Biblical countries, in the news.

[Shammu]

lIn Middle East, 'birth pangs' get even more painful

By David R. Sands
Published July 28, 2006

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called events from Somalia to Afghanistan the "birth pangs of a new Middle East," but recent events across the region and a stark warning from a top terrorist leader yesterday indicate the labor will be long, painful and beset by unexpected complications.

    Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri issued a call for a global Muslim holy war to exploit the Israeli-Hezbollah clash.

    In a videotaped message broadcast on the Al Jazeera network, Osama bin Laden's top aide called on Muslims to reclaim all the land he said had been lost to Israel and its Western backers.

    "This is a holy war for the sake of God and will last until our religion prevails from Spain to Iraq," the Egyptian-born al-Zawahri said.

    The outbreak of regional violence this month is proving only the latest obstacle to President Bush's vision of a transformed Middle East and a post-September 11 political revolution in the crescent of Muslim states from Central Asia to North Africa.

    Instead of a new cadre of democratic governments friendly to the West and at peace with Israel, the region now features at least four countries -- Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Lebanon -- in which the government is struggling to establish control and carry out the basic functions of a sovereign state.

    Israel and the United States have thus far failed to curb the Islamic militant Hamas and Hezbollah movements, and Iran, seen by many as the one unambiguous winner in the recent crises, is the one government implacably hostile to the Washington's agenda in the region.

    "What is happening in the region is destructive chaos, not creative chaos," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told reporters in Cairo Tuesday.

    Saudi King Abdullah has appealed directly to President Bush to try to end the Lebanon fighting, warning it could spark a larger conflict.

    "Saudi Arabia warns everybody that if the peace option fails because of Israeli arrogance, there will be no other option but war," the king said in a statement this week. "No one can predict what will happen if things get out of control."

    Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser under President Carter, said radicalism in the Arab world was increasing because of the U.S. failure to make progress in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and because of fallout from the fateful decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

    "I frankly don't understand what that phrase 'birth pangs' means," he said. "The notion of some sort of grand upheaval in the Middle East, out of which democracy will then emerge, I think is a rather risky proposition."

    Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said Israel's fight is just one front in a "World War III," linked to U.S. struggles against Islamist terrorism, North Korean nuclear missiles and the Iranian-Syrian axis.

    "This is absolutely a question of the survival of Israel, but it's also a question of what is really a world war," Mr. Gingrich said on NBC's "Meet the Press" this week.

    A new survey released yesterday by the polling firm Zogby International found that nearly one in five Americans believes that the Israeli-Hezbollah clash will lead to world war, while an additional 29 percent think the fighting will produce a regional war dragging in a number of Middle East powers.
    But Mr. Brzezinski and others dismiss the fears that the current fighting will lead to global war.

    "Let's not exaggerate," he said. "We are dealing here with a difficult local militia that has a fair amount of popular support in its own territory, and it's gaining support in the region. But this is not World War III."

    For the Bush administration's ambitious agenda to transform the region, the "demonstration effect" that popularly elected governments in Kabul, Baghdad and Beirut were supposed to have on other Muslim states has been overshadowed by the insecurity plaguing Afghanistan and Iraq.

    Miss Rice has steadfastly defended the U.S. approach, resisting heavy international pressure to back an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon that does not deal decisively with Hezbollah's threat both to Israel and to Lebanon's central government.

    "I am a student of history, so perhaps I have a little bit more patience with the enormous changes in the international system and the complete shifting of tectonic plates," she told reporters yesterday on a plane trip to Asia after an unsuccessful effort to negotiate an enduring cease-fire at an international conference in Rome.

     But a survey of the region finds plenty of crises that challenge the optimistic long-term vision, even beyond Iraq and Lebanon.

    Fundamentalist Taliban fighters have regrouped in southern Afghanistan, sparking the bloodiest fighting in the country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 helped oust the Islamists and install President Hamid Karzai.

    "In parts of the south the Taliban are in complete control, and even in Kabul, the government only really rules during the daytime," said a senior regional diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

    In Somalia, a shadowy group of Islamists has seized control in Mogadishu, threatening to spark a regional war and raising U.S. concerns the country could become a new haven for al Qaeda and other militant groups.

