Biblical countries, in the news.

[Shammu]

Syria denounces call for international Lebanon force

by Lamia Radi Sat Jul 29, 12:25 PM ET

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syria has slammed US-backed proposals for the deployment of a multinational force in southern Lebanon, saying it would be "an occupation force" that could deepen the conflict and spark a backlash against the troops.

"The international force proposed by (US Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice... will occupy southern Lebanon and it, instead of Israel, will be charged with eradicating the Lebanese national resistance," said an editorial in the official Tishrin daily Saturday.

Rice arrived Saturday in Israel to discuss the possible deployment of multinational troops, an idea originally put forth by UN chief Kofi Annan and strongly supported by US President George W. Bush, as part of plans to try to end Israel's deadly 18-day offensive against Lebanon.

World powers are due to discuss the possible force, which would be in addition to the 2,000 UN peacekeeping troops currently deployed in Lebanon, at the United Nations on Monday.

The editor of the government Al-Baath newspaper also criticized the calls for a multinational force.

"Leaders on this level... should have highlighted that the resistance is born out of the terrorism practiced by Israel," Elias Mrad told AFP, saying also that international troops would be nothing more than an "occupation force".

Analyst Emad Shueibi, who has close ties to the government, said such a deployment "could create violent confrontations similar to those between the Lebanese resistance and international forces in Lebanon in 1983."

He was referring to a suicide attack on a US marines barracks in Beirut which killed 241 and which Washington blamed on Hezbollah.

The introduction of a new multinational force in Lebanon would "globalize the conflict, and is likely to lead to international confrontation," Shueibi said, adding that "resistance on the ground would become even more fierce."

Foreign troops would "intensify the problem rather than resolve it, and the United States could see themselves bogged down in Lebanon the way they are in Iraq," he said.

Syria and Iran both support Lebanon's Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group, whose capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12 sparked Israel's assault.

In his weekly radio address, Bush renewed his support for the potential force.

"Militias in Lebanon must be disarmed, the flow of illegal arms must be halted, and the Lebanese security services should deploy throughout the country," he said.

"We also agreed that a robust multinational force must be dispatched to Lebanon quickly," he said.

Bush said such a force would "help speed delivery of humanitarian relief, facilitate the return of displaced persons and support the Lebanese government as it asserts full sovereignty over its territory and guards its borders."

Bush and Blair have refused to call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, who have been locked in bloody conflict, saying that a more comprehensive solution was necessary.

France, a permanent member of the Security Council, said it had put forth a plan calling for an immediate ceasefire, followed by a negotiating period which would open the way to the deployment of an international force.

More than 400 people, the vast majority of them civilians, have been killed in Lebanon since the fighting broke out, and 51 Israelis have been killed, many of them soldiers killed in combat.

A UN resolution adopted in 2004 calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, the Party of God which was created in 1982 after Israel's all-out invasion of Lebanon.

Syria denounces call for international Lebanon force

[Shammu]

Why Syria Has Much to Lose if Hezbollah Is Finally Halted
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

DAMASCUS, Syria, July 25 — As the war between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah ended its second week, Syrian officials and analysts said the nature of the longstanding relationship between Damascus and the militia appeared to be shifting, with Syrian leverage rapidly diminishing.

For the decades when Syrian soldiers were deployed in Lebanon, Damascus kept firm control over the pipeline of arms to Hezbollah and could generate or suppress its activities with little trouble. Now, analysts argue, even if asked, Syria may have trouble tamping out the flames.

“The cards are being thrown in the air in a significant way, and it’s not clear how they will land,” said one Western ambassador, declining to be identified further because he lacked permission from his capital to speak officially. “There may be a new strategic situation in the making because Israel does not have the overwhelming strategic superiority that it thought it had.”

The basis of that new equation is Hezbollah’s continued ability to land rockets deep inside Israel despite two weeks of punishing assaults, with plenty of indications suggesting it can fire for weeks, if not months.

Indeed, with each passing day, the sight of an Arab force hitting Israel with rockets makes Hezbollah increasingly popular across the region and therefore more costly to restrain, particularly because the Israelis have labeled the struggle a death match. Given the chilly United States approach to Damascus, with no promise of anything for cooperating, it is also not clear why Syria would want to squash Hezbollah.

