Israel, Hezbollah Intensify Ground Conflict in Lebanon

By Scott Wilson and Edward Cody

JERUSALEM, July 20 -- Israeli ground forces and Hezbollah guerrillas engaged in heavy fighting inside Lebanon on Thursday, as senior Israeli defense officials braced the country for a long conflict against the radical Islamic groups on its borders and indicated that a large ground operation could...

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

Israeli Troops Try to Push Civilians Out of S. Lebanon
--------------------

By Laura King and J. Michael Kennedy
Times Staff Writers

July 20 2006, 12:12 PM PDT

BEIRUT -- As Israel moved to push civilians out of a large swath of south Lebanon, Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli troops waged intense daylong firefights just inside Lebanese territory.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...-home-headlines

U.S. Now Supports a Buffer
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The White House seeks a beefed-up multinational military presence on Lebanon's border with Israel. Arms monitors also would be deployed.

By Paul Richter and Laura King
Times Staff Writers

July 20 2006

WASHINGTON — Although wary of multinational peacekeeping operations, the Bush administration is working with allies to find a way to insert a robust military force and a civilian international presence in Lebanon to strengthen the frail government and break the grip of Hezbollah, U.S. and foreign diplomats say.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...l=la-home-world

Hezbollah's Skill More Military Than Militia
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By Peter Spiegel and Sebastian Rotella
Times Staff Writers

July 20 2006

WASHINGTON; Hezbollah's ability to use relatively advanced weapons in the last week of fighting against Israel, as well as the variety of its armaments, has surprised U.S. military experts, current and former officials involved in Middle East policy said.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...l=la-home-world

http://counterterrorismblog.org/

Southeast Asians En Route to Middle East to Fight the Israelis: Bombastic Threats of a Previously Unknown Organization or the Real Deal?
By Zachary Abuza

News reports carried on the website of the Indonesian daily Detik and by the Antara news wire are making clear that the events in the Middle East are reverberating in Southeast Asia. The two articles report that a group of 217 Southeast Asian jihadis have pledged to travel to Lebanon to fight the Israelis. This group, calling themselves the Palestine Jihad Bombing Troops (PBJ) is hitherto unknown. However, at the group’s 19 July meeting in Jakarta, the spokesman/organizer was Suaib Didu, the head of the radical Indonesian student organization, the Islamic Youth Movement (known by its Indonesian acronym, GPI). Suaib is also chairman of AMSEC (ASEAN Muslim Youth Secretariat), in whose capacity this week’s meeting/press conference was held. At the meeting, Suaib, presented 12 of the 217 jihadis. According to press reports, they were “dressed entirely in black and wore full face balaclavas.” Several of the 12 claimed to be Afghan veterans. Suaib explained, "They came here today to discuss plans for their fight in Palestine."

What is notable is that the PBJ is a pan-regional organization, and not an Indonesian grouping. Suaib explained that 72 of the 217 were Indonesian but that 57 were from the Philippines, 36 from Malaysia, 43 from Thailand, five from Brunei, three from Bangladesh and one from Singapore. He claimed that 22 of them “had waged jihad in Afghanistan with the Mojahedin.” They would leave from their respective countries and regroup in an undisclosed third country. He did not indicate if they would be fighting alongside Hamas or Hizbollah, or if either of those organizations or state was facilitating their travel.

Indonesian groups, such as the GPI and Habib Rizieq’s Islamic Defender’s Front (FPI) have been vociferous in their condemnation of the US and especially its policies in the Middle East. Both led large protests in the run-up to the Iraq war, and the GPI allegedly threatened to attack the US Embassy in Jakarta at the time. The GPI has sent recruits to Bosnia and Chechnya before. Both the GPI and FPI vowed to send mujihidin to fight the Americans in Iraq in 2003, though few actually made it. This time could be different, for several reasons.

First, it is the Holy Land. Southeast Asian Islamists and Jihadists are always seeking to bring the Islamic periphery into the Muslim core, and convince their Arab coreligionists that they are true Muslims (IE, see for example the skepticism of Abu Bakr Naji in the Management of Savagery). There is no better way to prove their Islamic faith than to fight against Israel in the Holy Land. Second, Jihadists across southeast Asia have been seeking for ways to both recruit anew and to tap into more mainstream Islamist movements.

Suaib denied that the 217 had any links to terrorist/insurgent organizations in the region and said that this was strictly a show of Islamic solidarity and part of their obligation to the ummah.


July 20, 2006 09:41 PM Link

Europe Still Weighs Whether To Designate Hizbollah As A Terrorist Organization
By Victor Comras

The United States, the United Kingdom and Israel, are among the very few countries that have designated Hizbollah as a terrorist organization (and even the UK has limited its designation to Hizbollah's military wing or “External Security Organization, ” Unlike, Hamas, which was added to the EU's list of designated terrorist organizations in September 2003, there are no special EU restrictions on Hizbollah's financial or other activities in Europe. So, while the US is striving to clamp down on funding for Hizbollah, such activities are not illegal per se, and can be openly pursued in most European countries.

Europe's reluctance to designate Hezbollah, results in part from France's resistance to cutting off its own ties with Hezbollah which also is one of Lebanon's principal political groupings. The French have gone along, however, with designating Hizbollah's Security Chief, Imad Mughniyat as a terrorist. But Hizbollah's Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah and the Hizbollah organization itself are not on the EU list. French courts seem to have a somewhat different vision of Hizbollah. In December 2004 France's highest administive court, the Conseil d'État, led the way in Europe to shutting down broadcasts from Europe of Hizbollah's Al Manar Television Channel. The Court ordered Eutelsat to stop broadcasting Al Manar programming which it held violated France's laws against incitement to hatred and public endangerment. In March 2005, EU broadcasting regulators agreed also to ban all al Manar satellite broadcasts from Europe.

According to Israeli sources both France and Germany remain major recruiting and fund raising centers for Hizbollah in Europe. Numerous European charities have reportedly been engaged in raising and forwarded money for Hizbollah. These have included such charitieds as the Lebanese Islamic Association, the al-Shahid Social Relief Institution, the Help Foundation, The Lebanese Welfare Committee, and the Association of the Righteous. These and similar charities operate openly in several European countries. Germany did eventually act to close down al-Shahid Social Relief Institution after it had been linked also to funding Hamas.

It's not that the French deny that Hezbollah's engages in terrorism. Rather, in the word's of one anonymous EU official “Can a political party elected by the Lebanese people be put on a terrorist list ...Now with Lebanon in a fragile state, is this the proper moment to take such a step?” But the EU Parliament has expressed a different view. On March 10th 2005 the EU parliament voted 473 to 8 to approve a non binding consultative resolution calling on the EU Commission to “take all needed measures to put an end to the terrorist activities of this group.”

In weighing now whether to move ahead on designating Hizbollah as a terrorist organization the EU should take heed of its own recently adopted European Convention Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism. The Preamble of that convention recognizes that >" terrorist offences and the offences set forth in this Convention, by whoever perpetrated, are under no circumstances justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or other similar nature, and recalling the obligation of all Parties to prevent such offences and, if not prevented, to prosecute and ensure that they are punishable by penalties which take into account their grave nature."

July 20, 2006 08:24 PM
The Lebanon Evacuation Window
By Walid Phares

As I have witnessed previous evacuations in Lebanon for about two decades, and as I am monitoring the ongoing evacuations of Western and American citizens by US and European military, I was able to establish a security map through which the evacuation is taking place. In short it is happening in a very dangerous geopolitical context, more than many believed it would be.

South of Beirut and Bekaa

As shown on the map, evacuating persons from Hizbollah-controlled areas faces significant dangers. The confrontations between the Israeli Air Force and Hizbollah's militia can impede transportation in these areas and would endanger the ships coming closer to the shores just south of Beirut. Hence, the entire coastal area south of the capital is off any landing zone. In addition all areas shown in yellow, under Hizbollah control, are also off staging areas for helicopter evacuations. In addition, helicopter landings in the south and the Bekaa plateau are not possible on security grounds.

The North

Areas in the extreme north including in Tripoli's port and the districts surrounding are also dangerous for evacuation operations as pro-Syrian elements are omnipresent.

Al Qaida Factor

In addition to Hizbollah's risk, which most likely won't develop at this stage because of the need of the organization to appear as legitimate worldwide, another high danger is potential: al Qaida. Surfacing from underneath Hizbollah, al Qaida allied cells are present in the Palestinian bases along the southern coast and in the far north as of Tripoli. Even against the will of Hizbollah, al Qaida operatives can -if they decide so- launch attacks against US and other Western units coming close to the shores in these areas. These targets would be ideal to al Qaida as they fulfill their desire to attack US military and citizens.

Map of Evacuation Dangers from MSNBC interview with Walid Phares
(click to enlarge)



Read More »




The Window

While very few audiences in the world notice it, there is a narrow geographical window in Lebanon more secure for the ongoing evacuation process. It stretches from the Beirut Port in East Beirut to the Batroun Port in the North: about 65 km of coastlines, where US and Western military and other personnel can land, circulate and organize its logistics relatively safely. One, there are no significant sympathizers to Hizbollah and almost no presence to al Qaida. Besides, the populations of these mountainous and waterfront zones are strongly anti-Syrian. They have formed the majority of the marchers of the historic March 14 demonstration. The core of the Cedars Revolution, these areas have had a dire history of bombardments by the Syrian occupation army during 1976-1990. Western military and evacuees can enjoy a 20 km depth into the mountains as well. Technically, this "zone" can offer launching pads for helicopters and obviously the two major ports of Beirut and Juniah for ship operations. In addition, the Shuf Mountains can secure landing zones for helicopters for the purpose of evacuation process, if needed.

Future Threats

However, in the future these areas, from the Cedars peaks to Beirut and throughout Mount Lebanon to the Shuf district, may well become targets for Hizbollah infiltration and pro-Syrian penetration. For the anti-Western axis in Lebanon would need to secure these zones so that no anti-Syrian areas can obstruct their war with Israel, which dramatically may put these region under Israeli military activities. In fact all depends on the Lebanese Government's readiness to deploy the Lebanese Army solidly in these relatively "secure" areas before the international community equips the Government with needed tools to deeply the Army into the Hizbollah zones in the future.

