Biblical countries, in the news.

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Two rockets hit Maalot area in first nighttime Hezbollah attack

Two rockets hit the Maalot area early Thursday. There were no casualties. This was the first time Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel during nighttime.

After two days in which Hezbollah fired almost no rockets at Israel, some 210 rockets and missiles were launched on Wednesday toward northern communities - the largest number since the beginning of the fighting.

One man, Dave Lalchuk, 52, of Kibbutz Sa'ar, was killed and 16 others were wounded, three moderately, in the attacks.

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Long-range rockets and missiles also fell in the Palestinian Authority between Jenin and Beit She'an and in the area of Afula.

Some 2,050 rockets have been fired at Israel from Lebanon during the current conflict thus far.

The missile that was launched toward Beit She'an landed some 200 meters from the houses of the Palestinian village of Faquah, at the foot of Mount Gilboa, some 80 kilometers from the northern border. No injuries were reported in the incident.

This was the furthest from Lebanon a Hezbollah missile has struck.

"The missile landed in the middle of an olive grove," a Faquah resident, Taher Majid, told Haaretz. "We thought a missile might land here and still we are not angry with Nassan Nasrallah. This is a war against Israel and we are on the other side, and so we see these missiles as the minimal price, the tax we have to pay."

Majid added that "all the families of the prisoners look with pride at Hezbollah and hope it will bring about the release of their sons. No one likes war, but Nasrallah is the commander of resistance in the Arab world."

A siren was sounded in Beit She'an during the launch of the missile toward the city. The Gilboa Regional Council is not connected to the alarm system.

Two rockets hit Maalot area in first nighttime Hezbollah attack

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IDF carving out south Lebanon buffer zone to extend 6-8 kilometers north of border
By Ze'ev Schiff, Amos Harel and Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies

Israeli warplanes renewed strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in the battered outskirts of the Lebanese capital as well as on Lebanon's northern border with Syria and in the eastern Bekaa Valley on Thursday.

An IDF soldier was killed in fierce gunfights in south Lebanon Wednesday night, as ground forces continued battled with Hezbollah militants near the border.

Witnesses said at least four explosions reverberated through Beirut as missiles hit Dahieh, a Shiite Muslim suburb that has been repeatedly shelled by Israel since fighting began three weeks ago.

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Residents heard the impact of a large explosion about every five minutes starting at 2:30 a.m., as missiles apparently targeted areas close to Hezbollah's headquarters in Dahieh, a neighborhood to the south of the capital that has been partly flattened by air strikes in previous weeks.

It was the first air raid against the Lebanese capital's suburb in almost a week.

Lebanese television said the attacks targeted several buildings in a Hezbollah compound of Dahieh's al-Ruweis neighborhood. The compound, which includes a center for religious teaching, has been attacked in earlier raids and sustained sizeable damage.

The air strikes came as Israel Defense Forces is planning a new defensive line in southern Lebanon that will be six to eight kilometers north of the Israeli border.

The area that the IDF has brought under its control is comparable to the security zone it held until the pullout from Lebanon in May 2000.

IDF soldiers engaged in fierce gunbattles in south Lebanon on Wednesday evening, and killed at least seven Hezbollah gunmen, the IDF said.

Sergent Adi Cohen, 18, from Hadera was killed and two were seriously wounded in the fighting which began before dawn Wednesday. Twelve others were lightly hurt.

Sgt. Cohen will be buried at the military section in Hadera cemetery.

Most of the fighting, conducted by Golani Brigade infantry troops, took place near the village of Mahabib, north of the Israeli community of Manara, and in the village of Ayta a-Shab.

Two Armored Corps soldiers were lightly hurt as the IDF made slow progress and took positions in the village of Ataybeh.

Paratroopers exchanged fire with Hezbollah guerillas in the village of Ayta a-Shab. The IDF reports killing seven Hezbollah men, and wounding 10 others.

Earlier Wednesday, IDF reserve troops killed four Hezbollah fighters in clashes as they advanced in southern Lebanon.

The brigade of reservists has been advancing since Wednesday morning, and has taken up positions within the local villages. As they advanced, the soldiers seized ammunition and other Hezbollah materiel.

IDF sources said several Lebanese civilians suspected of aiding Israel were executed on Wednesday by the Hezbollah near the southern Lebanese village of Bint Jbail.

The Israel Air Force dropped leaflets Wednesday morning in 10 villages in south Lebanon, up to 20km north of the border, urging residents to leave their homes immediately if they did not wish to endanger their lives.

In an attack on the Lebanese army, Israeli jets fired at least one missile on a base in the village of Sarba, in the Iqlim al Tuffah province, a highland region where Hezbollah is also believed to have offices and bases. One soldier was killed, bringing to 26 the number of Lebanese soldiers killed since July 12. It was not clear what prompted the air strike on the army base.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday that Israel's offensive in Lebanon had "entirely destroyed" the infrastructure of Hizbollah, citing the reduced number of rockets hitting Israel.

"I think Hizbollah has been disarmed by the military operation of Israel to a large degree," he said.

Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said Wednesday that Israel is considering the resumption of its air strikes deep inside Lebanon, including in Beirut.

Halutz said that such a move would require approval from the government.

"We will need to evaluate the air strikes in the depth of Lebanon, especially in Beirut," he said. "I assume, the matter will come up for authorization in the next day or two."

Two IDF soldiers were wounded Wednesday when a Hezbollah rocket landed on the Lebanese side of the border.

A sixth ground forces brigade entered Lebanon early Wednesday, joining the other five operating along the border between the town of Metula and the community of Zarit.

IAF warplanes raided a Lebanon army base in the south Lebanon village of Sarba on Wednesday morning. The jets fired at least one missile on the base in a hilly region where Hezbollah is also believed to have offices and bases. Three soldiers were killed instantly, said a Lebanese official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give official statements.

