Israeli-Arab War

[American Patriot]

Annan's Claims On Casualties May Unravel
The New York Sun ^ | July 27, 2006 | BENNY AVNI

An apparent discrepancy in the portrayal of events surrounding the deaths of four unarmed U.N. observers in Lebanon threatens to unravel Secretary-General Annan's initial accusation that Israel "deliberately" targeted the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

A Canadian U.N. observer, one of four killed at a UNIFIL position near the southern Lebanese town of Khiyam on Tuesday, sent an e-mail to his former commander, a Canadian retired major-general, Lewis MacKenzie, in which he wrote that Hezbollah fighters were "all over" the U.N. position, Mr. MacKenzie said. Hezbollah troops, not the United Nations, were Israel's target, the deceased observer wrote.

(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...

[American Patriot]

Hizbullah Used Civilians, Mosques in Attack on IDF
Arutz Sheva Israel Broadcasting Network ^ | 2006-07-27 | Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

Hizbullah refused to allow civilians to leave their village and used mosques in their ambush on IDF soldiers at Bint Jbeil Wednesday. Names of the nine fallen soldiers were released. Morale is high.

Hizbullah stored ammunition and weapons in mosques, knowing that the IDF does not attack religious sites. Civilians were not allowed to leave so that Hizbullah could use them as cover. IDF officers said they ordered pilots not to strafe Bint Jbeil in order to spare civilian casualties.

A United Nations peace keeping officer from Canada told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that Hizbullah used the same tactic to draw fire on the UNIFIL post which resulted in the death of four U.N. observers. "This is their favorite trick," he said. "They use the U.N. as shields."

Morale of the Golani soldiers was extremely high after the bitter battle, the fiercest in many years. One of the soldiers injured in Bint Jbeil said from his hospital bed Wednesday night, "I want to go back and fight with my comrades. Morale is totally high. [The battle] was complex, and there is fear, but we have to take the fear and turn it around."

IDF officers are trying to cool down the soldiers' enthusiasm to take over Bint Jbeil. The troops marked the Hizbullah terrorists with an "x." "Tomorrow will see their death," they said. "Tomorrow they will pay the price."

The names of the fallen soldiers who fell at Bint Jbeil are:
Corporal Ohad Kleisner, 20, of Beit Horon
Lt. Alex Shwartzman, 24, of Acre (Akko)
Corporal Shimon Adega, 21, of Kiryat Gat
Sgt. Shimon Dahan, 20, of Ashdod
Corporal Asaf Namar, 27, of Kiryat Yam
Lt.-Col. Ro'i Klein, 31, of the Samarian community of Eli,
Lt. Amichai Merchavia, 24, also of Eli
Sgt. Idan Cohen, 21, of Jaffa.

Lt. Yiftah Shrier, 21, of Haifa, was killed in a separate incident when Hizbullah terrorists fired an anti-tank missile between Bint Jbeil and Marun A-Ras late Wednesday.

Three soldiers still are in serious condition, and 19 suffered light-to-moderate injuries in the ambush battle, which occurred around 5 a.m. (10 p.m. EDT). when dozens of Hizbullah terrorist guerilla fighters ambushed their hilltop position.

The IDF had maintained that the army was in control of the village, which is considered the capital of Hizbullah in southern Lebanon. Hizbullah has been building tunnels and stockpiling weapons in the six years since the IDF withdrew from the area, which they know thoroughly. The Hizbullah terrorist guerillas were well-equipped with Iranian- and Syrian-made rocket propelled grenades, anti-tank and mortar shells, Lau missiles and rifles.

Several troops were injured while trying to rescue others, in an evacuation that took more than six hours. Helicopter rescue pilots endured enemy fire, and several soldiers carried stretchers more than one mile.

Northern Command Head Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam said that despite the heavy loss of soldiers, the army recovered valuable intelligence information, and that large amounts of communication equipment, weapons and ammunition also were taken by the IDF.

"The soldiers displayed sangfroid, bravery and professionalism after they came under fire," he said. "We estimate that at least 15 Hizbullah guerrillas were killed in the village. There are also assessments that put the number of casualties on the Lebanese side at 40 to 50 dead fighters," he added.

[American Patriot]

Nasrallah in Damascus
Arutz Sheva ^ | July 27, 2006 | INN

Hizbullah terrorist chief Hassan Nasrallah traveled to Syria late Wednesday night in a bulletproof vehicle, according to a Kuwait newspaper.

Nasrallah is expected to meet for talks with Syrian officials on Thursday to discuss developments in Hizbullah’s war against Israel.

A number of the Katyusha rockets fired by the terrorists at northern Israeli cities have contained parts made in Syria.

[American Patriot]

Israeli Found Dead in Samaria
Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews ^ | 7/27/6

The body of an Israeli has been found in the trunk of a burnt car in Samaria, and security officials fear that Arab terrorists kidnapped and murdered him.

Further details to follow.

[American Patriot]

CNN Exposes Hizbullah's Staging Tactics
Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews ^ | 7/27/6

A CNN reporter has exposed tactics used by Hizbullah terrorists to stage media events in order to give the impression of a large number of civilian casualties caused by Israeli bombing attacks on terrorist position, according to a report issued by the Honest Reporting organization.

Rich Noyes said he was assigned to photograph buildings damaged in the bombings. "After letting us take pictures of a few damaged buildings, they take us to another location, where there are ambulances waiting. This is a heavily orchestrated Hezbollah media event. When we got here, all the ambulances were lined up," and the drivers turned on their sirens and sped away for photographers. "These ambulances aren't responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect," Noyes said.

[American Patriot]

Europe may be drawn into Mideast conflict
AP on Yahoo! News ^ | July 27, 2006 | Paul Haven

MADRID, Spain - Europe, with its long and often unhappy history in the Middle East, may be drawn into a big role in the proposed multinational force for south Lebanon.

But with troops already stretched from Afghanistan to Congo, Europeans are hardly clamoring for another Mideast entanglement. Along with the promise of a stronger European military profile, any involvement in the fight between Israel and Hezbollah militants holds the danger of a blow to the continent's credibility.

Italy, Germany, Ireland, France and Turkey have said they are considering joining a U.N.-run multinational force. Britain and the Netherlands appear unenthusiastic.

Foreign ministers from across the continent will discuss their options next week at a hastily arranged gathering in Brussels, Belgium.