    "For the U.S., there are just a lot of holes in the dike right now, and each one is threatening in its own way," said Daniel Benjamin, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

[Shammu]

 OIC chief condemns Israel's ruthless operations against Lebanon
Tehran, July 27, IRNA

Iran-OIC-Israel
In view of the unrelenting Israeli assault on Gaza and Lebanon, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu reiterated his strong ondemnation and denunciation of the ruthless Israeli operations being perpetrated against Lebanon.

According to a press release issued by the OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah on Thursday, Ihsanoglu lambasted the latest series of aggression.

He said, "They have defied all norms and flouted international laws and conceptions. What they are doing amounts to war crimes that target innocent civilians, killing hundreds of people and utterly destroying the basic infrastructure of both the Lebanese and Palestinian states."
The OIC secretary general announced that he has made several contacts to secure a ceasefire with many of the Lebanese officials, including Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and other influential Muslim and international leaders.

He said that he also exhorted the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to put his weight behind these efforts to ring the relentless attacks to an end.

The secretary general emphasized that the first priority was to ensure the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon.

"The UN Resolution No. 1599 was one resolution among so many taken by the UN Security Council (UNSC)," he said.

He underlined that other important UNSC resolutions have failed to get implemented or enforced, whereas "these resolutions of international legitimacy constitute an integral and indivisible whole which should be implemented as a whole and not on a selection basis."
Ihsanoglu, therefore, called for a comprehensive approach to the solution of the problems of the Middle East to uproot the causes of tension provoked by the Israeli occupation of some territories of Arab and Palestinian countries, which has brought the Middle East to a boiling point, making it one of the world's most volatile places and fertile grounds for extremists to act out their violence.

Ihsanoglu said that it was absolutely imperative to secure an immediate ceasefire followed by an exchange of prisoners and a process of disengagement through an international force supervised by the UN.

He emphasized the urgent need to lend our support to the Lebanese national dialogue so as to give the Lebanese people the opportunity to make their unconditionally free choice of whatever political arrangements suit their situation, away from any external interference or pressures.

At the same time, the OIC secretary general emphasized the crucial necessity of making an all-out effort in favor of the reconstruction of Lebanon and providing urgently-needed assistance to help the displaced and wounded people in Lebanon.

He reiterated that the OIC was currently fully engaged in efforts to achieve these objectives, announcing that 180 tons of foodstuff and medicine supplied by he OIC Humanitarian Forum -- a Turkish non-governmental organization affiliated to the OIC -- was presently on its way to Lebanon.

OIC chief condemns Israel's ruthless operations against Lebanon

[Shammu]

Lebanon ceasefire hard without Iran, Syria-UN envoy
28 Jul 2006 06:51:32 GMT
Source: Reuters

PARIS, July 28 (Reuters) - U.N. Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said on Friday it would difficult to agree a ceasefire in the Lebanon conflict without involving Iran and Syria, backers of Hizbollah guerrillas fighting Israeli forces.

The Norwegian diplomat also told the newspaper Le Figaro that he thought there was little chance of a quick ceasefire in the 17-day-old conflict, which has killed hundreds of civilians.

"Without these two countries (Iran and Syria) it will be extremely difficult to reach a ceasefire," Roed-Larsen told the French daily.

"It is too early to say if they can be associated (with resolving the crisis). Kofi Annan is in touch with all parties. He has spoken with the presidents of Iran and Syria."

The conflict was triggered on July 12 when Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid, provoking massive military retaliation by Israel.

Asked if a quick ceasefire was possible, he said: "Frankly, no. Neither Israel nor Hizbollah are displaying any sign of accepting one right now. On the contrary, both have remained very belligerent." He denied that an international conference in Rome on Wednesday had been a failure even though it had not called for an immediate end to hostilities.

"It would have been naive to think we could have solved all the problems in half a day," he said.

At least 445 people, mostly civilians, have been confirmed killed in Lebanon, according to a Reuters tally. Fifty-one Israelis, including 18 civilians, have been killed.

