Biblical countries, in the news.

[Shammu]

Iran: Israel nukes obstacle to peace

Iran's Defense Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najjar says only disarming of Israel from nuclear weapons will bring 'sustainable peace' in Middle East
Dudi Cohen and Agencies

Iranian Defense Minister Mustafa Mohammad Najjar said Monday that the best way to obtain security and a sustainable peace in the Middle East is the disarmament of Israel of nuclear weapons, Iranian news agency Mehr reported.

Regarding the harming of civilians in populated areas in Lebanon, the Iranian defense minister said that the "the end of Zionist war criminals and their supporters will be worse than Hitler and Saddam."

The minister said that the "popular resistance in Lebanon and Palestine struck a number of strategic targets in Israel and the United States." He added the "Lebanese and the Palestinians showed that once again that no weapon, even nuclear weapons, can stand against the will for freedom and independence."

Addressing the war in Lebanon, the Syrian minister said that "this war is not only against Hizbullah and the popular Lebanese and Palestinian resistance – but against peace and international security."

'Incidents in Lebanon, Palestine affecting our evaluations'

He said that unity between the Muslim countries could prevent a repetition of such incidents in the future.

"For the leaders of the United States and the Zionist regime every crime they are committing is legitimate so that Israel rules the Arab and Muslim Middle East," he said.

The comments by the Iranian defense ministry were made against the background of the deepening of the crisis between Iran and the international community due to Tehran's lateness in responding to the forum of six nations on whether I will agree to cease enriching uranium in exchange for a package of economic incentives.

On Monday, the UN Security Council is expected to present Iran with an ultimatum, according to which if it does not end its nuclear activities within a month, the Council will meet to discuss applying sanctions on it.

In an unusual step, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad linked Iran's delay in deciding on the package of incentives to the events in the Middle East, and added that "the incidents in Lebanon and Palestine are affecting our evaluations."

Iran: Israel nukes obstacle to peace

[Shammu]

Syria eyeing larger goals as Lebanon crisis continues
(AP)

2 August 2006


CAIRO, Egypt - Syria appears intent on wresting political gains from the standoff in Lebanon, privately telling Arab diplomats that it won’t aid cease-fire efforts unless that results in less isolation for it, and more focus on the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, diplomats and analysts said on Tuesday.

Syria’s push to link any cease-fire to what it calls a comprehensive and lasting Mideast peace plan comes at a time when U.S. President George W. Bush also has said he wants a cease-fire linked to a broader Mideast peace plan.

But Syria and Bush are talking about different things _ Syria wants talks over the status of the Golan, which it wants back from Israel. Bush wants to halt Syrian and Iranian support for Hezbollah.

Israel and the United States both have accused Syria and Iran of backing the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, whose July 12 abduction of two Israeli soldiers triggered the Middle East’s latest war.

Egypt in recent days has stepped up efforts to persuade Syria to help in resolving the standoff.

But Arab diplomats said Syria is making it clear to mediators that it will step in to pressure Hezbollah only if there is an over-all settlement to the decades-long Middle East conflict. In Syria’s eyes, any such plan must include Israel returning the strategic heights it seized from Syria in the 1967 war.

Damascus is also seeking a let-up in the international isolation it has been under since last year’s assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, widely blamed on Syria although Damascus has denied any link.

“Syria wants a whole package that includes the Golan, or at least resumption of negotiations with Israel,” said one Damascus-based diplomat, who was briefed by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem about Syria’s position on Sunday.

Damascus also has warned that failure to cooperate with it to stabilize Lebanon might turn its tiny neighbor into a new haven for al-Qaida terrorists, the Damascus-based diplomat said on condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the issue.

On Monday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who met Syrian President Bashar Assad a day earlier in Damascus, disclosed that Syria was opposed to the creation of a new international force in Lebanon. Aboul Gheit said Syria instead wants to expand the current U.N. force there, widely regarded as ineffectual.

Syria has not spoken publicly on its role in resolving the crisis but Damascus official media has always boasted that there will be no peace in the Middle East without Syria.

“The Syrian role will remain there, whether they like it or not,” Emad al-Shoeibi, a pro-government Syrian analyst said Tuesday.

And George Jabour, a member of the Syrian parliament, said, “There will be no lasting peace and no stability in the region without the Golan heights return to Syria.”

Even as Syria holds that line and Egypt tries to mediate, the fighting has exposed rifts in the Arab world.

On Monday, Moallam traveled to Doha for talks with its ruler. Hours later, Qatar’s foreign minister accused some Arab states of supporting the Israeli offensive on Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah.