Air strikes also targeted a bridge, an overpass and a road in the northern province of Akkar, officials said.

Near the southern market town of Nabatiyeh, warplanes staged several air raids early Wednesday, Lebanese security officials said. No casualties were reported.

Three IDF soldiers killed Tuesday
Three IDF soldiers were killed in battles with Hezbollah fighters in Ayta a-Shab on Tuesday. Twenty-five soldiers were also lightly wounded.

Lieutenant Ilan Gabay, 21, from Kiryat Tivon, Staff Sergeant Yehonatan Einhorn, 22, from Moshav Gizmo, and Michael Levine, 21, from Jerusalem were named as the three soldiers killed in the battle.

IDF paratroopers have been operating in Ayta a-Shab since Monday. The IDF said Tuesday that at least 10 Hezbollah guerillas were killed in the clashes.

During the morning hours, paratroopers took positions in a number of houses and prepared to search the village. Around 11 A.M., Hezbollah men opened fire on with anti-tank weapons on two houses in which the paratroopers were situated. One soldier was killed in the first house and an officer and soldier were killed in a second house.

The other soldiers were lightly wounded by the anti-tank fire and in a series of incidents that occurred afterward.

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An IDF soldier was also lightly hurt in Maroun Ras in southern Lebanon and was evacuated to hospital in Safed.

During the evening hours, five soldiers were lightly wounded by Hezbollah mortar fire on the northern border.

A total of five units - thousands of soldiers - are currently deployed in Lebanon. The forces are active from the Metula region to the area of Zarit, reaching some three to six kilometers inside Lebanese territory. As yet, no reserve soldiers have entered Lebanon, although their deployment is being considered.

The object of the operations was to complete the destruction of Hezbollah border strongpoints by Thursday. The IDF troops are also seeking Hezbollah weaponry dumps.

Soldiers will also move into villages used as Hezbollah bases, in operations similar to the one last week in Bint Jbail.

On Tuesday morning, troops took over a Hezbollah command center in the town of Taibeh and were operating in the area of the villages of al-Adaisa and Rab a-Talatin, west of Metula. The IDF said that a large number of Katyushas have been fired from these villages in the past few weeks. Near Taibeh, troops were operating not far from the Litani River.

Hezbollah said on its Al-Manar television station Tuesday that its fighters continued to "confront" IDF ground troops in Kfar Kila, Adaisse, and Taibeh, near the Christian town of Marjayoun. The guerrilla group released a statement saying four of its fighters died in the battles.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Israel is "winning the battle" in its 21-day offensive against Hezbollah guerillas in southern Lebanon.

The prime minister said, however, that the diplomatic process to create conditions for a cease-fire was underway.

Five IDF soldiers hurt by mortar attack on northern border
Hezbollah gunners fired five rockets and a number of mortar shells at the western Galilee between Rosh Hanikra and Ma'alot on Tuesday.

Five Israel Defense Forces soldiers, including reservists, were lightly to moderately wounded in a mortar attack on the border Tuesday evening. Other mortar shells landed in open areas and did not cause damage or casualties.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Tuesday advised Israelis not to travel to the north, despite the relative lull in rocket attacks over the past 24 hours, saying Israel is experiencing a false calm.

"The other side also knows that the sands of time are running out for military activity in Lebanon, and it's possible that it will use the ammunition it has left in order to hit the Israeli home front," he said.

"We have already paid a heavy price in blood and I don't want more people to be hurt."

The Israel Defense Forces has destroyed an estimated two-thirds of Hezbollah's long-range missile capabilities, a senior government official said Monday.

The Iranian-supplied Zelzal-2 missiles have a range of 200 km (125 miles) and are believed to be capable of carrying biological or chemical warheads.

"We know how many of them we destroyed and we know how many they shot," the official said.

"But one-third [left undestroyed] is a lot. That can cause a lot of damage if they are launched," the official added.

The official said that according to estimates, Hezbollah retains 9,000-10,000 122-mm diameter Katyusha rockets and hundreds of rocket launchers.

Most of the rockets launched at northern Israel in recent weeks were Katyushas.

Hezbollah still has the ability to launch 302-mm diameter rockets like those which landed in Afula, and which can reach even further into Israel.

Since Israel Air Force planes bombed the launch site used to fire rockets at Afula, no rockets of the larger type have been launched.

Still, Hezbollah retains rockets and launchers of a similar type, and the groups which fire them retains fighting capability. These rockets, which Hezbollah calls "Khaiber 1" have a range of 90-115 km.

Government sources say Hezbollah still has half of its original inventory of 220-km rockets. Still, they believe Syria to be actively supplying the group.

IDF carving out south Lebanon buffer zone to extend 6-8 kilometers north of border

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Muslim powers stage Mideast summit
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST    Aug. 3, 2006

The Muslim world's biggest bloc held an emergency summit Thursday to muster support for a swift cease-fire, peacekeeping missions and coordinated humanitarian relief in Lebanese and Palestinian territories.

Malaysia, which chairs the 56-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, rallied presidents, prime ministers and policy-makers of 17 key Muslim countries - including Iran, Indonesia, Pakistan and Turkey - to articulate their anguish over Israel's warfare in the Middle East.

The conflict "carries the danger of a spillover that will have disastrous consequences," Bangladesh's Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said in a prepared speech at the one-day talks.

"This will surely add to radicalization in the Muslim world, (which) in turn will increase difficulties for those of us on the side of moderation," she said.

The leaders were likely to demand an immediate, unconditional cease-fire between Israel and the Hizbullah, as well as a multinational force to stabilize the Israeli-Lebanon border under the United Nations and properly coordinated humanitarian aid to Lebanon and Palestinian sites, Malaysian officials have said.

The summit comprising member governments of the OIC's executive committee and primary stakeholders also was expected to consider peacekeeping troop commitments from Muslim countries and call for a UN sponsored conference to spur the reconstruction of Lebanon's economy and infrastructure.