“Essentially you are asking them to connive in their own demise,” the ambassador said. “Persuading Hezbollah to commit hara-kiri doesn’t make sense from Syria’s point of view. It would mean the loss of their No. 1 card, not only in Lebanon, but with Israel.”

Hezbollah is believed to have enough of the 13,000-plus rockets it announced were in its arsenal in 2005 to keep going for a couple of months anyway.

Ironically, by forcing Syria to withdraw its military from Lebanon last year, the United States and its allies diluted the significant direct leverage Syria might have had over Hezbollah.

The consensus here is that Iran, Syria and Hezbollah were all taken aback by the ferocity of Israel’s response to the capture of two soldiers; the seizure seemed to fall within the unspoken rules of limited engagements. Similar operations had prompted prisoner exchanges in the past, the current demand by Hezbollah for ending the fighting.

Syrian officials are coy when queried how they might rein in Hezbollah, deflecting the question by saying all the problems in the Middle East could be solved through a comprehensive plan to end the Arab-Israeli dispute. But they hint broadly that Syria can deliver, arguing that the omission of Syria, Hezbollah and Iran from diplomatic talks in Rome on Wednesday renders those discussions meaningless.

“I don’t think there is any possible solution without Hezbollah and Syria being at the table,” said one Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because diplomatic relations are so fraught. “Any solution has to take into account the real force in the region. Syria and Hezbollah are a growing force; they are not getting weaker, they are getting stronger.”

President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and others in the administration have said repeatedly that Syria can and should leash Hezbollah, suggesting that maybe Washington’s Arab allies can wean Damascus away from its alliance with both Iran and Tehran’s militant Shiite offspring. In some ways, those are two separate questions, the alliance with Tehran being rather more a passing necessity than a real desire.

Strengthened ties with Iran make Syria feel stronger in the region, along with other factors, like the election of Hamas to lead the Palestinian parliament, and the situation in Iraq. But the link is not hugely popular in Damascus. One prominent economist compared it to a “pleasure marriage,” a temporary union between a man and a woman that Shiites allow for immediate gratification.

“The relation with Iran is the kind of relation created under pressure, when you close all doors in front of Syria,” said the economist, Samir Seifan, noting how the United States, the West and their Arab allies have all shunned Damascus for over a year. “This is the only door we have: Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. But it is not in the long-term interests of Syria.”

Investments in Syria from Arab states bristling with oil wealth, for example, have basically dried up. There is no sign that will change, particularly because the people orchestrating the street demonstrations in Damascus push participants to chant against Arab leaders who have criticized Hezbollah.

“Abdullah, you pig, tomorrow we will drag you in chains,” went one recent refrain, referring to the king of Jordan. Another suggested that President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was a lowly real estate broker who should be dumped.

Ultimately, Syria still hopes the crisis will provide an opportunity to reassert itself as a country that needs to be consulted, particularly when it comes to Lebanese affairs.

Moreover, being in the mix allows it to chase two essential goals of the ruling Baathist Party — the spoken desire to regain the Golan Heights, taken by Israel in the 1967 war, and the unspoken desire to remain in power for a good long time by forging alliances that bring prosperity and development.

“The priority is to preserve the regime; the Golan will come later,” said Mohamed Shahrour, a political activist.

Why Syria Has Much to Lose if Hezbollah Is Finally Halted

[Shammu]

Israel not looking for Syria fight, but still getting ready

by Mehdi Lebouachera Sat Jul 29, 2:55 PM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel insists it is not looking for a fight with Syria, but is still taking precautions in case it becomes embroiled in a war with the neighbor it accuses of sponsoring Hezbollah.

"We have said on numerous occasions that we have no intention of an offensive toward Syria," Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Friday, after Israel mobilized more reservists for its onslaught against Hezbollah.

"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."

These declarations came as the Israeli military warned that Syria's army had been placed on a state of high alert.

But Israel is also sending another message to Syria that says "if pushed we will hit you hard."

"If necessary we will use all the force necessary to defend Israel and complete our campaign," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday. "The Syrians know we are on alert."

A senior official quoted Friday by the Yediot Aharonot newspaper said that "nobody can close his eyes to what's going on on the Syrian side."

Israeli media say that few in Olmert's government want an escalation of the crisis that would drag in Syria. Israel also accuses Iran of sponsoring Hezbollah.

More than 420 people, mostly civilians, have died in Lebanon since Israel launched its massive offensive after Shiite militants of Hezbollah captured two soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid on July 12.

