolve the situation, a formulation at odds with Bush’s strong support for Israel. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi cast doubt on whether a common G8 position could be agreed.

“The president (Jacques Chirac) is expecting everybody to unite around the goal of de-escalating the situation,” French presidential spokesman Jerome Bonnafont told reporters.

Some hope persists world leaders will send a signal of willingness to abandon fiercely-held negotiating positions, thereby ending a deadlock on global trade talks.

The goodwill exuded by Bush offset Russia’s disappointment at failing to get a deal with Washington that would pave the way for Russian entry into the World Trade Organisation.

“We are ready to make an effort to get a deal if the others can also make that effort,” EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters.

Putin’s main hope for the summit is to display his nation’s new-found self-confidence as it rides an economic boom as a top oil and gas exporter. It also wants to rid itself of the image of being a poor outsider in the group.

The summit began yesterday with dinner for the leaders at the 18th century lavishly restored and glittering Constantine Palace just outside Russia’s second city off the Gulf of Finland.

Formal sessions are today and tomorrow.

G8 begins with divisions over Lebanon (http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World%5FNews&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=July2006&file=World_News2006071641355.xml)

PM promises to extend control over all Lebanon, including Hezbollah's south

By Zeina Karam
ASSOCIATED PRESS

12:56 p.m. July 15, 2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Prime Minister Fuad Saniora pledged Saturday to extend his government's control over all of Lebanon, signaling he wants to end Hezbollah's autonomy in the south – a top Israeli demand.

But he said he needed the United Nations to first press for a cease-fire to halt Israel's devastating military blitz, which has killed at least 106 Lebanese since Wednesday, most of them civilians.

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“We call for working to extend the state's authority over all its territories in south Lebanon, in cooperation with the United Nations, and working to recover all Lebanese territories and exercising full sovereignty of the state over those territories,” Saniora said in a televised address to the nation.

His voice cracking with emotion, Saniora criticized Hezbollah without naming the group, saying Lebanon “cannot rise and get back on its feet if its government is the last to know.”

“The government alone has the legitimate right to decide on matters of peace and war because it represents the will of the Lebanese people,” he said.

Saniora called for the United Nations to intervene to stop bloody cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in south Lebanon.

“We call for an immediate and comprehensive cease-fire under United Nations auspices,” he said.

The Lebanese Cabinet has refused to condone Hezbollah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers Wednesday, an action that triggered Israel's offensive on Lebanon, the worst attack on its neighbor in 24 years.

Saniora did not elaborate on how his government would work with the United Nations to reassert Lebanese authority over its entire territory.

Israel reacted coolly.

“It's an excellent declaration but he doesn't need our permission... We have to see what they do and not what they say,” Vice Premier Shimon Peres told Israel's Channel 2 TV. He said Lebanon has to prove it is serious by deploying troops on the southern border.

“A foreign body (Hezbollah) has entered the area and it's your job to get them out of there,” he said.

Saniora declared Lebanon a “disaster-stricken country” and accused Israel of executing an “immoral and illegitimate collective punishment” of the Lebanese people.

He appealed for national unity and spoke to the Lebanese people, saying: “We will surpass the ordeal, and we will face up to the challenge. We will rebuild what the enemy has destroyed as we always did.”

PM promises to extend control over all Lebanon, including Hezbollah's south (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20060715-1256-mideastfighting-un.html#)

One dead after Hizbullah hits Israeli warship
Emma Charlton
AFP
July 15, 2006

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli sailor was confirmed dead and three remained missing on Saturday after Hizbullah struck a warship off the Lebanese coast in a dramatic display of the Shia guerrilla group's military capabilities.

Rescuers recovered one body off the coast of Beirut on Saturday and the search was continuing for the three others, an army spokeswoman said.

The sailor was the ninth Israeli serviceman to be killed since the flare-up of Israeli-Lebanese violence sparked by the abduction of two Israeli soldiers in a deadly Hizbullah raid on Wednesday.

Friday's attack marked Hizbullah's first successful strike on an Israeli warship, dealing an unprecedented blow to the Israeli army, by far the most powerful in the Middle East.

The attack came shortly after Israel launched air strikes on the home and office of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who emerged unscathed from the attacks to declare "open war" on the Jewish state.

The ship, which the Israeli army said was a SAAR 5 missile corvette, one of the modern of its fleet, was enforcing a blockade off the coast of Beirut when it was hit.

An army spokeswoman denied media reports that it had been struck by an explosives-laden drone - but the strike was set to raise questions about the full extent of Hizbullah's strike capacity.

Nasrallah boasted in May that his movement had no fewer than 12,000 missiles in its arsenal, of which around 100 are believed to have the necessary 150-kilometer (90-miles) range to reach Tel Aviv, according to Jane's Defence Weekly.

Since Hizbullah's raid on Wednesday, Israel has vowed to destroy the militia entirely, targeting its bases in south Lebanon and its political infrastructure in the Beirut suburbs.

According to Israeli media, the warship was 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the Beirut coast at the time of the attack and was hit in the stern. The army refused to confirm either detail.

Early on Saturday the Israeli corvette remained at sea off the coast of Beirut in a "semi-operational" state, the military said.

A foreign civilian vessel, believed to be Egyptian, was also hit and set on fire, its passengers and crew rescued by a third boat, according to an army spokeswoman, who gave no details of casualties on the ship.

The Israeli army said its vessel had been involved in artillery operations on the Gaza Strip border prior to the attack, but a spokeswoman refused to confirm what role it had played in Israel's four-day assault on Lebanon.

More than 70 civilians have been killed and almost 200 wounded since Israel started the onslaught after Hizbullah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others at the border on Wednesday.

The SAAR 5 is a long-range missile ship designed in cooperation with the Israeli military and first put into service around 10 years ago. Designed for a 75-man crew, the 85-meter (187-foot) ship is equipped with a missile launcher, an anti-aerial missile defense system and helicopter pad, according to Israeli public radio.

One dead after Hizbullah hits Israeli warship (http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060715-063055-5521r)

Two Palestinians die as 1,000 wait at shut Egypt-Gaza border crossing
Joseph Mayton
Middle East Times
July 15, 2006

RAFAH, Egypt -- As the Israeli military forces on Friday kept up their attacks on Lebanon and Gaza, two Palestinians died while waiting to be allowed through a closed border crossing between Egypt and Gaza.

Nearly 1,000 Palestinians are stranded at the Rafah crossing, which has been sealed by Israel. They are growing increasingly desperate.

UPDATE July 15: Egyptian medical and security teams were sent on Saturday to the Rafah border crossing after some 2,000 Palestinians forced their way back into the Gaza Strip. Police reinforcements were deployed along the roads leading to the border town of Rafah while extra medical supplies were sent to the region's hospitals, the official MENA news agency said, adding, "Ambulances were also dispatched to Rafah to face any emergency."

On Friday, some 2,000 Palestinians forced their way into the Gaza Strip past Egyptian and Palestinian security after militants blew a hole in the border wall before order was restored. The border crossing, Gaza's only passage to the rest of the world, has been closed almost continuously since the June 25 capture of an Israeli soldier by Gaza militants sparked a massive Israeli military offensive in the territory.

Just outside the big, dusty grates that mark the entrance to the no-man's land between the two countries, some 500 refugees sit in make-shift tents awaiting word from the Israelis about when they can go home.

On Friday morning, 24-year-old Palestinian Maher Wadi died there. As his body was allowed through the crossing and into Gaza for burial, Farouk Salam looked to the sky, muttering, "where is the justice?"

Salam, a post office manager in Gaza City for the Palestinian Authority looked around at his brothers and sisters, finally turning and asking if this is what Israel wants for the Palestinians.

"Do you call this just punishment?" Salam asked referring to the Israeli military incursions into Gaza and the closure of all its border posts in response to the capture of an Israeli soldier last week by the Hamas military wing.

"A two-year-old child has died. A 15-year-old has died, and adults have died," he claimed, adding, "I don't care about the kidnapped soldier anymore. All I want to do is go home."

The Egyptian Red Crescent, which is monitoring the humanitarian situation, was unwilling to confirm nor deny Salam's claim.

"While I can't answer your question for certain, I can say that people have died here and in Al Arish," a Red Crescent official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said.

The tents, no larger than a basketball court are now called home for hundreds of refugees waiting to be allowed to cross the border. The biggest worry for many of them is that the world is turning a blind eye to them now that all the headlines are coming out of Lebanon.

"Shortly after Hizbullah captured the two soldiers Kofi Annan said they must be returned unharmed," said Mueen Khadeeb, a physical therapist in Gaza, adding, "But he won't say anything about us stuck here."

Khadeeb said that he and his nine family members have been waiting at the Rafah border for more than a month. They had returned from a trip to Istanbul where his mother, aged 75, received medical treatment.

"Peace has been far too good for Israel," Khadeeb said. "Look at what the Egypt-Israel peace treaty has done for us. [Israel] can keep us away from our homes. Then all the pressure is put on the Egyptians to find a solution.

"It isn't surprising that Egyptians despise us and don't want us here," he said. "I don't blame them, we don't want to be here. We want to be home in Gaza."

Khadeeb turned to his compatriots sitting around on their tiny mattresses and shouted a question: "Where do you want to die?" The response is a resounding "Palestine!"

There is not an atmosphere of fear and hate in the newly created camp.

Walking around the area, it is apparent that there is not an atmosphere of fear and hatred. People sit around the cafeteria, chatting and puffing on water-pipes and are generally in good spirits. "What can we do but remain happy and hopeful that this situation will someday come to an end," said a smoker in between drags of his sheesha (nargile).

The situation facing the refugees can be summed up by the words of Salma, a girl of 10, who stood by listening intently to the questions posed to the adults.

"I want to see my father and brother and I don't understand why I am not allowed to," Salma said. "My mom says it is America's fault, but I don't understand ... I want my family."

Two Palestinians die as 1,000 wait at shut Egypt-Gaza border crossing (http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060714-104951-1580r)

Somali president rules out talks with Islamists
AFP

July 14, 2006

BAIDOA, Somalia -- Somalia's transitional president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, on Friday ruled out talks with the country's Islamic courts that control the capital, saying that they had broken earlier agreements and were plotting to seize more territory.

A second round of Arab League-sponsored talks aimed at easing tensions between the two sides had been set to begin on Saturday in the Sudanese capital but were placed on hold on Thursday amid government questions about the Islamists' credibility as negotiating partners.

Yusuf told the Somali parliament on Friday that the Islamic courts could not be trusted as they had violated a truce and mutual recognition pact agreed at a first meeting in Khartoum last month by seizing new land.

"The courts violated the previous agreement signed in Khartoum," he told lawmakers in Baidoa, northwest of the capital, where the transitional government is based due to insecurity in Mogadishu.

"The most important parts [of the agreement] were the recognition of each other and cessation of hostilities," Yusuf said, maintaining that Islamic militia had violated both provisions and planned further advances.

He said that the Islamists, who he claimed had replaced "moderates" with "extremists" in their leadership, were plotting to "attack Baidoa and the southern port of Kismayo."

"Therefore, I don't see the use of meeting them in Khartoum again," Yusuf said. "This is not the time to meet them. We will find better solutions, I don't see the value of meeting warriors."

The meeting in Khartoum was an element of international efforts to restore peace and stability to Somalia, which has been without a functioning central authority since 1991, and end competition to fill the power vacuum.

On June 22 the two sides signed a preliminary accord after the Islamists routed a US-backed alliance of warlords in fierce battles for control of Mogadishu that alarmed many.

At the time the two sides agreed to meet again on July 15 to thrash out security and governance arrangements but since then the Islamists have further expanded their territory, drawing charges that they violated the deal.

Just this week the Islamic militia routed the last remaining lone warlord in Mogadishu, took control of the city's main port, and demanded that all government property and facilities be turned over to them.

The rise of the Islamist alliance has caused concern in Washington, which says that it fears a Taliban-style takeover of Somalia.

The United States, other Western countries, and the United Nations have all backed the Arab League initiative to bring the Islamists and the government together in a bid to prevent them descending into conflict.

But the two sides are embroiled in longstanding disputes, notably over the possible deployment of foreign peacekeepers to help support the government, something that Yusuf avidly backs and the Islamists vehemently oppose.

Such a deployment came closer on Thursday when the UN Security Council approved an easing of the arms embargo on Somalia in support of an African Union request to help support a regional peacekeeping mission.

Yusuf on Friday welcomed the move, calling it "a good step" and blasting those opposed, including the Islamists who have vowed to resist and fight any foreign troops on Somali soil.

"Those who reject the deployment have other motives and we should think of that," he told the lawmakers.

Somali president rules out talks with Islamists (http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060714-075849-8670r)

Tehran warns of long-drawn nuclear dispute
By Aleander Balzan
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - After meeting EU foreign policy envoy Javier Solana, Iran's nuclear chief negotiator Ali Larijani warned that there is a "long road" before the nuclear dispute with Tehran is solved.

Mr Solana and Mr Larijani met in Brussels on Tuesday (11 July).

"We had very wide-ranging discussions. We were following up on the Tehran negotiations and in the meantime we have had contacts by telephone," Mr Solana told journalists after the meeting.

Mr Solana explained that the duo discussed the developments since he initially offered an incentives package including of civic nuclear co-operation to Tehran last month.

Mr Solana also remarked that he would be meeting the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (USA, Russia, China, France, and UK) and Germany on Wednesday (12 July).

"We will make an analysis...to see how we proceed," he added.

Western powers are calling on Iran to give a reply before the G8 summit in Russia which will start on Saturday (15 July), but Iran has so far given no formal response on the offered compromise.

"During these negotiations certain important points came up. Mr Solana must consult his friends, and then we will have to define together how we will proceed, because we have a long road to travel," Mr Larijani said after the meeting.

"We have to be precise and patient," Mr Larijani remarked.

Tehran says it has the right to build nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes under international law, but the west suspects its uranium programme is designed for weapons use.

The internationally supported EU package, which has not been officially made public, is said by diplomats to offer international support to Iran for building a light water nuclear reactor.

If Iran does not accept the offer, the country could get bank accounts frozen and a visa ban slapped on its officials.

Tehran warns of long-drawn nuclear dispute (http://euobserver.com/24/22070)

UN powers lose patience with Iran
13.07.2006 - 09:43 CET | By Lucia Kubosova
The world's leading powers have agreed to refer the Iranian nuclear dossier back to the UN after no progress was achieved on an EU-designed compromise package.

"We have no choice but to return to the security council and continue the process suspended two months ago," said Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister, after meeting his counterparts from other permanent members of the UN security council - the US, UK, Russia and China - as well as Germany.

The meeting was held in Paris on Wednesday (12 July), ahead of a gathering of the G8 - the world's most industralised nations - in St Petersburg this weekend.

Mr Blazy said "The Iranians have given no indication at all that they are prepared to engage seriously on the substance of our proposals."

He referred to Tuesday's discussion between the EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana and the Iranian chief negotiator Ali Larijani which saw no clear response from the Islamist republic on the EU's offer to solve the international dispute.

Crucially, Iran has refused to accept the key pre-condition for kicking off the talks - to suspend uranium enrichment.

Tehran argues enrichment only serves peaceful energy purposes, while the west fears it could be used for development of nuclear weapons.

The Iranians have been pressing for more time to take a decision while firmly rejecting any deadlines - but the French foreign minister Douste-Blazy slammed the attitude as "deceiving."

"It is normal that such study takes some time. But we had said that it should be a matter of weeks, not months," he told the French daily Le Figaro.

He formulated three messages to Tehran. "First, a message of unity, to tell Iran that we are united in asking for answers to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency], and UN Security Council demands."

"Then, a message of open-mindedness, to recall our generous offer that will allow creating a relation of cooperation with Iran. Finally, a message of firmness, to reaffirm the concerns of the international community," said Mr Douste-Blazy.

The EU's compromise package is expected to be unveiled on Thursday after being kept secret for weeks to boost its chances of agreement.

"Since the Iranians have not responded we think we should circulate the document," one European diplomat was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.

The offer reportedly includes incentives such as lifting US sanctions on sectors like telecommunications, agriculture or aircraft parts, plus a provision of light water nuclear reactors and enriched fuel, and support for the country's World Trade Organisation membership.

The UN's next move could be a resolution which would make it mandatory for Iran to freeze its nuclear activities - otherwise, it would face international sanctions.

UN powers lose patience with Iran (http://euobserver.com/24/22082)

Israel to Lebanon: No to ceasefire

Senior state official says, 'only if two goals Israel has set for itself – removing and disarming Hizbullah and returning kidnapped soldiers – are realized, there will be point to discuss Lebanese offer.' Government set to convene Sunday morning for first time since deciding on IDF's operation in Lebanon
Ronny Sofer

The Lebanese prime minister offered Saturday evening to deploy his army on Lebanon's southern border in exchange for a ceasefire, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert does not plan to accept his offer.

Fouad Siniora offered to deploy the forces along the international border with Israel according to UN Resolution 1559, but Israeli officials reject the offer claiming that Israel will continue its operation against the kidnappers in Lebanon until the two kidnapped soldiers are released.

On Sunday morning, the government is expected to discuss the developments in the Lebanon operation, which is now called Operation Change of Direction.

The ministers are also set to discuss Siniora's offer. If the situation does not change, the prime minister is expected to explain to his ministers that at this stage it is still early to declare a ceasefire.

"Only if the two goals which Israel has set for itself – removing Hizbullah and disarming it, including rockets, and returning the kidnapped soldiers – there will be a point in discussion the Lebanese offer," a senior state official said.

"In the meantime, as long as we are still talking about initial declarations, Israel will continue its military operation against Hizbullah and targets inside Lebanon, in order to make it clear that our intentions are serious. One must not forget that the latest escalation is the result of an attack which came from the territory of a sovereign country, a provocation which Lebanon's government is responsible for," the official explained.

Special situation: Between Olmert and Peretz

Another discussion is expected in the cabinet meeting Sunday on Defense Minister Amir Peretz's plan to extend the validity of his order to declare a "special situation in the north."

An associate of the prime minister expressed his surprise over the issue, which enables the defense minister, the army chief or the Home Front Command chief to shut down schools, operate essential industries, close certain areas for traffic, operate commerce zones, etc. The aide hinted that the prime minister was unaware of Peretz's plan to apply the "special situation" starting Saturday evening.

The IDF chief of staff, the Mossad chief and the head of the General Staff Operations Branch are expected to brief the minister on the developments in the past few days since the operation on the northern border began.

Major-General Gadi Eizenkot, head of the General Staff Operations Branch, is expected to tell the ministers what he already said Saturday evening, that Hizbullah has fired about 700 rockets toward Israel so far.

The intelligence chiefs are expected to report to the ministers of the weapons Hizbullag possesses, which may be "the next surprise" for the Israeli home front. In addition, the army chief is expected to report of the efforts to locate the three sailors who went missing after a Navy missile boat was attacked off the shores of Beirut.

The foreign and defense ministers are expected to brief their colleagues on the moves taken so far. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will report of the moves to prevent a condemnation of Israel's operation at the Security Council and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan to send a mediating delegation to the region.

Livni will also report that in spite of the growing criticism in the world, mainly regarding the damage caused to civil infrastructures in Lebanon, Israel is still backed for its moves, which are considered a right for self-defense against Hizbullah, which is considered a terror organization.

Minister Livni is expected to report of the instructions given to Israel's delegations in the world to expand their efforts through the media to raise support for Israel's operation in Lebanon.

Israel to Lebanon: No to ceasefire (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3276269,00.html)

Mona Charen: Attacks on Israel continue without end
Seeing what Palestinians have become, it's hard to believe that their goal is peace.

Mona Charen Columnist
Israel is fighting a two-front war after both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon attacked across international frontiers. We await denunciations of these acts of aggression from the United Nations Security Council, the European Union or human rights organizations. Denunciations of Israel, of course, are swift. The United States vetoed a proposed Security Council resolution condemning Israel.

As if taking orders directly from Tehran, Amnesty International condemned Israel for striking at Lebanon. Amnesty also called upon Hezbollah to treat the two IDF soldiers it kidnapped humanely -- but did not call upon Hezbollah to release them.

The Washington Post provided a chart Thursday labeled "Events that led to the military escalation in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon." Under "Gaza," the Post starts with the swearing in of the Hamas government on March 29. Fair enough. But the next item is "June 9: Explosion kills seven members of a Gaza family. Witnesses blame Israeli artillery, but Israel denies it." Missing is any reference to the nonstop shelling of Israel from the Gaza strip that began in 2005: Nearly 3,000 rockets have been fired into Israel.

And why? If you believe the conventional wisdom about the conflict, then getting Israeli "occupying" forces out of Gaza (and the West Bank) was exactly what the Palestinians most fervently wished to achieve. The occupation, they ceaselessly wailed, was what kept them from a decent life, from economic advancement, from dignity and from peace. When Israel, for its own reasons, elected to accommodate them and withdrew from Gaza (uprooting Israeli settlers in the process), the Palestinian moment should have dawned.

Instead of starting to build a "secular democratic state," Palestinians began attacking Israel across the border. Strange behavior for people whose supposed goal was an independent state living side by side with Israel. But not so strange if the Palestinians' goal is actually to eliminate the Jewish state -- as the Hamas movement, winner of the last election, is pledged to do. (That's why many hardheaded Israelis believe withdrawal from Gaza was a mistake. The Palestinians interpreted it as a sign of weakness.)

Anyone who has watched what the Palestinians have become over the past quarter-century could not be deluded into believing that their goal was peace. Under the thugocracy of Yasser Arafat, and aided by the Islamic radicals, the Palestinians (and Arabs generally) have been steeped in the most bitter hatred one people can feel for another.

Another piece of conventional wisdom that cannot stand up to the weight of recent events is the notion that Sunnis and Shiites will never cooperate. While it is true that a low-grade civil war is now underway between the two groups in Baghdad, the Shiites in Lebanon (who serve Iran) seem to be having no difficulty working with the Sunnis in Gaza. There are rumors that Shiite Iran is harboring Sunni Osama bin Laden. What could draw these traditional foes into one another's arms? Only a common enemy.

Mona Charen: Attacks on Israel continue without end (http://www.startribune.com/562/story/553129.html)

If Israel falters: U.S. must stand by our one true ally

THESE ARE perilous times in the Mideast and our government needs to make it crystal clear that America will stand by Israel, its one true democratic ally there.

It ought to be plain to all the world that what is happening now is a concerted effort by Islamic terrorists and their state sponsors — particularly Iran — to destroy Israel and end any hope for true freedom in the region.

Israel has tried everything to live in peace while protecting its tiny homeland. Its efforts to trade land for peace have only emboldened its enemies, who are now able to launch more powerful and longer-range rockets from ever-closer bases.

Israel has built an oasis of peace and freedom and free enterprise in the desert. The United States must not succumb to those who would have us trade our ally for oil or the approval of anti-Semites and Islamic extremists. If Israel is weakened, we can forget about dreams of a free Iraq. In fact, we can forget about anything but an even bleaker struggle for ourselves and a bleaker future for our Judeo-Christrian culture.

As columnist Charles Krauthammer points out on the opposite page, the terrorist charges against Israel are lies told to cover their Hitlerian agenda. Their goal is to destroy Israel and, if possible, every last Jew on Earth. They will not stop until Israel is only a memory, and perhaps not even then. Their ideological kinsmen slaughtered nearly 3,000 in our own country not five years ago, and there is no reason to believe that these maniacs will stop with the destruction of Israel.

Americans fought nobly to end Nazi terror not so long ago. How can so many Americans — and Europeans, whose grandfathers were crushed under German tank treads — simply shrug as this new army of barbarians attempts a second Holocaust?

If Israel falters: U.S. must stand by our one true ally (http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=If+Israel+falters%3a+U.S.+must+stand+by+our+one+true+ally&articleId=3519eb11-149e-41ae-8f35-625c9fefdfd7)

US forces won't go to Lebanon
From correspondents in Washington
16-07-2006
From: Agence France-Presse

THE US military is unlikely to enter the widening conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, a senior State Department official said Saturday.
"We don't expect that would happen," David Welch, US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told CNN when asked at what point US troops would get involved.

"The Israelis are fully competent to defend themselves, which they are doing right now. I don't expect there's going to be any requirement for the United States forces," said Welch, speaking from the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Israel on Saturday showed no sign of reining in its relentless bombardment of Lebanon, killing 18 people in an airstrike on a convoy of fleeing families and destroying the Beirut headquarters of the Hezbollah leader.

The death toll mounted further, with at least 100 now killed on both sides since the conflict erupted following the capture of two Israeli soldiers in a Hezbollah raid on Wednesday.

Welch said the Beirut government was well-intentioned but unable to rein in Hezbollah. He reiterated US concern that the conflict could damage Lebanon's fragile democracy.

"You have a government here that, were it in their power, would do the right thing. We're asking them to exercise their authority in the south, but they are unable to do so because this area is controlled by the Hezbollah militia," Welch said.

"One key concern of ours is that the government of Lebanon, which is democratically elected, ought to remain in power. We are concerned about that. Frankly, I think the prime minister is doing a really good job under the very difficult circumstances."

US President George W. Bush called Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora on Friday, expressing support for the government and pledging to press Israel to limit the damage caused by its offensive, a Lebanese government statement said.

"President Bush asserted that he will exert pressure on Israel to limit damage inflicted on Lebanon through the ongoing military operation," according to the statement from Siniora's office.

It said Bush vowed to help Lebanese civilians and "innocent people."

US forces won't go to Lebanon (http://www.news.com.au/story/print/0,10119,19806429,00.html)

Israeli ambassador refuses to rule out strikes against Iran
By Nicholas Kralev
The Washington Times

Israel's ambassador to Washington said yesterday that Iran and Syria are "playing with fire" and "will bear the consequences" if Hezbollah transfers two kidnapped Israeli soldiers to either of its patron nations.

Ambassador Daniel Ayalon did not rule out retaliatory strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, though other Israeli officials said that was not being planned.

Fears mounted that Israel's military offensive against southern Lebanon could spread to other countries after Israeli officials said yesterday they had received indications that Hezbollah was trying to move two captive Israeli soldiers to Iran.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack also expressed concern that the soldiers could be moved out of Lebanon.

The department last night authorized the departure from Beirut of U.S. Embassy family members, as well as nonessential personnel.

Asked during a luncheon at the National Press Club whether Israel might respond to such a step with strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, Mr. Ayalon said he did not want to discuss "operational details."

But, he said, Iran and Syria both "are playing with fire and will bear the consequences" for any assistance they give Hezbollah in holding the two soldiers as hostages.

Another Israeli official said privately that there were no immediate plans to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, although the country previously has hinted at such action and has armed itself with aircraft capable of mounting such a strike.

Israeli analysts suggested that Israel was more likely to strike next at Syria, which backs Hezbollah and hosts the Hamas leader blamed for the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted yesterday by the Iranian news agency as saying such action against Syria would be considered an assault on the whole Islamic world that would bring a "fierce response."

Iran's foreign ministry also dismissed suspicions that the soldiers would be brought there as "absurdities."

Several analysts told The Washington Times that they thought Israeli officials were focusing on preventing Hezbollah from moving the soldiers within Lebanon or out of the country by bombing roads, bridges and airports and imposing a naval blockade.

"It's premature to talk about military action against Syria and Iran," one Israeli official said. "We don't want the situation to escalate more than it already has."

Wayne White, a former State Department intelligence official, said Israel was trying to determine how direct Iran's and Syria's involvement was in the attack.

"It's really unlikely that they will directly attack Tehran right now, because they will respond in a tit-for-tat," Mr. White said. "Israel's done what it's going to do for now, and it's in a stage of waiting to see how Hezbollah will respond."

Israeli Brig. Gen. Michael Herzog, a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Israel would take into account retaliatory threats to American targets when deciding whether to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.

"This is a very difficult decision, and I don't think that it should be made hastily, even with the urgency of the crisis that's going on right now," he said.

David Makovsky, also of the Washington Institute, said that an attack on Iranian interests in Lebanon is more likely than a strike on Iran.

"There is good reason to believe Tehran backed this, but there is no smoking gun yet," he said.

Researchers say that about 30 sites in Iran are involved in producing and assembling nuclear components.

Israel does not have the ability to strike all 30, so it likely would concentrate on major targets, such as the Russian-made Bushehr reactor and Natanz underground enrichment site.

For years, Israel has been buying the American weapon systems it would need to disable Iran's ample air defenses and strike multiple targets, including the Bushehr reactor on the Persian Gulf.

Ehud Yatom, member of the now-opposition Likud Party, said in 2003 that Iran's "nuclear facilities must be destroyed, just as we did the Iraqi reactor."

It was a reference to the 1981 successful strike on Iraq's Osirak reactor by two F-16s.

The Washington Times reported in 2004 that the Israeli air force had selected various flight plans for an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Unlike the Osirak attack, in which the Israeli jets briefly crossed Jordan's air space, this time perhaps scores of Israeli planes would have to cross broad stretches of Iraq. Israel likely would be forced to first notify the United States to ensure the planes are not shot down and to let U.S. commanders prepare for any Iranian counterattack.

Stephen P. Cohen, president of the Institute for Middle East Peace, said the latest crisis over the kidnapped soldiers should not be "mixed" with the nuclear issue.

"But if Hezbollah were to hand over the hostages to Iran, and Iran agreed to fly them to Iranian territory, it would be ... Iran's ultimate test of Israeli deterrence capability," he said.

Israeli ambassador refuses to rule out strikes against Iran (http://wpherald.com/articles/302/1/Israeli-diplomat-Iran-Syria-are-playing-with-fire/Israeli-ambassador-refuses-to-rule-out-strikes-against-Iran.html)

Iran says Hizbollah will not disarm

By Gareth Smyth in Tehran

Published: July 16 2006 19:39 | Last updated: July 16 2006 19:39

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said on Sunday that Hizbollah, a key ally of Tehran, would not disarm, despite calls from the US and Israel.

His remarks, reported by state television, came as Iran was increasingly drawn into the Middle East crisis.

“The American president says Hizbollah should be disarmed,” said Ayatollah Khamenei. “But it will not happen...The Lebanese people appreciate the resistance because their powerful limbs have been responsible for not allowing the Zionists whatever they want, whenever they want in Lebanon.”

Iranian officials earlier denied Israeli and western allegations of direct military support for Hizbollah.

Hamid Reza Asefi, foreign ministry spokesman, said no Iranian Revolutionary Guards were in Lebanon and that reports of shipments of Iranian missiles were “not correct”. But Mr Asefi also warned that aggression against Syria would bring Israel “unimaginable damages”.

Stepping up Israeli charges against Iran, Major General Udi Adam said rockets that yesterday killed eight people in the Israeli city of Haifa, 30km from the Lebanese border, were Iranian-made. Israeli officials earlier claimed an Iranian-made C-802 missile had struck an Israeli warship off Lebanon on Friday, killing four sailors.

Iran’s media has given wide coverage to the mounting civilian deaths in Lebanon following Israeli attacks.

But yesterday there were differences between reformists in Iran, who urged caution on all sides, and conservatives, who questioned Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

“Israel has learned nothing from 40 years, and is using the same destructive methods of air and land strikes,” said Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former reformist vice-president. “The big powers listen only to the voice of Israel. The region needs tranquillity, so other voices can be heard.”

Mr Abtahi, who was manager of Iranian broadcasting in Lebanon in the mid-1990s, warned “war and more tension” could complicate the stand-off between the UN Security Council and Iran over its nuclear programme.

Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, another prominent reformist, said Iran could help defuse the crisis through its longstanding relationship with Hizbollah. “The way forward is the release of prisoners on both sides, and the implementation of all UN resolutions, including Israeli withdrawal from Shebaa farms [territory on the Lebanese-Syria border claimed by Lebanon],” he said.

But conservatives argued Israel’s offensive showed the state was a lasting threat. An editorial in yesterday’s Kayhan newspaper said “Israel ought not to exist in the region”.

President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad said the Israelis’ treatment of the Palestinians and Lebanese showed them “acting like Hitler and behaving worse than Genghis Khan”. Addressing prayers in Tehran on Friday, Aya- tollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani said Islam taught that “if someone attacks, you have the right to counter-attack”.

Iran says Hizbollah will not disarm (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/89cb4094-14f3-11db-b391-0000779e2340.html)

U.S. Says Security Council Should Delay Israel-Hezbollah Action Until U.N. Mission Returns From Mideast
Monday, July 17, 2006

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council should delay any action on the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas until a U.N. mission now in the Mideast trying to defuse the crisis returns to New York later this week, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Monday.

"I think it's very important that with events as unclear and fast-moving as they are that the Security Council not do anything to unsettle the matter further," he told reporters.

Bolton said the U.N. team led by Vijay Nambiar, the special political adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is expected to return in the middle of the week and he hoped it could brief the council on Thursday.

"That's also, I think, an appropriate time to begin to consider a step the council itself might take," he said before heading into a closed Security Council meeting for a briefing on the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting.

Nambiar, in Beirut on Monday, said he will present Israel with "concrete ideas" about ending the fighting, but also warned that "much diplomatic work needs to be done."

"We have made some promising first efforts on the way forward," he said after meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

The leaders of the Group of Eight major powers who met in Russia this weekend asked the Security Council on Sunday to consider the possibility of a U.N. force in Lebanon. Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair went a step further Monday calling for the deployment of international forces to end the fighting.

Lebanon accused the United States late Saturday of blocking a Security Council statement calling for a cease-fire. Lebanese special envoy Nouhad Mahmoud said the impotence of the U.N.'s most powerful body sent the wrong signal to small countries and the Arab world.

Lebanon's pro-Western government came to power following the February 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, which led to Syria's withdrawal of its forces from its smaller neighbor, ending a 29-year occupation. The Security Council has passed several resolutions promoting the full restoration of Lebanon's sovereignty and has urged it to deploy its military to the south which Hezbollah controls.

Mahmoud said the United States was "always supportive in the last 1 1/2 years, but when it comes to Israel it seems things change."

Asked why the United States did not want a cease-fire, Bolton said the question of Israel's right to self-defense has to be considered very carefully.

"I think before you get to a cease-fire you have to look at what the causes of the conflict are," he said.

"I think you would have a cease-fire in a matter of nanoseconds if Hezbollah and Hamas would release their kidnap victims and stop engaging in rocket attacks and other acts of terrorism against Israel," Bolton said.

U.S. Says Security Council Should Delay Israel-Hezbollah Action Until U.N. Mission Returns From Mideast (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,203975,00.html)

Israel Softens Conditions For Cease-Fire

POSTED: 4:32 pm EDT July 17, 2006
UPDATED: 4:32 pm EDT July 17, 2006

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that the fighting in Lebanon would end when two Israeli soldiers were freed, rocket attacks stopped and the Lebanese army deployed along the border. But he appeared to scale back from previous demands for Hezbollah to be dismantled.

Delivering an impassioned speech to Israel's parliament after six days of fierce fighting, Olmert said Israel would have no mercy on militants who attacked its cities with rockets.

"We shall seek out every installation, hit every terrorist helping to attack Israeli citizens, destroy all the terrorist infrastructure, in every place. We shall continue this until Hezbollah does the basic and fair things required of it by every civilized person," he said. "Israel will not agree to live in the shadow of the threat of missiles or rockets against its residents."

Israeli officials have said publicly that Israel would not stop fighting until Hezbollah, a Shiite militia that controls much of south Lebanon, is dismantled. On Monday, Olmert said Hezbollah should be moved away from the border. His comments seemed to be a softening of Israel's earlier position, which could increase chances of a cease-fire.

"We shall struggle for the implementation of the conditions laid down by the international community ... the return of the hostages Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, a total cease-fire, the deployment of the Lebanese army in all of south Lebanon and the removal of Hezbollah from the region," he said.

Israeli officials said earlier Monday that Olmert had conveyed Israel's position to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who is attempting to broker the cease-fire deal.

As he spoke, a U.N. delegation also trying to mediate an end to the fighting arrived in Israel from Beirut.

"We hope that we will be able to see our way toward ... a de-escalation of the crisis," said Vijay Nambiar, head of the delegation. He said he would pass on information gathered in the Lebanese capital to Israeli officials, but declined to elaborate.

The fighting began when Hezbollah kidnapped the soldiers in a cross-border raid. Since then, Israel has pounded Lebanon with airstrikes and Hezbollah has fired barrages of rockets and missiles into Israeli towns and cities.

"We are not looking for war or direct conflict, but if necessary, we will not be frightened by it," Olmert said.

He also praised the Israeli people for being strong and united in the face of the rocket bombardment that has sent about half a million Israelis into bomb shelters. He recited a Jewish prayer for the soldiers and said he had pictures of the three captured soldiers _ the two in Lebanon and another held by militants in Gaza _ in his office.

"We shall do everything with all our might to bring them home," he said, but added that Israel could not make a deal that would lead to further kidnappings.

The lengthy speech was Olmert's first major address since the fighting in Lebanon began last week.

He spoke at length about many of those killed and said that Israel was fighting for them.

"When missiles are launched at our residents and our towns, our answer will be war waged at full strength, with all determination, courage and sacrifice," he said.

Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Monday destroyed at least one long-range Iranian missile capable of hitting Tel Aviv, military officials said.

Israeli aircraft targeted a truck carrying the weapons before they could be launched, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of military regulations. The force of the blast sent at least one missile flying into the air, but it fell nearby.

During nearly a week of fighting, Hezbollah militants have fired missiles up to 25 miles into Israel. But officials have raised concerns the guerrilla group could strike Tel Aviv, about 80 miles south of the border with Lebanon.

President Bush bluntly expressed his frustrations with Hezbollah's actions, suggesting Syria could use its influence with the guerrillas.

Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for sending international forces to southern Lebanon. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would consider dispatching troops, and the European Union announced it was considering a peacekeeping force as well.

Overnight attacks by Israeli warplanes and big guns killed 17 people and wounded at least 53, Lebanese security officials said. The death toll since fighting began July 12 after Hezbollah captured the Israeli soldiers has climbed above 200 _ 209 in Lebanon, 24 in Israel.

Israeli government spokesman Asaf Shariv said ground troops entered southern Lebanon, attacked Hezbollah bases near the border and quickly returned inside Israel.

A large explosion was heard Monday evening across Beirut in the heavily hit southern suburbs where Hezbollah's headquarters is located. In the south, nine civilians were killed, including two children, when an afternoon strike hit a bridge at the entrance to the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanese security officials said.

An Israeli missile also targeted a building housing the offices of Al-Manar, Hezbollah television, in the southern market town of Nabatiyeh, wounding seven people.

Hezbollah Katyusha rockets landed in the Israeli town of Atlit, about 35 miles south of the border and six miles south of the port of Haifa. Nobody was hurt. Later, guerrillas fired three rocket barrages into Haifa, destroying a three-story building and wounding at least three people, Israeli medics said.

Guerrilla rockets killed eight Israelis in an attack on Haifa Sunday in what was believed to be Hezbollah's deadliest single attack on Israel.

A Lebanese TV station showed video of an object falling to the ground in the Jamjour district near the Hezbollah stronghold of southern Beirut, but the Israeli army said reports that it was an Israeli aircraft were false.

A Lebanese security official said the object was a fuel tank dropped by an Israeli aircraft over Kfar Chima, a town near southern Beirut. After it dropped the fuel tank, the aircraft fired two missiles at three cargo trucks in the area, killing four people and wounding two others, he added, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Israel said its planes and artillery struck 60 targets in Lebanon overnight in retaliation for Sunday's 20-rocket barrage on Haifa, Israel's third-largest city and one that had not been hit before the latest fighting.

Israel also kept up pressure in the Gaza Strip as it searched for a kidnapped soldier, bombing the empty Palestinian Foreign Ministry building for the second time in less than a week in what it said was a warning to the ruling Hamas party.

Israel launched the offensive on June 25 after Hamas-linked militants carried out a cross-border attack on a military outpost, killing two soldiers and capturing one. Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas joined the fray last week, attacking a military patrol in northern Israel, killing eight soldiers and capturing two.

Israeli officials accused Syria and Iran of providing Lebanese guerrillas with sophisticated weapons, saying the missiles that hit Haifa had greater range and heavier warheads than those Hezbollah had fired before.

Speaking on the margin of the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, Blair said the fighting would not stop until the conditions for a cease-fire were created.

"The only way is if we have a deployment of international forces that can stop bombardment coming into Israel," he said.

Annan appealed to Israel to spare civilian lives and infrastructure. The G-8 nations, who had struggled to reach a consensus on the escalating warfare between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, have expressed concern on the "rising civilian casualties" and urged both sides to stop the violence.

Bush cursed Hezbollah's actions in a discussion with Blair before the G-8 leaders began their final lunch.

"See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this stuff and it's over," Bush said. He also suggested that Annan call Syrian President Bashar Assad to "make something happen."

Israel Softens Conditions For Cease-Fire (http://www.wral.com/apworldnews/9529465/detail.html)

Medical center hit as barrages renewed on North

12 suffer light-to-moderate wounds and 10 treated for shock as Hizbullah rockets pummel northern communities. Residents of eastern Galilee, Rosh Pina, Carmiel, Safed, Nahariya, Haifa, Afula told to take shelter
Ahiya Raved

Sirens sounded in the eastern Galilee, Rosh Pina, Carmiel and Safed once again Monday night, and rocket barrages were fired towards communities in the eastern Galilee and Upper Galilee.

A barrage hit a medical center in the Galilee, and windows shattered in the resulting shock waves. Ten employees were reported to have suffered shock. Another rocket hit a sensitive facility and two people were lightly wounded. A fire broke out in Maalot following a rocket hit, and fire fighting crews were working to extinguish it.

In Safed, eleven people were wounded when a rocket hit the town. One of them suffered moderate wounds and the others were treated for light wounds. An additional three rockets hit open areas around Haifa area; no casualties or damage were reported.

The alarms were activated repeatedly, and residents reported hearing explosions echo through the region. Residents were told to take shelter in secure areas or bomb shelters. Sirens sent Nahariya, Haifa, Afula and valley residents into their shelters as well, but there were no reports of rockets hitting those areas.

Colonel Yehiel Cooperstein, head of the defense division of the Home Front Command, said during a press briefing Monday that there were no changes in directives to citizens: Residents living on the front lines should remain in bomb shelters, and those living north of the Akko-Amiad Junction road, as well as in Tiberias, Haifa, Nesher and Tirat Hacarmel, should take shelter in inner rooms without windows.

Residents should also avoid large gatherings and should refrain from convening youth for group activities and camp activities. To reduce the interruption of daily routine, residents can go to work as long as the workplaces have sheltered areas. Grocery stores, banks, medical centers, pharmacies, postal service and other necessary services with bomb shelters will remain open.

Monday Haifa suffered a number of barrages, and sirens sounded repeatedly throughout the afternoon. One rocket directly hit a three-storey building and severely damaged two of the floors.

Magen David Adom medics, fire fighting crews and Home Front Command rescue teams were immediately called to the site. Eleven casualties were evacuated, two of which were in moderate to serious condition, four in light condition, and five suffered shock.

Bystanders were evacuated out of concern the building would collapse.

Medical center hit as barrages renewed on North (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3277498,00.html)

Support in New York, condemnation in Berlin

Thousands demonstrate in support of Israel in front of UN headquarters in New York, but in Berlin more than 1,000 Lebanese, Palestinians chant ‘death to Israel, while some carry placards bearing the image of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah
Yitzhak Benhorin

Thousands of people demonstrated in support of Israel in front of the UN headquarters in New York Monday.