Most European nations remain dependent on NATO for logistical support and an overarching defense strategy, but the bloc has tried to establish its own distinct defense capabilities over the past decade. Plans are under way to set up more than a dozen multinational EU "battlegroups" by 2007, each with 1,500 troops. Also in the pipeline is a 60,000-strong rapid reaction force that would take on bigger peacekeeping operations.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...

[American Patriot]

July 28, 2006, 11:32AM
Hezbollah rocket hits Israeli hospital

By KATHY GANNON Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

TYRE, Lebanon — Israeli warplanes and artillery attacks Friday hit Hezbollah positions and crushed houses and roads in southern Lebanon, killing up to 12 people. Hezbollah said it fired a new kind of rocket, which landed deeper inside Israel than hundreds of other strikes in 17 days of fighting.

Later Friday, a Hezbollah rocket hit the top floor window of the main hospital in the Israeli border town of Nahariya, causing damage but no injuries, hospital officials said. The rocket shattered a window and scorched its frame.

The United Nations decided to remove 50 observers from the Israeli-Lebanon border, locating them instead at posts with 2,000 lightly armed U.N. peacekeepers. The move comes days after Israeli bombs hit a U.N. observer station, killing four.

Also, the United States evacuated about 500 more U.S. citizens from Beirut aboard a chartered cruise ship, believed to the last U.S.-organized mass departure for Americans. Some 15,000 U.S. citizens have now left Lebanon.

The European Union said it has finished evacuating most of its 20,000 citizens who wanted to leave Lebanon, and will now help evacuate nationals of poorer, non-EU countries.

Diplomatic efforts to end the crisis emerged on several fronts. U.S. allies pressed Washington to speed efforts to secure a cease-fire in the crisis, which erupted after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid July 12, sparking Israel's harsh retaliation.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, attending a regional security conference in Malaysia, announced plans to return to the Middle East after visits to Lebanon and Israel earlier in the week. Israeli media said she will arrive in Israel on Saturday night and meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday. There was no word on whether she would come to Beirut.

Rice has argued against an immediate truce, calling for a more "enduring" arrangement that would end Hezbollah's control of southern Lebanon and diminish the influence of Syria and Iran in Lebanon's affairs.

During a meeting Wednesday in Rome, Rice faced strong demand from European governments for fighting to end now, but a lack of consensus won more time for Israel's military campaign.

President Bush has suggested he would support the offensive for as long as it takes to cripple Hezbollah. He also sharply condemned Iran for giving the guerrillas military support _ a charge Tehran denied Friday.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair headed to Washington for a summit with Bush. Blair's spokesman said the prime minister would seek a U.N. resolution on the Mideast crisis.

Blair wants to speed the pace of diplomacy aimed at a cease-fire and the formation of an international force for south Lebanon. Hezbollah guerrillas have long been in control of the region, in violation of a previous U.N. resolution.

In France, President Jacques Chirac said his country will press for the rapid adoption of a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon, his office said.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced it used a new rocket, the Khaibar-1 _ named after a famed battle between Islam's prophet Muhammad and Jewish tribes in the Arabian peninsula _ to strike the northern Israeli town of Afula. Guerrilla rockets have hit near town before, but this attack was the deepest yet.

Israeli police said five rockets hit outside Afula but caused no injuries.

The strike came two days after Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah vowed his guerrillas would fire rockets beyond Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, which has been hit repeatedly in the conflict.

The group did not specify the range of the new rocket or give other details. But Israeli police said it was the first time a missile of this type has hit Israel and that it carried 220 pounds of explosives. That is about the size of the payload of the Fajr-3 rocket that Hezbollah has fired previously, but the Fajr-3 is not believed to have the range to hit Afula.

The heaviest known Hezbollah rocket is the Fajr-5, with a 440-pound payload and a range of 45 miles, able to hit Tel Aviv's northern outskirts.

Late Thursday and early Friday, Israeli warplanes struck 130 targets in Lebanon, including a Hezbollah base in the Bekaa Valley, where long-range rockets were stored, 57 Hezbollah structures, six missile-launching sites and six communication facilities, Israel said.

The bombardment _ along with artillery pounding the south _ often hit populated areas and caused casualties.

One airstrike flattened a house in the village of Hadatha, and six people inside were believed dead or wounded, the Lebanese state news agency reported. Hezbollah's al-Manar TV said all six were dead.

Missiles fired by Israeli jets also destroyed three buildings in the village of Kfar Jouz near the market town of Nabatiyeh. A Jordanian was killed with a Lebanese couple when their shelter collapsed, Lebanese security officials said.

Nine people, including children, were wounded in the raid, which apparently targeted an apartment belonging to a Hezbollah activist. Civil defense teams in Kfar Jouz struggled to rescue people believed buried under the rubble of a collapsed three-story structure, witnesses said.

Three women were killed in strikes on their homes in southern villages of Talouseh, Sheitiyeh and Bazouriyeh _ Nasrallah's hometown, security officials said.

Israel fired more than 40 artillery shells at the village of Arnoun just outside Nabatiyeh, next to the Crusader-era Beaufort Castle, which has a commanding view of the border area, witnesses said. Israeli artillery also hit a convoy evacuating villagers from Rmeish, lightly wounding a driver and a Lebanese cameraman for German TV news.

At least 443 people have been killed in Lebanon in the fighting, most of them civilians, according to a Health Ministry count Thursday based on bodies taken to hospitals, plus deaths Friday confirmed by security forces. But Lebanon's health minister estimated Thursday that as many as Lebanese 600 civilians have been killed, with other victims buried in rubble.

On the Israeli side, 33 soldiers have died in fighting, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel have killed 19 civilians, the Israeli army said.

The army said Friday that Israeli troops have killed about 200 Hezbollah guerrillas, but Hezbollah has reported only 35 casualties.

This week brought intense ground fighting in a small pocket in southeast Lebanon, with Israeli troops centered on the town of Bint Jbail and nearby Maroun al-Ras village.

Israeli troops on Friday appeared to have pulled back from some positions around Bint Jbail, said an official with U.N. peacekeepers, Richard Morczynski. He did not have details on the extent of pullback.

Bint Jbail was the site of the worst Israeli casualties in a single battle of the campaign, with nine soldiers killed in and near the town Wednesday.

Also, Hezbollah said its guerrillas attacked Israeli troops in Maroun al-Ras, though there was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.

"At exactly 1 p.m., the Islamic Resistance staged a surprise attack on Israeli tanks and emplacements on Masoud hilltop and Maroun al-Ras with various kinds of weapons, inflicting confirmed casualties," according to Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV.

