Biblical countries, in the news.

[Shammu]

Robertson, Olmert pray for victory
Etgar Lefkovits and AP, THE JERUSALEM POST    Aug. 9, 2006

Israel's war against Hizbullah in Lebanon is the free world's "struggle for freedom" against Islamic-Fascism, which will soon imperil the security of the same European countries that are now criticizing Israel's war in Lebanon, prominent American Evangelical Christian leader Pat Robertson said Wednesday.

"I am here to say I love Israel and that Christian
Evangelicals in America stand with Israel in its
struggle for freedom against Islamo-fascism, which is directed against Israel and all civilized nations of the world" Robertson said at a Jerusalem press conference during his 96-hour lightning solidarity trip.

He called Israel's four-week battle with the
Iranian-backed and Syrian-supported Shi'ite terror
group "the front line" for all free-loving people
around the world.

"For all of our sake, Israel cannot lose," he added.

The 76-year-old American Evangelical broadcaster, who visited bomb shelters in northern Israel and dodged Katyusha rockets before heading south to Jerusalem to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, predicted that European countries would soon face the same threat of Islamic Fundamentalism that Israel was now fighting,
adding that he was "dismayed" by the "growing amount of virulent anti-Semitism in Europe."

He heaped praise on the premier, who he prayed with after his security cabinet had just authorized broadening Israel's land offensive in Lebanon, as a "man of courage" and of "indomitable leadership" for his willingness to take on "one of the most serious challenges" Israel has ever faced.

Robertson said he joined hands Wednesday with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to pray for victory in Lebanon.

Olmert's 15-minute meeting with Robertson came on an intense day of political activity, and could be seen as implicit recognition of the importance of the Christian right in US politics.

During his brief remarks, Robertson cautioned that
while the majority of Americans clearly understand
that Israel has been attacked by terrorists in the
same way the US was attacked by terrorists, a
drawn-out war could see public opinion shifting away from Israel as a result of the press focus on Lebanese civilians casualties of the war.

His unplanned visit comes at a time of burgeoning ties between Israel and the predominantly pro-Israel Evangelical Christian community around the world.

Robertson's war-time solidarity visit - his 17th trip to Israel - was also seen by some as an attempt to smooth over any remaining ill-will for remarks he made last year in which he said that former Prime Minister's Ariel Sharon's stroke was "divine retribution" for having evacuated the Gaza Strip, comments which he later apologized for and retracted amidst fierce criticism.

Many Evangelical Christians saw the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as a retreat from a biblical prophecy of Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land, and similarily view any further Israeli pullout from the West Bank as an anathema.

Separately, Robertson also noted that US Senator's Joe Lieberman's loss in the Democratic primaries Tuesday was like "God's answer" to a Republican strategists' prayers to split the party.

Robertson, Olmert pray for victory

[Shammu]

Israel OKs expansion; 15 troops killed
AP - 1 hour, 38 minutes ago

JERUSALEM - Israel approved a massive new ground offensive into southern Lebanon in a gambit aimed at bringing Hezbollah to its knees before the international community imposes a cease-fire. Fifteen soldiers were killed Wednesday, the deadliest day for Israeli troops in the war. The plan to force Hezbollah guerrillas -- and their short-range rockets -- out of southern Lebanon and past the Litani River would escalate the fierce fighting there and, if successful, leave Israel in control of a security zone that it evacuated six years ago after a bloody 18-year occupation.

Israel OKs expansion; 15 troops killed

[Shammu]

Nasrallah warns Arab residents of Haifa to leave their homes

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday warned all Israeli Arabs to leave the port city of Haifa so his guerrilla organization could step up attacks without fear of shedding the blood of fellow Muslims.

"I have a special message to the Arabs of Haifa, to your martyrs and to your wounded. I call you to leave this city. I hope you do this. ... Please leave so we don't shed your blood, which is our blood."

In a televised speech, Nasrallah said Israeli attacks had not weakened Hezbollah's rocket capabilities, and warned that his fighters would turn south Lebanon into a "graveyard" for invading Israel Defense Forces troops.

"We will turn our precious southern land into a graveyard for the invading Zionists."

[Shammu]

Hizbollah vows Lebanon will be Israel's "graveyard"
09 Aug 2006 19:19:33 GMT
Source: Reuters

 By Lin Noueihed

BEIRUT, Aug 9 (Reuters) - A defiant Hizbollah chief vowed on Wednesday to turn south Lebanon into a "graveyard" for invading Israeli troops, hours after the Jewish state ordered an expanded ground offensive.

