Matthew 24:6 War, and rumor of war.

[Shammu]

‘Prepare to fight Israel and US’

TEHRAN (Agencies)
Iran to dump incentives if resolution passes

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards called on his troops yesterday to “prepare themselves to get even” with Israel and the United States, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

“Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards and Basij should prepare themselves to get even with Zionists and Americans,” General Yahya Rahim Safavi was quoted as saying.

“The Supreme Leader will announce the time for this,” he said, referring to Iran’s top scholar and commander-in-chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It was not clear if the comments represented the latest shot in what Iranian officials describe as an ongoing “psychological war” with Israel and the US, or the public revelation of an actual order for Iranian troops to mobilise for war.

“We have to keep this sacred hatred of the enemies of Islam alive in our hearts until the time of revenge comes,” the general was quoted as saying.

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

“I hope the scholars in the Islamic world clarify the duty of Muslims against Israel,” he also said. The Revolutionary Guards Corps was set up in the wake of the 1979 revolution to defend the Islamic Republic from “internal and external threats” and played a leading role in the 1980-88 war with Iraq.
The force is now one of Iran’s most powerful institutions, and under direct command of the Supreme Leader. The Basij, which according to official figures has some nine million adherents, is a volunteer militia attached to the Revolutionary Guards.

Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign ministry warned yesterday that Tehran would abandon the West’s package of nuclear incentives if the UN Security Council approves a resolution against Iran today.

“If any resolution is issued against Iran tomorrow, the package would be left off the agenda by Iran,” Hamid Reza Asefi said. “We will definitely revise our nuclear policy.”

Asefi’s comments marked the first official Iranian response to a draft resolution giving it until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of international sanctions.
The draft was formally circulated to the full 15-member UN Security Council late on Friday and observers said it would likely be adopted in the next week.

Asefi referred to the ongoing Israeli-Hizbollah war and said that any Security Council action against Iran “will confront the region with more tension,” he said.

In a commentary yesterday, state-run radio called on Europe to exercise restraint.
“Under the international regulations, Iran has the right of achieving peaceful nuclear technology,” the broadcast said.

“Iran’s nuclear case is an opportunity for the international community and some Western countries to find out that managing the world in the 21st century requires laws and regulations. By resorting to double standards, one can not manage international challenges,” the broadcast said.

‘Prepare to fight Israel and US’

[Shammu]

President al-Assad's Speech Marking Syrian Army Day

Monday, July 31, 2006 - 07:00 PM
      
Damascus, July 31 (SANA)-

President Bashar al-Assad addressed the Syrian armed forces in a speech through 'The People's Army' Magazine marking the 61st anniversary of the foundation of the Syrian Arab Army, greeting our brave soldiers, expressing proud of their persistent efforts and work to match up with our people's march of liberation and development.

President Assad said that the anniversary of the foundation of the army is marked this year amidst international circumstances and regional challenges that necessitate vigilance, awareness and readiness as the genocide war waged by Israeli enemy on our brave people in Lebanon and Palestine gets more vicious.

His Excellency added in his letter that brotherly Lebanon is under a flagrant aggression by Israeli war machine in air, land and sea, perpetrating ugliest forms of killings, destruction and sabotage against innocent armless people and infrastructure in defiance of all international laws, charters, human and moral principles and supported by the powers of hegemony in the world. Those powers stood by the aggressors, justifying their actions and providing them with means to go ahead with their destruction.

President Assad said that these aggressions, killings and destruction committed by the Israelis are only a pre-meditated plot in collaboration with a number of big powers which dominated the international society, disabling it and confiscating its legitimacy, resolutions and institutions to kill the will of life and freedom. He added that their plot is to undermine all aspirations of resistance, dismember the region and inflict defeat in terms of morale before geography as part of a compensation for the humiliating defeat and departure from south Lebanon under the strikes of resistance.

The President said that this is the time of the national public resistance which has been able to humiliate the occupiers in Iraq, Palestine and today in Lebanon, proving to the world that the might of right is stronger than the might of the unjust power.

His Excellency stressed that Israel is the party which started the aggression by imprisoning the lands before individuals. Israel detains thousands of prisoners in its jails; it's the party which occupies Arab lands in Palestine, the Golan and south Lebanon.

He asserted that those resistance men and this people are fighting for their lands, homelands and dignity and their only flag is that of victory.