Masoud hilltop overlooks Bint Jbail, which Israeli troops started besieging Sunday. The town has the largest Shiite community along the border; it was known as the "capital of the resistance" during Israel's 1982-2000 occupation because of its vehement support for the Shiite Hezbollah.

Guerrillas on Friday also fired 14 rockets at northern Israeli towns including Ma'alot, Karmiel and Safed, the Israeli army said. No casualties were reported.

[American Patriot]

Destroy Hizbullah [Jerusalem Post Editorial]
The Jerusalem Post ^ | July 28, 2006 | Editorial

"These are the times that try men's souls," as Thomas Paine wrote during America's Revolutionary War. Israel is at war with a terrorist army, one that proudly targets our civilian population while hiding behind its own. It is a war Israel must win.

Winning any war is not easy, but this case is made particularly difficult by the asymmetrical standards for victory. By normal military standards, Hizbullah's ambush of IDF forces in Bint Jbail in which eight of our soldiers were killed was a defeat for Hizbullah, in that even our weakened force was able to kill most or all of its attackers, and Hizbullah was unable to capture any of our soldier's bodies. The IDF estimates that dozens, perhaps up to 100, of the Hizbullah terrorists were killed by the IDF that day.

But these battles are not being measured in normal military terms. As our reporter, Khaled Abu Toameh, noted in an analysis in Thursday's Post, "Arabs are once again talking about shattering the myth that has haunted them since the humiliating defeat of the Arab armies in 1967 - that the IDF is invincible."

Abu Toameh continued, "Many note that it took the IDF only six days to crush the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq," while the current fighting against a militia has already taken two weeks, and seems not to be near over.

Israel can inflict heavy casualties on Hizbullah and substantially degrade its missile capability, without achieving victory; All Hizbullah needs to do is to kill some Israeli soldiers and avoid total destruction to capture the imagination of the Muslim world.

Many Arabs, Abu Toameh finds, believe recent history is composed of a string of Israeli defeats. The first intifada in the late 1980s forced Israel to accept Oslo and to withdraw from Palestinian cities. Hizbullah forced Israel to unilaterally withdraw from Lebanon in May 2000, this narrative claims. Then the even more violent Palestinian terror campaign that began in late 2000 apparently led to Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, including the destruction of Israeli settlements.

The lesson that many Arabs draw from this litany is that Hizbullah and Hamas are right: use enough force for long enough and Israel will capitulate.

Most Israelis, of course, read this history entirely differently. In particular, this latest conflict has dealt a terrible blow to the Palestinian claim that its struggle is nationalist and has nothing to do with the global jihad against the West. It is no coincidence that the Islamization of the Arab-Israel conflict has led to unprecedented international support for Israeli military actions, placing blame for the conflict on Hizbullah, and agreement that Hizbullah must not be tolerated, but rather disbanded.

The vocal support by Hamas, Hizbullah and their allies and masters in Teheran for what Yossi Klein Halevi has called the "theology of genocide" against Israel may be slowly ripping the mask off the Arab struggle against Israel. Yet as important as such a shift may be for the understanding of what Israel is facing, it is is far from complete, and it is no substitute for inflicting an undeniable defeat on the jihadis in the war they have just launched against the Jewish state.

Pictures of Hassan Nasrallah are now being held a loft in places like Cairo and Ramallah. He, like Gamal Abdel Nasser, Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein in the past, are being embraced by Arabs who consider their own governments too weak in their enmity for Israel.

Many other Arabs, of course, realize that following belligerent dictators has brought only misery and failure to the Arab world. But how do we in the West ensure that Muslim voices of reason are ascendant, rather than those excited by the drums of war?

After 9/11, the Muslim street - especially the Palestinian one - let out a great cheer for Osama Bin Laden. This bloodthirsty enthusiasm was quickly muffled by the dispatch of the Islamist regime in Afghanistan and the driving of al-Qaida underground, and later by the ouster and capture of Saddam Hussein.

Now there is a danger that a failure to decisively defeat Hizbullah could join the failure to defeat the jihad in Iraq and the feckless response to both Iran's support for terrorist offensives and its defiant nuclear drive. The tentacles of the global jihad, led by Iran, have come to Israel. Israel must, for its own sake and the world's, do its utmost to ensure their undeniable destruction.

[American Patriot]

Lebanon: Myths and Facts
Aish.com ^ | July 27, 2006 | Shraga Simmons and Pesach Benson

Ammunition for how you can defend Israel.

It happens every time. Israel is forced into a defensive war, and winds up defending itself against canards of aggression and excessive force. Around the water cooler and on talk radio, Israel's supporters are put on the spot: Why are so many Lebanese civilians being killed? Why the destruction of so much infrastructure? Can't Israel show some restraint?

At times like this, every Jew becomes an ambassador for Israel. Even if you don't agree with everything Israel does, we must defend Israel's right to self-defense.

So let's sort out fact from fiction -- for the sake of Israel, and for ourselves.

Myth: Israel is attacking and killing hundreds of Lebanese civilians.

Fact: The death of any innocent civilian is tragic and Israel regrets the loss of life.

Why are civilians dying? Because Hezbollah is hiding among civilians, using villages, mosques and even private homes to store and manufacture weapons caches that include 12,000 missiles.

This creates a conundrum for the Israeli military, where Hezbollah wins either way: If the IDF shies away from attacking because of the proximity of civilians, Hezbollah's terror infrastructure remains in place. And if the IDF attacks, no matter how carefully, there will be collateral damage -- triggering condemnation in the media, and emboldening Hezbollah to operate from civilian areas.

Even the UN's humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland, said: "Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending... among women and children. I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this."

Ynet News reports that Hezbollah is trying to maximize Lebanese civilian deaths, presumably for its own propaganda purposes: Roadblocks have been set up outside some villages to prevent residents from leaving.

Meanwhile, in order to minimize civilian casualties, Israel has dropped warning leaflets in Lebanon, advising residents to protect their own safety by "avoiding all places frequented by Hizbullah."

When was the last time that Arab terrorists alerted Israeli civilians of an impending strike?

So let's be clear who bears responsibility for the deaths of Lebanese civilians. As Alan Dershowitz writes:

A bank robber who takes a teller hostage and fires at police from behind his human shield is guilty of murder if they, in an effort to stop the robber from shooting, accidentally kill the hostage. The same should be true of terrorists who use civilians as shields from behind whom they fire their rockets.

