Biblical countries, in the news.

[Shammu]

3 Dead, 160 Injured in Rocket Barrage on Haifa 
22:23 Aug 06, '06 / 12 Av 5766
by Hana Levi Julian

      Three Israelis were killed and scores more wounded in a rocket barrage that slammed into Haifa a few minutes before 8:00 pm Sunday evening.


Victims continued to arrive at Haifa hospitals, hours after the attack in which 160 people were treated for physical injuries and psychological trauma. Four people were reported in serious but not life-threatening condition. Seven others suffered moderate wounds. Security officials said at least one of the rockets was a 220-mm Syrian-made missile.

The rocket barrage scored several direct hits, including two apartment buildings and a car. One building reportedly absorbed five rockets. An eyewitness interviewed by the Haaretz news service said those who were killed had not gone into bomb shelters or protected rooms when the air raid siren sounded.

Magen David Adom medics and firefighters rushed to the scene. Rescue personnel immediately began digging through the rubble of the two collapsed buildings, looking for other victims who might have been trapped below. Rescuers said they were concerned about a pervasive smell of gas, which they feared would explode into additional flames.

Most of the victims were reported with moderate to light injuries, including a small baby. They were evacuted to Rambam Hospital and other Haifa-area medical facilities, which was alerted to prepare for a large number of injured civilians.

According to an Army Radio reporter, there were three air raid sirens that sounded prior to the attack. "There was enough time for people to reach shelter,” said the reporter, who added that rescue workers were adamant that civilians should stay in protected rooms and bomb shelters until told by security personnel it is safe to leave.

Rescue workers also emphasized that civilians who leave the shelters in order to help dig through rubble or otherwise assist medics and Zaka workers are not welcome. "You can't help," said a rescue worker. "That's what we're here for. Stay safe."

3 Dead, 160 Injured in Rocket Barrage on Haifa

[Shammu]

Israeli war deaths go largely unnoticed

Hours after mother and two daughters are killed in Hizbullah rocket attack, media outlets around world fail to report deaths; meanwhile, British press continues anti-Israel tirade
Yaakov Lappin

Media bias? Hours after 60-year-old Fadia Jumaa and her two daughters, Samira, 31, and Sultana, 33, were killed by a Hizbullah rocket attack on their home in the Israeli-Bedouin village of Arab al-Aramshe, the international media has so far largely ignored their deaths.

Reuters was alone among non-Israeli media outlets to report the deaths, according to a Google news search, a number of hours after the first reports of the attack surfaced.

The lack of coverage of the Israeli civilian war casualties stands in marked contrast to the swift response by many sections of the international media to reported Lebanese casualties.

Meanwhile, the British press, which has produced some of the most venomous anti-Israel coverage during the war, has continued its tirade against Israel.

Inaccuracies

An article in the London-based Guardian, entitled "Militants merge with mainstream ," argues that Hizbullah has gained widespread, cross-religious support in the Arab world, and uses terms such as "the Qana massacre" to explain the apparent newfound unity.

The article argues that Sunnis and Shiites have come together in their backing of Hizbullah: "Whatever qualms Arabs once had about Hizbullah they have since been dissipated by Israel's attacks, the hundreds of deaths, the sight of up to a quarter of the Lebanese population fleeing their homes, and especially the bombing of UN observers and the massacre at Qana. The Shiite organisation and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, have become symbols of resistance even in such unlikely places as the Gulf countries where Sunnis and Shiites have been spotted waving the yellow-and-green flag."

The article was co-written by Issandr el-Amrani, a freelance journalist in Egypt who referred to Hizbullah as " Lebanese resistance fighters " on his personal blog and who describes reports of Hizbullah members operating out of civilian areas as "Israeli lies."

The article's authors failed, however, to note that an influential Saudi Sunni cleric, Sheikh Safar al-Hawali, has issued an anti-Hizbullah fatwa declaring that "Hizbullah is not the 'Party of God' but the 'Party of Satan.'"

An Associated Press report, which undermines the Guardian's claims, says that "Al-Hawali's words are an addition to a previous fatwa issued two weeks ago in Saudi Arabia by the leader of the Wahhabi movement, Sheikh Abdullah bin Jabrin, which declared that it is illegal to support, join, or even pray for Hizbullah."