Lebanese Foreign Affairs Minister Fawzi Salloukh expressed hopes that "the voice of the Muslim world should be heard solemnly ... in solidarity with the Lebanese people."

Israel "will not be victorious," Salloukh told Malaysia's national news agency, Bernama. "They have destroyed our infrastructure, bridges, airports and seaports, but they cannot destroy our spirit."

Top figures assembled included President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, which is allegedly the principal arms sponsor for Hizbullah.

Also present were President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation, and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan, the only known Muslim nuclear power, and leaders of Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brunei and Turkey.

Foreign ministers, royalty members and senior officials represented Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Senegal, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, as well as the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri said Israel's actions took the world "back to the laws of the jungle."

"It's a massacre," Kasuri said. "I wouldn't even call it a war, it's so one-sided."

About 100 Malaysian Muslim activists demonstrated outside the summit venue as the leaders arrived, chanting anti-Israeli slogans and holding banners that read, "Israelis are real terrorists" and "Don't allow Muslims to be slaughtered."

Muslim powers stage Mideast summit

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U.N. Talks Focus on Terms of Cease-Fire
Lebanon Sees No Solution to the Conflict Without a Role for Syria and Iran

By Colum Lynch and Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, August 3, 2006; Page A22

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 2 -- Lebanon's acting foreign minister, Tarek Mitri, said Wednesday he doubts that his government would agree to invite a European-led intervention force into southern Lebanon, citing fierce opposition from Hezbollah and its key foreign backers, Syria and Iran.

Mitri said Hezbollah's political standing in Lebanon has been greatly enhanced during its three-week battle with Israel, and that its views on the size and mandate of an international force will have to be taken into account. He also said that "no solution" to the current violence in Lebanon can be found without the participation of Syria and Iran in the search for a political settlement.

"Hezbollah's resisting so forcefully to Israel has raised their popularity," Mitri said in an interview in New York, where he lobbied the United States and other countries to support an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon. "No one has exact information on what impact it has had on their military strength. But I can assure you Hezbollah has gained more popular support because of what Israel did than it had before the war. The Lebanese are united in opposition to this onslaught."

While U.S. and French officials reported progress in discussions on a U.N. resolution, diplomats said some key differences remained, including whether to call for an immediate end to the hostilities, as the French prefer, or only an end to offensive military operations, which the U.S. side advocates to allow Israel to defend itself. British diplomats appear to lean more toward the French phrasing.

Under the emerging approach favored by the Americans, a full cease-fire might not take place until a second resolution is approved by the Security Council. "The idea is you stop the fighting first, put in place the political principle and then you would go to a second resolution with a complete cease-fire and authorize . . . force," one senior administration official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Diplomats said the French and United States largely agree on a set of principles, outlined in the resolution, that would attempt to reach a lasting solution, including clearing the area between Israel's border and the Litani River of all armed personnel and weapons other than the Lebanese military and a U.N.-mandated force.

Diplomats expect that the second resolution would authorize the deployment of a U.N.-mandated international force, but the French and Americans have not agreed on the precise language. Both sides agree U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan should try to present a plan within 30 days to delineate the international borders of Lebanon, including the disputed Shebaa Farms area.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said earlier this week that she anticipated reaching an agreement this week, but diplomats said Wednesday it was unlikely that would occur until next week. Rice plans to consult with President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Tex., over the weekend.

France had advocated a plan for an immediate halt to the fighting and a political agreement before an international force is deployed. The United States has taken the position that a cease-fire will succeed only if it is part of a broader political settlement that would help the Lebanese government extend its authority through southern areas now controlled by Hezbollah.

Another senior U.S. official, echoing others, said be believes the two sides are close to an agreement that would "bridge" their differences. "I think that we and the French agree on that framework," the official said. "There's always issues of timing and sequence, and that's what a lot of these things come down to."

But in another sign of Hezbollah's growing political clout, U.N. Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown contested characterizations of the Lebanese militia as a terrorist organization in the mold of al-Qaeda and challenged the U.S. diplomatic approach to the crisis. In remarks published Wednesday, he told the Financial Times: "It's not helpful to couch this war in the language of international terrorism."

He said that while Hezbollah "employs terrorist tactics," it is "an organization whose roots historically are completely separate and different from al-Qaeda."

Malloch Brown also highlighted a need to include Syria and Iran in any diplomatic settlement to the crisis and appealed to the United States and Britain to pursue a more discreet diplomatic strategy. France, Spain and other foreign powers have been meeting with Syrian and Iranian officials this week to secure their support for a multinational force that would initially focus on humanitarian relief and ensure the return of displaced Lebanese civilians to their homes.

Malloch Brown's remarks were directed at President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who have angered France by publicly taking the lead in promoting the need for an international force in southern Lebanon while declining to participate.

"What is troubling to me is the U.S. and U.K. now carry with them a particular set of baggage in the Middle East," Malloch Brown said. "The challenge for them is to recognize that ultimately they have to allow others to share the lead in this effort diplomatically."

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called Malloch Brown's comments "misguided and misplaced" and cited a "troubling pattern" by the senior U.N. official of "making it his business to criticize member states."

Mitri voiced frustration with the Bush administration's diplomatic strategy, criticizing what he characterized as an American belief that the intervention of a robust multinational force "will fix it all." Mitri said, "But when you get into the details of what that means, it means securing the border of Israel and putting everything else in peril."

His remarks reflected mounting concern among Lebanese officials and some U.N. diplomats that opposition by Hezbollah and its allies could spoil a deal that challenges its power in southern Lebanon. "It's no secret that Iran and Syria exercise indeed undeniable influence over Hezbollah," he said.