Myth: Israel deliberately attacked a United Nations post, killing four UN personnel.

Fact: That UN post, in the words of the Canadian peacekeeper who was killed there, was being used by Hezbollah as cover. As retired Canadian Major General Lewis Mackenzie, interviewed on CBC radio, explained:

"We received emails from [the Canadian peacekeeper who was killed at the UN post] a few days ago, and he was describing the fact that he was taking fire within, in one case, three meters of his position for tactical necessity, not being targeted. Now that's veiled speech in the military. What he was telling us was Hezbollah soldiers were all over his position and the IDF were targeting them. And that's a favorite trick by people who don't have representation in the UN. They use the UN as shields knowing that they can't be punished for it."

Furthermore, Hezbollah has attacked UNIFIL observers repeatedly this week. From the UN's own press releases:

In the last 24 hours... Hezbollah fired from the vicinity of four UN positions at Marwahin, Alma Ash Shab, Brashit, and At Tiri. (27 July 2006)

One unarmed UN military observer, a member of the Observer Group Lebanon (OGL), was seriously wounded by small arms fire in the patrol base in the Marun Al Ras area yesterday afternoon. According to preliminary reports, the fire originated from the Hezbollah side during an exchange with the IDF. He was evacuated by the UN to the Israeli side, from where he was taken by an IDF ambulance helicopter to a hospital in Haifa. He was operated on, and his condition is now reported as stable. (24 July 2006)

Note that the UN observer was injured badly enough to be evacuated to an Israeli hospital -- where they saved his life. Kofi Annan's reaction? Not a word of condemnation against Hezbollah, and not a word of gratitude for Israel's rescue of the UN observer.

Myth: Israel is needlessly targeting Lebanon's civilian infrastructure.

Fact: Prior to the fighting, Lebanon was recovering from a long, destructive civil war. Last year's "Cedar Revolution" against Syrian occupation gave the world high hopes for the possibility of a new Lebanon. Tourism was on the rise, business was improving, and national infrastructure was being rebuilt.

Hezbollah has now used this infrastructure to support its own violent agenda. For years, weapons shipments passed through the capitol's international airport, across the Beirut-Damascus highway, and through various coastal ports. That's why Israel has been forced to bomb the transportation network, to hinder the arrival of arms from Syria/Iran, and to stop Hezbollah from moving the kidnapped Israelis out of the country.

Other Israeli strikes have targeted telephone links used by Hezbollah to communicate, Hezbollah offices, banks that handle their money, and TV transmitters from which Hezbollah's Al-Manar station is broadcast.

In fact, Israel is carefully selecting targets, in order to minimize damage. Writes David Frum of the American Enterprise Institute:

[Israel] has fought this war on its northern border as humanely as it can. Flip the switch in Beirut and the lights come on; open the taps, and the water flows. Essential services have been spared. The runways at Beirut Airport have been bombed to stop reinforcements to Hezbollah, but the control towers and the newly built terminal have been spared because Lebanon will need them later.

Myth: Israel's military response is "disproportionate and excessive."

Fact: We need to define our terms: Israel's response may be "disproportionate," but it is not "excessive."

In war, you don't measure response by what the enemy has done in the past, but rather how to stop their threats to attack you in the future. Hezbollah is threatening to send missiles into Tel Aviv, and there is the looming threat of Iran supplying Hezbollah with nuclear weapons. This is a serious security threat that must be eliminated.

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen exploded the myth of "excessive force":

For Israel, a small country within reach, as we are finding out, of a missile launched from any enemy's back yard, proportionality is not only inapplicable, it is suicide... It is not good enough to take out this or that missile battery. It is necessary to reestablish deterrence: You slap me, I will punch out your lights.

Hezbollah boasts 12,000 missiles -- not for defense, but to destroy Israel. Why would the world not allow Israel to defend itself? Because it is more comfortable to live with the illusion of peace, to hope that this will pass and things will somehow work out. But Israel cannot afford to ignore the reality of the threat.

It is true that the fighting has produced more Lebanese casualties than Israeli casualties. But if Israel were to tell its citizens not to hide in bomb shelters, so that the thousands of rockets launched from Lebanon would kill many more Israelis, would the world's journalists and government leaders then smugly agree that Israel's effort to stop Hezbollah is indeed "proportionate"?

Myth: Hezbollah has a justified grievance and is being provoked by Israel.

Fact: Charles Krauthammer said it best:

What's the grievance here? Israel withdrew from Lebanon completely in 2000. It was so scrupulous in making sure that not one square inch of Lebanon was left inadvertently occupied that it asked the United Nations to verify the exact frontier defining Lebanon's southern border and retreated behind it. This "blue line" was approved by the Security Council, which declared that Israel had fully complied with resolutions demanding its withdrawal from Lebanon.

In the meanwhile, Hezbollah has created a mini-state inside of Lebanon -- with territory, weapons and soldiers. Over the past six years, Hezbollah has launched dozens of attacks across the internationally-recognized border on both civilian and military targets within Israel.

The current crisis began on July 12, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israeli towns and cities in an unprovoked attack, and then crossed the border killing eight Israeli soldiers engaged in routine patrol and kidnapping two more.

Hezbollah "claims" that it is fighting over Shebaa Farms, a small tract of land where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria converge. The UN maintains that Shebaa Farms was captured from Syria in 1967, and is subject only to Israeli-Syrian agreement.

Shebaa Farms is a thin smokescreen. Hizbullah's goal is the total destruction of Israel, plain and simple. (Read the Hizbullah charter, and Hezbollah's goals in their own words.)

Even Arab states like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan have now chastised Hezbollah for its "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts."

Myth: Lebanon bears no responsibility for the actions of Hezbollah.

Fact: According to UN Security Council Resolution 1559, it is the responsibility of the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah and to assert Lebanese sovereignty in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese government has completely failed in this regard, standing by while Hezbollah has assembled weapons stockpiles and entrenched itself in Lebanese towns.

Further, Lebanon cannot claim disassociation: Hezbollah is actually part of the Lebanese coalition government, holding two seats in the cabinet!

The irony of all this is that most of the world -- including the Lebanese population -- hopes that Israel will succeed in doing the job that the Lebanese army has not: liberating southern Lebanon from Hezbollah rule, and giving it back to the Lebanese.

Let's all do our part to promote the facts, and to help Israel win its battles on all fronts.