Among the speakers at the demonstration were Senator Hillary Clinton and Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Gillerman.

Arye Mekel, Consul General of Israel in New York, said some Muslims also confirmed their participation in the rally, adding that there is a ‘deep sense of understanding’ among Jews that the events along Israel’s northern border pose a real threat.

The United Jewish Communities (UJC) has allocated some USD 2 million for summer camps for northern Israel children and for the treatment of trauma victims.

Other Jewish organizations have also announced that they would provide financial assistance for Israelis hurt by rocket fire in the north and south.

A delegation of The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is expected to meet this week with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and visit the Qassam-stricken towns of Sderot and Ashkelon, as well as northern communities being targeted by Hizbullah.

Meanwhile, more than 2000 people have joined pro-Israel rallies in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.

The rallies were billed to support the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was taken captive by Palestinians in Gaza three weeks ago.

More than 1000 people signed a petition in Melbourne, said Zionist Federation of Australia president Philip Chester.

'Israel wants peace'

“If a thousands rockets were launch into cities and suburbs in Australia, how would the Australian Government react,” he told media after the event.

In Sydney, a giant 10-metre blue ribbon was signed by more than 800 people.

In Canberra last Friday, about 40 members of Hineni Zionist youth movement demonstrated outside the Syrian Embassy in protest at Palestinian and Hezbollah terrorists.

Among the slogans on posters they displayed were “Israel wants peace” and “HypocriSyria”.

However, more than 1,000 Lebanese and Palestinians staged an anti-Israeli protest at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on Monday, police said.

A Reuters witness said demonstrators were chanting "death to Israel" and "death to Zionists", while some carried placards bearing the image of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Police said around 1,200 people took part in the protest at the German capital's famous landmark, not far from a major memorial to the millions of Jews killed in the Holocaust.

Support in New York, condemnation in Berlin (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3277464,00.html)

Hizbullah rejects ceasefire terms

Member of group’s central committee says ‘Israeli demand to see Lebanese army deploy along border matter for Lebanese to settle themselves’; when asked whether Nasrallah, was still in Lebanon despite Israeli efforts to target him, he says, ‘our leadership and Nasrallah are at the heart of the battle’
AFP

Hizbullah on Monday rejected a ceasefire on terms dictated by Israel.

“We accept no conditions for a ceasefire, whatever the pressure," Abdullah Kasir, a member of Hizbullah's central committee, told AFP.

Sources in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said during the weekend that the possibility of a ceasefire will not be considered before three conditions are met: The release of the kidnapped IDF soldier’s by Hizbullah, the cessation of rocket attacks on Israel from Lebanon and the disarming of Hizbullah in accordance with UN Resolution 1559.

Kasir said Israel's demand to see the Lebanese army deploy along the border with Israel, replacing Hizbullah who currently control the area, was a matter for the Lebanese to settle themselves.

‘More surprises coming’

He added that the two Israeli soldiers, abducted in a cross-border raid by Hizbullah last Wednesday, were in "a secure place" but did not specify whether they were still in Lebanon.

Asked whether Hizbullah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was still in Lebanon despite Israeli efforts to target him, Kasir said that "Hizbullah's leadership and Nasrallah are at the heart of the battle…

"We will never leave, even if Lebanon is reduced to scorched earth."

Hizbullah, he said, was "ready to fight and to inflict painful blows on the enemy. The Islamic Resistance (Hizbullah's armed wing) has only begun to reveal its abilities and its forces."

Israel, he added, should brace for more "surprises", such as last Friday's anti-ship missile which stuck an Israeli Navy vessel off Lebanon and the rocket attacks on Haifa, Israel's third-largest city.

Hizbullah rejects ceasefire terms (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3277497,00.html)

Iran Claims Solidarity With Lebanon...So Do the French
Written by Jim Kouri
Monday, July 17, 2006

Late Sunday night, Iran's top religious leader praised the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah for launching attacks on Israel.

"The [Israelis] want Lebanon to be a meat in their mouth, but the powerful Hezbollah has prevented their dream from being realized." Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech on Iran's state-controlled news.

"The crimes and the atrocities in the recent weeks in Palestine and Lebanon have proved again that the existence of Israel in this region is an evil and cancerous being and an infected tumor," he added.

Meanwhile, former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami hailed Hezbollah as "a radiant sun that emblazons and warms the all Muslims and free nations, including the Palestinians," Iran's Fars news agency reported.

"What is going on in Lebanon today eliminates all the possible doubts about the necessity for the powerful presence of the resistance movement in that country," Khatami was quoted as saying.

The Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar stressed that Israel would "regret its crimes once [the] Muslim states resort to action," according to the Fars report.

Najjar condemned the Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian and Lebanese people, accusing Washington of indulging Israeli escalation. He also warned Israel of the consequences of invasion into Syria.

In an obvious show of unanimous support for the terrorists, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi also expressed support for Syria. "Iran [is] standing by the Syrian people and Israel [will] face unimaginable losses if it attacks Syria."

"We have offered and will still offer Syria and Lebanon [military] and humanitarian support," he added.

On Saturday, the Israeli army said that it had bombed the no-man's land laying between Lebanon and Syria. But Israel's head of military operations General Gadi Azincot told a news conference in Jerusalem that Syria was not an objective.

Israel launched its offensive Wednesday on Lebanon in retaliation for the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerillas. Over 700 rockets have been fired on northern Israel by Hezbollah since the intense and escalating battle broke out.

It's no secret that Iran wishes to see the Jewish State annihilated. It's been a constant theme for that terrorist-supporting nation. However, many American observers appear surprised that France said it is sending Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to Beirut to express support for Lebanon's government and solidarity between the French people and the Lebanese.

De Villepin did not offer any praise or sympathy to Israel, but that shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with Frances history of anti-Semitism.

During the Nazi occupation of France, the French police and security forces were more than willing to help the Nazis round up Jews to send them to the concentration camps. In fact, the French were so good out apprehending Jewish people, the Nazis allowed them to operate practically unsupervised by the Gestapo and the SS.

Even in unoccupied France, under the Vichy government, Jews were rousted by the French police and military as a symbol of their allegiance to the Third Reich. But French anti-Semitism didn't end with their liberation from the Nazis. France has a track record of opposing Israel at every turn and voting for every United Nations resolution condemning Israel. In fact, according to United Nations observers, the UN has passed more resoultions condemning Israel than they have any other country including Iran, Cuba, North Korea, etc. And the Israel-haters could always count on the French vote.

In addition, the French have been experiencing a great deal of civil unrest on the part of their Muslim population, and France's leftist President Chirac was slow to act when riots broke out within the Islamic community and spread into the heart of Paris. It's believed de Villepin trip to Lebanon is a symbolic gesture of solidarity with France's own Muslims. Some may point out that in France, there is a very thin line between solidarity and appeasement; just as there's a thin line between appeasement and cowardice -- appeasers and cowards.

Iran Claims Solidarity With Lebanon...So Do the French (http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=22484)

Israel Claims Iran Has Inserted Longer-Range Missiles Into Lebanon

by Steve Soto

I know that some of you disagree with me about Iran’s role in the current crisis and what should be done about it. Some of you feel that Iran and Syria will come out of this current mess in better position than they were, and that Israel made a big mistake here in its overreaction. As I said yesterday, Israel did overreact, but it is easy for me to say that from thousands of miles away when their soldiers were fired upon by Hezbollah in Israeli territory and were taken hostage by Hezbollah. But frankly, no matter how much I disagree with the Bush foreign policy, I am trying not to let that cloud my analysis of the basic facts on the ground.

Iran will have no sway with Israel or with the world community in resolving this mess if they were involved in its execution, or if they have armed Hezbollah with short-range Chinese missiles that have the capability of hitting Tel Aviv. On that first point, I will post the contents of emails I received from retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner over the weekend about Iran’s role in the Hezbollah kidnapping.

Iran has conducted a preemptive strike.

After my e-mail yesterday (Thursday of last week), I continued to receive notes and calls from press, former CIA, and overseas diplomatic sources. A major piece of what I was being told was shocking. Iran and Syria were involved in the planning for the hostage takings. I was even told where and when their planning meeting took place. An individual with former connections to the CIA told me the current situation is all is about the Iranian nuclear program. I was skeptical of that explanation until I heard Zal Khalilzad, the US Ambassador to Iraq, on CNN late in the day. He said, "It is about the Iranian nuclear program."

In other words, Iran did not wait for the US preemptive strike. It conducted its own.

There is something important to keep in mind. If my sources know about the Iranian and Syrian planning meeting, the US and Israeli Governments knew about the plan. Both governments face a profound dilemma. Do they talk about the connection and make a major issue of it? Policy very often follows rhetoric. If Iran is guilty, do we take the fight to Iran? Too much talk can create pressure to act, self-induced pressure that would lead to a greater Middle East war.

[snip]

The situation-defining next move is Iran's. I'm told by an individual who sometimes talks to people on the Iranian Supreme National Security Council that the hard-liners think they can gain from a limited escalation. They overestimate their negotiating power. They underestimate the dangers of confrontation.

As for Iran sneaking missiles into Lebanon through Syria, I give you this from the AP in the last hour:

Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Monday destroyed at least one long-range Iranian missile capable of hitting Tel Aviv, military officials said.

Israeli aircraft targeted a truck carrying the weapons before they could be launched, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of military regulations. The force of the blast sent at least one missile flying into the air, but it fell nearby.

If true, there is no way Iran comes out of this in better shape diplomatically than before. And if true, then it confirms Israel's fears that Syria and Iran have taken advantage of a weak Lebanese government and military to arm Hezbollah with weapons that threaten a large part of Israel.

Update: For those among us who believe that this overreaction was hatched by the Neocons and the Israelis to regain the initiative for the PNAC solution in the aftermath of the Iraq meltdown, think again. The Bush Administration didn’t see this coming, and Hezbollah, according to Newsweek this afternoon, caught Bush’s foreign policy team (Elliot Abrams of all people) flat-footed. And if the Israelis saw it coming, why didn’t the Bush Administration know about it in advance? The administration and the Israelis are rightly concerned to make sure that Hamas and Hezbollah not link up here and cement a four-way relationship with Iran and Syria, but it may be too late for that. Also, at least Bush was able to get the Saudis, the Jordanians, and the Egyptians to come out against Hezbollah on this. The pending opportunity that Hamas and Israel had for progress must go forward if at all possible without linking Gaza with a reward of Hezbollah for what they did here.

As Michael Hirsh also notes here, one of the key problems facing the Bush Administration is that their disengagement from the region leaves them with no contacts among the main actors here. We have no ongoing contacts with Hezbollah or Hamas, by design, and we have spurned repeated efforts by both Syria and Iran for a dialogue. In this environment, and given the possible if not probable role Iran had in facilitating this, the key opportunity for Bush here would be to reach out quietly to Syria to see how interested they are in bringing about a solution and earning some points for doing so. Syria is more militarily vulnerable than Iran, and was a valuable intelligence asset for us in the months right after 9/11. And anything we can do to stop radicalizing them, buy their support here, and peel them away somewhat from Iran will also help us in Iraq. But I doubt the Bush Administration is flexible enough to do any of this.

Israel Claims Iran Has Inserted Longer-Range Missiles Into Lebanon (http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/008230.php)

Arabs Fear Iran More Than They Hate The Jews

The New York Times provides an interesting analysis regarding the surprising criticism coming from Arab capitals towards Hezbollah. Yesterday, its chief complained that the Arabs had not rallied around his organization while it fights the hated "Zionists". However, the Arabs understand that Hezbollah represents a non-Arab threat that presents a much bigger problem than Israel.

With the battle between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah raging, key Arab governments have taken the rare step of blaming Hezbollah, underscoring in part their growing fear of influence by the group’s main sponsor, Iran.

Saudi Arabia, with Jordan, Egypt and several Persian Gulf states, chastised Hezbollah for “unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts” at an emergency Arab League summit meeting in Cairo on Saturday....

The way some officials see it, Arab analysts said, Israel is the devil they know, but Iran is the growing threat.

“There is a school of thought, led by Saudi Arabia, that believes that Hezbollah is a source of trouble, a protégé of Iran, but also a political instrument in the hands of Iran,” said gotcha98 Abu Odeh, a Jordanian sociologist. ‘This school says we should not play into the hands of Iran, which has its own agenda, by sympathizing or supporting Hezbollah fighting against the Israelis.”

Hanna Seniora, a Palestinian analyst with the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, lauded the Arab opposition to Hezbollah on Sunday.

“For the first time ever, open criticism was heard from countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan against the unilateral actions carried out by radical organizations, especially Hezbollah of Lebanon,” wrote Mr. Seniora, who favors coexistence with Israel and opposes radical Islam. “It became clear and beyond doubt that the most important Arab countries did not allow their emotions to rule their judgment.”

What is clear is that even the various kleptocracies in the region have becomed unnerved by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's rhetoric and brazen pursuit of nuclear weapons. The fall of Saddam Hussein removed the one military force that could stack up against Israel, and the American occupation puts Israel out of reach for most of the rest of the Arab nations. ;D That makes any nation that deliberately invites Israeli and American retaliation a little less than rational, and the nutty rhetoric raghead coming from Teheran only means that the Americans will stick around a little longer.

Iranian provocation threatens to engulf all of the Arab nations in a war they cannot hope to win. Why should they back Hezbollah's play, when Sheikh Nasrallah and Iran didn't bother to consult them?

For all their talk, the Arabs understand that Israel really presents no long-term threat to their own regimes. Israel does not covet land outside of their own territory and parts of the West Bank. They do not want Lebanon for themselves, nor Jordan nor Syria. They want to be left alone. Iran, on the other hand, wants to pick up where Saddam Hussein left off. Rather than a pan-Arab vision, though, the mullahcracy wants to reestablish the Caliphate, a pan-Islamism with Teheran in charge. That puts all of their regimes at risk, regardless of whether Iran fails or succeeds.

The result, we now have the singular event of Arabs taking Israel's side in a conflict with other Arabs.

Check your window this evening, because pigs may soon begin to fly. ;D

(http://bestsmileys.com/animals/8.gif)

Resting in the hands, of the Lord.
Bob

Holocaust claims a Zionist lie: mufti
Richard Kerbaj

THE nation's Islamic leader, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, has dismissed the Holocaust as a "Zionist lie" in a series of fiery sermons in which he also lashed out at the West and the US-led occupation of Iraq.

And Sheik Hilali -- the Mufti of Australia and a member of John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group -- also accuses the Government of being dishonest for claiming the anti-terrorism laws were not designed specifically for Muslims.

"These laws are tailored to target us precisely," he said in a sermon recorded at Sydney's Lakemba Mosque in November - one of a number of recordings The Weekend Australian has of Sheik Hilali's religious addresses delivered in Arabic over the past eight months.

Revelations that the nation's most senior Islamic cleric has been openly preaching extreme messages to his mainstream followers will be a major setback for the Howard Government.

Sheik Hilali is a senior member of the Prime Minister's Muslim advisory board. Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs Andrew Robb will tomorrow unveil details of federal funding for national projects to help address problems within the Islamic community.

Mr Robb, who oversees the advisory group, told The Weekend Australian Sheik Hilali's reported comments were "inflammatory and unacceptable".

Last night, the mufti stood by his sermons: "We are always saddened and always remember with great sorrow what Nazism did to the Jewish people," he said in a statement.

"However, we do not wish to see these crimes repeated by other hands. "Some who see themselves as supporters of Israel do abuse the Holocaust whenever Israel is engaged in its indefensible wars and crimes against humanity.

"People, myself included, are within their right to question the morality of exploiting the memory of the Holocaust."

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the mufti's intolerance of other religions was hypocritical. "It is not the time for anyone in positions of responsibility to make comments about other groups, particularly if you are someone who has been concerned about a lack of tolerance towards Muslims," he said.

In a February sermon, Sheik Hilali attacked the Western press for being afraid to admit that the Holocaust was "a ploy made by the Zionists".

He also trivialised the number of Jews killed by the Nazis.

"What's that six million all about? Is there six million?", said the Egyptian-born cleric, before calling on Muslims worldwide to boycott Danish goods over the publication of cartoons that offended Muslims for their depiction of the prophet Mohammed.

"The West say we have freedom and freedom of speech," he told thousands of his followers on February 3. "But journalism stops and shuts up when it discusses the burning of the Jews - the Holocaust -- the Zionist lie and the industry that the West deals in."

In another Friday sermon, delivered two weeks ago at Lakemba Mosque - titled The Zionists Murder Palestinians and the World Watches and the Muslims Are Silent - he called the US the breeders of oppression and labelled Israel a "cancer that is planted in the heart of the Ummah (Muslim community)".

Holocaust claims a Zionist lie: mufti (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19793436-2702,00.html)

Caritas says Middle East violence illegal and immoral

Calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, Caritas International has said that "indiscriminate bombings and hostage taking are against all moral and humanitarian laws and principles."

ReliefWeb reports that as the violence escalates in Lebanon and in the Gaza strip, Caritas International is calling on all sides to end the carnage, hold an immediate ceasefire and come to the negotiating table.

The Israeli attacks on Lebanon was triggered by Hezbollah's kidnapping of two of its soldiers last Wednesday. In response, Lebanon reeled yesterday under a sixth day of air and sea strikes that have pounded the country's infrastructure and killed over a hundred civilians.

Caritas says that its staff in Gaza and Lebanon are risking their lives to cater to the needs of the wounded, supply goods for civilians to survive and bring food for the children.

"Guided by the social teaching of the Catholic Church, and in line with International Humanitarian Law, we are calling today for an immediate ceasefire, an end to all violence, and the beginning of constructive negotiations geared towards long-term solutions," a Caritas International statement says.

"International humanitarian law decrees that states and authorities must protect civilians caught up in conflict, allow free access by humanitarian agencies to provide assistance to those affected and ensure attacks are not aimed at civilian targets. Any state or authority which ignores these rules is in breach of the very conventions that they have signed up to and which help keep our world civilised.

"Caritas believes that a just peace is possible in the Middle East, and urges the international community and political leaders to uphold international law and help the people of Israel, of Palestine and of Lebanon to step back from the brink of full-scale war."

Caritas says Middle East violence illegal and immoral (http://www.cathnews.com/news/607/91.php) Catholic Telecommunications

Syria vows to retaliate

DAMASCUS: Syria yesterday warned it would respond directly and by all means necessary to any Israeli attack on its territory, in its first official reaction to Israel's offensive on neighbouring Lebanon.

"Any Israeli attack against Syria will provoke an unlimited, direct and firm response using all means necessary," Information Minister Mohsen Bilal said.

Damascus-ally Iran also warned Israel of "unimaginable losses" if it attacks Syria and vowed that it was standing by the Syrian people.

"We hope the Zionist regime does not make the mistake of attacking Syria, because extending the front would definitely make the Zionist regime face unimaginable losses," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.

Hizbollah's deadliest rocket strike ever on Israel will spark a punishing response including a possible ground invasion of southern Lebanon, threatening to broaden a conflict some fear is spinning out of control.

Some analysts said the attack on the port city of Haifa that killed eight people could spur Israel to send troops over the northern border on a limited incursion to destroy Hizbollah positions and weaponry that have escaped air strikes.

The objective would be to empty the area of the Shi'ite guerrillas, not get bogged down again in Lebanon after a bloody 22-year occupation that ended in 2000, they added.

"It's clear there will be a severe escalation," said Mark Heller of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv.

But analysts and former government officials said they believed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wanted to keep the objective focused on dealing a death blow to Hizbollah, not attacking Syria or Iran, which both back the group.

The Israeli army believes the missiles fired at Haifa were probably made in Syria, a senior political source said.

International alarm has grown that the violence could spill beyond Israel and Lebanon, threatening to drive world oil prices even higher and sparking more losses on global stock markets.

Israel's chief ally the United States - the only country with any serious influence over the Jewish state - has called for restraint but said Israel had the right to defend itself.

The European Union and Russia have called Israel's attacks and air and sea blockade of Lebanon disproportionate.

Syria vows to retaliate (http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=149552&Sn=WORL&IssueID=29119)

EU would be ready to support Lebanon force: presidency
Document Actions

17/07/2006

The European Union and its member states stand ready to participate in a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, the bloc's leadership said on Monday, while stressing it is only an idea for the moment and that it is up to the United Nations to decide.

"I'm confident that the European Union and its member states... will stand ready to take part if the conditions are there for such a mission," said Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja.

"But ... at the moment nothing more can be said, this is only an idea," added Tuomioja, after chairing a regular meeting with his EU counterparts clouded by the upsurge of violence in the Middle East.

The proposal for an international stabilisation force was made by leaders of the G8 nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia and the United States -- at a weekend summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The UN already has a monitoring force on the Lebanese-Israeli border, UNIFIL, set up in March 1978 to oversee an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon that finally took place 22 years later.

The UN Security Council met behind closed doors Monday to discuss Israel's military offensive in Lebanon but the United States cautioned against expecting action to stop the bloodshed before the return of a UN mission this week.

The EU's leadership underlined that the question of new peacekeepers for Lebanon was for the UN.

"It is primarily the United Nations and Security Council which will have to deal with this issue and take the necessary decisions," he told reporters after the Brussels talks.

But he said: "Our member states have made clear that they are ready to favourably consider participating in any such mission."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday that the proposed deployment must have more bite and "far greater" numbers than the 2,000-strong UNIFIL force.

Israel said on the same day that it was "too early" to discuss the creation of a new international peacekeeping force in Lebanon, where more than 200 people have been killed in attacks over the past week.

Twenty-four Israelis have also been killed since fighting began last Wednesday, including 12 civilians in a barrage of Hezbollah rocket fire across the border.

EU would be ready to support Lebanon force: presidency (http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/060717163955.ze80a06q)

3 reserves brigades called up

Defense ministry approves draft Monday night. Reserves to take over in Judea and Samaria, regular forces to move north
Hanan Greenberg

Defense Minister Amir Peretz approved Monday night the draft of three reserves brigades – infantry and engineers. The forces will be drafted starting Tuesday morning and will replace regular forces in Judea and Samaria. The regular forces will help in the northern array.

As of today, infantry and engineer corps are operating to destroy Hizbullah outposts in the line of fire. Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, revealed, in a Monday press conference at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, that in recent days, forces were operating in a ground offensive against Hizbullah outposts in Rajar village.

'This stroke was a destructive one'

There were several exchanges of fire during the operation, which took place east of the Lebanese border. The forces entered the village and destroyed two of the organization's outposts. The outposts, in the northern part of Rajar (in Lebanese sovereign territory), constituted a constant threat to IDF forces in the southern part of Rajar, which is in sovereign Israeli territory. Rajar is a weak point in terms of security and has been the focus of many difficult confrontations. For example, in November 2005, a kidnapping attempt took place, which was foiled at the last minute by an Israeli sniper.

In the press conference, Kaplinsky also mentioned the IDF's hits on Hizbullah strongholds in the Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut. "This stroke was a destructive one, and this region, which was a symbol of Hizbullah, turned into an island of abandoned swords. Very few terrorists are still in the neighborhood."

He added, "I can say that we've already attacked dozens of targets in Beirut, targets that served as Hizbullah headquarters. We attack 130 sites for launching rockets and other missiles. We attacked more than 105 targets serving as terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon and tens of targets for storing weapons and munitions. We struck down directly more than 20 terrorist cells that tried to operate weapons during the course of the operation in Gaza. We attacked naval radars and several bridges. We blocked several roads in Lebanon and tried to impose an aerial blockade by attacking airport runways."

He concluded by saying, "despite our many accomplishments, and despite the fact that things are progressing well, Hizbullah is still firing rockets. Granted they are being launched smaller quantities, but the barrage still continues against Israeli population centers. We will do everything to reduce this shooting."

3 reserves brigades called up (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3277533,00.html)

Egyptian MPs Discuss Israeli-Palestinian Clashes and Demand Egypt Obtains Nuclear Weapons

Following are excerpts from an Egyptian parliamentary debate on the recent Israeli-Palestinian clashes, which aired on Channel 1, Egyptian TV, on July 4, 2006:

MP Ibrahim Al-Gogari: It is not enough to demand the recalling of the Egyptian ambassador from Israel. We must also demand that the Israeli ambassador to Egypt be expelled, because what is happening now is a violation of all international boundaries, and of all the agreements. Moreover, it is a breach of international human law.

[...]

MP Mustafa Bakri: The Zionist entity must realize that the Egyptian people... Forget about all the others - just Egypt... If Egypt takes a stand everything in the region changes. We know that President Mubarak is exerting efforts and maintaining contacts, which is all fine, but we say to the president: If you take an actual measure, which is supported by the entire Egyptian people, Israel will back down.

[...]

MP Ahmad Dawidar: Mr. Speaker, Israel is a Nazi state. It does not honor any international charter or treaty, and it completely ignores the UN charter. Israel is doing to the Palestinians what Hitler did to them in the Holocaust.

[...]

MP Ali Nasr: We are the strong ones. We are the men of honor. We are a graveyard for the enemies. We do not fear Israel or those behind it. We do not fear Israel or those supporting it.

[...]

MP Sabri 'Amr: There should be campaigns for a boycott, an official boycott, a boycott of the normalization, and a boycott of all the dealings with Israel. We do not want anyone, whoever he may be, to be able to say that [Egyptian] gas is exported to Israel, and that cement and iron are exported to Israel.

[...]

MP Ragab Hmeda: Israel is trying to bring the entire world to its knees. The United States has already knelt before it, and so have all the countries of the European Union. Therefore, any appeal to these countries is bound to fail. The only thing that will deter Israel is nuclear power.

[...]

MP Sa'd 'Abud: We must pursue the nuclear path and arm ourselves with nuclear weapons.

Egyptian MPs Discuss Israeli-Palestinian Clashes and Demand Egypt Obtains Nuclear Weapons (http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=1192)

Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah: We Are Fighting the Battle of the Islamic Nation, Not of Lebanon

Following are excerpts from an address given by Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, which aired on Al-Manar TV on July 16, 2006.

Hassan Nasrallah: I want to say a few words to the good, steadfast, honorable, and pure people, whom we have heard in recent days on the media. We have heard their perseverance, their support, and their love.

You are truly a great people. I am not just saying this out of pride, arrogance, or flattery. This is a people of historic [greatness], on whom hopes are pinned to save Lebanon and the nation - the entire nation - from its state of degradation and humiliation, and to instill new hope in the nation.

I tell you again that with your support, your embrace, with your love, your perseverance, and your steadfastness, we will be victorious. The buildings and places that are being destroyed - we will cooperate with the Lebanese state...

But in this matter, I say to you: Do not worry about what the Israeli war machine can destroy. All we wish is that the wounded be healed, and that the living have a long and healthy life. As for what is being destroyed - with the help of Allah, and by cooperation with the Lebanese state... We too, as an interested party, are determined to be serious in rebuilding what is being destroyed.

I tell you, without going into details now, that we have friends who are also serious in this, and who have a very great ability to help us with pure, clean, and honorable money, and without any political conditions.

There is nothing to worry about regarding the rebuilding of our country. What is important is that we persevere now and emerge victorious from this battle.

[…]

The last point I want to make... I would like to turn to the peoples of the Arab and Islamic world. I turn to them only to make things clear to them, and to face them up to their responsibility. I have no intention to appeal to them, to call upon them, or to request anything from them. From the first moment of Operation True Promise and the ensuing confrontations, I and my brothers have taken upon ourselves and have agreed that in this confrontation we would not ask for anything from any human being.

Many have called us to offer their services, but we have said that we ask for nothing. We will not initiate any request - not on the material level, the political level, not with regard to the media, not on the popular level, or the military level. We make appeals, requests, and supplications only to Allah, because we believe in Him, in His capabilities, in His greatness, and in His true promise that the believers will be victorious.

We place our trust in Allah. When I am turning now to the Arab and Islamic peoples, I am not doing so to ask them to save us or give us aid. No. We, Allah be praised, are fine. We are in a very strong position, and we are at the beginning of a confrontation on which we pin great hopes.

But I would like to face them up to their responsibility. Yesterday, you - and especially the Arab peoples - witnessed the outcome of the meeting of the Arab foreign ministers, and saw what can possibly come out of the Arab League. They themselves talk about the failure of the so-called peace process, and it has become clear that they are incapable - as governments, leaders, and regimes - of doing anything.

In any case, we do not place our bets there. You, the Arab and Islamic peoples, have an interest in taking a stand for the sake of your place in the world to come, if you believe in it, and for the sake of your life in this world, your honor, your strength, your future, and the future or your children and grandchildren. In other words, the way things are now… If, in this conflict, God forbid, Israel succeeds in defeating the resistance in Palestine or in Lebanon, the Arab world - both governments and peoples - will drown in eternal humiliation. It will have no way out. This will only increase the condescension of the Zionists and of their American masters towards the Arab governments and peoples. The American and Israeli interference in the affairs of these governments and peoples will only increase, along with the plundering of our resources, the eradication of our culture and civilization, and the disintegration and division of this region, which will be drawn into internal strife, and so on.

Today, the Arab and Islamic nation is facing an historic opportunity to unite, to release themselves from the plan of disintegration, sectarian and civil wars, to which America is pushing the peoples of the region.

Today, the peoples of the Arab and Islamic nation are facing an historic opportunity to accomplish a great historic victory over the Zionist enemy.

The question is not who imposes his conditions on whom. Today, we have a great opportunity of this kind. I am not exaggerating. In 2000, we in Lebanon, with modest capabilities and efforts, and with a small number of mujahideen, with few supplies and little equipment, presented a model of how resistance can overcome an occupation army.

Today, we are presenting a model, along with the Lebanese people and Lebanon in its entirety - although we serve as the spearhead, and although villages, towns, and neighborhoods affiliated with us are subject to killing and destruction... This is true of all Lebanese, but they are concentrating on us... We are trying to present another model - a model of steadfastness, resistance, perseverance, courage, and of the ability to defeat the enemy. We do this in a battle that is unbalanced in material terms, but in spirit, morale, determination, wisdom, planning, and in placing our trust in Allah, this battle is unbalanced in our favor.

Where are you, oh Arab and Islamic peoples? What are you doing? How will you act? That is up to you. As far as we are concerned, when we began the resistance in 1982, we did not look beyond our borders at all. We looked only to Allah. We relied only upon our people and our mujahideen. Today, we are the same. But what I wanted to tell you at this sensitive moment, and following many military successes in recent days, and following many surprises - and more surprises are yet to come, Allah willing - is that Hizbullah is not waging the battle of Hizbullah or of Lebanon. We are waging the battle of the nation, whether we like it or not, whether the Lebanese like it or not. Lebanon and the resistance of Lebanon are waging the battle of the nation. Where does the nation stand with regard to this battle? This question is directed at you, for the sake of your life in this world and in the world to come.

We Are Fighting the Battle of the Islamic Nation, Not of Lebanon (http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=1194)

Diplomatic efforts underway in Middle East

By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer Sun Jul 16, 7:07 PM ET

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The United Nations, the European Union and Italy pushed ahead with separate efforts Sunday to try to end the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.

A senior U.N. envoy led a delegation visiting Beirut for talks with Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. Vijay Nambiar, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special political adviser, called afterward for the release of captured Israeli soldiers, the protection of civilians and infrastructure and expressed support for Lebanon's appeal for a cease-fire.

The U.N. team was expected to visit Israel to meet with officials there, Lebanese media reports said.

Annan has said he was deeply worried about the escalating cross-border fighting, the worst in 24 years. On Saturday, Saniora called for the U.N. to broker a cease-fire to open the way for diplomacy to end the crisis.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana met with Saniora on Sunday. He flew in by British military helicopter from Cyprus because the Beirut airport was closed by Israeli airstrikes.

Solana also met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. He said he was not carrying any proposals, only exploring what Europe could do.

Solana is expected to return to Brussels on Monday to brief EU foreign ministers but was not scheduled to visit Israel, a Finnish EU presidency official said.

Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in Israel last week sparked an Israeli military offensive against Lebanon and Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel.

Nambiar called for the release of the soldiers "as part of a solution to this conflict." The U.N. envoy did not elaborate, and his comments did not indicate whether it was a precondition.

Israel has demanded the soldiers' release as a precondition for ending the onslaught.

Nambiar said the United Nations supports Saniora's "call for a cease-fire and his aim of exercising full authority over the entire country." Such control would require deploying the Lebanese army to the south and, implicitly, the disarmament of Hezbollah.

The militant group has refused to give up its weapons, and the government is too weak to take on the powerful guerrillas, whose rockets have struck deep inside Israel.

Nasrallah has offered to trade the soldiers for Arab prisoners. He said an exchange was the only way Israel would get its soldiers back. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has insisted on an unconditional release.

Berri offered a glimmer of hope when he said Sunday there was still a chance that efforts would work.

"Today there is an opportunity to reach an immediate cease-fire and call on one of the countries which used to negotiate to begin discussions on a (prisoner) swap," Berri said, apparently referring to Germany. In 2004, Berlin mediated the exchange of an Israeli civilian and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers for 400 Arab prisoners.

Lebanon's government also disclosed Sunday that Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi relayed to it Israeli conditions to stop its assault on Lebanon: release the soldiers and pull Hezbollah back from the Israeli border.

Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, briefing reporters after an emergency Cabinet meeting, played down the indirect contacts.

"Nothing is official because the real negotiations have not started yet," he told reporters.

James Jeffrey, a U.S. State Department specialist, said in Washington that U.S. officials were in constant contact with Israeli and Lebanese officials.

He said there were "very, very active diplomatic efforts" aimed at bringing an end to the conflict, though the United States was not "advocating a cease-fire at this time."

Diplomatic efforts underway in Middle East (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060716/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_fighting_mediation)

Taliban takes control of 2 Afghan towns

By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer Mon Jul 17, 7:29 PM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban militants seized two towns in tumultuous southern Afghanistan, forcing police and government officials to flee, officials said Monday.

The Taliban operate freely in large areas of southern Afghanistan and police presence there often is virtually nonexistent, but insurgents only were known to have completely seized one town since their hard-line regime was toppled by U.S. forces in 2001.

They were quickly driven out of that town, Chora, in Uruzgan province.

The attacks came with thousands of U.S.-led troops involved in an offensive against Taliban holdouts and allied extremists in remote southern and eastern provinces to curb the deadliest upsurge in violence since the hard-line militia was ousted in late 2001.

On Monday, large numbers of militants chased out police after a brief clash in the town of Naway-i-Barakzayi, in Helmand province near the Pakistan border, district police chief Mullah Sharufuddin said.

Scores of Taliban forces overran police holed up Sunday in a compound in the nearby Helmand town of Garmser. The security forces and a handful of government officials fled, a local government official said.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he did not have permission to speak to the media, said Taliban forces were now "moving freely" around the Garmser and the surrounding district.

"We have heard reports of two districts in southern Helmand being under control of the Taliban, and we are in contact with lots of people to build an accurate picture," said another coalition spokesman, Maj. Scott Lundy.

"The Taliban are a credible threat, but the coalition is more than a match for them when and wherever we encounter them," he said.

British military spokesman Capt. Drew Gibson confirmed enemy "activity" in both areas but declined to elaborate. More than 3,000 British soldiers are deploying to Helmand to take over security control from U.S. forces later this month.

Taliban forces killed a coalition soldier and wounded 11 others in a fierce battle Monday in Tirin Kot, capital of Helmand's neighboring Uruzgan province, a U.S. statement said. The nationalities of the soldiers were not released.

More than 800 people, mostly militants, have been killed since May, according to an Associated Press tally of coalition and Afghan figures.

U.S.-led troops entering southern insurgent hotbeds for the first time are facing intense resistance.

In other violence:

• A suicide bomber killed the top two Justice Ministry officials and another employee inside the ministry's office building in the capital of Helmand province, police said.

• Three Afghan soldiers were killed and three wounded when a roadside bomb destroyed their vehicle in the same province.

• In eastern Afghanistan, U.S.-led troops killed four suspected al-Qaida members, including Arab and Chechen fighters, after raiding their hideout.

Taliban takes control of 2 Afghan towns (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060717/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan;_ylt=AuuIjbkFHXKQxvH6dijLOx4UewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NTMzazIyBHNlYwMxNjk2)

Government leases six ships to evacuate Canadians from war-torn Lebanon
By JOAN BRYDEN

OTTAWA (CP) - Six chartered passenger ships will be positioned off the coast of Lebanon beginning Wednesday to evacuate up to 4,500 trapped Canadians a day from the strife-torn country.

Foreign Affairs officials said Monday that the plan, for now, is to evacuate Canadians by ship from the port of Beirut. They will be ferried to Cyprus, an island nation about 200 kilometres west of Lebanon in the Mediterranean Sea, where three aircraft have been leased to fly them home.

But officials acknowledged there is no plan yet to get Canadians safely out of southern Lebanon - the region hardest hit by Israeli missiles - to the country's capital.

Canada believes any attempt at an evacuation from the southern cities of Tyr and Saida would be perilous because the port infrastructure has been destroyed in both places.

Consequently, Canadian officials say they are seeking assurances of safe passage through southern Lebanon to Beirut from all "belligerents" in the crisis.

They are also talking to non-governmental organizations, such as the Red Cross, about the most secure route out of southern Lebanon.

Sources said a military reconnaissance squad was dispatched Monday to Lebanon to provide security and logistical advice for the evacuation.

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said the government is also seeking assurances from Israel and Lebanon that the ships carrying Canadians will not be targeted.

"We want assurances that those ships will be protected and afforded the utmost safety," he said.

Sources said one or more Canadian warships might be sent to provide an escort for the refugee ships, although no warships are currently in the vicinity and would take at least a week to get there.

Those ships would be equipped with helicopters that could fly overhead and warn of any incoming missile or rocket fire.

At least 50,000 Canadians are believed to be in Lebanon, but officials said most are dual citizens who live there permanently, and many likely won't want to leave.

About 5,000 Canadians are thought to be visiting the country, and officials expect they will make up the bulk of those who choose to flee the violence. Seven Canadian visitors were killed Sunday during Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Foreign Affairs advised Canadians in Lebanon on Monday to expect notification about an evacuation within 24 hours. In the meantime, Canadians were advised to stay indoors and keep their travel documents in order and readily available.

Opposition critics accused the government of reacting sluggishly to the plight of Canadians trapped in Lebanon. Liberal leadership hopeful Scott Brison accused the government of "dawdling" on an evacuation plan, thereby endangering the lives of Canadians.

"British ships and French ships are evacuating people right now," Brison said in an interview.

"This is the kind of situation where minutes and hours count, and our government is days behind."

France, Italy, Sweden and Denmark began evacuating their citizens Monday, and the United States was expected to begin evacuating Americans on Tuesday.

Canada's evacuation will not begin until mid-week, and only if assurances of safe passage are received. But officials bristled at suggestions they've been slow off the mark.

"We've put together a plan that provides the safest and securest means of getting Canadians out," one official said at a background briefing for reporters.

MacKay repeatedly rejected criticism that his government has been slow to move in getting Canadians out of Lebanon. He said other countries that have evacuated people from Lebanon have managed to move only small numbers.

"We are facing a different situation in that we have an extremely large number of Canadians currently inside Lebanon," he said. "Make no mistake about it, we have moved with dispatch."

The Foreign Affairs Department took the unusual move of allowing reporters and cameras into its emergency operations centre, where all calls from Canadians in Lebanon, as well as from their worried relatives in Canada, are being fielded.

Officials said they have up to 16 people answering the phones 24 hours a day, quadruple the number of operations officers who normally take calls. As of midday Monday, they'd taken 6,463 calls since last Thursday. Another 4,600 e-mails had been received.

MacKay said he's "very proud" that people in his department volunteered to man the phone lines over the weekend.

"Officials at Foreign Affairs are extremely dedicated," he said. "They understand the trauma, the human turmoil that is taking place in people's lives inside Lebanon."

MacKay suggested Canada faces a "unique" challenge because of the large number of Canadians in Lebanon, almost 25,000 of whom have registered with the Canadian Embassy in Beirut.

But officials acknowledged other countries have similar numbers who've registered with their embassies.

Government leases six ships to evacuate Canadians from war-torn Lebanon (http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/07/17/pf-1689468.html)

Israel vows to fight Palestinians until end of terror

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has vowed to fight the Palestinians until terrorism stops, as the military ploughs on with its Gaza offensive, bombing the Foreign Ministry to ruins and killing two people.

Israel has shown little reprieve in the three-week offensive, launched with the twin aims of retrieving a corporal abducted by Hamas militants and stopping rocket fire.

Tanks and troops are in the northern town of Beit Hanun conducting what is their deepest Gaza incursion since withdrawing from the impoverished territory barely 10 months ago after a 38-year occupation.

"Operation Summer Rain" has left at least 87 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier dead since July 5.

Israel opened up a second front after Hezbollah captured another two soldiers last week and has pounded Lebanon with air strikes for six days, killing more than 200 people and seeing world leaders scramble to head off all-out war.

But in an address to Parliament, Mr Olmert has vowed not to wind back Israel's deadly offensives against either Hamas or Hezbollah.

"We will fight the Palestinians without fail until terrorism stops, until Corporal Gilad Shalit is returned safe and sound, and Qassam rocket fire ceases," he said.

Mr Olmert, who is facing the biggest test of his leadership, says Israel will not cease its operations.

"In both cases, in Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip, this is an act of self-defence, because the nation is at a moment of truth," he said.
Foreign ministry bombed

Overnight, fighter jets have bombed the Foreign Ministry in Gaza for the second time in a week, demolishing the building and tightening the noose on the Hamas Government.

In response, Palestinians have fired eight rockets into southern Israel.

Israel has justified its aerial attack by accusing Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmud al-Zahar of planning "terrorist attacks".

Mr Zahar is a leading member of Hamas, whose armed wing was jointly responsible for Cpl Shalit's abduction.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya says Israeli attacks on ministries "prove these actions are to paralyse the work of the Palestinian Government and to destroy the foundations of the Palestinian political system".

An F-16 jet has dropped a missile on the building, already badly damaged in a raid last week, pancaking the five-storey ministry and causing extensive damage to the neighbouring planning and finance ministries.

Three residents of nearby houses were also wounded, medical and security sources said.

Israel has already bombed the Gaza offices of Mr Haniya and those of his Interior Minister Siad Siam this month.

Ground troops have also rounded up a third of the Hamas cabinet in the occupied West Bank, although one of the ministers has since been released.
Fatal tank fire

A 20-year-old resident was killed and a Palestinian gunman left seriously wounded when an Israeli tank opened fire in Beit Hanun, a medical source said.

A second Palestinian, also a young man, has bee killed by Israeli fire in another incident in Beit Hanun, a local medical source said, while a third has been critically wounded in cross-fire between Israelis and Palestinian fighters.

Mr Haniya has likened Israel's incursion in Beit Hanun "to what is happening in Beirut, and in all the villages, towns and refugee camps in Lebanon".

But Israeli tanks parked in the middle of the town have moved out, Palestinian security sources said.

Witnesses say infrastructure, orchards, the electricity network, water and sewage systems have been damaged in the incursion.

Aid groups have expressed concern about the difficulties of providing assistance to 1.4 million people living in Gaza following months of financial crisis and the suspension of direct Western aid to the Hamas-led government.

Cpl Shalit's capture sparked the worst Israeli-Palestinian crisis since the Hamas-led Government was elected in January polls, and some of the deadliest fighting in the Palestinian territories for years.