Evacuation Window

In sum, US and allied forces, in coordination with Lebanon's Government security, are now operating a challenging rescue operation to extract up to 20,000 citizens from Lebanon. The operation is delicate as it factors monitoring the transportation of US and European citizens from regions as diverse as one can imagine into Beirut Port and the helicopters pads in a variety of spots. The operation, protected by Western ships and jets ready to fly, has established a maritime bridge with Cyprus. As I traveled by boat and by helicopter between Lebanon and Cyprus, sometimes under direct artillery action by the Syrians in the 1980s, I realize how dramatic this voyage can be. In the 1980s, the travelers were embarking on commercial ships with no Navy escort, under shelling by the long-range Syrian artillery. The first hour of voyage was the most dangerous, for the shells menaced lives from the port's docks to about 15 miles off the coasts.

Today's evacuees are lucky to be transported by the most powerful military in the world and under the reporting of most world media, two insurance policies non-existent at the time. Those US and Western citizens are traversing waters a few miles from where al Qaida cells would have potentially launched attacks, and not far from areas dominated by Hizbollah, now busy fighting Israel, and not yet set on harming Americans and creating another "act of war" with it.

Dr Walid Phares is a Senior Fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the author of Future Jihad.


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July 20, 2006 03:21 PM Link TrackBack (1)

Hezbollah
Europe, potential target for Hezbollah terror attacks
By Olivier Guitta

Two European countries are especially worried about the potential implications of the Hezbollah-Syria-Iran vs Israel war. They are Germany and France.

First, German security services are on the lookout for a potential Hezbollah terror campaign because of the heavy precense of Hezbollah cells and Syrian secret service within Germany. The fact that Europe is viewed by Iran as endorsing the Israeli counterattack, might push the mullahs to order their proxies to hit European cities.

Regarding France, even though President Chirac has been quick to criticize Israel's response, he has nonetheless been forceful in calling for disarming Hezbollah. For more on that please view my Brookings paper on France and Hezbollah: The end of the affair. Keep in mind that Hezbollah has already a history of attacking Paris: in 1986 a terror campaign ordered by Iran and using Hezbollah operatives killed 13 and injured hundreds. French security services are worried of a possible redux: in fact Hezbollah operatives had flown in from Lebanon, used homegrown cells for logistics and flew back after the bombings. As much as France is very well informed on Sunni terrorism (mostly Algerian), they are almost flying blind on Shia terrorism.

July 20, 2006 12:23 PM Link TrackBack (1)

DEBKAfile Exclusive: Jordan alerts Israel to a Hamas team heading for a large-scale terror attack in Israel prompting the defense minister’s West Bank closure Thursday

July 20, 2006, 11:57 PM (GMT+02:00)

Jordanian military intelligence relayed information that Hamas had recruited a bomb team in the kingdom. It was on its way to cross into Israel for the strike. Israeli and Jordanian border troops are on a high state of preparedness. The potential targets are the southern port of Eilat, its Arava main road link to the north, the Dead Sea, or the Beit Shean Valley on the Jordan River. This information led defense minister Amir Peretz to announce the closure of the West Bank Thursday, July 20.

Israeli security officials have grounds to suspect that the latest Hamas terror initiative is coordinated with Hizballah’s war in the north via the Lebanese group’s operational officers stationed in Nablus and Gaza
Copyright 2000-2006 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/world/mi...ast/21tyre.html

Airstrikes
In Scramble to Evade Israeli Bombs, the Living Leave the Dead Behind
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: July 21, 2006
TYRE, Lebanon, July 20 — Carpenters are running out of wood for coffins. Bodies are stacked three or four high in a truck at the local hospital morgue. The stench is spreading in the rubble.

Attacks, Day by Day
More Multimedia: Israel | Middle East The morbid reality of Israel’s bombing campaign of the south is reaching almost every corner of this city. Just a few miles from the Rest House hotel, where the United Nations was evacuating civilians on Thursday, wild dogs gnawed at the charred remains of a family bombed as they were trying to escape the village of Hosh, officials said.

Officials at the Tyre Government Hospital inside a local Palestinian refugee camp said they counted the bodies of 50 children among the 115 in the refrigerated truck in the morgue, though their count could not be independently confirmed.

Abdelmuhsin al-Husseini, Tyre’s mayor, announced on Thursday that any bodies not claimed in the next two days by next of kin would be buried temporarily in a mass grave near the morgue until they could receive a proper burial once the fighting ends.

“I am asking the families, if they can come here, to claim the bodies,” said Mr. Husseini, whose bloodshot eyes hinted at his mad scramble to secure food rations and bring some order to the city. “Otherwise, we have no choice but to bury them in mass graves.”

With the roads and bridges to many surrounding villages bombed out, few families have come to the hospital to claim their dead.

Even if they could make the journey, they would fear being hit by airstrikes along the way, Mr. Husseini said. Emergency workers have been unwilling to brave the risk of recovering many bodies left along the road, leaving them to rot.

For those relatives who reach the morgue, conducting a proper burial is impossible while the bombing continues. Many have opted to leave the bodies at the morgue until the conflict ends.

The morgue has had to order more than 100 coffins with special handles to make it easier to remove them from the ground to be reburied later.

“What? He wants a hundred?” a local carpenter said, half shocked, half perplexed. “Where the hell am I going to get enough wood to build that many coffins?”

At the hospital, members of the medical staff now find themselves dealing with the dead more than saving the living.

“This hospital is working like a morgue more than a hospital,” said Hala Hijazi, a volunteer whose mother is an anesthesiologist at the hospital. Lately, Ms. Hijazi said, she has begun to recognize some of the faces arriving here as the scale of the Israeli bombings has continued to widen. “A lot of the people are from Tyre, and we know some of them,” she said of the bodies.

A pall overtook Tyre on Thursday, as United Nations peacekeepers loaded more than 600 United Nations employees, foreigners and Lebanese onto a ferry to Cyprus, then promptly packed up their makeshift evacuation center at the Rest House and left for their base in the town of Naqura.

Hundreds descended on the hotel on Wednesday, desperate to board the ferry. Despite fears that many would be left behind, almost all who sought refuge were able to board the ship Thursday.

But as the last United Nations peacekeepers left town on Thursday, those who remained braced for an even heavier bombardment.

For Ali and Ahmad al-Ghanam, brothers who have taken shelter in a home just a few blocks from the morgue, the refrigerated truck of dead bodies is a vivid reminder of the attack that killed 23 members of their family.

When Israeli loudspeakers warned villagers to evacuate the village of Marwaheen last Saturday, the families packed their belongings and headed for safety. More than 23 of them piled into a pickup and drove toward Tyre, with the brothers trailing behind. Another group set off for a nearby United Nations observation post, but were promptly turned away.

As the pickup raced to Tyre, Ali al-Ghanam said, Israeli boats shelled their convoy, hitting the car and injuring the women and children in the back. But within minutes an Israeli helicopter approached the car, firing a missile that blew the truck to pieces as the passengers struggled to jump out, he said.

His brother Mohammad, his wife and their six children, were killed instantly along with several of their relatives. The only survivor in the car was the brothers’ 4-year-old niece, who survived with severe burns to much of her body.

“The dead stayed in the sun for hours until anyone could come and collect them,” Mr. Ghanam said. “The Israelis can’t understand that we are people, too. Should they wonder why so many of us support the resistance?” he said, speaking of Hezbollah.

The 23 bodies now lie in the truck, waiting to be buried. Mr. Ghanam said it would be impossible for them to be buried in their village while the bombing continued. Holding a funeral is impossible, but even digging a grave could attract fire, he said, assuming the remaining family were able to return to the village.

The brothers walked to the hospital on Thursday to sign documents allowing the hospital to bury the bodies in a mass grave.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/20/D8IVPE9G1.html
Russia Criticizes Israel for Offensive
Jul 20 10:44 AM US/Eastern
Email this story

By ANTON TROIANOVSKI
Associated Press Writer


MOSCOW


Russia on Thursday sharply criticized Israel for its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, saying it went "far beyond the boundaries of an anti-terrorist operation" and repeating calls for an immediate cease-fire.

The Foreign Ministry said Russia affirms the need to fight terrorism and called for the immediate release of captive Israeli soldiers, but it added that "the unprecedented scale of the casualties and destruction" in Lebanon indicates that Israel is using too much force.



The comment echoed a statement by President Vladimir Putin, who said while hosting a summit of the Group of Eight nations Saturday that Russia had the impression Israel was "pursuing wider goals" than the return of abducted soldiers.

While G-8 leaders cobbled together a statement on the Mideast conflict in a bid to display unity, the criticism of Israel and the cease-fire call contrasted with the U.S. stance. Washington has rejected calls for an immediate cease-fire and blamed Hezbollah for the conflict's intensity.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said "international humanitarian law" demands that strikes be launched only against military targets, even if there are suspicions that civilian facilities could be used to support military actions.

Russia has consistently rejected Western accusations that it has used too much force during its wars against rebels in Chechnya, in which thousands of civilians have been killed. The Kremlin refers to the conflict in Chechnya as an anti-terrorist operation.

The statement also echoed Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's calls for an immediate cease-fire, saying it was a "first step that cannot be delayed." The United States has said Israel has the right to defend itself and that what is needed is a "meaningful" cease-fire.

A cease-fire would allow civilians to safely leave areas affected by the fighting, the ministry said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov met Thursday in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who said Syria was prepared to help promote a cease-fire, according to another Foreign Ministry statement.

But Israel's ambassador to Russia rejected the notion of an immediate cease-fire, saying it would not end the Hezbollah threat.

"Let's say a cease-fire is declared tomorrow _ 8,000 rockets will continue to threaten Israel," Ambassador Arkady Mil-Man told a news conference. "The essence of Hezbollah won't change overnight."

Mil-Man also underscored Israel's friendship with Russia, while criticizing Russia for not recognizing Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist organizations.

"We believe it's wrong and it's not helping things," Mil-Man said of Russia's position.

Russia is prepared to provide Lebanon with urgent humanitarian aid, the Foreign Ministry said.

It also said that Russia hoped the U.N. Security Council would take a broad approach to the growing crisis, warning that "it is unlikely to be successfully overcome" if efforts to tackle the problem do not encompass all its aspects.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/print?id=2218162



U.S. Opposed to Cease-Fire With Hezbollah
Despite Pressure From World Powers and U.N., U.S. Holds Line Against Cease-Fire Deal With Hezbollah
By ANNE GEARAN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The United States held the line Thursday against a quick cease-fire deal in the Middle East, increasingly isolated as world powers and the United Nations demanded an immediate end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was meeting Thursday night with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who earlier in the day denounced both Israel and Hezbollah and called for both sides to stop fighting immediately.


