Biblical countries, in the news.

[Shammu]

IDF: Qana building fell hours after strike

(VIDEO) IDF continuing to check difficult incident at Qana village, and attempting to account for strange gap between time of the strike on the building – midnight – and eight in the morning, when the building collapsed
Hanan Greenberg

VIDEO - An IDF investigation has found that the building in Qana struck by the Air Force fell around eight hours after being hit by the IDF.

"The attack on the structure in the Qana village took place between midnight and one in the morning. The gap between the timing of the collapse of the building and the time of the strike on it is unclear," Brigadier General Amir Eshel, Head of the Air Force Headquarters told journalists at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, following the incidents at Qana.

Rockets being fired from Qana village

Eshel and the head of the IDF's Operational Branch, Major General Gadi Eisnkot said the structure was not being attacked when it collapsed, at around 8:00 in the morning.

The IDF believes that Hizbullah explosives in the building were behind the explosion that caused the collapse.

Another possibility is that the rickety building remained standing for a few hours, but eventually collapsed. "It could be that inside the building, things that could eventually cause an explosion were being housed, things that we could not blow up in the attack, and maybe remained there, Brigadier General Eshel said.

Rescue operations in Qana

"I'm saying this very carefully, because at this time I don't have a clue as to what the explanation could be for this gap," he added.

Meanwhile in Lebanon it is being reported that the number of those killed in the collapse of the structure climbed to 60.

All targets struck accurately

Eshel said that an additional attack took place at 7:30 in the morning, but added that other buildings were targeted. "This was an attack on three buildings 460 meters away from the structure we are talking about. Four bombs were dropped and all of them are documented by the planes' cameras. They all struck their targets. In addition, we carried out a filming sortie that photographed the village during the afternoon showing that the three targeted buildings we struck. We have verification of strikes on the building and that the bombs reached their targets," Eshel said.

"An attack that took place at two in the morning struck two targets, both of them 400 meters away from the building (that collapsed). They were also destroyed. The attack between 12 and 1 a.m. struck the area of the affected house, and there were accurate strikes on the target. We are asking the question – what happened between 1 in the morning and 8 in the morning… we understand this building was attacked between 12 and 1 in the morning, seven hours before it was seriously damaged," he said.

Brigadier General Eshel explained that "since the start of fighting in Lebanon 150 rockets from a very high number of rocket launchers have been fired from the village and its surrounding areas, at a number of sites in the State of Israel. Within the village itself we have located a diverse range of activities connected to firing of rockets, beginning from forces commanding this operation – because such an operation needs ongoing command to direct it – and logistical sites that serve this end."

"From this village rockets are fired almost every day across Israel. The operation carried out overnight is an extension of operations that didn't start last night but before, and during this night we struck a number of targets in the village. All of the targets are being meticulously sifted," Eshel added.

IDF: Qana building fell hours after strike
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sounds almost like Hezbullah blew up, there own people.  If thats the case, Hezbullah may be in trouble.

[Shammu]

 Israel Confirms Suspension of Aerial Attacks
01:02 Jul 31, '06 / 6 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) A government official, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, has confirmed that Israel has agreed to suspend aerial attacks in southern Lebanon for up to 48 hours. During the interval, the IDF will investigate the events leading to the death of about 60 civilians in the Lebanese village of Kana Sunday morning.

State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said that Israel still has the right to carry out aerial attacks if intelligence information indicates that terrorists are preparing to attack. "We expect that Israel will implement these decisions so as to significantly speed and improve the flow of humanitarian aid," he added.

The suspension was brokered by American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was working on the agreement even before the bombing incident at Kana, a State Department official said. The suspension does not affect ground troop movements.

Israel Confirms Suspension of Aerial Attacks

[Shammu]

 Air Force Strikes Gave Terrorist's House
01:09 Jul 31, '06 / 6 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Israeli Air Force planes a short time ago targeted the house of a Popular resistance Committee terrorist in Bet Hanoun, in the northern Gaza area. Israel warned the residents ahead of time to leave the house. An IDF spokeswoman said that the house was used to store weapons. Arab sources said two people were wounded.