Mitri said that the Lebanese government, which includes two Hezbollah ministers, has endorsed a proposal by Lebanon's prime minister, Fouad Siniora, to permit the enlargement of the 2,000-member U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

He said the U.N. force would facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance, help displaced civilians return to their homes, and aid the Lebanese army in exerting control over southern Lebanon. He said any decision to disarm Hezbollah would be achieved through negotiations within the Lebanese government, not through the use of force.

The proposal to expand the U.N. role is opposed by Israel, which has faulted the U.N. force for failing to restrain Hezbollah's attacks against Israel for more than two decades. The head of the U.N. peacekeeping department, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, told the French newspaper Le Monde that in the best case "it will take months" to send a large peacekeeping mission.

U.N. Talks Focus on Terms of Cease-Fire

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Olmert: 15,000 int'l troops needed
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST    Aug. 3, 2006

The international force Israel is seeking in southern Lebanon needs to be comprised of some 15,000 troops, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told British newspapers on Wednesday.

"It has to be made up of armies, not of retirees, of real soldiers, not of pensioners who have come to spend leisurely months in south Lebanon, but, rather, an army with combat units that is prepared to implement the UN resolution. I think it has to have about 15,000 soldiers. I think that's more or less what the international community understands," Olmert told the Times and the Telegraph.

When asked how much time is left, Olmert replied, "I don't think it will take weeks. I think that a resolution will be made sometime next week by the UN Security Council and then it depends on the rapidity of deployment of the international forces into the south of Lebanon. Obviously, as I said, we will not pull out and we will not stop shooting until there is an international force that will effectively control the area."

"I think Hizbullah has been disarmed by the military operation of Israel to a large degree," he said. "The infrastructure of the group has been entirely destroyed. More than 700 of its command positions were entirely wiped out by the Israeli army."

Olmert stressed that "Israel will never, ever allow anyone any more to attack Israel without response." Asked whether the offensive is going to crush Hizbullah, the prime minister said, "I have never talked in those terms. I am not a Nasrallah. I am not talking in this arrogant and pompous manner."

"I think already there has been a lot of damage inflicted on them and I think they feel it. By the way, if Nasrallah is so courageous why doesn't he resurface? Why is he afraid even to feel the light of the sun. No one knows where he is. I am in my office and I have been to the northern part of Israel many times in the last few weeks and I am not hiding. Where exactly is Nasrallah, this big mouth? It shows how cowardly he is and how afraid he is to even surface."

Olmert described the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian leader, as "reckless" and "immature", adding: "I don't see that Syria is ready or is even prepared to avail itself to any act of moderation."

Olmert: 15,000 int'l troops needed

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 Evidence Mounts that Kana "Massacre" Was a Fake
15:02 Aug 03, '06 / 9 Av 5766
by Hillel Fendel

      The world awoke this Sunday to the news that an Israeli airstrike had killed 57 Lebanese civilians, leading Israel to stop airstrikes for 2 days - but evidence shows the "massacre" was just a fraud.


The supposed massacre caused a major turnabout in world diplomacy. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suddenly canceled her plans to fly to Beirut, saying "my work towards a ceasefire is really here [in Jerusalem] today." The implication was clearly that the onus was now upon Israel. French President Jacques Chirac condemned Israel's "unjustified action which demonstrates more than ever the need for an immediate ceasefire," Jordan's King Abdullah called it an "ugly crime," and other world leaders echoed these sentiments.

Though Israel emphasized that Hizbullah was to blame for waging its rocket war against Israel from within a civilian population, Foreign Ministry officials repeated their "deep regret at the loss of innocent life in the campaign against Hizbullah," and were forced to promise a "thorough and comprehensive examination."

Apparently, however, the incident was all one big fraud, staged by Arab elements for the world media in order to lead precisely to the situation described above.

The central piece of evidence leading to this conclusion is the fact, mentioned by IDF officials from the very beginning, that the building collapsed a full seven hours after the Israel Air Force bombing. Why, then, would the residents inside not have been evacuated in the meantime? As Brig.-Gen. Amir Eshel of the Israeli Air Force told reporters Sunday night, “It is difficult for me to believe that they waited eight hours to evacuate it.” Without additional evidence, Eshel merely left open the possibility that Hizbullah terrorists, or explosives they left behind, caused the explosion.

"Indeed," writes Robert Spencer for FrontPageMagazine, "it strains credulity that not only did these Lebanese civilians remain in a house that had been bombed for eight hours, but peacefully went to sleep in it after the bombing – since the victims were all apparently sleeping, despite continuing Israeli air bombardment in the area, when the building collapsed."

Gen. Eshel also said that the building was used by Hizbullah to store explosives. This was supported by a letter by Dr. Mounir Herzallah, a southern Lebanese Shiite, who wrote that Hizbullah terrorists came to his town, dug a munitions depot and then built a school and a residence directly over it.

In addition, as Reuven Koret writes for IsraelInsider, the bombing of the area occurred in three waves. The first bombs, according to CNN correspondent Brent Sadler, did not hit the building in question, but rather landed "20 or 30 meters" away. The second strike hit targets further away, and the third strike, around 7:30 in the morning, landed over 400 meters away. The first reports of a collapsed building arrived a half-hour later.

Another CNN correspondent, Ben Wedeman, noted that there was a larger crater next to the building. He observed that the roof of the building was intact and that the building appeared not to have collapsed as a result of the Israeli strike.

Thus, the building was used to store explosives, was apparently not destroyed by the bombing, and sheltered dozens of women and children throughout a night of bombing. The identity of the victims was also not clear, except that they were not the original occupants of the building; a National Public Radio correspondent reported that they had left. "The victims were non-residents who chose to shelter in the building that night," Koret writes, and who were "'too poor' to leave the town, one resident told CNN's Wedeman. Who were these people?"

Hear Koret speak about the Hizbullah manipulation on IsraelNationalRadio.com.