"He was talking about a cessation of violence in the context of a lasting, durable solution, which is exactly what we have been talking about," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.


The Bush administration is playing down expectations for Rice's upcoming trip to the Mideast, saying she will not shuttle among capitals to broker a deal.


"You're not going to see a return to the kind of diplomacy, I think, that we've seen before where you try to negotiate an end to the violence that leaves the parties in place and where you have status quo ante," McCormack said.


Administration officials also questioned whether a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah is even feasible.


"We'd love to have a cease-fire," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. "But Hezbollah has to be part of it. And at this point, there's no indication that Hezbollah intends to lay down arms."


John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said it was time for the Security Council to start considering a response, but he, too, ruled out a cease-fire.


"I think it's a very fundamental question how a terrorist group agrees to a cease-fire," Bolton said. "How do you hold a terrorist group accountable? Who runs the terrorist group? Who makes the commitments that the terrorist group will abide by a cease-fire? What does a terrorist group think a cease-fire is?"


Hezbollah is an Islamic militant group that does not recognize Israel as a state. It holds effective military and political control over southern Lebanon, and is the most potent political force on Lebanon's fractured political landscape.


The Bush administration has repeatedly said that a temporary or quickly negotiated cease-fire would leave Hezbollah able to regroup and rearm after more than a week of Israeli missile attacks.


Israel, and Washington as its closest ally, insist that any settlement must deal with the underlying threat posed to Israel by Hezbollah's control of southern Lebanon. The Bush administration is trying to hold off international pressure for as long as possible, while also asking Israel to consider the consequences of its actions for civilians.


More than 300 people have died in Lebanon, most of them civilians, since Israel began retaliatory rocket attacks after Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers last week.


The House voted 410-8 on Thursday to support Israel in its confrontation with Hezbollah guerrillas. The resolution also condemns enemies of the Jewish state.


House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, cited Israel's "unique relationship" with the United States as a reason for his colleagues to go on record swiftly supporting Israel in the latest flare-up of violence in the Mideast.


Little of the political divisiveness in Congress on other national security issues was evident as lawmakers embraced the Bush administration's position.


So strong was the momentum for the resolution that it was steamrolling efforts by a small group of House members who argued that Congress's pro-Israel stance goes too far.


The nonbinding resolution is similar to one the Senate passed Tuesday. It harshly condemns Israel's enemies and says Syria and Iran should be held accountable for providing Hezbollah with money and missile technology used to attack Israel.



Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures

http://www.counterpunch.org/



July 21, 2006

A perilous excursion into the distant past, starting seven whole weeks ago

Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel: Everything You Need To Know

By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

As the tv networks give unlimited airtime to Israel’s apologists, the message rolls out that no nation, least of all Israel, can permit bombardment or armed incursion across its borders without retaliation.

The guiding rule in this tsunami of drivel is that the viewers should be denied the slightest access to any historical context, or indeed to anything that happened prior to June 28, which was when the capture of an Israeli soldier and the killing of two others by Hamas hit the headlines, followed soon thereafter by an attack by a unit of Hezbollah’s fighters.

Memory is supposed to stop in its tracks at June 28, 2006.

Let’s go on a brief excursion into pre-history. I’m talking about June 20, 2006, when Israeli aircraft fired at least one missile at a car in an attempted extrajudicial assassination attempt on a road between Jabalya and Gaza City. The missile missed the car. Instead it killed three Palestinian children and wounded 15.

Back we go again to June 13, 2006. Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a van in another attempted extrajudicial assassination. The successive barrages killed nine innocent Palestinians.

Now we’re really in the dark ages, reaching far, far back to June 9, 2006, when Israel shelled a beach in Beit Lahiya killing 8 civilians and injuring 32.

That’s just a brief trip down Memory Lane, and we trip over the bodies of twenty dead and forty-seven wounded, all of them Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Israel regrets… But no! Israel doesn’t regret in the least. Most of the time it doesn’t even bother to pretend to regret. It says, “We reserve the right to slaughter Palestinians whenever we want. We reserve the right to assassinate their leaders, crush their homes, steal their water, tear out their olive groves, and when they try to resist we call them terrorists intent on wrecking the ‘peace process’”.

Now Israel says it wants to wipe out Hezbollah. It wishes no harm to the people of Lebanon, just so long as they’re not supporters of Hezbollah, or standing anywhere in the neighborhood of a person or a house or a car or a truck or a road or a bus or a field, or a power station or a port that might, in the mind of an Israeli commander or pilot, have something to do with Hezbollah. In any of those eventualities all bets are off. You or your wife or your mother or your baby get fried.

Israel regrets… But no! As noted above, it doesn’t regret in the least. Neither does George Bush, nor Condoleezza Rice nor John Bolton who is the moral savage who brings shame on his country each day that he sits as America’s ambassador (unconfirmed) at the UN and who has just told the world that a dead Israel civilian is worth a whole more in terms of moral outrage than a Lebanese one.

None of them regrets. They say Hezbollah is a cancer in the body of Lebanon. Sometimes, to kill the cancer, you end up killing the body. Or bodies. Bodies of babies. Lots of them. Go to the website fromisraeltolebanon.info and take a look. Then sign the petition on the site calling on the governments of the world to stop this barbarity.

You can say that Israel brought Hezbollah into the world. You can prove it too, though this too involves another frightening excursion into history.

This time we have to go far, almost unimaginably far, back into history. Back to 1982, before the dinosaurs, before CNN, before Fox TV, before O’Reilly and Limbaugh. But not before the neo-cons who at that time had already crawled from the primal slime and were doing exactly what they are doing now: advising an American president to give Israel the green light to “solve its security problems” by destroying Lebanon.

In 1982 Israel had a problem. Yasir Arafat, headquartered in Beirut, was making ready to announce that the PLO was prepared to sit down with Israel and embark on peaceful, good faith negotiations towards a two-state solution.

Israel didn’t want a two-state solution, which meant -- if UN resolutions were to be taken seriously -- a Palestinian state right next door, with water, and contiguous territory. So Israel decided chase the PLO right out of Lebanon. It announced that the Palestinian fighters had broken the year-long cease-fire by lobbing some shells into northern Israel.

Palestinians had done nothing of the sort. I remember this very well, because Brian Urquhart, at that time assistant secretary general of the United Nations, in charge of UN observers on Israel’s northern border, invited me to his office on the 38th floor of the UN hq in mid-Manhattan and showed me all the current reports from the zone. For over a year there’d been no shelling from north of the border. Israel was lying.

With or without a pretext Israel wanted to invade Lebanon. So it did, and rolled up to Beirut. It shelled Lebanese towns and villages and bombed them from the air. Sharon’s forces killed maybe 20,000 people, and let Lebanese Christians slaughter hundreds of Palestinian refugees in the camps of Sabra and Chatilla.

The killing got so bad that even Ronald Reagan awoke from his slumbers and called Tel Aviv to tell Israel to stop. Sharon gave the White House the finger by bombing Beirut at the precise times -- 2.42 and 3.38 -- of two UN resolutions calling for a peaceful settlement on the matter of Palestine.

When the dust settled over the rubble, Israel bunkered down several miles inside Lebanese sovereign territory, which it illegally occupied, in defiance of all UN resolutions, for years, supervising a brutal local militia and running its own version of Abu Graibh, the torture center at the prison of Al-Khiam.

Occupy a country, torture its citizens and in the end you face resistance. In Israel’s case it was Hezbollah, and in the end Hezbollah ran Israel out of Lebanon, which is why a lot of Lebanese regard Hezbollah not as terrorists but as courageous liberators.

The years roll by and Israel does its successful best to destroy all possibility of a viable two-state solution. It builds illegal settlements. It chops up Palestine with Jews-only roads. It collars all the water. It cordons off Jerusalem. It steals even more land by bisecting Palestinian territory with its “fence”. Anyone trying to organize resistance gets jailed, tortured, or blown up.

Sick of their terrible trials, Palestinians elect Hamas, whose leaders make it perfectly clear that they are ready to deal on the basis of the old two-state solution, which of course is the one thing Israel cannot endure. Israel doesn’t want any “peaceful solution” that gives the Palestinians anything more than a few trashed out acres surrounded with barbed wire and tanks, between the Israeli settlements whose goons can murder them pretty much at will.

So here we are, 24 years after Sharon did his best to destroy Lebanon in 1982, and his heirs are doing it all over again. Since they can’t endure the idea of any just settlement for Palestinians, it’s the only thing they know how to do. Call Lebanon a terror-haven and bomb it back to the stone age. Call Gaza a terror-haven and bomb its power plant, first stop on the journey back to the stone age. Bomb Damascus. Bomb Teheran.

Of course they won’t destroy Hezbollah. Every time they kill another Lebanese family, they multiply hatred of Israel and support for Hezbollah. They’ve even unified the parliament in Baghdad, which just voted unanimously -- Sunnis and Shi’ites and Kurds alike -- to deplore Israel’s conduct and to call for a ceasefire.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these little excursions into history, even though history is dangerous, which is why the US press gives it a wide birth. But even without the benefit of historical instruction, a majority of Americans in CNN’s instant poll –- about 55 per cent out of 800,000 as of midday, July 19 -- don’t like what Israel is up to.

Dislike is one thing, but at least in the short term it doesn’t help much. Israel’s 1982 attack on Lebanon grew unpopular in the US, after the first few days. But forcing the US to pressure Israel to settle the basic problem takes political courage, and virtually no US politician is prepared to buck the Israel lobby, however many families in Lebanon and Gaza may be sacrificed on the altar of such cowardice.