A total of 51 Israelis have also died in cross-border fighting, the majority of them soldiers.

Professor Eyal Zisser, a Tel Aviv University expert on Syria and Hezbollah, said he thought a wider war was unlikely. But he warned that blunders on either side could be very dangerous.

"Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad isn't as smart as his father and he could make a mistake. As could Israel," he said. "Either party could misinterpret the actions of the other side."

It was in neither side's interest to provoke a wider regional war, Zisser added -- "especially Syria, which doesn't want to be completely destroyed like Lebanon."

The Israeli press appeared more worried.

"This week the (Israeli) army attacked convoys (of arms) as soon as they entered Lebanon (from Syria)," wrote an editorialist in the Maariv daily. "The next time, that might happen five minutes earlier, in Syrian territory. Then it's only one step to war."

An editorial in Yediot Aharonot was even more alarmist.

"We are starting a week with much diplomatic hope but with the possibility of a deterioration of the military situation of a magnitude that the region has not known in a long time," it said.

Israel not looking for Syria fight, but still getting ready

[Shammu]

Israelis edge closer to war with Syria
By Michael Hirst and Harry de Quetteville in Jerusalem
(Filed: 30/07/2006)

Israel and Syria appeared to be edging closer to direct military confrontation last night after tit-for-tat attacks around the Lebanese border and the revelation that a new type of long-range missile fired into Israel by Hezbollah was built in Syria.

Tension between the two countries over the war in Lebanon was growing as both Tel Aviv and Damascus readied their forces for the possibility of a direct clash. Israeli intelligence reported that Syrian forces had been put onto their highest state of alert, while Israel has called up 15,000 reservists who many believe will be despatched as reinforcements to the disputed Golan Heights, between the two countries.
    
Amir Peretz
Israel's defence minister Amir Peretz

Last night an explosives expert with the Israeli police concluded that the "unknown" missile fired by the pro-Syrian Hezbollah at the town of Afula on Friday, 30 miles inside the Israeli border, was Syrian-made, and was capable of reaching Tel Aviv, the country's largest city.

Earlier in the day, Israeli warplanes struck Masnaa, the main crossing point between Lebanon and Syria, with three missiles leaving craters in the middle of the road, forcing the border to close. Witnesses said the Israelis targeted and destroyed the last building before the Syrian border.

On Thursday Syria claimed to have shot down an Israeli spy plane in the same area, flying on the Lebanese side of the border. Israel, which admitted only to a "technical fault", uses unmanned "drones" to locate weapons convoys heading from Syria towards Hezbollah's strongholds within Lebanon, in order for the Israeli air force to strike the convoys before they can reach the front line.

Israel's defence minister, Amir Peretz, has repeatedly ruled out armed conflict with Syria, but other signals point to both sides preparing their forces for the possibility of precisely such a battle, which would mark a dramatic and dangerous escalation in the crisis that began when Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, earlier this month.

Israeli anger at the continuing missile-smuggling operation across Syria's border, thought to include both the rockets used against Israel and their launchers, will be heightened by comments by Hezbollah's elusive leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. He vowed to strike cities in the heart of Israel, declaring that the Jewish state had failed to win any military victory after days of bloody clashes with his fighters.

There are fears within Israeli military circles that an attack on a Syrian target could trigger a Scud missile assault by Damascus on Israeli military or civilian locations.

Nasrallah boasted on television that the "legendary resistance" put up by his own fighters was behind the growing chorus of calls for a political settlement of the conflict. More rockets would be fired at cities in central Israel, he said.

As the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon worsened, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) expressed "grave concern" at the damage to the Lebanese coastline from an oil-slick, caused by Israel's bombing earlier this month of a power plant, which sent thousands of tons of fuel oil gushing into the sea. Lebanon's environment minister, Yacub Sarraf, said the Mediterranean was threatened by its "worst ever" environmental disaster.

Israel rejected as unnecessary a United Nations plea for a three-day truce to aid civilians trapped by fighting, as its forces pulled out of the Lebanese border town of Bint Jbail, the scene of fierce fighting in recent days. Shortly after the announcement, an Israeli air strike on a house in Lebanon killed a woman and six children.

But in a softening of Israel's position that could help pave the way for an eventual ceasefire and deployment of an international "stabilisation force" in southern Lebanon, a senior foreign ministry official said Israel would not demand the immediate disarming of Hezbollah in any deal to end the fighting.

