Biblical countries, in the news.

[Shammu]

Syria, Iran Made Defense Pact Before War

BY ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
July 28, 2006

TEL AVIV, Israel — Signs of a regional war engulfing the Middle East began to arise yesterday, with Israel entering its third week of war against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Al Qaeda's top deputy promising reprisals.

Israeli strategic planners here say they are closely watching whether Iran will deliver on President Ahmadinejad's promise last week to make an announcement that would neutralize Israel's nuclear threat.

During a briefing yesterday, an Israeli analyst also said it is believed that on June 16, nearly a month before Hezbollah's cross-border raid on Israel, Iran and Syria signed a mutual defense treaty following a meeting of their defense ministers.

The agreement, signed between Iran's defense minister, Mustafa Najjar, and his Syrian counterpart, Hasssan Turkmani, at the time was described as a "military cooperation agreement" by the London-based daily Asharq Al-Awsat, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.

The paper quoted a statement from Mr. Turkmani as saying, "We are examining ways to counter these threats, and are establishing a joint front against Israel's threats." According to Israel and America, both countries are funding and facilitating the shipment of missiles to Hezbollah.

The prospect that Iran would come to Syria's defense should Israel bomb Damascus in retaliation for Hezbollah strikes came into focus this week after Iran's ambassador in Beirut promised to counter an Israeli attack on Syria with "full power."

While that statement was disavowed the next day by an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Israeli officials are saying the prospect of Iran becoming directly involved in the war between Israel and Hezbollah was one reason the Jewish state has refrained from striking Syria, whose territory has been a landbridge between Hezbollah and southern Lebanon.

"I think there is some kind of Iranian-Syrian defense treaty," the deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Patrick Clawson, said. "We don't know if they would enter the fray, or the details of the treaty. I think Iran's president would very much like to agitate to act on Syria's defense and send Iranian armaments to Syria." Mr. Clawson added that ultimately it was Ayatollah Khamenei's decision to make, not Mr. Ahmadinejad's.

Meanwhile, early signs that Sunni Wahhabi Muslims might stay out of the fight in Lebanon were shattered yesterday after Al-Jazeera aired a video of Al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, promising his terror organization would "attack crusaders and Zionists."

In that message, Al Qaeda's deputy appeared alongside a photograph of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the dead Al Qaeda leader whose war against Shiite civilians in Iraq led Mr. Zawahiri to criticize his tactics.

Last week, The New York Sun reported a fatwa declared by a senior Saudi sheik ordering the faithful not to pray for, support, or join the Shiite Hezbollah.

Israel's war Cabinet met yesterday in Tel Aviv and decided to call up another 30,000 reservists. However, Defense Minister Amir Peretz also said the Jewish state had no plans to either attack Syria directly or expand the operations and bombing sorties on Lebanon. Despite the Israeli response, 78 rockets landed in Israel yesterday.

One factor in the building pressure for a wider war in the region is the failure of world powers Wednesday to reach an immediate cease-fire agreement after the White House for the most part rejected a proposal to stop the violence that was floated at a meeting of top diplomats in Rome.

President Bush has said he will not settle for an agreement that fails to address the root problem of Hezbollah, a position the Israelis have interpreted as a green light to continue their offensive against the militia's bases in southern Lebanon.

America's allies in the Arab world may be starting to turn in light of the failure to stop the war. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Tuesday declared, "Saudi Arabia warns everybody that if the peace option fails because of Israeli arrogance, there will be no other option but war."

On Sunday, the Saudi foreign minister said he was hopeful about efforts to reach an immediate cease-fire after a meeting with Mr. Bush. At the beginning of the conflict on July 12, Saudi, Egyptian, and Jordanian officials were critical of Hezbollah.

Today, President Chavez of Venezuela will arrive in Tehran for a three-day visit after securing an arms agreement with Russia that met criticism from the State Department for the prospect it would destabilize South America.

Mr. Chavez is set to meet with Mr. Ahmadinejad and other top Iranian officials. For the last two years, the Venezuelan president has said he feels an American attack on his country to be inevitable.