Israel launches barbaric action against the people of Lebanon

By George Galloway

Imagine if Lebanon destroyed every bridge in Israel, blew up the international airport, blockaded the ports, severed every arterial road, ordered people to leave their homes and then bombed them to pieces when they did... Do you think any Western leader would utter the words “Lebanon has a right to defend itself”?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14113.htm


“The dead are rotting in the rubble of smashed homes”

By Mike Whitney

Lebanon 7-20-06: 300 dead, 20,000 wounded, 500,000 displaced by Israeli aggression; vast swathes of the infrastructure in complete ruins; including airports, the highway grid, electrical power stations, sea-ports, factories, housing units and apartments, and all major bridges and highways. The Los Angeles Times reports, “Civil structure appears to have broken down almost completely. Ambulances have not been able to operate.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14125.htm


Collective Punishment Isn't Self-Defense

By Ted Rall

Neither the United States nor Israel is equivalent to Nazi Germany, yet both countries have adopted a Nazi-like obsession with collective punishment.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14122.htm


Betrayal of the Empire or Fealty to Humanity?

By Jason Miller

Only in a world where the de facto ruler is a White male (with a red-neck mentality and an IQ well below triple digits) could Israel’s barbaric response to feeble Palestinian rocket attacks (that had registered zero fatalities) and to the capture of three of its soldiers (who were complicit in genocidal acts) be considered an act of “self defense”.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14105.htm


Things Come ’Round in Mideast

By Tom Hayden

In this essay, veteran social activist Tom Hayden, drawing upon his own rude political awakening to the realities of Israeli and Middle East politics during the 1980s, warns that the Israel lobby in the U.S. aims to “roll back the clock” and “change the map” of the region and that its neoconservative supporters will probably try to use the current Middle East crisis to ignite a larger war against Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14103.htm


"No one will help me get them out":

Somewhere beneath the tangled mass of smashed concrete, steel rods, dust and the volcano-like crater left by an Israeli bomber lay the remains of Mrs Qudsi, her 30-year-old daughter-in-law and her three children aged from 4 to 11.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14112.htm


"Only civilians lived here":

Rubble, smoke and tangled webs of dangling electrical cables now reside in an area that formerly housed over 500,000 Lebanese, the aftermath of Israeli air strikes that have ravaged Beirut's southern suburbs and show no sign of ending.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?ar...=2&edition_id=1


Struggle to reach wounded:

The woman was fortunate. She made it to the hospital. But out in the hinterlands between the Israeli border and the Litani river, the heart of the war zone where the bombardment is most relentless, witnesses say casualties are dying untreated.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14124.htm


Thousands of Israeli troops invade S. Lebanon :

Two Israeli soldiers were killed and six others were wounded in heavy clashes with Hezbollah just inside south Lebanon, close to Moshav Avivim, on Thursday afternoon.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/740874.html


Lebanese army will fight any Israeli invasion: Defence minister:

The increasing signs of a ground war comes as Israeli aircraft attacked targets throughout Lebanon for the tenth successive day, bringing the Lebanese toll for the conflict to more than 340.
http://tinyurl.com/la697


'Lebanon war to go on until price too great' : -

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said war against "Hezbollah guerrillas" in Lebanon would continue until it was not "worth the price", an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday.
http://tinyurl.com/ryrwu


Let the slaughter continue:

Israel angry, US wary as Annan peace plan calls for ceasefire :

Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, mapped out a peace plan for Lebanon yesterday that produced a lukewarm response from Washington and ill-concealed fury from Israeli diplomats.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14104.htm


Britain and US defy demand for immediate ceasefire :

Two countries, the US and Britain, defiantly refused to back the international clamour for an immediate ceasfire between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas. Their ambivalence about civilian deaths in Lebanon has given Israel a powerful signal that it can continue its attacks with impunity.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10102.htm


Rafsanjani: Attacks against Lebanon, US-Israeli plan:

Tehran's substitute Friday prayers leader Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said here Friday that the Zionist regime's savage attacks against Lebanon was a "US-Israeli perhaps British" plan.
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-24/0607211024133611.htm


Tariq Ali: A protracted colonial war :

With US support, Israel is hoping to isolate and topple Syria by holding sway over Lebanon
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14117.htm


Thousands of Lebanese refugees flee from south: -

Thousands of Lebanese civilians fled north on Friday after Israel warned them to leave border villages and called up 3,000 army reserves in a possible prelude to a major ground offensive against Hizbollah guerrillas.
http://tinyurl.com/proy8


Russian, German Intelligence Services to Rescue Kidnapped Israeli Solders:

According to the DPA news agency, the German Federal Intelligence Agency (BND) — in tandem with Russian intelligence — is seeking to activate long-standing links to both Hamas and Hezbollah, said the Berlin Zeitung newspaper quoting unnamed officials.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14121.htm


Security men block big Cairo protest against Israel:

Fights broke out at the gate of al-Azhar mosque in Cairo on Friday when plainclothes security men stopped demonstrators taking to the streets with a protest against Israeli attacks on Lebanese and Palestinians.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L21869481.htm


Latin American demonstrators protest Israel offensive in Lebanon :

Protesters burned an Israeli flag Thursday outside the country's embassy in Venezuela and demanded an end to Israel's military offensive in Lebanon, while crowds also took to the streets in Mexico and El Salvador to press for a halt to the fighting.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/741148.html


Patrick J. Buchanan: No, this is not 'our war':

The last superpower is impotent in this war because we have allowed Israel to dictate to whom we may and may not talk. Thus, Bush winds up cussing in frustration in St. Petersburg that somebody should tell the Syrians to stop it. Why not pick up the phone, Mr. President?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14123.htm


Ron Paul: The Israel Resolution:

I follow a policy in foreign affairs called non-interventionism. I do not believe we are making the United States more secure when we involve ourselves in conflicts overseas. The Constitution really doesn't authorize us to be the policemen of the world, much less to favor one side over another in foreign conflicts.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14118.htm


Lebanon crisis reveals an Anti-Jewish Israeli State:

Members of the Israeli government including Prime Minister Olmert refer to themselves as Jews, who are champions of the Jewish State of Israel as Mr. Bush refers to himself as a "Christian" champion. However, the current crisis in Lebanon has nothing substantively to do with either Judaism or Christianity.
http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Fron...7/20/01210.html


14 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks:

Israeli troops have killed at least 14 Palestinians and injured dozens of people, including an Aljazeera technician, in the occupied Palestinian territories.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F2A...D10CAF09B0A.htm


Israeli occupation forces kill 4 Palestinians in Gaza attack:

A Hamas activist and three relatives were killed Friday in an explosion at his home in Gaza City, hospital officials said. Palestinians said the house was hit by an Israeli tank shell.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/072...lPals21-ON.html


Israeli occupation forces killed doctor in Nablus :

Israel Defense Occupation Forces soldiers killed a Palestinian doctor as he tried to help wounded protesters in the West Bank on Friday, witnesses and medics said.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14115.htm


Israeli Apartheid:

The ugly and racist realities of Israeli society and life under Israeli occupation are rarely discussed
http://www.blackcommentator.com/192/192_co...heid_dixon.html

Hundreds Of Civilians Killed in Lebanon

By Christian Henderson in Beirut

In the village of Sreefa near Naqoura at least 21 people were confirmed killed and 60 missing after Israeli rockets hit 13 homes yesterday.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14107.htm

Picture shows 76 coffins awaiting burial in Lebanon
ttp://www.videos.informationclearinghouse.info/lebpic/leb18.jpg


In Lebanon, the dead have to wait

TYRE, Lebanon Carpenters are running out of wood for coffins.

By Hassan M. Fattah

Bodies are stacked three or four high in a truck at the hospital morgue. The stench is spreading in the rubble.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14108.htm


This is not Dunkirk. This is Munich

By Robert Fisk:

These great warships had been sent here by Western leaders (Jacques Chirac excepted) too craven, too gutless, too immoral, to utter a single word of compassion for Lebanon's suffering.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14100.htm


Israel launches barbaric action against the people of Lebanon

By George Galloway

Imagine if Lebanon destroyed every bridge in Israel, blew up the international airport, blockaded the ports, severed every arterial road, ordered people to leave their homes and then bombed them to pieces when they did... Do you think any Western leader would utter the words “Lebanon has a right to defend itself”?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14113.htm


“The dead are rotting in the rubble of smashed homes”

By Mike Whitney

Lebanon 7-20-06: 300 dead, 20,000 wounded, 500,000 displaced by Israeli aggression; vast swathes of the infrastructure in complete ruins; including airports, the highway grid, electrical power stations, sea-ports, factories, housing units and apartments, and all major bridges and highways. The Los Angeles Times reports, “Civil structure appears to have broken down almost completely. Ambulances have not been able to operate.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14125.htm


Collective Punishment Isn't Self-Defense

By Ted Rall

Neither the United States nor Israel is equivalent to Nazi Germany, yet both countries have adopted a Nazi-like obsession with collective punishment.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14122.htm


Uncensored News Reports From Across The Middle East

QuickTime Video

Warning

This video contains images depicting the reality and horror of war and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

Click here to watch.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14109.htm


Betrayal of the Empire or Fealty to Humanity?

By Jason Miller

Only in a world where the de facto ruler is a White male (with a red-neck mentality and an IQ well below triple digits) could Israel’s barbaric response to feeble Palestinian rocket attacks (that had registered zero fatalities) and to the capture of three of its soldiers (who were complicit in genocidal acts) be considered an act of “self defense”.