"You won't be able to stay in our land, and if you come in, we'll force you out," said Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a televised speech shown on Hizbollah's television station.

"We will turn our precious southern land into a graveyard for the invading Zionists."

Nasrallah said four weeks of Israeli bombardment had not weakened the guerrilla group's rocket capabilities and called on the Arab residents of Haifa to quit the Israeli city to avoid being hurt by its barrages.

Israel decided on Wednesday to expand its ground offensive in Lebanon, increasing pressure on major powers struggling to win agreement on a United Nations resolution to end the war.

Israeli troops thrust deeper into Lebanon and 11 Israeli soldiers were reported killed in fierce clashes with Hizbollah.

Nasrallah, whose group waged guerrilla attacks instrumental in ending Israel's 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, said that the United States was trying to impose Israeli demands on Lebanon through the draft resolution.

"The least you can say about this resolution is that it is unjust and oppressive and gives the Israelis more than they wanted and demanded," Nasrallah said.

"The response to the Lebanese consensus and seven-point plan was this draft ... to give the Israelis politically and through diplomatic pressure what they were unable to gain by fighting."

Lebanon has presented a seven-point plan that demands the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from south Lebanon, the deployment of U.N. and Lebanese forces in the south, the return of the displaced and the disarmament of Hizbollah.

Nasrallah said the Shi'ite Muslim group supported a unanimous decision by the Lebanese government, which includes a Hizbollah minister, to deploy 15,000 troops to the border if that aided Lebanon's calls for the resolution to be amended.

Hizbollah, which largely controls Lebanon's southern border with Israel, has long resisted international pressure on Lebanon to deploy the Lebanese army to the south instead.

"If everyone sees that deploying the army will help find a way out politically that would result in the halting of aggression ... this for us is a national and honourable way out," he said.

"We want an end to all the aggression but if there must be a showdown, then we welcome a showdown in the field."

Nasrallah said his group had so far destroyed 60 Israeli tanks and dozens of Israeli bulldozers and armoured vehicles.

Hizbollah vows Lebanon will be Israel's "graveyard"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think Nazzernut had better check history. Hitler and the arabs, couldn't do it and neither can Nuzzernut

[Shammu]

Mike Wallace: Ahmadinejad Not Crazy

Twenty-seven years after a chilling sit-down with Ayatollah Khomeini that was one of Mike Wallace's most memorable, the CBS newsman snagged an interview this week with current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran.

The 88-year-old Wallace had been pursuing the interview for so long that he had to be reminded by Ahmadinejad when he first asked for it.

A portion of Wallace's interview, conducted Tuesday at a crucial time in the Mideast with Israel fighting the Iran-backed Hezbollah, will be shown Thursday on the "CBS Evening News." A fuller report will air on Sunday's "60 Minutes."

In the interview, Ahmadinejad said of the Bush administration, "see how they talk down to my nation."

During the midst of the American hostage crisis in 1979, Wallace interviewed Iranian leader Khomeini, locking eyes with the cleric when he asked for a response to Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat calling Khomeini a lunatic.

Of Ahmadinejad, Wallace said, "He's an impressive fellow, this guy. He really is. He's obviously smart as hell."

Wallace said he was surprised to find that the Iranian president was still a college professor who taught a graduate-level course.

"You'll find him an interesting man," he said. "I expected more of a firebrand. I don't think he has the slightest doubt about how he feels ... about the American administration and the Zionist state. He comes across as more rational than I had expected."

Wallace said he and producers Bob Anderson and Casey Morgan had been seeking the interview for more than a year, since he sat next to Ahmadinejad at a United Nations breakfast and told the Iranian leader that he'd like to come to Iran to talk to him someday. Wallace admitted he had forgotten about that encounter until the Iranian president brought it up.

Summoned to Iran for the interview, Wallace and his team waited for nearly a week until he was brought in to speak to Ahmadinejad.

[Shammu]

Iranians among Hizbollah dead: Israel TV
Thursday Aug 10 08:28 AEST

Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard have been found among Hizbollah guerrillas slain by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, Israel's Channel 10 television reported, citing diplomatic sources.

It said the Iranians were identified by papers found on their bodies but gave no further details on how many were discovered or when.