He declined to name the Arab countries but it is widely believed that he was referring to Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which have criticized Hezbollah for sparking the fighting.

Meanwhile, Syria still faces a high risk of being drawn into direct conflict with Israel if the crisis continues, said Wahid Abdel Maguid of the Cairo-based Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

Syria has quietly raised its military alert to the highest level, drawn up contingency plans and canceled all officers’ leaves. On Monday, Assad said the situation “requires cautious and preparedness and readiness.”

“The Syrians are extremely worried. They feel that they are under enormous pressure. Therefore, they are confused and unsure what to do,” said Abdel Maguid

“They think that they are holding some important cards in their hands,” he said. But, “If you keep your cards to your chest and do not use them at the appropriate time, then you are doomed to lose.”

Syria eyeing larger goals as Lebanon crisis continues

[Shammu]

 Syria, Iran stress ending Israel's aggression, its withdrawal behind Blue

Line DAMASCUS, August 1 (KUNA) -- Syria and Iran stressed on Tuesday the necessity for ending Israel's aggression against Lebanon and Israel's withdrawal to behind the Blue Line.

According to a Presidential press release, Syrian Foreign Minister Waleed Al-Muallam and Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki held talks regarding recent developments, expressing support for Lebanon and its people.

Mottaki outlined the outcomes of his talks with Lebanese officials and meeting with French counterpart Philippe Douste-Blazy at the Iarnian Embassy in Beirut.

Mottaki, who said the tour aims at ending the unrest, arrived in Syria from Beirut earlier on Tuesday.

Syria, Iran stress ending Israel's aggression, its withdrawal behind Blue

[Shammu]

Israel launches major operation in eastern Lebanon

HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer

August 1, 2006 3:35 PM

BOURJ AL-MULOUK, Lebanon (AP) - Israel launched a major attack deep into Lebanon, and Hezbollah said its guerrillas were fighting Israeli commandos on the ground near the eastern city of Baalbek near Syria early Wednesday.

The Israeli army would not comment on the operation near Baalbek, an ancient city that was a former Syrian army headquarters some 80 miles north of the Israeli border. Israel refused to comment. The Internet Web site of the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that ''Helicopters put down IDF (military) commandos near Baalbek,'' without adding details.

Hezbollah's chief spokesman said Israeli troops landed near a Baalbek hospital and that fierce fighting raged with guerrilla fighters for more than one hour. Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV reported that fighters were involved in a ''confrontation with an Israeli unit that landed near Al-Hikma Hospital west of Baalbek.''

Some witnesses said that the hospital had been hit in an Israeli airstrike, and was burning.

The attack in Baalbek, the ferocity of other battles Tuesday, the determination of the Israelis to keep fighting and the minimal diplomatic progress toward an immediate cease-fire all indicated the war is more likely to escalate than end soon.

Israel launches major operation in eastern

[Shammu]

EU rejects ceasefire call and UN fails to act as disunity prevails

· UK and Germany achieve watered-down statement
· Flurry of unilateral action leaves UN splintered

Nicholas Watt in Brussels, Ewen MacAskill, Simon Tisdall and Oliver Burkeman in New York
Wednesday August 2, 2006
The Guardian

Efforts to secure an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon collapsed again yesterday after a divided European Union issued a watered-down statement and the United Nations postponed a full security council discussion promised by Tony Blair and Condoleezza Rice.

Despite escalating violence in southern Lebanon, EU foreign ministers rejected a draft statement that would have called for an immediate ceasefire and would have branded Israel's bombardment as "a severe breach of international humanitarian law". In a semantic bow to Washington and Tel Aviv, they called instead "for an immediate cessation of hostilities to be followed by a sustainable ceasefire".

Article continues
Germany and four other countries joined Britain in opposing the tougher language that had been urged by France. In EU parlance, a "cessation" now appears to mean a temporary pause, whereas a "ceasefire" implies a more permanent arrangement. The wording is virtually identical to the statement agreed by foreign ministers at their last meeting two weeks ago in Brussels. The only difference is the addition of the call for a sustainable ceasefire after the cessation.

The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, denied the compromise amounted to a "green light" for Israel to continue its military offensive. "I would be saddened and dismayed if someone would read that into today's conclusions," she said.

Underlining the entangled nature of the debate, the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said: "Cessation of hostilities is not the same as a ceasefire. A ceasefire can perhaps be achieved later ... We can now only ask the UN security council and put pressure on it not to waste any more time."