Earlier Sunday night, air planes fired a missile on the home of a Hamas terrorist in Gaza City. Missiles also hit a garage used by another Hamas terrorist to manufacture weapons.

Air Force Strikes Gave Terrorist's House

[Shammu]

 Beirut Mob Attacks U.N. Headquarters
01:33 Jul 31, '06 / 6 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Thousands of angry Lebanese attacked the United Nations headquarters in Beirut Sunday night to vent out their anger against the killing of about 60 civilians in the village of Kana in the southern part of the country.

"We are angry at the whole world for their silence on the massacres happening in Lebanon," one demonstrator told the Lebanon Daily Star. The crowd broke windows and burned curtains. Another protestors charged that the U.N.'s "presence is as useless as its non-presence. It always favors Israel with all its atrocities, and bows down in front of the US and Israeli will."

Beirut Mob Attacks U.N. Headquarters

[Shammu]

Analysis: Hezbollah may have the edge

By SALLY BUZBEE, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 14 minutes ago

CAIRO, Egypt - It's hard to defeat a group of extremists who can mingle among civilian supporters and are pros at propaganda. Israel's military faces the same conundrum the United States has encountered elsewhere — finding that airstrikes are costly in civilian deaths and public support, while ground attacks are risky for soldiers.

That does not mean Hezbollah is winning militarily. But the guerrilla group has so far avoided a knockout by Israel, even as international pressure for a cease-fire has grown. And in the war of perceptions, Hezbollah has only to look strong against Israel and make Israel look bad to win across much of the Arab world, many analysts say.

That was brought into stark focus Sunday when an Israeli airstrike flattened a house in southern Lebanon, killing at least 56 people, mostly women and children. Israel apologized for the deaths and blamed Hezbollah, accusing it of using civilians as human shields.

But the backlash against Israel and its ally America was swift: Lebanese officials reacted in fury and Beirut protesters attacked a U.N. building and burned American flags. At an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "deeply dismayed" his previous calls for a cease-fire had been ignored.

The United States knows this scenario well from Iraq and elsewhere: Pictures of dead children and women killed in airstrikes can hurt support even among friends.

Yet the alternative for Israel, if it wants to push back Hezbollah, is either a full-scale ground war or a lengthy series of smaller-scale incursions to eliminate the group's positions along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

For now, Israel says it has no plans for a big land invasion, still leery from its costly occupation of south Lebanon from 1982 to 2000. But the smaller incursions have brought relatively high Israeli casualties and low apparent impact: U.N. observers in south Lebanon say Hezbollah's supply of rockets remains adequate to fight, and most of its leaders have survived.

Israel has privately told the United States it needs 10 days to two weeks to accomplish what it wants.

Hezbollah's strength comes from its ability to hide fighters and weapons — both among the populace and in bunkers and tunnels — who can pop up once the Israelis pass by and fire more missiles toward Israel. That ability springs from its wide support among people in southern Lebanon.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld famously called it "asymmetric warfare" and identified it as the challenge America faced from terror groups after the Sept. 11 attacks, and from al-Qaida linked groups in Iraq.

Israel faces just such a struggle against both Hezbollah in Lebanon and the militant group Hamas in Gaza, says Jon Alterman, a Mideast expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

In many ways, such threats "are more difficult to resolve" than battles against conventional military forces, he said. "The groups have made a living out of having few tangible assets to attack. In many ways, they exist principally as a set of ideas ... and they enjoy wide support among their target communities."

Israel, of course, has years of experience fighting the guerrilla-style Palestinian uprisings in the West Bank and Gaza. But its wars against outsiders have mostly, except in Lebanon, been against Arab countries' armies or air forces.

Some analysts say that history appears to have left it off-balance this time.

"It's relying too much on the air campaign and it's wrong," said Efraim Inbar, an analyst at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

He instead advocates a robust ground attack and attacks on Syria to prevent Hezbollah resupply of weapons.