Syria, Iran Made Defense Pact Before War

[Shammu]

Syria on alert as Israel strikes near border

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, July 28, 2006

JERUSALEM — Israel has struck Hizbullah positions near the border of Syria as forces in Syria were placed on high alert.

On Thursday, Israeli F-15Is struck a suspected Hizbullah training camp in the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border. The Syrian military, deployed several kilometers away, did not respond.

Israeli officials and intelligence sources said Iran and Syria have accelerated the flow of weapons and combatants into Lebanon. They said Damascus and Teheran have also been bolstering forces to prepare for a war from Syrian territory, Middle East Newsline reported.

"They [Syrians] are operating along the border and we can't ignore this," Israeli Cabinet minister Eli Yishai said on Friday.

Officials said Syria has placed its forces on the highest alert in years and deployed missile batteries along the border with Lebanon. They said Israel, which has ordered the mobilization of three reserve divisions, plans to station Arrow-2 and PAC-2 missile defense systems to protect Tel Aviv from Syrian rockets and missiles.

The focus of Israeli concern has been the deployment of Zelzal-2 rockets in southwestern Syria along the Lebanese border. They said Syria has transferred Zelzal-2 batteries, with a range of more than 200 kilometers, to Hizbullah's Nasser Brigade.

"The most likely scenario is that Hizbullah would bring these mobile launchers into Lebanon, fire them and return to Syria," an Israeli intelligence source said.

"Syria is in one of its weakest moments -- from the point of view of its air power and tank capabilities," Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Friday. "It is true that Syria has focused on its missile and commando capabilities. But overall I don't feel that Syria wants to become entangled in war. I don't assess that it will initiate [a war]."

The U.S. intelligence community was said to have assessed that Iran has been expanding its military presence in Lebanon and Syria. U.S. intelligence sources said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has overseen a weapons airlift to Damascus as well as the arrival of more than 1,000 fighters from Iran and Iraq.

"Damascus will likely run many risks trying to manipulate the situation to its advantage," said Jeffrey White, a former government intelligence analyst and today a researcher at the Washington Institute. "But the Assad regime has proven itself a poor player at this sort of game, making Syria the most likely source of actions that carry the fighting beyond Lebanon and northern Israel."

Syria on alert as Israel strikes near border

[Shammu]

 India Parliament condemns Israeli Regime's action in Lebanon
New Delhi, July 26, IRNA

India-Lebanon-Parliament
Indian Parliament today condemned Israeli regime's action against Lebanon and asked for immediate cessation of hostilities as it was an untenable situation and Lebanon has become a "victim of default."
Sharing the concern of members in the Lok Sabha (Lower House), Indian government today condemned the Israeli action in Lebanon noting that the disproportionate and excessive use of force' has led to loss of lives of a large number of civilians.

Detailing efforts taken by India to secure safety of its 12,000 nationals in Lebanon, he said there has been death of one Indian in the attack.

Responding to Left members criticism, he denied that India was silent in the matter and was not pursuing an independent foreign policy.

Raising the issue during zero hour, CPI(M) leader Basudeb Archaria said it was a full-scale Israeli assualt on Lebanon in "brazen violation of International law and Geneva Convention."
Acharia as also his party colleague Rupchand Pal and CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta said the assault has been launched by "Israel plus Bush administration in the name of fighting terror.

They wanted India to suspend arms purchases from Israel.

India Parliament condemns Israeli Regime's action in Lebanon

[Shammu]

UNIFIL officers expect Israelis to start leveling entire villages

By Nicholas Blanford
Special to The Daily Star
Saturday, July 29, 2006

NAQOURA: United Nations peacekeepers fear that the Israeli military intends to raze entire villages in South Lebanon after encountering stiffer resistance from Hizbullah fighters than initially expected. With Israeli forces having pulled back from a key Lebanese border town after several days of bloody fighting, the commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) says that Hizbullah cannot be defeated militarily.

"A military victory will never be possible," Major General Alain Pellegrini said.

Pellegrini added that only a political solution can resolve the fate of Hizbullah's military wing, adding that after more than two weeks of heavy fighting with the Israelis, the Lebanese group is "still strong."