Author Biography:
Shraga Simmons is the founding editor of HonestReporting.com. Pesach Benson is the editor of HonestReporting's daily blog, MediaBackspin.com.

[American Patriot]

The New War - Just Cause
The New Republic ^ | July 27, 2006 | Martin Peretz

THE NEW WAR - Just Cause

by Martin Peretz

Let's face it: Aside from fighting for themselves, the Israelis are also fighting for us. I do not mean to suggest their own struggle is at all inconsequential. On the contrary. But it is not over the usual stakes that pit peoples against one another. It is not about borders or natural resources or, for that matter, the settlements that have irritated so many of Israel's putative friends. This is, of course, how the peace processors have always seen it--and the fanciful conflict-resolution academics, too. Give a little here, give a little there, and, lo and behold, you'll be getting to "yes." Indeed, for the last quarter-century, many Palestinians (and many of their Arab cousins) pretended that their quarrel with the Zionists was over such quotidian details.

But, at the moment that virtually all of their demands were met, in the last desperate moments of Clinton-time, they could not bring themselves to accept the hitherto unheard-of concessions. They could not even bring themselves to look twice at them. This was the end of Fatah; it had called its own bluff. It was psychologically incapable of walking through the open door.

As for its successor, the ultramontane Sunni Hamas, and its even more chiliastic Shia half-ally in Lebanon, Hezbollah, they do not want any accommodation or compromise, and they do not pretend to. They would be waging war against the Jewish state even if it were contained within the precarious boundaries of the 1949 armistice agreements. Even, in fact, if Israel existed only within the even more precarious limits of the 1947 U.N. Partition Plan. What we are seeing from the two independent centers of "resistance" in Gaza and Lebanon is an existential clash between those who adhere to primitive ideologies and an intellectually curious, democratic society. It is this kind of society--scientific, free-spirited, and, yes, even fun-loving and life-loving--that threatens them and to which they cannot adjust. These traits may constitute the essence of the Zionist achievement, a joyous rejection of everything grim in the Jewish past.

Hamas and Hezbollah made the identical mistake in abducting Israeli soldiers. (And do not forget the other soldiers who were killed at the same time as the kidnappings--and 18-year-old civilian Eliyahu Asheri, murdered, shot point-blank in the head within hours of being taken into captivity.) President Jacques Chirac, who--like Vladimir Putin--has learned very little about Muslim fanaticism despite his bitter experience with it, was perplexed by the ferocity of the Israeli reaction to these deeds. In their bafflement, they show how little they grasp, let alone sympathize with, Theodor Herzl's dream for free Jews, expressed in the elegant shorthand that we will "live at last as free men on our own soil and in our homes peacefully die."

The Israeli military does not leave even its dead soldiers in enemy hands. And, given what finally awaits living Israeli captives, there is an even greater compulsion to retrieve the kidnapped. Let's call this ethic "leave no soldier behind." It is a different ethic than the one that animated the hapless administration of Jimmy Carter--with do-little Cyrus Vance in the saddle at State--which was confronted with the abduction of 52 American personnel of the U.S. Embassy for 444 days by the Iranian revolutionaries. No, that's unfair. We, like the weak-willed chief executive, wore yellow ribbons.

This was the transformational moment for Islamic jihadists--and the United States. Henceforth, Muslim fascists were permitted to do anything they wanted. (Ronald Reagan enlisted the Sunni version of these fascists against the Soviets in Afghanistan. The Taliban and its foreign allies--Al Qaeda, for example--went on to torment us even more than the flailing commissars.) I believe that, with wisdom and stealth, we could have brought down Ayatollah Khomeini's regime or sharply clipped its wings. Now it threatens the world with nuclear arms and has confirmed the reign of the backward and crazed in its own society.

It is, of course, the prime patron of Hezbollah. For the Iranians, Israel is the first front in the war against the West, and they supply Hezbollah to do their fighting for them. The Bush administration seems to comprehend the importance of this fact. Moreover, it comprehends that Israel will not agree to any formula that leaves its population exposed to the weaponry and the weapon-wielders of Nasrallah's faithful. And, in a certain practical way, in fact, the army of the mullahs is already in retreat--a forced retreat from the Gehenna it established for southern Lebanon and in southern Beirut.

Israel never had a quarrel with Lebanon. An old cliché had it that Beirut would be the second capital to make peace with Jerusalem. This was a little too facile. But Israel's difficulties with Lebanon were with the people who had hijacked Lebanese turf--first, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the other armed Palestinian schismatics who set up a vicious mini-state and operated across international borders southward into Israel. In 1982, Israel defeated these forces. Yasir Arafat and his men went into exile in Tunis. But, over the years, Hezbollah replaced them with Shia men of pious zeal and many rockets.

After Prime Minister Ehud Barak took the IDF out of its last small salient of occupied Lebanon, Israel succumbed to a failure of will. That failure will not be repeated. Israel's reactions had been either pathetically symbolic (like shattering the sound barrier over Beirut) or altogether passive in response to an unending series of provocations (including indiscriminate rocketry over the frontier). No free country can tolerate this, and certainly no free country that has a sense of its enemy's undisguised intentions.

training for profundity, the TV news people have now fixed on the question of proportionality. Of course, it's not only they who have done so. Putin, an exemplar of proportional response everywhere, especially Chechnya, has chastised the Israelis on this count. So has Chirac, who allowed that he would use nuclear weapons against any state that organized a terrorist incident in France. Nuclear weapons, mind you. But, as Chirac and certain reporters press the issue of proportionality, they generate a fog of cheap empathy that obscures basic logic. They preposterously assume that, in the casualties of battle, the outcomes need to be relatively equal. Even-Steven, one-for-one. Having started this war, Hezbollah and its unwitting apologists are, in effect, complaining that Israel is taking unfair advantage of its superior force. This is tantamount to saying the Allies ultimately had superior force in Europe during World War II and had the temerity to use it.