Neither the Israeli military nor Hizbollah representatives in Beirut had immediate comment on the report.

Iran, like fellow Hizbollah patron Syria, insists its support for the Shi'ite guerrilla group is purely moral.

Israel says many of the rockets being fired against its civilian and military targets are Iranian made, and that Hizbollah fighters taking on its forces trained in Iran.

Washington also accuses Tehran of actively funding Hizbollah.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards are traditionally very close to fellow Shi'ite Muslims in Hizbollah and were deployed in south Lebanon in the 1980s.

[Shammu]

Iran, an important power in Middle East: Chirac

Thursday, August 10, 2006 - ©2005 IranMania.com
     Related Pictures
 
Archived Picture - French President Jacques Chirac said that Iran is an important power in the Middle East which should be consulted on resolving the Lebanon crisis.

LONDON, August 10 (IranMania) - French President Jacques Chirac said that Iran is an important power in the Middle East which should be consulted on resolving the Lebanon crisis.

Chirac warned that the Israel-Lebanon conflict was a threat to the stability of the entire Middle East, following crisis talks with several key ministers, AFP reported.

“Our efforts are focused on the humanitarian situation and the establishment of a ceasefire,” told a press conference in Toulon.

"Faced with this crisis, which threatens the stability of an entire region, France is fully mobilized... to secure a ceasefire and reach a durable settlement of this crisis," the French leader commented.

Following the talks in southeastern France, Chirac -- whose country is battling to win support for a UN ceasefire resolution -- warned that there could be no military solution to the four-week crisis.   

"Nothing will be solved by force. A political agreement is the key to reaching a solution," he said, describing the conflict as "a tragic succession of deaths, suffering and destruction... which each day brings new horrors."

Iran, an important power in Middle East: Chirac
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I bet he won't be saying that, after the snake bites Chirac.

[Shammu]

Sirens sound in Golan; residents to enter shelters
By JPOST.COM STAFF

Alert sirens sounded on the Golan Heights at approximately 5:10 a.m. Thursday.

The Home Front Command ordered residents to enter bomb shelters or protected rooms immediately.

Sirens sound in Golan; residents to enter shelters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lets not forget there a re landmines, along the Syrian border, and Israel. There is speculation, (Foxnews) syrians are removing those landmines.

[Shammu]

Syrian state TV blasts Israel for 'massacre' at Qaa

David Edwards
Published: Wednesday August 9, 2006

An August 4 Israeli air strike in the Christian city of Qaa, Lebanon left dozens dead or injured, according to Syrian state television. As the incident occured near the Syrian border, and several of those killed were of Syrian nationality, the nation's media has focused largely on the human toll of the tragedy.

In the following video clip from Syrian TV, bodies of the dead are collected in a make-shift morgue. The piece also includes reactions from the citizens of Qaa.

The report is highly critical of Israel. The Syrian Foreign Ministry has sent a letter to the United Nations claiming that Israel had "intentionally" bombed the civilians in Qaa. The report here opens by characterizing the incident as an "evil crime" committed by Israel.

The report also includes repeated claims that the video, which focuses largely on graphic images of human remains, has been edited to downplay the gore.

Video: Syrian state TV blasts Israel for 'massacre' at Qaa

[Shammu]

Deputy Head of Arab Lawyers Union Abd Al-Azim Al-Maghrabi Declares Support of Iran and Warns Arab Rulers to "Remember 1981" and the Sadat Assassination

Following are excerpts from a press conference with Abd Al-Azim Al-Maghrabi, deputy head of the Arab Lawyers Union, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on July 28, 2006:

Abd Al-Azim Al-Maghrabi; When Husni Mubarak, the ruler of Egypt, says that the Egyptian army will defend only Egyptian land, I say to him: "You have violated the constitution, you have lost your legitimacy, and according to the constitution, you are no longer the ruler of Egypt.

[...]

The camp of resistance is not only in Palestine, Lebanon, and Iraq. It is in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. Yes, we support Iran, we support Iran, we support Iran, we support Iran. We will not be shaken, and there will be no division among us. We are in the camp of resistance, wherever the resistance may be. We are all men of the resistance, regardless of our political or religious affiliation. We are all men of the resistance, who reject surrender and subordination, who protect the national and religious honor, who reject the Zionist presence on our Palestinian lands, and who call for the unity of our Arab and Islamic nation. We are all in the same camp, we are united and we will be victorious, Allah willing. As for those traitors, if they think they are [safe] on their thrones, they should remember what happened in 1981. Do they remember what happened in 1981? The Egyptian people will never forget its blood vengeance.