Israeli troops have withdrawn from Bint Jbeil after heavy street clashes against well-entrenched Hizbullah fighters caused high casualties. The town was under heavy shellfire Friday in what UN officers suspect is a plan to force the last civilians to flee prior to destroying the town completely and killing any remaining Hizbullah fighters.

"I think the Israelis are contemplating flattening villages down to the last house," said Richard Morczynski, UNIFIL's political officer.

UNIFIL estimates there are 800 to 1,000 Hizbullah combatants deployed throughout the South, operating in groups numbering as few as 12 to 15.

They have ready access to weapons and ammunition and have retained their channels of communication, speaking in code over walkie-talkies.

"Sometime they use radio frequencies that are the same as ours and we can hear them talk," Morczynski said. "They say: 'This is brother 13. We are going to carry out operation seven. Hope you are all safe.'"
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

He said Hizbullah shows little sign of weakening despite the intensity of the Israeli onslaught. "They're mobile, dedicated and willing to act," he said. "When there's shelling, they're not scared. They're not sitting in bunkers."

The Israeli military estimates that as many as 100 Hizbullah fighters are holed up in Bint Jbeil, a straggly hill town of narrow streets suited to the group's style of hit-and-run operations. Eight Israeli soldiers were killed  in a Hizbullah ambush in Bint Jbeil on Wednesday, the highest number of fatalities they have suffered in a single day since the conflict began on July 12.

In addition to the setback on the ground, the Israeli Air Force is still unable to halt the firing of rockets into Israel despite saturation air coverage over the South and a two-minute response time to the scene of a launch. Hizbullah said yesterday that it had fired a new rocket for the first time, the Khybar 1. Five of them were launched at Afula.

Trapped between the Israeli military and Hizbullah, UNIFIL has been reduced to little more than a helpless bystander. Hizbullah fighters have launched rockets from near UN posits and the Israelis have not hesitated to return fire, endangering peacekeepers. Four UN observers were killed Tuesday when their position was destroyed by an Israeli air strike. Bomb-cratered roads and a lack of aid supplies have prevented UNIFIL from helping civilians in remote areas.

"We are trying to do our best," said Pellegrini, "but we are not built for such a level of confrontation."

UNIFIL officers expect Israelis to start leveling entire villages

[Shammu]

Israel must 'implement obligations'
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-29 06:04

China on Friday demanded that Israel co-operate with the United Nations and carry out all-round investigation into the bombing of a UN post in south Lebanon that killed four observers including one Chinese.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao also asked Israel to announce its result as soon as possible.

"China urges Israel and related sides to implement their international obligations and take practical measures to ensure the security of UN peacekeepers," he said in a statement.

Liu made the remark when commenting on a statement issued on Thursday by the United Nations Security Council on the Israeli attack on the UN observer post.

The statement expressed shock and distress at Israel's bombing, but avoided any condemnation.

All 15 council members agreed on the watered-down statement, which was the first by the Security Council since fighting between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas began on July 12.

In the only reference to the wider conflict, the council expressed its "deep concern for Lebanese and Israeli civilian casualties and sufferings, the destruction of civil infrastructures and the rising number of internally displaced people."

The statement was read at a formal meeting by the current council president, France's UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere.

The United States, Israel's closest ally, insisted on dropping any condemnation or allusion to the possibility that Israel deliberately targeted the post in the town of Khiyam near the eastern end of the border with Israel.

China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya, who proposed the statement, noted that during council consultations "almost all the members, with strong voice, condemned what happened, so I believe that this condemnation is there."

Despite the final statement being "watered down," he said the council "is not only doing justice to the victims and their families, but also, more important ... to tens of thousands of women and men who are working for this organization all over the world."

China's initial draft would have had the council express shock and distress at Israel's "apparently deliberate targeting" of the UN base and condemn "this co-ordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long-established and clearly marked UN post."

In that draft, China was following Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement late Tuesday that Israel appeared to have struck the site deliberately an accusation Israel vehemently denies.

A revised draft dropped the reference to the "apparently deliberate targeting" but kept in the condemnation and an allusion to possible targeting. That was still unacceptable to the Americans as was a call for a joint Israeli-UN investigation into the incident, which Annan wanted.