As an aside, the hospital in Tyre, Lebanon, and Human Rights Watch both reported today that 28 people were killed in the Kafr Kana bombing, and not twice that number, as originally reported.

Other facts brought by Koret and Spencer:

* Sometime after dawn a call went out to journalists and rescue workers to come to the scene. Though Hizbullah has been claiming that civilians could not freely flee the scene due to Israeli destruction of bridges and roads, the journalists and rescue teams from nearby Tyre had no problem getting there.

* Lebanese rescue teams did not start evacuating the building until after the camera crews came. The absence of a real rescue effort was explained by saying that equipment was lacking. There were no scenes of live or injured people being extracted.

* There was little blood, CNN's Wedeman noted, concluding that the victims appeared to have died while they were sleeping - despite the thunderous Israeli air attacks. Rescue workers equipped with cameras were removing the bodies from one opening in the collapsed structure, and journalists were not allowed near it.

* Rescue workers carrying the victims on stretchers occasionally flipped up the blankets so that cameras could show the faces and bodies of the dead. But, Koret noted, the ashen-gray faces of the victims gave cause to think that the bodies looked like they had been dead for days.

* Photos of the rescue operation transmitted all over the world are "extremely suspicious," Spencer writes, citing work by EU Referendum showing numerous anomalies in the photos. "Most notably," he writes, "the dating of the various photos suggests that the same bodies were paraded before reporters on different occasions, each time as if they had just been pulled from the rubble. [In addition], some workers are wearing different gear in different photos, yet clearly carrying the same corpse."

* The Christian Lebanese (French-language) website LIBANOSCOPIE has charged that Hizbullah staged the entire incident in order to stimulate calls for a ceasefire, thereby staving off its destruction by Israel and Lebanese plans to rid themselves of this terrorist plague.

Spencer concludes, "Americans and Westerners are not used to dealing with carefully orchestrated and large-scale deception of this kind. It is time that it be recognized as a weapon of warfare, and an extremely potent one at that."

Evidence Mounts that Kana "Massacre" Was a Fake

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 Hizbollah rockets rain on Israel: Commando assault deep in Lebanon
Islamabad, Aug 3, IRNA

Pakistan-Lebanon
Lebanese Hizbollah fired more rockets into Israel on Wednesday than on any previous day of the 22-day-old war, killing an Israeli and wounding 123, after helicopter-borne commandos launched Israel's deepest raid into Lebanon during which they claimed to have seized five guerrillas.

According to the Pakistani daily Dawn on Thursday, air strikes in support of the helicopter raid in the Hizbollah stronghold of Baalbek, north-eastern Lebanon, killed 19 people, including four children.

Israeli sources said around 10,000 soldiers were now battling Hizbollah in southern Lebanon.

The United Nations force in the area reported heavy exchanges of fire, with bombings in some areas and intensive shelling across the south.

Israel said its troops had seized five Hizbollah militants in the night raid on Baalbek, which is 95kms northeast of Beirut.

Hizbollah denied those taken belonged to the group.

Security sources said two Hizbollah fighters were also killed.

It was the first helicopter-borne assault deep inside Lebanon in the conflict that flared after Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

Thirteen civilians were killed when Israeli warplanes hit Jammaliyeh, a village near Baalbek, and six died in air strikes elsewhere.

A Lebanese army soldier was killed and two were wounded when their post in the south was bombed.

Battles raged between Hizbollah guerrillas and Israeli troops in south Lebanon, especially around the villages of Aita Shaab and Kfar Kila, where there was intense Israeli shelling and air strikes, the UN peacekeeping force said.

It said Israeli forces were present in four areas of the south and troops had landed by helicopter during the night near the south eastern border village of Meis al-Jabal.

Lebanese security sources said the Israelis had captured a hilltop at Al-Aweida overlooking several villages, including Kfar Kila and Adaiseh where fighting has raged this week.

In Beit-ul Moqaddas, Zionist prime minister Ehud Olmert said that Israel would fight on until an international force reaches south Lebanon even though no country has volunteered to send troops in the absence of a truce and a durable ceasefire agreement.

Olmert called for an international combat force to implement a UN resolution calling for Hizbollah to be disarmed, claiming Israel had already destroyed much of the group's military power.

Soon after he spoke, one of 206 rockets launched by Hizbollah landed just inside the West Bank after flying further than any fired at Israel in the past three weeks.

Israeli police and Hizbollah both said it was the highest number of rockets fired into Israel on one day since the war began.

The barrage killed one person near Nahariya.

Hizbollah rockets rain on Israel: Commando assault deep in Lebanon

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 Abdullah: OIC wants role in peace-building in war-hit Lebanon
Kuala Lumpur, Aug 3, IRNA

Malaysia-OIC-Badawi
The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) wants a role in peace-building in war-torn Lebanon after a ceasefire has been enforced, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Thursday.

Abdullah remarks came during his address to the Meeting of Friends of the Chairman of the 10th Islamic Conference, in Putrajaya, near the Malaysian capital.

The OIC chairman, Abdullah, said every member country of the biggest Islamic body must play a proactive role in the Israel-Lebanon conflict.

He added that the 57-member organization members should also be prepared to contribute troops for peacekeeping operations under the United Nations (UN) banner, reported the Malaysian new agency, Bernama.

"Malaysia is ready to do that," Badawi said to the the one-day conference, attended by several heads of state and government and foreign ministers of 18 member countries.

It is expected to issue a declaration condemning Israeli offensive in Lebanon and call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

The meeting is also expected to demand the inclusion of OIC member states should the United Nations decide to send a peacekeeping force to Lebanon, Bernama reported.

It is also expected to urge the UN and the international community to ensure a proper coordination of humanitarian assistance from OIC member states to Lebanon and Palestine.

Abdullah urged OIC members to help rebuild Lebanon and Palestine and address the humanitarian situation in the affected region.