The problem for Hezbollah in this war is that Israel does have greater force, and it will impose greater casualties on the enemy to win it. The problem for Israel in victory is that Hezbollah cannot ultimately be deterred by a military victory that is compromised by a desperate and temporary political solution imposed by the powers. Human life is cheap for millennarians. Israel can decapitate Hezbollah. But it cannot, over the long run and by itself, bar Hezbollah from rearming--especially if Syria and Iran are willing to renew the supply of arms. After all, neither of Hezbollah's benefactors is presently suffering.

he administration has evinced stunning moral and military clarity in the face of international pressure to rush toward a premature resolution, and its Democratic opponents seem also to have accepted its logic, if some a bit squeamishly. Condoleezza Rice has been a compelling voice in the public argument and in the arguments among allies, as well. Yet even she has felt obliged to raise the need for progress toward the establishment of a Palestinian state when she knows it is not any longer the cause of Hamas or Hezbollah. By their actions and in their words, they have conceded that, for them, it is not the existence of Palestine that is at stake, but the very existence of Israel. Independent Gaza is the source of constant rocketry into Israel. It is clear that an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank would be followed by parallel rocketry from there. No, Israel's life is not in peril. It can cope. But it will not resign itself to cope with unending terrorism. That is not a way to live.

The introduction of easily launched rockets and more advanced long-range missiles across the borders of Israel is an augury of what other countries could soon face internally: India, for example, and Russia, too. One day, and soon, ethnic and sectarian terrorists--operating out of relatively self-contained regions (like southern Lebanon) or smaller population centers (like southern Beirut)--will catapult projectile weapons into adjoining cities and areas. The countries so attacked will not respond any more gently than Israel has.

[falcon]

UN cuts and runs from Lebanon
Posted By Uncle Jimbo

Not that they were doing much more than providing cover for Hizbollah anyhow, but at least this way they can blame it on the Joooos.
But who will Hizbollah hide behind now?

[American Patriot]

Hezbollah deploys new arsenal amid calls for peace
AFP ^ | 07/28/2006

BEIRUT (AFP) - Israeli planes have blasted south Lebanon for the 17th day as an unbowed Hezbollah launched a new type of missile at the Jewish state amid growing calls for a ceasefire in the escalating conflict.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived at the White House Friday to discuss the conflict with US President George W. Bush, although neither of Israel's main backers has yet called for an immediate end to the assault.

Blair, under pressure over his support for Washington's unwavering backing for Israel, is to seek a United Nations Security Council resolution "as early as possibly next week" to defuse the Middle East conflict, his spokesman said.

Just ahead of the meeting, White House spokesman Tony Snow repeated Bush's position that he was opposed to an immediate ceasefire but wanted to wait for "the proper conditions".

"The president wants a ceasefire, the president does not want to see the (bloodshed) continue, and that's one of the reasons why you have to have a ceasefire under the proper conditions," Snow said.

"You can't have a situation in southern Lebanon where an independent force feels that it can do whatever it wants in terms of using military power to achieve whatever objectives it may have, including trying to destabilize the region."

But with Israel having called up thousands of army reservists to bolster the assault aimed at stopping rocket fire and freeing two Israeli soldiers, Hezbollah militants fired a new heavy-warhead missile.

Israeli police said an "unknown" missile capable of carrying 100 kilos of explosives was among five that landed in Afula, 50 kilometres (35 miles) south of Israel's border with Lebanon, causing no casualties.

The Shiite militant group said that its guerrillas had fired for the first time a salvo of what it called "Khaibar I" missiles "on the Zionist region of Afula, beyond Haifa", the Hezbollah statement said.

The strike came after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed that his guerrillas would fire rockets at Israel beyond the northern city of Haifa, with only shorter-range Katyusha rockets used against Israel until now.

The attack also came on the same day that the Israeli army said it would deploy Patriot anti-missile batteries near Tel Aviv -- Israel's biggest city -- in case Hezbollah starts using long-range missiles.

With 800,000 people displaced by the fighting, the International Committee of the Red Cross slammed what it called the "unacceptable" humanitarian situation in Lebanon.

"We today find the situation for civilians who are trapped unacceptable," said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the ICRC's director of operations.

"Much more has to be done by Israeli forces to ensure the respect, to protect and spare civilians in the conduct of military operations," he told reporters, also criticising Hezbollah's firing of rockets on civilian areas.

International medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) said that Israel's promised humanitarian aid corridors in south Lebanon were an illusion.

"In effect there is no real humanitarian access in the south, the international community is deluding itself with talk of humanitarian corridors," the NGO's operations chief, Christopher Stokes, told reporters in Beirut.

On top of the dire humanitarian situation, Blair has been under increasing domestic pressure since it was revealed that US planes had used a Scottish airport as a staging post to carry bunker-busting bombs for Israel.

Despite popular uproar over the stopover, British officials told London newspapers that more stopovers for arms deliveries were in the pipeline with government blessing.

Setting a different pace, French President Jacques Chirac said on Friday he wanted the adoption of a UN resolution "as quickly as possible" calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Despite Asian and European Union calls for a halt to fighting, including one by the Europeans' foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Bush again warned against what he called a "fake peace".

His tough stance maintained the position against a quick truce adopted, against Arab protests, at an international conference in Rome on Wednesday.

Israel seized on the conference's failure to demand a ceasefire as a green light to press its offensive.

But on Friday that claim, already rejected by other delegates, was dismissed as "outrageous" by the United States, in Washington's strongest open criticism of Israel during the conflict.

"Any such statement is outrageous" said State Department spokesman Adam Ereli when asked about Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon's assertion that the Rome meeting earlier this week gave Israel "authorization".

Israeli aircraft and artillery pounded south Lebanon early Friday killing six more civilians, including a Jordanian man, after sporadic clashes between Israeli troops and Shiite militants of Hezbollah through the night.

Fighting around the flashpoint south Lebanon border town of Bint Jbeil was continuing on Friday but police said Israeli troops had redeployed during the afternoon.

There was no immediate word on any casualties and police could not say if the movement of the Israeli units represented a withdrawal or a repositioning in anticipation of a new attack.

Israel's justice minister said on Thursday that anyone left in the region would be treated as an enemy combatant.

"Everyone who is still in south Lebanon is linked to Hezbollah, we have called on all who are there to leave," Ramon maintained.

More than 420 people, mostly civilians, have now died in Lebanon since Israel launched its mass offensive after Shiite militants of Hezbollah captured two soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid on July 12.

A total of 51 Israelis have also died in cross-border fighting, the majority of them soldiers, with the government deciding to call up three divisions of reservists, which could mean the deployment of as many as 30,000 more troops.

Army chief Dan Halutz claimed "enormous" damage inflicted on Hezbollah with hundreds of its fighters hit. Hezbollah says it has lost 30 of its men.

In the Gaza Strip, where Israel is engaged in another assault to retrieve a third captured serviceman, two people -- one of them a teenager -- were killed, bringing the death toll from the month-old offensive to at least 145 Palestinians and one Israeli, killed by friendly fire.