In the final text, the condemnation of Israel was eliminated, as was the call for a joint investigation.

It said "the Security Council is deeply shocked and distressed by the firing by the Israeli Defence Forces on a United Nations Observer post in southern Lebanon..."

The council also expressed deep concern about the safety and security of UN personnel and stressed that Israel and "all concerned parties" must comply with international humanitarian law, which includes protecting UN personnel. It underlined "the importance of ensuring that UN personnel are not the object of attack."

The United Nations has decided to remove unarmed observers from their posts along the Israeli-Lebanese border, a spokesman said on Friday.

"These are unarmed people and this is for their protection," said Milos Struger, a spokesman for UNIFIL, the peacekeeping force whose 2,000 members have light weapons for self-defence.

Liu said on Friday China has strongly condemned the attack on UN observers.

China is also concerned about the situation in the Middle East, currently one of tension and turbulence, Liu said.

China urges all parties to the conflict to cease fire immediately, launch humanitarian assistance, and return to the track of negotiations for a political solution, so as to restore peace and security in the region as soon as possible, he said.

Liu added that China has decided to offer emergency humanitarian aid to Lebanon, without elaborating.

Israel must 'implement obligations'

[Shammu]

Lebanese want protection from Israel

By HAMZA HENDAWI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

KFAR ROUMAN, Lebanon -- Blacksmith Mohammed Jouny is embittered by his government's failure to come to the aid of south Lebanon and wants the Lebanese army to deploy along the border with Israel - not an international force.

Most of the world sees the idea of moving U.N.-mandated forces into south Lebanon as aimed at protecting Israel against Hezbollah rockets. But many in the mainly Shiite Muslim south that is the guerrillas' heartland view the conflict in completely opposite terms.

They want a force to protect them against Israel, which has invaded twice in the past 30 years. In their eyes, Hezbollah has played that role - and they believe international troops will do nothing if Israel strikes southern Lebanon. The Lebanese army, they say, will protect them if Hezbollah is not allowed to.

Jouny, his brother, cousin, their wives and children - 16 in all - share a two-story house, two miles east of the market town of Nabatiyeh. Over coffee, a lively discussion warmed up among the men and younger women - all ardent Hezbollah supporters - over how the crisis that has shaken their lives can be resolved.

Little mention was made of Hezbollah's snatching two Israeli soldiers on July 12, which prompted the Israeli offensive. For many Shiites, it was a justified way to try to win the release of three Lebanese in Israeli prisons for years.

They are convinced that the key to ending Hezbollah's conflict with Israel is for Israel to hand over the Chebaa farms, a tiny slice of land claimed by Lebanon. Then Hezbollah will disarm since there would no longer be any reason for "resistance."

Their sense of having been abandoned in the face of Israel's bombardment is intense.

"Where is the government?" said Jouny, 54 and father of four. "No one bothered to come and see what's happening to us in the south. It's the government's duty."

advertising
Hezbollah, insisted Jouny, was doing its part for Lebanon by standing up to Israel in a war now in its third week. The government, he said, should care for the people.

The Hezbollah-Israel fighting has forced some 750,000 people to flee their homes, mostly in the south. Many of those staying behind are running out of food or money and international relief has been slow. Those who fled but are too poor to sustain themselves depend on handouts from charities.

Hezbollah has won much of its support through a large network of health, social and economic services built over the past 20 years, but these have been crippled by the fighting and the Shiite group appears to be doing little relief work.

The Jouny family have used ingenuity, a vegetable garden and a few fruit trees to keep food on the table at this time of crisis.

With Israeli warplanes active over Nabatiyeh, the sound of explosions reverberates across the hills. The Jounys speak with horror of blasts shattering the still of the night, waking up everyone and making the children scream.

The proposal for an international force is gaining momentum. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is seeking international agreement on a U.N.-mandated multinational force that can provide stability and end the crisis.

"An international force is completely rejected here," said Mahmoud Jouny, Mohammed Jouny's 27-year-old nephew, who was visiting from Norway, where he lives. "We want the Lebanese army."