President Assad emphasized that Syria, who has always stood by her brothers and sacrificed a lot of martyrs for the defense of Lebanon freedom in as much as for the freedom of Syria, is nowadays stronger and more determined than ever in standing by our patient and struggling people in Lebanon and Palestine.

His Excellency stressed that all shouts of threats and warnings launched by the powers of hegemony which support the aggression would not affect us or force us to abandon the march of liberation or stop backing our brothers and the resistance.

The President instructed all our armed forces to pay more extensive efforts in terms of training and persistent work to reach more readiness, saying that with our belief that martyrdom is the way of freedom and victory, we have to be confident that every effort and each drop of sweat spent in training now will in future spare a drop of blood when it's time to do so. Our battle is continuous as long as our land is occupied and our rights are usurped, and victory is coming, God's will.

At the conclusion of His letter, President Assad praised our steadfast people in the occupied Golan, Lebanon and Palestine. He also greeted the brave resistance men in Lebanon and Palestine and in every place where people look for freedom and liberation.

President al-Assad's Speech Marking Syrian Army Day

[Shammu]

Assad calls on Syrian army to prepare for 'regional challenges'
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies

Syrian President Bashar Assad called on his army Monday to increase readiness to cope with "regional challenges."

The president's comments came during an annual address to the military but also as Israel and the militant group Hezbollah entered their 20th day of fighting in neighboring Lebanon.

Travelers from Syria have reported that some reservists have been called up for military duty - a sign that Syria is concerned the fighting in Lebanon could spill over. The Syrian government has not made any announcement about calling up reserves.

"The anniversary of the founding of the army comes this year in view of international circumstances and regional challenges that require caution, vigilance, preparation and readiness," Assad said in a statement carried by the official Syrian Arab News Agency.

Assad called on all formations and units of the armed forces "to intensify efforts in training and to work for more preparations and raise readiness," according to the statement.

"We must be aware that every effort and every drop of sweat exerted in training now will spare a drop of blood when the time comes," he said.

Assad vowed earlier Monday to continue support to the "Palestinian and Lebanese resistance more than ever."

Syria's official news agency, SANA, also quoted him as saying that the
situation in the Middle East especially in Palestine and Lebanon "requires cautious and preparedness and readiness."

Syria so far has stayed out of the Lebanon conflict, but Israeli air strikes have increasingly come closer, with repeated raids on the Beirut-Damascus highway that links Lebanon and Syria.

In a warning to Israel four days after the Hezbollah-Israel fighting erupted, Syria's government promised a firm and immediate retaliation for any possible Israeli attack on its territory.

Syria has fought several times with Israel, which captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war and annexed in 1981.


Assad said Syria was more determined to support Lebanon and will not flinch under international pressure.

"All the threatening cries by the forces of hegemony that is backing the aggression will not hold us from continuing the course of liberation and supporting our brothers and the (Hezbollah) resistance," he said.

Mubarak: Mideast peace process on verge of collapse
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whose Arab country was the first to sign a peace treaty with Israel, warned Monday that the entire Middle East peace process could collapse because of Israel's fighting in Lebanon.

"Egypt, which triggered the peace process, warns of the consequences of its collapse," Mubarak said in a nationwide televised statement. "The Israeli aggression undermines the opportunities to continue it."

He added: "There is an urgent need for an unconditional cease-fire which would pave the way for international efforts to end the crisis and deal with its consequences."

Mubarak is under domestic fire from opposition groups for his refusal to revoke Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel. His statement came a day after Israel's deadliest attack on Lebanon since fighting broke out July 12 between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas. The air strike Sunday on the southern Lebanese village of Qana killed at least 56 people - more than half of them children - and sparked outrage across the Arab world.

Mubarak said Monday he had told Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit to increase Egypt's diplomatic endeavors to defuse the crisis.

Aboul Gheit flew to Saudi Arabia on Monday for talks with its leaders, a day after discussing the war with Assad in Damascus.

Aboul Gheit advised Assad that Syria should not voice opposition in the event an international force is sent to southern Lebanon to police the border region, diplomats in Cairo told the AP.

"Egypt is trying to convince Assad not to stand in the way of a diplomatic solution," said one diplomat. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Arab diplomats and media say Egypt and Saudi Arabia - two regional heavyweights - are working on a diplomatic initiative to entice Syria to end its support for Hezbollah, a move seen as crucial to resolving the conflict in Lebanon.