The army said two Israeli children were lightly wounded on Friday when a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed on the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon.

[American Patriot]

Bush sends Rice to Mideast, backs multinational force for Lebanon
AFP ^ | 07/28/2006

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush announced that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will return to the Middle East and said a multinational force should be deployed "quickly" in Lebanon.

Bush, speaking to reporters after talks at the White House with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said Rice would return to the region Saturday for talks on the raging conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Blair said world powers would meet at the United Nations Monday to discuss the possible deployment of a UN "stabilization force" for Lebanon.

"Tomorrow, Secretary Rice will return to the region," Bush said. "She will work with the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to seize this opportunity to achieve lasting peace and stability for both of their countries."

A senior State Department official with Rice in Kuala Lumpur, where she has been attending Southeast Asia's top security forum, said she would return to Jerusalem on Saturday.

There was no word on whether she would make any other stops before returning to Washington. "She will go where she needs to go to get progress," the US official said, adding that "this thing is evolving hour by hour."

Bush said the United States and Britain had agreed on the need to "quickly" send a multinational force to Lebanon.

"We agree that a multinational force must be dispatched to Lebanon quickly to augment the Lebanese army as it moves to the south of that country," Bush said.

"An effective multinational force will help speed delivery of humanitarian relief, facilitate the return of displaced persons and support the Lebanese government as it asserts full sovereignty over its territory and guards its borders," he said.

Rice flew to Malaysia for the ASEAN Regional Forum, a gathering of Southeast Asian nations and key security partners including the United States, Russia and China, after a tour of Beirut, Jerusalem, the West Bank and a crisis meeting in Rome Wednesday.

The Rome conference brought together 15 nations but failed to produce a call for an immediate ceasefire, adding support to the US and British position that there must first be a sustainable solution to the conflict.

Neither London nor Washington has called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, but have insisted on the need for a long-term solution.

Blair's spokesman said British diplomacy was "roughly" in tune with that of others like France and Germany.

Exposing a rift, however, French President Jacques Chirac released a statement pressing for the quick adoption of a UN resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire" in the Middle East.

Blair also faced pressure at home in London, where some 42 leading figures signed a letter calling for him to ally Britain to the United Nations and demand an immediate ceasefire.

On Blair's plane heading to Washington, his spokesman called for more intense diplomacy to assemble a "stabilization force" for southern Lebanon and for setting out steps necessary to implement UN Resolution 1559.

The UN resolution calls for the extension of the Lebanese government's authority to the whole of the country, including the border with Israel, and the disbanding of private militias such as Hezbollah.

More than 420 people, mostly civilians, have died in Lebanon since Israel launched its massive offensive after Shiite militants of Hezbollah captured two soldiers and killed three more in a cross-border raid on July 12.

A total of 51 Israelis have also died, the majority of them soldiers.

[American Patriot]

Syria on alert as Israel strikes near border
World Tribune ^ | July 28, 2006

Israel has struck Hizbullah positions near the border of Syria as forces in Syria were placed on high alert.

On Thursday, Israeli F-15Is struck a suspected Hizbullah training camp in the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border. The Syrian military, deployed several kilometers away, did not respond.

Israeli officials and intelligence sources said Iran and Syria have accelerated the flow of weapons and combatants into Lebanon. They said Damascus and Teheran have also been bolstering forces to prepare for a war from Syrian territory.

"They [Syrians] are operating along the border and we can't ignore this," Israeli Cabinet minister Eli Yishai said on Friday.

Officials said Syria has placed its forces on the highest alert in years and deployed missile batteries along the border with Lebanon. They said Israel, which has ordered the mobilization of three reserve divisions, plans to station Arrow-2 and PAC-2 missile defense systems to protect Tel Aviv from Syrian rockets and missiles.

The focus of Israeli concern has been the deployment of Zelzal-2 rockets in southwestern Syria along the Lebanese border. They said Syria has transferred Zelzal-2 batteries, with a range of more than 200 kilometers, to Hizbullah's Nasser Brigade.

"The most likely scenario is that Hizbullah would bring these mobile launchers into Lebanon, fire them and return to Syria," an Israeli intelligence source said.

"Syria is in one of its weakest moments -- from the point of view of its air power and tank capabilities," Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Friday. "It is true that Syria has focused on its missile and commando capabilities. But overall I don't feel that Syria wants to become entangled in war. I don't assess that it will initiate [a war]."

The U.S. intelligence community was said to have assessed that Iran has been expanding its military presence in Lebanon and Syria. U.S. intelligence sources said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has overseen a weapons airlift to Damascus as well as the arrival of more than 1,000 fighters from Iran and Iraq.

"Damascus will likely run many risks trying to manipulate the situation to its advantage," said Jeffrey White, a former government intelligence analyst and today a researcher at the Washington Institute. "But the Assad regime has proven itself a poor player at this sort of game, making Syria the most likely source of actions that carry the fighting beyond Lebanon and northern Israel."

[American Patriot]

Hamas, Hizbullah not on Russia's terror list
Ynetnews ^ | 07-28-06 | ynetnews (from Associated Press)

State publishes list of groups it regards as terrorist organization, fails to include Hamas or Hizbullah. Official says movements do not represent threat to Russia.

(Excerpt) Read more at ynetnews.com ...

[Brian Baldwin]

Good for Russia. That list will change fast enough though. LOL

If you hand feed rabid rodents long enough they will eventually turn on you. Wanna see how fast Russia joins the west in condemning them? Wait until their embassy gets blown up somewhere in the mid-east.

It's just Russia's way of playing at their favorite game of "Destroy America". New toys for them but soon a thorn in their sides.

[Brian Baldwin]

"Syria is in one of its weakest moments -- from the point of view of its air power and tank capabilities," Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Friday. "It is true that Syria has focused on its missile and commando capabilities. But overall I don't feel that Syria wants to become entangled in war. I don't assess that it will initiate [a war]."

Dangerous thoughts. Iran will force their hand eventually and Syria will be stupid enough to do Iranian bidding. Then full fledged war in the middle east will be a reality. And won't the world wonder why Russia and China are smiling so smugly while "condemning" it....

[Sean Osborne]

Syrian Downing of Israeli drone Raises Specter of Syrian Scuds
DEBKAfile Exclusive Military Report
July 29, 2006, 2:57 PM (GMT+02:00)
The Lebanon war raging between Israel and HIzballah took an alarming detour Friday, July 28, when, according to DEBKAfile’s military sources, Syrian air defense batteries ambushed and shot down an Israeli spy drone (picture) flying on the Lebanese side of the border with Syria.