He also urged every member state to counsel their national media to play a proactive role and make sure stories from all sides were told.

Currently, he said, the western media had only been reporting Israel's side of the story by broadcasting pictures of Israeli families being forced to leave their homes to seek shelter from Hizbollah attacks.

"The world must see with their own eyes the atrocities and inhumanity inflicted in Lebanon and Palestine where children constitute the majority of the dead, maimed and made homeless." Abdullah said Israel must be made to understand their actions would only breed greater hatred and contempt.

Abdullah: OIC wants role in peace-building in war-hit Lebanon

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 Ahmadinejad calls for isolation of Israel, its supporters
Kuala Lumpur, Aug 3, IRNA

Malaysia-OIC-Ahmadinejad
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on members of the biggest Islamic body here Thursday to react to Israel's atrocities in Lebanon and Palestine by isolating the Zionist regime and its supporters.

Addressing the emergency summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Ahmadinejad suggested all regional states including Muslim countries "to discontinue their overt and covert ties with the fake Zionist regime immediately and isolate US, Britain and other governments that supported Israel."

Ahmadinejad calls for isolation of Israel, its supporters

[Shammu]

 Rights group calls on Israel to end 'indiscriminate strikes'
New York, Aug 3, IRNA

Lebanon-Israel-Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday that some Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians constitute "war crimes".

It said in a 50-page report made available to reporters in United Nations headquarters in New York that it was "wrong" to blame the high death toll on Hezbollah fighters using civilians as shields.

"The pattern of attacks in more than 20 cases investigated, indicates that the failures cannot be dismissed as mere accidents and cannot be blamed on wrongful Hezbollah practices. In some cases, these attacks constitute war crimes," the New York-based rights group said in a statement.

"The pattern of attacks shows the Israeli military's disturbing disregard for the lives of Lebanese civilians," said HRW executive director Kenneth Roth.

"Our research shows that Israeli claim that Hezbollah fighters are hiding among civilians does not explain, let alone justify, Israel's indiscriminate warfare."
Based on interviews with victims and witnesses, visits to blast sites and information from hospitals, humanitarian groups, security forces and government agencies, the report paints a dire picture of the ongoing combats in Lebanon.

It said if found "numerous cases" where Israeli army launched artillery and air strikes "with limited or dubious military objectives but excessive civilian cost.

"In many cases, Israeli forces struck an area with no apparent military target. In some instances, Israeli forces appear to have 'deliberately' targeted civilians. "
The report said "in none of the cases of civilian deaths documented in the report is there evidence to suggest that Hezbollah was operating in or around the area during or prior to the attack." "Hezbollah fighters must not hide behind civilians - that's an absolute - but the image that Israel has promoted of such shielding as the cause of so high a civilian death toll is wrong," said Roth.

"At the very least," HRW said, "Israeli army have blurred the distinction between civilians and combatants, arguing that only people associated with Hezbollah remain in southern Lebanon, so all are legitimate targets of attack," the statement deplored.

"Under international law, however, only civilians directly participating in hostilities lose their immunity from attack." HRW also criticized Israeli attacks on convoys of Lebanese civilians fleeing combat zones, "many flying white flags." Israel's explanation that it was targeting Hezbollah fighters moving weapons in the convoys was also shot down by the rights group, which found that none of those attacks it investigated "resulted in Hezbollah casualties or the destruction of weapons."
The rights group urged Israel to "immediately end indiscriminate attacks and distinguish at all times between civilians and combatants."
It also called on the United states to "immediately suspend transfers of arms, ammunition, and other materiel credibly alleged to have been used in violation of international humanitarian law in Lebanon, until these violations cease."
In the meantime, HRW asked UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to "establish an International Commission of Inquiry to investigate reports of such violations, including possible war crimes," adding that the commission should examine both Israeli and Hezbollah attacks.

Rights group calls on Israel to end 'indiscriminate strikes'
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[rant]Talk about indiscriminate strikes, what about Hezbollah?? Firing indiscriminately into Israel!!  These rights groups need to get a life or MOVE to Iran.  Then lets see them scream about rights.  [/rant]

[Shammu]

Saudi Shias demonstrate: ‘Oh beloved Hezbollah, destroy Tel Aviv’

From Al-Jazeera:

Saudi Shias in pro-Hezbollah march

More than 2,000 Saudi Muslim Shias are reported to have joined a protest march in the country’s Eastern Province to denounce Israel’s military onslaught against Lebanon, the second rare protest this week.

Residents said up to 2,000 people took part in a march late on Tuesday in the eastern city of al-Qatif while hundreds more marched in the neighbouring town of al-Awamiya.

A Shia website carried photographs of the protesters, which included Saudi women and children, bearing pictures of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the group’s yellow flag. It said Lebanese expatriates also took part.

The website quoted the protesters as saying: "Not Sunnis, not Shias - it’s one Islamic unity. Oh beloved Hezbollah, destroy Tel Aviv!"

Public protests are banned in Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as the bastion of Sunni Islam, and the Saudi media have not reported the Shia demonstrations.

One resident said the marchers dispersed peacefully. The man said: "There was a light security deployment monitoring the marches."

Shias say a heavy police deployment prevented them from staging similar protests over a week ago, but dozens of Saudi Shias managed to hold protests on Sunday in the same areas.

Officials from the Saudi interior ministry declined to comment.

Saudi Shias demonstrate: ‘Oh beloved Hezbollah, destroy Tel Aviv’

[Shammu]

Rice hints at compromise on Mideast cease-fire
Secretary of state, Rumsfeld approve plan to train, outfit Lebanese army
The Associated Press

Updated: 5:47 p.m. MT Aug 3, 2006

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed support Thursday for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon as the first phase in ending the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, in the most concrete signal yet that the U.S. may be willing to compromise on the stalemate over how to end the fighting.