Israel vows to fight Palestinians until end of terror (http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1689268.htm)

Israel determined to fight on

AM - Tuesday, 18 July , 2006 08:00:00
Reporter: Emma Griffiths
TONY EASTLEY: There's no sign that the crisis in Lebanon is easing, with Hezbollah guerrillas keeping up their rocket attacks overnight on northern Israel, and Israeli forces pounding sites in Lebanon.

In the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, the Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert sounded as determined as ever to fight on, saying his country would not be held hostage to terror gangs or to a terrorist government.

The Army's Deputy Chief of Staff has estimated that the operation against Lebanon will last at least another week.

Around 17 rockets fired from Lebanon struck towns and cities across northern Israel. One Katyusha rocket landed next to a hospital in the town of Safed, wounding four people.

The ABC's Emma Griffiths filed this report from northern Israel.

(Sound of rocket fire)

EMMA GRIFFITHS: Somewhere on Israel's northern border, we can't reveal where, the country's military are targeting enemy rockets.

DERRONE SPIELMAN (phonetic): This is an artillery barrage, which is called a response barrage. This in response to Katyusha rockets that have been fired in Israel.

Every time you hear a bing behind me, it means that a Katyusha's landed, we plot the trajectory and we respond to try to disable those sites.

EMMA GRIFFITHS: Captain Derrone Spielman says Israeli forces have hit more than 100 Hezbollah rocket sites, but making sure their artillery has hit its mark can be a tricky business.

DERRONE SPIELMAN: In some locations you can know. In some locations we can verify that in fact this was an absolute hit. In other locations, if they've moved - remember these are mobile units - some of them are stationary for longer depending on the type of the rocket. If they've moved, then sometimes it's iffy.

(Sound of air raid siren)

EMMA GRIFFITHS: The rockets are still coming. In the country's third largest city, Haifa, it's been another day punctuated by warning sirens and strikes.

(Sound of sirens and explosions)

A three-storey apartment block had an entire wall stripped away, revealing kitchens and bedrooms.

Ephie Gilat (phonetic) lives in the neighbouring building. He says it's a miracle that no one was killed. The strikes have left a city shaken to the core.

EPHIE GILAT: We're people that just live our lives and then when a big bomb gets into your life, and your house is moving and windows are breaking, and you know that there are wounds around you, it takes everything, not just material. The soul is shaking.

EMMA GRIFFITHS: There's no wavering from Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

(Sound of Ehud Olmert speaking)

In an address to the Israeli Parliament, he said the country would not be deterred from its campaign. He said this was a moment of truth for the nation, when it must say "no more".

Israel has again made it clear the attacks will continue until its conditions are met: the three soldiers captured in Gaza and on the border with Lebanon must be returned, the rocket attacks into northern Israel must stop and Hezbollah must withdraw and disarm.

Ehud Olmert has described this conflict as a fight for the right to a normal life. As it enters its seventh day, more and more Israelis are living a nightmare.

Israel determined to fight on (http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/printfriendly.pl?http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1689243.htm)

Diplomacy Efforts Begin As Fighting Flares

By LEE KEATH
Associated Press Writers

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Westerners fled by land, sea and air Monday as Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon briefly and Hezbollah rockets knocked down a three-story house in northern Israel. However, there were signs of movement on the diplomatic front to end the worst fighting in 24 years.

The exodus of tourists left downtown Beirut eerily silent, with the shutters down on fancy stores and restaurants in a stark reminder of the country's civil war.

Israeli military officials said an airstrike in Lebanon destroyed at least one long-range Iranian missile capable of hitting Tel Aviv, where sunbathers, swimmers and paddleball players filled the beaches, determined to defy the guerrilla attacks.

By nightfall Monday, 210 Lebanese had been reported killed in the six days of fighting, according to figures provided to The Associated Press by the national police.

Nine civilians, including two children, died in an afternoon airstrike on a bridge near the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanese officials said. At least 24 Israelis have been killed.

Early Tuesday, Israeli warplanes again pounded Hezbollah's stronghold in south Beirut, along with an area near Beirut's airport, witnesses and Lebanese media said. Four major blasts shook the city.

Frank talk from Bush caught on open microphone

Extensive, in-depth coverage from ABC News

A cruise ship, the Orient Queen, escorted by a U.S. destroyer was to begin evacuating some of the 25,000 Americans in Lebanon on Tuesday, joining U.S. military helicopters that have ferried about a score of U.S. citizens to a British base on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. More helicopter transfers were planned Tuesday, a U.S. official said.

On the sixth day of its major offensive in Lebanon, Israel was allowing evacuation ships through its blockade of the country. France and Italy moved hundreds of nationals and other Europeans out Monday on a Greek cruise liner.

An Italian ship left earlier with 350 people, and other governments were organizing pullouts by land to Syria.

Diplomatic efforts gained traction with Israel signaling it might scale back its demands. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said fighting would halt only if Hezbollah, a Shiite militia that controls much of south Lebanon, pulls back from the border and releases the two soldiers whose capture last week triggered the Israeli offensive.

An aide to Olmert indicated the prime minister was ready to compromise on the question of dismantling the Islamic militant group. But the aide said Olmert might oppose a U.N. and British idea of deploying international forces to Lebanon.

The current U.N. force in southern Lebanon has proven impotent and a larger, stronger force could hamper any future Israeli attacks, should any deal fall apart. Israel wants the Lebanese government to patrol the south.

In an impassioned speech to Israel's parliament, Olmert said the country would have no mercy on Lebanese militants who attack its cities with rockets.

"We shall seek out every installation, hit every terrorist helping to attack Israeli citizens, destroy all the terrorist infrastructure, in every place. We shall continue this until Hezbollah does the basic and fair things required of it by every civilized person," he said.

Hezbollah's patron Iran, meanwhile, said a cease-fire and prisoner exchange would be acceptable and fair. Israel has ruled out releasing any prisoners.

But Hezbollah dismissed international cease-fire proposals as "Israeli conditions" and accused foreign envoys of allowing Israel time to continue its offensive.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special political adviser emerged from talks with Lebanon's prime minister to say he would present Israel "concrete ideas" to end the fighting.

"We have made some promising first efforts on the way forward," the adviser, Vijay Nambiar, told reporters, while warning that much work needs to be done.

One U.N. official said Nambiar's mission had "very useful discussions" with Lebanon's prime minister and parliament speaker - an ally of Hezbollah's leader.

"They have agreed on some specifics, and this is going to be carried to Israel, and they will probably go back to Lebanon if they are a promising signal," said the official, U.N. Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari.

Despite Arab calls for an immediate cease-fire, the U.N. Security Council on Monday put off a response to the escalating violence to wait for the results of Nambiar's mission.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Annan called for sending international forces to southern Lebanon, and the United States said it did not oppose the idea.

But President Bush also suggested, in a moment of unscripted frank discussion caught on tape, that Annan simply call the president of Syria, another Hezbollah backer, to "make something happen."

Speaking with Blair privately before the G-8 leaders began their final lunch in St. Petersburg, Russia, Bush swore about Hezbollah's border raids and rockets.

"See, the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s--- and it's over," Bush said.

Meanwhile, the fighting went on.

Israeli warplanes renewed attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs early Tuesday morning, and fired four missiles on the eastern city of Baalbek, witnesses and news reportgs said. Both are Hezbollah strongholds.

Also, Israeli fighter-jets struck a military base in Kfar Chima, a town near southern Beirut, local television stations reported. There was no immediate confirmation from the Lebanese army. There was no word on casualties in the violence early Tuesday.

Attacks by Israeli warplanes and big guns late Sunday and early Monday killed 17 people and wounded at least 53, security officials said. Israeli government spokesman Asaf Shariv said ground troops also entered southern Lebanon, attacked Hezbollah bases near the border and quickly returned to Israel.

Israel said its planes and artillery struck 60 targets in Lebanon overnight in retaliation for Sunday's 20-rocket barrage on Haifa, Israel's third-largest city.

In the deepest-ever Hezbollah missile strike into Israel, Katyusha rockets struck the Israeli town of Atlit, 35 miles south of the border. Nobody was hurt.

Later, guerrillas fired three rocket barrages into the port city of Haifa, destroying the three-story building and wounding at least three people, Israeli medics said.

Late Monday, a further barrage of rockets hit northern Israel. Some landed in Haifa and one near a hospital in the northern town of Safed, injuring five people.

Israel also kept up pressure in the Gaza Strip as it searched for another soldier seized by Hamas-linked militants there. It bombed the empty Palestinian Foreign Ministry building for the second time in less than a week in what it said was a warning to the ruling Hamas party.

Diplomacy Efforts Begin As Fighting Flares (http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=87656)

Diplomats Seek Foreign Patrols for Mideast

By STEVEN ERLANGER and JAD MOUAWAD

JERUSALEM, July 17 — Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and Secretary General Kofi Annan of the United Nations called Monday for an international force in southern Lebanon to end the fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militia, which continued for a sixth deadly day.

The United States and Israel reacted skeptically, with President Bush urging tartly that Mr. Annan telephone President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, a key sponsor of Hezbollah, “and make something happen.” In Russia for a Group of 8 summit meeting, Mr. Bush expressed his views to Mr. Blair, using a vulgarity that was caught by an open microphone.

With the Lebanese death toll exceeding 200 and the Israeli count at 24, the increased efforts to turn to diplomacy showed little prospect of an immediate way out. In Lebanon, a vast majority of those killed were civilians, while in Israel about half of the dead were civilians.

In a televised speech to the Israeli Parliament, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to continue the offensive until Hezbollah freed two captured Israeli soldiers, the Lebanese Army was deployed along the border, and Hezbollah was effectively disarmed. Hezbollah has consistently rejected those terms.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to the Middle East to try to resolve the crisis, Bush administration officials said. The timing is still up in the air, and the trip will be a gamble. Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Daniel Ayalon, said on CNN that it might be too soon for Ms. Rice to accomplish anything.

Israel intensified its bombing across Lebanon on Monday, hitting an Army barracks in Tripoli and bases in Baalbek, both in the north. It shelled fuel tanks in Beirut’s port and continued pounding southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs. In the afternoon, Israel made a brief ground raid into Lebanon.

Israeli military officials said they succeeded in hitting a rocket launcher in Beirut carrying one of Hezbollah’s longest-range rockets, an Iranian Zelzal, with a range of 62 to 124 miles. The attack caused the rocket to flare in the air, leading to reports that an Israeli plane might have been shot down.

At least 43 Lebanese were killed Monday, according to Lebanese authorities, raising the toll to more than 200 since the Israeli offensive began Thursday. In one large group of fatalities, a missile hit a minibus, killing 12 civilians as they were driving through Rmeileh, a seaside town south of Beirut.

[Early Tuesday, Israeli warplanes pounded south Lebanon, killing six members of a family in Aytaroun village, Reuters reported.]

Some 30 rockets fired by Hezbollah hit Haifa and other parts of northern Israel. One rocket leveled much of an apartment house, critically wounding one person. Another Hezbollah rocket landed next to a hospital in Safed, slightly wounding six people.

Israel’s rejection of an international force stems partly from recent history. The foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, said in an interview that such a force must be able to intervene, unlike the current troops, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or Unifil, which was established in 1978.

“We have an experience with Unifil,” she said: When an Israeli was seized previously, “they just watched.”

The Israeli military wants to continue its largely aerial campaign against Hezbollah, with one senior Israeli official suggesting that Hezbollah’s capacity to launch missiles had already been degraded “about 30 percent.”

Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, on the Israeli general staff, said, “We have damaged Hezbollah but they still have significant operational capacity.” He noted the decline in rockets launched into Israel in the last two days — an average of 40 a day, down from initial highs of 150 — and said it was a testament to the damage caused by the Israelis.

“It will take time, it’s more than a matter of days on the military side,” he said. “We aim to change the situation and not go back to where we are.”

Israel’s deputy chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinski, told Agence France-Presse: “The operation will last for at least another week. The international pressure on Israel will allow us to continue for another week at least.”

In his speech, Prime Minister Olmert said, “The terrorist organizations we are fighting take their orders from the Tehran-Damascus axis of evil.” He said Israel would continue to fight until both Hezbollah and Hamas stopped attacks on Israel.

“In Lebanon, we will fight to enforce the demands long voiced by the international community,” he said. He demanded “an absolute end to fire” from Hezbollah, “the deployment of the Lebanese Army all along the southern border, and the departure of Hezbollah from this region and fulfillment of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559.”

That resolution calls for the pullout of all foreign forces from Lebanon, the disbanding and disarmament of all militias and the deployment of the Lebanese Army on the border. But the Security Council included no provisions to implement the agreement, and the Lebanese government, which contains some Hezbollah ministers, is considered too weak to do so.

Hezbollah is supported by Iran and Syria, and Mr. Bush’s pungent conclusion, as he summarized it to Mr. Blair in Russia was, “What they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this gotcha2, and it’s over.”

cont'd next post

The current conflict began when Hezbollah fighters crossed into Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12, and Israel immediately attacked Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, calling the initial incursion an act of war. Hezbollah, a radical Shiite group, was established with Iranian help in 1982 to fight Israel, and both Iran and Syria supply the group with money and weaponry.

“Israel is making it possible for the Lebanese government to move in,” Foreign Minister Livni said. “In a way, Israel is doing the Lebanese government’s job for it” by taking on Hezbollah, which has been a state-within-a-state in southern Lebanon and southern Beirut.

“Israel shares the same goals as the international community, and for us the best option is full implementation of 1559,” Ms. Livni said. “That’s the way out of this crisis, and now is the time to implement it.”

It was a great accomplishment to get the Syrians largely out of Lebanon, she said, but there is more to do. “The Syrians have left,” she said, “but they have a kind of branch in Lebanon, and Hezbollah keeps an open front for Iran with Israel.”

At the United Nations, the Security Council went into its third session on Lebanon in four days, but beforehand John R. Bolton, the American ambassador, discouraged talk of a multilateral force. Three questions must be addressed, he said: “Would such a force be empowered to deal with the real problem? The real problem is Hezbollah. Would it be empowered to deal with countries like Syria and Iran that support Hezbollah?”

Third, he said, was how a new force would improve on Unifil or help strengthen Lebanese institutions.

Asked why the United States was not backing an immediate cease-fire, he said, “We could have a cease-fire in a matter of nanoseconds if Hezbollah and Hamas would release their kidnap victims and would stop engaging in rocket attacks and other acts of terrorism against Israel.”

A United Nations mission dispatched by Mr. Annan to the region will make its first visit to Israel on Friday and return to report at the end of the week.

Initially, Mr. Olmert refused to see the team, but changed his mind after Ms. Livni argued that a robust international force that could enforce Resolution 1559, blessed by the United Nations, would be an opportunity for Israel to be seen on the right side of international legitimacy.

The Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, met with Mr. Annan’s team and said afterward, “We don’t want to talk about any steps before they become concrete, and I want to assure the Lebanese people that we are exerting all possible efforts to resolve the crisis.”

Michael Young, a Lebanese political analyst, said: “The Israelis are creating a humanitarian and social and economic crisis. But there is also a great deal of anger in the country at Hezbollah for inviting disaster on Lebanon.”

Officials in Washington said an attack on Friday on an Israeli naval vessel by a C-802 anti-ship cruise missile was Hezbollah’s most sophisticated to date. Given that advanced radar is needed to guide a C-802 to its target, Israeli officials have accused the Lebanese military of directly aiding Hezbollah fighters, and Israeli jets struck several radar targets in Lebanon over the weekend.

Of the 13,000 missiles and rockets estimated to be in Hezbollah’s arsenal, about 11,000 are believed to have been shipped from Iran. Western intelligence officials also say Syria has armed Hezbollah with short- and medium-range rockets, some of which have been used in the current attacks on Israel.

Western governments were rushing to set up evacuation plans for thousands of foreigners living in Lebanon or on vacation. British military helicopters started carrying some out of Lebanon on Monday. A Greek passenger ferry chartered by the French government reached Beirut Monday afternoon and loaded about 1,200 people before heading for Cyprus. Norway, Sweden, Italy and Ukraine also started organizing the departure of their citizens.

The United States is planning to start evacuating its citizens on Tuesday. The embassy said there was no mandatory evacuation. There are 8,000 Americans registered with the embassy, but the number of Americans or Lebanese also holding American citizenship could be three times larger.

At the Pentagon on Monday, officials said a commercial passenger ship had been contracted to ferry Americans from Lebanon to Cyprus. Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the ship, the Orient Queen, would be able to carry 750 passengers at a time on the five-hour trip.

A Navy destroyer would be available to escort the ship, Mr. Whitman said.

By early Monday, 64 Americans, designated by the embassy as having special needs, had been evacuated by Marine helicopters.

In front of the French Consulate in Beirut, stranded tourists and foreign residents lugged their bags and lined up to register for evacuation.

“I’m worried this may drag on, and I’m leaving,” said Souad Mehdi, 32, a French citizen on holiday with her two sons. “My heart and thoughts are still here with my family and friends. I am scared I won’t see them again.”

Diplomats Seek Foreign Patrols for Mideast (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/18/world/middleeast/18mideast.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print)

Tension between the state of Israel and its Arab neighbors began with its foundation

Alex Argote
Just when the world was heaving a sigh of relief, thinking it had seen the worst of the age-old conflict in the Middle East, the thin facade of peace was shattered by yet another cycle of violence.

The ongoing border clashes between Israeli Defence Forces and Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon have already claimed the lives of scores of civilians of both countries and left hundreds more wounded, forever bearing the scars of a mindless conflict.

The Jewish people have had a long and troubled history. First as the wanderers and slaves of Biblical times and then as victims of persecution across Europe. After the end of the Second World War, the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust were given the nation state of Israel under the auspices of the United Nations.

The solution unfortunately spawned a host of unsolved problems when Arab countries reacted violently against the formation of the new state.

In 1947, the United Nations approved U.N. Resolution 181, thereby carving the British Mandate of Palestine into two divisions, the Jewish state of Israel and the Arab state. Jerusalem and Bethlehem, owing to their religious significance and being claimed as major landmarks by Christians, Jews and Muslims, were placed under United Nations administration.

Since the end of the Second World War there have been numerous conflicts between Israel and Arab nations.

In 1948 Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq invaded Israel.

The combined Arab military forces launched offensives in the north, west and south of Israel but the Israelis, led by able commanders and operating with clear and effective strategies, repulsed the assaults.

The war ended in 1949 after thousands of Arabs and Israelis had lost their lives. The 1948 war was followed in 1956 by the Suez crisis, then the 1967 Six-Day War broke out, years later, the Yom Kippur War erupted in 1973. During the 1980s, Israel invaded neighboring Lebanon to crush the Palestinian militants who had holed up in that country.

Most notable of all the confrontations is the 1967 Six-Day War fought between Israel and the Arab countries of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Syria.

Realizing that they were militarily disadvantaged the Israelis launched a pre-emptive strike and practically destroyed the superior Egyptian airplanes as they were sitting on the tarmac.

The destruction of the Egyptian airforce allowed the Israelis unopposed control of the skies and this advantage helped them to win. Their victory allowed them to capture sizable chunks of territory like the Gaza strip, the Sinai peninsula, the West Bank and the Golan heights.

The Six-Day War has had great implications for the geopolitics of the Middle East. Even the return of most of the captured territories by Ariel Sharon did little to temper down the waves of violence ripping across the region.

Now, the hostilities have been reignited. In July 2006 Hezbollah militants crossed the northern Israeli border and killed several soldiers before abducting two more.

Israel threw a naval blockade on all ports of entry to Lebanon to force the Lebanese authorities to pressure Hezbollah into releasing the captured Israeli soldiers. Israeli warplanes also swooped deep inside Lebanese airspace and pounded hundreds of targets, including Beirut airport and the Hezbollah headquarters in southern Beirut.

In retaliation, Hezbollah guerillas launched hundreds of rounds of screaming Katyuska rockets at the communities and cities of northern Israel.

The ongoing violence has not only killed civilians on both sides but it has also sent the price of oil skyrocketing like the death-dealing Katyuskas

So once again, images of wanton destruction are splashed over the frontpages and the wheels of hate and discord gear up again into the full swing of carnage and devastation.

Tension between the state of Israel and its Arab neighbors began with its foundation (http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_print.asp?menu=c10400&no=305092&rel_no=1&isPrint=print)

UN Shows True Colors During Israeli Fight Against Terror

By Jim Kouri

(AXcess News) New York - While all eyes are on developments at the United Nations headquarters in New York, a key UN official in Geneva held a press conference that critics point to as evidence of the UN's double-standard when it addresses Israel.

A senior UN official said on Friday that Israel's military blockade of Lebanon, as well as the Palestinian territories, was "obviously in violation of international law" as civilians suffered most from such actions.

"The law is simple. Civilians must be shielded. Civilians are protected persons. Civilian infrastructure is protected," UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland said during a press conference.

"If sealing off borders, if sealing off harbors, if bombing airports first and foremost means that innocent third parties cannot receive goods, cannot travel, cannot get to health facilities, cannot get their daily needs met ... Israel's blockade is obviously wrong" he said.

The UN's top humanitarian aid official also urged the international community to respond to an emergency appeal for aid for the Palestinians and said civilians must be spared in the spiraling Middle East conflict.

"Never before have the Palestinians needed our compassion and solidarity more," he said.

"The crisis in Palestinian areas has been building since 2000, but it has never been worse in this decade than it has over the last few days," he said.

However, Egeland made no call for solidarity and compassion for the Israeli people being killed by terrorists from two groups -- Hezbollah and Hamas. In fact, Egeland did not mention the terrorists responsible for the escalation in violence. He also failed to mention Iran's and Syria's complicity in the growing violence in the region.

Egeland was speaking to mostly European reporters following a meeting of aid agencies and donor governments. He said the UN was facing a substantial shortfall in its $386 million appeal for aid in Palestinian areas. It has received less than one-third of the funding it needs to help deal with a humanitarian crisis caused by escalating violence in the conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis, he complained.

Again, he failed to mention the shortfall came about as a result of the Palestinian people voting terrorists into positions of political power.

Egeland condemned Israel's bombing of civilian facilities in Gaza, which he said had paralyzed electricity and water supplies. The sanitation system in Gaza was falling apart, food and medical supplies were running short and disease rates were climbing, he warned.

The closest Egeland came to addressing the suffering and fears of the Israeli people is when he urged all parties in the conflict to exercise restraint.

Meanwhile, in New York City, the Lebanese ambassador is playing "the victim" in the fighting between the Iranian-created, Syria-backed Hezbollah and the Jewish State. However, he avoided discussing how Lebanon not only harbors an avowed terrorist group, they also allowed them to serve in the Lebanese legislature in order to appease them.

In the midst of this violence, throughout the day on cable news channels, one appeaser after another goes before the television cameras and pontificates about the need to talk.

"We must sit down and talk." "Our leaders must have the combatants talk." "We must send a UN mission to the region to talk."

What if someone were killing members of your family: sons, daughters, cousins, nieces, uncles, aunts are all being killed or threatened by a maniac. Would you sit and talk to the maniacal murderer? I hope not. Only a coward would do such a thing and consider himself or herself a reasonable person.

The disturbing and ugly truth is that talk cannot and will not quell the rising tide of radical Islamic fascism. The Israelis are fighting the same enemy the US is supposed to be fighting and Americans should keep there eyes on what's happening in the Middle East.

But they must also observe what's happening in a building in Midtown Manhattan in which world leaders are plotting the New World Order, which means a maverick nation such as Israel must be destroyed. Israel stands in the way of the unification of the Middle East and the Muslim nations must be appeased even if 7 million Jews have to die. Sound familiar?

Ponder this: The United Nations has been discussing for months what resolutions regarding Iran and North Korea should be passed. But they were able to draw up a resolution and present it to their Security Council condemning Israel in a mere few hours. And it would have passed if the US didn't blocked it.

UN Shows True Colors During Israeli Fight Against Terror (http://www.axcessnews.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=10477)

Israel Sends Ground Forces into Lebanon;UNSC Failed to Act on Conflicts
from china

Israeli ground troops have entered southern Lebanon to attack Hezbollah bases on the border, a government spokesman said Monday. Israel's six-day-old offensive against Hezbollah following the capture of two Israeli soldiers earlier had been an aerial campaign.

The government spokesman, Asaf Shariv, said the Israeli army chief of staff confirmed that ground troops were also in Lebanon.

Earlier Monday, Israeli fighter bombers pummeled Lebanese infrastructure, setting Beirut's port ablaze and hitting a Hezbollah stronghold in attacks that killed at least 17 people and wounded at least 53 others in overnight attacks, Lebanese security officials said as the death toll from the conflict rose to more than 200 - 196 in Lebanon and 24 in Israel. Hezbollah retaliated by firing rockets that flew farther into Israel than ever before.

Israel also kept up pressure in the Gaza Strip as it searched for a kidnapped soldier, bombing the empty Palestinian Foreign Ministry building for the second time in less than a week in what it said was a warning to the ruling Hamas party.

Israel launched the offensive June 28 after Hamas-linked militants carried out a cross-border attack on a military outpost, killing two soldiers and capturing another. Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas joined the fray last week, attacking a military patrol in northern Israel, killing eight soldiers and capturing two.

Israel said its planes and artillery struck 60 targets in Lebanon overnight as its military sought punishment for the barrage of 20 rockets on Haifa, the country's third-largest city and one that had not been hit before the current round of fighting began July 12.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed "far-reaching consequences" for the Haifa attack. The eight deaths made it Hezbollah's deadliest strike ever on Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also arrived in Syria for talks with the government on the crisis. Syria and Iran have applauded Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers, which triggered the offensive.

Israeli officials accused Syria and Iran of providing Lebanese guerrillas with sophisticated weapons, saying the missiles that hit Haifa had greater range and heavier warheads than those Hezbollah had fired before.

Speaking on the margin of the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the fighting would not stop until the conditions for a cease-fire were created.

"The only way is if we have a deployment of international forces that can stop bombardment coming into Israel," he said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to Israel to spare civilian lives and infrastructure. The G-8 nations, who had struggled to reach a consensus on the escalating warfare between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, have expressed concern on the "rising civilian casualties" and urged both sides to stop the violence.

Foreigners continued to flee and several nations moved to get their citizens out. Russia sent an airliner to Jordan on Monday as it prepared to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Britain also airlifted 40 of its citizens from Lebanon over the weekend and another group was taken out Monday, Ambassador James Watt said. A French ship was due to arrive in the port later Monday to evacuate Europeans.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday that despite Israel's attacks, the guerrillas were "in their full strength and power" and that their "missile stockpiles are still full."

"When the Zionists behave like there are no rules and no red lines and no limits to the confrontation, it is our right to behave in the same way," Nasrallah said in a televised address, looking tired. He said Hezbollah had hit Haifa because of Israel's strikes on Lebanese civilians.

Syria and Jordan on Monday sent relief to the Lebanese people who had gone through Israeli bombardment over the past six days.

Syrian Ministry of Health provided Lebanon with six tons of medical and nutritional materials, the official SANA news agency reported.

"Since the first day of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, Syria has sent 18 tons of aids for different needs," a ministry source said.

Meanwhile, the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Foundation sent urgent relief to Lebanon and the Palestinians to help them overcome the ordeal inflicted by the consistent Israeli aggressions, local media reported.

A total of 20 trucks loaded with 300 tons of tents, pharmaceuticals, children food and other foodstuffs left for Lebanon while another 25 trucks loaded with 350 tons of relief drove to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Syria has also received hundreds of Lebanese families at the Institution for Blinds, in cooperation with the Naba Civil Association, and offered them all required needs, SANA said. "There are enough places to receive all the incomers," said Labor and Social Affairs Minister Diala al-ubgone86 Aref.

Aref said the ministry, along with the Secretariat General of the Syrian-Lebanese Supreme Council, has set up centers on the borders between the two countries to receive the Lebanese people.

Syrian border crossings have become Lebanon's main outlet to the outside world since Israel imposed air and sea blockade on the country during a massive offensive launched on July 12 in response to the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Lebanese Hezbollah.

Also on Monday, the UN Security Council held closed-door consultations on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Lebanon but failed to decide what the world body should do to stop the bloodshed.

The 15-member council had convened on the same agenda Saturday, reaching no agreement on adopting a statement calling for a ceasefire, with Lebanon accusing the United States of blocking the effort.

"Whatever measures can be taken, even humanitarian measures, cannot be taken under fire," Nouhad Mahmoud, the Lebanese special envoy, said. "That's the urgent thing ... without the ceasefire, nothing can be achieved."

US Ambassador John Bolton said he expects no decision from the council until a three-member UN crisis team dispatched to the Middle East returns and reports back to the council.

The team, which Secretary-General Kofi Annan decided to send to the region last week, has already visited Egypt and is now holding meetings with Lebanese officials in Beirut. The team also planned to travel to Syria, Jordan and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Speaking to reporters after the council wrapped up the meeting, Ibrahim Gambari, UN undersecretary general for political affairs, said he briefed the council on the situation in the Middle East.

Describing what was happening in the region as a "situation of open war," he said the conflict would bring devastating consequences to not only Lebanon and Israel, but also the entire Middle East.

He also noted that the humanitarian situation in Lebanon "is becoming more sever," saying the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs was dispatching a four-member team to Beirut and Damascus to provide emergency humanitarian coordination support.

French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said it was important for the council to work on "a contribution for a sustainable solution," noting that work towards such a lasting solution was much more important than any resolution, press statement or other declaration that could be produced quickly.

"There have been many thoughts and discussions going on and we have to take stock of all these ideas and work on a contribution of the council towards a sustainable solution," he replied to a question about a proposed multinational force and other possible long-term measures.

After Monday's consultations, the French and US ambassadors called for the implementation of resolution 1559 adopted by the council in September, 2004 which called for the withdrawal of all remaining foreign forces from Lebanon, disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias.

Israel Sends Ground Forces into Lebanon;UNSC Failed to Act on Conflicts (http://www.china.org.cn/english/international/174993.htm)

EU FMs to Discuss Mideast Crisis, Nationals' Evacuation

Foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) are to meet in Brussels Monday to discuss the Middle East crisis and nationals evacuation.

During the meeting, Javier Solana Madariaga, EU's foreign policy and security chief, would brief the ministers on his talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora in Beirut over the situation in the region.

Over 100 Lebanese, mostly civilians, have been killed and hundreds more injured in Israeli attacks since Israel launched a massive assault in Lebanon after Hezbollah militia kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight during cross-border clashes on Wednesday.

In addition, the EU ministers are also to discuss the ongoing efforts to evacuate European nationals from Lebanon.

France, Italy, Belgium and Britain have sent planes and boats to help the voluntary evacuation of EU nationals.

The 25-nation bloc has criticized Israel's military attacks on Lebanon, but it also called on Hezbollah to release the captured soldiers "immediately and unconditionally" and to stop its attacks on Israel.

Other nations' evacuation

Alson on Monday, the Indonesian Embassy in Beirut began evacuating 40 Indonesian nationals to Damascus, Syria, following continued attacks by Israel on the Lebanese capital.

The 40 Indonesians included family members of embassy staff, children and female workers in the country, said The Jakarta Post.

"We have decided to evacuate them to Damascus. We put women and children as our top priority," Foreign Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya was quoted as saying.

Desra said the embassy was maintaining contact with dozens of other Indonesian nationals in the country to keep them informed of the latest situation. Speaking about embassy staff members, he said they would remain in Beirut until further notice.

"If security in Beirut worsens, all diplomats will be evacuated," he said.

New Zealand is making plans to evacuate about 30 nationals known to be in Lebanon, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said Monday.

"Evacuation plans are being made as we speak," Peters, who is in the United States for an official visit, told National Radio.

He said the New Zealand government will work with Britain and France on getting New Zealanders out.

While the military crisis was causing problems, to move people "as much as can be done is being done," he said.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Monday that the British authorities looked after New Zealand's interests in countries where it had no diplomatic post.

"We will need to be guided by them in their efforts to get out the foreign nationals they're responsible for," she told the Newstalk ZB radio network.

New Zealand officials are now contacting with many of the New Zealanders in Lebanon for evacuation.

The Venezuelan government has begun to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon as Israeli attacks on Hezbollah militants continued, Venezuela's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

The announcement was made as Israel launched missiles at targets across Lebanon, killing six people and wounding 33 others and heightening tensions between Israel and Lebanon after Hezbollah rockets struck new targets deeper inside Israel.

According to a statement released by the ministry, Venezuela's diplomatic mission is working to facilitate the departure of its citizens.

"The government of Venezuela shows solidarity with its nationals who have relatives in Lebanese territory, but calls for calm," the statement added.

8 Canadians killed in Lebanon

Eight Canadians were killed and six others seriously wounded in an Israeli air raid that hit a Lebanese town on the border with Israel on Sunday, the Canadian Foreign Ministry confirmed.

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said the wounded Canadians were in critical condition after the town of Aitaroun was hit in the fifth day of fighting between the Israeli military and the Lebanese-based militant organization Hezbollah.

Some of the victims were from the same family and had come from Canada to spend the summer holidays in Aitaroun, reports said.

In a statement released earlier Sunday, MacKay said Ottawa is sending in commercial vessels to help any Canadian citizen who wishes to leave Lebanon.

"We are securing commercial vessels and pre-positioning them off the coast of Lebanon. We are also working to secure safe passage for these vessels," said the statement.

Canada is also in the process of deploying additional support, including a planning assistance team and more consular staff, MacKay said.

The Canadian Foreign Affairs Department says 16,000 Canadians have registered with the government to say they are in Lebanon, while estimating that there are likely two to three times that many in the country.

EU FMs to Discuss Mideast Crisis, Nationals' Evacuation (http://www.china.org.cn/english/international/174919.htm)

Israel Concurs with G8's Statement on Violence in Lebanon

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday that Israel agreed to a statement issued by the Group of Eight industrialized nations which blamed "extremists" for the escalating violence in Lebanon.

"Israel concurs with the position of the international community, which places responsibility for the conflict on extremist elements," Livni said in a statement cited by local newspaper Ha'aretz.

"(Israel) sees the path to a solution through the release of the abducted soldiers, a cessation of rocket fire on Israel and a full implementation of UN Resolution 1559," she added. The resolution, adopted in September 2004, demands the disarmament of all militia in Lebanon. The Shiite Hizbollah is the only armed militant group in Lebanon.

"Israel will cooperate with international parties to turn these principles into concrete diplomatic action," Livni said.

Earlier in the day, leaders of the G8 countries issued a statement in St. Petersburg, Russia, which calls for the release of two Israeli soldiers seized by Hizbollah militia, an end to Hizbollah rocket attacks against Israel while blaming "extremists" for the escalating violence.

The leaders, meanwhile, also urged Israel to exercise restraint. Israel has started a massive assault in Lebanon after Hizbollah militia snatched the two Israeli soldiers during cross-border clashes on Wednesday.

Lebanon has effectively been under an Israeli air, ground and sea blockade since then.

Over 100 Lebanese, most of them civilians, have been killed and hundreds more wounded in the five-day-old Israeli offensive, while 24 Israelis including 12 civilians have been killed and scores of others wounded in the violence with Hizbollah.

Israel Concurs with G8's Statement on Violence in Lebanon (http://www.china.org.cn/english/international/174882.htm)

Diplomatic efforts accompany IDF operation

UN delegation to Middle East schedule to meet with Foreign Minister Livni Tuesday in attempt to end fighting in north; Blair, Annan call for deployment of international forces to stop Hizbullah from bombing Israel, but US opposed to deployment of international peacekeepers in Lebanon; Bush: Syria should press Hizbullah to stop doing this stuff. (DW)
Ronny Sofer and agencies

A Prime Minister’s Office official told Ynet late Monday that “there is no deadline for the military operation in Lebanon, and it will carry on until the objectives as determined by Ehud Olmert are reached,” but diplomatic efforts to end the fighting are already underway.

On Tuesday a three-person UN delegation to the Middle East is schedule to meet with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem. The team is led by Vijay Nambiar, Annan's special political adviser. It also includes UN Mideast envoy Alvaro de Soto and Terje Roed-Larsen, Anna's special envoy who has overseen implementation of UN Resolution 1559 demanding Syria end its sway over Lebanon.

The three will arrive from Beirut, where they met with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

“We will hear what they have to say, but we have nothing to say to them,” one official said.

It is estimated that the mediators will attempt to bring about a ceasefire to examine ways for Lebanon to implement at least part of Resolution 1559, more specifically the deployment of the Lebanese army along the border with Israel.

Sources in the Foreign Ministry said that at this stage Israel does not intend to negotiate with Lebanon - not even through a third party – as Beirut does not have the capability to fully implement Resolution 1559, including the disarmament of Hizbullah, or see to it that the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers are returned home safely.

“Today is the first day of diplomacy, which is accompanying the military operation against Hizbullah in Lebanon,” a government official said. “We come to this day with an advantage, not only because Israel is demanding that the UN resolution be implemented, but also due to the wide international support we received in the G-8 summit and from several European Union countries.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Monday for the deployment of international forces to stop Hizbullah from bombing Israel.

"The blunt reality is that this violence is not going to stop unless we create the conditions for the cessation of violence," Blair said after talks with Annan on the margins of the G-8 summit.

'Things cannot go on like this'

"The only way we're going to get a cessation of hostilities is if we have the deployment of an international force into that area that can stop the bombardment over into Israel and therefore gives Israel a reason to stop its attacks on Hezbollah," he said.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi promised that his country would make a "significant contribution" to the proposed peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.

Prodi told a news conference that he, Blair, and Annan “are holding numerous discussions” on the proposal and that "Italy confirms that it is ready to make a significant contribution to the implementation of this idea."

French President Jacques Chirac said at the close of a G8 summit that returning stability to Lebanon may require "means of coercion."

"Some kind of buffer zone is needed; the idea is to have an international force and a line of surveillance in southern Lebanon,” Chirac said at a news conference.

Asked about implementation Resolution 1559 that calls for disarmament of militias in Lebanon, the French president stated that "this will probably demand some means of coercion".

"Things cannot go on like this," Chirac said. "A means for repression, when needed, and in any event for surveillance, is required. We have a situation that requires outside intervention, in such a way as to assure borders and to avoid cross-border aggression by one side against the other."

Chirac called the explosion of violence "aberrant" and dispatched Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to Beirut to "express the support of France and the solidarity of the French people in this trial."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also backed the initiative, but added that is was too soon to discuss the possibility of German troops joining the peacekeeping efforts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would consider sending troops to the region, and a similar statement was issued by the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Blair, however, pointed out that British forces are "stretched'' in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US is opposed to the deployment of international peacekeepers in Lebanon, with Ambassador to the UN John Bolton questioning such a force’s ability to dismantle Hizbullah or stop Syria and Iran’s support of the terror group.

'Get Hizbullah to stop doing this stuff'

Bolton said steps must be taken to strengthen the Lebanese government and army instead of creating a “new international body.”

A microphone picked up an unaware President George Bush saying on Monday Syria should press Hizbullah to "stop doing this s***" and that his secretary of state may go to the Middle East soon.

Bush was talking privately to Blair during a lunch at the G-8 summit in St Petersburg.

Neither immediately realized a microphone was transmitting their candid thoughts on that and other issues.

"I think Condi (Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice) is going to go (to the Middle East) pretty soon," Bush said.

Blair replied: "Right, that's all that matters, it will take some time to get that together." Rice said on Sunday she was thinking of going to the region if it would help.

However, Rice headed back to the United States after the G8 summit closed on Monday, a State Department spokeswoman said.

Blair added: "See, if she (Rice) goes out she's got to succeed as it were, where as I can just go out and talk."

Bush replied: "See, the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hizbullah to stop doing this (stuff DW) and it's over."

While his language was salty, the message from Bush was what it had been throughout the summit - that Syria is supporting Hizbullah guerrillas in southern Lebanon and should force them to stop shelling Israel and return abducted Israeli soldiers.

Diplomatic efforts accompany IDF operation (http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3277544,00.html)

Hizbollah leader's actions hit reputation as shrewd operator

By Roula Khalaf in Beirut
Published: July 18 2006 03:00 | Last updated: July 18 2006 03:00

After raining rockets on the Israeli city of Haifa, a calm and composed Hassan Nasrallah delivered a videotaped message on Arab satellite stations late on Sunday.

Addressing himself to the Lebanese people and the Muslim nation at large, he played the general, briefing on Israeli targets hit by Hizbollah, the Shia Islamist guerrilla movement he leads. Acting as the self-appointed leader of Lebanon, he promised more "surprises" beyond Haifa, dashing hopes he might abide by the restraint demanded by world powers.

"Don't worry about rebuilding the country," he told the Lebanese, as Israeli combat aircraft pursued their destructive campaign, ignited by Hizbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers. In a clear reference to Iran, which, along with Syria, is a main backer of Hizbollah, he said his movement had friends with vast financial resources ready to help without political conditions.

Mr Nasrallah, leader of a large part of the Shia Muslim community, the country's largest minority, has long been one of the most powerful figures in Lebanon, admired by some and feared by others. But as he launches into a confrontation with Israel that many governments are hoping will lead to his party's destruction, he has become a fixation to all. An anxious population awaits his tapes, assessing every word and gauging his mood. His many critics desperately hope he will end a conventional war he cannot win. His supporters expect him never to waver in his persistence.

As Hizbollah rockets hit an Israeli military ship last Friday, a defiant Mr Nasrallah came on air, vowing open war and dramatically calling on people to turn towards the Mediterranean to watch the ship burn.

But the platform he is seeking now extends beyond Lebanon. Capitalising on the hero status he has enjoyed in the Arab world since 2000 when his guerrillas were instrumental in ending Israel's 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon, he is counting on the support of Muslim populations.

Responding to stern Saudi criticism of reckless adventurism, Mr Nasrallah concluded in his last videotape that Arab rulers and governments had failed to move the Middle East peace process, and declared that his actions provided a historic opportunity for the Arab and Muslim people to achieve a victory against "the Zionist enemy".

Those mesmerised by him compare him to the late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser who mastered the art of speaking to the Arab public above the heads of their leaders. But people who blame him for the war say he reminds them of Iraq's Saddam Hussein.

Yet Mr Nasrallah's recent actions are uncharacteristic of a shrewd politician who had until recently been careful to balance his party's interests against those of the Lebanese state. With the world community, and many at home, wanting his party to disarm he took a huge gamble last week that has left Lebanon in flames and his organisation in serious jeopardy.

A fiery, charismatic speaker, Mr Nasrallah became leader of the party in 1992, at the age of 32.

Under him, Hizbollah became a formidable guerrilla force in what was then a war of attrition with Israel. But he also steered the party towards a greater political role in Lebanon by participating in elections and last year joining a national unity government. According to people close to the party, he managed to gain a margin of independence from his backers Syria and Iran.

This helped dilute the terrorist image of Hizbollah promoted by the US, which blames it for the 1983 bombing of the US marine barracks in Beirut and later the US embassy and the spate of kidnappings of foreigners - a charge the party denies. It also convinced many Lebanese that Hizbollah was capable of a formidable transformation from guerrilla group to political party.

Inside Lebanon, Mr Nasrallah earned the respect of even his most devoted opponents when he sacrificed his eldest son Hadi to a 1997 military operation against Israeli troops. The day after Hadi died, Mr Nasrallah stunned his own party by insisting on giving a planned speech.

But Mr Nasrallah has faced a dilemma since Syria last year removed its troops from Lebanon, in the face of political uproar over the killing of Rafiq Hariri, the former prime minister and Syrian opponent.

The Syrian exit intensified calls within Lebanon and abroad for the disarmament of the movement, the only group with a military wing since the end of the civil war in 1991.