Food, medicine and other humanitarian relief was last night piling up in Beirut, but only a trickle was reaching the tens of thousands of Lebanese trapped in the war zone in the south. Israel has promised safe passage for aid, and yesterday brought a UN observer into a military control room to oversee its transfer, but officials said the process was cumbersome.

Israelis edge closer to war with Syria

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 24 Rockets Strike Kiryat Shmona Area
08:51 Jul 30, '06 / 5 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) 24 Katyusha rockets slammed into Kiryat Shmona and the surrounding area on Sunday morning. There are reports of property damage but fortunately, there are no reports of deaths or injuries.

24 Rockets Strike Kiryat Shmona Area

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 IDF Withdraws From the Hizbullah Capital
09:24 Jul 30, '06 / 5 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) IDF forces have withdrawn from Bint Jbeil, known as the “Hizbullah capital” in southern Lebanon. While a small force remains in the area, the main fighting force that was involved in very heavy fighting with terrorists during recent days was taken out on Saturday.

At the same time, the army is preparing for a new ground incursion in the area as the infantry aspect of the counter-terror operation gains momentum.

Eight members of the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion fell in the fighting in Bint Jbeil last week, including officers and soldiers. Many others were injured, some seriously.

IDF Withdraws From the Hizbullah Capital

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 Shrapnel Injuries Reported in Akko Attack
09:21 Jul 30, '06 / 5 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Two people sustained shrapnel injuries in the Sunday morning Katyusha rocket attack in Akko. Several others are being treated for hysteria. The victims were transported to Nahariya Hospital.

Shrapnel Injuries Reported in Akko Attack

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 Patriot Battery in the Netanya Area
09:11 Jul 30, '06 / 5 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) The IDF on Friday positioned a Patriot anti-ballistic missile battery adjacent to Wingate Institute, in the Netanya area, taking Hizbullah threats to strike deeper into Israel seriously.

While senior intelligence community officials report Hizbullah is beginning to exhibit signs that the terror organization is breaking, the threat of striking the Greater Tel Aviv area and even the capital, areas deeper into Israel, still exists.

Patriot Battery in the Netanya Area

[Shammu]

 Rice, Olmert fail to agree on ceasefire specifics -- Radio Israel

GAZA, July 30 (KUNA) -- US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, did not reach an agreement with Israeli officials on a specific date for the cease-fire, reported Israeli radio Sunday morning.

Rice met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last night but did not pressure him to accept a ceasefire agreement, the radio added.

During their meeting, Rice had reportedly assured Olmert that the release of the two soldiers would be part of any political agreement. She also spoke with Olmert about a multi-national force to be deployed to monitor Southern Lebanon.

Later today, Rice will be meeting with her Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, and Defense Minister Amir Peretz to further discuss the border situation.

It is believed in Jerusalem that Rice will present to the Security Council a draft resolution calling for a ceasefire.

The Secretary of State will be heading to New York on Tuesday.

According to radio reports, Rice called on Israel to avoid destroying Lebanon's infrastructure.

Rice, Olmert fail to agree on ceasefire specifics -- Radio Israel

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Troubles brewing for British PM over alliance with Washington; ‘ME stance could be end of him’

LONDON (AFP): As British Prime Minister Tony Blair engages in diplomacy abroad over the Middle East crisis, troubles are brewing at home over his alliance with Washington which even members of his own government find objectionable, media here said Saturday. British newspapers reported that senior figures in his administration were becoming increasingly uncomfortable over his refusal to break ranks with US President George W. Bush and demand an immediate ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

Blair and Bush announced plans after talks in Washington on Friday to bring stability to Lebanon, but again opted not to call for an immediate ceasefire.

A senior minister told the Financial Times newspaper of high levels of unease within the Labour-led cabinet over “wanton destruction” in the Middle East and Britain’s refusal to call for an immediate end to hostilities.

The Times newspaper, too, said cabinet ministers had been critical in private of Blair’s handling of the conflict, with one warning that it “could be the end of him”.

Lawmakers normally loyal to the prime minister were quoted describing the disquiet as spreading throughout the Labour Party.

“This is incredibly damaging for Tony,” an unnamed “ultra-Blairite” MP told The Times.
“It is not really because people think that we are doing the Americans’ bidding, what is dawning on the parliamentary Labour Party is that Tony Blair actually believes this and that almost makes it worse.