Nothing materialised in the security council yesterday, however. Diplomats at the UN headquarters in New York say they are awaiting instructions from their governments. A meeting initially planned for Monday to discuss troop contributions to a multinational security force in south Lebanon has now been rescheduled for tomorrow. A full meeting of the council to discuss a resolution to end hostilities and create a political framework in support of the Lebanese government has yet to be arranged.

Mr Blair and Ms Rice, the US secretary of state, both suggested at the weekend that the council would take urgent action in the first half of this week.

Kofi Annan, the secretary general, met ambassadors of the council's five permanent members - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - and urged them to act quickly, stressing the need for unity.

There was a "genuine argument" about the conditions that would be required for a multinational force to enter the region, said the UK's ambassador, Sir Emyr Jones Parry. "We can't get away from the fact that there's a real difference of perspectives," he said. Asked if the US strategy was to give Israel more time to attack Hizbullah, Sir Emyr said: "It's not a question of giving time. It's a question of hoping very much that the situation will change on the ground."

The lack of unity on dealing with the crisis was underscored by the disclosure by Iran's new ambassador to Britain, Rasoul Movahedian, that the French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, had offered to fly to Tehran. The move followed a meeting in Beirut on Monday with Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki. Mr Douste-Blazy described Iran as a stabilising force in the region - the complete opposite of the US and British view.

Mr Movahedian told the Guardian that he had been lobbied by Foreign Office officials to use Iran's influence with Hizbullah and that Mrs Beckett had called Mr Mottaki last week. But he denied that Iran had the power to halt the fighting. "People in this country [Britain] think that Hizbullah is like a machine with a switch in Tehran that we can turn off. This is not the case. At the moment we do not support it financially or militarily," he said.

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, condemned the US and UK yesterday, saying they were culpable for the loss of civilian life in Lebanon. "It has become clear they are not competent to sit in the UN security council and enjoy veto rights. They are culprits, criminals themselves." He called for an immediate ceasefire.

Germany is pursuing its own course, making overtures to Syria, another Hizbullah backer. Mr Steinmeier said in an interview that he had offered president Bashar Assad closer cooperation with the EU, including trade incentives, in return for breaking its alliance with Iran, reining in Hizbullah and assisting the insertion of the multinational force.

EU rejects ceasefire call and UN fails to act as disunity prevails

[Shammu]

King, Saleh talk Lebanon crisis
   
     

King Abdullah and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh discussed Tuesday over the telephone Israel’s aggression on Lebanon. The two leaders stressed the need for a joint and effective Arab stand to help end the Israeli onslaught. They said world powers should press Israel for an immediate ceasefire. Efforts should be intensified during the coming days to work out a peaceful solution to the crisis and end the suffering of the Lebanese people, the King and Saleh agreed

King, Saleh talk Lebanon crisis

[Shammu]

Indonesians Brandishing Fake Guns Protest Israel Outside US Embassy
Associated Press
 

JAKARTA, 2 August 2006 — Hardline Muslims brandishing toy guns and fake explosive belts rallied outside the US Embassy in Indonesia yesterday to protest Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Some protesters said they wanted to travel to the Middle East to fight the Jewish state.

“We ask the government to (transport us to Lebanon) so we can help our brothers and sisters there who are being killed and ravaged by Israel and America, the enemies of Islam,” said Allawi Usman, one of the leaders of the protest.

Police confiscated toys guns and fake explosive belts from several of the protesters.

Fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas has killed at least 575 people since July 12, more than three-quarters of them civilians in Lebanon, sparking international opposition to the Jewish state’s tactics.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has accused Israel of violating international law and called for an immediate cease-fire backed up by a UN-led peacekeeping force.

Indonesians Brandishing Fake Guns Protest Israel Outside US Embassy

[Shammu]

 Mottaki, Lahoud review regional developments
Beirut, Aug 1, IRNA

Iran-Lebanon-Mottaki
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here Tuesday conferred with the Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on recent developments in the region.

At the meeting, the two sides discussed various issues including current wide-scale Zionist attacks to Lebanon, its aftermath, ways to put an end to the conflict, calls for a truce along with various offers proposed by different countries as well as Iran's assistance to Lebanon.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to render moral, humanitarian and diplomatic assistance to Lebanon against the atrocities of the Zionists aggressors, Mottaki said and voiced sympathy with the Lebanese government and nation over the disaster at Qana which took the lives of 60 innocent civilians.

Referring to the aggression of the Zionist regime to Lebanon, he described the stands of the Lebanese nation in the face of Zionist atrocities as a source of pride which is praiseworthy.