Lebanon ceasefire hard without Iran, Syria-UN envoy

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Bush, Blair to Discuss Mideast Turmoil

Last Updated:
07-28-06 at 8:00AM

WASHINGTON -- President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are teamed up against much of the world again, this time in their refusal to criticize Israel's offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon or to call for an immediate cease-fire in the Mideast fighting.

The deteriorating crisis that has claimed hundreds of lives _ mostly Lebanese civilians _ was sure to dominate talks Friday between the allies.

"You know, there are a lot of common interests that they have," White House press secretary Tony Snow said Thursday. "Obviously, there will be discussions on the Middle East."

Bush and Blair come together at the White House as consultations continue on a possible international peacekeeping force to stabilize the more than 2-week-old situation and supplement the Lebanese army. State Department counselor Philip Zelikow is working in Brussels with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and there were plans for meetings at the United Nations.

Speaking aboard Blair's plane as it flew to Washington on Friday, the prime minister's spokesman said Blair would seek a U.N. resolution to resolve the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas. Britain hoped a U.N. resolution could be in place by next week.

Meanwhile, two U.S. Mideast envoys were holding diplomatic talks in the region and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would fly back to the Middle East, but did not say when.

"I do think it is important that groundwork be laid so I can make the most of whatever time I can spend there," Rice said at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she was attending a conference on Asian issues.

Snow said it was likely Bush and Blair would discuss strategies for ending the crisis, including proposals for the makeup and mandate of a peacekeeping force and for humanitarian and reconstruction aid for Lebanon.

"Their talks will definitely focus on building the momentum for a durable cease-fire and a plan for an international force," a Blair spokesman said on condition of anonymity, in keeping with British custom.

U.S. officials say European troops would likely dominate any international peacekeeping force.

"I don't anticipate American combat power, combat forces, being used in this force," Rice told reporters Thursday while traveling to Malaysia for an Asian regional conference.

With Israel signaling it is settling in for a much longer battle than had initially been expected, Bush suggested he would support the offensive for as long as it takes to cripple the Shiite Muslim militant group. The fighting began after Hezbollah crossed the border and captured two Israeli soldiers. Defying some members of his own parliament, Blair has insisted that Hezbollah must first free the soldiers and stop firing rockets into Israel, a similar position to that taken by Bush.

Israel's punishing campaign of airstrikes, artillery shelling and clashes has killed an estimated 600 Lebanese. More than 50 Israelis have died, most of them soldiers.

Many countries in Europe and the Middle East are calling for an immediate cease-fire and have deplored the impact of Israel's campaign on Lebanon. The gap between the United States and Britain and other nations has intensified some of the diplomatic strains that have existed since Bush invaded Iraq in 2003 with Blair as one of his chief international backers.

Blair comes to Washington for the second time in two months politically weakened, both by Iraq and by domestic woes in Britain.

His close alliance with Bush has made him the subject of ridicule. Blair has responded to growing calls from inside his own party to step down by saying it is too soon. But he has promised to give up the prime minister's post before the next national elections, expected by 2009.

Most recently, Blair's government has had to deal with allegations that two U.S.-chartered planes carrying missiles to Israel stopped to refuel at a Scottish airport without filing the proper paperwork for hazardous materials. The missile dispute has added to questions about what Britain gets for its "special relationship" with the United States.

And at the Group of Eight summit of world powers in St. Petersburg, Russia, Bush and Blair had an undignified luncheon chat unaware that a microphone was live. Bush's "Yo, Blair!" greeting has dogged the British leader.

From Washington, Blair was to fly to California for meetings with business leaders.

Bush, Blair to Discuss Mideast Turmoil

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Hezbollah: Firing new rocket at target south of Haifa

BEIRUT, Lebanon Two days after Hezbollah's (hez-BUH'-lahz) leader vowed a new phase in the fighting, officials are reporting rocket attacks reaching deeper into Israel than ever before.
The guerrilla group says it fired a new type of rocket toward the Israeli town of Afula (ah-FOO'-lah) south of the port city of Haifa. Israeli authorities say five rockets hit fields outside Afula, but there were no casualties.