But ground attacks also carry risks: Israel lost nine soldiers in ambushes Wednesday alone in operations around the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbail.

Even when Israel succeeds in such pin-pointed ground incursions, "Hezbollah can disperse, hide men and equipment" and live to fight another day, notes Anthony Cordesman, another Mideast expert.

And a longer-term occupation of south Lebanon would simply give Hezbollah a "new, exposed ambush zone," plus ample opportunity to raise anti-Israeli and anti-American hostility among Arabs — a propaganda ploy it is expert at.

Even one of the best outcomes for Israel — the insertion of an international force at the border to keep Hezbollah at bay — comes with huge risks for whoever makes up the force, eerily resonant of the attacks against U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq, Cordesman warns.

"The international force will probably have to do the heavy lifting, be willing to fight and become the focus of new Hezbollah attacks and ambushes," he says. "Non-Muslims will be seen as occupiers and crusaders ... Can anyone spell IED?"

Analysis: Hezbollah may have the edge

[Shammu]

IDF continues to call on southern Lebanon residents to head north

 

 
The IDF has continued to call on the general civilian population south of the Litani river in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes and head north across the river.

 
The calls were made through local sources and Arab media outlets. The IDF said "this call was made for the personal safety of local residents, as south Lebanon is an active combat are and Hizbullah members are continuing to operate from within civilian population centers, exploiting civilians as a human shield."

IDF continues to call on southern Lebanon residents to head north

[Shammu]

Top Iran general says hopes to avenge Muslim deaths

2 hours, 35 minutes ago

TEHRAN (AFP) - The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said he hoped the Islamic republic could one day "avenge the blood of innocent people in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan".

"We have to keep this sacred hatred of the enemies of Islam alive in our hearts until the time of revenge comes," General Yahya Rahim Safavi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency.

"I hope our nation can one day avenge the blood of innocent people in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and
Afghanistan," he said, adding: "I ask God to arouse the dignity of Muslims and destroy America,
Israel and their associates."

His comments came the day of an Israeli strike that killed 52 people -- more than half of them children -- in the village of Qana, the deadliest attack in its near three-week offensive against Lebanon.

"I ask God that the crimes and atrocities of Zionists hasten the annihilation of this regime. Hezbollah and Lebanese people are invincible and this cancerous tumor... should die," he added, calling on "clerical leaders in the Islamic world (to) clarify the duty of Muslims against Israel."

The Revolutionary Guards Corps was set up in the wake of the 1979 revolution to defend the Islamic republic from "internal and external threats" and played a leading role in the 1980-88 war with Iraq. It it believed to number several hundred thousand troops.

The force is now one of Iran's most powerful institutions, and under direct command of the supreme leader.

Since Israel launched its war on Hezbollah on July 12, Tehran has stepped up its war of words with its arch-enemy.

Shiite Muslim-dominated Iran is also Hezbollah's main international supporter, although the Islamic republic insists it only provides "moral support" to the movement.

Other Iranian officials meanwhile called for US and Israeli leaders to be prosecuted for "crimes against humanity".

"The United States and the supporters of the Zionist regime are undoubtedly responsible for this savage terrorist catastrophe," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said of the Qana strike.

"The UN Security Council must stop the Zionists' crimes in Palestine and Lebanon, and put them on trial immediately for crimes against humanity," the ISNA news agency quoted him saying.

The United States, he argued, had effectively given "the green light" for the attack during an international conference in Rome on the Lebanon conflict on Wednesday.

"Zionist regime officials as well as some US statesmen should be put on trial," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi also told reporters.

But he meanwhile repeated Iran's denial of allegations it is financing and arming Hezbollah.

"We have not and will not send forces to Lebanon," Asefi said. "We have not provided the Lebanese resistance with arms. We are very transparent: our aid is political and humanitarian."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meanwhile fumed that it was "clear that international organisations have become a tool in the hand of domineering powers" -- in a fresh attack against the UN Security Council.

Iran is under mounting Security Council pressure, with the world body poised to pass a resolution demanding that Tehran suspend its controversial nuclear programme and threatening possible sanctions if it refuses.