The Lebanese, through their brave resistance, could put an end to myth of an invincible Zionist regime, he underlined.

The global organizations, with the UNSC at the head, should be accountable to public opinions for their inability in dealing with the atrocities of the Zionist occupiers, he said.

It is incumbent for all countries to respect agreements among Lebanese political wings in resolving the current crisis, he said adding that their solidarity would play a decisive role in their continued resistance.

Referring to the so-called plan for 'New Middle East', he said the American seeks to create a new region in the Middle East region with Israel as the pivot.

Given the full-scale efforts of Iranian officials to persuade other countries to play a much more active and positive role in Lebanon in dealing with the atrocities of the Zionist regime, he said the Zionist regime has failed to achieve its pre-planned goals.

Strongly condemning the Zionist crimes for massacring innocent Lebanese women and children, he underlined that the Islamic Republic of Iran supports the Lebanese nation and their resistance.

The Lebanese president for his part appreciated Iran's political, diplomatic and humanitarian aid to his people.

Israel wish to disrupt restoration of tranquility and security in Lebanon, he said adding that they have already prepared a plan to connect them to Litani river, disarm Hizbollah and impose their conditions on Lebanon.

Since the Zionists have been defeated militarily, they seek to make up for their defeat through diplomacy, he concluded.

Mottaki, Lahoud review regional developments

[Shammu]

 Mottaki confers with Lebanon's PM, parliament speaker
Beirut, Aug 1, IRNA

Lebanon-Mottaki-Meeting
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here Tuesday held separate meetings with Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Fuad Siniora on the latest political developments in Lebanon and ongoing crisis.

Currently on a visit to Lebanon to sympathize with the country's government, people and resistance at his meetings with Lebanese officials, Mottaki expounded on Iran's measures in the regional and international scene aiming to encourage various states to confront the Zionist regime's aggressions.

In his meeting with Berri, the foreign minister said, "It has been proved in the international scene that the Zionist regime has failed to achieve its military objectives. Thus it is attempting to materialize its failed goals by exerting diplomatic pressure." For his part the Lebanese parliament speaker briefed Mottaki on his country's difficult condition and said that Lebanon's resistance is the outcome of the faith of forerunners of Islamic Movement in the contemporary history, in particular Founder of the Islamic Revolution the late Imam Khomeini, and the kidnapped leader of Lebanese Shiites Imam Moussa Sadr.

Berri referred to his country's national unity as another factor having an impact on the resistance of Lebanese people against the Zionist regime's intrigues and underlined that the ongoing war has been initiated by Israel against Lebanon on behalf of the US.

He thanked Iran for its unreserved supports for Lebanon's people and resistance, adding that such support is a source of strength for his country to confront the Zionist regime.

The Lebanese official urged the need for immediate cease-fire and underlined that the Zionist regime's aggressions should be stopped.

The Iranian Foreign Minister arrived in Lebanon through that country's northern land border with Syria on Monday night.

Upon his arrival in Beirut, Mottaki met the Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and the visiting French Foreign Minister Filippe Doust Blazy in the evening.

He also met his Lebanese counterpart Fauzi Sallokh on Monday during which the two ministers reviewed the latest developments in the course of Zionist regime's all-out war against Lebanon.

Mottaki confers with Lebanon's PM, parliament speaker

[Shammu]

 Ahmadinejad: Israeli aggressions on Lebanon aim to revive dead plan of greater Middle East
Bojnourd, North Khorasan prov, Aug 1, IRNA

Iran-Lebanon-President
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that Israeli aggressions on Lebanon and Palestine aim to revive the dead plan of a greater Middle East.

He said in his address to a large crowd of people that the US and Britain have abetted Israel to invade Lebanon and should be held accountable for Israeli war crimes.

Ahmadinejad said that Israeli aggressions on Lebanon and Palestine were pre-planned adding that the occupying regime only used as pretext taking the soldiers as captive to exchange them for the Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in Israeli detention camps.

He said that murder, aggression and plunder formed the nature of the occupying regime adding that Israel serves as lackey for both the US and Britain in the Middle East.

Ahmadinejad criticized international organizations of inaction in the face of Israeli aggressions on Lebanon and Palestine and said that the UN Security Council has been made an instrument for global arrogance.

"The US and UK do not deserve to be permanent member of the Security Council. They have abetted Israeli war crimes and should stand trial.

"They are contemplating to spread the flames of war throughout the Middle East, but, they should fear the fury of the nations.