“The number of people who think that Tony is doing the right thing is not a large number of people. He is now losing goodwill at a pace that is amazing.”

The Blairite MP Greg Pope broke cover to tell The Guardian newspaper: “Tony has misjudged (this issue), and is leaving us isolated among European countries and at home.”

The Guardian said the cost of the crisis to Britain’s reputation was high and the benefits doubtful.

“Events are on a hairtrigger but negligent delay which has cursed Britain and America’s response to this conflict from the start continues,” it said in an editorial.

The Times reckoned Blair’s popularity with his party and the electorate would doubtless be boosted by chiding the US administration, but said such a division would not aid the Middle East crisis.

It praised Blair for managing to keep himself relevant in the White House, unlike some European counterparts, saying he was “a participant in the Washington policy debate, not shouting loudly and aimlessly from the sidelines.”

Non-governmental organisations and anti-war groups have also turned up the pressure on Blair.

The Stop the War Coalition submitted a 7,500-signature petition Friday to his Downing Street office, demanding the British government call for an immediate ceasefire. The aid charity Oxfam blasted his talks with Bush in Washington as more “hand-wringing” in the face of a rising death toll.

Hundreds of people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched attacks against Hezbollah targets on July 12 after two of soldiers were captured in a deadly cross-border raid by the Shiite militia.

Troubles brewing for British PM over alliance with Washington; ‘ME stance could be end of him’

[Shammu]

Iran, Egypt, Libya fomenting extremism in Somalia: Gedi; Stay ‘out’ US warns Ethiopia, Eritrea

BAIDOA, Somalia (RTRS): Somalia’s prime minister on Saturday accused Libya, Egypt, Iran and Eritrea of fomenting extremism in his country, and said the killers of a cabinet minister had links with “international terrorists.” His comments came after hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of Constitution and Federalism Minister Abdallah Deerow Isaq, who was gunned down outside a mosque in the latest flare-up of violence in the Horn of Africa nation. “He was killed by criminals linked to international terrorism,” Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said in Baidoa, seat of the interim government and site of the murder.

“It’s unfortunate that some countries who we thought were our friends have united to destroy the transitional federal government. Such countries include Libya, Egypt, Iran and Eritrea who together are fuelling terrorism in Somalia.”

Gedi gave no more details of his accusations, nor did he specifically accuse any of those countries for the murder.

His government’s standoff with a burgeoning Islamist movement, which took control of Mogadishu and other southern towns last month, is fast turning into a regional crisis. While Ethiopia has sent troops to protect the fragile government at its provincial base, according to witnesses, Eritrea is widely believed to be arming the Islamists.

Experts believe the Islamists are harbouring a small number of foreign extremists, and their top leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, is on US and UN terrorism lists. Protesters outraged at the minister’s assassination burned tyres and looted shops on Friday, but calm returned on Saturday.

“The man who did that was a professional assassin. There’s no way he would be an amateur,” said resident Abdi Ali.

Across Baidoa, an old agricultural and trading town surrounded by bushland, security was tight. Vehicles were stopped at checkpoints, and guards with AK-47 rifles stood at hotels where lawmakers and ministers stay.

Meanwhile, the United States sent its most explicit warning yet to Horn of Africa foes Eritrea and Ethiopia on Saturday to stay out of the escalating crisis in Somalia where they are believed to be backing rival sides.

“There are many foreign elements in Somalia right now,” US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said, citing reports Ethiopia was sending troops to back the interim government and Eritrea arms for rival Islamists.

“Neither the Union of Islamic Courts nor the Transitional Federal Government can take the high ground by saying the other is violating Somali sovereignty...they’ve all invited in foreigners, all been backed by foreign forces,” she added.

Frazer, speaking to reporters on a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo to monitor elections there, said it was crucial to stop Somalia becoming a regional crisis. “You want to keep Ethiopians and Eritreans out of Somalia, that they don’t take their border conflict and move it into the Somalia venue,” she said.

Diplomats believe Addis Ababa and Asmara, which went to war in 1998-2000 and still argue over their border, are using Somalia’s government-Islamist standoff as a proxy for their own feud.

Ethiopia has sent several thousand troops to back the government at its provincial base Baidoa, witnesses say.

Eritrea has armed the Islamists in the past, according to the UN, and is believed by many to be still sending arms and probably advisers to their stronghold in Mogadishu.