Deputy Head of Arab Lawyers Union Abd Al-Azim Al-Maghrabi Declares Support of Iran and Warns Arab Rulers to "Remember 1981" and the Sadat Assassination

[Shammu]

Egyptian Artists Protest the War in Lebanon, Sing about Slaughtering Israelis and Americans and Call upon Nasrallah to Attack Haifa and Tel Aviv

Following are excerpts from an Eygptian song of protest, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on August 4, 2006:

Singer: Resist, resist, resist, resist, oh Lebanon.

Resist, resist, resist, resist, oh Lebanon.

Resist, resist, resist, resist, oh Lebanon.

Resist, resist, resist, resist, oh Lebanon.

Resist, oh Lebanon.

Fill their eyes with shock and awe, slaughter them right, left, and center.

Fill their eyes with shock and awe, slaughter them right, left, and center -

Israel and the Americans.

Resist, resist, resist, resist, oh Lebanon.

Resist, resist, resist, resist, oh Lebanon.

Resist, resist, resist, resist, oh Lebanon.

Crowd: Resist, resist, resist, resist, oh Lebanon.

Singer: Attack Haifa and Tel Aviv, dear Nasrallah.

Crowd: Attack Haifa and Tel Aviv, dear Nasrallah.

Singer: Attack Haifa and Tel Aviv, dear Nasrallah.

Crowd: Attack Haifa and Tel Aviv, dear Nasrallah.

Singer: Resist, resist, resist, resist, oh Lebanon.

Resist, resist, resist, resist, oh Lebanon.

Resist, resist, resist, resist, oh Lebanon.

[...]

Singer: If the martyrs of Palestine are terrorists, if Hizbullah are terrorists,

if the martyrs of Palestine are terrorists, if Hizbullah are terrorists,

if any resistance is terrorism,

I scream at the top of my lungs, I scream at the top of my lungs:

I'm a terrorist. I'm a terrorist.

Singer, together with crowd: If the martyrs of Palestine are terrorists, if Hizbullah are terrorists,

if the martyrs of Palestine are terrorists, if Hizbullah are terrorists,

if any resistance is terrorism,

I scream at the top of my lungs, I scream at the top of my lungs:

I'm a terrorist. I'm a terrorist.

Egyptian Artists Protest the War in Lebanon, Sing about Slaughtering Israelis and Americans and Call upon Nasrallah to Attack Haifa and Tel Aviv

[Shammu]

Iran's rocket route to Israel
Tehran is playing a leading role in arming Hezbollah and testing Israel's response to rocket attacks.

August 10, 2006
TWELVE trucks crossed the Syrian border into Lebanon and rumbled south. When they were stopped at a checkpoint a few days later, the Lebanese Armed Forces found the trucks were brimming with ammunition and weapons, including Katyusha rockets that have been raining down on Israel since July 12.

What happened next, in this little-reported incident in late January, goes to the heart of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon. The convoy was waved on and travelled unhindered to its final destination: Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese army said the transportation and storage of ammunition belonged to the "resistance". Once inside Lebanon it was subject to a ministerial policy statement of the Lebanese Government, which considers the "resistance" to be legitimate.

"As the Government of Lebanon has confirmed, the Lebanese Armed Forces has thus not been authorised to prevent further movement of the ammunitions, which had been a common practice for more than 15 years," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a letter to the Security Council in April. "Hezbollah publicly confirmed that the arms were destined for the group."

It's this uninterrupted flow of weapons, mostly made in Iran, under the nose of the Lebanese Government, that has allowed Hezbollah to stockpile some 12,000 Katyusha rockets. Over the past 29 days of conflict, Hezbollah has fired more than 3000 rockets into Israel.

Syrian-made rockets, including mid-range 220mm units, have also fallen on Nazareth and Haifa, Israel's third-largest city. The warheads were filled with ball bearings to maximise civilian casualties.

Aside from rocket launchers, armoured personnel carriers, night vision goggles, aerial drones and motorised gliders make up the hardware for a 3000-strong guerilla unit that some say is in fact a well-organised and fierce military force.