"Lebanon, is a scene to present the true face of the so-called advocates of human rights. It depicts the oppression to which the Lebanese nation have been subject," Ahmadinejad said.

He praised the Lebanese resistance movement led by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and said that Israeli aggression is not only against a single nation, but, it is against the entire humanity.

President Ahmadinejad said that Iran calls for an end to the current hostility in Lebanon and the aggressor should pay reparations for the damages it inflicted on civilian infrastructure of Lebanon.

He called on the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) to bring to justice Israeli officials for the war crimes they perpetrated against civilians of Lebanon and Palestine.

The Iranian president said that personnel of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Society and ambulances are not immune from Israeli attacks in Lebanon and Palestine and they fell victims to the military attacks of the occupying regime, so that humanitarian aid workers are not able to carry out their own job.

Ahmadinejad: Israeli aggressions on Lebanon aim to revive dead plan of greater Middle East

[Shammu]

Israel launches attack deep in Lebanon

By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer 4 minutes ago

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel launched a major attack deep into Lebanon, and Hezbollah said its guerrillas were fighting Israeli commandos trapped inside a hospital in the eastern city of Baalbek early Wednesday.

The Israeli army would not comment on the operation in the ancient city, which was once a Syrian army headquarters some 80 miles north of Israel. The Web site of the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that "helicopters put down IDF (military) commandos near Baalbek," without adding details.

The ferocity of the battles in Baalbek and across southern Lebanon on Tuesday, the determination of the Israelis to keep fighting and the minimal diplomatic progress toward a cease-fire all indicate the 3-week-old war is more likely to escalate than end soon.

Hezbollah's chief spokesman, Hussein Rahal, told The Associated Press that Israeli troops landed near Dar al-Hikma Hospital and that fierce fighting was raging after more than one hour.

"A group of Israeli commandos was brought to the hospital by a helicopter. They entered the hospital and are trapped inside as our fighters opened fire on them, and fierce fighting is still raging," Rahal said.

Rahal said Hezbollah was using automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, and that Israeli jets were attacking the surrounding guerrilla force with rockets.

He dismissed as "untrue" reports that the Israeli commandos managed to snatch some patients from the hospital and spirit them away in helicopters. Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in a July 12 cross-border raid triggered the ongoing Israeli offensive in Lebanon.

Witnesses said the hospital was hit in an Israeli airstrike and was burning. Repeated telephone calls to the hospital went unanswered.

Baalbek is a city with spectacular Roman ruins as well as the barracks of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards when they trained Hezbollah guerrillas there in the 1980s.

The last time Israel forces were known to have gone that far on the ground into Lebanon was in 1994, when they abducted Lebanese guerrilla leader Mustafa Dirani, hoping to use him to get information about missing Israeli airman Ron Arad. Dirani was released in a prisoner exchange 10 years later.

In southern Lebanon on Tuesday, troops battled guerrillas after Israel ordered its army to punch all the way to the Litani River. Thousands of troops were operating along the Israel-Lebanon border. Additional soldiers crossed into Lebanon on Tuesday, Israeli defense officials said, joining forces already fighting there.

They entered through four different points along the border and moved at least four miles inside Lebanon. Thousands of reservists, called up over the weekend, also were gathering at staging areas on the Israeli side of the border, ready to join the battles and extend the invasion.

Israeli officials said their soldiers were to go as far as the Litani, about 18 miles from the border, and hold the ground until an international peacekeeping force comes ashore.

But the army later said it had distributed leaflets northeast of the river at villages where Hezbollah was active. The leaflets told people to leave, suggesting that the new offensive could take Israeli soldiers even deeper into Lebanon.

Despite mounting civilian deaths, President Bush held fast to support for Israel and was pressing for a U.N. resolution linking a cease-fire with a broader plan for peace in the Middle East. Staking out a different approach, European Union foreign ministers called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities" followed by efforts to agree on a sustainable cease-fire.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said it was not in Israel's interest to agree to an immediate cease-fire because every day of fighting weakens the guerrillas.

"Every additional day is a day that drains the strength of this cruel enemy," he said. "Every extra day is a day in which the (army) reduces their capability, contains their firing ability and their ability to hit in the future."

The Israelis want to keep Hezbollah off the border so their patrols and civilians along the fence are not in danger of attack. The army also hopes to push Hezbollah far enough north so that most of the guerrillas' rockets cannot reach the Jewish state.