BBC correspondent reports his own views

Meanwhile, an article has appeared on the BBC website in which a reporter for the British broadcaster, Hugh Sykes, relays a conversation he has with Lebanese residents.

The article is remarkable as it contains the views of a BBC journalist being given to Lebanese locals, rather than the other way around.

In the piece, written in first person narrative, Sykes tells people in Lebanon that there would be "no point" for Israel to strike Hizbullah targets in Lebanon: "'People keep asking me… ' Beirut - will they bomb Beirut again?' 'What would be the point?" I reply.'"

The BBC journalist also attempts to second guess where Israeli strikes hit.

"Four massive thumps one night, and six the next, as Israeli bombs or shells slammed into the ground a few kilometres away. Or into the children's homes," Sykes wrote.

Israeli war deaths go largely unnoticed

[Shammu]

The media war
, THE JERUSALEM POST    Aug. 6, 2006

In bygone wars, it was often said that the less divulged, the better. Israel's upper echelons - both civilian and military - often conduct themselves as if this were still the case. It isn't. Today's media war is often inseparable from the physical conflict. Neglecting the war of words and images inevitably weakens Israel's ability to pursue its cause on the ground and in the air.

Hizbullah and the Palestinians know the value of propaganda. They often fight their media battles by the dirtiest possible means. An expose in these pages on Thursday by former Sunday Telegraph correspondent Tom Gross revealed that Hizbullah officers supervise CNN reports, that a CBS reporter admitted Hizbullah overseers determine what's filmed, that repeated shots of several downed buildings lend Beirut the erroneous image of devastated WWII Dresden, that journalists are threatened, that Hizbullah holds their passports for ransom, that their analyses are skewed to curry favor, and so on.

Not only doesn't Israel engage in significant preemptive damage control, it often seems resigned to lose by default. The axiomatic official Israeli attitude often seems to be that "the world hates us."

It may indeed deny us a fair shake, but there's a difference between giving up a priori and trying to do something about it. To forfeit without a fight is reckless neglect. It can only impact on Israel's image, its standing abroad, and the pressure on international politicians to take unsympathetic positions, and thus directly on Israel's future well-being.

Israel's sometimes spectacularly inept PR is often hampered by red tape. Information on incoming Hizbullah rockets, for instance, isn't the IDF's brief but that of police spokesman Mickey Rosenberg. He operates alone, from one cell-phone, with no switchboard or staff.

There's no excusing the enormous gap in the quality of information available to local media stars and foreign correspondents out-of-the-loop. Instead of capitalizing on what Israel knows about Hizbullah's nefarious tactics, unsavory associations and perfidy, such information is frequently meted out only to an exclusive coterie of domestic newsmen. The background material offered outsiders is pathetic instead of sophisticated.

Throughout the current war there have been few official briefings specifically for foreign correspondents - not even to explain air-strikes and show relevant footage - and fewer still by IDF higher-ups, ministers or the prime minister (whose speeches are translated a day too late). The IDF intelligence chief maintains no relations with representatives of overseas media. Press conferences are focused on the local media, held in Hebrew.

Indeed, official Israeli PR seems to lack a sense of timing, or even to understand the notion of urgency. When an Israeli missile boat was hit off Beirut, the information reluctantly and belatedly hemmed and hawed was sketchy and minimal. It might have done Israel's case good to stress that the missile in question could go 16 kilometers off-shore and that a Cambodian boat was hit by an even longer-range missile, both supplied from Iran and based on North Korean technology. Prominent stress on the collusion of the Lebanese army in that incident would have helped explain why its radar installations were targeted in a subsequent IAF raid.

Supply routes from Syria to Lebanon are often hit in Israeli air force raids. The inevitable claim from Hizbullah and Lebanese sources is that food-ferrying trucks are being bombed. The IDF rarely comments. That's plainly no way to do business.

In the aftermath of the Kana tragedy, it took officialdom all day to produce footage of Katyusha rockets flying out of the village toward Israel. Asked why this had not been released earlier, a very senior Israeli politician opined that the overseas channels would not have broadcast it anyway.