The Shia community felt under threat by the Sunni and Christian coalition that had ousted Damascus, and Hizbollah feared Lebanon would turn into a stage where the US and Israel would settle their scores with Syria and Iran, and eventually with him.

But at a time when Mr Nasrallah was still sitting around the table in the national dialogue with other politicians to discuss, among other things, Hizbollah's military wing, no one expected a brazen raid inside Israel or a new war.

Hizbollah leader's actions hit reputation as shrewd operator (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/083010f8-15f9-11db-9950-0000779e2340,_i_rssPage=fc3334c0-2f7a-11da-8b51-00000e2511c8.html)

Iran the lurking issue as Mideast violence flares

By Sally Buzbee
The sudden, shocking flare-up of Mideast violence may really be - underneath - all about Iran. And it's not just Israel, but also the United States and even some Arab countries, who hope the Islamic regime and friends like Syria suffer a big blow. So far, the battleground has been limited to Lebanon and Israel: Lebanon being pounded by Israeli aircraft and Israel by Hezbollah missiles. But the underlying struggle is between Israel and others who view Iran as a dangerous threat, and Iran and its allies determined to show they can cause serious trouble if pressured too hard. All that means the fighting could last a long time.
It's been brewing for years as the Palestinian-Israeli crisis has festered and the Mideast has suffered through other destabilising crises like the Iraq war. Yet the reason it erupted now remains unclear. In part, Hezbollah's leader may have decided, facing domestic political pressure, that he needed to show he was still a leader of the anti-Israeli cause. For its part, Israel chose to fight back hard when Hezbollah seized two soldiers, perhaps thinking any sign of weakness could make it more vulnerable. Or perhaps, as some Israeli generals have suggested, it saw a chance to eviscerate Hezbollah once and for all, once the group stuck its head up.
Iran and Syria, meanwhile, clearly had their own reasons for being pleased, whether they ordered Hezbollah's actions or merely supported them. "Provoking Israel creates a natural division between the US, as Israel's ally, and Europe," notes Anthony Cordesman, one of the top Mideast experts in the United States. "It distracts from Syria's crimes in Lebanon and Iran's nuclear programs." And of course, as the United States has learned so painfully, "every Israeli action against Arabs feeds Arab anger against the US," Cordesman says. In that sense, Iran and Syria gain big advantages with few risks from the current fighting. Both countries had in fact warned for months that they had ways to strike back if the United States pressured them too much.
As just one example of how the crisis has distracted from other efforts, the G-8 summit of nations had hoped to focus on a joint policy on Iran's nuclear programme. Instead, the leaders spent their meeting struggling to reach a semblance of consensus on how to stop the new violence. That consensus is far away, despite a joint statement issued Sunday. France, for example, has pushed for a cease-fire, making the point along with other European nations that Israel's attacks on Lebanon rile up anti-Western and anti-Israeli sentiment. President Bush, however, has not called for a ceasefire. He urged Israel to be careful and lamented the suffering of civilians. But he also said the violence had created a "moment of clarification" that showed the world how Hezbollah disrupts peace efforts.
What's more surprising is that Arab countries allied with the United States have lashed out at Hezbollah too. Hezbollah's attacks on Israel were "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal said. Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, the Palestinian Authority, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain all agreed. All are governments dominated by Sunni Muslims, most of them worried about the growing influence - and confrontational stance - of the heavily Shiite Muslim Iranian regime. They also worry about the prospect of an Iraq dominated by Shiite parties beholden to Iran. And unlike Iran, Syria, Hezbollah or Hamas, most of those Arab countries also have shown willingness to accept some type of deal on the Israel-Palestinian crisis even if they're lukewarm about it.
In some ways, it should make the United States happy that Arab countries like Saudi Arabia criticize Hezbollah. But as Mideast lines sharpen and hostilities grow, it paradoxically becomes more difficult for such US allies to have any real influence over groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, or countries like Syria. That means the US ability to influence the region falls.
Stability also becomes an issue. Countries like Egypt worry that their people will support Hezbollah, even if they don't, leading to protests and dissent. Hezbollah and Iran play off that for all it's worth. Hezbollah's leader has cast himself as a protector of the Islamic world, writ large, as has Iran's hardline president. Both are sophisticated in using the region's satellite television stations to spread their message that confrontation alone can give Muslims dignity. The question, of course, is how far all this will go.
So far, the battleground has remained Lebanon and Israel but it could easily spread. Iran has warned that Israel will suffer if it broadens its attacks to include Syria, but what Iran might do in such a situation remains unclear. Both sides clearly view their very existence at risk and thus will be loathe to back down, said Iranian exile Amir Taheri, writing in Sunday's pan-Arab Asharq Al Awsat newspaper. And that could make the fight both long and damaging. "The stakes have been raised beyond anyone's expectation," Taheri said.

Iran the lurking issue as Mideast violence flares (http://www.kuwaittimes.net/analysis.asp?dismode=article&artid=2044038940)

Tel Aviv plans 4-tier, intensifying offensive

By Abraham Rabinovich
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 17, 2006

JERUSALEM -- The fierce Israeli attack in Lebanon is part of a carefully orchestrated plan -- not yet half-completed -- that calls for four stages of mounting intensity, culminating in the movement of ground troops into Lebanon, according to Israeli reports.
Military correspondents with access to senior military officials say that in the first stage -- which began shortly after Hezbollah raiders seized two soldiers on Wednesday -- Israeli warplanes attacked missile caches throughout Lebanon, particularly those housing long-range missiles.
Fifty caches, some hidden underground and some in private homes, reportedly were destroyed, a military briefer told reporters yesterday. It is not clear what percentage of the 13,000 missiles known to be in Hezbollah hands that accounts for.
At the same time, artillery pounded Hezbollah positions and command posts from the Israeli side of the border. In this first stage, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also bombed the Beirut airport and imposed a sea blockade to impress upon the Lebanese government the consequences of failing to stop Hezbollah from attacking Israel from southern Lebanon.
In the second stage, which began early Friday, warplanes attacked the heart of Hezbollah's power, destroying high-rise buildings in southern Beirut that house the organization's command structure and the home of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.
Sheik Nasrallah reportedly was trapped for a while in the militia's underground command center when the building above it collapsed, covering the entrance. He apparently was not injured.
The third and fourth stages are secret. However, the operational plan calls for each stage to be more powerful than the previous one, said the correspondents, who appear to have received detailed briefings.
One reported principle is that the targets should be hit in a predetermined order, with no deviation from the plan, in response to specific Hezbollah actions. A constantly expanding "target bank," consisting of hundreds of sites selected by the IDF, is approved at periodic meetings of a Cabinet subcommittee chaired by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
One of the final stages, presumably, is the entry of ground forces into Lebanon.
If Israel's main objectives -- a halt in the firing of missiles into Israel and a Lebanese government agreement to displace Hezbollah from the border area -- have not been achieved by the end of this week, ground troops will cross the border, according to the sources.
Israel is unenthusiastic about the prospect of getting bogged down again in southern Lebanon as it was for 18 years before its pullout in 2000.
But the head of the IDF operations directorate, Brig. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, said Saturday that any ground incursion will be limited in time and in the area affected.
Israeli officials say they don't think the international community will force Israel to cease fire before its goals are achieved.

Tel Aviv plans 4-tier, intensifying offensive (http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060717-124950-5301r.htm)

Dear Brethren, the War With Israel Is Over

BY YOUSSEF IBRAHIM
July 7, 2006

As Israel enters the third week of an incursion into the same Gaza Strip it voluntarily evacuated a few months ago, a sense of reality among Arabs is spreading through commentary by Arab pundits, letters to the editor, and political talk shows on Arabic-language TV networks.The new views are stunning both in their maturity and in their realism. The best way I can think of to convey them is in the form of a letter to the Palestinian Arabs from their Arab friends:

Dear Palestinian Arab brethren:

The war with Israel is over.

You have lost. Surrender and negotiate to secure a future for your children.

We, your Arab brothers, may say until we are blue in the face that we stand by you, but the wise among you and most of us know that we are moving on, away from the tired old idea of the Palestinian Arab cause and the "eternal struggle" with Israel.

Dear friends, you and your leaders have wasted three generations trying to fight for Palestine, but the truth is the Palestine you could have had in 1948 is much bigger than the one you could have had in 1967, which in turn is much bigger than what you may have to settle for now or in another 10 years. Struggle means less land and more misery and utter loneliness.

At the moment, brothers, you would be lucky to secure a semblance of a state in that Gaza Strip into which you have all crowded, and a small part of the West Bank of the Jordan. It isn't going to get better. Time is running out even for this much land, so here are some facts, figures, and sound advice, friends.

You hold keys, which you drag out for television interviews, to houses that do not exist or are inhabited by Israelis who have no intention of leaving Jaffa, Haifa, Tel Aviv, or West Jerusalem. You shoot old guns at modern Israeli tanks and American-made fighter jets, doing virtually no harm to Israel while bringing the wrath of its mighty army down upon you. You fire ridiculously inept Kassam rockets that cause little destruction and delude yourselves into thinking this is a war of liberation. Your government, your social institutions, your schools, and your economy are all in ruins.

Your young people are growing up illiterate, ill, and bent on rites of death and suicide, while you, in effect, are living on the kindness of foreigners, including America and the United Nations. Every day your officials must beg for your daily bread, dependent on relief trucks that carry food and medicine into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, while your criminal Muslim fundamentalist Hamas government continues to fan the flames of a war it can neither fight nor hope to win.

In other words, brothers, you are down, out, and alone in a burnt-out landscape that is shrinking by the day.

What kind of struggle is this? Is it worth waging at all? More important, what kind of miserable future does it portend for your children, the fourth or fifth generation of the Arab world's have-nots?

We, your Arab brothers, have moved on.

Those of us who have oil money are busy accumulating wealth and building housing, luxury developments, state-of-the-art universities and schools, and new highways and byways. Those of us who share borders with Israel, such as Egypt and Jordan, have signed a peace treaty with it and are not going to war for you any time soon. Those of us who are far away, in places like North Africa and Iraq, frankly could not care less about what happens to you.

Only Syria continues to feed your fantasies that someday it will join you in liberating Palestine, even though a huge chunk of its territory, the entire Golan Heights, was taken by Israel in 1967 and annexed. The Syrians, my friends, will gladly fight down to the last Palestinian Arab.

Before you got stuck with this Hamas crowd, another cheating, conniving, leader of yours,Yasser Arafat, sold you a rotten bill of goods — more pain, greater corruption, and millions stolen by his relatives — while your children played in the sewers of Gaza.

The war is over. Why not let a new future begin?

Dear Brethren, the War With Israel Is Over (http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=35606)

Iranian People Tell Pollsters Israel Should Not Exist
By Jim Kouri, CPP
MichNews.com
Jul 17, 2006

United States intelligence officials believe that the current crisis in the Middle East, that began with incursions into Israel and abductions of soldiers followed by terrorist attacks against the Israeli people, is being fomented by Iran.

The hatred of the Jewish State is no where more evident than in Iran with rhetoric reminiscent of the dark days of Hitler's rise to power. Meanwhile there are a number of so-called experts, such as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who continue to tell the American people and the world that while the Iranian government despises Israelis, the people of Iran don't share those views of hatred and ill-will.

Unfortunately, the truth is the Iranian people share their leaders' hatred for the Jews, according to a recent survey conducted by a polling company owned by an Arab-American, who was allowed access to the Iranian population.

Iranians showed almost total agreement, regardless of age or gender; when asked if the state of Israel is illegitimate and should not exist, 67% agreed and only 9% disagreed, according to the Zogby International poll.

Also, a majority (64%) said they would be willing to suffer through a bad economy if that were the price the country had to pay to develop its nuclear program. Also, 25% said they would blame the United States if the United Nations imposed nuclear-related sanctions, although nearly 40% said they were not sure whom to blame. Only one in six would blame Iran's own government. If their country were to develop nuclear weapons, 25% said it would make the Middle East a safer place, but 35% disagreed with that statement.

Despite tensions between the United States and Iran, most Iranians -- nearly two-thirds -- said they don't believe that the two countries will go to war in the next decade. Iranian men were more interested than women in making the economy work better. Among men, 47% said the economy should be a top government priority, while just 33% of women agreed. The older the respondent, the less important they considered development of a nuclear
arsenal.

When it came to their view of the United States, there was a split between the generations. Older Iranians were much more likely to admire the American people and society than younger Iranians. John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International, hypothesized that this generational split may be due in part to the lack of exposure to Americans over the past two decades.

Younger and older Iranians would favor a more conservative, religious society, while those aged 30-49 said they would favor a more liberal, secular culture. What is striking is that just 15% said Iranian culture should stay just the way it is right now. Women were more likely than men to say they wanted a more liberal, secular society.

Among those Iranians with Internet access, 41% said they wanted a more religious culture, compared to 33% who said they wanted a more secular society.

The attitudes of younger Iranians toward the government, people and policies of the United States have been shaped by years of isolation, largely conservative religious leadership, and anti-US rhetoric. This group is consistently more negative in its attitudes towards Americans and the American government than are older Iranians. However, new technology, including satellite television and the Internet, could be used as tools that connect young Iranians with other nations in the region, and the West, according to Zogby.

Those technologies -- Internet access and satellite TV ownership -- appeared to influence attitudes among Iranians, as did gender. Iranians with access to the Internet or satellite TV were significantly more likely than their "unconnected" compatriots to identify the United States as the country they admire the most.

They were also significantly less likely to pick the US government as the one they admire the least: one in three Iranians without Internet access (34%) chose the United States as least admired, compared with fewer than one in five Iranians with Internet access (18%), the poll shows.

The American government also appeared to attract more admiration from Iranians who favor a more secular or liberal direction for Iran.

Iranian People Tell Pollsters Israel Should Not Exist (http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/printer_13440.shtml)

Thousands rally for Israel in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra
AJN STAFF

MORE than 2000 people have joined pro-Israel rallies in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.

The rallies were billed to support the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was taken captive by Palestinians in Gaza three weeks ago.

Since then, two more Israeli soldiers have been kidnapped on the Lebanese border by Hezbollah.

More than 1000 people signed a petition in Melbourne, said Zionist Federation of Australia president Philip Chester.

“If a thousands rockets were launch into cities and suburbs in Australia, how would the Australian Government react,” he told media after the event.

In Sydney, a giant 10-metre blue ribbon was signed by more than 800 people.

Dr Ron Weiser, immediate past president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, told the crowd at Waverley Park in Bondi that Israel has a right to exist in peace and security.

“Enough of the silence of many in the press and international arena when Jews are killed,” he said.

“Enough of the hypocrisy that says Jews should not defend themselves, that Jews should just accept that they can be killed without taking measures to stop such action. Enough!”

State Zionist Council of NSW president Brian Levitan recited a special prayer for the release of the soldiers sent by the Israeli Government.

He said the blue ribbons were part of an Australian campaign to raise awareness of the plight of the soldiers.

At Caulfield Park in Melbourne, Federal MP Michael Danby told the crowd that Israel was exercising its right to self-defence.

“Imagine that the NSW Government allowed a group armed with long-range rockets to bomb the suburbs of Melbourne from NSW and then protested that Victoria should not respond because they had no control of this armed militia in their territory. That is the equivalent of what the Lebanese government is saying,” he said.

”So let us understand that Israel’s cause is our cause. Israel’s victory over terrorism is Australia’s victory. The defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas is indivisible from the defeat of Jemaah Islamiyah or al-Qaeda.”

State Zionist Council of Victoria president Dr Danny Lamm also spoke to the rally, and Temple Beth Israel’s Rabbi Fred Morgan and Mizrachi’s Rabbi Yaakov Sprung said prayers.

In Canberra last Friday, about 40 members of Hineni Zionist youth movement demonstrated outside the Syrian Embassy in protest at Palestinian and Hezbollah terrorists.

Among the slogans on posters they displayed were “Israel wants peace” and “HypocriSyria”.

“We call on the Palestinian and Hezbollah terrorists to release their hostages immediately, and cease all terror and violence,” said ACT Jewish Community resident Bill Arnold.

The Melbourne and Sydney rallies were organised by the State Zionist Council of NSW and Victoria with the Zionist Federation of Australia, the Australian Union of Jewish Students and the Zionist Youth Council.

A special prayer service is being held at Caulfield Hebrew Congregation, Melbourne, in solidarity with Israel on Thursday, July 20, at 7pm.

Thousands rally for Israel in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra (http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=1124)

Iran In Control
By Robert Spencer
July 17, 2006

As the crisis in the Middle East continues to escalate, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned: “If the Zionist regime commits another stupid move and attacks Syria, this will be considered like attacking the whole Islamic world and this regime will receive a very fierce response.”

By the “whole Islamic world,” Ahmadinejad almost certainly means to refer not only to the 57 countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, but also to the large and restive Muslim populations of the dhimmi nations of Europe (which has been set against Israel for years as it is).

Why did Hizballah, a client of the Iranian mullahs, step up its offensive against Israel recently, leading to Israel’s current strong response? Ahmadinejad may see this as his big chance to unite the Islamic world behind Iran, positioning the Shi’ite mullahocracy as the best candidate to lead the jihad against the Great Satan. Did he set Hizballah loose on Israel with particular virulence in recent weeks in order to provoke Israeli attacks against civilian targets -- which jihadists have for years tried to provoke from Israel by launching attacks from areas heavily populated by civilians? Perhaps he was hoping to unleash the full force of the world’s dhimmi leftist media against Israel, and to shame Europe, if not America, into refusing to lift a finger in Israel’s defense -- and/or to provoke Europe’s Muslims into full-bore jihad against the dhimmi non-Muslim Europeans.

I am not saying that Israel should not retaliate strongly. Just the opposite. I am saying that President Bush and others should not be fooled into playing into the hands of the Thug-In-Chief by portraying Israel as indiscriminately killing civilians in its response to Hizballah acts of war. Bush, Blair and the rest should stand up at the upcoming G8 Summit and say forthrightly that they stand with Israel against the global jihad that targets their countries as well as Israel, and that they recognize that Israel is not targeting civilians but is doing what it must do in order to destroy the jihadists’ ability to continue to wage war against them.

But they won’t. Bush has already told the Prime Minister of Lebanon that he will ask the Israelis to limit civilian casualties – once again ignoring the fact that Hizballah and Hamas both have no bases of operations as such, but launch their attacks from residential areas, mosques, and homes, hoping to provoke a response that will be useful for their propaganda.

In any case, one thing that this entire situation has made clear is that Iran is pulling the strings. The Israelis have accused Tehran of involvement in the Hizballah attack on an Israeli warship, and certainly the sophisticated weaponry that Hizballah has deployed to the surprise of the world over the last week indicates the hidden hand of Iran. What’s more, he called on the Islamic world to mobilize against Israel just last week at a conference in Tehran: “The basic problem in the Islamic world is the existence of the Zionist regime, and the Islamic world and the region must mobilise to remove this problem….Today there is a strong will... to remove the Zionist regime and implement a legal Palestinian regime all over Palestine. The continued survival of this regime (Israel) means nothing but suffering for the region.”

In the same speech, Ahmadinejad warned the West: “Nations in the region will be more furious every day, and it will not be long before this intense fury will lead to a huge explosion.” That “fury,” he suggested, would reach the West itself: “The waves of fury of Muslim nations will not be confined within the boundaries of the region, and the people who close their ears to the cries of the Palestinians and blindly support this regime will be responsible for the consequences.”

That the current crisis began so soon after this speech is noteworthy. Iran’s increasingly visible influence in the Islamic world, its financial support for both the Shi’ite Hizballah and the Sunni Hamas, its bellicosity toward Israel and its nuclear ambitions (which, not coincidentally, have been shunted from the headlines by Israel’s actions in Lebanon and Gaza), and its vocal support for the global jihad against the West all refute yet again the still common assertion that jihad violence around the world is solely the fault of the Saudi Wahhabis. The Wahhabis certainly bear a great deal of guilt for their global propagation of the jihad ideology; however, Shi’ite Iran may now definitively emerge as just what Ahmadinejad has long been angling to become: the leader of the jihad against the West.

Perhaps we are witnessing is something like an attempt to resurrect the Shi’ite Fatimid caliphate.

Iran In Control (http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=23378)

Dangerous connections of North Korea, Iran and Hezbollah
Robert Grant Jr.

The world now stands at its most critical juncture since Hitler instigated the Second World War. As I write this, the U.N. ambassador from North Korea has refused to abide by the U.N. Security Council's 15-0 vote on a resolution demanding the North Korea halt all ballistic missile testing immediately.

In a prepared statement, the North Korean ambassador flatly rejected the resolution and declared that had it not been for the North Korean missiles the U.S. or Japan would have attacked his nation by now, essentially claiming the missiles are for defensive purposes only. He claimed being named a member of the "Axis of Evil" led the North Koreans to no other course than the ballistic missile defense system they have been testing.

It should be noted the Libyans took notice of the Iraq war and the current situation of Saddam Hussein and decided to give up on their weapons of mass destruction programs. Libya had its trade sanctions removed and was welcomed back into the international community. That apparently escaped the rotund leader of North Korea as he propagandizes to his indoctrinated people, who obediently goose step and flag wave in elegant displays of pageantry, as millions die each year of starvation in the famine-plagued bizarro World of figmented enemies and cannibalistic peasants.

Many apologists for Kim Jong Il's repressive regime would say the ambassador makes a good point, perhaps they would have been attacked. But it's for the reasons he asserts. What the ambassador didn't say is the nuclear capabilities North Korea now possesses are due solely to violations of a shortsighted 1993 nuclear power treaty, negotiated by Jimmy "Wishful Thinking" Carter and Madeleine "We need Engagement" Albright.

The overly front-end loaded treaty exchanged nuclear energy, desperately needed in the resource starved nation, for direct international oversight by the International Atomic Energy Agency. This arrangement was predictably vacated by North Korea in 1998, when the UN monitors were thrown out of the country.

With technology purchased from the Father of the Islamic bomb, the notorious Pakistani Dr. A. Q. Khan, North Korea subsequently developed highly enriched uranium from spent fuel rods and today reportedly has an arsenal with at least a ten warhead nuclear weapons capability. Of note is the timing of the missile tests, which coincided nicely with the deadline on the ultimatum to Iran on its nuclear enrichment program.

There is always so much vitriol coming out of Tehran that one never knows how much is just posturing for the Islamic World, or if Iran is serving notice of intent. However, given the close ties in weapons development between Pyongyang and the mullahs in Tehran, one question should certainly be asked and assumed possible. Has North Korea supplied an atomic weapon to the Iranians?

The role of Dr. Khan as the chief proliferator of nuclear know-how among the countries named as Axis of Evil members is well documented. The North Koreans sell ballistic missiles and technology to Iran, who purchase their missile knowledge and material from North Korea, often with Dubai acting as the go between to launder the illegal transaction. The apparent "quid pro quo" relationship between the Iranians and North Koreans, can no longer be ignored. This potential for nuclear proliferation might explain the recent comments of Iran's President Mamoud Ahmadeanijad, who in one of his never ending calls for the destruction of Israel said, "Israel will soon suffer from a firestorm".

Given the potential for proliferation, this type of rhetoric must be looked at in a much more serious light. The stakes for our troops in Iraq and for Israel are too high to be ignored any longer. Militarily, a nuclear strike in western Iraq would be devastating. The potential loss of an entire division does not paint a pleasant picture, especially to those who think 2,500 dead in three years is already a tremendous body count. For Israel the picture is infinitely more dire.
Israel is what intelligence analysts call a one strike nation. Which means it cannot afford to sustain one nuclear strike let alone multiple strikes.

Allowing the covert operations unit of the Iranian Government which is connected to Hezbollah to rain down Katushya rockets or the more sophisticated and potentially nuclear tipped Iranian Shahab missiles, is not an option for the tiny nation of 11 million. For all those who think Israel is over reacting, answer this question.

What do you think our response should be if Mexico and Canada were to first bombard us with over a thousand rockets then begin crossing into the country to kidnap and presumably behead, (surely no one will be shocked if and when that happens), our border guards?
A little advice for the American tourists now complaining that the U.S. government can't get them out of Lebanon; next year show a little more wisdom and check out the political landscape before you book that trip.

Ex-CIA chief: Bomb Syria!
Woolsey says Damascus, Iran think U.S. 'nation of cowards'
Posted: July 17, 2006
8:35 p.m. Eastern

By Joe Kovacs
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

As violence continues to escalate between Israel and Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency says the U.S. should now take military action against Syria, which, along with Iran, is believed to be backing Hezbollah.

"I think we ought to execute some airstrikes against Syria, against the instruments of power of that state, against the airport, which is the place where weapons shuttle through from Iran to Hezbollah and Hamas," James Woolsey said. "I think both Syria and Iran think that we're cowards. They saw us leave Lebanon after the '83 Marine Corps bombing. They saw us leave Mogadishu in '93."

The former CIA chief, now a vice president for the global consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, said it is much too soon to talk about a realistic end to the fighting.

"I think the last thing we ought to do now is to start talking about cease-fires and a rest," he said.

"Iran has drawn a line in the sand. They've sent Hezbollah and Hamas against Israel. They're pushing their nuclear weapons program. They're helping North Korea, working with them on a ballistic missile program. They're doing their best to take over southern Iraq with [radical Shiite cleric] Muqtada al-Sadr and some of their other proxies. This is a very serious challenge from Iran and we need to weaken them badly, and undermining the Syrian government with airstrikes would help weaken them badly."

Woolsey was appearing on the "The Big Story" on the Fox News Channel.

Asked host John Gibson, "If taking Syria down a peg or two by actually hitting them with airstrikes would be effective, why not hit something in Iran?"

"One has to take things to some degree by steps," Woolsey responded. "I think it would be a huge blow to Iran if the Israelis are able after a few more days' effort to badly damage Hezbollah and Hamas as they are doing, and if we were able to help undermine the continuation of the Assad regime [in Syria] – without putting troops on the ground, I wouldn't advocate that. We've got one major war in that part of the world on the ground in Iraq and that's enough for right at this moment I think."

Woolsey, a former undersecretary of the Navy, was President Clinton's director of Central Intelligence from 1993 to 1995, and has been a proponent of the war in Iraq.

Israel Readies for Iran Showdown by Attacking Lebanon
antiwar.com ::)
by Trita Parsi

As the fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah persists, an Israeli strategy of enlarging the conflict seems to be crystallizing.

Neoconservative pundits in the U.S. have pointed an accusatory finger at the usual suspect – Tehran – arguing that Hezbollah was pushed by Iran to open a new front against Israel to capitalize on Israel's involvement in Gaza and to draw attention away from the controversy around its nuclear program.

Recalling Hezbollah's close ties to Iran and Syria, both Washington and Tel Aviv argue that the recent clashes must have the support and blessing of these two states.

But even considering the anti-Israeli rhetoric of these states – in particular Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's venomous comments regarding Israel's right to exist – they seem to lack either a credible motive or a plan for escalating violence against Israel.

Such a conclusion rests on the assumption that Tehran and Hezbollah could have predicted Israel's reaction to the ambush and kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers. Mindful of the decades-long fighting between Israel and Hezbollah – in which kidnappings of soldiers have been the rule rather than the exception – the assertion that Iran and Hezbollah aimed to draw Israel into a major war remains unconfirmed.

Israel's heavy-handed response, which risks embroiling the entire region in a war, is rather unprecedented and unlikely to have been predicted by Hezbollah, despite Israel's shelling of the Gaza strip after Palestinian fighters took an Israeli soldier prisoner.

Clearly, Ahmadinejad seeks to exploit the conflict – both by appealing to the disgruntled Arab and Muslim public outside of Iran by defying the U.S. and Israel, and by drawing attention away from its nuclear program and send the West a signal of what its allies in the region are capable of. But credible intelligence proving this was an Iranian trap is yet to surface.

In fact, much indicates that Iran, Syria and Hezbollah have little to gain from an extensive confrontation with Israel at this time. Syria is in a weak position – the George W. Bush administration refuses to talk to it, its diplomatic maneuverability is limited, and its army is in shambles. Just the other week, Israel humiliated Syrian President Bashir Assad by having Israeli jets break the sound barrier over his palace in Damascus. Assad's inability to respond was a poignant reminder to the Arabs of their impotence.

Hezbollah, in turn, needs to prove to the Lebanese public that it doesn't need Israel's enmity to justify its existence. Dragging Israel into the heart of Beirut, recently rebuilt after decades of warfare, does the exact opposite. It sends Lebanese society the signal that Hezbollah's continued existence comes at great peril for Lebanon's future.

"It led us to a war we are not prepared to fight," Yassin Soueid, a retired Lebanese general, told the Washington Post. "Israel could hit the presidential palace. … They can hit wherever they want, and there is nothing we can do about it."

Iran, on the other hand, is playing a high-risk game with the West over the nuclear issue. Its strategy seems to be to continuously defy the U.S. but stop short of trapping itself in a military confrontation it knows it cannot win.

While Ahmadinejad huffs and puffs – he has warned Israel that it "will face a crushing response" if it attacks Syria, and accused Arab leaders who have refused to cheer on Hezbollah of being "complicit in the Zionist regime's barbarism" – there is little evidence showing an active Iranian role in the fighting.

"This is rhetoric, not actual policy," Mohammad Atrianfar, editor of the reformist Iranian newspaper Shargh, told Time magazine's Azadeh Moaveni.

Accusing Israeli officials of using the Lebanon crisis to find new reasons to attack Iran, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies writes that "There is no evidence that [Iran] dominates the Hezbollah or has more control than Syria. … Until there are hard facts, Iran's role in all of this is a matter of speculation, and conspiracy theories are not facts or news."

On the contrary, the one state that may have a strategic interest in expanding the conflict is Israel itself. Numerous Western states have condemned Israel's actions as disproportionate and inflammatory. "One could ask if today there is not a sort of will to destroy Lebanon," France's President Jacques Chirac told reporters. "I find, honestly, like most Europeans, that the reactions are completely disproportionate."

Tel Aviv seems to have – with a potential future showdown with Iran in mind – sought an opportunity to neutralize Hezbollah and Hamas in order to weaken Iran's deterrence and retaliation capabilities. Over the last few months, Israel's policy on Iran has been reassessed, partly due to Iranian warnings that it would retaliate against Israel if the United States targeted its nuclear facilities.

Through Hamas and the Hezbollah, Iran could bring the war to Israeli territory, a scenario that has further accentuated Israel's vulnerability to asymmetric warfare. By preemptively attacking Hamas and the Hezbollah now, Israel can significantly deprive Iran of its capabilities to retaliate against the Jewish State in the event of a U.S. assault on Iran. Once Iran obtains a nuclear capability, however, this option may no longer be available to Israel.

Furthermore, Israel's harsh reaction may be motivated by a need to conceal the reduced strategic maneuverability it enjoys as a result of Washington's failure in Iraq. Though Israel certainly possesses the military means to fend off any conventional Arab offensives, the strength of its deterrence is to a large extent tied to U.S. military prowess.

An overextended United States may embolden Israel's enemies, who may be tempted to test Israel's resolve and ability to uphold its tough posture. Through its crushing response and by expanding the conflict, Israel seeks to conceal this potential vulnerability and signal the Arabs to abandon any adventurous ideas that the U.S. difficulties in Iraq may have given them.

What may have started with a Hezbollah ambush on an Israeli convoy seems to be ending with a much larger Israeli campaign to reduce its vulnerability to Iranian retaliation, while exposing Tehran by neutralizing its deterrence capabilities in the Levant.

Israel Readies for Iran Showdown by Attacking Lebanon (http://www.antiwar.com/ips/parsi.php?articleid=9324)

Palestinians hold key to ending the fighting
An international peacekeeping force in Lebanon might help quell the latest outbreak of violence, but a permanent end will come only if the Palestinians get serious about peace with Israel.

We're not optimistic.

Israel appears to have accepted the idea that armed conflict is simply going to be the way it is from now on. So it announces that this time it intends to destroy Hezbollah, and launches its latest military incursion, on ground that bogged Israel down for nearly 20 years in its last serious engagement with Lebanon.

What kind of a future does this mean for Israel? Its people live under a constant burden they can't get out from under.

But just as Israel played into the hands of the radicals by refusing to negotiate so long as a single bomb was set off inside its borders, it now empowers them again by making it appear that three captured soldiers are driving policy.

In the past, a quiet trade of prisoners would have been done. Now the radicals have a new tool: capture one Israeli soldier, and convulse the entire nation.

But Israeli policy stems directly from the rejection by the Palestinians of any coherent view of the future other than committing terrorist acts against Israel. That this approach has brought only worsening economic, social and political conditions for the Palestinian people is obvious to all, but has had no apparent impact on the fractured Palestinian "leadership."

What sort of future these Palestinian leaders might envisage for their children is impossible to tell.

Our temptation is to believe Palestinians want a peaceful region in which a Palestinian state could arise and engage in the economic advancement, education of its children and the other normal human pursuits that lead to prosperity, peace and a better future.

But the Palestinians routinely reject any reasonable path of peace, and they subject their own peoples to the kind of chaotic economic, political and military conditions that destroy entire cultures.

They can't stop killing long enough to even talk about it.

The Israelis, meanwhile, seem to be doing their best to help create permanent terrorist breeding grounds right on their own borders. The Israelis can always win the military fights, but like the United States in Iraq they have learned that winning battles is not the same thing as winning the war ... or the peace.

And the United States? We no longer seem to play any substantive role in the Israeli-Palestinian situation. The current administration's lack of any basic understanding of the Middle East is on tragic display in Iraq, and it seems unlikely anyone in the region believes we have any answers.

But then again, who does? Even the Israelis have little more to contribute than responding to Palestinian rockets with tanks, and to suicide bombers with aircraft.

Until the Palestinians are ready to accept Israel's right to exist, and decide that peace with Israel is preferable to the suicide of Palestinian society, armed conflict will remain the norm.

Palestinians hold key to ending the fighting (http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060718/OPINION/607180301/1020)

Small pro-Israel rally staged outside Lebanese Consulate

Click here to find out more!
By Madeline Baró Diaz
Miami Bureau

July 18, 2006

SOUTH MIAMI -- About 15 demonstrators gathered outside the Lebanese Consulate on Monday to support Israel in its battle against Hezbollah militants.

They waved Israeli flags and signs with messages such as "Disarm Hezbollah" and "Let Our Soldiers Go." Organizers said they also wanted to support efforts in Lebanon to rid the country of the Islamic militant group.

"Hezbollah has had a reign of terror that has spanned decades," said organizer Linda Ostashev. "Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, and people are suffering because of that."

The demonstrators were mostly activists who previously protested the eviction of settlers from Gaza and other issues involving Israel.

Jeni Melnick brought her 1-year-old son Aden to the protest in a backpack baby carrier. She had a sign depicting a Hezbollah militant and an Israeli soldier aiming at each other. The Hezbollah militant had a baby stroller in front of him and the Israeli soldier had a stroller behind him. The message: "Children are not a shield."

"This is scary," Melnick said. "Hezbollah has reignited their campaign against Israel. We need to put a finite end to this, and Israel needs to not give in to international pressure."

Lori Glassberg brought her daughter Marlee, 8, to the demonstration.

"I want to stand with Israel because I don't think they should fire missiles at Israel," Marlee said.

The protest was an important lesson for Marlee, Glassberg said.

"It is important for the kids to take a part in the political machine," she said. "She's lucky she lives in the United States and she has the right to stand on the street and do this."

Small pro-Israel rally staged outside Lebanese Consulate (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami/sfl-dprotest18jul18,0,4854678,print.story)

Russia has connections to douse latest flareup

By ANNA BADKHEN
July 17, 2006

It sells weapons to Syria and is helping Iran build a nuclear reactor. It rolled out the red carpet for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and says it is talking to Hezbollah, even as the Lebanon-based militia continues to lob rockets into Israel.

Now, as world leaders and the United Nations scramble desperately to seek a diplomatic solution to the escalating Middle East crisis, one country - Russia - may be in the best position to find a way out.

"Out of all the major powers in the world, Russia perhaps is the one that has the connections to all the parties involved," said Murhaf Jouejati, director of the Middle East Studies at George Washington University. "They would have the most leeway."

And Russia appears ready to use those connections.

At the Group of Eight summit of industrialized nations he hosted in his hometown of St. Petersburg last weekend, President Vladimir Putin said he was using "all channels" to secure the release of the three Israeli soldiers who were abducted by Hamas and Hezbollah, according to the Russian Ria Novosti news agency.

"We have ... two-way communication with all the parties involved in the conflict," Putin said. "We have normal, lively contacts almost constantly."

Russia has also said it would send troops as part of an international peacekeeping force to the region, an idea floated on Monday by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Britain.

Moscow has long-standing military and economic ties with key players in the region that the United States and other outside powers do not - notably with Iran, which helps bankroll and arm Hezbollah, and with Syria, which has close relations with both Hezbollah and Hamas.

Russia is "not viewed the same way we are in the Middle East, at least," said Marvin Weinbaum, an expert on Iran at the Middle East Institute.

In Iran, Russia is building the country's first nuclear reactor, a $840 million facility in the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr. In Syria, the armed forces use Soviet equipment, "so if the Syrian armed forces need any equipment to maintain and fix their weapons, they go to Russia," Jouejati said.

Russia has said it will supply Syria with Strelets, short-range air defense missile systems (called SA-18s by NATO), with a range of up to 3 miles. Last year, Moscow agreed to write off $10 billion of Damascus' $13.4 billion Soviet-era debt to allow for large-scale Syrian purchases of Russian weapons.

Both deals have been criticized by Washington and other Western powers, as has Putin's welcoming of a Hamas delegation to Moscow last March, after the Palestinian Islamic group swept to power in Palestinian parliamentary elections.

Putin specifically rejected criticisms of his relations with Hamas at a G-8 summit news conference last weekend.

"It was a conscious decision to invite Hamas representatives, and we don't regret anything," Putin said at one news conference. "One should negotiate not with those who are pleasant as a negotiating partner, but with those who can influence the situation, those who can influence their own people."

The timing of the current conflict could not be more advantageous for Putin, who is seeking to re-establish Russia as a major power broker not only in the Middle East, but also on the global stage. The gathering last weekend of the world's most powerful leaders in his hometown put the conflict at the top of the summit agenda, and Putin's diplomatic efforts in the spotlight.

"They're dealing with this absolutely major crisis and (Putin's) at the center of it, Russia's at the center of it," said Sarah Mendelson, an expert on Russia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "If they are able to deliver, it would be huge."

The ability to deliver is more open to question.

"Russia may come as close as anybody ... to having weight in the Arab world," said Weinbaum. "This is (Putin's) window of opportunity. How well he can play it is another issue."

The key test, said Weinbaum, is the extent to which Russia can persuade Iran and Syria to "be more responsible" and rein in Hezbollah. Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program, was skeptical that Moscow could go it alone. Russia "can't be an effective mediator without the support of the United States, because what Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran and Syria want" - significant Israeli concessions in the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, which Syria wants back as part of any peace deal with Israel - "they need the U.S. to help deliver."

At the moment, Russia and the United States are at odds over a number of issues, ranging from new U.N. sanctions against Iran, to Putin's increasingly authoritarian domestic policies, to President Bush's refusal to back Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization.

Other experts doubted that international moves, including Russian mediation, will end the conflict any time soon.

Central to any real solution is "disarming Hezbollah," said Edward Walker, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Russian influence alone was not likely to achieve that, he said.

Russia has connections to douse latest flareup (http://www.newsnow.co.uk/cgi/NGoto/151701365?-16486)

Iran's Hizbollah, ready to attack US, Israel

Next few hours could be decisive in Lebanon -- report

By Ali Al-Nasser BEIRUT, July 18 (KUNA) -- The next few hours could be decisive for the current conflict between Lebanon and Israel, judging by the events of the past 24 to 36 hours and the military escalation that marked them.

The war would either escalate and take a dangerous character or die down, most analysts believe.

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Tuesday her country would be ready to call a ceasefire with Hezbollah if its captured soldiers were returned and the Lebanese army deployed along the countries' shared border and the future disarmament of Hezbollah can be guaranteed. "Hezbollah should be disarmed. because it threatens Israel's security and prevents the implementation of UN Resolution 1559," the minister told reporters after conferring with a UN peace delegation.

However, a political source in Lebanon told KUNA that the implementation of 1559 was not Lebanon's immediate priority and could be postponed.

The source added, nevertheless, that the army could issue a statement about the deployment of the Lebanese regular forces along the border. This could ease tension. The problem lies in the implementation of the UN resolution. What would come first, disarmament or deployment? Israel had said it could resort to negotiations in order to exchange the prisoners it held against the prisoners Hezbollah held.

But there is no sign that Israel intends to cease fire, at least in the near future, analysts believe.

The Israeli minister said there was no difference in the way her country saw things and the way the international community did and added that the immediate objective was not to achieve a ceasefire without Israel's terms being met. Otherwise, the bloodshed would be wasted.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in Brussels Tuesday that the UN peace-keeping force would be much larger than the current UNIFIL one, which numbers 2,000.

In a related development, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Al-Sanioura said Tuesday Israel was determined to push Lebanon 50 years backwards.

"The Israeli barbaric killing machine targets all signs of life and destroys everything in its way," he said on the seventh day of the conflict. He added that the Israelis "do not even spare women and children as well as the elderly." He stressed that the latest victims of the Israeli war machine were factories and service stations as well as roads and bridges.

Iran's Hizbollah, ready to attack US, Israel (http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=887929)

Iran's Hizbollah stands ready to attack Israeli and U.S. interests worldwide

Jul 18, 2006 — TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Hizbollah, which claims links to the Lebanese group of the same name, said on Tuesday it stood ready to attack Israeli and U.S. interests worldwide.

"We have 2,000 volunteers who have registered since last year," said Iranian Hizbollah's spokesman Mojtaba Bigdeli, speaking by telephone from the central seminary city of Qom.

"They have been trained and they can become fully armed. We are ready to dispatch them to every corner of the world to jeopardise Israel and America's interests. We are only waiting for the Supreme Leader's green light to take action. If America wants to ignite World War Three … we welcome it," he said.

Iranian religious organisations have made great public show of recruiting volunteers for "martyrdom-seeking operations" in recent years, usually threatening U.S. interests in case of any attack against the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme.

But there is no record of an Iranian volunteer from these recruitment campaigns taking part in an attack.

Iran's Hizbollah (Party of God) says it is spiritually bound to Shi'ite Muslim guerrillas in Lebanon but its command structure and funding are unclear.

Despite Iranian Hizbollah's insistence that it takes orders from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, government ministries say Hizbollah does not implement official policy. Iran's government has said it hopes for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli offensive in Lebanon.

While Iran did fund and support Lebanese Hizbollah during the 1980s, Tehran says it has not contributed troops or weapons in the latest violence. Israel says Iranian armaments have been fired against it.

Iran's Hizbollah stands ready to attack Israeli and U.S. interests worldwide (http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2206209)

White House denies U.S. collusion with Israel in Lebanon war

WASHINGTON, July 18 (KUNA) -- White House spokesman Tony Snow on Tuesday denied that there was active U.S. military planning, collusion or collaboration with Israel in the Lebanon war.

"Israel is proceeding in the manner it sees fit to defend itself and its territory," Snow said during a White House briefing.

Snow also cautioned against reading too much into the fact that President George W. Bush has not spoken directly to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert since the war broke out last week.