Israeli troops mass at border Gulf Times
BEIRUT: Israel yesterday sent thousands more troops to the Lebanese border to stage ground incursions aimed at destroying Hezbollah positions, warning it would not rule out a full-scale invasion despite mounting calls for a ceasefire.Terror-stricken and exhausted residents of Lebanon’s south, battered after Israel’s 10-day air campaign, waved white scarves as they streamed to safer havens further north, as Israel issued another warning to flee the frontier zone. Despite criticism of US support for the bombardment, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed her rejection of the "false promise" of a ceasefire but said she would travel to the region tomorrow in search of a long-term solution. Lebanon said its army was ready to go into battle if Israel invaded, an action that would sharply raise the stakes in a conflict that in just 10 days has killed close to 340 people in Lebanon and forced over half a million to leave their homes. "The Lebanese army will resist and defend the country and prove that it is an army worthy of respect," said Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr, whose forces have so far stood on the sidelines of the conflict. Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz had warned that Israel would launch a full-scale ground invasion "without thinking twice" if necessary to crush Hezbollah, which has long been a thorn in the side of the Jewish state. The military said some 3,000 reservists had been called up. Spokesman Captain Yaacov Dalal said they would "clean up the border zone on the Lebanese side by limited operations aiming to destroy Hezbollah’s infrastructure." Operations on the ground were "indispensable because the air force can’t always destroy underground bunkers dug by Hezbollah, which has put in place an entire fortified network," he said. Dalal added that a major ground attack into Lebanon had not been ruled out. Jane’s Defence Weekly reported that intensive Israeli forces had done limited damage to Hezbollah’s defensive fortifications but had discovered a vast network of tunnels and trenches close to the border to shelter fighters. Hezbollah number two Sheikh Naim Qassem accused Israel of resorting "to killing civilians in order to secure a military achievement because it is afraid of a ground intervention." Israeli combat jets and artillery were back in action in raids that killed four people in the eastern town of Baalbek – a Hezbollah stronghold near the site of ancient Roman temple ruins – and one in the southern port city of Tyre. Two Israelis were also seriously wounded when rockets fired from Lebanon exploded in the northern port city of Haifa, the latest salvos in a deluge of nearly 1,000 rocket attacks since cross-border violence flared on July 12. The latest bloodshed came despite a call from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday for an immediate ceasefire after the worst cross-border fighting in a quarter century that has also killed 33 Israelis. Israeli troops had battled guerrillas long into the night on Thursday after mounting an incursion into Lebanon, leaving four soldiers dead. Israel’s chief of staff said the army was holding corpses of 13 Hezbollah fighters killed during the clashes and has killed "about 100" militants since July 12. Hezbollah said two fighters were killed in Thursday’s fighting. "We will not release the names of those we know," said General Dan Halutz. "We will leave it up to them to publish names they have (so far) not divulged." French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, on a visit to the region, issued appeals for a ceasefire and help for civilians, warning that the escalating conflict lead to a "catastrophe." Thousands of Lebanese, in cars, trucks and minibuses, are still fleeing southern Lebanon, where Israel’s massive bombardment has left a trail of destruction and raised fears of a shortage of food and medicines. "We cheated death when a missile nearly destroyed our house. We fled without taking anything, without bread or drinking water," said Mohamed Ali Boussa who fled his village with his family and neighbours in a van covered with a white sheet. Israel has imposed an air and sea blockade on Lebanon, put its only international airport out of action, bombed houses, roads, bridges, factories, warehouses and trucks, creating scenes reminiscent of the 1975-1990 civil war. "The most basic human rights of the population are at risk or are being violated, including their rights to life, health and food," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he was willing to open up a humanitarian corridor to ease the crisis. Lebanon also called on the United Nations to protect the country’s archaeological treasures – the World Heritage sites of Baalbek and Tyre – from Israel’s aerial onslaught. With no sign the international community is closer to brokering a ceasefire, thousands of foreigners are continuing to be evacuated by sea to Cyprus while others pour across the border into Syria. US Marines were out in force in Beirut for the first time in 22 years to help take American citizens to the neighbouring island of Cyprus which is being used as the evacuation in one of the biggest mass evacuations since World War II. The tiny Mediterranean island is however reeling from the influx, battling to find temporary accommodation and flights for the estimated 70,000 people expected to arrive from Lebanon at the height of the holiday season. Rice said she would meet Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the trip to the region and would then head to Rome for international talks on the crisis. Once more rejecting EU and Arab calls for an immediate ceasefire, Rice said: "I think we are beginning to see outlines of a political framework that might allow the cessation of violence in a more sustainable way. Israel, which has sent ground troops back into Lebanon for the first time since it ended its 22-year occupation in May 2000, has also been emboldened by strong public support at home. A poll published yesterday found that 95% of Israelis believed that the military action against Hezbollah, sparked by the capture of two Israeli soldiers 10 days ago, was "justified and correct". But even in Israel, doubts were emerging about the effectiveness of an offensive that has failed to stop Hezbollah fire. Israel is also pushing on with its air, sea and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip, where at least 106 people have been killed in two weeks, and warned civilians that homes storing weaponry were now targets. The operation was launched with the aim of retrieving a soldier snatched by Palestinian guerrillas and stopping rocket fire. – AFP
Rice announces Mideast visit, rejects ceasefire calls Turkish Press
Rice Rejects Quick Fix in Mideast Forbes
ABC News - Washington Times - Toronto Star - Khaleej Times - all 816 related »

Israeli Troops Take Over Lebanese Village ABC News
Israeli Troops Take Over Border Village, Warplanes Blast Communications Towers in LebanonON THE ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER Jul 22, 2006 (AP)— Israeli troops backed by artillery and tank fire seized control of a Lebanese border village on Saturday and recovered weapons from another town in Hezbollah territory, military officials said. After Maroun al-Ras was taken, Israeli soldiers in armored personal carriers traveled to and from the village, but there was no large-scale movement. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said several soldiers were involved in the raid. They did not say what sort of resistance the troops encountered, but at one point Israel bombed an Hezbollah outpost near the village. The raid was part of Israel's wider strategy of running a "limited" ground operation aimed at destroying Hezbollah's tunnels, hideouts and weapons stashes. Israeli warplanes also blasted communications and television transmission towers in central and northern Lebanese mountains Saturday, police said. Fighter bombers fired missiles at the transmission station at Fatqa in the Keserwan mountains, knocking out transmission antennas. Within seconds, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp., the nation's leading private network, went off the air. Another airstrike crippled a transmission tower at Terbol in northern Lebanon, police said. It was not clear what damage that attack caused. In Marwahin, also along the border, Israeli troops recovered anti-tank missiles, a launcher, and other weapons used by the Shiite militants to strike Israel. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets at northern Israeli towns, killing 16 civilians and forcing hundreds of thousands of Israelis to repeatedly flee into bunkers. On Saturday, rockets struck Karmiel and Kiriyat Shemona, injuring seven people. Air ward sirens also sounded in Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, along with smaller towns. An official from the U.N. monitoring force in south Lebanon said that between 300 and 500 Israeli troops are believed to be in the western sector of the border a likely precursor to a larger ground force that Israel could use to sweep Hezbollah out of the area. The group's capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12 touched off Israel's heaviest bombardment of Lebanon in 24 years. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced plans to visit the Middle East on Sunday, but ruled out a quick cease-fire as a "false promise." She was headed Saturday to Rome for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the Palestinian president and U.S. allies. Israel's goal is not to create a buffer zone as it did during its occupation of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000, said a senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the topic's military sensitivity. Rather, Israel wants to weaken Hezbollah to make it easier for the Lebanese army to move into areas previously controlled by the guerrillas, possibly with the aid of a beefed-up international peacekeeping force, the official said. On Friday, Israel knocked out a key bridge on the road to Syria and pummeled Hezbollah positions in the south as long lines of tanks and armored personnel carriers lined up at the border in some places close enough to see Lebanese homes on the other side. Ships lined up at Beirut's port as a massive evacuation effort to pull out Americans and other foreigners picked up speed. U.S. officials said more than 8,000 of the roughly 25,000 Americans in Lebanon will be evacuated by the weekend.
By BENJAMIN HARVEY
Lebanese fleeing south amid attacks AZ Central.com
Signs of ground strike growing Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (subscription)
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Hezbollah wins hearts in Gaza BBC News, Gaza City
While Israeli forces fight militants across its northern border, and the Israeli public waits for the return of its captured soldiers, the other fight - and the search for Israel's other captured soldier - has been continuing in Gaza, to the south.The posters on the walls of the Palestine Liberation Organisation shop tell the story in life-size techni-colour. Alongside the portrait of the late Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, these days are two pictures of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Inside the shop, owner Ahmed Abu-Dayyeh points out the Hezbollah stickers and giant posters nestling amongst Arafat mugs and Palestinian flags. It is the new Lebanese items that are in greatest demand now, he says. Many are being bought up by demonstrators, taking part in weekly rallies in support of Hassan Nasrallah and his Islamic army. In the northern town of Beit Lahiya today, hundreds paraded through the streets after Friday prayers, waving the black and yellow flags of Hezbollah and chanting slogans in support of its leader. Gazans feel intimately involved in events on Israel's northern border. Many see it as two fronts in the same battle. And they see Hassan Nasrallah as a leader, not only of Hezbollah, but also of the Palestinians. "As a leader, I feel he's better than our leaders," says Mohammed Zaqud, as the demonstration passes Beit Lahiya's main square. "He's more credible, more organised, and they have more capabilities." "He retaliates on our behalf," another woman tells me. "He retaliates for those killed by the Israelis, families killed by Israeli shelling."

United again
These kinds of sentiments may not be wholly welcomed by the Palestinians' new ruling party, the militant group Hamas. But it too has gained something from the current situation. Many Palestinians are frustrated with the failures of their new, elected government. Hamas, elected by a landslide in January, had promised to end corruption and improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians.Instead, Western donors blocked aid to the Palestinian Authority, and clashes between Hamas and their main political rival Fatah led to gunfights in Gaza's streets. Before the current crisis, many Palestinians were disillusioned with their new democracy - and their divided leaders. Now, Palestinians are again united against their powerful neighbour. The picture in Gaza these days is an old one: Israeli soldiers in Gaza's refugee camps, militants in the streets. And the dance between them has settled into a loose rhythm. Israeli tanks roll into an area, stay for a day or two and roll out again, only to reappear somewhere else. And in the process, people are dying. This week was the turn of the Maghazi camp in central Gaza. For two days, tanks bulldozed houses and pulled up power lines at the eastern edge of the camp, while in the centre, Israeli snipers exchanged fire with Palestinian militants, bunched on street corners, nervously eyeing every vehicle that passed. And then, after the withdrawal, the funerals. Fifteen were held in Maghazi. Among those buried were civilians, including a woman and her daughter. The conflict might have focused attention on Israel, but it has not solved Gaza's problems, or lessened the grief.
By Lucy Williamson

'Israeli fire' kills four in Gaza BBC News
Four Palestinians have been killed in a blast in Gaza that witnesses say was caused by an Israeli tank shell. The house targeted in the blast, in the Shajaiyeh district, belonged to a known Hamas activist, locals quoted by the Associated Press news agency said.At least three people are said to have been hurt in the explosion. Israel launched its military offensive in the Gaza Strip three weeks ago after a soldier was captured by militants linked to Hamas's military wing. Cpl Gilad Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid near the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military has not confirmed its involvement in the latest incident. Hamas sources said the blast had killed a militant from their group, as well as his mother and two of her grandchildren. The house which was destroyed is near the Karni crossing point where Israeli troops and tanks have been massed for the past three weeks. Israeli bulldozers are reported to be in the area as the search for tunnels and weapons continues. They said Israeli helicopters had also attacked the area. The blast in Shajaiyeh came hours after Israeli forces ended a two-day assault on the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza in which they killed at least 14 Palestinian militants and civilians.