Someone else at Friday's gathering shouted that an international force would just step aside every time Israel wanted to come inside Lebanon. He said it should be a combined force - the army and Hezbollah.

Not every Jouny was opposed to the deployment of an international force on the border with Israel.

A cousin, Ali, declared he had a message for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"Tell him that I, Ali Jouny from Kfar Rouman, say that he should return our prisoners, leave the Chebaa farms and allow an international force to come to the border."

The closest any of the Jounys came to saying something that could be construed as indirect criticism of Hezbollah was a reference to the horrors of war and the longing for peace.

"We want the war to end today, not tomorrow," said Youssef Jouny, like his brother a blacksmith. "We had enough war. What crime did these little ones commit to live through this," he said as he pointed to his children and their cousins.

The Jounys have a makeshift underground shelter.

"That's what we do to pass the time during this war," said Jouny's daughter Ranya, a 27-year-old school teacher. "We sit around and talk. In the evening, we watch the news."

Lebanese want protection from Israel

[Shammu]

China ready to block Iran talks

China is maintaining a threat to hold up UN Security Council talks on key issues, including debate on the Iran nuclear standoff, as a row over the world body's reaction to the deaths of four peacekeepers in Lebanon grinds on.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

China is maintaining a threat to hold up UN Security Council talks on key issues, including debate on the Iran nuclear standoff, as a row over the world body's reaction to the deaths of four peacekeepers in Lebanon grinds on.

Israel, meanwhile, is letting it be known that the United Nations is not welcome in an investigation into the circumstances of the observers' deaths - part of a push by the Jewish state to keep the world body from having any significant role in the brutal conflict as it seeks to obliterate Hezbollah.

A refusal to conduct a joint investigation into the observers' deaths will be a slap to UN officials, who have specifically sought to partner with Israel to investigate the incident.

The Security Council passed a statement Thursday about the deaths of the observers - from China, Austria, Canada and Finland - under a prolonged artillery bombardment of their post in southern Lebanon, which was capped by a high-tech bomb being steered on to them by an Israeli aircraft. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the attack appeared deliberate.

The council said it was "deeply shocked and distressed" at the Israeli attack but did not mention the condemnation that China had sought.

China's ambassador to the UN, Wang Guangya, said the document was "watered down." The statement was agreed after two days of tough negotiations, during which the United States blocked any talk of criticizing Israel.

"Any killing of innocent life has to be condemned," Wang said. "I did not expect the consultations on such an important issue, on which there are many common points among council members, would take such a long time.

"So I think the frustration is there and this frustration will definitely affect working relations somewhat."

In a new veiled attack on the United States, Wang said: "To make the organization work we have to consider our own priorities, but we also have to take into account the concerns of other countries."

Wang signaled that China would take a hard line on negotiations on how to pass a Security Council resolution on Iran's controversial uranium enrichment program.

A meeting scheduled for Thursday on Iran between the council's permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - was postponed. Some diplomats said this was because of the dispute over the Lebanon statement. "On the Iran issue, not all members share the same view," Wang said, adding that Beijing believes that the Iran nuclear issue "mainly belongs" to the International Atomic Energy Agency as he reaffirmed China's opposition to any talk of sanctions against Teheran.

Israel's ambassador to the world body, Dan Gillerman, was meanwhile arguing against major involvement by the UN in any potential international force in Lebanon, saying more professional and better-trained troops than the UN might provide were needed for such a volatile situation.

And Israel would not allow the UN to join in an investigation of the observers' death, he said.

Gillerman was also highly critical of the current UN peacekeeping force, deployed in a buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon since 1978, saying its facilities had sometimes been used for cover by Hezbollah militants and that it had not done its job.

What is needed, Gillerman said, is "an international force, a professional one, with soldiers from countries who have the training and capabilities to be effective." But it could have a mandate from the UN, he added.

Gillerman apologized for the strike that killed the observers, but "war is an ugly thing, and during war mistakes and tragedies do happen."

While the US has been weighing in heavily on Israel's side as it attacks Lebanese and Palestinians, its support is not total.