Politicians who are so adept at interacting with the local press could surely, assuming they have the language skills, do likewise vis-a-vis the international media. A war-room of the sort set up to react to negatives in any election campaign could do wonders in this situation.

On the domestic front, our leadership, like that of all democratic countries, understands the importance of crafting messages strategically and getting them out in real time. It is inexcusable that such skills and seriousness are not applied in the international sphere, in the mistaken belief that they will inevitably have no impact.

As our soldiers fight on the battlefield, our civilian leadership owes it to them and to the nation to do its job of fighting the media war with no less vigor.

The media war

[Shammu]

Christian MPs meeting hits back at secularism
Patricia Karvelas
August 07, 2006
CHRISTIANITY has been under "consistent attack" and should be re-established as the dominant belief system in Australia.

This argument was mounted yesterday by more than a dozen politicians of all hues at a Christian conference in Canberra.

Former Nationals leader John Anderson, president of the Parliamentary Christian Fellowship, opened the 300-strong Christian forum at Parliament House last night, saying secularism had gone too far.

"I think we confuse in the public mind very much what we really are, and certainly our government is secular," he said. "It's actually a Christian concept that you should separate church and state -- it's one of the great differences between us and Muslim societies.

'What is a secular value system? I could argue the extreme case, that a secular value system gave us World WarII via Nazism."

Mr Anderson also delivered a statement from John Howard, who praised the contribution of Christianity and endorsed the forum.

"As I've said before, Judeo-Christian ethics, the progressive spirit of the enlightenment and the institutions and values of British political culture have been central to the development of Australian values," the Prime Minister said in his message.

Labor foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd, who will address the conference today, said he was fed up with the Liberals and Nationals claiming they were the "natural" parties of God.

"I've had a complete gutful of the conservatives' political proposition that family values is somehow their policy terrain. I can think of no single policy more hostile to family values than the industrial relations legislation," Mr Rudd said.

Mr Anderson said Australians were enjoying the "fruits" of a Christian value system but warned that "no fruit will survive without you tending the roots that provided the growth in the first place and without replanting".

"Where are we going to draw our values and beliefs from in the future, Big Brother? Millions of Australians watch (the reality television show) rather than go to church," he said.

"Many people want to deny the historical basis of our society. I think it's quite self-evident that our way of life ... is deeply rooted in Christianity.

"It doesn't seem to be offensive for other faiths to strongly put their perspectives and their views."

Tasmanian Liberal senator Guy Barnett, who also spoke last night, said the forum had been stimulated in part by the "consistent attacks and the denigration of Australia's Christian heritage".

It was "a response to the denigration at a public level of Christian values", Senator Barnett said.

Christian MPs meeting hits back at secularism

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Report: U.S., Japan Say Six of Seven North Korea Missile Tests Successful

Sunday , August 06, 2006

Click to learn more...

TOKYO  — An analysis by Japan and the U.S. has concluded that six of the seven missiles tested by North Korea last month fell within their targets, indicating the tests were successful, a major Japanese newspaper reported Sunday.

Only a newly developed long-range missile, Taepodong-2, is believed to have failed, the Yomiuri newspaper said, quoting unidentified Japanese officials.

Based on initial data from U.S. military early-warning satellites, Japan's Defense Agency had doubted the targeting accuracy of the missiles, but later discovered that the six medium-range missiles actually fell inside the sea zone North Korea had marked beforehand, the newspaper said.

North Korea's July 5 missile tests drew strong international condemnation, prompting the U.N. Security Council to adopt a statement denouncing the launches and banning countries from missile-related dealings with the North.

Although the Taepodong-2, believed to be capable of reaching parts of the United States, crashed shortly after being launched, the targeting accuracy of the other missiles was relatively high, the newspaper quoted the officials as saying.

A U.S. and Japanese analysis based on data collected by radar on Aegis-equipped warships and other intelligence sources found that the six missiles traveled 300-400 kilometers (185-250 miles) northeast from the Kitaeryong missile base on North Korea's southeastern coast and landed inside a designated zone within a radius of about 50 kilometers (30 miles), the Yomiuri said.