Israel resumed sporadic airstrikes — hitting Hezbollah strongholds and supply lines from one end of Lebanon to the other — despite a pledge to suspend such attacks for another day in response to world outrage over the killing of 56 Lebanese in a weekend bombing.

Aid groups had hoped to take advantage of the supposed 48-hour lull in airstrikes to get food and medicine to civilians trapped in the south. But Israel denied access to two U.N. convoys. Others who made the journey described airstrikes close to their convoys, and bodies along the road.

Hezbollah fired just 10 rockets across the border Tuesday, well below an average of about 100 a day since the fighting began 21 days ago, Israel said.

But the ground battles were intense.

At nightfall Tuesday, Israeli troops were fighting Hezbollah at several points along the common border. Reporters and Arab television reported especially heavy fighting and Israeli artillery bombardment at the village of Aita al-Shaab.

The Israeli army said late Tuesday that three Israeli soldiers died and 25 were slightly wounded by small arms fire and anti-tank rockets in Aita al-Shaab.

Israeli Cabinet Minister Haim Ramon said the fighting to date had killed about 300 of Hezbollah's main force of 2,000 fighters, which does not include its less-well trained reserves. "That's a very hard blow," he said.

Hezbollah has said only 46 of its fighters were killed. Four were lost in battles with Israeli ground troops in Adaisse and Taibeh, near the Christian town of Marjayoun, about five miles from the border with Israel, Hezbollah said.

To the east at Kfar Kila, reporters saw at least three airstrikes, and the thud of artillery shells from Israeli ground troops was constant. About 20 shells landed in the hills around Kfar Kila during a 45-minute period.

Israeli jet fighters also struck deep inside Lebanese territory, hitting Hermel, 75 miles north of the Israeli border in the Bekaa Valley. Warplanes fired at least five air-to-surface missiles on the edge of the town, targeting a road linking eastern Lebanon to western regions and the coastline.

Six hours later, warplanes returned to Hermel, hitting a pickup truck loaded with cooking gas tanks, security officials said. The canisters exploded, sending flames shooting up from the vehicle for nearly an hour. The driver was out of the truck and not hurt.

In the west, Israeli warships fired artillery into the villages of Mansouri, Shamaa and Teir Harfan around the port city of Tyre. No casualties were reported.

Another strike at an area near the Syrian border, about six miles north of Hermel, targeted the Qaa-Homs road, one of four official crossing points between Lebanon and
Syria. Two of the four border crossings are now closed because of damage, and repeated airstrikes have made the main Beirut-Damascus highway impassable.

Polls in Israel show wall-to-wall support for Israel's fight against Hezbollah, even with Israeli civilians enduring a barrage of rocket fire and the army poised for a sweeping ground offensive that is sure to lead to more casualties.

Israel launches attack deep in Lebanon

[Shammu]

Chinese plane lands in Israel to carry home body of killed UN observer

A Chinese plane landed in Israel's Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on Tuesday to carry home the body of a Chinese UN observer killed in an Israeli air raid on south Lebanon.

The special plane is to bring back to China the coffin bearing the body of Chinese UN observer Du Zhaoyu, who was killed in an Israeli raid on a UN post in south Lebanon on July 25.

A Chinese team including Du's widow Li Lingling and officials from the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry Peacekeeping Affairs Office has been in Israel to handle the aftermath of Lt. Colonel Du's death.

The Israeli airstrike also killed three other UN observers from Finland, Austria and Canada respectively.

Israel has expressed deep sorrow and regret over the incident, but denied it was deliberate.

Chinese plane lands in Israel to carry home body of killed UN observer

[Shammu]

Annan seeks unity on Middle East in U.N. Council
01 Aug 2006 16:38:37 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called together major powers on Tuesday in an effort to promote unity on the Middle East crisis and rescheduled a meeting of potential troop contributors for an international force.

Jean-Marie Guehenno, the U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, will chair a session on Thursday among nations who may contribute troops to a stabilization force in southern Lebanon, the United Nations announced.

That meeting had originally been scheduled for Monday by Annan, who will be in Haiti and the Dominican Republic this week starting on Wednesday.

Annan emphasized the need for coordination at a breakfast with ambassadors from the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- the Security Council members with veto power.

A senior U.N. official said Annan was anxious not to see a split between the United States and France, mentioned as a leader of the force, as happened before the 2003 Iraq war.

France has distributed a draft U.N. resolution on elements for a sustainable cease-fire, which junior diplomats intend to discuss later on Tuesday. The United States is expected to present its own proposals soon.