Minister condemns Israeli action BBC News
Foreign Office minister Kim Howells has criticised Israel's bombardment of Lebanon, while on a visit to Beirut.He said Israel had not carried out "surgical strikes" and attacking the Lebanese nation was not the answer. Earlier he said that attempts were being made to engage with all parties and a demand for an immediate ceasefire would be a "meaningless gesture". Meanwhile thousands of people across the UK are joining demonstrations against Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Eleven rallies were organised by groups such as Stop The War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain. A rally to show solidarity with people in northern Israel - areas of which have been hit by Hezbollah rockets - is being held on Sunday by the Board of Deputies of British Jews.Mr Howells visited one of the last evacuation ships in Beirut, as the operation to get Britons out of the country winds down. His criticism of Israel contrasted with Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who rejected calls to condemn Israel's actions earlier in the week. Ms Beckett said she had condemned Hezbollah but bowing to MPs' demands on criticising Israel was not the most effective policy. Mr Howells said: "I very much hope that the Americans understand what's happening to Lebanon. "The destruction of the infrastructure, the death of so many children and so many people. These have not been surgical strikes. "And it's very very difficult I think to understand the kind of military tactics that have been used. "You know, if they're chasing Hezbollah, then go for Hezbollah. You don't go for the entire Lebanese nation."

Buffer zone
Mr Howells said attempts were being made to engage with all parties and a demand for an immediate ceasefire would be a "meaningless gesture". Any plans for a stabilisation force or a buffer zone would be discussed fully before any proposals were put forward, he added. Mr Howell's comments came as former international development secretary Clare Short condemned US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Tony Blair's stance on the Middle East. "We had a debate on Thursday and most of those who spoke or intervened said that they thought Israel's response was disproportionate, that Britain should criticise, that there was a question of war crimes, that there should be a call for an immediate ceasefire," Ms Short told the BBC. "But as ever Tony Blair goes on regardless. There are demonstrations around the country today, we've got a government that doesn't listen to parliament or the people, and that simply follows behind George Bush who is really in such error. "Condoleezza Rice, talking about reshaping the Middle East, that is not possible. "All she is doing is enraging it, making more and more violence, more and more turbulence, more and more disorder." Former Labour special adviser at the Foreign Office David Clark told the BBC the crisis could not be solved by a ceasefire alone, because of the "deeper rooted problem" of Hezbollah. Israel has launched strikes against Lebanon following the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants, who have responded with rocket fire.

http://www.newsmax.com/scripts/printer_fri...3545.shtml?s=br

Report: U.S. Rushes Precision-Guided Bombs to Israel
NewsMax.com Wires
Saturday, July 22, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, The New York Times reported on Saturday.



Citing U.S. officials who spoke on Friday on condition of anonymity, the Times said the decision to ship the weapons quickly came after relatively little debate within the administration, and noted in its report that its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others who could perceive Washington as aiding Israel in the manner that Iran has armed Hezbollah.



The munitions are actually part of a multimillion-dollar arms-sale package approved last year which Israel is able to tap when it needs to, the officials told the Times. But some military officers said the request for expedited delivery was unusual and indicated that Israel has many targets it plans to hit in Lebanon.


The arms shipment has not been announced publicly. The officials who described the administration's decision to rush the munitions included employees of two government agencies, one of whom described the shipment as just one example of a broad array of armaments that the United States has long provided Israel, the Times said.




Pentagon and military officials declined to describe in detail the size and contents of the shipment to Israel, the newspaper said, and they would not say whether the munitions were being shipped by cargo aircraft or some other means. But one U.S. official said the shipment should not be compared to the kind of an "emergency resupply" of dwindling Israeli stockpiles that was provided during the Yom Kippur War, according to the Times report.



A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington told the Times: "We have been using precision-guided munitions in order to neutralize the military capabilities of Hezbollah and to minimize harm to civilians. As a rule, however, we do not comment on Israel's defense acquisitions."



© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.newsmax.com/scripts/printer_fri...4058.shtml?s=ic



Friday, July 21, 2006 3:35 p.m. EDT
Israeli Ambassador: No War with Syria or Iran


Israel's offensive in Lebanon is designed to destroy Hezbollah's weapons depots and command-and-control centers, effectively neutralizing the militia, Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon said Friday.


"I would say by and large about 40 percent of Hezbollah's capabilities are neutralized," the envoy said in an Associated Press interview. "Most of the long-range (missiles) have been hit, a lot of the medium range, but they still have thousands and thousands of rockets, short-range and others. It is not an easy operation."


Ayalon said Israel's drive has been slowed by its efforts not to hurt civilians or to inflict unnecessary damage on Lebanon's civilian infrastructure.


"The operation could be halted right away if we get the return of our soldiers," he said, referring to two soldiers abducted by Hezbollah. "We do not seek a long campaign."


Looking beyond the current operation, the ambassador said an international force would be needed eventually in Lebanon to guard against the introduction of more weapons and terrorists into the country.



He said that might be a NATO force on the model of the one deployed in Kosovo.


"It should be a forceful contingent that can monitor borders and ports and cover the Lebanese army to deploy in the south," Ayalon said.


Assessing Hezbollah's strength, he said, "For the first time in history there's a terrorist group" with military forces stronger than those of many countries in the region.


Ayalon said Israel would not strike deep into Lebanon with soldiers and tanks, concentrating instead on installations near its border.


Israel first must take out Hezbollah's command-and-control centers and weapons stockpiles before it can consider insertion of an international security force to stabilize the region, he said.

Ayalon described the Israeli military effort as a "mop up" operation, and said that Israel had no desire to repeat its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in 2000.


"They overplayed their hand, they miscalculated," Ayalon said of Hezbollah militants based in southern Lebanon and supported by Syria and Iran.


"This is a war not of our choosing," he said. "I do not see any Syria-Israel war or war with Iran at this point."




© 2006 Associated Press.

http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2006/0...3166583059.html




Israel falls into a dangerous trap
Date: July 22 2006


With the wisdom of Solomon, Israeli leaders would have held off responding to provocation, writes Akiva Eldar.

THERE is an assortment of telltale signs of the Iranian-Syrian scheme, executed by Hamas and Hezbollah, to ignite the Arab-Israeli arena. All of the signs converge on the G8 gathering in Russia. It is hard to tell which is more serious - that the political and military leadership of Israel saw the signs and disregarded them, or that it did not see them at all.

■On July 12, on the morning of the attack in northern Israel, the conservative Iranian newspaper Jomhuri Islami chose to print a speech given by the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, on May 23. He declared that "all of Israel is now within range of our missiles … Our presence in south Lebanon, contiguous to the northern part of occupied Palestine, is our most important stronghold."

■On July 11, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, staged a surprise visit to Damascus. Afterwards, the Syrian Vice-President, Farouk al-Shara, announced that "the resistance movements in Lebanon and in Palestine will make the decisions on their own affairs".

■The same day, the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, threatened the Western states in a television broadcast, warning them against supporting Israel, as "the fury of the Muslim peoples is not limited to the borders of the region".

"The waves of the explosion … will reach the corrupt forces that support this counterfeit regime."

■On July 3, Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the newspaper Kayhan and a close associate of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, wrote: "We mustn't respond to Israel's crimes only in Gaza, only in the occupied lands. Why should the Zionists feel secure when Muslims have no security?" He said the United Nations was ineffective, because "all of its laws are interpreted to the benefit of those who speak with militancy, and Israel's attack in the Gaza Strip merits a mere expression of sorrow".

■On June 16, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on an agreement on military co-operation between Syria and Iran "to repulse the threats [of the US and Israel]".

The newspaper reported that Iran had agreed to underwrite the purchase of military hardware for Syria from Russia, China and Ukraine, in addition to equipping the Syrian army with artillery, ammunition, military vehicles and missiles of Iranian manufacture. Iran would also help to train Syrian naval forces.

■Syria announced that it had extended previous agreements with Iran on easing the passage of trucks conveying Iranian weapons into Lebanon.

All of these signs were documented in the offices of the Middle East Media Research Institute, in Jerusalem. Yigal Carmon, the founder and director of the institute, made a call soon after the Hamas attack at Kerem Shalom to an Israeli cabinet minister with whom he is acquainted. He informed the minister of his hypothesis that Hamas's deviation from its ceasefire policy was related to the pressure being placed on Iran in relation to its nuclear program.

Carmon told the minister-friend he perceived an escalation in the threats voiced by Iran, increasing in volume as the deadline for Iran's response to the G8 on its nuclear program grew closer. He implored the minister to speak to his colleagues around the cabinet table, asking them to keep quiet until after a meeting in Brussels between the diplomatic co-ordinator of the European Union, Javier Solana, and Iran's Larijani.

"I told him it was important for the Europeans to understand that the Iranians have no intention of responding to the American compromise proposal," says Carmon. "I told him that, in my assessment, if there was an Iranian plan to repulse the international pressure, then we could expect a threat to develop on our northern sector as well."

Four days later, Hezbollah attacked along the Lebanese border, and Carmon once again asked for restraint. He predicted that, before long, Iran would unleash attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets around the world.

"We are witnessing a most serious failure of our leaders," he said.

"They allowed the state of Israel to fall into the Iranian trap by responding to Iran's provocation. It was intended to disrupt the discussions of the G8 that were supposed to form an international consensus against the Iranian nuclear program. A responsible leadership would have delayed the response by several weeks, and not played into the Iranians' hands.

"We missed the opportunity to expose the Iranian provocations before the G8, and the entire world. We can always go back and launch strikes in Lebanon later on. It would have been possible to set an ultimatum that if the soldiers are not returned within a short period of time, then we will do everything in our power to bring them back.

"The [Israeli] public is not stupid. It would have understood that a threat to 4 million people as a result of the Iranian nuclear program is more serious than the killing of soldiers in the north and the kidnapping of their comrades."

The explanation for Iran's stubborn insistence on delaying its response to the American proposal until August 22 can be found in the Iranian media. In the past few weeks, reports have been published about an imminent declaration by Ahmadinejad on a "significant development in Iran's nuclear capability".