"The State Department, the Department of Defense and the White House have been in contact with key leaders in the Israeli government, including the prime minister, on a daily basis," Snow said.

Bush has spoken directly to "those who have more direct influence over Syria and Iran," Snow said, citing the Saudis, Jordanians and Egyptians. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has talked to Olmert on multiple occasions since the conflict began, and U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley has been speaking to his Israeli counterpart as well, Snow said.

Iran and Syria, the backers of Hezbollah, should be using their influence to get Hezbollah to stop firing rockets into Israel and to return the two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah last week, Snow said.

This view is shared not only by the G-8 industrialized nations, but also Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, he added. A key achievement at the just-concluded G-8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, "was putting everybody there on record as being with the U.S." position on the war in Lebanon, Snow said "The critical next steps really right now are up to Iran, Syria and Hezbollah," he said.

As a result of U.S. diplomacy, a consensus has been built with Hezbollah, Iran and Syria on one side and "everybody else" on the other side, Snow said.

Once the shelling stops and the Israeli soldiers are returned, Snow said, efforts should be made to try to implement UN Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1680, with the former calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon, the disbanding of all militias and the effective control by the elected government of Lebanon over all its territory.

Part of that next step would include providing security within Lebanon to ensure that the government has effective control, he said.

"There is a recognition that at some point you are going to have humanitarian reconstruction efforts, and there was also talk at the G-8 (Summit) about that," Snow said.

The UN delegation in the region returns on Thursday night, Snow said, adding "We are waiting to hear on that." A series of conversations are under way about how to provide stability in southern Lebanon, Snow said.

"Whether it is an international stabilization force, whether it is the Lebanese armed forces, all those things are under discussion," he added.

White House denies U.S. collusion with Israel in Lebanon war (http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=888064)

Experts:Some Arab Nations Rebuff Hezbollah Due To Iran-NYT

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Fears of Iran's increasing influence in the Middle East prompted several Arab nations to blame Hezbollah for its role in the recent clashes with Israel, according to experts quoted in Monday's edition of the New York Times.

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and several Persian Gulf states chastised the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia for "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts" at an emergency Arab League summit meeting in Cairo over the weekend.

It is nearly unheard of for Arab officials to blame Arab group engaged in conflict with Israel, especially as images of destruction by Israeli warplanes are beamed into Arab living rooms. Full-throated condemnations of Israel are routine in such circumstances, the Times reported.

The way some officials see it, Arab analysts were quoted as saying, Israel is the devil they know, but Iran is the growing threat.

"For the first time ever, open criticism was heard from countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan against the unilateral actions carried out by radical organizations, especially Hezbollah of Lebanon," said Hanna Seniora, a Palestinian analyst with the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information.

"There is a school of thought, led by Saudi Arabia, that believes that Hezbollah is a source of trouble, a protege of Iran, but also a political instrument in the hands of Iran," gotcha98 Abu Odeh, a Jordanian sociologist, told the Times. "This school says we should not play into the hands of Iran, which has its own agenda, by sympathizing or supporting Hezbollah fighting against the Israelis."

"Who's benefiting?" asked a senior official of one of the Arab countries critical of Hezbollah who was granted anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. "Definitely not the Arabs or the peace process. But definitely the Iranians are."

Experts:Some Arab Nations Rebuff Hezbollah Due To Iran-NYT (http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2006071717480007&Take=1)

Hezbollah and Hamas doing the bidding of Iran and Syria

Meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia the leaders of the world's industrialized nations, the so-called Group of Eight, issued a statement Sunday deploring the cross-border raids into Israel that have triggered escalating violence in that region.

Yet, in a concession to the French and Russians, they backed off at naming the behind-the-scenes perpetrators --- Iran and Syria --- instead condemning "the extremist elements and those that support them."

Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt --- all primarily Sunni Muslim states --- pointedly criticized Hezbollah and, by extension, its Shiite patrons.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said, "These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we simply cannot accept them."

Jordanian sociologist gotcha98 Abu Odeh told the New York Times, "There is a school of thought, led by Saudi Arabia, that believes Hezbollah is a source of trouble, a protege of Iran, but also a political instrument in the hands of Iran. This school says we should not play into the hands of Iran, which has its own agenda, by sympathizing or supporting Hezbollah fighting against the Israelis."

The latest crises began June 24 in Gaza, when the military wing of the Hamas government engaged in a cross-border raid into Israel that killed two soldiers, while kidnapping another.

The Israelis had withdrawn their troops from Gaza last year.

The Israelis reacted swiftly by decimating much of the Gaza infrastructure --- water, electricity and roads.

On July 12, Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers while killing three in a cross-border raid from southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah --- a minority party with veto power in the Lebanese government --- has controlled southern Lebanon since the Israeli withdrawal in 2000.

The Israeli response has been a brutal pounding of Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon and southern Beirut, but causing casualties in Christian neighborhoods as well.

As in Gaza, it is making it known that a heavy toll will be paid for even passive support of the militant groups --- a tactic that has backfired in the past.

Both radical Islamic groups receive funds and training from Iran. Both Hamas leader Khaled Meshall --- evicted from Jordan and now living in Damascus, Syria --- and Hezbollah's Sheik Hassan Nasrullah are frequent visitors to Tehran. In 2004, the parties agreed to more closely coordinate attacks on Israel.

Israel had contributed to those ties in 1992, exiling 400 Hamas militants to southern Lebanon, where they learned more about explosives from Hezbollah, which initiated the tactic of suicide bombs..

Hezbollah receives an estimated $100 million annually from Iran, enabling it to become the No. 2 employer in Lebanon, where it has established a wide range of social services.

It also has done the bidding of Syria, which was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon last year after it was blamed in the assassination of popular former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

According to Nasrullah, Hezbollah has received 12,000 rockets from Iran --- despite Security Council Resolution 1559 that called for it to be disarmed. The range was thought to be 25 miles, but Hezbollah has shown that it can go deeper into Israel. Its rockets have pounded the northern Israeli coastal city of Haifa. Hezbollah also used an Iranian drone to attack an Israeli warship off the Lebanese coast.

Hamas also has received Iranian arms shipment, although several have been intercepted by Israel.

For Iran --- no longer stymied by or playing second fiddle to Iraq's Saddam Hussein --- this is a chance to exert its influence and that of Shiite Muslims in the region. Its goal, according to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is "to wipe Israel off the map." That the Hezbollah incursion came when the Group of Eight was discussing Iran's nuclear program is not coincidental.

For its friends in Syria, who lost face when forced out of Lebanon, this is an opportunity to be a player there again, perhaps to regain the Galilee Heights from Israel, which it lost in 1967.

For Israel, it is a matter of survival. The world now has a better understanding of its need for security zones. And its clear that Iran's intentions toward Israel should not be construed as idle threats.

Hezbollah and Hamas doing the bidding of Iran and Syria (http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2006/07/18/opinions/editorial/3b40c9fb9908a1a3862571af004ef658.txt)

Iranian remarks indicate role in Israel/Lebanon fight

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran - The speaker of Iran's parliament warned Israelis on Tuesday that no part of their country is safe from Hezbollah attack.

The comments by Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel called into question Tehran's official position that it is not involved in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"The towns you have built in northern Palestine (Israel) are within the range of the brave Lebanese children. No part of Israel will be safe," Haddad Adel told thousands of anti-Israel demonstrators in Palestine Square.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki indicated that Iran may be playing a covert role in the fighting when he said Monday that a cease-fire was feasible. He spoke after talks with the Syrian government in Damascus.

Iran and its ally Syria are the principal backers of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that provoked the current fighting when its guerrillas seized two Israeli soldiers last week.

On Monday, Israeli military officials said their planes had destroyed a long-range missile in Lebanon, named "Zelzal," that Hezbollah had received from Iran.

Israel has alleged that 100 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards are in Lebanon acting as advisers to Hezbollah. Iran has denied the accusation, saying Hezbollah is strong enough to defend itself.

In his speech, Haddad Adel praised Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, calling him a "brave lion," and said the Palestinians and Lebanese had every right to fight Israel.

Referring to the Israeli offensive in Gaza that began after militants captured an Israeli soldier, Haddad Adel said to Israel: "If you have the right to start a massacre to free one prisoner, Palestinians and Lebanese have far more right to fight you to free hundreds of their prisoners, including Cabinet ministers and lawmakers."

The speaker, who is not among the most influential officials in Iran, also scoffed at reports of a division within Lebanon between Hezbollah supporters and those who criticize the group for provoking Israel into a destruction campaign in Lebanon.

He said Israelis "want to turn the Lebanese people against Hezbollah and disarm it, but they are unaware of the fact that Lebanese people know the value of resistance, and the value of Hezbollah's weapons, more than they did beforehand."

He also warned that there would be no peace until the United States stopped supporting Israel.

Addressing Washington, he said: "Either cut your support for Israel, or don't expect peace and compromise with the world." The crowd responded with chants of "Death to Israel!"

Iranian remarks indicate role in Israel/Lebanon fight (http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=87671)

Syria, Iran press defiant

Newspapers in Iran and Syria are in a defiant mood after being accused by Israel of involvement in the Hezbollah attacks on its territory.

Little direct response to the Israeli accusations has been observed, but Iranian and Syrian commentators have taken the opportunity to attack Israel, the West and even Arab leaders over the crisis.

One paper which does confront the Israeli accusations is Iran's Kayhan .

"We wish Israel's lies were true," it says. "The officials of the wild Zionist regime allege that Iran has equipped Hezbollah with long-distance missiles and Iranian officials honestly deny these allegations.
It is shameful to find some Arabs showing weakness in the face of the Israeli aggression and its terrorist ways, blaming the explosion on the Lebanese resistance.
Al-Thawrah commentator

"They are right to do so. Because, to be honest, this is the sad truth."

Another Iranian paper, Siyasat-e-Ruz , calls on the government to "use a variety of mechanisms to help Hezbollah".

"The Islamic Republic of Iran shouldn't restrict its reaction to the Lebanese crisis to blaming Israel or staging demonstrations."

The paper urges the Iranian military "to support Hezbollah logistically and give it essential information... in order to drive the missiles into Tel Aviv".

According to Iran's Resalat , it is Israel's actions, not those of Hezbollah, Iran or Syria which threaten Middle East peace.

"By sending threatening messages to Iran and Syria and attacking Lebanon and Palestine, it proves that it is a regional threat for all the Middle East."

'True face of terrorism'

Iran's Arabic-language paper Al-Vefagh argues that the crisis "reveals the true face of terrorism that extends from Tel Aviv to Washington, across the European capitals".

In Syria, a commentator in Al-Thawrah takes to task Arab leaders who fail to support Hezbollah.

"It is shameful to find some Arabs showing weakness in the face of the Israeli aggression and its terrorist ways, blaming the explosion on the Lebanese resistance," he says.

"They ignore the real reasons behind what is happening - Israel's arrogance, its expansionist aggressive approach, its insistence on occupying Arab land, its incessant threats to the Arabs and its attempts to silence any resisting voice."

Syria's Tishrin hails Hezbollah, saying that "only it had the courage to take the decision of confrontation".

And a commentary in the Syrian ruling party paper Al-Ba'th calls for "an international campaign with the participation of Arabs and the countries rejecting the policy of international hegemony and terrorism... to put an end to the brutal aggression on Lebanon and to lift the siege on the Palestinian people".

Syria, Iran press defiant (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5191994.stm)

Jews protest Israeli action in S.F. Jews rally against Israeli agency in S.F.
By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — A few hundred protesters chanted, beat drums and waved signs and flags Monday outside the Israeli Consulate during a rally organized by local Jewish groups to decry Israel's military actions in Lebanon and Gaza.

Police arrested 17 people who had linked arms and blocked Montgomery Street, choking off Financial District traffic at midday. The protesters were cited for traffic violations and released later in the day.

Oakland-based Jewish Voice for Peace helped organize the rally, along with Jews for a Free Palestine and the Break the Silence Mural and Arts Project. JVP director Mitchell Plitnick said "Israel bears an enormous amount of responsibility for escalation in Gaza and Lebanon."

He believes Israel has more reason to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon than Hamas in Gaza,

because — although both have attacked Israel and abducted Israeli soldiers — Hamas is "acting as an arm of an occupied people. ... They are allowed to resist." Even in Lebanon, however, Israel's reaction has been disproportionate, targeting civilians and infrastructure rather than just Hezbollah strongholds, he said.

"I'm heartbroken about what's happening, heartbroken and furious," said protester Kali Grosberg, 69, of Oakland. "It feels to me like it's leading to a major conflagration in the Middle East and could spread to all parts of the world. ... Anything done by any side to inflame rather than negotiate is a travesty of human existence."

Leila, 26, of San Francisco, who wouldn't give her last name, wore a "Proud to be Lebanese" T-shirt and said she was protesting to support her native country. She said she has been unable to call her family in Tripoli, hit by Israeli airstrikes.

Jewish groups organized the event, but the crowd also included people waving Palestinian flags and shouting anti-Israel slogans. After most of the Jewish organizers had left, some in this latter group were heard calling for continuation of violent intifadah, or uprising, against Israelis.

Israeli Deputy Consul General Omer Caspi said the protesters "should demonstrate in front of the Lebanese Embassy or the Palestinian Authority offices in Washington. ... They hold the solution to the problems."

He said more than two million residents of northern Israel are "being held hostage by Hezbollah" while Lebanon ignores a United Nations mandate to deploy troops to help disarm and dismantle Hezbollah.

A pro-Israel counter-demonstration across the street Monday attracted roughly a third as many people. "I just wanted to support Israel and their right to defend themselves," said David Marinoff, 53, of Oakland, noting that Israel withdrew troops from Gaza and Lebanon only to see those lands used as bases for more attacks. "Hezbollah is a cancer, and if we don't get rid of it, it'll just come back."

But Ceanna Stephens, 29, of Oakland — among those arrested — issued a statement later Monday through Global Exchange, the human-rights watchdog group for which she works, saying "We do not condone any sort of violence, whether it comes from Hezbollah or the state of Israel.

"Israel's reaction to current events has been unbelievably cruel, and has caused intense suffering and death among many Palestinian and Lebanese civilians who have done nothing wrong," she said.

"This is a humanitarian crisis, and it is my obligation as a Jewish person for peace to speak out."

Jews protest Israeli action in S.F. Jews rally against Israeli agency in S.F. (http://www.insidebayarea.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=4065127)

Massive rocket barrage hits northern Israel after several hours of calm

One person was killed Tuesday evening while running to a bomb shelter, raising the death toll of Israelis killed in rocket attacks since the fighting in the north began to 13.

About 60 people were injured in Tuesday evening's rocket attack and were evacuated to hospitals in Safed and Nahariya.

Some 130 rockets were fired at the north by Tuesday evening, 100 of them fired in a heavy barrage within one hour and a half, Northern District Police Commander Major-General Dan Ronen told Ynet.

Hizbullah suffered a harsh blow , but still managed to fire a heavy barrage of rockets at the entire northern area. Five or six rockets hit open areas near Haifa. Other rockets hit the Kiryat Haim area, Nahariya, Carmiel, Maalot, Tiberias, Safed, Hatzor Haglilit and Rosh Pina.

The buildings in Nahariya were seriously damaged. Moshe, who was at the scene of the rocket attack in Nahariya, told Ynet: "I was five meters (16.4 feet) away from the man killed. He ran to the bomb shelter, and the rocket reached him and hit him right next to the shelter."

Nahariya, Tuesday evening

Nuriel Trigobof, 30, from Nahariya, who was in a reinforced room at the time the rockets hit Nahariya, recounted: "The falls were right in front of my building. There were three blasts and two building were damaged."

"One of the missiles directly hit the reinforced room. I heard the missile coming and then everything trembled. I saw the smoke. I called my family to see that everything was okay. We hear the launches in recent days and after six second we hear the hits," he added.

Yoel Nissimov has been living in the neighborhood hit by the Katyusha barrage for five years now.

"Our life has turned into a nightmare," he said Tuesday evening. "The city has suffered the worst blow among the northern communities in the past week. Losing two residents from a direct hit and another resident killed in the incident in Haifa – and all this within a number of days. This causes a feeling of pain, among myself and many people here, along with helplessness regarding the coming days."

Malka Algrabli was driving by the nearby street when she noticed the barrage passing over her car.

"I stopped, left the car with its engine on, and just lay down on the road. The cloud of smoke was huge, I saw death in front of my eyes. I thought about my children, may parents and my husband. At such moments your entire life passes before your eyes. But there is no choice, we have to make it clear to the government in Lebanon that there is a government and an army here and that we are no 'suckers.'"

Likud members' solidarity visit interrupted

Large rescue forces were dispatched to the areas where the rockets fell in order to attend to the injured and put out fires. Simultaneously, sirens were activated in many northern communities.

Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu and other members of the Likud faction were touring the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa at the time of the rocket attack. The officials were taken to a secure room and then left the place.

All this happened after several hours of calm. Earlier, Hizbullah launched 17 rockets, three landing in Haifa. One of the rockets hit the Haifa train depot where eight workers were killed Sunday, but this time there were no injuries. The building suffered damage.

Rockets were also fired at Safed, one of them landing in a factory in the industrial zone.

Haifa police reported that the rocket that hit the industrial zone was different from rockets fired at the city so far and had a smaller caliber.

Yitzhak Farid, a manager near the railways, told Ynet the rocket fell soon after an official visited: "The minute we entered the protected area, the second rocket fell dozens of meters from the first landing site and in the same building. This time no one was injured."

Damage caused in Nahariya (Photo: Nuriel Trigobof)

Simultaneously, five rockets hit Safed, one of which apparently hit a gas pipe used to pump freon, and firefighters were ordered to wear protective gear while working to contain the fire.

Additionally, several rockets landed in open fields south of the town and sparked a few blazes. Two firefighters were injured from smoke inhalation. At other bomb sites, seven residents were treated for shock by Magen David Adom paramedics.

Massive rocket barrage hits northern Israel after several hours of calm (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3277899,00.html)

Mubarak: Nations paying for 'resistance'

Egyptian president says 'Palestinian and Lebanese resistances brought only limited gains'; Saudi Arabia criticizes Hizbullah
Roee Nahmias

Voices in the Arab world are condemning Hizbullah: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has called on the Lebanese government to take control of its border with Israel.

"The Lebanese government must apply its sovereignty on all the country's territory," said Faisal.

Since the start of the war, Saudi Arabia has criticized Hizbullah, as have Egypt and Lebanon.

"We support the spreading out of Lebanese forces along all of the territory of the country. The decision of war on peace depend on sovereign countries and not on any other entity, otherwise there will be chaos here," Faisal said during a press conference held on Tuesday.

"What is happening in Lebanon is a real disaster taking place under our eyes and no body is doing a thing to stop it," the minister said. "Our stance is that it is the interests of Arab countries that there be international intervention."

Saudi Arabia has been criticizing Hizbullah for a week, as well as Iran which is backing it, saying that "elements in Lebanon, and those standing behind them, are responsible for the Israeli attacks."

The Saudi government is concerned over Iranian involvement in Iraq and its nuclear arms program, and its anti-Hizbullah stance has awoken a stormy argument in the Arab world, most of which attacks the Israeli-American connection.

Hizbullah slammed

But Saudi Arabia is not the only one publicly condemning Hizbullah, with Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon taking the same stances.

In an interview published by the state-controlled newspaper in Egypt al-Watan al-Yom, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that the activities of "Palestinian and Lebanese resistance fighters obtained only limited gains and that the people were paying the price."

"No one is doubting the rights of the people to resist the powers of occupation but the resistances must make considerations of losses and gains… the inflaming of the situation to make limited gains ignores the basic goal of the Palestinians which the establishment of an independent state," he said.

"The Israeli escalation in Lebanon drags the whole area into a dangerous slow and the Lebanese nation, like the Palestinians, is the one paying the price," Mubarak said.

Behind the scenes, King Abdullah of Jordan condemned Hizbullah, and together with Mubarak called its actions 'adventurous' during a meeting with Mubarak last Friday.

The Lebanese anti-Syrian coalition, led by Saad al-Hariri, also attacked Hizbullah.

Referring to Hizbullah, Hariri said in an interview to Saudi newspaper Okaz: "These adventurers put us in a difficult situation because of their irresponsible adventurism. The Saudi stance personified the situation without beautifying it and we support this stance because we have had enough of attempts to obtain more, of slogans that don't help."

Mubarak: Nations paying for 'resistance' (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3278012,00.html)

DJ Saudis Criticize Intl Community For Israeli War Vs Lebanon

Dow Jones Newswires

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP)--Saudi Arabia criticized the international community Monday for failing to halt Israel's bombardment of Lebanon. But the kingdom also reiterated its accusations that Hezbollah had provoked the Jewish state.

"The absolute support by some countries for Israeli policies has prevented the (United Nations) Security Council from making a decision on the issue, said Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani in remarks that appeared aimed at the U.S., although he did not name it.

"The international reaction to the all-out war launched by Israel shows the international community's laxity and indifference toward Israeli crimes," Madani said in statement issued after a regular Cabinet meeting chaired by King Abdullah.

In spite of Madani's admonishment, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal hasn't modified his remarks against the guerrilla group Saturday.

While attending an emergency meeting of Arab League foreign ministers, Al-Faisal referred to Hezbollah's capture of Israeli soldiers as "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts" and an "uncalculated adventure."

Madani also claimed Monday that Israel had used "the recklessness of some elements to wage its war against Lebanon and the Palestinian people."

The oil-rich kingdom announced Sunday that it was donating $50 million to Lebanon in response to an appeal for assistance by Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

Israel's campaign is its heaviest offensive against Lebanon in 24 years. Six days of heavy bombardment in Lebanon have killed nearly 200 people, most of them civilians. In Israel, 24 people, half of them civilians, have died in the fighting.

DJ Saudis Criticize Intl Community For Israeli War Vs Lebanon (http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/sample/samplestory.asp?StoryID=2006071718240011&Take=1)

World Reactions: Israel is Right, and Talk of World War III
16:01 Jul 18, '06 / 22 Tammuz 5766
by Hillel Fendel

The G-8 leaders, including Bush, Blair, and Putin, are showing no signs of pressuring Israel to go easy - yet. In the U.S., there's talk of World War Three.

World leaders meeting in a suburb of the Russian city of St. Petersburg at the G-8 summit have come down squarely on Israel's side. They called for Hamas and Hizbullah to return the Israeli soldiers they are holding captive and for the cessation of rocket attacks on Israel - as conditions for Israel's cessation of its offensive on Lebanon.

The G-8 is a self-proclaimed Group of Eight industrialized nations, namely, the U.S.,
Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan.

Canada took a surprisingly pro-Israel approach when Prime Minister Stephen Harper told reporters before the summit that Israel "has a right to defend itself," and that Israel's offensive in Lebanon was a "measured" manifestation of that right. He clearly blamed the current warfare on Hamas and Hizbullah.

In response to calls for a more "proportionate" Israeli response to Hizbullah and Hamas, an Israel Radio correspondent in Washington quoted observers who said that such a response would have to include indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians, just as both terrorist groups have done. Israel should therefore be commended for not acting "proportionately," the observers say.

Former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has described the Israel-Lebanon-Hamas warfare as part of the beginning of World War III. The Republican Senator from the southern state of Georgia, speaking on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, mentioned a series of locations in which the west and Muslim terrorists are clashing. Noting the "question of the survival of Israel," as well as bombs in India, the war in Afghanistan, the "Iran/Syria/Hamas/Hizbullah alliance," the "war in Iraq funded largely from Saudi Arabia and supplied largely from Syria and Iran," and Muslim terrorist threats in Britain and the United States, as well as the missiles from North Korea, Gingrich concluded, "I mean, we… are in the early stages of what I would describe as the third world war."

Sen. John McCain (R, Az.), appearing on CNN on Monday, was only a shade more conservative, saying, "We need to make our European allies understand that this is the most serious challenge we have faced in the Middle East in a long time." McCain added that the U.S. might have to take direct action itself.

"Frankly," Gingrich said, "the Israelis have every right to insist that every single missile leave south Lebanon, and the United States ought to be helping the Lebanese government have the strength to eliminate Hizbullah as a military force."

"The threat to the United States," Gingrich said, "is an ideological wing of Islam that is irreconcilable to modern civilization as we know it throughout most of the world. The United States and her allies face a long war with this irreconcilable wing of Islam."

World Reactions: Israel is Right, and Talk of World War III (http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=107696)

Iran slams Israel as 'filthy tumor'
By Stefan Smith
AFP
Published July 18, 2006

An Iranian leader, whose country is accused by Israel of helping arm Lebanon's Hizbullah guerrilla movement, on Tuesday branded the Jewish state a "filthy tumor in the body of the Islamic world."

The fresh verbal attack came as Israel called for Iran and Syria to be stopped from arming Hizbullah. Tehran acknowledges its support for Hizbullah but denies that it arms the movement.

"The time has come for you to flee occupied Palestine. You should go back to your homes," the president of Iran's hardline-controlled parliament, Gholam Ali Hadad-Adel, told a rally in central Tehran's Palestine square.

Iran views Israel as a "fake" state populated by immigrants who should return to Europe or elsewhere.

"The Americans should know that as long as this filthy tumor lies in the body of the Islamic world, Muslims will not stop hating America," Hadad-Adel told thousands of regime supporters. "Either stop this support or do not expect any peace with the Islamic world."

More than 200 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive on Lebanon that began on July 12 after the Hizbullah Shia militia seized two Israeli soldiers.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also said that Israel's ongoing assault against Lebanon was part of Western conspiracy to dominate the Middle East, and repeated his doubts over whether the Holocaust ever took place.

"For hundreds of years, some Western countries have been wishing to dominate the region. In order to carry out their mission they used the excuse of Holocaust," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by official media.

"If the Holocaust is true, those who caused it should be responsible. Why someone else should pay the price?" he added, before voicing fresh doubts over the mass-murder of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II.

"Why do you say that 6 million people were killed? Allow research on this, because maybe there were 10 million. But the fact that you do not allow this research shows that there is a problem," said the president, who has in the past dismissed the Holocaust as a "myth."

Iran's Shia clerical regime is a major supporter of Hizbullah, and on Tuesday Israeli foreign minister Tzippi Livni said that Iran and Syria must be stopped from arming Hizbullah.

Officials in Tehran insist that they only give "moral" support.

Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Iran's late Islamic revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, meanwhile heaped fresh praise on Hizbullah for its jihad against a "cancerous tumor."

"Your brothers in Iran are ready to endeavor in any trench, side by side with you, to defend the borders of the Islamic nation and sacrifice their souls," he wrote in an open letter to Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

"I humbly kiss your hands and those of the Hizbullah fighters, and I am proudly ready to do jihad against the enemies of Islam and humanity alongside my brothers in Lebanon," said the letter.

But when asked about Iranian assistance to Hizbullah, government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters that "they are capable of defending their country" from the "illegitimate Zionist regime."

He said that a solution for the conflict was an "exchange of hostages." This, he insisted, was "a reasonable demand and solution and will provide the grounds for implementing calm."

In London British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett voiced "very real anxiety" that Iran or Syria might be behind Hizbullah's attacks on Israel.

"Hizbullah wantonly poured petrol on the bonfire," Beckett told the BBC. "One can only ask oneself whose interests are served by that? It is certainly not the interests of the people of Lebanon," she said.

Iran is under mounting international pressure over its controversial nuclear energy drive, seen in the West as a cover for weapons development. Tehran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful energy means only.

Iran slams Israel as 'filthy tumor' (http://www.metimes.com/print.php?StoryID=20060718-091057-4290r)

Beckett: Iran or Syria behind Hezbollah's conflict

Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - ©2005 IranMania.com
Related Pictures

Prime Minister Tony Blair's proposal for a stabilization force was a "viable option" to preserve any ceasefire by preventing Israel from being attacked from southern Lebanon, AFP stated.
Archioved Picture - According to an AFP report, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett voiced "very real anxiety" Tuesday that Iran or Syria might be behind Hezbollah's attacks on Israel from Lebanon.

LONDON, July 18 (IranMania) - According to an AFP report, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett voiced "very real anxiety" Tuesday that Iran or Syria might be behind Hezbollah's attacks on Israel from Lebanon.

Beckett accused Hezbollah, which analysts say is backed militarily and financially by Tehran and Damascus, of sparking hostilities by firing rockets into Israel and kidnapping its soldiers last week.

When asked whether she believed that Iran and Syria were orchestrating the attacks, Beckett told BBC Radio: "I think there is a very real anxiety about that, the report added.

"Hezbollah wantonly poured petrol on the bonfire. It is very clear that their intervention was intended to create an infinitely worse situation of the kind that we have now," Beckett said.

"One can only ask oneself whose interests are served by that? It is certainly not the interests of the people of Lebanon," Beckett said.

Asked whether she agreed with critics who describe Israel's counter-strikes as disproportionate, she replied: "It's not proportionate to be firing rockets into Israel all the time either, AFP said.

"It is clear that Israel has been under attack and is now responding in Lebanon. It is also clear that this is inflicting huge damage both on civilians in Israel and civilians in Lebanon," Beckett said.

Beckett restated Britain's call for the unconditional release of two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah as well as for "all those involved in the region to react proportionately to the problems that we all know they are experiencing".

She added: "We must all try to make sure that what we do not see in Lebanon is the destruction of a state. It is an extremely dangerous situation."

Beckett said it was clear that there would at some point be a ceasefire, but it was vital that action is taken internationally to ensure that this ceasefire is sustainable.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's proposal for a stabilization force was a "viable option" to preserve any ceasefire by preventing Israel from being attacked from southern Lebanon, AFP stated.

"Of course, we need action to cease, but there needs to be something that can then maintain and police and monitor such a ceasefire, so I think it is potentially a viable option," she said.

Beckett: Iran or Syria behind Hezbollah's conflict (http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=44428&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs)

FBI eyes Hizbollah in US as tensions with Iran rise

By Caroline Drees, Security Correspondent 52 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The FBI is trying to ferret out possible Hizbollah agents in the United States amid concerns that rising U.S.-Iranian tensions could trigger attacks on American soil, FBI officials said.

Relations between Washington and Tehran, which soured after the 1979 Islamic revolution, have deteriorated further recently over Iran's nuclear program and its support for Hizbollah, the militant Islamic group whose capture of two Israeli soldiers last week prompted Israel to launch retaliatory strikes in Lebanon.

American law enforcement officials are concerned the Lebanon-based Hizbollah, which has so far focused on fund-raising and other support activities inside the United States, could turn to violence in solidarity with Iran.

"If the situation escalates, will Hizbollah take the gloves off, so to speak, and attack here in the United States, which they've been reluctant to do until now?" said William Kowalski, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit.

Detroit is home to one of the largest Muslim communities in the United States.

"Because of the heightened difficulties surrounding U.S.-Iranian relations, the FBI has increased its focus on Hizbollah," said FBI spokesman Paul Bresson in Washington.

"Those investigations relate particularly to the potential presence of Hizbollah members on U.S. soil."

There is no specific or credible intelligence pointing to an imminent U.S. attack by Hizbollah, which the United States considers a terrorist group, Bresson added.

But Iran's Hizbollah -- which claims links to the Lebanese group -- said on Tuesday it stood ready to attack U.S. and Israeli interests worldwide.

FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters in Toronto that agents were keeping a close eye on Hizbollah, especially "when the international situation heats up."

AMERICAN MUSLIMS WORRY

Muslim American groups worry that fear of Hizbollah violence in the United States could again cast an unwelcome spotlight on their community, which has often felt a target of surveillance or discrimination since the September 11 attacks.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, said his advocacy group fielded almost daily complaints from Muslims who felt singled out or intimidated by government officials.

Muslim American groups say that while they support fighting against terrorism, they are concerned the focus is unfairly on them.

"There are individual concerns that the government does interviews with individuals, with kind of subtle threats that they could be arrested or deported if they don't cooperate. That is really the concern for a lot of these groups right now," said Salam al-Marayati, head of the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council.

"That fact in itself will alienate, frustrate and perhaps even push these young people further to the margins, which creates a very problematic situation for all of us," he said. "In a way, this is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Marayati, who consults regularly with government officials, said they were listening to his concerns, but should do more to show Americans that their Muslim compatriots are just as determined as they are to fight terrorism.

"Since the relationship is not publicized, people think we're not contributing and Muslims continue to be seen as a problem in our society as opposed to part of the solution," he said.

FBI eyes Hizbollah in US as tensions with Iran rise (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060718/us_nm/security_hizbollah_usa_dc)

Iran may threaten oil weapon, Arabs will not

By Ghaida Ghantous
Reuters

DUBAI — Iran could threaten to use its oil weapon if Syria gets drawn into the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah fighters but Arab producers will not withhold their crude exports to exert pressure, analysts said on Tuesday.

"The only oil that could disappear from the market if this crisis develops is Iranian oil," said Mustafa Alani of the Gulf Research Council in Dubai.

"If there is an attack on Syria and if Iran is connected to this attack, militarily or politically, they could decide to stop oil exports for a few days," Alani said.

Tehran has threatened to use its oil exports as a weapon to defend itself in its standoff with the West over Iran's nuclear programme. Iran could face economic sanctions over Western suspicions it is seeking nuclear arms, a charge it denies.

Alani said any use of Iran's oil weapon now would be brief. "It would be a token interruption and not a sustainable one, just to really undermine the psychology of oil markets and to show the Iranian muscle if the question of the nuclear issue begins to be under pressure in the future," he added.

Iran, OPEC's second biggest producer, supplies the world with more than 2.4 million barrels per day, making it the fourth biggest exporter.

Traders say a loss of this amount would be hard to replace as, except for about 2 million bpd of spare crude oil capacity in top exporter Saudi Arabia, OPEC is pumping flat out.

Syria and Iran are the main backers of Hizbollah, whose capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid sparked attacks on Lebanon.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned last week of a "fierce response" if Israel attacked Syria, which exports only about 200,000 bpd of oil.

The worsening conflict helped to send oil prices to record highs over $78 a barrel last week as traders feared the violence could spread across the oil-producing region. Oil held firm above $76 on Tuesday.

Iran's position on Strait of Hormuz

Another source of worry for markets is Iran's commanding position on the Strait of Hormuz, a channel at the mouth of the Gulf that is a conduit for roughly two-fifths of globally traded oil.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned last month that oil exports in the Gulf region could be seriously endangered if Washington made a wrong move over his country.

Oil-exporting Gulf Arab states then adopted a contingency plan in case of a blockage of shipping through the mouths of the Gulf and the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia and other US-allied Gulf members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have made clear in the past that they do not intend to repeat the 1973 Arab oil embargo, which wreaked economic chaos on the industrialised world.

"This is not an option at all," former Kuwaiti oil minister Ali Al Baghli said. "Arab countries decided not to use this weapon again." In 2002, Iraq and Iran called for a one-month ban on oil exports in protest against Israeli incursions into Palestinian territories.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states refused, saying oil was not a weapon and that its revenues should be used for the development of Arab countries.

Analysts say the 1970s embargo — sanctioned by Saudi Arabia's then King Faisal to punish the West for backing Israel in the Arab-Israeli war — had backfired because it led to a crash in oil prices, the backbone of Arab economies, and encouraged energy development outside the region.

"I don't think the Arabs will think about this alternative or strategy at any stage or for any reason. They will definitely not cut the oil," Alani said.

Iran may threaten oil weapon, Arabs will not (http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news4.htm)

Saudi Arabia wary of Iranian actions in Arab world
Web posted at: 7/19/2006 3:11:37
Source ::: AFP

RIYADH • Saudi Arabia, which has indirectly blamed the Iranian-backed Hezbollah for Israel's onslaught against Lebanon, is wary of Tehran using Arab states to pursue its own agenda, experts said yesterday.

The oil-rich kingdom last week accused the Shi’ite movement, without naming it, of "adventurism" that put all Arab countries at risk by capturing two Israeli soldiers and triggering Israel's offensive.

"It is necessary to make a distinction between legitimate resistance and uncalculated adventurism by certain elements," an official source said.

"The kingdom is not concerned by the extension of Iran's influence per se but by the fact that it uses Arab countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Iraq to pursue its political interests," commentator Qenan Al Ghamdi said.

"When these countries land in trouble, it is Saudi Arabia that bears the consequences, as happened in Lebanon in the past and will happen again now" after the devastation caused by Israel's attacks, he said.

Saudi Arabia sponsored and hosted the Taef accord which ended Lebanon's 15-year civil war in 1990 and has since helped fund its reconstruction. In the current crisis, it has offered $50m in immediate aid.

Even if Syria, which is an ally of Shiite Iran and likewise a supporter of Hezbollah, is attacked by Israel, Saudi Arabia would also end up footing the bill, Ghamdi said.

A member of the appointed Shura (consultative) Council, who asked not to be named, said Saudi Arabia could not sit back and watch Lebanon being used "as an arena for settling scores or waging proxy wars".

He was referring to the host of disputes pitting Iran and Syria against the United States and Israel.

All efforts by Saudi Arabia and the Lebanese to put the country back on its feet are going down the drain as Israel pounds Lebanon over an action in which neither the Beirut government nor other Arab states had a hand, he said.

"Lebanon has been turned into an arena for easing Western pressure on Iran and Syria," the former over its controversial nuclear programme and the latter over its continued role in its smaller neighbour, the Shura member added.

On Monday, the Saudi cabinet said Riyadh was undertaking a series of contacts to halt "Israel's war on Lebanon" and implicitly criticised the United States for blocking UN action on the crisis.

Saudi Arabia's decrying of "adventurism" – a stand in which it was joined by US allies Egypt and Jordan – came a few months after it accused Shiite and non-Arab Iran of meddling in Iraq's affairs.

Saudi Arabia wary of Iranian actions in Arab world (http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=July2006&file=World_News2006071931137.xml)

Blair points finger at Iran and Syria
MICHAEL SETTLE, Chief UK Political Correspondent July 19 2006
Tony Blair yesterday directly accused Iran and Syria of being involved in the Hizbollah attacks and gave a strong hint he suspected Tehran was masterminding the assault on Israel.
In his Commons statement, the Prime Minister directly linked the weapons used by the terrorist group with those deployed against British troops in Iraq.
Updating MPs after returning from the G8 summit in St Petersburg, Mr Blair said: "Hizbollah is supported by Iran and Syria, by the former in weapons – weapons incidentally very similar if not identical to those used against British troops in Basra – by the latter in many different ways and by both financially."
Later, the PM's spokesman pointed out Mr Blair's remarks were "considered" and not off the cuff but stressed he did not want to elaborate because the immediate focus had to be on trying to bring about a ceasefire and a lasting peace.
The spokesman said Britain's "belief" was based on the experience of what "Iran and Syria has been up to in the past" and on the "assessment of those on the ground". British officials have previously accused elements in the Iranian regime of the proliferation of sophisticated explosives capable of piercing the armour of British vehicles. The devices, with infra-red triggers, have been blamed for the deaths of at least 14 British soldiers in the past year. Tehran has denied involvement.
In the Commons, Mr Blair explained how the Hizbollah attacks were not a spontaneous act on the back of what had happened in Gaza but part of "a deliberate strategy to make sure this conflict was widened".
The Prime Minister said there was "no doubt at all" that Tehran was supporting terrorist activity in the region and noted . . . "think how much more dangerous it would be if we had Iran with a nuclear weapon."
Meanwhile, it emerged Americans would be charged for their evacuation. To get on the ship when it arrives, they must sign a note pledging to reimburse the US government. They will be charged the price of a single commercial flight from Beirut to Cyprus – about £100.

Blair points finger at Iran and Syria (http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/66122-print.shtml)

Missile cache that could hit Tel Aviv
IAN BRUCE, Defence Correspondent July 19 2006
Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon have "several dozen" missiles capable of striking Tel Aviv, Israel's most heavily-populated city, but have so far been refused permission by Iran to launch them because of fear of retaliatory airstrikes.
Intelligence sources said yesterday that up to 200 Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen are now manning and guarding the Zelzal 1 and 2 missiles, which are considered too politically sensitive for Hizbollah to control outright.
The Zelzal missiles have ranges of 200 and more than 300 miles respectively and could hit targets as far south as Beersheva as well as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. They are among the 12,000 rockets and missiles allegedly supplied by Tehran to the Islamic militia group via Syria to allow them to exert pressure on Israel's northern border and inflict casualties in its settlements in Galilee.
Iran is believed to regard the long-range weapons as an insurance policy against an Israeli pre-emptive strike on its nuclear facilities while it is happy to allow Hizbollah to launch smaller missiles and Katyusha "Grad" rockets on lesser targets which are closer to Lebanon.
An Israeli source said: "The question for the ayatollahs in Tehran is whether the shock value of hitting Tel Aviv is worth the risk of a renewed diplomatic offensive by the West to freeze its nuclear programme."
Tehran has, however, already sprung one surprise by allowing Hizbollah to launch the ship-to-shore missile which last week struck an Israeli gunboat, killing four crewmen.
Israeli warplanes yesterday struck an army base outside Beirut in bombings that killed at least 17 people and Hizbollah fired more rockets at northern Israel, killing an Israeli, casting a shadow over a flurry of diplomatic efforts aimed at stemming the escalating violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a visiting UN delegation that "Israel will continue to combat Hizbollah and will continue to strike targets of the group" until captured soldiers are released and Israeli citizens are safe from attacks.

Missile cache that could hit Tel Aviv (http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/66123-print.shtml)

Syria trying to get back into Lebanon
By Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday accused Iran and Syria of "inspiring" Hizbollah's attacks on Israel and said Damascus was trying to use the crisis to regain its hold over Lebanon.

Under pressure for a stepped-up U.S. diplomatic role, Bush was sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region. But U.S. officials sought to temper expectations over her trip, which Israel's U.N. envoy said would begin on Friday.

Bush stuck to his view that U.S. ally Israel was acting in self-defense after Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas captured two soldiers in a cross-border raid and unleashed rocket attacks, but cautioned it against taking actions that might lead to the collapse of Lebanon's fragile government.

Voicing suspicion that Damascus was trying to reassert influence in Lebanon more than a year after ending its 28-year military presence there, Bush said: "It's in our interest that Syria stay out of Lebanon and this government survive."

In his first public comments on the Middle East conflict since returning from a G8 summit in Russia, Bush called Hizbollah's attacks the "root cause" of the week-old conflict.

"Part of those terrorist attacks are inspired by nation-states like Syria and Iran," he said. "And in order to be able to deal with this crisis, the world must deal with Hizbollah, with Syria, and to continue to work to isolate Iran."

The White House earlier pressed Iran and Syria, Hizbollah's supporters, to exert their influence over the group to halt rocket fire and return the soldiers. Israel has responded with waves of air strikes inside Lebanon.

DIPLOMACY

Bush spoke to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah about the Lebanon crisis on Tuesday and the two agreed to help ease the Lebanese people's hardship, a White House official said.

Rice said she would travel to the region "when it is appropriate and when it is necessary and will be helpful."

Though she gave no hint of the timeframe for her visit, Israel's U.N. ambassador Dan Gillerman told Fox News she was expected to go to the Middle East on Friday after visiting the United Nations to speak with Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Hizbollah and its Arab allies say Washington is buying time for Israel to intensify its military operations.

Analysts say Iran may be using Hizbollah to show it can hurt U.S. allies and interests if Washington goes ahead with efforts to get U.N. sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program.

But Bush singled out Damascus for his toughest criticism.

"Syria is trying to get back into Lebanon, it looks to me," he said. "There's suspicions that the instability created by the Hizbollah attacks (on Israel) will cause some in Lebanon to invite Syria back in."