But the French draft said the force should only be deployed after a truce and after Israel and Lebanon have "agreed in principle" on a framework for a permanent cease-fire. The United States would like the force to be deployed sooner.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 600 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, in the past three weeks. Hizbollah guerrillas have killed 51 Israelis.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told reporters Annan spoke of the necessity for unity in the council and said it should act quickly to establish a basis for action.

"We hope we can move forward to get a resolution under discussion in the council very quickly," Jones Parry said. "There's a real difference of perception on the ground of what conditions are needed before a cessation of hostilities."

But he said he doubted there would be a foreign ministers meeting at the United Nations soon to adopt a resolution, although he said such a measure could be adopted before the fighting stopped.

Jones Parry said he foresaw an early truce or cessation of hostilities, based on an understanding between the parties and the deployment of an international force. He said at some stage "the framework for a longer-term solution" had to be put in place.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters after the breakfast, "We're still discussing how to proceed."

A U.N. statement said Annan was "satisfied with the outcome of the discussions, which permitted clarification of the critical issues and discussions of timelines."

Annan seeks unity on Middle East in U.N. Council

[Shammu]

Islam against the world

We shall not win this war because it is an isolated battle; just another promotional campaign leading to the real war whose signs are already on the horizon: The third world war – Islam's war against the free world
Prof. Oz Almog

This war will end sometime. It will take another day or two, perhaps a week or two, but it will end. We shall persevere, then lick our wounds, gird our loins and go back to the TV commercials, holidays and song festivals. Hizbullah will indeed suffer a severe military blow, and perhaps we'll earn some artificial calm under the patronage of some international scarecrow army wearing shorts and holding a pair of binoculars. Perhaps we'll even manage to get our abducted soldiers back under some dubious prisoner exchange agreement that would enable the two sides to swallow their pride. Whatever the consequences, we shall not emerge triumphant from the war in Lebanon which happened to be forced upon us.

We shall not win this war because the Hizbullah cannot be uprooted from Lebanon just as it is impossible to uproot the Moslem fundamentalism prevalent throughout Arab countries. We shall not win, because on the other side there is a group of anti-democratic people (not marginal in the Moslem world) who have legitimized lying and falsehood. It is a group that creates a reality by mere words and imagination and not by empirical methodology, free speech and self criticism. Even if Israeli tanks stand at Beirut's door, Nasrallah will present himself as Sallah al-Din, and even if all his fighters fall in battle – he will declare victory over the Zionists. And most of his admirers (and they are many) will accept his lies. But above all, we shall not win this war because it is a single battle, just one more promotional campaign leading to the real war whose signs are already on the horizon. The third world war – Islam's war against the free world.

In the name of a set religious platform

It’s amazing how closely 1933 resembles 2006. The world was then taken aback by a dictator who took power over Germany, a peculiar character almost comical (The Great Dictator by Charley Chaplin, Remember?). He developed a satanic ideology whose goal was to wipe the free world off the face of the earth. Even the President of Iran Ahmadinejad is depicted in the eyes of many as no more than a violent thug who cannot control his words. But he, as Hitler, is not marginal and he is not alone. He is being followed by masses of fanatics, who have replaced the Zig Heil with the call Allahu Akbar.

That world war began with deep feelings of inferiority and sick nationalist chauvinism, similar to that currently standing at our door. (There is no society that tramples on its women or is imbued with an inferiority complex more than Islam). Its inferiority complex and satanic culture have led to a well oiled mechanism of brainwashing that operates out of homes, mosques, educational institutes and communication networks.

Nasrallah abducted Israeli soldiers and shelled settlements not on in the Lebanese or Palestinian interest, but in the name of a set religious platform, aimed entirely at destroying the Jews and the State of Israel. Now, as then, the focus of hatred, the spiritual generator motivating and uniting the mob against the free world, is the Jewish stereotype. In those days it was the stereotype of the ugly, conniving merchant from the Protocols of Zion that plotted to take over the world, or alternatively the communist Jew who plotted to destroy the European Aryan culture. Today, it is the Jewish "settler" who has joined forces with the "great satan" in the aim of conquering Palestinian land, desecrating holy sites and drinking the blood of Palestinian children.

Can we stop the clock?