The suggestion that delegates to a conference in Rome this week gave Israel the green light to pursue its offensive in Lebanon was "outrageous," said senior US State Department official Adam Ereli on the sidelines of a security forum in Kuala Lumpur.

Ereli spoke in response to Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon's alleging: "In Rome, we have in effect obtained the authorization to continue our operations until Hezbollah is no longer present in southern Lebanon."

Washington has sought to counter a widespread belief that its opposition to an "immediate" ceasefire call - repeated in Rome - is motivated by a desire to permit Israeli military operations to continue.

Washington argues it will be better to press for a ceasefire at the same time as resolving "root causes" of the conflict.

China ready to block Iran talks

[Shammu]

Engage Iran & Syria for ME solution: Massimo

Saturday, July 29, 2006 - ©2005 IranMania.com

LONDON, July 29 (IranMania) - The European Union must engage Syria and Iran and use them to find a solution to the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said in an interview with a French newspaper.

"It is important that Syria and Iran help us to resolve the problems," D'Alema told Le Monde.

"At the meeting of European foreign ministers on August 1, we must ask ourselves how to develop an initiative which engages these two countries in an active and positive manner in the search of a solution," he said, according to AFP.

On Wednesday, world powers attended a crisis conference on the Israeli-Lebanese conflict in Rome. Neither Israel, Iran or Syria were invited.

Earlier this week, French President Jacques Chirac told Le Monde that he held Iran partially responsible for the conflict and branded the Syrian regime as "at odds" with security and peace in the region.

Engage Iran & Syria for ME solution: Massimo

[Shammu]

Syria denies shooting down Israeli scout
2006-07-28 21:08:20

    DAMASCUS, July 28 (Xinhua) -- A Syrian air force official on Friday denied reports that Syrian air defense force had shot down an Israeli scout, the independent Syria news website reported.

    The official was quoted as saying that an Israeli scout flew over the Becaa Valley on Thursday near the Syrian border and that it was Lebanese air force which opened fire at it, not Syrian air force.

    The official added that the Israeli scout did not attack any air defense base in Syria.

    A Lebanese paper earlier reported that Syrian air force had shot down an Israeli plane which had entered Syrian airspace and shot at Syrian bases.

    Israel launched a massive offensive against Lebanese Hezbollah on July 12 after two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by the Shiitegroup in a cross-border attack.

Syria denies shooting down Israeli scout

[Shammu]

Israel posts a warning for Syrians
Abraham Rabinovich, Jerusalem
July 29, 2006

ISRAEL'S dramatic decision on Thursday to mobilise three army divisions is a signal of preparations for a strong push northwards in Lebanon and a warning to Syria not to intervene.

Both messages were played down by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet, which said that ground operations would continue for now at the limited scope it had approved previously and that Israel had no intention of attacking Syria.

However, informed Israeli sources say that the cabinet is likely to approve a major new ground operation in the coming days.

As for Syria, the Israeli Government has sought to avoid a confrontation with it in order to focus on the battle against Hezbollah. Mr Olmert was reportedly reluctant to approve the army's request for the mobilisation on the grounds that Damascus might interpret this as intent to attack Syria and that Damascus might attempt a pre-emptive strike.

According to the newspaper Yediot Achronot, he was persuaded to approve the mobilisation after intelligence pointed out that the Syrian armed forces had gone on high alert and that an attack ordered by Syria's impulsive young President, Bashar al-Assad, could not be ruled out.

In a related development, the army announced yesterday that batteries of Patriot missiles were being deployed in the Tel Aviv area. These missiles are ineffective against the short-range rockets being fired by Hezbollah but are said to work against the longer-range Scud missiles in Syria's possession.

Syria's concerns about Israel's intentions cannot altogether be ruled out. There is increasing unhappiness in Jerusalem over the continuing attempts by Damascus to smuggle missiles and other weaponry from Iran to Hezbollah even as the fighting goes on.

The Israeli Air Force has stopped a number of trucks said to be carrying such armaments after they crossed the border from Syria into Lebanon on secondary roads. If Syria's involvement is deemed significant, Israel could lash out at Damascus.