North Korea set a restricted area — a triangle about 160 kilometers (100 miles) on each side — in the Sea of Japan off the North Korean coast between July 4 and 11.

The Defense Agency's planned release in early August of its analysis of the missile tests is expected to be delayed because of a need for further discussions with the United States, the Yomiuri said.

Report: U.S., Japan Say Six of Seven North Korea Missile Tests Successful

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IDF plans attacks on key infrastructure in Lebanon
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

The Israel Defense Forces plan to ramp up their offensive in Lebanon in response to Sunday's rocket attacks on northern Israel, which killed three civilians in Haifa and 12 reservists near Kfar Giladi.

A senior General Staff officer told Haaretz that for the first time since the fighting began, Israel plans to attack strategic infrastructure targets and symbols of the Lebanese government.

Other than bombing the Beirut airport to prevent arms transfers to Hezbollah, Israel has hitherto not targeted Lebanon's infrastructure, insisting that it is only at war with Hezbollah, not with the Lebanese government or people.

However, the officer said, "we are now in a process of renewed escalation. We will continue hitting everything that moves in Hezbollah - but we will also hit strategic civilian infrastructure."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz will meet with senior defense officials this morning to discuss the continuation of the operation.

Altogether, Hezbollah fired more than 170 rockets at Israel on Sunday, including a barrage of at least 22 rockets on Haifa at about 8 P.M. that killed three people and wounded about 40.

The 12 reservists were killed, and another 12 wounded, by a single rocket that hit their muster point at around noon - one of about 35 fired at the Galilee panhandle Sunday.

Altogether, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said that it treated 138 wounded people on Sunday, including five with serious injuries and six with moderate wounds. Sources in the IDF General Staff said that until the chances of a UN-sponsored cease-fire become clearer, which is expected to happen in the coming days, Israel will continue to press its offensive. If Hezbollah has not ceased its fire by this weekend, they added, the IDF will recommend an additional significant expansion of the operation, including the conquest of most of Lebanon south of the Litani River, including the area around Tyre, and a significant increase in air strikes on infrastructure targets. "It could be that at the end of the story, Lebanon will be dark for a few years," said one.

The General Staff believes that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has recently stepped up his attacks because he expects the international community to impose a cease-fire soon. "He thinks that we're nearing the end, and therefore, he's taking risks, such as activating long-range rocket launchers, even though he knows that the air force will destroy almost every such launcher immediately after the launch," explained one officer.

IDF plans attacks on key infrastructure in Lebanon

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Egypt condemns Israel's arresting Palestinian parl't speaker
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Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on Sunday denounced Israel for its arresting of Aziz Dweik, Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), said a press statement issued by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Abut Gheit said in the statement that the arrest was a " flagrant breach of international norms and contradicted all agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel."

He called on the Israeli government to immediately release Dweik, also a member of the governing Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), as well as other lawmakers and Palestinian ministers detained earlier by Israeli forces.

The Egyptian top diplomat added that such actions, which coincided with the continuing Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, would nip in the bud all efforts aimed to end the current crisis in the Palestinian territories.

Earlier on Saturday night, an Israeli army force stormed into Dweik's house in the West Bank city of Ramallah and arrested him.

Israeli forces have twice surrounded the speaker's house but failed to arrest him since June 29 when Israeli troops rounded up dozens of Hamas officials, including eight cabinet ministers.

Dweik, a professor at al-Najjah University, was elected as the PLC lawmaker on Jan. 25, when his Hamas movement achieved an overwhelming victory in the parliamentary elections, in which Hamas won 74 seats out of 132 that the PLC consists of.

He was chosen later by Hamas movement leadership to be the speaker of the parliament and was sworn in in mid-March.

Egypt condemns Israel's arresting Palestinian parl't speaker

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Israel plans to target Hizbollah rocket stocks

By Adam Entous
Reuters
Monday, August 7, 2006; 12:56 AM

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel believes it will be able to reduce the threat posed by Hizbollah missiles by targeting resupply convoys and by getting an international force to keep rockets out of south Lebanon, Israeli government officials said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they expected the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution this week ending Israel's offensive operations but leaving the door open for continued air strikes on Hizbollah arms convoys and rocket launching crews.