"The fact that Hezbollah is difficult to dislodge from their positions is not a surprise for the Israelis or anyone else," David Schenker, a specialist in Middle East affairs at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, tells The Australian. Schenker also worked for four years at the Pentagon as a Middle East specialist. "Hezbollah fighters are well trained and highly motivated and they are dug in," he adds.

Former CIA officer Robert Baer, who has followed the group since 1983, told US News & World Report he has "a lot of respect for Hezbollah's capabilities". Baer, whose book See No Evil inspired the film Syriana, spent a couple of weeks with Hezbollah last year, touring its facilities. "You've got some of the most experienced operatives in the world there."

When the Israelis left Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah fortified its position along the northern border and continued to amass its cache of arms. In 2000, Hezbollah was estimated to have 6000 rockets. But in May, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed to have more than 12,000. "All of northern occupied Palestine is within range," Nasrallah said, referring to Israel. "Its ports, its bases, its factories and everything located there."

Until the Syrian pull-out of Lebanon last year this supply of arms to Hezbollah was relatively easy. Schenker says the route to Hezbollah was traditionally Iranian cargo planes flying into Damascus, Syria, and overland from there. The direct air route to Damascus is over Iraq but Schenker says the US occupation made any airlifts through Iraqi airspace perilous, meaning a more common route became either overland through Turkey and northern Iraq (Kurdistan) and into Syria, or through Turkish airspace.

While Hezbollah's burgeoning arsenal of rockets was well known, what has surprised Schenker and others during the conflict is Hezbollah's use of sophisticated weaponry.

Just two days into the war, an Israeli Sa'ar 5 class missile corvette, enforcing the naval blockade off Lebanon, was struck by a C-802 radar-guided anti-ship cruise missile, an Iranian-made version of a missile known as the Chinese silkworm. The explosion claimed the lives of four soldiers and the ship had to return to port.

It was the first time the missile had been used in the war with Israel and military officials reported that the Israeli ship's radar system was not calibrated to detect the missile, which is equipped with an advanced anti-tracking system.

Iran denied any involvement and US and Israeli officials say there was no evidence that Iranian operatives working in Lebanon launched the missile themselves. That made the incident even more curious, observes Schenker.

"It was assumed broadly that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard corp personnel stationed in Lebanon would assist Hezbollah in the technical operation of this equipment," says Schenker. "That would not have been a surprise. What was a surprise is that according to Israelis, a Lebanese Armed Forces naval radar station was used and it was used to lock on the ship."

It meant the land-based radar post communicated with the missile, which allowed the incoming missile to avoid detection.

"This enhanced capability is why the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) destroyed the Lebanese Armed Forces radar station," says Schenker, referring to an IDF strike north of Beirut a few days later.

The incident points to the many sympathies within the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Government to Hezbollah and why the present conflict is so precarious and raising concerns of another civil war in Lebanon.

cont'd next post

[Shammu]

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has played a delicate act in avoiding the use of the word "militia", which is the definition in UN resolution 1559 that calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah. In fact just as news of that intercepted convoy of arms was breaking in Lebanon, Siniora told Beirut parliament on February 6: "We have never called, and will never call, the resistance by any name other than resistance."

That's an affront to the US because prior to the al-Qa'ida September 11 attacks, Hezbollah - or Party of God - had the ignominious boast that it had killed more Americans than any other terror group.

Hezbollah was formed in 1982 in the ashes of Lebanon's civil war, a fully paid-up subsidiary of Ayatollah Khomeini's Iranian revolution and its vision of Islamic Shia fundamentalism.

US officials believe Iran finances Hezbollah to the tune of $US100 million ($132million) a year, while the Iran Revolutionary Guard trains its fighters.

Hezbollah's terrorist attacks over the year include suicide bombings of the US embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, the hijacking of TWA flight 847 and bombings of the Israeli embassy in Argentina and US military housing at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia.

And it has grown into a potent political force, with two of its members in the Lebanese cabinet and, until Israel's bombing campaign, a well developed network of social services, media outlets and businesses.

As the war drags on, Hezbollah is being severely degraded militarily, according to the IDF, but its political credentials in Lebanon have been enhanced and become "stronger than before in terms of the eyes of the Lebanese people", says Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel.

Hisham Milhem, Washington correspondent for liberal Arabic newspaper Al-Nahar, says Hezbollah is projecting itself in Lebanon as the protector of the homeland.