Carmon estimated Iran might need another few weeks to finalise its capacity to fully or partially enrich uranium, independent of any other country. It might also have something to do with completing the development of advanced missiles.

"It worries me that even the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, doesn't understand that we aren't talking here about Hezbollah '"expletive deleted"', or about regional tensions, but about a crisis on a global scale," Carmon says.

A position paper released by the research institute this week said: "The current crisis has the makings of being able to create a new order in the region, or even a global conflict." It refers to the danger of the traditional allies of the US - Saudi Arabia and Egypt - losing their senior regional status to Iran, which is in the midst of an advanced process of acquiring nuclear capability.

At the same time, Russia, which is described as an ally of Iran, is once again taking up position against the US as a world power that wields influence in the Middle East and in Europe, where Russia is the principal supplier of oil and gas.

As such, the structure of a dual-superpower world is being revived, complete with all the rivalry between the Eastern and Western blocs in the Middle East that was characteristic of the Cold War era.

"There are no tricks here," Carmon said. "[Israel] is fighting against an Iranian militia, with the logistical support of Iran."

He is concerned that a few days from now, after it has finished wearing down Israel's air force, Iran, in cahoots with Russia, will "volunteer" to settle the crisis between Israel and Hezbollah, and in exchange would win the real prize - advancing its nuclear program.

This is an edited version of an article which first appeared in Ha'aretz. Alan Ramsey is on leave.


Story Picture:


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http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?Do...ge=../index.cfm



July 19, 2006

Israel’s Missile Defense Systems: MIA

Despite being inundated with volleys from Hezbollah – at writing, estimates range from 700 to 1,500 missiles and rockets launched at Israel in the past week – Israel’s two missile defense systems have been silent. Neither its Arrow system (co-developed with the United States) nor its version of the Patriot has been used in this conflict, largely because they are not designed to handle the kind of threat that Hezbollah represents. Hezbollah is shooting projectiles that have ranges mostly around 10 miles, while the missile defense systems are geared toward shooting down missiles that range from a couple hundred to roughly 1,000 miles.

Israel has a two-tiered missile defense system. The first, the Arrow Weapon System, is to intercept ballistic missiles in their final phase of flight. It would do so by shooting the U.S.-developed Arrow II interceptor at a threat. Once the Israel-developed Green Pine Fire Control Radar, Citron Tree Fire Control Center, and Hazel Nut Tree Launcher Center have sent the interceptor near the target, the Arrow II would blow up, with the hope that the fragments from the blast would either destroy the target or knock it sufficiently off course so that it would no longer remain a threat. There are two Arrow batteries deployed. One covers the center of Israel from its position in Palmahim, while the other in Ein Shemer is supposed to defend Israel’s northern territory. The Arrow systems do not move around very quickly and it is uncertain how much defense the two Arrow batteries would be able to provide to the southern part of the country.

Israel also has an early version of the U.S. Patriot missile defense system. The Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-2 is designed to defend against ballistic missile targets in their terminal phase as well; also, it would provide defense via a blast-fragmentation warhead (as opposed to the United States’ more advanced version, the PAC-3, which uses kinetic energy from a direct hit to provide a defense). The Patriot differs from the Arrow in that it aims at targets which are at lower altitudes.

The main reason why neither missile defense system has been used is because they are not designed to intercept short-range rockets. It is estimated that of the 13,000 or so rockets and missiles in Hezbollah’s arsenal, 11,000 of them are of the Katyusha type. These rockets have a short range – maybe up to nine miles or so – and a small warhead of roughly 40 pounds. Based on vintage Soviet technology, these rockets can be rolled out of a hiding place, shot, and rolled back in before any detection can be made. Their flight is over in seconds, making tracking difficult, much less shooting anything down. A system would have to be in exactly the right place to detect the missile once it is launched, then the defensive system would have to make a nearly instantaneous decision to respond, after which the interceptor would have to get to the target quickly enough to destroy it. It is an exceedingly difficult proposition when the flight times are as short as those launched by Hezbollah.

Hezbollah is thought to have received help from Iran on its weapon arsenal. Indeed, it has surprised the Israelis with what look to Iranian-origin Fajr 3’s, which can take a 200-pound warhead up to 25 miles, and Fajr 5’s, which can send a 385-pound warhead up to 45 miles. There were reports that Israel destroyed a launcher for a Zelzal missile in Beirut, thought to range 65 to 120 miles.

The biggest jump in Hezbollah’s capabilities was revealed when it targeted and hit an Israeli warship with a radar-seeking cruise missile. This level of technical prowess had been heretofore unknown by Hezbollah. On July 14, two missiles were launched at Israel’s Hanit, which was stationed roughly 10 miles off the coast of Lebanon. The first missile (C-801/802 Chinese “Silkworm” cruise missile) apparently was deliberately sent high so that the ship would deploy its defenses, allowing a second low-flying cruise missile, probably a C-701 TV guided missile, to come in unnoticed and make a direct hit. One Israeli soldier was killed in the attack. Furthermore, the first missile locked onto an Egyptian vessel about 30 miles off the shore of Lebanon and hit it, apparently following its radar after it flew over the Hanit.

This attack is reminiscent of 2003’s Operation Iraqi Freedom, where the Iraqi military jury-rigged several old Chinese Silkworms to fly over land against unsuspecting U.S. military bases.

Both of these instances underline a very important distinction: the missile defenses Israel has deployed at present, and that the United States had fielded at the time, were designed to detect, track, and intercept ballistic missiles. Ballistic missiles fly very different trajectories than cruise missiles. The latter fly more erratically, are lower to the ground, and are overall more difficult to track. Cruise missiles bring an entirely different level of threat to the situation.

Also, the Patriot and the Arrow tracking systems tend to get overloaded when there are too many air-borne targets to follow. Given that Hezbollah is sending up volleys of missiles and rockets, and that the Israeli air force has sent many of its aircraft on bombing raids against Lebanese territory, this air picture is extremely complicated and challenging for any system to pick out appropriate air-borne targets.

Finally, despite Israel’s two-tiered missile defense system, it is missing the capability to defend against short-range missiles. According to Uzi Rubin, the founder of the Arrow, it is not optimized for threats with ranges below 125 miles or so. In May, the Israeli government awarded a contract to a Raytheon/Rafael team to provide a defense against missiles with ranges of 24 to 155 miles. This new short-range ballistic missile defense system, which would use a direct intercept to destroy its targets, is supposed to also defend against cruise missiles. However, it is still in the very early planning stages, with its development continuing through 2010. In the meantime, Israel can defend itself the old-fashioned way: through conventional attacks on ground targets thought to be associated with Hezbollah or diplomatic forays.

# # #



Author(s): Victoria Samson

Views Complicated By Dual Loyalties

By Jonathan Finer

NAHARIYA, Israel, July 21 -- Along with almost every other resident of this seaside city, where more than 80 rockets have landed in the past week, the four old friends now spend their days in an underground bomb shelter, playing cards with their children and arguing about what the future holds.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

Rice Plans Talks on Crisis With Mideast Leaders

By Robin Wright

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday announced plans for talks with Israeli, Palestinian and Lebanese leaders as part of a new U.S. diplomatic effort in the Middle East conflict, but warned that the United States would not support a cease-fire that fell short of disarming Hezbollah and...

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

Road Through a Landscape of Death

By Anthony Shadid

DEIR QANUN AL-NAHR, Lebanon, July 21 -- A road of death and desolation coils through southern Lebanon.

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

For Troops, A Sense of Moral Clarity

By Scott Wilson

NEAR THE ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER, July 21 -- Lt. Col. Yosef Vilnai is a big, bluff man from Israel's coastal plain who was called up for reserve duty last week as the army he joined four decades ago went to war in Lebanon. His elation in fighting this new war, one with a clear front line and firm...

To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle

Israeli army continue Lebanon offensive By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press Writer
18 minutes ago



Israeli tanks and hundreds of troops moved in and out of Lebanon on Saturday, taking over a village and battling Hezbollah militants by land, sea and air as part of a limited ground campaign.

The soldiers — backed by artillery and tank fire — moved into the large Lebanese village of Maroun al-Ras in several waves and took control, military officials said on condition of anonymity.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese fleeing north packed into the port of Sidon to escape the increased Israeli offensive.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the conflict had displaced at least 700,000 Lebanese so far, and Israel's destruction of bridges and roads has made access to them difficult.

"I'm afraid of a major humanitarian disaster," he told CNN.

As part of an effort to avert a possible humanitarian crisis, Israel eased its blockade of Lebanon's ports to allow the first shiploads of aid to arrive. It remained unclear how that aid would get to the isolated towns and villages in the south, where the fighting has been centered over the past 11 days.

Israel increased its limited ground offensive in the area Saturday as Hezbollah guerrillas continued firing rockets into northern Israel.

A group of Israeli tanks, bulldozers and armored personnel carriers knocked down a border fence and entered the area Saturday afternoon.

The equipment and about 25 soldiers raced past a U.N. outpost and headed into the village that other Israeli soldiers already had seized. Gunfire could be heard coming from the village, and artillery based inside Israel also was firing into the area.

In all, a total of about 2,000 Israeli troops entered the area Saturday, but some returned to Israel during the day. No Israeli or Hezbollah casualties were immediately reported.

Lebanese security sources, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said the Israeli military had made incursions of only a few hundred yards into the Maroun al-Ras and Yaroun villages. On the Israeli side of the border, troops headed into Maroun al-Ras and said they were fighting with Hezbollah militants.

In Maroun al-Ras, about 32 residents took refuge at the U.N. observers post. But almost the entire remaining population of the village — about 2,300 before the crisis broke out — were believed to have fled, Lebanese security officials said.

At one point, a half-ton bomb was dropped on a Hezbollah outpost, about 500 yards from the border and near the village. Other positions were bombarded by Israeli gunboats operating off the coast.

Soldiers told The Associated Press that Israeli forces were just 200 yards from Hezbollah militants, who fired back.

Also, Hezbollah guerrillas fired at the Israeli army base of Nurit on Israel's side of the border, wounding one soldier, the army said.

An Israeli military radio network that broadcasts in the south, Al-Mashriq, warned residents of 13 villages to flee by 4 p.m. The villages form a corridor nearly 4 miles wide extending north from the border to a point about 11 miles from the border, or five miles south of the Litani River.