"Britain, the planner of this sinister regime, and the US, the unconditional supporter of this regime, are both responsible," Ahmadinejad said of Western support for the "fake, illegitimate and usurper" state of Israel.

Top Iran general says hopes to avenge Muslim deaths

[Shammu]

 IDF May Not Have Caused Kana Deaths
20:50 Jul 30, '06 / 5 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Senior IDF officers told reporters a short time ago that there is a contradiction in the timing of the bombing of the village of Kana and reports of the explosion that killed more than 50 civilians and set off world-wide condemnation of Israel. Air Force Commander Amir Eshel left open the possibility that Hizbullah terrorists blew up the building or that an unknown cause set off explosives which were stored in the structure.

He explained that recorded information shows that Israeli Air Force planes bombed the building between midnight and 1 a.m. and that the next attack at 7:30 a.m. was up to 500 yards away. He said reports of the killing of civilians came around 8 a.m. "It is not clear what happened" between 1 a.m. and 8 a.m., he said.

Brigadier General Ido Nehushtan pointed out that Hizbullah terrorists have fired more than 150 rockets from the village of Kana since the beginning of the war.

IDF May Not Have Caused Kana Deaths

[Shammu]

Arafat's 'fox' running rocket unit
Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jul. 29, 2006

Hizbullah's top commander in southern Lebanon is a veteran Fatah operative who was very close to former Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat when the PLO was based in Beirut, Fatah officials said over the weekend.

They identified the man as Imad Mughniyeh, a former officer in Arafat's Force 17 presidential guard who has been in charge of Hizbullah's military operations in south Lebanon for the past decade.

"Imad Mughniyeh is the overall commander of the Islamic Resistance [Hizbullah's armed wing] in southern Lebanon," said a Fatah official who said he knew Mughniyeh well during the '70s and '80s.

"He's nicknamed tha'lab [the fox], and today he's considered the second important figure in Hizbullah after Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. We're very proud to have a Palestinians holding such a high position in Hizbullah," the Fatah official said.

Mughniyeh, who is believed to have been behind the abduction of the two IDF soldiers on July 12, is also reported to be in charge of Hizbullah's rocket unit in south Lebanon. The unit has fired more than 1,600 rockets at Israel during the current violence.

When the IDF forced the PLO to leave Lebanon in 1982, Arafat entrusted Mughniyeh with transferring the organization's weapons to Lebanese militias allied with the Palestinians.

Mughniyeh, who refused to leave Beirut with the PLO leadership, joined the the Shi'ite Amal militia headed by Nabih Berri. He and Nasrallah, who was then a member of Amal, later left the movement to form Hizbullah.

Born in the Lebanese city of Tyre in 1952, Mughniyeh did not attract attention until 1976, when he joined Force 17 as a sniper targeting Christians on the Green Line dividing West and East Beirut.

Mugniyah has since been implicated in numerous terrorist attacks against the US, France and Israel, in which hundreds of people have been killed. These include three in 1983: the bombings of the US Embassy in Beirut and barracks housing US Marines and French paratroopers who were part of the Multinational Force in Lebanon.

He has also been linked to the Karine A weapons ship that Arafat tried to use to smuggle arms into the Gaza Strip in 2001.

On October 10, 2001 Mughniyeh appeared on the FBI's first "Top 22 Most Wanted Terrorists" list. A reward of $25 million was offered for information leading to his capture.

Arafat's 'fox' running rocket unit

[Shammu]

Syria US support for Israel no longer justified


Syria said on Sunday that the United States could no longer justify its support for Israeli military action in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories after Israel's air strike on the Lebanese village of Qana that killed 54 civilians.

"These bombs...Are American bombs," Said Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Jaafari. "They call them laser-guided bombs but actually they are hatred-guided bombs, and unfortunately these bombs are made in the USA," said.