Iran, Egypt, Libya fomenting extremism in Somalia: Gedi; Stay ‘out’ US warns Ethiopia, Eritrea

[Shammu]

A New Middle East
Published: 7/29/2006

   
   
BY SOLI OZEL

SABAH- The warm weather and unbearable scenes of war have fueled the production of fantastic thoughts in Turkey. There are speculations that the US is willing to make Turkey face the threat of separation and that after Lebanon, it`s our turn. Of course those who write such things have reliable sources and deep theoretical frameworks that they use in seeing and evaluating these incidents. Those who evaluate the same incidents using different sources and historic perspectives can reach different conclusions. Considering the latest developments filling everywhere with blood and fire, we face remarkable scenes. Some people who listened to the remarks made by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visits to Lebanon and Israel suspected that she was living on another planet. There was nothing surprising about the failure of the meeting in Rome, because Iran and Syria, which are considered rogue states by the US, weren’t ready. If you don’t invite the direct or indirect parties of the problem to the summit and think that it’s too early for a ceasefire, this is your result. In addition, there is another problem. Israel is facing a Hezbollah which is stronger than it expected, and the Israeli press has started to criticize the process of deciding to launch this operation and the Israeli Army’s performance so far. In the beginning, Lebanese public opinion wasn’t in favor of Hezbollah, but now it’s angry with Israel. It’s very likely that this war will continue for two or three more weeks. If in the end Israel doesn’t invade Lebanon like it did in 1982, Hezbollah will hold onto most of its power and maintain its influence on Lebanese politics. In addition, as long as the war continues and scenes of terrible suffering are shown on TV screens, Hezbollah’s popularity is rising among the Sunnis, because the organization is resisting Israel and carrying the Palestinian issue on its shoulders.

It can’t be said this conflict will make Iran and Syria weaker. On the contrary, Iran will take a harder line on its nuclear program. It’s getting less likely that the US will be able to find support to pressure Iran at the United Nations. Meanwhile, Syria feels stronger than last year. Influential circles in the US want to take Syria away from Iran and overcome this trouble. However, Damascus would have to trust US President George W. Bush and Israel would have to pledge to return the Golan Heights for Damascus to take such a step under these conditions. The US said that it would increase the number of its soldiers in Iraq. It’s hard to believe that this would solve the problems in this country, which is painted in blood. According to Bernard Haykel, a Lebanese researcher who knows al-Qaeda very well, al-Qaeda is getting angry due to Hezbollah’s success and therefore it might organize a terrorist attack against the West in order to remain leader of the jihad. No power to establish a new Middle East is apparent. A power which is in such a difficult situation wouldn’t want Turkey to be unstable or facing the threat of separation. In the final analysis, an unstable Turkey facing the threat of separation depends on the preference and policies of those living in Turkey.

A New Middle East

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Israeli Fighter Planes Attack Lebanese-Syrian Border Crossing

 29 July 2006 | 21:04 | FOCUS News Agency



Masnaa. Fighter planes of the Israeli Army have attacked the main Lebanese border crossing of Masnaa near the border with Syria,AFP reports citing security services.
According to witnesses three rockets destroyed the building of the customs officers and formed three craters in the middle of the road.

Israeli Fighter Planes Attack Lebanese-Syrian Border Crossing

[Shammu]

Israel fighting Iran's arm in south Lebanon

Defense Minister Amir Peretz told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Israel is fighting Iran's arm in southern Lebanon.

Peretz told Rice that there are many armies in the world who lack Hizbullah's rocket arsenal, but stressed that the Shiite group will be weakened.

Israel fighting Iran's arm in south Lebanon

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Rice to Peretz: No pressure

US Secretary of State returns to Israel, meets with foreign minister, defense minister; fails to pressure Israel to end fighting. Defense Ministry officials estimate war expected to end within 10 days
Aviram Zino

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Sunday morning with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and later with Defense Minister Amir Peretz. The officials discussed the humanitarian issue and the future multinational force.

 Defense Ministry officials estimated that the war is expected to end within a week to 10 days.

A large part of Rice and Livni's meeting was dedicated to the humanitarian issue. Rice presented Minister Livni with a series of humanitarian issues, such as expanding the humanitarian "corridor." Livni briefed Rice on the fact that no Foreign Ministry worker was appointed as contact person on the issue.

Rice to Peretz: No pressure