Hassan Nasrallah (HAS'-ahn NAS'-ruh-lah) had said in a televised speech that Hezbollah would strike beyond Israel's third-largest city, which has been hit several times in lethal rocket fire.

The area around Afula -- about 30 miles south of the Israeli-Lebanese border -- has been struck before. But Israeli officials say today's attacks are the southernmost so far.

Hezbollah: Firing new rocket at target south of Haifa

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Cleric says U.N. cannot stop Iran's nuclear work
Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:53am ET162

TEHRAN (Reuters) - The United Nations cannot push Iran into abandoning its nuclear work, an influential cleric said on Friday.

"Islamic Iran will not be deprived from its obvious nuclear right, even by a resolution by an useless U.N. Security Council," Ahmad Khatami told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran, broadcast live on state radio.

Key U.N. Security Council members have informally agreed on a resolution that includes the threat of sanctions if Iran fails to halt all uranium enrichment-related and plutonium reprocessing activities, Western diplomats said on Thursday.

The draft text must first be approved by governments of the five Security Council members with veto power -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- as well as Germany, a European negotiator on the Iran controversy.

Measures such as imposing U.N. sanctions on Iran are not backed by veto-wielding Russia and China.

Russia is helping Iran build its first atomic power station at the Gulf port of Bushehr and is interested in further nuclear cooperation with the oil-rich state.

Khatami said the Security Council's intervening in Iran's nuclear issue had undermined prospects for talks over its atomic dispute with the West, which fears Iran's nuclear activity is a cover for bomb-making. Iran denies the charge.

"It would be wise if the Europeans use all diplomatic channels to resolve Iran's nuclear issue," said Khatami, who sits on the Assembly of Experts, the body of 86 clerics that constitutionally supervises the country's most powerful man, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"Iran is ready to hold talks without any pre-conditions."

Tehran has indicated it might withdraw from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, if the resolution were adopted by the Security Council.

The world's fourth biggest oil exporter, Iran has failed to respond to an offer of commercial and technological incentives made by major powers in early June, prompting them to refer the case to the Security Council.

Iran has repeatedly said it would consider incentives but insisted the crux of the package -- that Iran must give up uranium enrichment -- was unacceptable. Iran says it will respond by August 22.

"Involving the Security Council before Iran's reply to the offer, proved that the whole offer was evil and deceptive," Khatami said.

Cleric says U.N. cannot stop Iran's nuclear work

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Hezbollah leader said to be hiding in Iranian Embassy
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published July 28, 2006


    Intelligence reports indicate the leader of Hezbollah is hiding in a foreign mission in Beirut, possibly the Iranian Embassy, according to U.S. and Israeli officials.

    Israeli military and intelligence forces are continuing to hunt for Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's secretary-general, who fled his headquarters in Beirut shortly before Israeli jets bombed the building last week.

    "We think he is in an embassy," said one U.S. official with access to the intelligence reports, while Israeli intelligence speculates Sheik Nasrallah is hiding in the Iranian Embassy.

    If confirmed, the reports could lead to an Israeli air strike on the embassy, possibly leading to a widening of the conflict, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Foreign embassies are sovereign territory and an attack on an embassy could be considered an act of war.

    But other reports from the region indicate Sheik Nasrallah may be in Damascus. A Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Seyassah, reported from the Syrian capital yesterday that Sheik Nasrallah was seen moving through the city with Syrian guards in an intelligence agency car, Associated Press reported. He was dressed in civilian clothes, not his normal clerical robe.

    The newspaper quoted Syrian government sources as saying Iranian national security council official Ali Larijani was in Damascus and was to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Sheik Nasrallah.

    Hezbollah officials in Beirut said they did not know whether Sheik Nasrallah had gone to Damascus.

    Asked about the reports of Sheik Nasrallah in Syria, a U.S. official said they are unconfirmed, but noted that because of the proximity, it is easy to travel between Lebanon and Damascus.

    U.S. officials confirmed the existence of intelligence reports about Sheik Nasrallah hiding in a Beirut embassy after Israel's Ma'ariv newspaper reported Wednesday that the Hezbollah leader was thought to be in the Iranian Embassy. The newspaper, quoting intelligence officials, said Sheik Nasrallah has set up an operations center in an embassy basement that is coordinating Hezbollah attacks.
    However, the U.S. officials said the intelligence reports have not confirmed Sheik Nasrallah's precise location.