Syria US support for Israel no longer justified

[Shammu]

Iran Revolutionary Guard Details Support to Hizbullah
Special Dispatch-Iran/Lebanon
July 31, 2006
No. 1220

Iranian Assistance to Hizbullah - Iran Revolutionary Guards Officer:
Hizbullah Has Iran-Trained Diver, Naval Commando Units; We Have Constructed
Command Rooms for Hizbullah; Iranian Martyrdom Forces Have Been Sent To
Lebanon

On July 29, 2006, the London Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published a
detailed article on assistance extended to Hizbullah by Iran's Revolutionary
Guards, as reported by a high-ranking Revolutionary Guards officer who had
trained Hizbullah naval units. According to the officer, Hizbullah has a
diver unit and a naval commando unit. He further claims that Revolutionary
Guards officers assisted Hizbullah in the July 14, 2006 firing of a C802
missile at an Israeli Navy ship, and had also helped Hizbullah construct
underground facilities - including command and control rooms - which are
being operated by Revolutionary Guards officers along with Hizbullah
fighters.

In addition, Iranian news agencies have published a number of reports about
groups of Iranian volunteers sent to Lebanon to aid Hizbullah in its fight
against Israel.

The following are excerpts from these reports on Iranian assistance to
Hizbullah.


Revolutionary Guards Assistance to Hizbullah

The following are excerpts from the Al-Sharq Al-Awsat report on aid extended
to Hizbullah by Iran's Revolutionary Guards:(1)

"Hundreds of Hizbullah fighters currently confronting Israel's military
array took part in special training courses at the Revolutionary Guards
bases in Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad and Ahvaz. According to a high-ranking
[Revolutionary] Guards officer, who trained one of the Hizbullah naval
units, Hizbullah has many surprises up its sleeve. Until now, there has been
no direct confrontation between Hizbullah and the Israeli navy, [but] one of
the Israeli navy's ships was attacked with C802 missiles with the help of
Revolutionary Guards [fighters] stationed in Lebanon. Hizbullah has a
divers' unit and a naval commando unit [equipped] with Chinese-made Ho-Dong
speedboats, which are capable of dealing [serious] blows to the Israeli
navy."

The Iranian officer added that "thanks to the presence of hundreds of
Iranian engineers and technicians, as well as North Korean experts brought
[into Lebanon] in the guise of [domestic] servants by Iranian diplomats and
by the staff at the Iranian representations and offices in Lebanon,
Hizbullah has managed to build a 25-kilometer underground [tunnel]. Each
opening in this [tunnel] measures 12 to 18 square meters, and has a mobile
floor and a semi-mobile ceiling. Each four openings are connected by a
passage that allows fighters to pass easily [from one opening] to the other.

"The [Revolutionary] Guards has also built Hizbullah underground storerooms
in the Beka' Valley, at a depth of no more than eight meters, which hold
huge amounts of missiles and ammunition. In the Beka', there is [also] a
central command room operated by four Revolutionary Guards officers and four
Hizbullah [fighters]. Each sector has its [own] command and operations room.

"Hizbullah's missile unit includes some 200 technicians and experts trained
in Iran. Hizbullah has three missile units, each supervised by a staff of
20."


2,500 Iranian Suicide Fighters Await Khamenei's Order

The following are reports recently published by Iranian news agencies
regarding groups of Iranian volunteers sent to Lebanon to assist Hizbullah
in its fight against Israel:

On July 25, 2006, the Iranian Farda news agency quoted a report by the
Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), stating that Hizbullah-Iran has recruited
some 2,500 suicide fighters who are awaiting an order from Iran's Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei to set out to Lebanon.

Hizbullah-Iran spokesman Mojtaba Bigdeli added that the Hizbullah-Iran
Chairman Mohammad Baqr Kharrazi will "soon be stationed in Lebanon in order
to support Hizbullah-Lebanon and to express solidarity with the resistance
and with the oppressed Lebanese nation, and [also] in order to follow
developments [more] closely...