The Israeli ground presence in Lebanon has substantially increased since the opening days of the war, when it was limited to brief forays against Hezbollah positions overlooking the border.

While operations continue to have the character of pinpoint raids rather than a contiguous, frontal advance, they are now taking place 3.2km north of the border. This week, Defence Minister Amir Peretz announced that Israel would establish a security zone north of the border that it would hold until it could be handed over to an international force. He did not indicate how deep into Lebanon it would be.

The mobilisation order affects only the senior officers of the divisions in the first days but within a week to 10 days, the reservist troops are expected to have been mustered, to have familiarised themselves with their weapons and to be ready for combat.

The mobilisation of three divisions would not have been ordered if Israel were not considering pushing further north, although this would not necessarily occur immediately.

The cabinet announcement said the mobilisation's object was "to prepare the force for possible developments".

Even if the divisions are thrown into battle, Israel will probably not attempt a grand sweep towards Beirut as it did in the Lebanese war of 1982 but use the force to apply growing pressure on Hezbollah.

Until now, the Shia militia has demonstrated formidable resilience but it has been taking heavy losses. Its own calculations must take into consideration how much more war the Lebanese public, which it presumes to be defending, is prepared to put up with.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has pinned much of his hopes for a ceasefire on what he believes is the Israeli public's inability to endure weeks of rocket attacks. He called on his followers last week to hang on for another two weeks.

However, the Israeli public has thus far indicated overwhelming support of their military campaign, despite the casualties and property damage suffered in the attacks.

Much depends on the results of the political feelers presently being put out by all parties, mostly behind the scenes. There is a sense of great fluidity, with a broad agreement or a larger conflagration being equal possibilities.

Israel posts a warning for Syrians

[Shammu]

$1.3bn electronics to Iran

United Arab Emirates: 1 hour, 30 minutes ago
Dubai re-exports of electronic goods to Iran were worth $1.32bn in 2004, representing a quarter of the total $5.88bn electronics re-export market according to Gulf News. Around 300,000 Iranians live in Dubai. Saudi Arabia is the next biggest re-export market, with $517m.

$1.3bn electronics to Iran

[Shammu]

Iran flag stunt storm

From NICK PARKER
in Beirut
IRANIAN hatemonger Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked fury yesterday by flying Hezbollah’s flag in his parliament building.

He ordered the flags to be placed on MPs’ desks as a show of support for the guerillas. Diplomats handling the Middle East crisis branded the stunt “unhelpful”.

Highly-placed sources revealed there had been a “torrent of contacts” between nations desperate for peace.

It is believed that Hezbollah chiefs have privately agreed to a plan to halt hostilities.

A top-level source said: “I would put my money on a ceasefire in days not weeks.”

Hezbollah fired three new 60-mile range Khaibar-1 rockets holding 100kg of explosives at the Israeli town of Afula.

Israeli jets killed up to 12 people in southern Lebanon, and a BBC crew was unhurt as Israeli artillery hit a convoy.

[Shammu]

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades: We killed Yakir settler

Senior organization member declares Friday night that his group was behind murder of Yakir resident, whose burnt body was found Thursday in car trunk in Qalqilya area
Ali Waked

A Palestinian terror group said on Friday it had kidnapped, killed and burned an Israeli settler in the West Bank.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, said it had killed the 59-year-old Israeli settler near the West Bank city of Qalqilya.

Dr. Danny Yaakovi, a doctor from the settlement of Yakir in the West Bank, was murdered Thursday night, apparently due to nationalistic motives, and his body was found in the trunk of his car near Qalqilya.

"We claim responsibility for killing the settler near Qalqilya," said Abu al-Tayeb, a senior al-Aqsa member on Friday night.

A statement issued by the organization said that the murder was committed because "Israel and its army do not have pity on the lives of the Palestinians. This is a message of fire for the Israeli occupation."

Yaakovi was laid to rest at 12 p.m. Friday at the Segula Cemetery in Petah Tikva.

Yaakovi’s body was found Thursday night near the West Bank village of Abos, between the cities of Qalqilya and Nablus. The car was removed

from the scene and was inspected by forensic division of the police. The body was transferred to the Abu Kabir National Institute of Forensic Medicine, where it was identified.