Aboul Gheit acknowledged that Syria opposes the dispatch of any new international force.

"The Syrians are talking about expanding the UNIFIL," Aboul Gheit told reporters in Cairo, referring to the widely criticized UN force created in 1978 to restore stability in the area.

On Monday, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported that Egypt was brokering a deal between the United States and Syria under which Damascus would cut its support for Hezbollah in return for a softened U.S. attitude toward Syria, the recipient of fierce criticism from Washington before and during the current fighting in Lebanon.

"Syria must end its support for terror and respect the sovereignty of Lebanon," U.S. President George W. Bush said in a speech at the Port of Miami on Monday.

The report in Al Siyassah said Aboul Gheit carried assurances from the Bush administration to Assad that his regime would not be militarily targeted if he ended his alliance with Iran, Hezbollah's main backer.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was visiting Beirut on Monday in the first visit by an Iranian official to Lebanon since fighting broke out. Earlier, Mottaki held talks with Syrian leaders in Damascus on the standoff.

Also on Monday, former Egyptian deputy prime minister Mansour Hassan urged Mubarak to revoke the peace treaty with Israel, signed for Egypt by former president Anwar Sadat who was assassinated by Muslim extremists opposed to the treaty.

"Israel has proved that it is not interested in peace ... it is a duty to declare the peace treaty as null and void," wrote Hassan, who was a key aide to Sadat and closely involved in the Camp David peace accord between Egypt and Israel.

"After Qana, what will the Arab traitors say," wrote leading columnist Magdi Mahana in the independent Al Masry Al-Youm, bluntly referring to Arab leaders.

Under the 1979 peace treaty, Israel returned Sinai to Egypt after nearly 13 years of its occupation. Egypt has invested billions of dollars in the desert peninsula, which now is a hub for foreign tourists who pour some 6 billion dollars into Egypt's feeble economy annually.

Assad calls on Syrian army to prepare for 'regional challenges'

[Shammu]

Okay I give up, trying to place just the mideast, and every where else in seprate threads. This will make it that much simplier.
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North, South Korea exchange gunfire
Soldiers at Demilitarized Zone trade shots, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs report

Updated: 2 hours, 56 minutes ago

SEOUL, South Korea - North and South Korean troops along their heavily fortified border exchanged gunfire for the first time in about a year, a military official said on Tuesday, with the incident coming as ties between the two have soured.

North Korean troops fired two shots at a South Korean guard post near the Demilitarised Zone on Monday night and South Korean troops returned six shots, an official said by telephone.

“No one was injured in the incident,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff official said.
Story continues below ↓ advertisement

One of the shots hit the guard post, causing South Korean troops to immediately return fire, the official said.

Ties between the two Koreas had been warming in recent years as the two reached a number of agreements on economic cooperation and military confidence building.

The last time there was an exchange of gun fire along the DMZ was in October 2005, the official said, when North Korea fired a bullet toward at a South Korean guard post and the South returned fire.

The navies of the two had a major clash along a disputed maritime border in 2002, resulting in deaths and casualties on both sides.

North Korea defied international warnings and test-fired seven missiles about a month ago.

At an inter-Korean ministerial meeting in July, Seoul pressed Pyongyang to explain why it had launched the missiles. Seoul said it would suspend humanitarian aid until Pyongyang returned to stalled six-country talks on ending its nuclear weapons programme.

North Korean delegates stormed out of the meeting and said the South would “pay a price” for spoiling inter-Korean ties.

Since then, North Korea has halted several projects with the South, including the reunions of families separated by the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The two Koreas are technically still at war because the Korean War ended in a truce and not with a peace treaty.

North Korea has stationed most of its 1.2 million-man army near the DMZ. South Korea has more than 650,000 troops, who are supported by about 30,000 U.S. troops.

North, South Korea exchange gunfire

[Shammu]

Pimping Hezbollah: Media bias done well
By Bradley Burston



We don't like to talk about it. But all journalists worth their salt know how to do media bias.

The best use the skill to balance their reporting. The worst use the slant to recast convoluted reality into the more easily digestible villains-versus-victims passion play, the better to market stories and themselves. And then there is the third case, the most prevalent, in which media bias has been effectively eradicated in many quarters, less out of ethics than out of fear.