Israel plans to target Hizbollah rocket stocks

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Russian Opposition Holds Forum Ahead of Summit

Created: 11.07.2006 11:34 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:20 MSK

MosNews

The Other Russia conference opens in Moscow Tuesday, ahead of the Group of Eight summit. The event, held by opposition parties and public groups, will focus on what the real Russia looks like, prominent political scientist Georgy Sataraov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

Several British and U.S. officials are expected to attend the gathering, TimesOnline reports. The British Ambassador to Russia will defy a warning from the Kremlin by addressing the conference of President Putin’s fiercest critics Tuesday, Times wrote.

Two senior U.S. officials and the Canadian Ambassador will also attend the meeting, in what many in Moscow see as a show of support for the Russian opposition in the face of an increasingly authoritarian Kremlin.

The two-day “Other Russia” conference in Moscow is being organized by Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion, and other prominent Kremlin critics to try to galvanize the opposition forces before the G8 summit. Among the participants are Mikhail Kasyanov, a former prime minister who has pledged to run for President in 2008, and Andrei Illarionov, a former Kremlin economic adviser who resigned in protest last year.

Igor Shuvalov, who succeeded Illarionov as the Kremlin’s G8 chief representative, said last month that it would be seen as an “unfriendly gesture” if foreign governments sent senior officials to the forum. But a British Embassy spokesman told The Times that Anthony Brenton, the British Ambassador to Russia, had decided to attend, with the support of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Western leaders have pledged to raise concerns at the G8 summit about the Kremlin’s moves to curb democracy by scrapping local elections and muffling the independent media. Dmitri Piskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said that Moscow would frown on foreign officials attending the Other Russia summit, which he described as “criticism for criticism’s sake”.

Russian Opposition Holds Forum Ahead of Summit

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Russia Remains Iran’s Ally in Spite of Supporting UN Resolution
Created: 06.08.2006 13:52 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:03 MSK, 20 hours 26 minutes ago

MosNews

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Iran’s top nuclear negotiator said Sunday the Islamic Republic will continue developing relations with Russia and China, despite their supporting a UN Security Council resolution.

The five permanent UN Security Council members, including Russia and China, voted July 31 in favor of a resolution to set August 31 as a deadline for Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment activities. If Iran fails to fulfill the UN’s demands, economic and diplomatic sanctions may be imposed on the Islamic Republic.

Ali Larijani said Iran had long-term relations with Russia and China and friends could not be judged on the basis of one action only.

Iran’s nuclear program has been a source of major controversy since the beginning of the year, as many countries suspect the Islamic Republic of pursuing a covert weapons program under the pretext of civilian research, despite its claims to the contrary.

Russia, which is building Iran’s first nuclear reactor, has previously offered diplomatic support to Iran in the international crisis over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

But Moscow’s position has shifted in recent days following Iran’s delay in responding to an international package of incentives to suspend uranium enrichment that was offered by the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany. Finally, earlier this week Russia urged Iran to heed the UN resolution.

Russia Remains Iran’s Ally in Spite of Supporting UN Resolution
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And thats how it should be, cause the Bible tells us so.

[Shammu]

Germany ready to help police Lebanon?
Web posted at: 8/7/2006 9:36:28
Source ::: AP

Berlin • It’s a prospect loaded with historical baggage: German troops joining a proposed international force in Lebanon to police the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he likes the idea. But Berlin, mindful of the Nazi past, seems in no hurry. For Germany, keeping the peace in Lebanon would represent a big opportunity to bury the Hitler demon and project itself as a force for world peace. But are Jews, with memories of the Holocaust, ready for German soldiers patrolling their border? What if German troops were forced into conflict with Israeli soldiers?

“We as Germans should approach this region with the greatest caution,” warns Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Olmert says he told Merkel that Israel had “absolutely no problem with German soldiers in southern Lebanon”.

“There is at the moment no nation that is behaving in a more friendly way toward Israel than Germany,” Olmert told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily. “If Germany can contribute to the security of the Israeli people, that would be a worthwhile task for your country. I would be very happy if Germany participated.” But Joseph Lapid, an Israeli Holocaust survivor and former justice minister, thinks differently.“I think that for us it would be difficult to face German soldiers, but even more so I think that for the Germans it would not be advisable to get involved in a border incident in which they could shoot an Israeli soldier. This would raise hell,” he said. “So I think that for both sides the best advice would be to leave it alone.”