The rhetoric is almost the same. Just listen to what they are saying there, from Iran to Gaza and Lebanon to Syria, Saudia Arabia and Egypt. In a speech delivered recently by the chairman of the Iranian parliament, he describes Nasrallah having Khomeni's blood running through his veins. Indeed it does. This blood is boiling in the veins of thousands of religious ministers and Moslem preachers and is pounding in the temples of masses of potential suicide bombers ready to commit suicide in order to perform the mitzvah of spilling the blood of a satanic Jew. And all those politicians and western thinkers (its no coincidence that Spain's prime minister donned a kafiyeh and the French foreign minister lashed out at Israel from Beirut) led by the media are adjusting their eyes and camera lenses at the destruction perpetrated by our tanks (as if we started this war and as if we are killing innocent civilians, driven by a loss of senses and moral imperviousness). They talk in double standards about the "extent" - they are all European descendents who rolled their eyes during that terrible war.

They are directly or indirectly assisting to update the image of Satan from the ghetto-like Jew to the "new Jew", namely the Israeli. They are not doing much to prevent the fundamentalist finger from pushing the button that will, God forbid, send 6 million "new Jews" up to heaven in the smoldering smoke of the global era's nuclear furnace. And we the Jews? Then as now, we are burying our heads in the sand, repressing the new Nazism – the Islamic fundamentalism.

Can we stop the clock of the new anti-Semitism directed at the state of Israel? Perhaps this war will awaken those in slumber. However this time, the western world will awaken in time.

Islam against the world
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is not, our battle to win.  This is a battle the Lord, will win when He returns and steps on Mt. Olives.

[Shammu]

IDF, Hizbullah fighting in Baalbek hospital
jpost staff and AP, THE JERUSALEM POST    Aug. 1, 2006

The IDF would not comment Wednesday morning on a report by Lebanese sources that IDF forces were fighting fierce clashes with Hizbullah fighters in a Baalbek hospital in southern Lebanon.

"A group of Israeli commandos was brought to the hospital by a helicopter. They entered the hospital and are trapped inside as our fighters opened fire on them and fierce fighting is still raging," Hizbullah spokesman Hussein Rahal told AP.

Rahal said Hezbollah guerrillas were using automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades and dismissed as "untrue" reports that the commandos managed to snatch some patients from the hospital and spirit them away in helicopters.

IAF helicopters also reportedly opened machine-gun fire on Hizbullah fighters entrenched outside the hospital, according to eyewitnesses.

Hizbullah's al-Manar television reported late Tuesday night that IAF helicopters operating over the Bekaa Valley were taking heavy guerrilla fire but had not landed any commandos.

Earlier Tuesday, the IAF struck three Hizbullah bunkers in the western zone of southern Lebanon.

Warplanes also hit Hizbullah fighters battling with soldiers near the border as the guerrillas fired mortars into Israel.

Israeli jet fighters struck deep inside Lebanese territory, hitting Hermel, some 120 kilometers north of the Israeli border in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. Warplanes fired at least five air-to-surface missiles on the edge of the town, targeting a road linking eastern Lebanon to western regions and the coastline.

About six hours later, warplanes returned to attack Hermel again, hitting a pickup truck loaded with cooking gas tanks, security officials said. The canisters exploded, sending flames shooting up from the vehicle for nearly an hour. The driver had pulled over and exited the vehicle before the attack, and was not hurt, they said.

In the west, Israeli warships offshore in the Mediterranean sent artillery into the villages of Mansouri, Shamaa and Teir Harfan around the port city of Tyre. No casualties were reported.

Another strike at an area near the Syrian border, about 10 kilometers north of Hermel, targeted the Qaa-Homs road, one of four official crossing points between Lebanon and Syria. Lebanon's official news agency reported Israeli jets also hit early Tuesday near the Masnaa crossing into Syria, which was attacked several times in the last three days.

Tuesday's airstrikes meant that two of the four border crossings are now closed because of damage. Repeated airstrikes have made the main Beirut-Damascus highway impassable.

Meanwhile, during a welcoming ceremony for French tourists at Ben Gurion International Airport on Tuesday, Tourism Minister, Isaac Herzog praised the IDF for its operations in Lebanon and estimated that the army would continue bombarding Hizbullah infrastructure in the upcoming days.

Herzog added that, so far, during Operation Changing Direction, some 400 Hizbullah guerrillas had been killed by the IDF.

The tourism minister also said that the IDF had destroyed an array of long-range missiles as well as several Hizbullah headquarters and communications rooms.

Earlier, the Security Cabinet approved widening the ground offensive, a participant said, and rejected a cease-fire until an international force is in place in southern Lebanon.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that Israel was not interested in waging war on Syria but would continue to target convoys smuggling weapons across the border into Lebanon.

On Monday, Syria's army went on high alert in response to the situation.

IDF, Hizbullah fighting in Baalbek hospital