    Iran's embassy in Beirut is located in the Shi'ite stronghold known as the Bir Hasan section, in the western part of the city.

    The embassy also is a major base for Iranian intelligence and is used by large numbers of Ministry of Intelligence and Security agents, as well as by senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's shock troops that are linked to international terrorist activities.

    President Bush said yesterday that Iran is linked to the problems in Lebanon. "Hezbollah attacked Israel. I know Hezbollah is connected to Iran," Mr. Bush told reporters after meeting Romanian President Traian Basescu. "Now is the time for the world to confront this danger." Mr. Bush said the root cause of the violence is "terrorist groups trying to stop the advance of democracies."

    Israel has dispatched both military special operations units and intelligence personnel in an effort to kill the Hezbollah leader, who has continued to issue statements since the two-week-old war began, said the U.S. officials. In a Wednesday television broadcast, Sheik Nasrallah threatened more attacks throughout Israel.

    On July 14, Israeli jets bombed the Hezbollah headquarters, also located in Bir Hasan, starting a campaign of "decapitation" strikes designed to eliminate the group's leaders, weaken the organization and limit its military effectiveness.

    Iran's government has called for a cease-fire.

    A Middle East diplomat confirmed that Israel is seeking out Sheik Nasrallah and that the Iranian Embassy appears mostly evacuated. However, the diplomat stated: "Wherever he is, he is a legitimate target," similar to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. "He's responsible for organizing attacks and killing Israelis," the diplomat said.

    In Tehran, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman denied that the embassy in Beirut was sheltering Sheik Nasrallah and dismissed reports of his presence there as Israeli government "disinformation."

    Hezbollah forces in the past were known for specializing in coordinated suicide bombings. The group, however, has shown a different military effectiveness in the recent fighting with Israel through its coordinated attacks with small bands of guerrillas.

    The Shi'ite terrorist group was behind the 1983 suicide truck bombings that killed 241 U.S. troops and 58 French paratroopers who were deployed to Lebanon as peacekeepers.

Hezbollah leader said to be hiding in Iranian Embassy

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Police clash with Arab youths trying to access Temple Mount
By Avi Issacharoff and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents, and agencies

Israeli police used stun grenades to disperse hundreds of Arab youths who were trying to gain access to the Temple Mount for Friday prayers, police said. No injuries were reported.

Police on Thursday restricted entry to Jerusalem's Temple Mount to Palestinians under the age of 40 after it received information that a protest was scheduled to take place on its premises after Friday prayers.

Demonstrators were said to have planned an event including 70 wedding ceremonies and a rally against Israel's offensive in Lebanon.

Police sources said after deciding to limit entry to the shrine that the Temple Mount is a place of worship and not a stage on which to mount political protests.

Security forces have taken up positions around the Temple Mount and inside Jerusalem's Old City ahead of prayers scheduled for Friday in order to disperse crowds.

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam.

Police clash with Arab youths trying to access Temple Mount

[Shammu]

Syria Underlines Common Interests with Democratic Korea

Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 05:10 PM
      
      
DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Syria and Democratic Republic of Korea were and still are working to realize just and comprehensive peace in the region that secures the rights and national sovereignty consolidated by the UN principals and the international legitimacy, a report said today.

A report on the 40th anniversary of building relations between Syria and Democratic Republic of Korea noted that "Syria and Korea are a two non-aligned countries and they belong to the developing countries" adding that ties of friendship connecting the two peoples can't be ignored.

" The two countries were and still are working together to realize  a new world dominated by justice and prosperity where all peoples enjoy security and stability as well as just and comprehensive peace that can secure rights and national sovereignty consolidated by the UN principals and the international legitimacy," the report said.

It pointed out to more development and growth that were seen during the last four decades in bilateral ties in all fields which came in turn due to the two leaderships desire and in a way that serves both friendly countries interests.

 " These ties occupy today and after forty years of establishing them, a high ranking reflecting the serious inclination of the two leaders to widen them and push them via big steps forward," it added.