U.S. officials signaled reluctance to join in international calls for an immediate ceasefire that would leave Hizbollah's rockets within range of northern Israel.

Also on Tuesday, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution backing Israel, condemning Hizbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and calling for Iran and Syria to be held accountable in the conflict.

Scores of anti-Israel protesters gathered outside the White House gates on Tuesday waving Lebanese flags.

Syria trying to get back into Lebanon (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/7/19/worldupdates/2006-07-19T061612Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-260129-1&sec=Worldupdates)

War against Israel has only just begun, says Iranian speaker
(DPA)

18 July 2006

TEHERAN - The Iranian parliament speaker said on Tuesday the war against Israel has only just begun and there is nowhere in Israel safe from Hezbollah attacks.

“The war has just begun, today is the day of resistance, today is the day of liberation of Palestine and there will be no safe spot in the occupied territories (Israel) anymore from Hezbollah attacks,” Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel said at a anti-Israeli gathering in the Palestine Square in downtown Tehran.

“The day has come when everybody returns home, the day when Palestinians return home, return to the land of their origins and its is also the day when the Israelis have to return to the countries where they originally came from,” the speaker added.

Thousands of Iranians attended the state-organized gathering and declared their readiness to be dispatched to Lebanon to fight against Israel.

“We call on the United States and the West to cut their support for the Zionist regime, otherwise there would never ever be peace and reconciliation with over 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide,” the speaker said.

Hadad-Adel, who is head of the Abadgaran (Development) party which currently dominates parliament and of which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a leading member, once again declared Iran’s full solidarity with Lebanon and the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah.

“There will be no help which we would not render to Lebanon and the resistance (Hezbollah),” the speaker said.

He compared Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah with the late leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and said that ”the Ayatollah’s blood was running in Nasrallah’s veins.”

“Inshallah (so God wills), we will soon hold our thankfulness prayers in Qods (Jerusalem),” Hadad-Adel said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said, meanwhile, on state television that an exchange of Lebanese and Palestinian hostages with Israeli soldiers could help end the ongoing conflict.

“Ceasefire would in the first place require serious consideration of the legitimate demands of the resistance (groups) in Lebanon and Palestine. The key issue could be the exchange of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners with Israeli soldiers,” Mottaki said.

The Iranian foreign minister said on Monday that Iran would support comprehensive ways to end the crisis in Lebanon under the condition, however, that the legitimate demands of the people and Hezbollah were realized.

Mottaki also said that diplomatic efforts by several countries were underway to find a “proper approach” to solve the crisis and Iranian officials were discussing the issues with “various parties.”

War against Israel has only just begun, says Iranian speaker (http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/July/middleeast_July348.xml&section=middleeast&col=)

Israel Says 1500 Hezbollah Missiles Fired Accuses Iran Of Helping Abductions
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

URL of this article: http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/printer/printer_6965.php
Wed, 19 Jul 2006, 00:53

London: Hezbollah has fired 1,500 missiles and rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon since it triggered the conflict last week, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said on British television Tuesday.

"We should stop the shooting of missiles over our heads, over our villages and towns. They fired until now fifteen hundred missiles and rockets," Peres told Sky News.

"We are trying to control the roads (...) of Lebanon because all the 12,000 missiles and rockets that they have collected came from Iran and Syria," Peres said.

The veteran politician also said that Israel did not intend to send ground troops into Lebanon, as it has done several times in the last three decades.

"We're not going to penetrate Lebanon on the ground," Peres said.

He insisted that the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah is an enemy of the Lebanese people acting independently from their national interests, and that Israel, by contrast, wanted good relations with the Lebanese.

"The only enemy they have is an army within an army called Hezbollah. Lebanon is not our enemy. We have nothing to ask from Lebanon, we have much to hope from Lebanon. We hope to live as good neighbors," he said.

"We didn't attack Lebanon, and we are not going to organize Lebanon, we are not going to play a role in their politics," he said.

Founded in 1982 in response to Israel's invasion of Lebanon, the Shiite Muslim group kidnapped two Israeli soldiers last Wednesday, triggering waves of Israeli bombing that have so far left more than 200 people dead and closed Beirut's airport.

Quoting Israeli intelligence sources, the London specialist magazine Jane's Defence Weekly said Hezbollah probably had a total of 10,000 to 15,000 rockets provided by Syria and Iran.

The estimates square with claims made by the militia's leader, Hassan Nasrallah on May 23, when he said Hezbollah held 12,000 rockets.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday accused Iran of helping coordinate Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers last week in a bid to distract attention from the contested Iranian nuclear programme.

"The moment for the abduction owed nothing to chance, it was determined with Iran to distract the attention of the international community from the Iranian nuclear programme," Olmert said, according to army radio.

"Unfortunately the manoeuvre succeeded and the whole world remembers the decision of the Group of Eight on Lebanon (at their summit in Saint Petersburg) while the Iranian nuclear issue was not examined," he said at a meeting for Israeli diplomats posted abroad.

Israel Says 1500 Hezbollah Missiles Fired Accuses Iran Of Helping Abductions (http://www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/printer/printer_6965.php)

Arming of Hezbollah Reveals U.S. and Israeli Blind Spots
By MARK MAZZETTI and THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON, July 18 — The power and sophistication of the missile and rocket arsenal that Hezbollah has used in recent days has caught the United States and Israel off guard, and officials in both countries are just now learning the extent to which the militant group has succeeded in getting weapons from Iran and Syria.

While the Bush administration has stated that cracking down on weapons proliferation is one of its top priorities, the arming of Hezbollah shows the blind spots of American and other Western intelligence services in assessing the threat, officials from across those governments said.

American and Israeli officials said the successful attack last Friday on an Israeli naval vessel was the strongest evidence to date of direct support by Iran to Hezbollah. The attack was carried out with a sophisticated antiship cruise missile, the C-802, an Iranian-made variant of the Chinese Silkworm, an American intelligence official said.

At the same time, American and Israeli officials cautioned that they had found no evidence that Iranian operatives working in Lebanon launched the antiship missile themselves.

But neither Jerusalem nor Washington had any idea that Hezbollah had such a missile in its arsenal, the officials said, adding that the Israeli ship had not even activated its missile defense system because intelligence assessments had not identified a threat from such a radar-guided cruise missile.

They said they had also been surprised by the advances that Hezbollah had made in improving what had been crude rockets — for example, attaching cluster bombs as warheads, or filling an explosive shell with ball bearings that have devastating effect.

The Bush administration has long sought to focus attention on Iranian missile proliferation, and regularly discusses with journalists intelligence evidence of those activities. But American officials in Washington made clear this week that they were reluctant to detail Iran’s arming of Hezbollah in the current conflict.

The reason, according to officials across the government, was a desire by the Bush administration to contain the conflict to Israeli and Hezbollah forces, and not to enlarge the diplomatic tasks by making Iranian missile supplies, or even those of Syria, a central question for now.

Still, some officials in Washington admitted to being blindsided by the abilities of Hezbollah’s arsenal.

“You have to acknowledge the obvious — we’ve seen a new capability in striking the naval vessel and in the number of casualties that have been sustained from the Hezbollah missile attacks,” a Bush administration official said.

“In the past, we’d see three, four, maybe eight launches at any given time if Hezbollah was feeling feisty,” the official added. “Now we see them arriving in large clusters, and with a range and even certain accuracy we have not seen in the past.”

The officials interviewed agreed to discuss classified intelligence assessments about Hezbollah’s capabilities only on condition of anonymity.

While Iranian missile supplies to Hezbollah, either by sea or overland via Syria, were well known, officials said the current conflict also indicated that some of the rockets in Hezbollah’s arsenal — including a 220-millimeter rocket used in a deadly attack on a railway site in Haifa on Sunday — were built in Syria.

“The Israelis did forensics, and found several were Syrian-made,” said David Schenker, who this spring became a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy after four years working on Middle East issues at the Pentagon. “Everybody recognizes that Syria has played an important role in facilitating transshipment — but not supplying their own missiles to Hezbollah.”

Officials have since confirmed that the warhead on the Syrian rocket was filled with ball bearings — a method of destruction used frequently in suicide bombings but not in warhead technology.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said one Western intelligence official, speaking about the warhead.

But it was Friday’s successful launching of a C-802 cruise missile that most alarmed officials in Washington and Jerusalem.

Iran began buying dozens of those sophisticated antiship missiles from the Chinese during the 1990’s, until the United States pressured Beijing to cease the sales.

Until Friday, however, Western intelligence services did not know that Iran had managed to ship C-802 missiles to Hezbollah.

Officials said it was likely that Iran trained Hezbollah fighters on how to successfully fire and guide the missiles, and that members of Iran’s Al Quds force — the faction of the Revolutionary Guards that trains foreign forces — would not necessarily have to be on the scene to launch the C-802.

At the same time, some experts said Iran was not likely to deploy such a sophisticated weapon without also sending Revolutionary Guard crews with the expertise to fire the missile.

An administration official said intelligence reports have concluded that a small number of Iranians are currently operating in Lebanon, but the official declined to disclose their number or mission.

Arming of Hezbollah Reveals U.S. and Israeli Blind Spots (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/world/middleeast/19missile.html?pagewanted=print)

An Embodiment of Iran’s Long Shadow: Missiles for Hezbollah
By ELAINE SCIOLINO

PARIS, July 18 — Iran’s support for Hezbollah’s actions against Israel seems to have a twofold purpose: to deflect attention from Tehran’s impasse with the United States and five other nations over its nuclear program, and to further position itself as a powerful regional player.

“The Iranians are gambling that there won’t be a military attack against them,” said one senior European official who spoke on condition of anonymity, under diplomatic rules. “Iran is trying to say, ‘Nothing is possible without me.’ And for the moment, the nuclear issue is forgotten.”

Indeed, action on a resolution at the United Nations Security Council critical of Iran for failing to suspend its uranium enrichment activities is essentially is on hold because of the crisis in the Middle East.

Iran’s language is no harsher than past statements by its leaders against Israel, and the approach may fail miserably if Israel crushes Hezbollah. But Iran’s unconditional defense of the militia has convinced the United States and many European and Arab governments that Iran is fueling the crisis to project power — whether or not Iran directly inspired or approved Hezbollah’s actions against Israel in the first place.

On Tuesday, Iran made new threats against Israel. At a government-sanctioned demonstration in Tehran, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, the speaker of Parliament, warned, “Israel’s northern cities are within the range of Hezbollah’s missiles, and no part of Israel will be safe.”

The crowd of nearly 2,000 demonstrators replied with chants of “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

As part of the drama of the day, demonstrators read a statement asking the government to help them join Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, Iran’s state-run television reported.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s spiritual leader and the country’s most powerful figure, said in a speech on Sunday that Israeli strikes in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories proved how “the presence of Zionists in the region is a satanic and cancerous presence and an infected tumor for the entire world of Islam.”

As President Bush and other world leaders struggled at a summit meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, to devise a plan to stop Hezbollah, Ayatollah Khamenei predicted it would fail. “The American president says Hezbollah should be disarmed,” he said in remarks carried on television, “but it will not happen.”

Even Iran’s former president, Mohammad Khatami, who used his eight-year presidency to try to moderate Iran’s foreign policy, likened Hezbollah to “a shining sun that illuminates and warms the hearts of all Muslims and supporters of freedom in the world.”

In a letter to Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, on Sunday, Mr. Khatami, who heads the Institute for Dialogue among Civilizations and Cultures here, called the “Zionists’ shocking atrocities in Palestine and Lebanon” a sign of “their violent nature.”

Still, it was noteworthy that Mr. Khatami also implicitly urged restraint, warning of “the spread of catastrophe and scale of destruction in Palestine and Lebanon.”

Underscoring the heightened sense of Iran as a dangerous regional player, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain accused Iran on Tuesday of supporting Hezbollah with weapons that are “very similar if not identical to those used against British troops in Basra,” in Iraq. Mr. Blair also accused Syria of supporting Iran “in many different ways” and both countries of providing financial support.

Israel, the United States, the Europeans and many Arab states have long claimed that Hezbollah receives its weaponry from Iran, an assertion that many Iranian officials admit in private is true. The most significant recent change in Iranian support for Hezbollah is its transfer of longer-range rockets that can be fired into major Israeli cities, according to an analysis by Anthony H. Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

But officially, Iran denies providing Hezbollah with weaponry — denials that contribute to distrust of Iran by the outside world.

Asked Sunday about Israel’s claim that Iran supplied Hezbollah with missiles, Hamid-Reza Asefi, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Iran offers Lebanon and Syria “spiritual and humanitarian support.” He added: “It is not true that we have sent missiles. Hezbollah is capable enough.”

Even so, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ratcheted up the threats by pledging to support Syria if it comes under attack by Israel.

“If Israel commits another act of idiocy and attacks Syria, this will be the same as an aggression against the entire Islamic world and it will receive a stinging response,” Mr. Ahmadinejad was quoted by state-run television as telling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a telephone conversation last Thursday.

Both Iran and Syria have praised Hezbollah’s crossover into northern Israel and its capture of two Israeli soldiers, the event that set off the Israeli offensive in Lebanon.

Despite its heated oratory, Iran seems to be trying to position itself for a potential role in resolving the crisis over Lebanon. In Damascus on Monday, Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said a cease-fire and an exchange of prisoners would be a possible way forward in the Israeli-Lebanese conflict.

Speaking after a meeting with Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa, Mr. Mottaki said there should be an “acceptable and fair” resolution, adding, “In fact, there can be a cease-fire followed by a prisoner swap.”

Even some of the most seasoned analysts of Iran’s backing for Hezbollah are restrained in their conclusions of Iran’s role in the recent crisis. “Iran will certainly benefit from Hezbollah strikes,” Mr. Cordesman wrote in his analysis. But, he added, “Until there are hard facts, Iran’s role in all this is a matter of speculation, and conspiracy theories are not facts or news.”

An Embodiment of Iran’s Long Shadow: Missiles for Hezbollah (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print)

Canada's opposition parties demand PM to reconsider pro-Israeli rhetoric

Canada's opposition parties are demanding that Prime Minister Stephen Harper reconsider his pro-Israeli remarks, warning that Ottawa's strong support of Israel's actions against Hezbollah could damage Canada's credibility as a future peacemaker in the region.

"We strongly urge the prime minister to reconsider some of his rhetoric and his language," interim Liberal Leader Bill Graham said in Vancouver on Tuesday.

Harper sided firmly with Israel since it began military air strikes against the Lebanese-based Hezbollah militant organization seven days ago.

He has called Israel's response "measured," saying the Jewish state had a right to defend itself. He called on Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas to release Israeli prisoners and recognize Israel's right to exist.

Harper's public support for one side was a change to traditional Canadian foreign policy and would make it difficult for Canada to play the role of an international peace broker, both Graham and New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jack Layton pointed out.

It was a Canadian tradition to work in the Middle East for long-term peace by being able to work with all sides of the conflict. Canada had to retain credibility among all sides in the region if it was to participate in a future stabilization force, Graham said.

"Canadians want their government to offer a balanced response to the crisis. Canadians want us to help everyone in the region come together," he said.

Harper has also voiced opposition to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair's call for an international security force in the Israel-Lebanon border, saying it was too early to send in such a force.

NDP leader Layton dismissed Harper's position, saying Canada should call for an immediate ceasefire and quickly commit to a role in a future peacekeeping force.

Harper's statement had "changed Canada's role as a neutral country," said Layton at a news conference on Tuesday in Ottawa.

Canada's opposition parties demand PM to reconsider pro-Israeli rhetoric (http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200607/19/eng20060719_284627.html)

Timeline of Mideast crisis

Wednesday July 19, 2006 06:51 - (SA)

BEIRUT - Here follows key developments in the crisis between Israel, the Palestinians and Lebanon.

Sunday, June 25: Palestinians attack an army post on the Israel-Gaza border, killing two soldiers and capturing a third. Israel starts to mass forces around Gaza, from which it withdrew in September 2005.

Monday, June 26: Three Palestinian groups - the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), the armed wing of the ruling Hamas movement and the Army of Islam - claim they captured 19-year-old Gilad Shalit. They demand Israel free detained women and minors.

Tuesday, June 27: Hamas, which dominates the Palestinian government, signs an agreement aimed at ending bitter internal conflict and which implicitly recognises Israel's existence. Israeli aircraft destroy key bridges in the Gaza Strip and knock out its sole power station.

Wednesday, June 28: Israeli ground forces enter southern Gaza. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israel will use "extreme measures" to rescue Shalit. Washington says Israel has the right to defend itself. Israeli aircraft overfly Syria, home to several Hamas leaders.

Thursday, June 29: Israel detains scores of Hamas members, including one third of the Palestinian cabinet. The international community steps up calls for restraint. Olmert suspends a ground offensive expected in northern Gaza as Cairo tries to mediate.

Friday, June 30: Israeli fighter jets blitz Gaza, setting the interior ministry ablaze. Prime minister Ismail Haniya vows his government will not fall and insists it is working to free Shalit.

Saturday, July 1: Israel rejects Palestinian demands to free 1,000 prisoners as it pounds Gaza. Shalit is said to have been treated for three bullet wounds.

Sunday, July 2: Israel hits Haniya's Gaza office as Olmert warns his forces will use all their power to free Shalit.

Monday, July 3: Israel sends troops and armour into northern Gaza after a series of air raids. One Palestinian militant is killed. Shalit's captors give a 24-hour deadline for Israel to free Palestinian prisoners. Israel rejects the ultimatum.

Tuesday, July 4: An Israeli air raid kills a Hamas activist in northern Gaza while troops advance into the area. Israel says Shalit is still alive, while his captors say they will not kill him. Olmert orders the offensive to continue, ruling out negotiations. Hamas militants fire a rocket into the southern Israeli coastal town of Ashkelon, causing no casualties.

Wednesday, July 5: Israeli warplanes strike the interior ministry in Gaza City again. Militants fire a second rocket at Ashkelon.

Thursday, July 6: Twenty-two Palestinian civilians and militants killed in Gaza as Israel re-occupies areas evacuated 10 months ago. An Israeli soldier is also killed. Two 16-year-old Palestinians are killed in Israeli raid on West Bank town of Jenin.

United Nations (UN) Security Council debates draft resolution demanding immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of detained Palestinian officials, but the US calls it "unbalanced".

Friday, July 7: Israeli air raid on northern Gaza kills an armed Palestinian. Another two Palestinians are killed by ground forces.

Saturday, July 8: Israeli forces advance toward Gaza City, killing four Palestinians, but other units pull back from northern Gaza. Haniya calls for a mutual ceasefire.

Sunday, July 9: More Israeli air strikes on Gaza. Death toll rises to 41 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier.

Monday, July 10: Exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal says Shalit will not be freed without prisoner swap, but pledges he will be protected. Israel says some Palestinian prisoners could be released, but only after the safe return of Shalit.
Nine Palestinians are killed in Gaza.

Tuesday, July 11: Israeli air strikes batter Gaza. At least 52 Palestinians have been killed since Israeli operation began.

Wednesday, July 12: Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers and kills eight, prompting first Israeli ground operation into Lebanon since its 2000 pullout. Nine members of one family are killed as an Israeli jet bombs a Gaza house. In deadliest day in Gaza since the assault began, 23 Palestinians are killed by Israeli air strikes.

Thursday, July 13: Israeli warplanes bomb Beirut airport and kill at least 44 civilians in dozens of air strikes across Lebanon. Two Israelis are killed and more than 35 wounded by rockets fired by Hezbollah. Israeli jets bomb the Palestinian foreign ministry in Gaza. Some 75 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive since July 5.

Russia, France, Britain and Italy criticise "disproportionate" use of force by Israel. US blames "terrorists who want to stop the advance of peace". Israel calls Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran "primary elements in the axis of terror". US vetoes UN resolution calling on Israel to halt military operations in Gaza. Israel withdraws ground troops from centre of Gaza.

Friday, July 14: Israel bombs Beirut home of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. He declares "open war" on Israel. Israel sets three conditions for end to the offensive: a halt to rocket attacks, release of its soldiers, and implementation by Lebanon of UN resolution calling for Hezbollah's disarmament.

Israel bombards Beirut airport, the Beirut-Damascus highway, bridges and Hezbollah HQ. Five people killed by Israeli assaults, raising Lebanese death toll to 62. Two Israelis killed by rocket fire from Lebanon.

Saturday, July 15: Hezbollah attacks Israeli warship. Israel recovers the body of one of four missing sailors, bringing Israeli servicemen toll since Wednesday to nine dead.

Eighteen civilians are burnt alive by Israeli helicopter attack. Another seven killed in other raids, bringing toll in Lebanon to at least 87. Israel destroys Hezbollah's headquarters. More rockets hit northern Israel, including Galilee town of Tiberias. Israeli helicopters kill two Palestinians in Gaza.

Sunday, July 16: Eight Israelis are killed by Hezbollah rocket attack in Haifa, Israel's third largest city. Israel finds the remains of three missing sailors. Four Palestinians are killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Several more civilians are killed by Israeli air strikes Lebanon, bringing the overall toll since the onslaught began to 106. Syria warns it will respond directly and by all means necessary to any Israeli attack on its territory.

Monday, July 17: Forty-three Lebanese are killed in Israeli strikes, pushing the overall death toll in Lebanon from the Israeli offensive to more than 200. Israel bombs the foreign ministry in Gaza for the second time, demolishing the building. Two Palestinians are killed by Israeli military fire.

Six Israelis are wounded by rocket fire in northern Israel. Hezbollah rejects Israeli terms for a ceasefire. Annan calls for an end to hostilities and suggests a UN "stabilisation force" along the Lebanon-Israel border. The UN Security Council fails to agree on an international call for a ceasefire

Tuesday, July 18: Fifteen people, most of them soldiers, are killed in Lebanon as Israel pushed into its seventh day of attacks.
Combat jets bombard the Beirut-Damascus highway, cutting off the main land route used by people trying to flee.

Helicopters, ferries and cruise liners are commandeered to retrieve foreign nationals trapped in the fighting, in one of the biggest evacuations since World War II.

A UN team was in Jerusalem on the latest leg of a mission to try to work out a truce. Israel says it has not ruled out a massive ground offensive on Lebanon to crush Hezbollah.

Timeline of Mideast crisis (http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimesNEW/basket7st/basket7st1153284680.aspx)

France Runs Ideas For Possible UN Resolution On Conflict

UNITED NATIONS (AP)--France circulated suggestions Tuesday night that could be included in a U.N. resolution on the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon including a cease-fire, condemnation of "extremist forces" that seek to destabilize the region, and the possibility of a new international force.

France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere had other ideas as well - calling for the release of the abducted Israeli soldiers, implementing a September 2004 resolution demanding the disarming and disbanding of all militias, and supporting Lebanese government efforts to assert authority in southern Lebanon which is a Hezbollah guerrilla stronghold.

Since fighting began a week ago, the U.N. Security Council has taken no action. Lebanon accused the United States on Saturday of blocking even a statement to the press calling for a cease-fire.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Washington wants to wait for briefings from a U.N. mission sent to the region to try to defuse the crisis. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has also been talking to world leaders and joined British Prime Minister Tony Blair Monday in proposing a new stabilization force as the only way to get hostilities to stop.

Annan and the three-member U.N. team are returning to New York on Wednesday and de La Sabliere said the secretary-general would brief the Security Council on Thursday. It was unclear whether the mission, led by Annan's political adviser Vijay Nambiar, would also report to the council.

"France still believes that, at the appropriate moment, the council should adopt a substantial resolution for a sustainable solution to the crisis," de La Sabliere said in a statement.

He said the elements in the "non-paper" sent to Security Council members were "largely inspired" by the final communique of leaders of the Group of Eight major powers who met in St. Petersburg, Russia this weekend and asked the council to work out a plan that could lead to lasting peace between Lebanon and Israel.

Their joint message reflected a significant swing of support toward Israel's argument that it has been acting in self-defense against Hezbollah rocket attacks and abductions.

It called for release of the abducted Israeli soldiers, an end to the shelling of Israeli territory, a halt to Israeli military operations, and support for disarming Hezbollah and other militias. It expressed deepening concern at the rising civilian casualties on all sides and the damage to infrastructure, and backed a political dialogue between the Lebanese and the Israelis.

The G-8 leaders also asked the Security Council to examine "the possibility of an international security/monitoring presence" in Lebanon.

The French suggested that a resolution could express "extreme concern" at the escalation of hostilities and the deteriorating humanitarian situation and widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure in Lebanon, and call on all parties "to exercise utmost restraint" to avoid additional civilian casualties.

A key suggestion would call "for a comprehensive and lasting cease-fire" and the underlying causes of the conflict to be addressed.

The French also suggested that extremist forces be condemned for trying "to frustrate the aspiration of the Israeli and Lebanese people for democracy and peace," and warned not to plunge the Mideast into chaos and a wider conflict.

Another key element would express a readiness to examine additional measures that could prevent a resumption of hostilities, "including the possibility of a reinforced international security and monitoring presence."

Bolton said Tuesday the Security Council should not start talking about sending a new international force to southern Lebanon until it knows how the conflict is going to be resolved.

"I think it's the cart before the horse to talk about applying force before we know what the overall military or political resolution is like to be," he told reporters.

Bolton reiterated that in examining the possibility of a new force there are a range of questions to be answered.

The council would need to decide whether a new force would be empowered to disarm and demobilize Hezbollah, he said Monday. It would also need to decide if a force would have the power "to deal with countries like Syria and Iran that support Hezbollah."

Bolton's reluctance to sign on to the idea mirrored Israel's opposition to such a force.

Even as an international chorus for more immediate action mounts, Tel Aviv - with clear support from the Bush administration - has said it is opposed to any force other than the Lebanese army deploying in southern Lebanon.

Bolton said council members also need to ask what would make a new multinational force different from the U.N. peacekeeping force that has been in southern Lebanon for 28 years, and whether a new force would strengthen the Lebanese armed forces so they could deploy throughout the country.

The 2,000-strong U.N. force known as UNIFIL monitors the Blue Line separating Lebanon and Israel, which is not an official border but was drawn by the United Nations to mark Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000. Its mandate is solely observation.

Bolton said the council should consider a multinational peacekeeping force like the one monitoring the 1979 Egypt-Israeli peace deal which led to Israel's withdrawal from Sinai rather than a new U.N. peacekeeping force. Ten countries have troops in the Sinai force, including the U.S. and France.

France Runs Ideas For Possible UN Resolution On Conflict (http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20060719\ACQDJON200607190050DOWJONESDJONLINE000012.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.na)

Israel's Endgame?

Timothy Naftali 46 minutes ago

Hezbollah is a nasty, unrepentant Islamicist organization that until 9/11 had more American blood on its hands than any terrorist group in the world. In April 1983, Hezbollah blew up the US embassy in Beirut, killing 17. In October of the same year, Hezbollah killed 241 Marines at the Beirut airport and in September 1984 a third bombing killed another 2 Americans and 21 Lebanese citizens. Hezbollah also killed Malcolm Kerr, the president of the American University of Beirut, and two of the Americans held hostage in Beirut, including the
CIA's William Buckley. In June 1985, Hezbollah killed Seaman Robert Stethem onboard TWA flight 847. The mastermind of most of this mayhem, Imad Mugniyah, is still at large. And unlike the Libyans who were similarly ghastly in the the 1980s, Hezbollah's leadership never atoned for these actions. Indeed Hezbollah continued to engage in international terrorism in the 1990s. in July 1994 nearly a hundred people died when Hezbollah blew up the Jewish Communist Center in Buenos Aires and two years later, 19 US military personnel were killed in the destruction of the Khobar towers complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Then it suspended its campaign of international terrorism and increasingly began to acquire some international legitimacy as a political resistance organization. It never stopped killing Israelis, however, even after
Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon.
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So, history provides ample reason for Americans to cheer on the destruction of Hezbollah's ability to make trouble. The problem is that history also suggests that trying to bomb terrorist organizations, however legitimate the rationale, does not usually make long-term strategic sense, especially when they have a political base. Hezbollah is as much an ideological and social movement as it is a mafia of hardened criminals. You can kill the inner circle with bombs, but how do you kill the idea and social networks that have unfortunately seduced many Lebanese Shi'ites. The catalyst for the creation of Hezbollah, which was a fusion of existing Islamicist groups, was Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. The Israeli army stayed until 2000 and was never able to destroy Hezbollah or through local proxies provide a successful political alternative to Hezbollah in the Muslim quarters of the capital, the Bekaa valley and in the south. The fact that Hezbollah was not a wholly autonomous movement surely complicated Israel's task. From the beginning the organization benefited from Iranian training, money and weapons, as well as from significant Syrian assistance. But the problem was that this terrorist group was linked to a genuine political movement among Lebanon's most unfortunate.

Israeli's current offensive so far involves air attacks on Hezbollah military depots and leadership centers as well as on the communications network that
Iran and
Syria use to resupply the organization. It has also produced the deaths of noncombatants. Israeli generals have said that Ehud Olmert's government assumes that it will have a week to do as much damage as it can before the pressure from the international community gets too heavy to resist. US policy, it appears, is to let Israel have as much time as is politically feasible.

One can be sympathetic to the goal of weakening Hezbollah without liking the current approach. What is the endgame? Let's say Israel stops attacking in a week (and resists the temptation to send troops back into southern Lebanon), then what? Hezbollah will probably stop its longer-range strikes on Haifa and wait some time, while it licks its wounds, before resuming small cross-border shelling. Meanwhile the genetically weak Lebanese government will emerge no stronger from this campaign and will have to rebuild its infrastructure and try to help the innocent victims. Will the two Israeli soldiers whose brazen kidnapping by Hezbollah started this mess be freed? As Hezbollah showed us in the 1980s and early 1990s, it is never in any hurry to hand over hostages that it knows someone considers valuable. Indeed what those years also showed was that Hezbollah can be so headstrong that even when both of its state sponsors tell it to stop engaging in terrorism (as Teheran and Damascus did briefly in the late 1980s when the US tried to bribe them), it can say no. Even if the Syrians decide they want to pretend to help us again this time,
President Bush's hope that young Assad might be able to bring Hezbollah to heel may be futile.

An Israeli reprisal, lasting a day or two, to hit Hezbollah rocket sites and send a message to its leadership made some sense after the kidnapping. The air campaign unfolding before our eyes, however, suggests an unrealistic strategy or none at all. Unless you kill all of them and the network that supplies them, bombing terrorists just makes them madder, helps their recruitment and makes them more likely to bomb you. What seems to be lacking is a political strategy: how to build a stronger Lebanese state and an international coalition (without the deployment of Western soldiers) to help it to disarm Hezbollah. Up to now, the West has been singularly inept at employing political tools in the struggle against Islamic extremism. It is so much easier to bomb.

Israel's Endgame? (http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20060719/cm_huffpost/025341)

Bush: Terror attacks on Israel cause of instability

US president accuses Syria of trying to 'get back' into Lebanon by supporting Hizbullah, accuses Damascus and Iran of inspiring 'terror attacks' against Israel; later, US Senate adopts resolution condemning Hizbullah, Hamas, Syria and Iran. US Secretary of State Rice to visit region next week
News agencies

US president stands by Israel. US President George W. Bush accused Syria of trying to "get back" into Lebanon by supporting Hizbullah and accused Damascus and Iran of inspiring "terror attacks" against Israel.

Bush told reporters that the "root" cause of the conflict must be addressed.

"It can be addressed internationally by making it clear to Syria they've got to stop their support to Hizbullah," he said, during a meeting with lawmakers at the White House.

"Syria is trying to get back into Lebanon it looks like to me," he added.

"We passed United Nations resolution 1559 and finally this young democracy or this democracy became whole by getting Syria out. And there are suspicions that the instability created by the Hizbullah attacks will cause some in Lebanon to invite Syria back in."

Bush said the root cause of the instability was "terrorism and terrorist attacks on a democratic country," in apparent reference to Israel.

"Part of those terrorist attacks are inspired by nation-states like Syria and Iran. And in order to be able to deal with this crisis, the world must deal with Hizbullah, with Syria, and to continue to work to isolate Iran," he added.

On Tuesday night, the US Senate expressed its support of Israel by adopting a resolution condemning Hizbullah, Hamas, Syria and Iran.

"The Senate has spoken loud and clear: Israel has the right to defend itself against aggression. While I urge the Israeli government to act carefully, there should be no doubt as to where we stand in this conflict," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

Meanwhile, Ynet has learned that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the region at the beginning of next week. Sources in Washington told Ynet that her visit will not be aimed at forcing the sides into a ceasefire.

Rice calls for lasting Mideast ceasefire

According to the sources, Rice's visit will be aimed at expressing her solidarity with Israel and initiating initial contacts ahead of finding a solution to the problems in Lebanon: Implementing Resolution 1559 to dismantle the armed militias and looking into the possibility of placing an international force in south Lebanon that will be deployed together with the Lebanese army.

In her visit to the region Rice is set to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other Israeli officials, as well as with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Rice will also visit moderate Arab countries – Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – and will meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

Earlier Tuesday, Rice said any ceasefire in Mideast fighting ought to be based on fundamental changes that could lead to a lasting impact.

"We all want a cessation of violence. We all want the protection of civilians. We have to make certain that anything that we do is going to be of lasting value," Rice said.

But Rice said there should be a "conducive environment" for a ceasefire. That, she said, would involve implementation of a standing UN Security Council resolution and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the borders, as well as the introduction of a strong peacekeeping operation.

The Council resolution in 2004 led to withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon. But its call for disarming terror groups has not been heeded.

Rice, at a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, also indicated she would not be going to the troubled region immediately. She said she was primed to take the trip when it will be "helpful and necessary."

Rice's skepticism about trying to work out an immediate, makeshift ceasefire reflects views shared by the Israeli government in seeking fundamental changes to guard against another flare-up.

These include ensuring southern Lebanon does not remain a launching pad for attacks on Israel.

Gheit, for his part, did not qualify his support for a ceasefire. He said one was under discussion in diplomatic circles.

Snow: Hizbullah started this

Defending US efforts to quell the conflict, White House spokesman Tony Snow said it was up to Syria and Iran, Hizbullah's key supporters, to rein in the terror group.

Analysts have said Iran may be using its clout with Hizbullah to show it can hurt US allies and interests if Washington goes ahead with efforts to get UN sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program.

"Israel is proceeding in the manner it sees fit to defend itself and its territory," Snow told reporters. "We've got to remember who's responsible for this – Hizbullah. Hizbullah started this."

"And Iran and Syria, its backers, ought to be using their influence to get Hizbullah to stop firing rockets and return the soldiers," Snow added.

He pointed the finger at Syrian President Bashar Assad over the crises raging in Lebanon and Gaza.

"The president believes that at this point President Assad is not doing what he can to create stability, which would be to stop housing terrorist organizations and providing safe haven for them and permitting people to conduct terrorist operations or at least planning on his soil," he said.

Snow reiterated the US appeal for Israel to act with restraint, saying, "We lament the death of innocents, whether they be in Israel or in Lebanon or in Gaza or anywhere else."

But he signaled US resistance to pressuring Israel into an immediate cease-fire that would leave Hizbullah's rockets still within range of Israel's northern towns and cities.

"A cease-fire that would leave the status quo ante intact is absolutely unacceptable. A cease-fire that would leave intact a terrorist infrastructure is unacceptable," he said.

Snow said it was important to avoid further destabilization of Lebanon's fragile government but that it was too early to talk about sending a multinational security force to the Israel-Lebanon border.

Bush: Terror attacks on Israel cause of instability (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3278041,00.html)

Rift emerges between U.S. and EU over whether Israel should hold its fire

THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer

July 19, 2006 12:07 PM

JERUSALEM (AP) - A rift is emerging between the European Union and the United States over whether Israel should cease its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas.

The Europeans fear mounting civilian casualties will play into the hands of militants and weaken Lebanon's democratically elected government. The Bush administration, while noting these concerns, is giving Israel a tacit green light to take the time it needs to neutralize the Shiite militant group.

The mixed message could help Israel in its mission to destroy Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Lebanon and stop the guerrillas' deadly rocket fire on Israel. But Islamic hard-liners and terrorist groups could be long-term winners, using the vivid television imagery of the death and destruction in Lebanon to win popularity and promote their jihads.

The United States, the country that holds the most sway with Israel, has said the Jewish state has the right to defend itself and that a ''meaningful'' cease-fire is needed - presumably one which includes the disarming of Hezbollah.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the administration opposed a return to the situation before the outbreak of violence. ''A cease-fire that would leave intact a terrorist infrastructure is unacceptable,'' he said.

By contrast, the EU has called for a cease-fire now and said Israel's ''disproportionate'' use of force is not only threatening Lebanon's democratic government but providing the fuel that extremist groups such as Hezbollah need to win public support.

After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Wednesday, Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, condemned the July 12 Hezbollah raid that led to Israel's offensive and urged the guerrillas to immediately release the two soldiers they captured.

But he also called for a cease-fire and said diplomatic efforts to end the crisis should continue.

Asked if Israel's attacks in Lebanon were disproportionate, Solana said that if people think the offensive is causing ''more suffering on the people than is necessary in order to obtain an objective,'' it could make it harder win their ''hearts and minds'' in the ''battle against terrorists.''

However, Livni said Israel's offensive is not just a reaction to Hezbollah's raid, but a response to the broad threat of Hezbollah to Israel's security. From that perspective, she said, Israel's air strikes on Lebanon are proportionate.

Israel is betting that its campaign will deliver a decisive blow not only to Hezbollah, but to radical Islamic forces throughout the region. So far, though, the widespread Israeli air strikes appear to have only increased the credibility and popularity of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah in the Middle East.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has discussed the crisis by telephone with Olmert and Solana. But Rice, who had been expected to visit the region this weekend, has refrained from setting a date - leading some to speculate that the U.S. wanted to give Israel more time to pursue its offensive.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush's top overseas ally, joined the American president on Wednesday in insisting that Hezbollah free the soldiers and stop firing rockets at Israel before asking Israel to stop its offensive.

But other European nations backed Solana.

French President Jacques Chirac called the Mideast fighting a ''dramatic situation that deeply worries us.'' He urged Hezbollah to release the Israeli soldiers and to stop hitting Israel with missiles. But he also asked the Israelis to stop deadly bombings in Lebanon.

In Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov expressed concern that ''the war in the Middle East is escalating'' and tacitly criticized Israel's use of force, saying, ''It is particularly painful to witness the destruction of the civilian infrastructure of Lebanon.''

Rift emerges between U.S. and EU over whether Israel should hold its fire (http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564772724925662792)

Rift between U.S., EU emerges on Israel

THOMAS WAGNER
Associated Press

JERUSALEM - A rift is emerging between the European Union and the United States over whether Israel should cease its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas.

The Europeans fear mounting civilian casualties will play into the hands of militants and weaken Lebanon's democratically elected government. The Bush administration, while noting these concerns, is giving Israel a tacit green light to take the time it needs to neutralize the Shiite militant group.

The mixed message could help Israel in its mission to destroy Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Lebanon and stop the guerrillas' deadly rocket fire on Israel. But Islamic hard-liners and terrorist groups could be long-term winners, using the vivid television imagery of the death and destruction in Lebanon to win popularity and promote their jihads.

The United States, the country that holds the most sway with Israel, has said the Jewish state has the right to defend itself and that a "meaningful" cease-fire is needed - presumably one which includes the disarming of Hezbollah.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the administration opposed a return to the situation before the outbreak of violence. "A cease-fire that would leave intact a terrorist infrastructure is unacceptable," he said.

By contrast, the EU has called for a cease-fire now and said Israel's "disproportionate" use of force is not only threatening Lebanon's democratic government but providing the fuel that extremist groups such as Hezbollah need to win public support.

After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Wednesday, Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, condemned the July 12 Hezbollah raid that led to Israel's offensive and urged the guerrillas to immediately release the two soldiers they captured.

But he also called for a cease-fire and said diplomatic efforts to end the crisis should continue.

Asked if Israel's attacks in Lebanon were disproportionate, Solana said that if people think the offensive is causing "more suffering on the people than is necessary in order to obtain an objective," it could make it harder win their "hearts and minds" in the "battle against terrorists."

However, Livni said Israel's offensive is not just a reaction to Hezbollah's raid, but a response to the broad threat of Hezbollah to Israel's security. From that perspective, she said, Israel's air strikes on Lebanon are proportionate.

Israel is betting that its campaign will deliver a decisive blow not only to Hezbollah, but to radical Islamic forces throughout the region. So far, though, the widespread Israeli air strikes appear to have only increased the credibility and popularity of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah in the Middle East.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has discussed the crisis by telephone with Olmert and Solana. But Rice, who had been expected to visit the region this weekend, has refrained from setting a date - leading some to speculate that the U.S. wanted to give Israel more time to pursue its offensive.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush's top overseas ally, joined the American president on Wednesday in insisting that Hezbollah free the soldiers and stop firing rockets at Israel before asking Israel to stop its offensive.

But other European nations backed Solana.

French President Jacques Chirac called the Mideast fighting a "dramatic situation that deeply worries us." He urged Hezbollah to release the Israeli soldiers and to stop hitting Israel with missiles. But he also asked the Israelis to stop deadly bombings in Lebanon.

In Moscow, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov expressed concern that "the war in the Middle East is escalating" and tacitly criticized Israel's use of force, saying, "It is particularly painful to witness the destruction of the civilian infrastructure of Lebanon."

Rift between U.S., EU emerges on Israel (http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/15075293.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp)

Crews in Combat: Solid Professionals

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

by Mike Tobin

FNC
Mike Tobin

July 19, 2006

I hope it's true what they say about the friends you make in combat — that you share a special bond for life. Ever since Israel decided to respond to the Qassam fire out of the Gaza strip with increased air strikes, my crews and I have been through a dizzying, frightening, and arduous few weeks chasing the soldier kidnappings and military responses. Sometimes we shout at each other. Sometimes we laugh until tears stream down our cheeks. Sometimes we are in a situation serious enough to strip you down to the core of your constitution. In the end, we get the story roped in and home to the viewers. My crews have been solid professionals.

My attempts to write blogs along the way have been unsuccessful. By the time we're done with TV reports these days, I'm exhausted, and coherent thought won't come out of my fingertips. So here is a look at the photos I've collected in my personal camera through the last few weeks. Most of the time when things get interesting, we're busy doing things other than taking personal snapshots. But I hope this gives you a behind-the-scenes look and an appreciation for the hard work of my crews.

You'll see a few pictures of Nael Ghaboun in these photos; he is a producer we use in Gaza. Between navigating the confusing maze of streets in the world's most populated place, gathering facts, and just using his general street smarts, Nael is irreplaceable. When he's embarrassed, his whole face turns red, so teasing him about his upcoming wedding has been a great stress reliever.

Cameraman Pierre Zachevsky is one-of-a-kind. It is an understatement to say that Pierre has remarkable stamina. He has climbed all the way to Camp 4 on Mount Everest (the last stop before the summit). Having grown up in Dublin, he has a wonderful, lighthearted, Irish way of remaining positive in the middle of all the rough stuff.

My favorite photo from this bunch is of the three of us together.

There is one pic of Clarissa Ward in here. Don't let her lovely appearance and Yale education fool you into thinking she may be soft. We really got into the thick of it in Beit Lahiya and Clarissa held it together as well or better than any of us frightened "rough boys."

After Hezbollah captured the Israeli soldiers I went up North with Yaniv Turgeman, Yoav Shamir, Uri Ravid and Yonat Frilling.