In an era when professional and amateur watchdogs on both sides of the Arab-Israeli divide monitor every eyebrow inflection, every nuance of camera angle and editing-room juxtaposition for the semblance if a story slanted to the other side, the slightest perceived red flag of opinion can be crushed under an avalanche of viral e-mail indignation and threats of boycott.

The result, all too often, is a kind of homogenized, over-careful, look-over-your-shoulder reporting, in which the sharply observed detail can be lost to the cutting room floor for fear of backlash.

So I suppose it's refreshing, in a way, to see a high-profile contemporary version of the time-honored slant.

I'm not referring to the tragedy of Qana, in which the heartbreaking footage and the lack of a coherent Israeli explanation spoke for themselves.

I'm referring to a major account of the war that preceded Qana by several days.

Say you knew nothing of this Lebanon war. Say you were looking for an authoritative, judiciously balanced, in-depth account of a blindingly complex conflict. The big picture, from both sides. A natural choice might have been to look first to Time Magazine.

Look again.

Time's July 31 issue opens its cover story on the Israel-Hezbollah war with a remarkable photo gallery entitled "The Damage Done," each two-page spread superbly filled by a single riveting shot.

The first photograph shows in shattering detail a south Beirut apartment block ripped to splinters by Israeli bombs.

The second shows a badly burned Lebanese woman being comforted by her brother, both in anguish after an IAF strike that killed their mother and sister.

Then there are the Israelis. The concluding shot does not show Israelis under rocket fire or wounded by Katyushas. In fact, the most remarkable element of the Time report is that one could read the magazine cover to cover and never know that any Israelis had been killed and injured in their homes, in the street, in a train depot, by Hezbollah missiles.

No, the concluding shot is of a squad of Israeli commandos, armed to the menacing eyes, bracing to invade Lebanon.

Later, for balance, there is a photo shoot entitled Inside Hezbollah, which opens with members of Hezbollah's al-Mahdi scouts youth organization giving a straight-arm salute. Captions describe the group as "somewhat like the Boy Scouts" and "a popular and exclusive training ground for future leaders" pictured pledging "their commitment to martyrdom."

On a camping trip, another caption tells us "Here they were asked to create art projects; the boys made a Star of David out of stones so that anyone entering their tent would have to step on it.

Photographer Alexandra Avakian, who, the spread tells us, "found her subjects to be gracious and accommodating."

Yet another photo in the cover story, a reinterpretation of the classic David v. Goliath composition, shows a Hezbollah gunman, natty in aviator sunglasses and AK 47, with what is described as a downed Israeli jet burning in the background

And what of the Israelis? There is one, at least. Ehud Olmert, profiled in an article entitled "What was he thinking?"

After harrowing evidence of Lebanese suffering, and accounts of the hundreds of civilian deaths in Lebanon and of the pimped-up peasant gallantry of Hezbollah, the Olmert piece begins:

"Just days after launching Israel's violent offensive in Lebanon, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took time off to share a leisurely weekend lunch with a few old friends.

"With helicopters buzzing overhead on their way to and from the front, the group sat on the patio of an elegant private home, eating tomato soup, egg noodles and steak."

Pimping Hezbollah: Media bias done well

[Shammu]

IDF: Hizbullah only has few rocket launchers left
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jul. 31, 2006

The IDF assessed on Monday that Hizbullah's rocket launching capability was significantly compromised by the fighting that took place in the past three weeks.

It was estimated that, while the organization still has hundreds of rockets with a sufficient range to reach Afula and Haifa, there were only a number of launchers remaining with launching capability.

The Hizbullah still had several Zilzal rockets left that could reach central Israel, Army Radio reported.

IDF: Hizbullah only has few rocket launchers left

[Shammu]

Assad smuggling weapons to Hizbullah
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST    Aug. 1, 2006

Three weeks into the war with Hizbullah, the IDF's intelligence picture is growing clearer, although at the same time darker. According to new intelligence obtained by the defense establishment, Syrian President Bashar Assad, alongside senior military officials, is directly involved in the attempts to smuggle weapons and rockets to Hizbullah in Lebanon.

In addition, the extent of Iran's intimate involvement in Hizbullah attacks is also starting to emerge. According to the defense establishment, the reason Hizbullah has not fired long-range Iranian-made Fajr missiles at Israel is due to Teheran's opposition. Israel now understands that without direct orders from the ayatollahs, Hizbullah is not allowed to use Iranian missiles in attacks against Israel.