Syria and Democratic Korea are linked with many agreements, protocols and executive programs in various fields besides what they are linked with of political ties and common interests.

Syria Underlines Common Interests with Democratic Korea

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 Indian Muslims condemn Zionist's aggression on Lebanon
New Delhi, July 28, IRNA

India-Lebanon-Solidarity
While expressing their solidarity with Lebanese and Palestinian people, thousands of Indian Muslims under the banner of All India Shia-Sunni Front (AISSF) demonstrated in front of Israeli embassy here today.

The protesters condemned the recent Israeli aggression on Lebanon and Palestine and a memorandum was submitted to Israel Embassy demanding to immediate stop the bombardment and aggression on Lebanon and Palestine.

All the democratic countries and peace loving people of the world should condemn the barbaric,illegal and unjustified Israeli aggression on Lebanon, said Z. A. Chamman, General Secretary, AISSF, while addressing the demonstrators.

Talking to IRNA, Chamman said, "if the war against the innocent and peace loving people of Lebanon and Palestine did not stop within a week time, we will cease all the Embassies of the Zionist Regime, worldwide."
He appealed to UN, Non-Aligned countries, Arab countries and Islamic countries to pressurize Israel to immediately stop the aggression on Lebanon.

Amidst chanting of slogans like "Stop the War on Lebanon", US-Israel Hands off West Asia", "U.S.-Israel, Hands Off Gaza and Lebanon", "Down with imperialism and racism" and "Victory to the forces of peace, freedom and democracy", several speakers addressing the protesters, said that the recent attack on Lebanon marks a major escalation of the aggressive US-Israel campaign in West Asia.

Others who attended the demonstration, were President, Non Aligned Students & Youth Movements, Naib Imam, Shia Jama Masjid Delhi and Vice President Shia-Sunni Front. END

Indian Muslims condemn Zionist's aggression on Lebanon

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 Blair repeating Suez blunder by supporting Israel, say MPs
London, July 28, IRNA

UK Blair-Suez Repetition
Prime Minister Tony Blair was warned Friday that he was repeating Britain's biggest foreign policy blunder in the past 50 years by supporting the Zionist regime's bloodbath in Lebanon.

The all-party Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Underanding (Caabu) equated the premier's support with Britain's unsuccessful invasion of Egypt during the 1956 Suez crisis that eventually led to the resignation of Prime Minister Anthony Eden.

"With no mandate from Parliament, and probably minimal discussion in Cabinet, Tony Blair has copied the flawed decision of Eden to make Israel a strategic ally," Caabu said.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, it said Britain had lost its neutrality in the Middle East and the "only ethical position is to stop supplying weapons to either side."
"What is the point of aid to Lebanon while colluding in the replenishment of Israel's arsenal, used daily to flatten Lebanon?" Caabu director Chris Doyle asked, following reports that the UK was being sued as a conduit to supply US bombs to Israel.

This week, Britain has been commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ignominy of the Suez crisis, when it was rebuffed by the UN and forced to retreat from its invasion of Egypt in support of Israel.

Blair repeating Suez blunder by supporting Israel, say MPs

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 Tehrani worshipers stage rally against Zionist aggression
Tehran, July 28, IRNA

Iran-Anti-Zionist-Rally
Tehrani worshipers after Friday Prayers here staged a protest demonstration to condemn savage aggression of the Zionist regime against defenseless people of Lebanon and Palestine.

Thousands of Tehrani worshipers rallied in the "Enqelab Street" while waving Hezbollah flags, and declaring their support for brave resistance of Hezbollah and Lebanese people against the Zionist regime crimes.

The ralliers shouted slogans like; " Down with US", " Down with Israel", " Hezbollah is fighting, Zionists are trembling", " Bombs, missiles and invasion have no effects anymore", " Usurper Zionists! This is the last message, demolishing Zionism depends on Islam power", and " We support Seyyed Hassan Nasrollah".

The protesters gathered in the " Enqelab Square" and while burning the US and Zionist regime flags, in a statement expressed their readiness to present all kinds of help to the Lebanese and Palestinian people .