However, what’s striking about the Israeli reaction is how little there has been. In the past, the very thought of German military uniforms anywhere near Israel would have caused uproar. Yet Israeli historian Tom Segev thinks German peacekeepers, contained within a European force, “won’t touch on Israeli nerves”. “Everyone knows that Germany is the most important country for Israel after the United States, both militarily and economically,” he said. Indeed, Germany has gone out of its way to show it is a friend of Israel.Berlin has avoided directly criticising Israel since fighting erupted, repeatedly underscoring the Jewish state’s right to exist and its right to self-defense. It has called for a cease-fire “as quickly as possible” rather than immediately. In that position, Germany appears to be tacitly backing the US and British position that Hezbollah must be weakened.

While many see that as part of Merkel’s efforts to warm relations with the White House that chilled under her predecessor — Gerhard Schroeder, a fierce critic of the Iraq war — the main factor in the German approach appears to be the loaded past. Berlin is not ruling out troops for Lebanon, but also has other reasons to be cautious: Its military is stretched by peacekeeping missions elsewhere, and opinion polls show a strong majority of Germans oppose committing troops to a Mideast force. Michel Friedman, a former deputy leader of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, has reservations about sending the German army, the Bundeswehr, to Lebanon. “One should not overestimate the capacity of the Bundeswehr, and one should avoid German soldiers coming into conflict with Israeli soldiers,” he said in a telephone interview. “In the Middle East, you never know what will happen.”

Olmert, however, told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung: “Why should German soldiers shoot at Israel? They would be part of the force protecting Israel”. One possible answer: If the force had the task of preventing Israeli ground retaliation for a provocation such as Hezbollah rocket fire. Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung suggested last month that if all sides were to ask it to contribute troops, Germany would have to oblige.

Germany ready to help police Lebanon?

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Indonesian militants prepare to aid Hezbollah

(West Kalimantan, Indonesia-AP) August 6, 2006 - Members of a radical Islamic group in Indonesia say they are preparing to join the fight with Hezbollah.

The militants have released a video depicting their group as they train for what they call a "holy war" against Israel.

Members of the group are seen wearing suicide vests and practicing shooting targets.

Some smash bricks with their bare hands, while others chop food with a large knife on top of other militants' stomachs.

Leaders of the organization say they are giving Israel four days to stop their military operations.

After the time limit, they say they will send their fighters to Lebanon.

The name of this militant group is not known, but US officials believe there are several Islamic groups operating in southern Indonesia, some with connections to al-Qaeda.

Indonesia is home to more than 200 million Muslims.

Indonesian militants prepare to aid Hezbollah
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To our guests, on the forum.  These events are quickly becoming world wide, are you ready for Jesus??

If not, and you want to come to Jesus. Just pray this prayer, with all your heart, not your mind.

Lord Jesus, I am a sinner not worthy of your Love. Lord Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross for me and I ask you to come into my heart as my Lord and Saviour. Lord Jesus, I ask forgiveness for my sins and ask to follow you as the Lord of my life. In the name of my Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray.
Amen.

[Shammu]

Peretz: If diplomacy fails Israel will operate everywhere in Lebanon

Defense Minister Amir Peretz told the Knesset's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee that if diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting in Lebanon fails the Israel Defense Forces will be given the green light to operate anywhere in Lebanon.

"We will occupy Katyusha launching pads in order to quell the fire," Peretz added.

If diplomacy fails Israel will operate everywhere in Lebanon

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One person, not 40, dead in Israel strike: Lebanon

2 hours, 51 minutes ago

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said on Monday that one person had been killed in an Israeli air strike on the southern border village of Houla, rather than 40 as earlier feared.

A resident said about 50 people had been found alive under the rubble.

"The massacre in Houla, it turned out that there was one person killed," Siniora told reporters. "They thought that the whole building smashed on the heads of about 40 people ... thank God they have been saved."