"Some 2,500 people who are fully willing to carry out istishhad [martyrdom]
operations have signed up through groups connected to Hizbullah-Iran, so
that the list [of martyrs] is now ready, and they await an order from the
Supreme Leader [Ali Khamenei]..."(2)


Enlisting Volunteers Online

On July 26, 2006, the Iranian news agency Alborz announced that volunteers
could sign up online for the "Army of the Fighters of Muhammad." The report
explained that the Army of the Fighters of Muhammad was recruiting fighters
to be sent to Lebanon, and that those interested in signing up could also
call a telephone number in Tehran (88938821). According to the report, the
minimum age for enlisting is 16.


Two Groups of Martyrdom Fighters Sent To Lebanon

On July 18, 2006, the Alborz news agency reported that "two groups of
Iranian martyrdom fighters, who have received guidance and training, have
been sent to Lebanon in order to participate in the [war on] its fronts.

"Ali Mohammadi, spokesman of The World Islamic Organization's Headquarters
for Commemorating the ubgone19s (martyrdom fighters), stated: 'These two
groups, which include 27 people selected from among 55,000 who signed up,
were sent to Lebanon in order to participate in the war front against the
Zionist regime... These forces have undergone various forms of training...
Their mission is to arrive in Lebanon by any means possible, and to carry
out martyrdom operations in the event that Lebanon is occupied by the
Zionist regime.'

"The sending of these troops, he noted, was on a completely volunteer
basis... These people were sent to Lebanon privately, and they have no
organizational connection with Hizbullah... It should be noted that these 27
people have mastery of English and Arabic. They are to remain in Lebanon
until further notice...'"(3)


Mehr News Agency: "Two Teams [Have Been] Sent to Syria In Order to Reach The
Regions Of Conflict In Lebanon"

According to another report, by the Mehr news agency, on the dispatching of
two suicide fighter groups to Lebanon, spokesman Mohammadi said that "two
teams, one with 18 people and the other with nine, traveled separately... to
Syria, in order to reach the regions of conflict in Lebanon by any means
possible..." Mohammadi noted that "all 27 [team members] have mastery of
Arabic, and some of them can even speak English... We have no organizational
connection with Hizbullah or any other group. These people set out with the
aim of helping the Lebanese people, and they are acting independently..."(4)

Endnotes:
(1) Al-Sharq Al-Awsat(London), July 29, 2006,
http://www.asharqalawsat.com/print/default.asp?did=375420 .
(2) Farda News Agency (Iran), July 25, 2006,
http://fardanews.com/show/?id=22540 .
(3) Alborz News Agency (Iran), July 18, 2006,
http://www.alborznews.net/shownews.asp?u=6132 .
(4) Mehr News Agency (Iran), July 17, 2006, as reported by the Iranian news
portal www.dat.ir.

Iran Revolutionary Guard Details Support to Hizbullah

[Shammu]

Zest for martyrdom fuels Hizbollah in battle
30 Jul 2006 18:52:06 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Tom Perry

BEIRUT, July 30 (Reuters) - A sister of Hizbollah fighter Mustafa Zalzali wears mourning black for her brother, but his death in battle with Israel elicits more pride than grief.

"We thank God almighty for making us the family of a martyr," she said. "We received the news of his martyrdom with pride," she told Hizbollah's al-Manar television.

Hizbollah guerrillas are well armed and trained. But one of the group's greatest assets in its war with Israel is the willingness of its fighters to die for their cause.

Hizbollah has killed 33 Israeli soldiers, including some of the army's best, in the war triggered when the guerrillas captured two soldiers in a raid into Israel on July 12.

"Hizbollah's strength really lies in its fighters -- that they are ready for death," Hizbollah expert Amal Saad-Ghorayeb said. "The edge they have is their steadfastness and resolve, which is derived from their religious ideology."

The guerrillas killed eight Israeli soldiers in one battle alone in the southern town of Bint Jbeil on Wednesday. They also put up a stiff fight at the border village of Maroun al-Ras.

Israel says it has killed more than 200 Hizbollah fighters, but the guerrilla group says it has lost only 31.

"We do not hide our martyrs," Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah told Al Jazeera television. "On the contrary, we always take pride in our martyrs."