Meanwhile, the same demonstration happened in Damavand city, Tehran province, in which the worshipers staged a rally from a mosque to the "Imam Square" there and protested against the Zionist aggression and bombardment against civilians in Lebanon.

Tehrani worshipers stage rally against Zionist aggression

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Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

DAMASCUS, Syria, July 27 — At the onset of the Lebanese crisis, Arab governments, starting with Saudi Arabia, slammed Hezbollah for recklessly provoking a war, providing what the United States and Israel took as a wink and a nod to continue the fight.

Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah holding out against the vaunted Israeli military for more than two weeks, the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming the Shiite group’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, into a folk hero and forcing a change in official statements.

The Saudi royal family and King Abdullah II of Jordan, who were initially more worried about the rising power of Shiite Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington.

An outpouring of newspaper columns, cartoons, blogs and public poetry readings have showered praise on Hezbollah while attacking the United States and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for trumpeting American plans for a “new Middle East” that they say has led only to violence and repression.

Even Al Qaeda, run by violent Sunni Muslim extremists normally hostile to all Shiites, has gotten into the act, with its deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, releasing a taped message saying that through its fighting in Iraq, his organization was also trying to liberate Palestine.

Mouin Rabbani, a senior Middle East analyst in Amman, Jordan, with the International Crisis Group, said, “The Arab-Israeli conflict remains the most potent issue in this part of the world.”

Distinctive changes in tone are audible throughout the Sunni world. This week, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt emphasized his attempts to arrange a cease-fire to protect all sects in Lebanon, while the Jordanian king announced that his country was dispatching medical teams “for the victims of Israeli aggression.” Both countries have peace treaties with Israel.

The Saudi royal court has issued a dire warning that its 2002 peace plan — offering Israel full recognition by all Arab states in exchange for returning to the borders that predated the 1967 Arab-Israeli war — could well perish.

“If the peace option is rejected due to the Israeli arrogance,” it said, “then only the war option remains, and no one knows the repercussions befalling the region, including wars and conflict that will spare no one, including those whose military power is now tempting them to play with fire.”

The Saudis were putting the West on notice that they would not exert pressure on anyone in the Arab world until Washington did something to halt the destruction of Lebanon, Saudi commentators said.

American officials say that while the Arab leaders need to take a harder line publicly for domestic political reasons, what matters more is what they tell the United States in private, which the Americans still see as a wink and a nod.

There are evident concerns among Arab governments that a victory for Hezbollah — and it has already achieved something of a victory by holding out this long — would further nourish the Islamist tide engulfing the region and challenge their authority. Hence their first priority is to cool simmering public opinion.

But perhaps not since President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt made his emotional outpourings about Arab unity in the 1960’s, before the Arab defeat in the 1967 war, has the public been so electrified by a confrontation with Israel, played out repeatedly on satellite television stations with horrific images from Lebanon of wounded children and distraught women fleeing their homes.

Egypt’s opposition press has had a field day comparing Sheik Nasrallah to Nasser, while demonstrators waved pictures of both.

An editorial in the weekly Al Dustur by Ibrahim Issa, who faces a lengthy jail sentence for his previous criticism of President Mubarak, compared current Arab leaders to the medieval princes who let the Crusaders chip away at Muslim lands until they controlled them all.

After attending an intellectual rally in Cairo for Lebanon, the Egyptian poet Ahmed Fouad Negm wrote a column describing how he had watched a companion buy 20 posters of Sheik Nasrallah.

“People are praying for him as they walk in the street, because we were made to feel oppressed, weak and handicapped,” Mr. Negm said in an interview. “I asked the man who sweeps the street under my building what he thought, and he said: ‘Uncle Ahmed, he has awakened the dead man inside me! May God make him triumphant!’ ”

In Lebanon, Rasha Salti, a freelance writer, summarized the sense that Sheik Nasrallah differed from other Arab leaders.

“Since the war broke out, Hassan Nasrallah has displayed a persona, and public behavior also, to the exact opposite of Arab heads of states,” she wrote in an e-mail message posted on many blogs.