Yaniv has been to the scene of almost every suicide bombing in the last three years. He has also perfected the use of the wireless camera. All that great work Jennifer Griffin did during the Gaza withdrawal was done with Yaniv and the wireless cam. The live shot we did several days ago when the Katyushas struck, was all made possible by Yaniv's mastery of the wireless gear. Yoav Shamir can fix everything, and he's trained in combat first aid — he saved a few lives in his army days. When he's angry at the latest piece of equipment I've damaged on the job, I tease him, saying, "Your job as an engineer is to fix the gear. My job as a reporter, is to break it." Uri gets our satellites dialed in, and he's got a field kit in his truck with which he can fire up a mean cup of coffee. That can change your whole perspective on the world.

We didn't have time to stop and pack a bag when we went North. So Yonat went out and bought the crew something to wear. Of course there was not a lot of time for wardrobe choices and she got the guys all the same clothes. I told them they look like backup singers in a rough boy band. I think the pic of Uri, Yaniv and Yoav all worn out, sweaty and matching is a classic.

I have a new crew now in Haifa; Allystair Wanklyn, Dudi Gamli and a new guy named Lavi. I hope he knows what he's in for. I included just one pic of these new guys trying to get out of the sun.

I'm disappointed that I don't have a picture of Ibrahim Hazboun here. He has been back in Jerusalem, keeping track of the video and interviews that come in. I could not do the edited packages for "Special Report" without him. Mal James is also missing, and that ain't right.

Crews in Combat: Solid Professionals (http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,204431,00.html)

Thousands head for Cyprus and Syria in Lebanon exodus

LIMASSOL, Cyprus 19/07/2006 23:11

Thousands of evacuees fleeing Israel's bombing of Beirut poured into Cyprus and Syria saying they were escaping from hell, as over 50,000 more waited for a berth to safety.

The US military said Wednesday it was stepping up the evacuation of American citizens by bringing out more than 6,000 people from war-ravaged Lebanon to the safe haven of nearby Cyprus.

"If all goes well ... we hope by this Friday we would have moved in excess of 6,000 from Lebanon, all who wanted to go out voluntarily," US evacuation task force commander Brigadier General Carl Jensen told reporters.

Some 1,059 Americans were expected to arrive in Cyprus on the cruise ship Orient Queen shortly after midnight Wednesday. An additional 3,000 were expected to follow later on Thursday.

"There are ferry vessels, US navy ships and military aircraft in the east Mediterranean to ferry citizens who want to leave," said Jensen. He stressed this was an "assisted departure" rather than an evacuation.

"Many are remaining in Lebanon and the US embassy there will remain open," he added.

But the United States, which has some 25,000 nationals in Lebanon, is likely to send troops to the country to protect its citizens who are being evacuated, US President George W. Bush said in a letter to Congress on Wednesday.

US marines have already helicoptered several dozen priority cases to Cyprus to escape the week-long Israeli onslaught against Lebanon.

A growing flotilla of evacuation ships is shuttling back and forth to the island of Cyprus some 160 kilometres (100 miles) away, but there are still not enough places for the thousands clamouring to leave.

Rough figures suggested as many as 13,000 people had already escaped or would be brought to safety by the end of Wednesday, travelling by boat to Cyprus or by the dangerous highway to the Syrian capital, Damascus, which is being bombed by Israel.

But according to figures provided by embassies and governments, up to 57,000 more foreign and dual nationals could be aiming to flee the country.

Apart from the sea exodus, hundreds more were fleeing in buses and cars overland to the Syrian capital of Damascus, braving Israeli bombings of the roads.

A British destroyer, the HMS York, was to dock in Limassol with up to 300 evacuees on board, after HMS Gloucester arrived earlier Wednesday carrying 170 people, mainly priority medical cases.

The Gloucester has already returned to Beirut as part of the shuttle to evacuate around 5,000 of some British 22,000 nationals.

The French warship Jean de Vienne also docked in Beirut early Wednesday as Paris stepped up efforts to extricate some 8,000 of its 20,000 citizens who have said they want to leave.

On Monday nearly 1,000 people, mostly French, fled on board a chartered cruise ship. Several hundred have already arrived back in France on flights from Cyprus.

Three other French vessels, capable of transporting 4,000 people, are on their way to Lebanon, with which Paris has retained close ties after administering the country under a League of Nations mandate.

Egypt has organized 2,300 evacuations since Monday. Hundreds were taken by bus to Damascus and flown home.

Bangladesh has asked for help to evacuate all its 10,000 workers in Lebanon, while Canada estimates some 8,000 of its 40,000 nationals want to leave aboard some six ships already chartered for the occasion.

Australia has 25,000 citizens living in Lebanon and the Philippines has 30,000, but it is not known how many of them want to leave.

Amid the confusion, charter companies were beginning to hike prices and inevitably there have been chaotic scenes.

Hundreds of Canadians clamoured at the gates of a Beirut exhibition centre being used as an evacuation staging area, furious at the slow pace of their rescue.

Other nations continued to rescue their nationals by chartered boats and planes. Denmark said 3,000 nationals had already been brought home.

A Greek ship carrying some 1,250 Swedes, the Kriti II, left Beirut for Larnaca on Wednesday afternoon and was due to arrive in Cyprus on Wednesday at 9:30 pm (1830GMT) local time, the Swedish foreign ministry told АFР.

The Kriti II is expected to return to Beirut after the passengers have disembarked and will make at least one more crossing, the ministry said.

A Turkish ship carrying several hundred Swedes also left Beirut for Mersin, Turkey on Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, almost 500 Norwegians have been repatriated since Monday but some 100 remain stranded in southern Lebanon, where Israeli bombings have rendered their evacuation difficult.

"We're working on several options to get them out of there," a Norwegian foreign ministry spokesman told АFР.

The German foreign ministry said it hoped to have evacuated some 3,000 nationals from Lebanon by the end of Wednesday, after chartering 50 buses to take them to Damascus.

Thousands head for Cyprus and Syria in Lebanon exodus (http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=23951)

IAF: 8 gunmen killed in central Gaza

Conflicting reports: Palestinians claim 2 unarmed Palestinians killed, numerous children wounded when helicopter gunship fires four missiles in al-Maghazi area
Ali Waked

Eight Palestinians were killed Wednesday evening in an Air Force strike in central Gaza, the IDF said. Palestinians sources reported two unarmed Palestinians were killed and a number of children were wounded when an IAF helicopter gunship fired four missiles towards a group of people in the area of al-Maghazi.

The IDF said soldiers identified a cell of gunmen armed with antitank missiles and opened fire on them.

The operation was part of an ongoing IDF operation in Gaza, which was launched Tuesday night in the al-Muazi refugee camp and has thus far killed 17 gunmen.

Earlier Wednesday, in the framework of the same operation, five Israeli troops were wounded when Palestinians hurled a grenade towards them. Forces opened fire in response, hitting and killed two of the gunmen.

The wounded soldiers were evacuated to Soroka hospital in Beer Sheva to be treated for shrapnel wounds. Two were in moderate condition and the rest were in light condition. Palestinian sources reported seven Palestinians were killed in the battle.

Rockets still hit Israel

Despite the IDF ground operation, Qassam crews in north Gaza fired two rockets at Israel in the early morning hours. A rocket that landed in kibbutz Nahal Oz damaged a building, and a second rocket hit an open area.

“The motivation of terror organizations is high right now, especially since over 100 gunmen were killed in the past three weeks in Gaza in IDF operations. We will continue until they rethink their actions and understand terror is not worthwhile,” the army said in a statement, after it was discovered that a rocket that hit north of Sderot yesterday was a 122-mm diameter Grad rocket, a more sophisticated rocket than the ordinary Qassam.

The first time such a rocket was used was on Election Day in March, when the Russian-made rocke t hit south of Ashkelon. The IDF was examining the rocket fired Tuesday. IDF officials noted that terror organizations in Gaza were in possession of only a few dozen such rockets, some of which were upgraded in various methods.

IAF: 8 gunmen killed in central Gaza (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3278571,00.html)

Nazareth: No one told us, the Arabs, to take shelter

Residents of predominantly Muslim and Christian town accuse government of failing to sufficiently instruct residents on what to do when rockets hit; ‘If they had instructed us to take cover, as in Jewish towns, death of two children might have been prevented,’ Nazareth man says
Sharon Roffe-Ofir

Following the fatal rocket barrage that struck Nazareth Monday, residents accused the government of failing to warn the mostly Arab population to take cover in bomb shelters when the Katyushas started flying. “If they had instructed us to enter protected areas, as they did in the Jewish towns, the tragedy might have been prevented,” Nazareth resident Tarek Kubati told Ynet, referring to the deaths of two brothers , 3 and 9, who were playing outside when the rockets hit Wednesday.

The rockets caught local residents unprepared, they related. “We knew it could happen to us too, but when no one is sounding the alarms or distributing instruction flyers, we just continued life as usual,” Kubati said.

Katyushas hit a number of locations in the town. The children’s home suffered a direct hit, and a garage in the town was also extensively damaged. A Magen David Adom spokesperson reported 12 wounded in the attacks on the area. The tragic deaths of the two children brought the civilian death toll since the beginning of fighting in the north to 16.

Nazareth Mayor Ramez Jaraisi told Ynet shortly after the fatal attack that the Home Front Command warned caution and gave the same general directives it gives to all threatened locales. “We held children’s day camps indoors today,” Jaraisi said. He noted the lethal rocket hit a very crowded area.

Barhoum Jaraisi, who lives in the neighborhood, agreed with Kubati. “When dealing with Arabs, the establishment doesn’t care if we get hit. We’re used to this. It’s nothing new,” he said. “When there were rocket strikes on Monday in Nazareth Illit nearby, their siren went off. But here no one was told to enter shelters. I called the police and asked why, and they said they’d get back to me.”

“No one has gotten back to me back yet,” he added.

In any case, Jaraisi said he had no plans to leave the town due to the situation. “I have a protected area in my house. I’ve instructed my family to use it, and that’s what we’ll do from now on,” he said.

‘Hizbullah doesn’t distinguish Jews, Arabs’

Kubati said he was at home when the Katyushas landed. “We heard a loud blast, and then another one, and I immediately understood these were Katyushas. Just two days ago Katyushas landed not far from here, and it was clear they could reach us too. Hizbullah fires without distinction, they don’t care whether we’re Arab or Jewish. For them the main goal is to cause damage, and today they did and caused a catastrophe.”

Kubati said that even after the rocket strikes, no one passed through the town telling residents to take shelter. “It doesn’t work here like in Haifa or any other Jewish town. No one tells us anything,” he reiterated.

Wednesday evening the streets of Nazareth did not empty of people, despite the fatal attack, and dozens of vehicles and hundreds of residents came out to check what happened.

“This is something new, people don’t know what a Katyusha looks like, what a missile looks like. No one thought it could happen to us too,” Kubati explained.

Police: We instructed local leaders

Amakim District Police chief Commander Yaakov Zigdon told Ynet that in recent days he and the regional police commander met with public leaders from the area.

He said in meetings with local council heads and mayors, police directed them in how residents should act in accordance with Home Front Command instructions.

“It is important the Nazareth residents understand that the rockets don’t distinguish ethnicity and religion. I call on everyone to listen to police directives. Stay near protected sites. We will continue to aid everyone,” he said.

Nazareth: No one told us, the Arabs, to take shelter (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3278550,00.html)

IDF Wages Ground-Battles on Three Fronts
20:35 Jul 19, '06 / 23 Tammuz 5766
by Ezra HaLevi

The IDF fought fierce ground battles on three fronts Wednesday, chalking up many operational successes. Two soldiers fell in the line of duty battling Hizbullah forces.

Staff Sergeant Yonatan Hadassi, 21, of Kibbutz Merchavya was one of the two fallen soldiers. The name of the second soldier has not yet been released as his family has not yet been informed. Nine others were wounded in the battle, two moderately.

The fighting with Hizbullah forces went on for several hours at the Israel-Lebanon border, near the Israeli town of Avivim - opposite the Lebanese village of Marun A-Ras, which was turned into a Hizbullah stronghold after Israel's hasty withdrawal from the region in 2000.

IDF Special Forces entered the area late Tuesday night and found a large stockpile of Hizbullah weapons and munitions. Hizbullah geurrillas had been hiding out and opened fire on the troops, killing the two soldiers moments before they themselves were killed. Their comrades then began shooting mortar shells at the area, making evacuation of the wounded and fallen soldiers difficult.

Small groups of IDF soldiers have been entering Lebanon for special "pin-point" operations in recent days and continued to do so throughout Wednesday.

More than 60,000 Lebanese have fled southern Lebanon and the IDF issued an order Wednesday evening calling on all 300,000 Lebanese living south of the Litani River to evacuate their homes.

The IDF has been putting special efforts into destroying long-range Zilzal missiles and launchers, capable of striking Tel Aviv with much larger missiles than have struck Israel so far. Many of the launchers are hidden in densely-populated areas.

In air strikes on targets in Lebanon, Lebanese media reported more than 50 people killed in the cities of Balbek, Sidon, Chuweifat, Hadath and Nabatiya.

Overall, the IDF says more than 1,000 terrorist targets have been hit so far, including 180 Katyusha and long-range rocket launch-sites.

The Samarian Front
In Shechem, the largest PA-controlled city in northern Samaria, more than 200 Arab terrorists were apprehended and an office of the PA was demolished. Three Arabs were killed in exchanges of fire with IDF forces surrounding the terrorist compound in the heart of the city. The compound belongs to the Palestinian Authority's Preventative Security Service.

The IDF siege on the compound began in the early morning hours and lasted until Wednesday afternoon, when its inhabitants were forced to surrender as parts of the building were systematically bulldozed. One soldier was wounded by a firebomb and treated on the scene.

Before dawn Wednesday, five wanted terrorists were apprehended in other areas of Judea and Samaria by security forces.

Gaza
In a development that could place Tel Aviv within the sites of Arab missile-launchers from the couth, a Katyusha rocket was fired from Gaza toward the western Negev. The rocket landed in Kibbutz Bror Hayil.

The IDF continues to carry out operations in Gaza aimed at locating kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit and preventing the launching of rockets at Israel's southern towns. Six Arabs were killed in clashes as the IDF entered the Mughazi slums coastal region. Five IDF soldiers were wounded.

Air force planes attacked three groups of terrorists in central Gaza overnight and destroyed a tunnel being constructed beneath the Karni Crossing.

IDF Wages Ground-Battles on Three Fronts (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=107857)

Palestinians demand Arab involvement
Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST Jul. 18, 2006

Enraged by the failure of the Arab countries to help Hizbullah and Hamas in their confrontation with Israel, one of the major Palestinian militias announced on Tuesday that it had recruited dozens of women to join the fight against Israel.

Dressed in military fatigue and armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov rifles, the women were sent to march in the streets of Gaza City, chanting slogans in support of Hizbullah and Hamas and calling on all Arabs and Muslims to launch a war against Israel. Some of the women fired into the air as they passed near the offices of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

This was the first time that armed Palestinian women held a paramilitary march in the Gaza Strip. The women, some under the age of 20, belong to a new force that was revealed by the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, an alliance of various militias that has been operating in the Gaza Strip over the past five years.

The decision to establish the new force comes one week after the armed wing of Fatah announced the formation of a female suicide bomber unit to launch attacks against Israel. Um al-Abed, a spokeswoman for the group, said last week that over 100 women from the West Bank and Gaza Strip had signed up to carry out suicide attacks.

"Today we have established an army of women to defend the Arabs and Muslims," said Shayma al-Koka, one of the leaders of the force whose members marched in Gaza City on Tuesday. "If Arab men can't defend the honor of the Arabs and Muslims, then the women will fulfill their duty. Arab men and armies have failed in carrying out their moral and religious duties."

She added: "We are sick and tired of waiting for the Arab leaders and governments to defend the people of Palestine and Lebanon. The Arab leaders and armies are sleeping and therefore we, the women of Palestine, will join the jihad against the Jews. I advise the Arab leaders to go underground because we and all the honorable Arabs and Muslims will prevail."

Chanting Allahu Akbar [God is great], the women also burned flags of some Arab and European countries, as well as Israel and the US.

Echoing frustration with what is described as the "impotence" of the Arab world, the Palestine National Council, the PLO's parliament-in-exile, urged all Arabs and Muslims to side with Lebanon in the current confrontation with Israel. The council expressed deep concern at the failure of the Arab countries to assist the Palestinians and Lebanese who are "facing physical elimination and the destruction of their infrastructure."

Hamas, meanwhile, is seeking to distance itself from Hizbullah and most of its top leaders have refrained thus far from embracing the Shi'ite organization in public. Salah Bardaweel, a Hamas representative in the Gaza Strip, denied reports in the Arab media that his movement was working closely with Hizbullah.

"There is no organizational relation between Hamas and Hizbullah," he said. "As resistance groups, we share the same goals and strategies in facing the Israeli occupation."

He too criticized the Arab countries for failing to come to the aid of their brothers in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon. "When will the Arab leaders finally wake up?" Bardaweel asked.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday that Israel's recent air raids on a number of PA ministries reflected the "mentality of insanity that characterizes Israeli leaders." Israel, he added, has embarked on "crazy adventures in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Lebanon." Haniyeh was speaking after chairing a meeting of his cabinet in Gaza City to discuss the latest developments on the Palestinian arena and the ongoing Israeli crackdown on Hamas.

In another development, PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled to arrive in Gaza City on Tuesday night for talks with Hamas leaders about kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was being held by Hamas members. Abbas was also expected to meet with United Nations envoy Terje Roed Larsen to discuss ways of ending the crisis and securing the release of Shalit.

Abbas's visit to the Gaza Strip comes amid renewed tensions between his Fatah party and Hamas. Earlier this week, Hamas gunmen killed a senior officer belonging to the Preventative Security Service in Khan Younis. The victim, Zaki Dahlan, is a relative of former PA security chief Muhammed Dahlan.

On Tuesday, Hamas gunmen launched a rocket attack at the home of Nabil Tamous, another senior Preventative Security Service officer, killing one of his guards and kidnapping three others. Tamous himself was not hurt in the attack, but his house was completely destroyed. Tamous, who is a close ally of Dahlan, heads the "Death Squad" of the Preventative Security and is said to be responsible for a series of attacks on Hamas activists and leaders over the past few years.

Palestinians demand Arab involvement (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150886037265&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter)

US Lawmakers Prepare for Vote on Resolution Supporting Israel
By Dan Robinson
Washington
20 July 2006

The U.S. House of Representatives will vote Thursday on a strong resolution supporting Israel in its conflict with Hezbollah and Hamas. The lawmakers held an extended debate Wednesday on the crisis in the Middle East.

House lawmakers support Israel's right to use appropriate action to defend itself against attacks.

They say such defense includes conducting operations both in Israel and the territory of nations posing a threat to it, under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter.

The resolution notes Lebanon's failure to disarm and disband the Hezbollah in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 and it blames Iran and Syria for supporting terrorist activities against Israel.

"Any result of this fighting that leaves Hezbollah in occupation of southern Lebanon will be a victory for Iran and for Syria, for fanaticism and for terror, and a defeat for Lebanon and for Middle East peace," said California Democrat Tom Lantos.

"Any government that would allow terrorists to attack its citizens and do nothing in response but protest or beg for mercy would betray its most sacred trust," said Henry Hyde, Republican Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, in defending Israel's response to Hezbollah and Hamas.

This past Tuesday, the Senate approved a similar resolution.

Democratic Senator Joseph Biden says the Bush administration needs to gather the diplomatic backing it needs to pressure Syria and Iran to end their support for Hezbollah and Hamas. "For the world's own good, now is the time to put the screws on Syria, make the world united in their dissatisfaction and communicate it to the Iranians, build up the Lebanese capability, and focus on Hezbollah as the problem," he said.

As Senator Biden was speaking, White House spokesman Tony Snow was telling reporters the U.S. is stepping up diplomatic efforts.

However, responding to a reporter's question, he said those will not include any direct high-level contacts between President Bush and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. "There is absolutely no reason to assume, based on the track record, that negotiations and conversations with the Syrians would yield any fruit," he said.

Syria's State-run News Agency Wednesday said the Syrian leader, in a telephone conversation with Turkey's Prime Minister, discussed the need for the international community to quickly arrange a ceasefire.

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and other U.S. officials say a solution is needed that will result in a long-term ceasefire along the Israel-Lebanon border, and enable the Lebanese government to assert control in the area.

US Lawmakers Prepare for Vote on Resolution Supporting Israel (http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-07-20-voa1.cfm)

Israel Says It Destroyed Half of Hezbollah's Power

More than 60 people died in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah Wednesday, many of them civilians. Analysts discuss whether Israeli forces can eliminate Hezbollah's military capabilities.
Israeli forces

JUDY WOODRUFF, NewsHour Special Correspondent: What kind of damage can the high-tech Israeli armed forces inflict on a guerilla group armed with thousands of rockets, and before the United States and other big powers push hard for a cease-fire?

Two views on that now from Michael Herzog, a brigadier general in the Israeli Defense Forces. He's in the United States as a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

And Augusta Richard Norton, he's on the faculty of Boston University, specializing in Lebanese and Arab issues. He's a retired U.S. Army colonel. He previously served on the faculty at West Point.

Professor Norton, let me begin with you. Let's first establish what it is exactly that Hezbollah has in the way of manpower and an arsenal, weaponry. We're not talking about your ordinary guerilla group here, are we?

RICHARD AUGUSTUS NORTON, Retired U.S. Army Colonel: No, we're not, Judy. We're talking about a group that has a broad base in Lebanese society, particularly in the Shiite community, which makes up about 40 percent of Lebanon's population.

It's instructive when you look back at the resistance campaign that Hezbollah fought against the Israeli occupation, which lasted from 1978 until the year 2000 when Israel finally gave up and withdrew. That campaign was fought by a relatively small cadre of about 450, 500 people.

And it was supplemented by effectively a reserve system. People would close down their mechanical shop or their optometry clinic or whatever and go on missions. So this is an organization that can expand like an accordion, in terms of manpower.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So there's no hardcore number of fighters you could give us?

RICHARD AUGUSTUS NORTON: Well, there's one estimate that I've seen around that now talks about 800 to 1,000 really hardcore cadre. At the moment, of course, the number would be much larger, in terms of the numbers that are mobilized.

But we're not talking here about something that resembles an army. It has a very different appearance. They do have a significant arsenal, as it's been widely reported, in terms of the Katyushas and other rockets. They've used very sophisticated remote-controlled devices for ambushes and that sort of thing against Israeli soldiers.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Let me ask General Herzog whether the description you just heard from Professor Norton matches your understanding of what Hezbollah has?

MICHAEL HERZOG, Brigadier General, Israeli Defense Forces: I would expand the description. I would say that what characterizes the military forces of Hezbollah is that they go far beyond that of a militia or a terror group.

We are talking about an organization holding more than 13,000 rockets, including long-range rockets with a range of over 120 miles. These are Zilzal rockets provided by Iran, medium-range rockets.

They have unmanned aerial vehicle drones. They've flown them over Israel in the past. They fired the other day a very sophisticated, radar-guided missile that hit one of our missile boats. I think very few militaries in the world have these capabilities.

In addition, of course, Hezbollah wields a global terror reach. Let us not forget that they were behind the targeting of the Marines in Beirut in '83. They destroyed our embassy in Buenos Aires in '92. So it goes beyond just being a resistance, of course.

Israel Says It Destroyed Half of Hezbollah's Power (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec06/hezbollah_07-19.html)

Nasrallah's Shi'ite error
By Zvi Bar'el

Hassan Nasrallah, who last weekend became an underground leader and in so doing recalled a former secretary general of Hezbollah, Subhi al-Tufeili, once again brushed up on his formal Arabic. This time he addressed opposition at home: an Arab and Lebanese home, but a Muslim home no less. His arguments against the Arab states are no different than those heard from Arab publicists, such as the editor of Al-Quds newspaper, Abd al-Bari Atouan, whose throat parched last Friday after a relentless attack on mute Arab leaders.

The important thing perhaps in Nasrallah's speech last Friday, and the major error in it, was the statement that the Lebanese opposition and the current struggle were a strong Shi'ite show of strength. In the paragraph directed at Israel, he said, "You have no idea against whom you are fighting. You are fighting against the sons of Mohammed and Ali and Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein and the household and friends of the prophet Mohammed. You are fighting a nation that keeps its faith, in a way that no man on earth keeps his faith." Ali and his sons Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein are the fathers of the Shi'ite faction of Islam. The phrase "household" was adopted by Shi'ites to refer to the dynasty of Imams that came after Ali.

Such phrases have huge political significance in Lebanon, since Nasrallah did not even mention the Christians, whom he considers a cowardly people who regularly criticize "the opposition." Sunni and Druze Muslims also could not have been overly pleased with Nasrallah's "unity speech" since it was more divisive than unifying.

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Nasrallah indeed chose to emphasize the Shi'ite nature of the struggle, despite knowing that he does not represent even all of the Shi'ites. Although there is an agreement between him and Nabih Beri, the chairman of the Amal movement and the speaker of the Lebanese parliament, and usually also cooperation, there is a large community of Shi'ites in Lebanon - secular Shi'ites, businessmen and even religious people - who do not agree with Nasrallah.

The choice to emphasize the Shi'ite element, and the fact that this is a battle waged by a devout segment of the public, is intended as a hint to the Shi'ites in Iraq. More importantly, however, it flaunts the ethnic sword in Lebanon. In his comments, which caused a chill in many Lebanese Christians, Nasrallah marked out the line of loyalty to the state: Shi'ites are faithful, all the rest are in varying levels of loyalty. That is exactly the formula that threatens the delicate and fragile fabric achieved in Lebanon after the Taif Agreement in 1989, which Lebanon has yet to recover from.

Does this wording indicate that already, at this stage, Nasrallah is feeling threatened? Not according to the rhetoric he used. He spoke like a leader who did not need to mention the president of Lebanon, the prime minister or anyone else. He simply ignored them. He did not search for consensus, other than his request that the Lebanese rally around the memory of the victory over Israel six years ago, a victory that he, of course, attributes to Hezbollah and to himself.

The business of war

Charles Helou was prime minister of Lebanon from 1964-1970. He is recalled, in Lebanese memory, as the man who was forced, following Lebanese public pressure, to sign the 1969 Cairo Agreement, which granted the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) the right to operate against Israel from Lebanon. Helou was another Lebanese prime minister compelled by circumstances to involve his country in the Israeli-Arab conflict. Today there is a monument "memorializing" Charles Helou at a Beirut-Damascus line taxi stand, which was named after him. According to reports from Lebanon, this stand is the only one that continues to operate regularly and still transports people from areas of fighting to Syria. It operates regularly, but it is astronomically expensive. This "season," which started last Wednesday and has gone on for a week now, is the season of taxi drivers. Whoever is not making money off tourists, is making money by driving passengers to Syria.

The prices are sky-high. Lebanese media reports indicate that the standard fare the Al-Helou stand charges for the trip from Beirut to Damascus is around $70, but today it costs $750-1,000 per person. Shared taxis charge around $400. The reason for the high cost is the great danger in the border area, in particular. This danger is, to a large extent, a fabrication, because the border area is not under attack, but panic does the job and whoever can exploit it does not hesitate to do so. Those who suffer are mainly Arab and Western tourists who are not familiar with the regular prices and are incapable of bargaining.

Another phenomenon that has surfaced is the war mafia. In Lebanon there are reports of thousands of Syrian workers and Lebanese citizens who are making their way on regular buses from Lebanon to the border post. The cost of this journey is the same as it used to be, but when passengers arrive at the border post, they cannot reach the customs terminal in the bus because of the crowds. They have to get off the bus and walk about a kilometer. This is "the kilometer of the mafia," which has already set up shop at border stations and charges a fee for everything.

This mafia caused the price of mineral water to soar to over two dollars a bottle (which normally sells for less than 30 cents.) The prices of sandwiches and candies at the border are pretty much the same as those at five-star hotels, and the latest businesses earning mafia money are the currency exchanges: Exchanging Lebanese liras at the border crossing for Syrian liras now costs around 30 percent more than it used to.

The Syrians are also not stupid: Reports from Syria indicate that hotel owners, like their colleagues in Eilat, have raised the prices of accommodations in Damascus from an average of $75 a night to around $250 a night. In the cities themselves - the parts of Beirut that are not being bombed, in the completely quiet Chouf Mountains and in the northern cities of Juniyeh and even Tripoli - business owners are making profits. After thousands of rooms were vacated in the small hotels in Beirut's luxury neighborhoods, the hotels started taking in refugees from stricken neighborhoods and villages in the south, all for an appropriate price.

A room in a small hotel now costs around $300 a week. An apartment that once was not fit to be lived in is now going for around $750 or a month. As opposed to the wealthy, there are thousands of families that cannot afford to pay for such temporary quarters and must gather instead in schools. The municipalities provide basic food and drinking water to these places, but there is no way of setting up toilets and showers there.

One of the problems with the temporary shelters is the political squabbles among the visitors, between those who think it was not right to destroy Lebanon for Samir Kuntar and those who think they should stand strong. When it comes to being a refugee, there is no distinction between Druze, Shi'ites, Sunnis or Christians, but these distinctions are heightened in the shelters and there have already been reports of blows exchanged by members of different ethnic groups due to political differences.

Gad Elmaleh's cancelled play

The question now is: Who will refund the price of tickets purchased for Gad Elmaleh's one-man show? He was supposed to perform at the Byblos Festival in Lebanon this coming Saturday and because the tickets sold out so quickly, a second show was even added. The prices are not cheap: $65 per ticket on average. The show is called "The Other is I" and Elmaleh plays a blond boy who easily gets through life's travails, actually a suitable play to put on in Beirut in these difficult times.

However, "due to the security situation" the show was cancelled, as was the dance performance at the Albert Academy, the Latin Dance party at the Kakur Club, the production "The Big Liar" at the Chateau Trianon and even the popular performance of "Women's Discourse" being presented by the Monroe Theater in Beirut.

But, undoubtedly, the cancellation of Elmaleh's show is the most important matter, because the 35-year-old comedian - a native of Morocco who has embarked on a grand career in France - is Jewish. Prior to the attack, in Beirut, they had already started wondering whether audiences there would allow the Jewish performer to appear. Wouldn't they boycott him? Would they laugh at his jokes? Now, at least in the meantime, this dilemma is no longer an issue.

Nasrallah's Shi'ite error (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/739996.html)

Hizbollah's rockets have Arabs and Israelis in their sights
By Donald Macintyre in Nazareth
Published: 20 July 2006

Rabbia Taluzi, three, and Mahmoud Taluzi, seven, were playing in a street in the crowded heart of Nazareth yesterday afternoon when the Katyusha came out of clear blue sky and killed them. The two boys became the first Israeli Arabs to die in this eight-day war when four Hizbollah rockets - which now seem to make no distinction between Jewish and Arab victims in northern Israel - hurtled into the densely populated hill town where Jesus grew up.

In this asymmetrical war, the Israeli death toll is only a very small fraction of the one over the border. But it is slowly rising. Rabbia and Mahmoud were the 14th and 15th Israeli civilians to die in the past week, killed by the shrapnel that flew more than 30 feet from where last night the crater perhaps three and half feet by three and the smashed window frames of the adjacent houses testified to the force of the blast. In the yard behind one of them, dozens of children from the same extended family had been playing as the adults enjoyed a reunion with the children's grandmother inside the house. Several were among the 18 injured taken to three Nazareth hospitals. Last night Koranic verses of lamentation were recited through a loudspeaker from the mosque close to where the boys died.

As the sun set over the melancholy scene, a tense and emotional crowd gathered, their shock that Hizbollah would hit an Arab town compounded by anger at the lack of public or private shelters, warning sirens or clear advice in Arabic from the government.

Tarek Salah, 37, the owner of the house where the reunion was taking place, said: "I was sitting in my living room. The kids were playing in the back yard. I heard a huge explosion and went straight out through the front. When I came out I saw two kids lying on the ground. At first I thought they were my kids because they were burnt and I couldn't recognise them." Mr Salah, one of whose sons was lightly injured by the blast, said that the children were actually neighbours from a house about 50 metres away " but they often play here". He added: "We need to live in peace. Both sides need to live in peace. My sons are important; their sons [in Lebanon] are important."

As some residents displayed ball bearings and fragments of shrapnel spread all over the area from the rocket including behind the house, which had protected most of the children from the blast one of Mr Salah's neighbours, Mohammed Razeq, 50, said: "We want all the countries to stop the war. We are here without shelters. We have no place to put the kids. The Home Front [command of the army] have not given us any instructions about what to do with our kids. We do not want war. We want to live together. My son could be killed; your son could be killed. And for what?" Another neighbour, Abdul Khaliq Said, 54, said: "I feel very bad. It's a matter of chance. It could be anybody." Most of those in the crowd were unwilling to apportion blame for the war, but Mr Said said of the attack: "As a human being I am angry. Of course I am angry. But I am an Israeli citizen. What can I do?" Of the damage caused by the rocket and another which fell on a fortunately empty Mazda car showroom nearby, Mr Said said: "The property we can recover. The kids we can't get back."

The majority of civilian victims in Israel have been Jewish. The most recent before last night's deaths of the two children was a man in Nahariya who had simply left the town centre's main public shelter for a few moments to fetch a towel for his daughter.

But the Israeli Arab Knesset member Taleb al-Sanaa said last night after the explosions in Nazareth that because of discrimination against Arab citizens of Israel there were no sirens or shelters in Arab areas.

Ha'aretz reported that the military's Home Front had acknowledged that instructions on what to do in the event of Katyusha attacks had not yet been translated into Arabic.

Rabbia Taluzi, three, and Mahmoud Taluzi, seven, were playing in a street in the crowded heart of Nazareth yesterday afternoon when the Katyusha came out of clear blue sky and killed them. The two boys became the first Israeli Arabs to die in this eight-day war when four Hizbollah rockets - which now seem to make no distinction between Jewish and Arab victims in northern Israel - hurtled into the densely populated hill town where Jesus grew up.

In this asymmetrical war, the Israeli death toll is only a very small fraction of the one over the border. But it is slowly rising. Rabbia and Mahmoud were the 14th and 15th Israeli civilians to die in the past week, killed by the shrapnel that flew more than 30 feet from where last night the crater perhaps three and half feet by three and the smashed window frames of the adjacent houses testified to the force of the blast. In the yard behind one of them, dozens of children from the same extended family had been playing as the adults enjoyed a reunion with the children's grandmother inside the house. Several were among the 18 injured taken to three Nazareth hospitals. Last night Koranic verses of lamentation were recited through a loudspeaker from the mosque close to where the boys died.

As the sun set over the melancholy scene, a tense and emotional crowd gathered, their shock that Hizbollah would hit an Arab town compounded by anger at the lack of public or private shelters, warning sirens or clear advice in Arabic from the government.

Tarek Salah, 37, the owner of the house where the reunion was taking place, said: "I was sitting in my living room. The kids were playing in the back yard. I heard a huge explosion and went straight out through the front. When I came out I saw two kids lying on the ground. At first I thought they were my kids because they were burnt and I couldn't recognise them." Mr Salah, one of whose sons was lightly injured by the blast, said that the children were actually neighbours from a house about 50 metres away " but they often play here". He added: "We need to live in peace. Both sides need to live in peace. My sons are important; their sons [in Lebanon] are important."

As some residents displayed ball bearings and fragments of shrapnel spread all over the area from the rocket including behind the house, which had protected most of the children from the blast one of Mr Salah's neighbours, Mohammed Razeq, 50, said: "We want all the countries to stop the war. We are here without shelters. We have no place to put the kids. The Home Front [command of the army] have not given us any instructions about what to do with our kids. We do not want war. We want to live together. My son could be killed; your son could be killed. And for what?" Another neighbour, Abdul Khaliq Said, 54, said: "I feel very bad. It's a matter of chance. It could be anybody." Most of those in the crowd were unwilling to apportion blame for the war, but Mr Said said of the attack: "As a human being I am angry. Of course I am angry. But I am an Israeli citizen. What can I do?" Of the damage caused by the rocket and another which fell on a fortunately empty Mazda car showroom nearby, Mr Said said: "The property we can recover. The kids we can't get back."

The majority of civilian victims in Israel have been Jewish. The most recent before last night's deaths of the two children was a man in Nahariya who had simply left the town centre's main public shelter for a few moments to fetch a towel for his daughter.

But the Israeli Arab Knesset member Taleb al-Sanaa said last night after the explosions in Nazareth that because of discrimination against Arab citizens of Israel there were no sirens or shelters in Arab areas.

Ha'aretz reported that the military's Home Front had acknowledged that instructions on what to do in the event of Katyusha attacks had not yet been translated into Arabic.

Hizbollah's rockets have Arabs and Israelis in their sights (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1187001.ece)

Iran 'may use weapon if Syria is attacked'
Posted: Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Dubai

Iran could threaten to use its oil weapon if Syria gets drawn into the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas but Arab producers will not withhold their crude exports to exert pressure, analysts said.

"The only oil that could disappear from the market if this crisis develops is Iranian oil," said Mustafa Alani of the Gulf Research Council in Dubai.

"If there is an attack on Syria and if Iran is connected to this attack, militarily or politically, they could decide to stop oil exports for a few days," Alani said.

Tehran has threatened to use its oil exports as a weapon to defend itself in its standoff with the West over Iran's nuclear programme. Iran could face economic sanctions over Western suspicions it is seeking nuclear arms, a charge it denies.

Alani said any use of Iran's oil weapon now would be brief.

"It would be a token interruption and not a sustainable one, just to really undermine the psychology of oil markets and to show the Iranian muscle if the question of the nuclear issue begins to be under pressure in the future," he added.

Iran, Opec's second biggest producer, supplies the world with more than 2.4 million barrels per day, making it the fourth biggest exporter.

Traders say a loss of this amount would be hard to replace as, except for about 2 million bpd of spare crude oil capacity in top exporter Saudi Arabia, Opec is pumping flat out.

Syria and Iran are the main backers of Hizbollah, whose capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid sparked attacks on Lebanon.

The worsening conflict helped to send oil prices to record highs over $78 a barrel last week as traders feared the violence could spread across the oil-producing region. Oil held firm above $76 on Tuesday.

Another source of worry for markets is Iran's commanding position on the Strait of Hormuz, a channel at the mouth of the Gulf that is a conduit for roughly two-fifths of globally traded oil.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned last month that oil exports in the Gulf region could be seriously endangered if Washington made a wrong move over his country.

Oil-exporting Gulf Arab states then adopted a contingency plan in case of a blockage of shipping through the mouths of the Gulf and the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia and other US-allied Gulf members of Opec have made clear in the past that they do not intend to repeat the 1973 Arab oil embargo, which wreaked economic chaos on the industrialised world.

Iran 'may use weapon if Syria is attacked' (http://www.tradearabia.com/tanews/newsdetails_snINTNEWS_article108441_cnt.html)

US Buys Israel Time in Lebanon

CAIRO — The US and Israel have reached a common understanding to buy Israel more time to pursue its blistering strikes against Lebanon before Washington eventually steps in to help impose a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, a leading American daily reported on Wednesday, July 19.

"Some people are uncomfortable with the American position, and we’re very careful how we talk about it," a senior American official told the New York Times on condition of anonymity.

The daily said Israel had told the Bush administration it needed more time before US Secretary of State should interfere in the conflict.

"The Bush administration has, for the time being, gone along with an Israeli request for more latitude," it added.

The delayed intervention is meant to give the Israeli military juggernaut ample chance to emasculate Hizbullah.

American and Israeli officials are also contemplating a 12-mile buffer zone in southern Lebanon to keep Hizbullah way from the Israeli border.

News of the -Israeli consensus came after whole seven days during which Israeli warplanes pounded most Lebanese institutions and homes to rubble, forcing thousands of Lebanese to flee their country.

Millions of Lebanese are suffering on the dunes of Beirut and the muck of southern Lebanon under the unrelenting and shambolic strikes that have claimed the lives of more than 300 people, the sweeping majority of whom are civilians, and wounded hundreds others.

The onslaught has also left Lebanon virtually cut off from the outside world with an Israeli air and sea blockade.

Praying

Rice and her Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit publicly disagreed during a brief press conference Tuesday on the timing of a proposed ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah.

"It is imperative. We have to bring it to an end as soon as possible," the Egyptian guest told reporters when asked about a possible ceasefire.

Rice immediately made the administration's position clear.

She said a ceasefire was only advisable once the root cause of the fighting – Hizbullah, in the US view, was addressed.

Rice stressed that diplomacy aimed at ending the crisis should be targeted at action "that is going to be of lasting value."

"The Middle East has been through too many spasms of violence, and we have to deal with underlying conditions so that we can create sustainable conditions for political progress there."

Rice declined to set a date for her proposed mission to the Middle East.

"When it is appropriate and when it is necessary and will be helpful to the situation, I am more than pleased to go to the region."

Rice told Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, head of the Maronite Catholic church in Lebanon, Tuesday that Americans were praying for Lebanese civilians amid their conflict with Israel.

"We are, of course, working very hard to minimize the impact of the current conflict on the Lebanese people," she said.

"And I want you to know that we're not only working very hard, but we're also praying for the people of Lebanon."

Arab and American Muslims have slammed the Bush administration for sufficing to look on the bloodshed in Lebanon by Israel's military arsenal and pursuing an unbalanced foreign policy.

Joined by peace activists and anti-Zionism Jews, thousands of Americans of Lebanese background took to the streets of several major US cities to protest the Israeli onslaught and the administration's apathy.

US Buys Israel Time in Lebanon (http://www.dpm.ae/doc_cont.asp?id=93655)

250 crowd JEA to show support for Israel

The rally was brief, the message to the point at the Jewish Educational Alliance Wednesday night: America must stand squarely behind Israel in its campaign against Hezbollah.

About 250 people crowded the JEA's auditorium for the event.

They nodded when Joel Greenberg, incoming president of the Savannah Jewish Federation, issued a call to action to show support for Israel: write letters to newspapers and elected officials, he said, and put a bumper sticker on your car and a pin on your lapel.

"Arm yourselves with the facts about Hamas and Hezbollah," Greenberg said. "Do all you can with words, with action, and with donations. And when you're done, pray for the peace of Israel."

Merry Bodziner, president of the Savannah Jewish Federation, decided Monday to organize the event after hearing from too many friends who did not support Israel's response to the kidnapping of three soldiers.

Polls have shown the majority of Americans want Israel to show more restraint in a conflict that has left more than 300 Lebanese and 29 Israelis dead.

"It is important that we all understand that the only reason for these most unfortunate deaths is because Hezbollah and Hamas hide behind the skirts of innocent women and behind the playgrounds of innocent children," she said. "Israel did not start this war. The terrorists did.

"There is no difference between Hamas, al-Qaida and Hezbollah. This is an American struggle, this is an Israeli struggle, this is a struggle for all in the world who cherish freedom and peace."

For Alderman Ken Sadler and his wife, Jodi, the ongoing violence is hitting a little too close to home. Their daughter, Beth, has been in Israel for the past four weeks. She was on her way to northern Israel when rockets began striking cities there last week.

"As a parent, my first instinct was to send her a ticket back home," Jodi Sadler said after the rally.

But the organization she has been traveling with, United Synagogue Youth, has made sound decisions, and the parents feel confident that their daughter will remain safe at their current location in Jerusalem.