One person, not 40, dead in Israel strike: Lebanon

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Obstacles abound to U.N. Mideast force

By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 2 minutes ago

VIENNA, Austria - Across the globe, at least 15 nations are considering sending troops to an eventual U.N.-mandated international force in southern Lebanon — including Malaysia, Indonesia and Norway.

But scores of others — skittish about a potential Middle East quagmire or already stretched thin elsewhere, such as the United States and Britain — have ruled out sending soldiers.

And over the whole enterprise hangs a Catch-22: Israel refuses to leave until the force is in place, and nations won't go in until a cease-fire is in effect.

"We do not want foreign troops to commit suicide by entering Lebanon under the current situation," said Syed Hamid Albar, the foreign minister of Malaysia, which has 1,000 soldiers on standby.

That accounts for the wait-and-see approach adopted by many nations. Diplomats are preoccupied with pushing through a U.N. resolution aimed at ending nearly a month of fighting before they tackle the question of a multinational force.

The 15 countries willing in principle to deploy forces — provided they get a strong U.N. mandate with clear rules of engagement — are Australia, Brazil, Chile, France, Ghana, Indonesia, Italy, Lithuania, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Turkey. There is also Poland, which already has 200 soldiers serving as U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon and has said it's inclined to keep them there.

Three of the 15 have offered specifics of what they're ready to commit: Malaysia, which says its 1,000-strong contingent would be backed by armored vehicles; Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, which has offered about 800 men; and Norway, which has pledged nearly 100 marines and four missile torpedo boats.

Troop contributions could come from Italy, which last month promised a "substantial contribution"; Turkey, which has experience leading U.N. peacekeeping operations in
Afghanistan and Somalia; and France, which already has about 1,300 personnel and several frigates in the area.

"I don't foresee any more than 5,000 French in the zone," said Cmdr. Jerome Erulin, a French military spokesman, cautioning that it was too early to determine his nation's role. Five thousand "would be the high end of the range," he said.

Speculation on who might command a multinational force in southern Lebanon has centered on Turkey and France.

A daunting tangle of potential complications threatens to bedevil the international effort even before it gets under way.

Among the more striking examples is Germany. It has not ruled out contributing troops, but its leaders — mindful of the country's Nazi past — are anxious to avoid any scenario in which German soldiers could wind up in conflict with Israelis.

There are plenty of other thorny issues.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said his country would stop its offensive only after the deployment of a robust international force — "an army with combat units" ready and willing to rein in Hezbollah.

That raises the question of whether the Europeans and others are prepared for a campaign that could go beyond peacekeeping and firing weapons purely in self defense to the potentially bloody business of engaging and disarming Hezbollah militants. And with Hezbollah mixed among civilians, that involves a very high risk that the force would cause civilian casualties.

Some military analysts have raised the possibility that Hezbollah, if forced back by international troops, could lob its rockets over their heads and keep hitting targets in northern Israel. If Israel wanted to strike back by ground assault, it would presumably be up to the force to stop it.

The United States says it plans to help train and equip the Lebanese army, which many hope would ultimately take over the border area. Britain has hinted it may offer technical assistance.

But there are questions about whether the United States — busy training Iraqi security forces — has enough instructors to train Lebanese troops, and whether that training would be possible in Lebanon or best done in another country.

Cyprus has been mentioned as a possible staging point for international troops. But Turkey, which does not recognize the island's Greek-led government, would be restricted to using Cyprus' northern, ethnically Turkish part.

In much of the Muslim world, there is broad support for the idea of sending troops. Even Malaysia's largest opposition bloc, the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, contends the world's Muslims have a moral responsibility to help end the violence.

"The mission is good because it can prevent a broader Middle East conflict," said Cholil Munawir, a supporter of Indonesia's Islamic Community Forum, which bitterly opposes Israel's campaign in Lebanon.

But elsewhere, public resistance is building, just as it did before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. In Germany, polls suggest two in three people oppose committing troops.

"Nigerian soldiers should not be sent to a war that is none of our business," said Ahmed Mohammed, a politician in Nigeria, which has not yet specified how many troops it's prepared to send.

"We cannot continue to sacrifice the lives of our young men for the mistakes of others."

Obstacles abound to U.N. Mideast force