In comparison, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s brief visit to the region sparked widespread criticism of her cold demeanor and her choice of words, particularly a statement that the bloodshed represented the birth pangs of a “new Middle East.” That catchphrase was much used by Shimon Peres, the veteran Israeli leader who was a principal negotiator of the 1993 Oslo Accords, which ultimately failed to lead to the Palestinian state they envisaged.

A cartoon by Emad ubgone86aj in Jordan labeled “The New Middle East” showed an Israeli tank sitting on a broken apartment house in the shape of the Arab world.

Fawaz al-Trabalsi, a columnist in the Lebanese daily As Safir, suggested that the real new thing in the Middle East was the ability of one group to challenge Israeli militarily.

Perhaps nothing underscored Hezbollah’s rising stock more than the sudden appearance of a tape from the Qaeda leadership attempting to grab some of the limelight.

Al Jazeera satellite television broadcast a tape from Mr. Zawahri (za-WAH-ri). Large panels behind him showed a picture of the exploding World Trade Center as well as portraits of two Egyptian Qaeda members, Muhammad Atef, a Qaeda commander who was killed by an American airstrike in Afghanistan, and Mohamed Atta, the lead hijacker on Sept. 11, 2001. He described the two as fighters for the Palestinians.

Mr. Zawahri tried to argue that the fight against American forces in Iraq paralleled what Hezbollah was doing, though he did not mention the organization by name.

“It is an advantage that Iraq is near Palestine,” he said. “Muslims should support its holy warriors until an Islamic emirate dedicated to jihad is established there, which could then transfer the jihad to the borders of Palestine.”

Mr. Zawahri also adopted some of the language of Hezbollah and Shiite Muslims in general. That was rather ironic, since previously in Iraq, Al Qaeda has labeled Shiites Muslim as infidels and claimed responsibility for some of the bloodier assaults on Shiite neighborhoods there.

But by taking on Israel, Hezbollah had instantly eclipsed Al Qaeda, analysts said. “Everyone will be asking, ‘Where is Al Qaeda now?’ ” said Adel al-Toraifi, a Saudi columnist and expert on Sunni extremists.

Mr. Rabbani of the International Crisis Group said Hezbollah’s ability to withstand the Israeli assault and to continue to lob missiles well into Israel exposed the weaknesses of Arab governments with far greater resources than Hezbollah.

“Public opinion says that if they are getting more on the battlefield than you are at the negotiating table, and you have so many more means at your disposal, then what the hell are you doing?” Mr. Rabbani said. “In comparison with the small embattled guerrilla movement, the Arab states seem to be standing idly by twiddling their thumbs.”

Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah

[Shammu]

Israel not looking for Syria fight: Peretz
(AFP)

28 July 2006


JERUSALEM - Israel is not looking for a fight with Syria, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Friday for a second time in less than 12 hours, after Israel mobilized more reservists for its Hezbollah offensive.

“We have said on numerous occasions that we have no intention of an offensive toward Syria,” Peretz told army radio while visiting a navy base.

“We are doing all so that the situation on the front with Syria remains unchanged and we are sending the message with the hope that it will be heard,” he said.

“We hope that Hezbollah does not drag Damascus into the conflict,” he said.

Peretz made similar comments Thursday night, after Israel’s security council approved a call-up of up to 30,000 additional reservists.

Israel accuses Syria, along with Iran, of arming and training Hezbollah.

Israel not looking for Syria fight: Peretz

[Shammu]

 Israel Sees Only Terrorists In S. Lebanon
By UPI Wire
Jul 28, 2006

JERUSALEM, July 28, 2006 (UPI) -- Israel has warned that anyone remaining in southern Lebanon will be regarded as a terrorist.

The warning came from Haim Ramon, the Israeli Justice minister, as Israel prepared massive airpower in its drive to crush the Hezbollah militants, the London Telegraph said.

Israel decided against expanding ground operations after nine soldiers died in fighting Wednesday but did authorize the call-up of up to 30,000 reservists for possible later use.

"Everyone in southern Lebanon is a terrorist and is connected to Hezbollah," Ramon told a Security Cabinet meeting. "Our great advantage ... is our firepower, not in face-to-face combat."