Dr. Yaakovi, 59, lived in Yakir with his wife Hani for 21 years. Koby Butbul, a resident of the settlement, said the community was in utter shock after the murder. “We don’t know what happened. Since yesterday afternoon no one could reach Danny. I was at home in the evening and the mood was tense.”

“Danny was a god-fearing family man, very connected to the land of Israel with all his heart. He planted an orchard by his house full of fruit trees,” Butbul mourned his friend.

Dr. Yaakovi liked to travel around Israel, and often accompanied tours and youth camps as a doctor, Butbul said.

Born in Petah Tikva, Yaakovi was father of four children and grandfather of 12. He worked as a doctor in a number of hospitals.

Intelligence info leads police to body

Police investigators assessed that Yaakovi arrived in the village of Funduk, not far from Kedumim, Thursday afternoon to have his car fixed. It is suspected that he was then attacked and murdered, and his body was burned very shortly thereafter.

The body was found after the defense establishment received intelligence information on a burned car found between the villages of Haja and Abos. Reserve soldiers who searched the area found the car, bearing Israeli license plates, completely burnt with a burnt body inside its trunk.

Security forces were dispatched to the area and launched an investigation into the incident.

Ayad Akra, commander of the Preventive Security Service in the Qalqilya area, told Ynet that so far his people had no additional information and that the only detail the Palestinian security forces had was about a burnt body in a car.

"We know nothing about the man's identity and are continuing to investigate," he said.

A Palestinian security source told Ynet that the body was found in one of the fields of the Baka al-Hatab village, about 20 kilometers (12.42 miles) east of Qalqilya. The Palestinian defense establishment was also looking into the possibility that an Israeli was kidnapped and murdered for nationalistic motives.

According to the Palestinian source, Baka al-Hatab is a particularly quiet village and according to initial estimations the village residents were not the ones who committed the act.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades: We killed Yakir settler

[Shammu]

Defiant volunteers: Nasrallah must die

32 volunteers decide to stay in Kibbutz Baram near Lebanon-Israel border despite fighting
Aviram Zino

While some residents of communities along the northern border left their homes for more secure locations, 32 foreign volunteers decided to stay in Kibbutz Baram which lies along the Israel-Lebanon border despite rocket attacks by Hizbullah and the booms of IDF cannons.

Raf Wiley of England told his worried parents he is in Eilat. But in a month, when he returns home, he will tell them the truth.

"I was in kibbutz Baram not far from where a Hizbullah post once stood," he told Ynet.

This is Wiley's second trip to Israel but this time he chose to volunteer for a kibbutz in the north following advice from friends.

About the war he has only good words for Israel : "Hizbullah should be stopped. They are hiding behind a civilian population. You can't blame Israel."

For Lanamfila Radbe of South Africa this is the first trip to Israel. "I am not scared anymore. Hizbullah must die. Nasrallah must die," he said.

Unlike Radbe and Wiley, Sara Park of South Korea, who is also under the threat of missiles from the north, refused to point the accusation finger to any side. "It hurts that civilians are hurt," she said.

Defiant volunteers: Nasrallah must die

[Shammu]

IAF strikes weapons cache in Gaza
JPost.com Staff and AP, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jul. 29, 2006

The IAF resumed its attacks in the Gaza Strip early Saturday morning, striking a building in which it said weapons were stored.

It also struck an area in the southern Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border in which tunnels were dug to smuggle weapons and terror suspects.

Palestinian sources claimed that the attack struck power lines, cutting the electrical supply to Rafah.

Infantry and armored forces have been mobilizing in the Gaza Strip again on Saturday morning, after having pulled out on the previous day.

The pullout marked the end to a two-day operation that resulted in the deaths of some 30 Palestinians.

Earlier, IAF fighter jets hit a metal workshop in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, wounding nine people, including two children, hospital officials said. Nearby buildings were also damaged, and rescue workers were searching through the rubble. The IDF said the target was a weapons storehouse.

The army had said its withdrawal Friday was temporary and did not mean its month-long offensive in the Gaza Strip was over.

IAF strikes weapons cache in Gaza