"Hezbollah is riding high, not only in Lebanon but throughout the Arab world. (Hezbollah leader) Hassan Nasrallah is lionised. Nasrallah now, from where he is sitting in some bunker in Beirut or in the Bekaa Valley - I don't know where - can claim with a great deal of credence that Hezbollah managed to create a hole in Israel's strategic deterrence.

"He delivered ... not necessarily in a very effective military way, but definitely politically in terms of perception. Hezbollah is standing up to the Israelis and doing relatively well."

Clearly, Israel is attempting to deal Hezbollah a crippling blow by bombing the highways to Syria, and any convoys on it, to shut down Hezbollah's supply routes. But military strategists acknowledge that its air campaign targeting mobile rocket launch sites is counter-productive, particularly when the guerilla forces are hiding among civilians. Israel suffered a significant propaganda defeat and widespread condemnation following the strike in Qana which claimed the lives of 28, including 16 children. It's why Israel has committed more ground forces to try to rout the rocket launchers.

There is also concern the present conflict is a proxy battle in which Iran is observing Israel's military tactics.

"Iran is bringing in to Lebanon sophisticated weaponry," says Lebanon's Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt. "The Iranians are actually experimenting with different kinds of missiles in Lebanon by shooting them at the Israelis. Iran is using this violence to test certain of Israel's abilities," he adds. Jumblatt heads Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party and is regarded as the most prominent anti-Syrian Lebanese politician.

And he adds of Syria's role: "Syria will likely try to tell the world, 'Look, see, since we left Lebanon, the Cedar Revolution and the forces in Lebanon that got our military out through popular support, those forces are not able to control Lebanon. While we were in control, Lebanon was a safe place. Now it's not. We need to come back in," he predicts.

"I would not be surprised if they even try to wiggle their way into a deal by convincing the Americans that Syrian influence in Lebanon will stabilise the region."

Syria originally sent forces into Lebanon in 1976 during the Lebanese civil war and its military occupied the country until last year when suddenly its troops withdrew after an international outcry over the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, for which Damascus was blamed.

David Makovsky, also a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East policy, wrote that last month's attack from Hezbollah demonstrated the first time the group felt "self-confident enough to claim responsibility for a strike across the internationally recognised border. These events suggest that Iran was pressing for Hezbollah's initiation of the crisis."

And on the day of the Hezbollah attack against Israel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared: "If the Zionist regime commits another stupid move and attacks Syria, this will be considered like attacking the whole Islamic world and this regime will receive a very fierce response. The stakes for the international community go beyond Israel itself."

Makovsky notes, as Iran pushes the world on its plans for a nuclear program, "Iran sees itself as being on the march".

"This point is not lost on countries such as the US and European and Arab states, which do not want this crisis to end with Iran and Hezbollah feeling emboldened."

Iran's rocket route to Israel

[Shammu]

 Worldwide, Islamic Fundamentalists Join the Fray
21:54 Aug 08, '06 / 14 Av 5766
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

Energized by the ongoing war between Israel and Hizbullah-controlled Lebanon, some Islamic fundamentalist groups claim to dispatch terrorists to Lebanon and to target Jews worldwide.

An Indonesian Muslim group announced Tuesday that it had sent 20 of its members to Lebanon in order to join the Jihad against the Jewish state. The claim, made by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), was reported by the Associated Press, which warned that it had not been verified.

FPI spokesman Soleh Mahmoud said the 20 men left Indonesia five days ago and are now undergoing training in Lebanon under the supervision of Hizbullah. "They are ready to die to defend Muslims," Mahmoud said.

On Friday, before the FPI announced that it had already sent Muslim fighters to Lebanon, Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya said, "The government understands what they are feeling... anger, disappointment and frustration with Israeli troops acting inhumanly and brutally." He said that while the government could not stop people from joining the war in Lebanon, the seriousness of threats to do so is questionable: "If you want to do something, you want to travel, you do not need to declare it publicly, just say, 'In the name of God' and then go."