Fighters killed in combat are celebrated as heroes by Hizbollah, which emerged in the early 1980s to fight Israeli occupation and enjoys strong support among Lebanese Shi'ites.

READY FOR SACRIFICE

Families of slain fighters are held in high esteem by Hizbollah followers. Nasrallah himself draws his popularity and legitimacy partly from the death of his eldest son at the age of 18 in combat with Israel.

"For 23 years, we have been speaking and mobilising the people," Nasrallah said. "Speaking about martyrdom, the honour of martyrdom and the stature of martyrs."

For Hizbollah's supporters, martyrdom is a sublime goal rooted in their Shi'ite Muslim traditions.

Shi'ites annually mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein in battle at Kerbala in 680.

Hizbollah fighters killed in battle are also remembered in the Ashura ceremonies which mark the death of Imam Hussein.

Shi'ites differ from Sunnis in seeing Hussein's father, Ali, as the rightful successor to the Prophet Mohammad.

"The desire for martyrdom among Hizbollah followers and the willingness to be martyred is absolutely essential," said Samer el-Karanshawy, a researcher on Lebanese Shi'ites.

"This cannot be separated from the tenacity of their fighting in Maroun al-Ras and Bint Jbeil."

Willingness to sacrifice is a key qualification for joining Hizbollah's military ranks. "Hizbollah would not open its doors to secular Shi'ites because they lack this commitment which is crucial in terms of military power," Saad-Ghorayeb said. The family of Zalzali, killed in a recent battle, say they are ready for more sacrifices.

"His martyrdom has lifted our heads high," said another of his sisters. "Whatever more we can offer, we will. Our men, our children, our siblings."

Zest for martyrdom fuels Hizbollah in battle

[Shammu]

Iran forces urged to prepare to hit Israel

Sun Jul 30, 12:20 PM ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's hardline forces should get ready to take revenge on Israel and the United States for the offensive on Lebanon, the head of the Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying on Sunday.

"The Basij and Revolutionary Guards should prepare to get even with the Zionists and Americans," Yahya Rahim-Safavi was quoted as telling Islamic militiamen by the conservative Fars news agency.

The Basij are volunteer Islamic militiamen.

"The timing of the this will be announced by the leader," he added.

An Israeli air strike killed 54 civilians, including 37 children in the southern Lebanese village of Qana on Sunday, the bloodiest single attack since Israel's 19-day-old war on Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas began.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are historically close to Hizbollah and were deployed in south Lebanon during the 1980s. Mostafa Chamran, spiritual father of the Guards, forged his reputation fighting in Lebanon.

The Basij and Revolutionary Guards are directly answerable to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Although Iran funded and armed Hizbollah in the 1980s, it has insisted recently its support is mainly moral and political.

However, many sources have said Iranian arms are being used against Israeli civilian and military targets.

An Israeli military source has said an Iranian-made C802 radar-guided land-to-sea missile with a range of 60 miles (95 km) hit and badly damaged a ship during Israel's offensive against Lebanon.

Hizbollah said it fired "Raad (Thunder) 2" and "Raad 3" rockets at a rail depot in Haifa. Raad missiles are Iranian.

Israel's army said it destroyed an Iranian-made Zelzal missile with range of between 74 and 99 miles before it was launched.

Iran forces urged to prepare to hit Israel

[Shammu]

 Report: IAF Attacks Eastern Lebanon
08:04 Jul 31, '06 / 6 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Lebanese media sources report the IAF has struck in eastern Lebanon, bombing roads near the Syrian border.

There is no Israeli confirmation for the foreign agency report.

Report: IAF Attacks Eastern Lebanon

[Shammu]

 8 Suspects Arrested in Counter-Terror Operations
07:45 Jul 31, '06 / 6 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) IDF soldiers involved in counter-terrorism operations throughout Judea and Samaria during the night arrested eight terrorists. Arrests were made in Tulkarem, the Ramallah area, and the Bethlehem district.

Suspects in custody include Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah Tanzim terrorists. No injuries were reported.

8 Suspects Arrested in Counter-Terror Operations