"But are we eager for July 31, when she comes home?" Ken Sadler said. "You bet we are."

250 crowd JEA to show support for Israel (http://savannahnow.com/cgi-bin/printme.pl)

America should not be bystanders

WASHINGTON - A week ago, the United States was struggling with two wars: the one it was fighting in Iraq and the one it hoped to avoid against Iran by maintaining a solid coalition to stop its nuclear program. Then came Hezbollah's kidnapping of Israeli soldiers and the ferocious Israeli response and, as strategists in Tehran must have anticipated, this third war complicated America's strategy on the other two fronts.

The Hezbollah war has certainly clarified the threat from Iran and its proxies. Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah has shown himself as a reckless, self-appointed guardian of Lebanon whose actions threaten the Lebanese as much as they do the Israelis. Unfortunately, Israel's retaliation has undermined (to put it mildly) the Lebanese government of Fuad Siniora, whose reformist Cedar Revolution was, until a week ago, one of the few bright spots in the region.

This is a week when all the parties in the horror show that is the Middle East need to think as coolly as they can. A provocative action by Hezbollah has triggered a furious Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, which in turn has brought horrific missile attacks on Israeli cities. It's a cycle in which each side can see confirmation of its worst fears about the other - and in which further provocation or miscalculation can have disastrous results. The only people who are likely to be genuinely happy at this chain of events are the mullahs in Iran.

Given the American stakes in this crisis, the Bush administration's passivity is inexplicable. Hezbollah and Israel have been tossing lighted matches back and forth in a region soaked with gasoline, and the world is waiting for robust American diplomacy. Instead, we see a tongue-tied superpower, led by a president who grumbles into an open mike in St. Petersburg that Kofi Annan should get on the phone to Syria and make it all go away, or maybe Condoleezza Rice should get on a plane to the Middle East.

Bush's slow-motion diplomacy is partly an effort to allow Israel time to destroy as much of Hezbollah's arsenal of missiles as it can. But what comes next? Israeli officials talk of accomplishing what the Lebanese government would do itself, if it had the power - which is to break the power of the Shiite militia.

That's a worthy goal - Hezbollah has it coming - but one that is almost certain to fail. Lebanon is as thankless a battlefield as Iraq, as the Israelis well remember. They were initially welcomed as liberators by the Shiites when they invaded in 1982 - only to be pinned down by Hezbollah's resistance movement and forced to retreat. Only a compulsive gambler would think the odds are any better this time.

There is an attitude among policymakers in the United States and Israel that I would call "Prospero's temptation," after the wizard of Shakespeare's "The Tempest." Prospero thinks that with his magic powers, he can do anything - subdue the wild Caliban and the other denizens of his haunted island and bend them to his purposes. This temptation was evident in Ariel Sharon's invasion of Lebanon in 1982; it was clear in America's 2003 invasion of Iraq. In each case, Israel and America were encouraged by their Arab allies to think that they could alter the fundamentals in a way that the Arabs themselves could not. You can hear echoes of that same thinking today, as Israeli analysts talk of how the Sunni nations - Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan - are privately thanking them for breaking Shiite power.

Rather than bringing positive change, military action in the Middle East tends to bring unanticipated consequences. In this case, one wild card is the Shiite population of Iraq - America's crucial ally there. If the Israeli campaign against Hezbollah stretches to weeks and even months, how long will it be before the United States faces a Shiite insurgency in Iraq, which would almost certainly spell a decisive American defeat there? And, ominously, CIA and FBI officials are said to be hearing increased "chatter" about new terrorist attacks in America.

When international crises arise, analysts often cite the tragic chain of events that produced World War II - Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement that emboldened the Nazis and led to the slaughter of tens of millions. The 1938 Munich lesson of the necessity for action is indelible. But it's also worth considering the lesson of August 1914, in which the world slipped toward a senseless war that could have been avoided had statesmen escaped the lockstep chain of action and response.

Are we living through a Sarajevo moment, like the concatenation of events that marched Europe toward World War I? Impossible to know. But given the risks for the United States and its allies, this ought to be a week when Americans are aggressive, active diplomats, rather than bystanders. If America means to be a world leader, it cannot appear to be a prisoner of events.

America should not be bystanders (http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2006/07/20/200607200036.asp)

Take Off the Gloves
It's time for Israel to get tough.
by Max Boot
07/20/2006 12:00:00 AM

A LOT HAS BEEN written in recent years about stateless terrorism. The events of the last few weeks show, to the contrary, that some of the world's most malignant terrorist groups continue to rely on state support. Hamas runs its own quasi-state--the Palestinian Authority. Hezbollah is a state-within-a-state in Lebanon. And lurking behind both are the real troublemakers: Iran and Syria.

The current crisis exposes the inadequacy of American policy toward this new axis of evil. The problem is not, as so many have it, that President Bush's "cowboy diplomacy" has unsettled the region's vaunted stability. It is that Bush hasn't been enough of a cowboy.

Working with France, the U.S. succeeded last year in forcing Syrian troops out of Lebanon, thus allowing free elections to be held. But Lebanese democracy will remain hollow until Hezbollah disarms in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, something that no one has been willing to enforce--until now.

The U.S. should have done more to stop Syria from supporting not only the terrorists targeting Israel but those targeting U.S. troops in Iraq. Syrian strongman Bashar Assad appeared to be down for the count when a U.N. investigation found evidence linking his regime to the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. But Bush let him get up off the mat. Senior U.S. officials keep proclaiming that Syria's support for terrorism is unacceptable, but by not doing more to stop it, they have tacitly accepted it.

The same is true of Iran. The mullahs continue to develop
nuclear weapons and smuggle explosives into Iraq, and our only response has been talk and more talk. Perhaps this is a prelude to eventual military action, but in the meantime the administration should have done more to aid internal foes of the mullahocracy. It has taken until now--five years into the Bush presidency--for the U.S. to commit any serious money ($66 million) for Iranian democracy promotion, and the State Department has blocked efforts on Capitol Hill to spend even more.

The Jewish state is now paying the price for American inaction. The Katyusha, Kassam and Fajr rockets raining down on Israel are either made by Iran or with Iranian assistance. The same is true of the C-802 cruise missile that hit an Israeli warship. Syria facilitates the delivery of these weapons and provides a haven for Hamas political head Khaled Meshaal. The Iranians and Syrians are as culpable for the aggression against Israel as if they had been pulling the triggers themselves--which, for all we know, they may have been.

And world leaders such as Vladimir V. Putin (he of the scorched-earth policy in Chechnya) have the chutzpah to criticize Israel for its "disproportionate" response? What would a proportionate Israeli response to the snatching of its soldiers and the bombardment of its soil look like? Should Israel kidnap low-level Hamas and Hezbollah operatives? Those organizations wouldn't mind in the slightest; they want as many martyrs as possible.

The real problem is that Israel's response has been all too proportional. So far it has only gone after Hamas and Hezbollah. (Some collateral damage is inevitable because these groups hide among civilians.) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is showing superhuman restraint by not, at the very least, "accidentally" bombing the Syrian and Iranian embassies in Beirut, which serve as Hezbollah liaison offices.

It's hard to know what accounts for this Israeli restraint, for which, of course, it gets no thanks. It may just be a matter of time before the gloves come off. Or Olmert may be afraid of upsetting the regional status quo. The American neocon agenda of regime change is not one that finds favor with most Israelis (ironic, considering how often the rest of the world has denounced neocons as Mossad agents). The Israeli attitude toward neighboring dictators is "better the devil you know." That may make sense with Jordan and Egypt, which have made peace with Israel, but not with Syria, which serves as a vital conduit between Tehran and Hamas and Hezbollah.

Iran may be too far away for much Israeli retaliation beyond a single strike on its nuclear weapons complex. (Now wouldn't be a bad time.) But Syria is weak and next door. To secure its borders, Israel needs to hit the Assad regime. Hard. If it does, it will be doing Washington's dirty work. Our best response is exactly what Bush has done so far--reject premature calls for a cease-fire and let Israel finish the job.

Take Off the Gloves (http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/460qtskt.asp)

Hizbollah ready for long war

BEIRUT: Hizbollah warned on Wednesday that it had enough rockets to continue hitting Israel "for months" and that Israeli warplanes had failed to cut its supply lines despite eight days of bombardments.

The Lebanese fighters can continue to strike Israel with "an arsenal of rockets for long months, and not just days or weeks," Mahmud Qomati, a member of Hizbollah's political council, said. The group has been firing off hundreds of rockets against northern Israel since the Jewish state launched a massive offensive against Lebanon in a bid to wipe out Hizbollah. Since the beginning of the conflict on July 12, a total of 13 Israeli civilians have been killed in rocket attacks.

Qomati said Israel had been trying to cut the militia's supply routes by bombing roads and trucks travelling on them, "but it hasn't succeeded in shutting down our supply of arms towards southern Lebanon." The Israeli military has said it targeted the trucks, mostly in eastern Lebanon, to prevent weapons coming in over the border from Lebanon.

In several cases, trucks Israel destroyed turned out to be carring ordinary cargo, including one hit on Tuesday that was filled with medicine donated by the United Arab Emirates. An AFP photographer on Wednesday saw 11 trucks destroyed in a parking area in southern Beirut suburbs where Hizbollah is active. Drivers of heavy vehicles are now refusing to go into the south of the country out of fear of Israeli jets.

Asked about Hezbollah's threat to strike petrochemical facilities in Haifa's industrial port, Qomati said that option was "suspended" for the moment, without elaborating. He added that Israel was not achieving its objectives in Lebanon. "Israel has been unable to hit a single one of our rocket launchers or any of our leaders," he said.

Israeli General Alon Friedman, a commander in the area near the border with Lebanon, said on Wednesday that his forces had destroyed around half the 10,000 missiles and rockets in Hizbollah's arsenal.

Qomati said his militia was ready for "a long war." "Time is on our side," he said. He reiterated Hizbollah's position that it would only consider "a ceasefire with no conditions attached and then a discussion on an exchange of prisoners."

Israel launched its fierce offensive after Hizbollah captured two of its soldiers in cross-border attacks that also left eight servicemen dead. In the past, such abductions have, despite angering Israel, usually resulted in an exchange in which Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails were released in return for the release of the soldiers.

This time, though, Israel has embarked on a brutal offensive against not just Hizbollah but all of Lebanon, including its infrastructure and military. More than 300 people have been killed, most of them civilians.

Asked about UN chief Kofi Annan's offer that an international peacekeeping force be deployed in Lebanon, the Hizbollah representative said his group "had received no formal proposal in that direction" and declined to comment further.

Annan was to address the UN Security Council on Thursday, laying out the worsening situation in Lebanon and detailing his plans for the international force.

Hizbollah ready for long war (http://www.godubai.com/gulftoday/article.asp?AID=46&Section=Middle)

Syria bars UN team seeking end to Mideast attacks
19 Jul 2006 18:13:01 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, July 19 (Reuters) - Syria barred a U.N. mission to the Middle East unless it excluded one of its members, Norwegian Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. adviser on Syria-Lebanon issues, a U.N. official said on Wednesday.

Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy secretary-general, told reporters the mission decided not to go to Damascus because it urgently needed to return to New York to brief the U.N. Security Council on a flurry of diplomatic initiatives.

"The mission did plan to go to Syria and one of the issues we would have had to grapple with is what to do with Roed-Larsen," Malloch Brown said. "What would have been a tough choice is one we did not have to make."

Damascus, diplomats said, had barred Roed-Larsen because of his previous reports on Security Council resolutions demanding Syrian forces withdraw from Lebanon and militia disarm. His reports have also cited weapons flowing to Lebanon's Hizbollah militia across the Syrian border.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent the team to the Middle East to search for ways to end the Israeli-Lebanese conflict. He will report to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.

"Obviously the secretary-general considers it his business to choose who to send on good offices mission," Malloch Brown said. "It is clearly the case that the Syrians didn't want him," he said of Roed-Larsen.

But Malloch Brown said that if the U.N. initiative continues, Annan would want a team to visit Damascus "and this will be an issue he will have to face down the road."

Annan, he said, would be reporting on the diplomatic overtures and his demands for a cease-fire at a dinner on Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and possibly Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief.

The team was led by political adviser Vijay Nambiar of India and included Middle East envoy Alvaro de Soto of Peru as well as Roed-Larsen, a Norwegian diplomat.

Syria bars UN team seeking end to Mideast attacks (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19243407.htm)

Beefed-up U.N.force proposed
It could bring a cease-fire along the Lebanon-Israel border.border. But delay means lives.

With Israel and Hezbollah showing no signs of easing up on their assaults, the United Nations has begun talking about sending an international peacekeeping force to end the hostilities raging across the Israeli/Lebanese border. That is, of course, a proper role for the U.N., and skepticism by Israel or some Arab nations should not deter U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan from pursuing it in the Security Council.

The challenge is to deal with the question more swiftly than has always been the case for the international body. Israel has committed to ending Hezbollah's control of southern Lebanon, from which it has launched attacks and raids on northern Israel, including one in which three Israeli soldiers were killed and two were kidnapped. That set off the new round of violence. Hezbollah has responded to Israeli shelling of its enclaves in Beirut by pledging that it is ready for all-out war.

Clearly, the sooner some credible international force - with sufficient manpower and weapons and a mandate to use them - can be dispatched to the region, the sooner the killing of innocent civilians can end and some stability can come to a region on the brink.

The key is the disarming of Hezbollah. It has operated as a virtually independent state in southern Lebanon, despite a U.N. resolution two years ago calling for the newly elected Lebanese government to exercise authority over the entire country. The fact that it has not been able to do that and, in fact, has asked for assistance in dealing with the Hezbollah militias lends further credence to a beefed-up U.N. presence.

There has been a 2,000-member U.N. force in Lebanon since 1978 after an Israeli invasion. It has remained through a second Israeli invasion and Israel's pullout of southern Lebanon in 2000 after an 18-year occupation. The U.N. peacekeepers were supposed to bolster the authority of the Lebanese government and prevent violence along the border with Israel. It has not done so. With insufficient numbers and weapons and no strong mandate, the U.N. force has watched as Hezbollah has continued to attack Israel from southern Lebanon.

Israel insists that, in addition to returning its soldiers, Hezbollah must disarm and Lebanese troops must take control of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah disagrees, as do Iran and Syria, its sponsors; but no one else does. In effect, Hezbollah appears to be fighting a proxy war for Iran against Israel and the United States, which are automatically joined as one by Islamic states.

The goals of disarming Hezbollah and having Lebanese troops move into southern Lebanon appear to be unlikely without a cease-fire. Israel may be of a mind to pound Hezbollah into submission, but it hasn't been able to do so in the past, and, in any event, the loss of life among civilians would be prohibitive. A well-armed U.N. force, backed up with diplomacy aimed at getting Iran and Syria to call off their hired guns, could stabilize the region enough for Lebanon to eventually take control.

But we repeat: Israel is of no mind to wait around for others to solve its problem, especially an international organization that has often seemed aligned against it.

Beefed-up U.N.force proposed (http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/07/20/opinion-20juulyed-07-20.html)

Patsy no more, Israel takes its hits and is still standing
The differences between Scud attacks in '91 and now

By ZEV CHAFETS

On Sunday my 10-year-old son's summer camp was shut down; it was judged to be too close to Haifa, too vulnerable to missile attack. Instead, he and his sister are at home in Tel Aviv, busying themselves with yard work.

On Monday, the Israeli Air Force discovered and destroyed a Hezbollah rocket capable of hitting our yard in Tel Aviv. There are said to be many more such rockets in the Hezbollah arsenal. So today, when I sent my son and his 9-year-old sister out to buy gardening gloves and a rake, I first briefed them on what to do in case of a missile attack.

Ah, memories. It seems like only yesterday that I was having a similar discussion with my elder son, then 9 years old. That was in 1991, during the Persian Gulf War. My parental briefing included instructions on how to put on a gas mask. Saddam Hussein had threatened to "burn half of Israel" and we thought his Scuds might be armed with chemical warheads or worse.

This time around there are no gas masks (at least not yet; Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has promised "new surprises"). But Hezbollah's conventional rockets are lethal enough. They have killed 13 Israeli civilians since the fighting began. In 1991, after almost a full month of trying, only one Israeli was hit and killed by an Iraqi Scud.

The Israeli government in 1991 was ordered by President George H.W. Bush to stay out of the fighting. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, a man of limited communications skills, complied without explaining his decision to the Israeli public. When Israelis realized they were unprotected, people panicked. Schools shut down, businesses closed and just about everyone fled to safety.

This reaction led Israel's enemies to a simple conclusion: Whatever the Israeli Army could accomplish on the battlefield could be neutralized by hitting the squeamish home front. Hezbollah (and the Palestinians and Syria) began laying in stocks of missiles.

Successive Israeli governments made the prevention of missile attacks a major goal. Israeli diplomacy, from the Oslo accords through the unceremonious Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 and right up to the current frenzied efforts to stop the Iranian nuclear program, have been premised on the fragility of Israeli morale in the face of assault. Starting with the first gulf war, Israel went from being the deterrent power in the neighborhood to being the chronic frightened patsy.

At least that's what Sheik Nasrallah thought when his men snatched two Israeli soldiers on the Lebanese border. He figured the new prime minister, Ehud Olmert, would meet almost any price to get the soldiers back peacefully.

Instead, Olmert attacked. He knew that retaliation would bring on the missiles and rockets, but he evidently thought it was worth the risk.

What Olmert didn't know when he gave the order — what the Israeli public itself didn't know — was that the rockets wouldn't cause panic. Fear, yes. Caution, too, and some complaining (this is Israel, after all). But, amazingly, most people in even the most vulnerable areas have behaved with something like the sanguine good nature of the British during the Blitz.

What's different this time? Leadership, in Jerusalem and in Washington.

For Israelis, fighting back made all the difference. We've taken Hezbollah's best shot and we're still standing. "We will win," Olmert told the Knesset on Monday, and this simple assertion became an instant headline and a rallying cry. Olmert's confidence is based on military capacity, of course — fully unleashed there is very little the Israeli Army can't accomplish against Hezbollah (and beyond) — and on his faith that George W. Bush will give him the time and the international support needed to finish off Hezbollah.

And this faith is well-placed.

There is, of course, a certain poetic justice in having President George W. Bush help Israel restore the deterrent power President George H.W. Bush undermined in 1991.

Unlike his father, this president doesn't seem to regard Israel as a nuisance. On the contrary, he sees it as a friend and an ally in the fight against Islamic radicalism.

An Israeli victory in Lebanon wounds Hezbollah's patrons, Syria and Iran, both of which threaten American troops and aspirations in Iraq. It establishes Olmert as a major figure as he tries to set Israel's permanent borders in accordance with American policy. And, with any luck, it will make it possible next year for my children to stay in camp for the entire summer.

Patsy no more, Israel takes its hits and is still standing (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/4058836.html)

IAF attempts to assassinate Hizbullah leadership
Yaakov Katz, AP and JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Jul. 20, 2006

IAF fighter jets dropped over 20 tons in bombs late Wednesday night on a Hizbullah bunker, possibly the hiding place of the group's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, in the Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp in southeast Beirut. It was still unclear who was in the bunker at the time and what their fate was, but IDF sources said the bunker was totally destroyed and that all that was left was a crater.

The IDF obtained intelligence information late Wednesday night that Hizbullah leaders possibly including Nasrallah had taken refuge inside the bunker. A wave of aircraft immediately took to the air and dropped 23 tons of explosives on the bunker.

IDF sources would not confirm that Nasrallah was in the bunker at the time, but said that high-ranking Hizbullah leaders were inside, and that it appeared that the attack was successful.

Hizbullah has said none of its "leaders or members" died in the IAF strike.

"The truth is that the building targeted by the enemy warplanes with 23 tons of explosives is just a building under construction to be a mosque for prayers," said the statement, issued on the group's Al-Manar TV and faxed to The Associated Press.

"It seems that the enemy wants to cover up its military and security failures with lies and claims of imaginary achievements," it said.

The IDF said the strike occurred between 8 and 9 pm but refused to give further details. Reporters in Beirut said they heard a huge explosion around 8:30 p.m.

Hizbullah has a headquarters compound in Bourj al-Barajneh that is off limits to the Lebanese police and army, so security officials could not confirm the strike.

Despite the airing of Hizbullah's claims that the IAF had hit a mosque under construction, the IDF Spokesman's office insisted to The Jerusalem Post early Thursday morning that the IAF had hit a Hizbullah bunker.

Also early Thursday morning, Israel's UN Ambassador Gillerman said in a CNN interview that "I can assure you that we know exactly what we hit. ... This was no religious site. This was indeed the headquarters of the Hizbullah leadership."

Since the IDF went to war with Lebanon last Wednesday, fighter jets have repeatedly bombed another bunker in the Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut, also said to be the main nerve center and headquarters of Hizbullah.

The IAF has so far carried over 3,000 sorties over Lebanon, and in the past day attacked 200 targets throughout the country, including Hizbullah headquarters, cars carrying terrorists, Katyusha launchers and weapons warehouses.

IAF attempts to assassinate Hizbullah leadership (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153291951954&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter)

US to France: Too early for ceasefire

Washington, which declared its support of Israel's right to defend itself, provides 'diplomatic umbrella' for strikes in Lebanon, convincing France not to promote ceasefire at this stage. Ambassador Ayalon: We have time
Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON – France has sought to promote an initiative to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah, but the United States managed to convince the French not to work to reach a ceasefire ahead of time, sources in Washington told Ynet.

The British Guardian newspaper and other western newspapers reported that the American government has given Israel a week to end the war, but in actual fact the US is blocking any attempt to "interrupt" the Israeli effort, out of an understanding that the Israel Defense Forces has to go "all the way."

Israeli Ambassador to the US Danny Ayalon told Ynet that the report in the Guardian, that there is an American schedule to stop the fighting, was "imaginary."

"I estimate the Americans will continue to offer full support, out of the understanding that this is a battle which is part of the global war on terror led by (US) President Bush," he added.

As part of her curbing efforts, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to move her diplomatic efforts to New York on Thursday, in a dinner with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. On Friday, she is scheduled to hold a working meeting with Annan and his delegates, who returned from a visit to the Middle East.

Rice is expected to arrive in the region next week in a bid to silence the diplomatic and political elements accusing Washington of abandoning the Middle East.

Backed by the decision of the eight industrialized nations (the G-8) and the Sunni Arab countries – Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – Rice plans to maintain the momentum of international support against Hizbullah and search for ways to implement the Security Council's Resolution 1559 to disarm the organization.

The American government has yet to announce Rice's arrival to the Middle East, but she is scheduled to leave Washington on Sunday for a visit to Egypt on Monday and a visit to Israel on Tuesday. In Cairo, Rice is expected to meet with the Egyptian, Saudi Arabian and Jordanian foreign ministers.

Hizbullah made a mistake – and will pay

The feeling in the White House is that Hizbullah made a mistake in its estimation of its power and the situation, and now the Americans hope that the organization will pay for it.

Bush's spokesman Tony Snow said that Hizbullah thought they could kidnap soldiers and get some public relations, and instead they enraged not only Israel but the entire region.

"If you take a look at the extraordinary statement by the Arab League, where the Saudis and Jordanians – the Arab League, was condemning Hizbullah; and, furthermore, the G8 condemning Hezbollah and its sponsors… Now what you had, I think, was a guerilla incursion that has turned into just an absolute miscalculation on the part of Hizbullah because what it has done is it has forged, I think, a sense of determination on all parties opposed to the activities of Hizbullah not to let it stand, and also, not to return – revert to the status quo ante where Hizbullah was operating," Snow said.

As far as the US in concerned, not returning to the previous situation means implementing Resolution 1559 to disarm the armed militias in Lebanon – Hizbullah and the Palestinian organizations.

There are sources in American politics who believe President Bush should get into the thick of things, call Syrian President Bashar Assad and launch negotiations. Addressing this, Snow said that "the track recors stinks" and there is no reason to believe talks with the Syrians will bear any fruit."

"I don't know if you remember all the old pictures of diplomats in the Reagan years going – in the Carter, Reagan, and maybe even the early Bush years, the first Bush administration – who knows, Clinton may have done it, too – sitting around there drinking tea with Hafez al-Assad, the father, having to sit there for five, six, 10 hours, listening to polite but long discourses on greater Syria, and at the end of that, having gotten nothing," Snow said.

According to Snow, the American interest includes two things: That terror and terrorists don’t win and that a basis for stable peace is created.

"You just have to wait until the conditions are right for that… The Israelis are doing what they think is necessary to protect their borders," he said.

US to France: Too early for ceasefire (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3278709,00.html)

Mubarak: 'External elements' prevented Shalit's release

Speaking to al-Mussawar newspaper, Egyptian president says efforts to free Corporal Gilad Shalit were stymied by "external elements"; Hamas welcomes Egyptian mediation which they say should not jeopardize interest of Lebanese, Palestinian people
Roee Nahmias

Egypt renewed contacts with Israel and the Palestinians in an attempt to solve the crisis over the kidnapping of Corporal Gilad Shalit, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told al-Musawer.

"It is possible to find a solution which will allow the Israeli incursion into Gaza and brings about the release of a considerable number of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jail," Mubarak said.

Mubarak added that Egypt was close to brokering a deal to secure Shalit's release "had external elements not been involved." Mubarak said these elements hindered Egyptian efforts.

Mubarak spoke of the deepening crisis between Israel and Lebanon, stressing that Egypt is trying to find a solution that can bring about a cease-fire.

He rejected reports in the Israeli media that Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have formed a front against Hizbullah, out of their keenness to see the Shiite group disarmed.

"Just as Egypt strives to not let others interfere in its internal affairs, it strives not to interfere in the internal affairs of another country. Hizbullah is a Lebanese affair and Egypt will not interfere," he said.

Hamas: Egyptian efforts should not jeopardize Lebanese interests

Hamas legislator Mhammad al-Ramhi spoke of renewed efforts to secure the release of Gilad Shalit: "We welcome Egypt's efforts to solve the crisis, but we will not agree they will come on the account of Hizbullah and the Lebanese people who are facing a war of extermination."

Al-Ramhi said Hamas will not reject fair proposals to secure the release of prisoners. "We prefer to separate between the Lebanese and Palestinian channels for technical reasons. But we estimate that a stance against Hamas will not serve the resistance and may be used against the Lebanese people. What is happening in Lebanon is resistance and he who is opposed to resistance is with the Israeli enemy," he said.

Meanwhile the London-based daily al-Hayat newspaper said western powers are trying to convince Israel to make a prisoner exchange deal with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to strengthen him against Hamas.

Abbas has refused to mediate between Israel and Hamas.

Mubarak: 'External elements' prevented Shalit's release (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3278726,00.html)

IDF Wages Ground-Battles on Three Fronts
23:47 Jul 19, '06 / 23 Tammuz 5766
by Ezra HaLevi

The IDF fought fierce ground battles on three fronts Wednesday, chalking up many operational successes. Two soldiers fell in the line of duty battling Hizbullah forces.

Staff Sergeant Yonatan Hadassi, 21, of Kibbutz Merchavya and First-Sergeant Yotam Gilboa, 21, from Maoz Chaim were the two fallen soldiers. Nine others were wounded in the battle, two moderately.

The fighting with Hizbullah forces went on for several hours at the Israel-Lebanon border, near the Israeli town of Avivim - opposite the Lebanese village of Marun A-Ras, which was turned into a Hizbullah stronghold after Israel's hasty withdrawal from the region in 2000.

IDF Special Forces entered the area late Tuesday night and found a large stockpile of Hizbullah weapons and munitions. Hizbullah geurrillas had been hiding out and opened fire on the troops, killing the two soldiers moments before they themselves were killed. Their comrades then began shooting mortar shells at the area, making evacuation of the wounded and fallen soldiers difficult.

Small groups of IDF soldiers have been entering Lebanon for special "pin-point" operations in recent days and continued to do so throughout Wednesday.

More than 60,000 Lebanese have fled southern Lebanon and the IDF issued an order Wednesday evening calling on all 300,000 Lebanese living south of the Litani River to evacuate their homes.

The IDF has been putting special efforts into destroying long-range Zilzal missiles and launchers, capable of striking Tel Aviv with much larger missiles than have struck Israel so far. Many of the launchers are hidden in densely-populated areas.

In air strikes on targets in Lebanon, Lebanese media reported more than 50 people killed in the cities of Balbek, Sidon, Chuweifat, Hadath and Nabatiya.

Overall, the IDF says more than 1,000 terrorist targets have been hit so far, including 180 Katyusha and long-range rocket launch-sites.

The Samarian Front
In Shechem, the largest PA-controlled city in northern Samaria, more than 200 Arab terrorists were apprehended and an office of the PA was demolished. Three Arabs were killed in exchanges of fire with IDF forces surrounding the terrorist compound in the heart of the city. The compound belongs to the Palestinian Authority's Preventative Security Service.

The IDF siege on the compound began in the early morning hours and lasted until Wednesday afternoon, when its inhabitants were forced to surrender as parts of the building were systematically bulldozed. One soldier was wounded by a firebomb and treated on the scene.

Before dawn Wednesday, five wanted terrorists were apprehended in other areas of Judea and Samaria by security forces.

Gaza
In a development that could place Tel Aviv within the sites of Arab missile-launchers from the couth, a Katyusha rocket was fired from Gaza toward the western Negev. The rocket landed in Kibbutz Bror Hayil.

The IDF continues to carry out operations in Gaza aimed at locating kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit and preventing the launching of rockets at Israel's southern towns. Six Arabs were killed in clashes as the IDF entered the Mughazi slums coastal region. Five IDF soldiers were wounded.

Air force planes attacked three groups of terrorists in central Gaza overnight and destroyed a tunnel being constructed beneath the Karni Crossing.

IDF Wages Ground-Battles on Three Fronts (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=107857)

Olmert: Iranian trick succeeded

In meeting with Israeli diplomats, prime minister says all eyes are drawn to Lebanon, abandoning Iran's nuclear threat; adds that even if diplomatic negotiations begin, military operation will continue until kidnapped soldiers return home
Ahiya Raved

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived Tuesday evening at the rocket-battered city of Haifa and met with the heads of about 60 regional councils in northern Israel, which have been subjected to ongoing and deadly barrages for almost a week now.

"This is a state of emergency, we will do everything to help you," he promised.

Olmert also met with Israeli ambassadors and heads of delegations leaving for diplomatic missions, and pointed a finger mainly at Iran.

"The timing of Hizbullah's operation in the north was not coincidental," he said. "It was coordinated with Iran and was aimed at drawing the international attention from Iran. Unfortunately, Iran's trick succeeded. Everyone now remembers the G8 decision on the Lebanese issue and fails to deal with the Iranian issue."

The prime minister noted that Israel does not reject diplomatic negotiations to solve the crisis, under the condition that it will be based on the principles of the G8 decision, meaning: An immediate release of the kidnapped soldiers under no conditions and an implementation of the Security Council's Resolution 1559 regarding the deployment if the Lebanese army along the border and disarming Hizbullah.

"No one in the international community is asking us to halt the operation before an implementation of the G8 decision," Olmert said. "In order to implement this, we may have to hold diplomatic negotiations – not with Hizbullah. In any case, starting negotiations will not stop the operation – only the return of the kidnapped soldiers will."

He made it clear that until there is no certainty that Israel is not under threat, the Israel Defense Forces will not stop its operation.

As for proposals made by Europe, the United Nations and other to deploy an international force in Lebanon, the prime minister said: "This is a good headline, but our experience shows that there is nothing behind it. There is an international force in Lebanon also today, and we see what they are doing. I want to be cautious about the issue, and I think it is too early to discuss this."

Bereaved parents support Olmert

A particularly exciting moment took place when Olmert was approached by Home Front Command Chief Major-General Yitzhak Gershon, who told him that he had just returned from a visit to the family home of Lieutenant Colonel Eitan Belachsan, who was killed during an operation in Lebanon when he was the commander of a paratroopers commando unit.

"They asked me to tell you that they support you and the IDF's operation, and that you should do everything in order to remove the Katyushas from the Galilee," he said. Olmert was extremely moved.

The meeting's attendees decided to establish a directors' forum, headed by Raanan Dinur, director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, which will work to provide governmental assistance and ease the life of the bombarded residents. The team is set to submit its first recommendations to the prime minister within a number of days.

Olmert at the Haifa Congress Center (Photo: GPO)

Olmert praised "the strength of the residents, who are facing a situation which is no less difficult than previous terror attacks in all the cities of Israel."

He made it clear that "we won't let go of the terrorists and will attack them from the air, the sea and the land. I will make sure that Israel's citizens will not be subjected to missile attacks anymore and will be safe."

"I am proud of the residents' strength," the prime minister told the regional council heads at the Haifa Congress Center. "We will do everything to stop the harm caused to them. Therefore the IDF is fighting and we are here at your service. The Israeli government stands behind you and lovingly accepts the expressions of tolerance and patience in the face of the Katyusha and rocket attack from Lebanon.

"The residents' behavior strengthens the IDF and the Israeli government," Olmert praised the community leaders and the public they represent.

Sitting next to directors of various ministries, he promised: "All the ministries are here at your service. I told them that this is a state of emergency, I told them to leave everything and take care of you and of the residents' needs. All the government ministers are also touring the north from morning to night in order to provide you with assistance."

Came to strengthen and left strengthened

"The prime minister came to tell the council heads that they are the real leaders in the field in these harsh days, that the civil endurance they and their residents are manifesting equals the power of many armies," Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon told Ynet at the end of the meeting.

"The front is not on the border today, the front is in Haifa and Carmiel. The citizens' endurance is our great test, and the prime minister came to strengthen and left strengthened," he said.

The council heads, on their part, expressed their support of the government's policy and called to continue the war "until Hizbullah is eliminated and the threat over the northern communities is removed."

They presented their guest with the communities' distress and expressed their hope that the promises and compliments are not forgotten on the day after.

Olmert: Iranian trick succeeded (http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3278051,00.html)

EU 'acutely concerned' by Middle East violence
17.07.2006 - 20:02 CET | By Mark Beunderman
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU foreign ministers have urged Israel "not to resort to disproportionate action" when defending itself against Hezbollah attacks, while member states are evacuating their own nationals after joint EU plans to bring Europeans home proved troublesome.

Foreign ministers were on Monday (17 July) briefed by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana following a Sunday trip to assess the escalating violence in Lebanon.

They met amid reports of more civilian casualties in mutual attacks between Israel and the islamist Hezbollah movement, with the BBC reporting that at least 10 Lebanese people died in an Israeli attack in the south of the country.

Ministers agreed on a statement which was as similar as possible to a text adopted by G8 leaders in St Petersburg over the weekend in order to create an "international front to press Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah," Dutch foreign minister Bernard Bot said.

The statement says that the EU is "acutely concerned" at the situation in the Middle East, "in particular at the deteriorating humanitarian situation and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and deplores the loss of civilian lives on all sides."

"The European Union condemns the attacks by Hezbollah on Israel and the abduction of two Israeli soldiers. It calls for their immediate and unconditional release and for the cessation of all attacks on Israeli towns and cities," the text reads.

Ministers also said that The "EU recognises Israel's legitimate right to self-defence, but it urges Israel to exercise utmost restraint and not to resort to disproportionate action."

EU troops to the region?
The passage on Israeli actions is notably weaker than earlier statements issued by the Finnish EU presidency last week, which had simply called Israeli violence "disproportionate."

An Israeli diplomat told EUobserver that Jerusalem disliked this wording, asking "what do people expect Israel to do?" in face of the "indiscriminate terror" by Hezbollah rocket attacks.

As wished by Jerusalem, EU ministers also recalled "the need for the Lebanese state to restore its sovereignty over the whole of its national territory and to do its utmost to prevent [Hezbollah] attacks."

Ministers also discussed the possibility of sending troops to the region as part of a new UN peace force.

UK prime minister Tony Blair said on Monday at the St Petersburg G8 meeting "The only way in my view we are going to get a cessation of hostilities is if we have the deployment of an international force into that area that can stop the bombardment coming over into Israel and therefore gives Israel the reason to stop its attacks on Hezbollah."

EU ministers agreed to in principle contribute to such a force if the UN would request so, according to Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja.

He said that "It is primarily the UN and the Security Council who would have to deal with this issue" but added that EU ministers "have made clear to favourably consider participating in such a mission."

But speaking for the Netherlands, Mr Bot this would be "for others" to do, with the Hague already overburdened by international peace operations around the globe.

EU evacuation trouble
Meanwhile, member states are individually proceeding to evacuate their nationals from the crisis region after weekend efforts at EU coordination proved troublesome.

Mr Tuomioja referred to "intensive consular co-operation co-ordinated by the presidency."

With the EU not having a consular service, "improvisation worked very well," the Finnish politician said.

But Mr Bot said that The Hague concluded on Saturday it had to rely on its "own force" when it became clear that common EU efforts were to strand.

He said that Finland has no embassy in Lebanon and had ask to use Germany's, while France would send a ship to pick up Europeans but that ship "had not arrived."

Slovak foreign minister Igor Kubis told EUobserver "Some states did provide their services to other nationals - like Czech aircrafts taking on board also Slovaks citizens."

But ministers agreed to set up a working group that "would suggest measures for even better co-ordination in future," he added.

Some European families were lucky and fitted into the helicopter flying Mr Solana from Lebanon to Cyprus on Sunday; the foreign policy chief said. "On my legs, I had a little baby."

EU 'acutely concerned' by Middle East violence (http://euobserver.com/24/22108)

EU top diplomat in Middle East amid continuing violence
19.07.2006 - 09:49 CET | By Mark Beunderman
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has arrived in the violence-stricken Middle East for fresh talks with Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian politicians.

Mr Solana arrived in Israel on Tuesday evening (18 July) for a meeting with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday, after he had held discussions with the Lebanese leadership over the weekend.

The EU foreign policy chief's latest diplomatic effort comes amid continued violence between Israel and the Islamist Hezbollah movement, with the BBC reporting that 230 Lebanese people and 25 Israelis have been killed since the conflict erupted last week.

Mr Solana will also meet the Palestinian leadership on Wednesday, as Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territories are continuing.

The top diplomat will subsequently go to Cairo for talks with the Egyptian government on Thursday.

Meanwhile, US state secretary Condoleezza Rice is also preparing to travel to the region, possibly next week, according to media reports.

Fischer as EU envoy?
But some voices are pleading for a stronger EU role in ending the hostilities, with the Greens in the European Parliament suggesting former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer – himself a Green politician – should become special EU peace envoy.

"As a proven international politician, respected both in Israel and Palestine, Joschka Fischer would be ideally placed to play a mediating role, as an EU envoy, aimed at negotiating a ceasefire," leading Green MEPs Daniel Cohn-Bendit from Germany and Italian Monica Frassoni said in a statement.

"Following this, an international initiative based on the 'roadmap' for peace in the Middle East should be re-launched and an international conference should be prepared with a view to achieving peace in the region," they added.

In an interview with Spiegel Online, Mr Cohn-Bendit also said the UN should task NATO to set up a peace force in the area, as the alliance is "currently the only military force which could do something like that."

His remarks follow calls by UN secretary general Kofi Annan for a stronger UN force to be stationed between Israel and Lebanon.

UN force
"It is urgent that the international community acts to make a difference on the ground," Mr Annan said after meeting European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels on Tuesday.

"I would expect a force that will have a modified and different concept of operation and with different capabilities. I would expect contributions from European countries and countries from other regions," the UN chief said.

The UN has had a 2,000 strong force in south Lebanon since 1978, known as UNIFIL, but it lacks the necessary mandate.

Mr Barroso said some EU member states had expressed their willingness to contribute to the proposed force, with the Finnish EU presidency indicating member states have made it clear they would "favourably consider participating in such a mission."

EU top diplomat in Middle East amid continuing violence (http://euobserver.com/24/22130)

British envoy meets with head of parliamentary friendship group
Tehran, July 20, IRNA

Iran-Britain-Ambassador
British Ambassador to Tehran Geoffrey Adams met with Iranian head of parliamentary Iran-Britain friendship group Hossein Nejabat here Wednesday.

According to the report of Majlis Media Department, Nejabat by referring to the recent visit by a British parliamentary delegation to Tehran said the exchange of parliamentary delegations will increase the knowledge of parliaments and will expand mutual ties.

He added the two parliaments can have an effective role in correcting wrong conceptions and facilitating bilateral relations.

Nejabat said the latest report of foreign relations committee to the British House of Commons regarding Iran included false information and unreal data.

He noted that some of British government policies toward Iran are not tolerable for Iranians and it is necessary to change these policies.

The Iranian majlis deputy by criticizing authorization of MKO (Mojahedeen Khalq Organization) activities in England in different covers said, in spite of British Anti-Terrorism law of year 2000, according to which the MKO is among terrorist organizations in the British Home Office list, as a matter of fact, London, practically is one of the main bases of the MKO terrorist activity.

As another negative existing point in bilateral ties, Nejabat referred to the British stances on nuclear issue and stressed on necessity of correcting wrong policy of England in this concern for promoting the mutual ties.

The British envoy, for his part, expressed hope that by constructive efforts of both countries' officials and parliaments the misunderstandings can be removed and the bilateral ties could reach its expected potential levels.

The ambassador added although there are principal differences in the two countries policies, there are reasonable common grounds for cooperation too.

British envoy meets with head of parliamentary friendship group (http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-17/0607204208010824.htm)

Iran backs comprehensive solution to Lebanon crisis: FM
Damascus, July 18, IRNA

Iran-Syria-FM
Iran supports a comprehensive solution to the Lebanese crisis that meets the legal demands of the suffering nation, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said here Monday.

Mottaki, who arrived in Syria Monday morning for a short working visit, made the remarks while speaking to IRNA before winding up his visit.

"Several countries are mediating to help end the crisis in Lebanon," he noted.

"The Islamic world supports the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine and the legitimate rights of the peoples of this region." "Muslim countries are united in their strong condemnation of Zionists atrocities in the region," he added.

Mottaki regretted that efforts of the United Nations Security Council to put an end to Zionist aggressions on the Lebanese and Palestinian nations, even a mere resolution, were always immediately blocked by a US veto.

"Washington is even preventing the international community from expressing support for the Lebanese nation in the ongoing Zionist offensive."
He dismissed as "baseless and unfounded" allegations by certain Lebanese political groups that Iran was encouraging the Muslim resistance in the region in order to divert attention from its nuclear case.

"Such issues are raised so they can find ways of dealing with the difficult situation they are now in. Washing and Tel Aviv are skillful when it comes to launching a psychological war," Mottaki said.

"Psychological wars are a strategy used by enemies to undermine the Lebanese and Palestinian nations' resistance."
Asked about insinuations in the regional press that through his current visit Iran was sending an indirect message to the Zionist regime, Mottaki said that the situation of the Zionist regime was clear.

"Most countries in the region and fighters of resistance will not accept continuation of the Zionist regime's atrocities." He said the issue at stake was the Zionist regime's continuing cruelty and bullying of the Lebanese and Palestinian people and regional states, and its `wall of separation' from the region.

"If a message were to be sent to Zionist regime, it would come from the region, and the message is that the resistance of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples will go on," Mottaki said.

The Iranian minister, during his day-long visit to Damascus on Monday, met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Vice President Farouq al-Shara and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem.

Accompanying him in this visit was Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad-Reza Baqeri.

Iran backs comprehensive solution to Lebanon crisis: FM (http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-17/0607184108105403.htm)

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Theology => Prophecy - Current Events => Topic started by: Shammu on July 15, 2006, 03:37:21 PM