Israel, the mid-east, and Russia - Part 2

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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 More Attacks Against Soldiers in Samaria
08:30 Jul 18, '06 / 22 Tammuz 5766

(IsraelNN.com) IDF soldiers involved in counter-terror operations in Samaria were attacked by terrorist gunfire in Kabatia and Ramallah.

Earlier in the night, heavy exchanges of gunfire were reported between soldiers and terrorists in Shechem. No injuries were reported in any of the incidents.

More Attacks Against Soldiers in Samaria

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MK Eldad: Expell Ministers that Vote to Expell Jews
09:12 Jul 18, '06 / 22 Tammuz 5766

(IsraelNN.com) MK Aryeh Eldad has suggested that a new law be passed that would require any government minister that votes to expel Jews from their homes be required to vacate his residence in order to show a “personal example”.

The law would state that the minister would have 10 days to leave his house from the day the evacuation is started or be removed against his will.

The law further states that the minister would be barred from ever returning to the town from which he was forced to leave but would receive compensation according to the guidelines set forth for the other evacuees.

The minister would be permitted to protest the evacuation to the extent that other Israelis are permitted but if the minister physically resisted evacuation the Prime Minister would be permitted to remove him from his post.

MK Eldad: Expell Ministers that Vote to Expell Jews

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 Livni to Meet with UN on Ceasefire Proposal
08:44 Jul 18, '06 / 22 Tammuz 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is scheduled to meet with a delegation from the United Nations in order to discuss a possible cease fire agreement between Israel and the Hizbullah terrorist organization.

Among the Israeli conditions for a ceasefire are the return of the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers, the deployment of the Lebanese army along the border with Israel, and the cessation of rocket fire against Israel.

Livni to Meet with UN on Ceasefire Proposal

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Syrians march in support of Hizbollah, Assad

DAMASCUS (dpa) - Tens of thousands of Syrians took to the country's streets Monday in a show of support for the Lebanese group Hizbollah and embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is coming under fire over his country's support for the militant group.

Thousands marched through the centre of the capital Damascus chanting slogans in support of Assad and Hizbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah who has been targeted in Israeli airstrikes on his home and offices.

"I am here to express my solidarity with the Lebanese resistance and to express outrage at what is happening in Lebanon. We all love Nasrallah and support him," said Fatima Ibrahim, 32, a government employee.

She urged the Hizbollah leader to step up rocket attacks against Israel and called on the international community to come to Lebanon's rescue.

"The Syrians and the Lebanese are brothers and nothing would separate us," said Ali al-Haj Hassan, a 20-year-old Lebanese, adding that Syrians had opened their houses to Lebanese fleeing the violence at home.

Relations between Lebanon and Syria plummeted after last year's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which many Lebanese blamed on Syria. Damascus has denied any involvement.

The demonstrators burnt images of the Israeli flag and carried posters of Assad and Nasrallah, some of them reading "Our blood and soul for Lebanon."

A campaign was underway in Damascus to collect blood for the Lebanese victims of the Israeli bombardments that began six days ago following a cross-border raid by Hizbollah and Syria has sent tones of medical and food aid to the Lebanese.

Syrians march in support of Hizbollah, Assad

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Ground invasion of Lebanon 'a possibility'

18/07/2006 - 8:19:48 AM

Israeli forces are trying to curtail Hezbollah’s ability to fire rockets into Israel, the army’s deputy chief of staff said today, adding that a ground invasion into Lebanon had not been ruled out.

“At this stage we do not think we have to activate massive ground forces into Lebanon, but if we have to do this, we will. We are not ruling it out,” Major General Moshe Kaplinski told Israel Radio.

His comments echoed similar sentiment among Israeli officials since fighting erupted last week.

“Hezbollah has a very large system of different types of rockets,” Kaplinski told Israel Radio.

“The group still has an ability to fire at the north and residents still feel this. We will do everything to shorten this suffering.”

Hezbollah in Lebanon have fired hundreds of rockets into northern Israel since fighting started on July 12 when the guerrillas snatched two soldiers in a cross-border raid.

More than 200 Lebanese, most of them civilians, and 24 Israelis, half of them civilians, have been killed since fighting erupted.

Ground invasion of Lebanon 'a possibility'

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Bush Administration: No Lebanon Truce If Terror Structure Intact

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- The Bush administration can't support any cease-fire proposals for Israel and Hezbollah that leaves a terrorist structure intact, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Tuesday.

Responding to reporters questions during a televised briefing, Snow said the Bush administration is "uncomfortable" with the situation involving attacks back and forth between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.

"We are uncomfortable with the situation as it is," he said. "What we want is a cessation of violence in a manner that is consistent with peace and democracy.

"A cease-fire that that would leave a terrorist infrastructure intact is unacceptable, so we are trying to work toward a cease-fire to institute peace and democracy in the region," Snow said.


Bush Administration: No Lebanon Truce If Terror Structure Intact