Israeli military officials have said they want to push Hezbollah beyond the river. More than 400,000 people live south of the Litani. Though tens of thousands of people have left, many are believed still there, trapped by the damaged roads or by fear of being caught in an airstrike.

The Syrian Red Crescent said more than 200,000 Lebanese have fled to Syria. The Red Crescent has mobilized teams to shepherd refugees to schools that have been converted into hostels or to mosques or private homes.

A deeper Israeli ground incursion could dramatically increase the pain in Lebanon.

Israel's offensive began July 12 when Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid.

The Lebanese health ministry has reported 362 deaths in Lebanon in the onslaught. Thirty-four Israelis have been killed, including 18 soldiers and an air force officer killed Friday when two helicopters collided.

A senior Israeli military official said that despite the growing ground offensive, Israel did not want to occupy southern Lebanon as it did in 1982-2000 to create a buffer zone to protect northern Israel.

Instead, Israel wants to weaken Hezbollah to make it easier for the Lebanese army to move into areas previously controlled by the guerrillas, possibly with the aid of a beefed up international peacekeeping force, the official said on condition of anonymity because of the topic's military sensitivity.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Middle East on Sunday, her first trip to the region since the crisis erupted, but she ruled out a quick cease-fire as a "false promise."

Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets at northern Israeli towns from north of the Lebanese border, killing 15 civilians and forcing hundreds of thousands of Israelis to repeatedly flee into bunkers.

On Saturday, at least 92 rockets struck northern Israel, hitting Carmiel, Kiryat Shemona, Nahariya and smaller communities and wounding five Israelis.

After Maroun al-Ras was taken, small groups of Israeli soldiers in armored personal carriers traveled to and from the village.

In Marwahin, also along the border, Israeli troops recovered anti-tank missiles, a launcher and other weapons used by Hezbollah. The army said that more than 150 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon had been attacked.

Elsewhere, Israeli warplanes blasted communications and television transmission towers in the central and northern Lebanese mountains, knocking out the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp.

Israel's army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, said Friday the military would conduct "limited ground operations as much as needed in order to harm the terror that harms us" — leaving it unclear how deep and how powerful the Israeli punch into Lebanon would be.

On Friday, Israel knocked out a key bridge on the road to Syria and pummeled Hezbollah positions in the south as long lines of tanks and armored personnel carriers lined up at the border — in some places close enough to see Lebanese homes on the other side.

In Beirut, ships continued to arrive at the main port, part of a massive evacuation effort to pull out Americans and other foreigners


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060722/ap_on_...HE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

U.S. Rushes Bombs to Israel

By DAVID S. CLOUD and HELENE COOPER

The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Iran’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14134.htm

Click here to view the results achived by Americas bombs
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14069.htm


Rice sees bombs as "birth pangs"

By Aljazera

Condoleezza Rice has described the plight of Lebanon as a part of the "birth pangs of a new Middle East" and said that Israel should ignore calls for a ceasefire.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14146.htm


U.S. Arming of Israel:

How U.S. Weapons Manufacturers Profit From Middle East Conflict

Much has been made of the Syrian and Iranian origin of weaponry used by Hezbollah but there has been little discussion of where Israel's weapons come from. A new report by the World Policy Institute examines how the United States provides billions of dollars of military aid to Israel each year and how their current arsenal is composed of U.S. made equipment.

Audio and transcript
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14141.htm


Fury Grips Syria Over Lebanon Attacks

By Dahr Jamail

Anger is spilling over against the U.S. government - and its citizens. Ola Saleh, a 25-year-old civil rights volunteer from Latakia said: "In Syria people used to differentiate between the Bush regime and the American people. But now not only do Syrians not respect the Bush regime, they no longer respect the American people for allowing this to happen."
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14135.htm


Israel made war plans more than a year ago

By Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service

Israel's military response by air, land and sea to what it considered a provocation last week by Hezbollah militants is unfolding according to a plan finalized more than a year ago.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14127.htm


Once again, truth is the first casualty of war

The exchange rate for Lebanese vs Israeli deaths now stands at 10 to one

By Robert Fisk

As many lies are now falling upon Lebanon as bombs. The explosions are easy to count – three on the southern suburbs of Beirut yesterday morning and many on the main highway to Syria, destroying more of the great viaduct at Mdeirej along with three passengers buses which were returning to Lebanon after carrying foreigners to Damascus. The lies were less obvious but just as powerful.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14129.htm

Lebanese Town Lays Its Loved Ones, Anonymous to Rest:

The stench of death seeped into the warm seaside air as the dead were brought out. Children pinched their noses; the men's faces grew a little stonier. Men and boys jostled on the streets and hoisted themselves up hospital walls to better view the spectacle.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14140.htm


While Lebanon burns - A message from Beirut:

The death toll has surpassed the 400 figure with four times that number injured. Over half a million have been displaced, many of whom encountered horrific escapes from Israeli shelling. The human tragedy is mounting by the hour and its magnitude is lost on those who oppose a cease-fire, professing that Israel needs more time to finish the job.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14130.htm


Juan Cole: Israel hits Christian Television in Christian North : Kills TV One:

Note that in a national emergency when 500,000 persons have been rendered homeless and the number is growing, when there are hundreds of dead and thousands of wounded, national media such as television and radio are absolutely essential to relief efforts and to avoiding further mass casualties.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14147.htm


Israeli Tanks, Troops Invade, Occupy Lebanese Town:

In all, up to 2,000 Israeli troops entered the area Saturday, but some returned to Israel during the day. No Israeli or Hezbollah casualties were immediately reported.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2223855


Lebanon air strikes continue:

Australian Video Report
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14138.htm


Lebanon: Relief agencies plead for access :

They have warned of a humanitarian disaster unless their stockpiles of relief supplies are allowed through.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5204152.stm


In Pictures: Lebanon's 9/11 The slaughter continues

Graphic images depicting the reality and horror of Israel's Invasion and destruction of Lebanon.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14069.htm


Reaction: 'If Israel is behaving like a psychotic bullying child, Britain and the US are like its mad tattooed parents'
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politi...icle1190596.ece


Asia calls for Mideast intervention, mulls sending troops :

Indonesia and Malaysia said they could send troops as part of a UN deployment to the Middle East as Asia showed mounting concern and urged the international community to intervene.
http://tinyurl.com/pcczz

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060721/wl_mi...tconflictisrael

Killing Nasrallah not aim of Israel offensive Fri Jul 21, 11:22 AM ET

Liquidating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, for years a thorn in the Jewish state's side, is not an objective of Israel's offensive in Lebanon, a general was quoted saying.

"Liquidating Nasrallah is not one of the objectives of the Israeli offensive," General Udi Adam, commander of Israel's northern region, was quoted as saying by public radio.

"Nasrallah can continue to make speeches. What matters is that Hezbollah is dismantled," he said, charging that the Shiite movement's militia had suffered "heavy losses" in recent days.

Public radio also quoted Adam as saying that the operation, begun on July 12 when Hezbollah captured two soldiers, would last "weeks".

Earlier this week, Israeli warplanes dropped 20 tonnes of bombs on a suspected Hezbollah leadership bunker and on July 14, warplanes targeted Nasrallah's home and offices for the first time.

Interior Minister Roni Bar-On had threatened to eliminate Nasrallah. "Nasrallah decided his own fate. We will settle our accounts with him when the time comes," he said last week.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle...icle1191945.ece

Flight of 700,000 refugees puts massive strain on Syria
By Paul Cochrane in Damascus
Published: 23 July 2006
With nearly 370 killed and 700,000 Lebanese displaced following Israel's 12-day bombardment of Lebanon, tens of thousands of people are trying to flee across the border to Syria. Lebanon's border crossings with Syria to the north and east have been inundated with people, with up to a million Lebanese seeking refuge, according to state-run Syria TV. The Lebanese government and the United Nations yesterday warned that there is an impending humanitarian crisis in Lebanon.

The exodus is putting a serious strain on Syria, which has 300,000 Palestinian refugees and over 450,000 Iraqis who fled Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003. With hotels full in Damascus, people are staying in orphanages, schools and university dormitories, or travelling to neighbouring Jordan, or to other Syrian cities. Flights out of Syria are booked up for at least five days, despite airlines increasing the number of outward flights.

At the eastern border, the Red Crescent welcomed vehicles packed with people and belongings with bottled water, food and medical assistance.

"We have had people come to us with burns, broken bones and other wounds from the bombings," said a representative.

The usual one-and-a-half-hour trip to the border from Beirut is taking up to nine hours, said one bus driver, who, like his colleagues, is having to negotiate difficult mountain roads and use shortwave radios to relay the safety of certain routes. After dropping off passengers at the border, public buses return to Lebanon. Two empty buses returning to the Lebanese capital were bombed on Friday in the Bekaa valley.

People entering Syria showed mixed feelings, relief at being safe and utter sadness. German-Iranian businessman Mohamed Reza was shaking every time he raised a bottle of water to his mouth. A bomb had landed 200m from him. "I wasn't fearful there, but I am now," he said. "The Israelis will destroy the country."

REFUGEES, EVACUEES AND VICTIMS OF WAR

LIZA HECHT, 70, FROM HAIFA

"Tuesday is fairly normal; we have several alarms prompting us to go into the shelter. Our neighbours have gone south to stay with their families and so our block is empty. We keep the phone with us so we can call our friends and family to see how everybody is. We don't go out, don't go to the movies; we look at the TV to see what is going on.

"On Friday I managed to go shopping, although many of the shops are closed. When I got back we heard the warning sirens. We have to be aware that sometimes you hear the booms of the rockets exploding before the sirens sound. This is the way life goes on. We call it a 'mini-war'. It is not a war between armies but between civilians living in their houses."

DR MARIA HOLT, 51, UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER. EVACUATED ON HMS 'GLOUCESTER'

"Luckily I have a friend who works in the Beirut embassy. She took my details down and then it was just a matter of waiting for them to contact me. They never did.

"I could hear explosions and felt it was all accelerating very quickly and I was very anxious. I had heard nothing at all from the embassy. Then I heard HMS Gloucester was on its way. I tried the embassy again, but was not able to get through. On Wednesday my friend from the embassy phoned and said go down to the port before 3pm. At the docks there were hundreds milling around. I managed to get on to HMS Gloucester and we left qu