Last week, the Australian government announced that it was investigating a claim by another Indonesia-based Islamist group, the Asian Muslim Youth Movement (AMYM), that it had dispatched hundreds of Southeast Asian terrorist bombers to strike Jewish or infrastructure targets in countries such as Israel, the United States, Britain and Australia. A leader of the AMYM, Suaib Bidu, told The Australian newspaper that 217 suicide bombers - financed by wealthy Australian-Indonesian businessmen - had already been dispatched to their target countries, with thousands more prepared to set out. According to the report, more than 3,000 terrorists were to have been inducted on Saturday in the Indonesian city of Pontianak on Kalimantan island.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (known as Ikhwaan in Arabic) has also claimed to have 10,000 volunteers ready to travel to Lebanon to fight the Israelis. Speaking to a conference organized by the Egyptian Scientists Association on August 2, Brotherhood leader Mohammad Mahdi Akef called on his co-religionists to "help the resistance in all its forms" in Lebanon and in the Palestinian Authority.

Similarly, Yemen's President Ali Abdallah Saleh told an Al-Jazeera interviewer on August 1, 2006: "I hope that all the countries bordering Israel, not just Syria, would enter the war. I mean the countries bordering with Israel. We will not enter the war officially, but we will open the borders to the fighters. We will allow the transfer of money and equipment to support the Lebanese resistance and the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. ...This war has become a duty incumbent upon us. Every Muslim has the individual duty to fight on this front." (English transcript provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute [MEMRI].)

Also speaking from Yemen, on an official visit to the country, Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) praised Hizbullah terrorists shortly after a lethal Katyusha rocket attack on northern Israel that killed 11 people. Abbas told reporters that the Hizbullah war has reawakened the Arab world's honor and is an example for others to follow.

As reported in late July, Al-Qaeda's number two, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, announced in a videotaped message that Al-Qaeda will make the nations supporting Israel "pay the price." His statement indicated unity of purpose among all sects of Muslim fundamentalists, reiterated by Shi'ite leaders in Iran and elsewhere, when it comes to jihad against Israel. However, a former teacher of Osama Bin-Laden, Saudi sheikh Safar Al-Hawali, called the Hizbullah ("party of Allah" in Arabic) the "party of Satan" and issued a fatwa (religious ruling) forbidding any support or prayers for the group, due to its Shi'a religious orientation, which Sunni Salafi groups such as those ruling Saudi Arabia generally consider to be apostasy.

Worldwide, Islamic Fundamentalists Join the Fray

[Shammu]

Gaza-Egypt Border Reopens After Weeks
August 10th, 2006 @ 6:14am

By DIAA HADID
Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - The Gaza-Egypt border was partially reopened Thursday, allowing hundreds of people stuck in Gaza to leave after weeks of closure during Israel's military offensive in the coastal strip, a spokeswoman for European border monitors said.

The crossing is to be open for two days to allow students, business people and those requiring medical treatment to travel to Egypt, said the spokeswoman, Maria Telleria. About 500 sick people, many of them cancer patients, were given permission to cross the border, said Dr. Omar Shehada, head of overseas medical treatment at the Palestinian Authority.

People would not be allowed to cross from Egypt into Gaza.

The Rafah crossing was closed after Hamas-allied militants captured an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, during a cross-border raid on June 25. The seizure triggered an Israeli offensive in Gaza aimed at freeing him and stopping rocket attacks on Israeli border towns.

Israel had feared the militants would try to smuggle Shalit out of Gaza if the border was open. It was only opened briefly once since the raid to allow Palestinians stranded in Egypt to return to Gaza.

"Since the border closed on June 25, we've been trying to open it," said Telleria. "This is the longest period the border has been closed since the Europeans began" monitoring, she said.

The Palestinians, backed by EU monitors, took control of the Gaza-Egypt border after Israel withdrew from the coastal strip last summer.

By midday, hundreds of Palestinians waited on the Egyptian side near the crossing, apparently hoping their presence would pressure authorities to let them enter the coastal strip.

"I came to this crossing more than 10 times _ whenever I heard rumors that it would open," said Abdullah Abdel Rahman Belbasi, a 30-year-old Palestinian worker who entered Egypt a month ago for surgery to his arm after being shot.

Also Thursday, doctors said a 5-year-old Palestinian girl initially believed to have been killed by a military strike by Israel on Wednesday apparently died after sustaining head injuries during a fall from a swing. The girl suffered a fractured skull and there were no signs of shrapnel, said Kazim Abu Libda, a doctor at Gaza's Shifa hospital.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops surrounded a five-story building in the West Bank city of Ramallah before dawn, exchanging fire with Palestinian gunmen inside, Palestinian security officials said.

After a standoff of several hours, six militants surrendered to the troops. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The army had no comment on the raid.

Gaza-Egypt Border Reopens After Weeks