Assad smuggling weapons to Hizbullah

[Shammu]

Mubarak: Entire ME peace process could collapse
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jul. 31, 2006

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned Monday that the entire Middle East peace process could collapse because of Israel's fighting in Lebanon.

"Egypt, which triggered the peace process, warns of the consequences of its collapse," Mubarak said in a nationwide televised statement. "The Israeli aggression undermines the opportunities to continue it and its success."

Mubarak has come under domestic fire from opposition groups for his refusal to revoke Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Mubarak: Entire ME peace process could collapse

Zechariah 12:2-3 Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup or bowl of reeling to all the peoples round about, and in the siege against Jerusalem will there also be a siege against and upon Judah. 3 And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples; all who lift it or burden themselves with it shall be sorely wounded. And all the nations of the earth shall come and gather together against it.

[Shammu]

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

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

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

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

Revolutionary Guards Assistance to Hizbullah

Following are excerpts from the Al-Sharq Al-Awsat report on aid extended to Hizbullah by Iran's Revolutionary Guards: [1]

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

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

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

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

2,500 Iranian Suicide Fighters Await Khamenei's Order

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

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

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

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

Enlisting Volunteers Online

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

Two Groups of Martyrdom Fighters Sent To Lebanon

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Shammu]

Assad tells Syrian army to step up state of readiness and takes two further provocative steps

August 1, 2006, 1:05 AM (GMT+02:00)

Syrian military intelligence agents detonated a bomb at the Golan border fence near Kuneitra, though causing no casualties, and the Syrian president put defense minister Gen. Hassan Turkemeni in charge of military assistance to Hizballah. He also instructed chief of staff Gen. Ali Habib to personally oversee Syrian-Iranian cooperation for military consignments to Hizballah.

In his order of the day to the Syrian army, Bashar Assad wrote: “I call on all units, divisions, brigades and battalions to redouble their training efforts and maintain a high state of readiness. Remember that every drop of sweat you invest in training will save a drop of blood when the time comes.”

He added: “Threats from the ‘masters of the world’ (US and Israel) telling us to beware will not divert us from our path.”

DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources add: For three weeks, Assad has been working up to provoking a limited war engagement with Israel.

1. A close crony, Syrian lawmaker Marwan Habash is advocating the creation of a resistance (terrorist) movement on the Golan Heights - likewise the prominent cleric, Sheikh Asad Kopertou.

2. For the first time in three decades the presidential palace allowed Syrian Druze leaders to openly speak out in favor of an armed campaign to recapture the Golan Heights.

Israeli intelligence leaders are not of one mind about what these steps signify. Some diagnose posturing by Damascus to get in on the Lebanon act while not taking the chance of a missile war with Israel; others argue that the Syrian president must be angling for a limited military confrontation, otherwise he would not so blatantly parade his backing for the Hizballah.

Assad tells Syrian army to step up state of readiness and takes two further provocative steps

[Shammu]

Syrian Army Prepared for War

Assad said that the anniversary of the foundation of the army is marked by "international circumstances and regional challenges that necessitate vigilance, awareness and readiness as the genocide war waged by Israeli enemy on our brave people in Lebanon and Palestine gets more vicious."

Assad called the fighting in Lebanon a "premeditated plot by international powers to undermine all aspirations of resistance, dismember the region and inflict defeat in terms of morale before geography as part of a compensation for the humiliating defeat and departure from south Lebanon under the strikes of resistance."

"This is the time of the national public resistance which has been able to humiliate the occupiers in Iraq, Palestine and today in Lebanon," said Assad.

While Assad openly called on Syria's army to ready itself, foreign diplomats say the Syrian Army began to ready itself for combat shortly after Hezbollah militants began attacking Israel and the Israeli military struck back.

Assad emphasized that Syria is nowadays more determined than ever in standing by Lebanon and Palestine.

The Syrian President instructed the armed forces "to pay more extensive efforts in terms of training and persistent work to reach more readiness," saying that "with our belief that martyrdom is the way of freedom and victory."

Assad sent Foreign minister Walid al-Mouallem to Doha with a message for Emir of Qatar Sheikh Khalifa Ben Hamad Al-Thani over the situation in Lebanon.  Qatar was the only country on the UN Security Council to vote against sanctioning Iran over its nuclear program.

A Syrian-Iranian joint statement at the end of Iranian President Ahmadinejad's visit to Syria said Friday said that Iran strongly backs Syria's principled stances to restore her occupied territories to the 4th of June line 1967.