Moving closer to the position that France and other European countries are taking, Rice predicted that a U.N. Security Council resolution would be approved within days that would include a cease-fire and describe principles for a lasting peace.

On CNN’s “Larry King Live,” Rice said the U.S. is moving “towards being able to do this in phases that will permit first an end or a stoppage in the hostilities and based on the establishment on some very important principles for how we move forward,” according to a partial transcript of the show being aired Thursday night.

Almost since the outbreak of the fighting on July 12, the Bush administration has insisted that a cease-fire and steps aimed at creating a long-term peace be worked out simultaneously. These included establishing an international peacekeeping force and requiring the disarmament of the Hezbollah militant group.

“We need to end the hostilities in a way that points forward a direction for a sustainable peace,” Rice said.

‘ Certainly getting close’
The measure that France and the U.S. were working on would be the first of two resolutions aimed at achieving a permanent cease-fire and a long-term solution to the conflict.

“We’re certainly getting close,” she said. “We’re working with the French very closely. We’re working with others.”

Asked if U.S. policy had shifted, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to comment.

The war, now in its fourth week, is taking a growing toll of Lebanese and Israeli civilians, as well as Hezbollah and Israeli fighters. Amid the intensifying bloodshed, calls for an immediate cease-fire have intensified.

Rice said the resolution would be “based on the establishment of some very important principles for how we move forward.”

Rice, Rumsfeld OK plan for Lebanese army
Earlier Thursday, the State Department said the United States plans to help train and equip the Lebanese army so it can take control of all of the nation’s territory when warfare between Israel and Hezbollah eases.

The program was approved by Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the program was to take effect “once we have conditions on the ground permitting.”

McCormack provided no details on what equipment the United States might provide, the training that would be conducted, how many U.S. personnel would be involved, or possible costs.

Last week, the State Department notified Congress it wanted to add $10 million to the $1.5 million it provides annually to the Lebanese military.

Other nations will help out, too, McCormack said Thursday, as American diplomats consulted with French and other officials on a U.N. resolution for a cease-fire in Lebanon.

“We feel pretty optimistic that there’s going to be something” worked out on a resolution at the end of the week or early next week, White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

‘A significant upgrade’
Gen. John Abizaid, who heads the U.S. Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday the Lebanese armed force “needs a significant upgrade of equipment and training capability that I believe the Western nations, particularly the United States, can assist with.”

Before the war, command officials visited the Lebanese armed forces for an assessment, Abizaid said, and “we saw that they needed some significant spare parts” and other help.

On prospects for ending the fighting, he said “it will never work for Lebanon if, over time, Hezbollah has a greater military capacity than the Lebanese armed forces.”

Abizaid also said he believes Lebanon can extend government control over the entire country if it gets sufficient help, including an international peacekeeping force with a clear mandate, cooperation from the Lebanese government and “robust rules of engagement.”

Asked what he meant by “robust rules of engagement,” Abizaid said the commander of the peacekeeping force must be able to use “all available means at his forces’ disposal. And I think, in the case of southern Lebanon, it’ll have to have capabilities that are just not minor, small arms, but would include all arms.”

Diplomatic resolution in the works
Rice, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and Assistant Secretary David Welch are working with other governments, mostly by telephone, to put together a resolution “that stands up,” McCormack said.

This would include disarming Hezbollah, already ordered by the Security Council in 2004, and establishing an international peacekeeping force to move into southern Lebanon.

Nations that would contribute troops are expected to meet next week at the U.N. A meeting was postponed on Monday and again on Thursday.

Rice plans to spend the weekend at President Bush’s ranch in Texas and will be “working the phones from Crawford,” McCormack said.

“There’s still some diplomacy that needs to be done,” he said,

Cease-fire — now or later?
Bush has said he does not envision having American ground troops in a peacekeeping force, but the U.S. could contribute communications, logistics and other support.

The administration is striving for a resolution that would end the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, now in its fourth week, and also establish conditions for a lasting cease-fire. Many other countries favor an immediate cease-fire.

The military training would be designed to help the Lebanese armed forces “exercise control and sovereignty over all of Lebanese territory once we have an end to the fighting in such a way that is durable,” McCormack said.

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said Wednesday night the Americans and French were working on a two-stage process: An initial resolution would focus on a cease-fire and broad political principles for a settlement, and a second resolution would deal with an international peacekeeping force, border security and other long-term issues.

“Doing it in at least two resolutions, if not more, creates much more manageable, bite-sized ways of moving the diplomacy forward and allowing you to stop the fighting at the start, rather than waiting until the end of a torturous, complex, long diplomatic process,” Malloch Brown said on PBS’s “The Newshour with Jim Lehrer.”

Conditions for cease-fire
France circulated an initial resolution Saturday and the new draft again expresses “utmost concern at the continuing escalation of hostilities in Lebanon and in Israel.”

It also details conditions needed for a cease-fire, including:
# Strict respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Israel and Lebanon.
# Release of the two captured Israeli soldiers that sparked the fighting.
# Disarmament of all militias in Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army throughout southern Lebanon, which is now controlled by Hezbollah.
# Marking the international borders of Lebanon, including the disputed Chebaa farms area, which Israel seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
# Establishing a buffer zone from the border to Lebanon’s Litani River. Only Lebanese security forces and U.N.-mandated international forces would be allowed in the buffer zone.
# Settlement of “the issue of the Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel.”

Israeli leaders have said they want to continue fighting for 10 days to two weeks to seriously diminish Hezbollah’s military capability. Hezbollah’s chief spokesman said Thursday the militia will not agree to a cease-fire until all Israeli troops leave Lebanon.

Rice hints at compromise on Mideast cease-fire

[Shammu]

Hezbollah Leader Threatens Tel Aviv

Aug 03 2:37 PM US/Eastern
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By SAM F. GHATTAS
Associated Press Writer

BEIRUT, Lebanon

Hezbollah's leader offered Thursday to stop rocket attacks on northern Israel in return for an end to airstrikes throughout Lebanon.

However, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah also vowed to fire rockets into Tel Aviv if Israel strikes Beirut proper. Israeli warplanes have repeatedly bombarded Hezbollah strongholds in southern suburbs of Beirut.

"If you bomb our capital Beirut, we will bomb the capital of your usurping entity... We will bomb Tel Aviv," he said in a taped televised speech.

In issuing the threat, Nasrallah offered his first opening toward diminishing the three-week-old conflict, which has taken more than 500 Lebanese lives and killed more than 50 Israelis.

"Anytime you decide to stop your campaign against our cities, villages, civilians and infrastructure, we will not fire rockets on any Israeli settlement or city," he said.

In his statement, Nasrallah also said his fighters have inflicted "maximum casualties" on Israeli ground troops and that his guerrillas are "fighting until the last breath and last bullet."

Hezbollah Leader Threatens Tel Aviv

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4 soldiers killed in south Lebanon; Peretz to IDF: Plan to take territory up to Litani
By Ze'ev Schiff, Amos Harel and Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies

Defense Minister Amir Peretz told Israel Defense Forces officials on Thursday evening to begin preparing for the next stage of the military offensive in south Lebanon, which would extend the IDF's control to all Lebanese territory south of the Litani River.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, however, is said to be reluctant about expanding Israel's ground operation. While Peretz believes that the short-range rocket threat posed by Hezbollah can be neutralized by taking the area up to the Litani, Olmert feels that such a move would not be able to counter the longer-range missile threat posed by the Shi'ite organization.

The directive issued by Peretz was made in the wake of Hezbollah rocket attacks that killed eight people in northern Israel earlier Thursday, officials said.

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The move, which would include occupying the port city of Tyre, still requires the approval of the security cabinet, and could mean a further call-up of reservist soldiers.

Such an operation would extend Israel's control past the security zone it held until the withdrawal of its troops in May 2000. For now, the cabinet has approved the creation of a buffer zone some eight kilometers inside Lebanon which Olmert wants the military to control until an international peacekeeping force can be deployed in the area.

Earlier Thursday, IDF reserve soldiers operating in southwestern Lebanon killed four Hezbollah gunmen. They also destroyed two rocket launchers and a warehouse in which rockets were stored.

The IDF is planning a new defensive line in southern Lebanon that will be six to eight kilometers north of the Israeli border.

By 2 P.M., IDF troops had established positions overlooking 11 south Lebanese towns and villages up to six kilometers north of the Israeli border.

The area that the IDF is bringing under its control is effectively the same security zone it held until the pullout from Lebanon in May 2000.

Israel Air Force warplanes renewed strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in the battered outskirts of the Lebanese capital in the early hours of Thursday, as well as on Lebanon's northern border with Syria and in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Lebanese security officials said an IAF missile slammed into a house in the border village of Taibeh on Thursday morning, killing a family of three.

A missile crashed into the two-story house of Hani Abdo Marmar, killing him instantly along with his wife and child, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make statements to the media.

The three victims were buried under the rubble of their house, which was flattened, witnesses said.

More than an hour after the strike, the Lebanese Red Cross was unable to reach Taibeh to pull out the bodies, because of fierce fighting in the village, witnesses said.

Another house was hit in the south Lebanese village of Qleia. An Associated Press reporter saw two IAF missiles slam into the house, igniting a fire that sent a column of heavy black smoke up from the site. The frame of the house remained standing, but it was burning and gutted.

IDF artillery shells soared into nearby hills sporadically, sometimes as many as 15 a minute.

In the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh, fighter jets struck an ambulance working for a local Muslim group, Lebanese security officials said. They also hit the village of Zarariyeh, about 10 kilometers away, destroying roads and some deserted houses there.

Six missiles struck roads in the southern villages of Mlita and Ein Bouswar in the Iqlim al Tuffah province, a highland apple-growing region where Hezbollah is believed to have offices and bases, security officials said. IAF warplanes returned to the province hours later for additional raids.

Witnesses said at least four missiles hit south Beirut, a Shiite Muslim sector that has been repeatedly hit by Israel since fighting began three weeks ago. Lebanese television said the attacks targeted several buildings in a Hezbollah compound in the al-Ruweis neighborhood, which had been hit several times before.

An IDF soldier was killed in fierce gunfights in south Lebanon on Wednesday night, as ground forces continued battling with Hezbollah militants near the border. Fifteen IDF soldiers were lightly wounded in battles on Thursday morning and evacuated to hospital in Israel.

Witnesses said at least four explosions reverberated through Beirut as missiles hit Dahieh, a Shiite Muslim suburb that has been repeatedly shelled by Israel since fighting began three weeks ago.

Residents heard the impact of a large explosion about every five minutes starting at 2:30 A.M., as missiles apparently targeted areas close to Hezbollah's headquarters in Dahieh, a neighborhood to the south of the capital that has been partly flattened by air strikes in previous weeks.

It was the first air raid against the Lebanese capital's suburb in almost a week.

Lebanese television said the attacks targeted several buildings in a Hezbollah compound of Dahieh's al-Ruweis neighborhood. The compound, which includes a center for religious teaching, has been attacked in earlier raids and sustained sizeable damage.

Sergeant Adi Cohen, 18, from Hadera was killed and two other soldiers were seriously wounded in the fighting Wednesday. Cohen will be buried at the military section in Hadera cemetery at 5 P.M. Thursday.

Lebanon: More than 900 dead
Israel's three-week-old offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon has killed more than 900 people and wounded 3,000, with a third of the casualties children under 12, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Thursday.

Siniora, in a video message to a summit of leaders of the Muslim world, added that a quarter of the population, or one million people, had been displaced.

4 soldiers killed in south Lebanon; Peretz to IDF: Plan to take territory up to Litani