These drones have been used to “paint” the weapons convoys heading in from Syria, for the Israeli air force to hit them before they can reach their destinations and replenish Hizballah stockpiles.

This time, the Syrians knocked the drone out of the sky to allow a large consignment of rocket launchers and truckloads of rockets to cross into Lebanon undetected and safe from Israeli air attack.

The pilotless craft crashed on the eastern slopes of Jebel Barukh. The IDF bulletin evaded mention of the Syrian role and reported that a technical fault had caused the crash and the fragments had been destroyed from the air to prevent their falling into the hands of Hizballah.

While Israeli leaders reiterate constantly that Israel has no intention of going to war with Syria, Damascus openly supports Hizballah with massive injections of weapons and other aid. It has already crossed several red lines.

1. A Syrian weapons system opened fire on an Israeli target for the first time.

2. The ambush of the Israeli drone by Syrian air defenses was a calculated move to clear the way for Syrian convoys loaded with rockets and rocket launchers to roll into Lebanon free of constant bombardment by Israel warplanes.

3. The drone was shot down while flying in Lebanese air space. This was a signal from Damascus to Israel that it would not scruple to target Israeli military forces inside Lebanon when its interests were deemed to be in jeopardy. Earlier this week, the Syrian information minister Buthaina Chabane declared that if Israeli artillery came within 20 km of Damascus, Syria would fight.

Israel’s official spokesmen and its military held back from answering her, just as the Americans let Syria get away with its hostile interference in the Iraq war.

Although Bashar Assad has turned his country into a central hub and highway for fighters, arms, explosives and cash to bolster the Iraq insurgency, Syria has gone unpunished except for a single American air attack on a busload of Hizballah fighters heading into Iraq.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that some members of Israel’s high command criticize this policy of restraint as encouraging the Syrians to deepen their involvement in the conflict and bolstering Hizballah’s endurance for long-term combat. Other generals defend this policy, arguing that while Syria placed its military on a state of high preparedness from the start of the war, Syrian military doctrine assigns its Scud missiles a defensive not an offensive role. Therefore, an Israeli attack on a Syrian target might well trigger a Scud missile assault on Israeli military or civilian locations.

[Jag]

Jul 29, 1:57 PM EDT
Hezbollah Chief Threatens Rocket Attacks

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Hezbollah's leader on Saturday threatened more attacks on central Israeli cities, a day after guerrillas for the first time fired a rocket powerful enough to reach the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, speaking on Hezbollah's TV station, said he supported Lebanon's efforts to negotiate a peace deal, but suggested tentative promises for the guerrillas to disarm would be off if conditions aren't met.
Nasrallah also dismissed a new diplomatic effort by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to bring about cease-fire, saying the United States wants fighting to continue. His statement came as Rice arrived in the Mideast to visit Israel; a possible Lebanon stop has not been announced.
The bearded Shiite Muslim cleric, wearing his trademark black headdress, insisted Hezbollah fighters were winning the battle with Israel, now in its 18th day. Israel has not made a "single military accomplishment" in its offensive on Lebanon, he said, speaking on the group's Al-Manar television.

He claimed Israel suffered a "serious defeat" in ground fighting around a Lebanese border town after Israeli troops pulled back Saturday afternoon. Israel said they left Bint Jbail because they accomplished their mission of wearing down Hezbollah fighters after a week of heavy battles.
On Friday, a Hezbollah rocket hit outside the Israeli town of Afula, the farthest strike yet. Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli military base, but the rockets fell in an empty field.
"The bombardment of Afula and its military base is the beginning ..., Nasrallah said. "Many cities in the center (of Israel) will be targeted in the 'beyond Haifa' stage if the savage aggression continues on our country, people and villages."
He was referring to his earlier threat to attack deeper into Israel than Haifa, which has been hit repeatedly in the recent conflict.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah was willing to cooperate with the Lebanese government. He did not mention a Lebanese peace plan calling for guerrilla disarmament specifically, but suggested Hezbollah would not disarm if the government backs away from conditions outlined in its proposal.
Most notably, the proposals demand a prisoner swap with Israel and the resolution of Lebanese claims on border land that Israel controls. Israel has ruled out a prisoner swap but has not said whether it would be willing to reconsider its hold on the Chebaa farms area.
The speech was Nasrallah's fourth taped TV appearance since fighting began, sparked by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers July 12.
In Beirut, drivers stopped their cars and pedestrians stood in front of shops and cafes to watch the address. Fireworks erupted in the southern neighborhoods of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, after Nasrallah finished.
His speech was picked up live by Israel TV's Channel 2, with instant translation into Hebrew.

Jag

[Sean Osborne]

Hezbollah is getting paid back by America's ally, using a lot of American ordnance, for the terrorism they have long been due to account for. The origin of this war was the takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran, Iran on November 4, 1979 by current Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad and other Shi'a islamofascist terrorists.

Here's a quick list of their acts of war against America after that declaration of war.

18 April 1983: Hezbo's VBIED the US Embassy in Beirut using a stolen embassy van (stolen in June 1982) packed with 2000 lbs explosives. 63 killed including the entire CIA contingent.

23 October 1983: Hezbo's VBIED the USMC Battalion Landing Team HQ/Barracks in Beirut with Mercedes truck packed with 12,000 lbs of explosives. 241 Marines, sailers and soldiers were killed and another 100 were wounded.

12 December 1983: Hezbo/Shiite's/Iranian's VBIED the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait Cityand other targets. 5 Killed, 80 Injured.

20 September 1984: Hezbo's launch a second VBIED truck at US Embassy annex, killing 24 civilians and 2 U.S. military.

3 December 1984: Hezbo's hijack Kuwait Airways Flight 221, from Kuwait to Pakistan, and divert to Tehran, Iran. 2 Americans killed.
14 June 1985: TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome hijacked to Beirut by Hezbo's and held for 17 days.U.S. Navy SEAL Robert Stetham executed.

Between 1982 and 1991 Hezbo's kipnap 30 US citizens and other Westerners. Some were killed, some died in captivity, and some were eventually released. Terry Anderson was held for 2,454 days.

It's payback time thanks to Israel. God Bless Israel and her soldiers for doing what America has failed to do for the past 27 years.