Syria and Iran underlined the necessity of the Israeli pullout of all occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan, the Palestinian lands and the Lebanese lands which is still under Israel's occupation.

Both sides underscored rights of the Palestinian people to liberate their lands, return home and to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital; basically saying that Israelis had to get out of the Middle East - period.

Iran has been supplying rockets to Hezbullah militants through Syria and now Syria's President is saying that its Army should prepare for war - and martydom.

Syrian Army Prepared for War

[Shammu]

Iran forces urged to prepare to hit Israel

Reuters
Sunday, July 30, 2006; 12:20 PM

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

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

The Basij are volunteer Islamic militiamen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Iran forces urged to prepare to hit Israel

[Shammu]

  Explosive Set Off On Syria Side Of Border -Israel Army

JERUSALEM (AP)--An explosive device was set off along the Israeli-Syrian border, the army said Monday. There were no injuries.

An Israeli army patrol heard an explosion late Sunday. During investigations Monday the army found that an apparent Syrian mine had been placed into a tire and set on fire, causing the blast.

It wasn't clear who set off the device, which exploded on the Syrian side of the border, the army said, adding that its patrol wasn't close to the scene at the time of the explosion.

Explosive Set Off On Syria Side Of Border -Israel Army 
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May I suggest the fence, between Israel and Syria be checked.

[Shammu]

Syrian MP vows self-defense if 'dragged' into war
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST    Aug. 1, 2006

Syria would defend itself if "dragged" into a war with Israel, Syrian member of parliament Suleiman Haddad said Tuesday.

"We hope not to be dragged by Israel into a position where we have to defend ourselves against any aggression. If we are obliged, we will defend ourselves," Haddad told the Associated Press. "We aim for calm, but if Israel wants escalation, we will not be silent."

Haddad denied Israel's accusation that Syria was supplying Hezbollah with weapons.

Haddad's comments came a day after President Bashar Assad called on his army to increase readiness to cope with "regional challenges.

Syrian MP vows self-defense if 'dragged' into war

[Shammu]

Abbas official: Prepare for 'escalated battle'
Warns of larger conflict as Israel continues offensive against Hezbollah
Posted: August 1, 2006
11:08 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

JERUSALEM – A senior member of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party sent a letter to hundreds of Fatah members today asking them to prepare for an "escalated battle" against Israel while the Jewish state continues its military campaign in Lebanon, WND has learned.

The letter, written by Bani al-Hassan, a member of Fatah's Central Committee and a former Fatah Interior Minister, also was sent to members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist group, the declared "military wing" of Abbas' party.

"You the fighters are the new generation that will bring us victory over Israel," Hassan wrote in the letter, which was obtained by WND from a Fatah official.

He compelled Fatah members to "be prepared" for an escalation against the Jewish state but did not mention particulars or give specific instructions.

Hassan also stated Fatah should ensure the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah "widens" so other Arab parties join the fight.

"It is on our interests that the conflict with Israel is not only led by the Palestinians but also by others," wrote Hassan.

Hassan today led a rally in Ramallah in which he reportedly informed participants he placed Fatah fighters on high alert "ahead of the possibility of escalation of the conflict in Lebanon, which could manifest itself in an escalation of Israeli actions [here]."

"I know what I'm talking about, and I know what I'm referring to," Hassan reportedly told the crowd.

Dozens of large pro-Hezbollah demonstrations have swept Judea, Samaria and Gaza since Hezbollah ambushed an Israeli patrol unit and kidnapped two soldiers July 12.

Earlier in a WND interview, Abu Nasser, second-in-command of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, warned Palestinian terrorist groups might aid Hezbollah by carrying out large-scale attacks inside Israel "much bigger" than suicide bombings.

Abu Nasser said his group has been working for more than a year on contingency plans to escalate violence in Israel should the Jewish state attack Iran, Syria or Lebanon.

"For the moment, we see that Hezbollah is winning, but if – Allah forbid – there is a turnover in the war, we will not hesitate to carry out the plans we have been working on since [the cease-fire signed last February]. We will use rockets. We will target Tel Aviv airport. We will not abandon our brothers," said Abu Nasser, speaking to WND from Nablus in northern Samaria.

The Al Aqsa Brigades is responsible for scores of rocket and shooting attacks, and – together with Islamic Jihad – for every suicide bombing since last February's cease-fire.