Israeli-Arab War

[falcon]

DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose: Hizballah’s rocket offensive against Israel is orchestrated from a rear command located in the Syrian town of Anjar

August 7, 2006, 12:41 PM (GMT+02:00)

While Israeli officials keep on insisting that Syria must be kept out of the conflict, the fact is that the Assad regime is already in it up to their ears – with a leading role in the Hizballah rocket attacks on northern Israel.

The command which coordinates the pace of those attacks is located at the Anjar base of the Syrian Army’s 10th Division opposite the Lebanese town of Az Zabdani. It is manned by Iranian and Hizballah officers, who take their orders from a Syrian military intelligence center in Damascus to which Iranian Revolutionary Guards intelligence officers are attached. It is headed by a general from one of Syria’s surface missile brigades. This joint command is provided with the most up-to-date intelligence and electronic data available to Syria on targets in Israel and IDF movements. The timing and tempo of Hizballah rocket strikes are set according to that information.

To keep the rockets coming without interruption, the joint Hizballah-Syrian-Iranian command is also responsible with keeping Hizballah supplied with an inflow of rockets and launchers. They use smuggling rings to slip the supplies into Lebanon by mule and donkey which ply the 5,000-7,000 feet mountain paths that straddle the Syrian-Lebanese frontier.

A senior Israeli officer told DEBKAfile: We can go on bombing Lebanon for many weeks, but that will not stop the rockets..

www.debka.com/

[Brian Baldwin]

I hope that's just rumor but it sounds too true for any good to come of it. Iran orchestrated this conflict from the get go and they seem to be the only ones likely to not pay for it from the outset. Later surely. But right now they get to sit back and watch the chaos they sewed come to fruition.

[Jag]

Iranian Military Chief: US and Israel Will Not Survive Attack on Iran 12:10 Aug 08, '06 / 14 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Monday that neither the United States or Israel would survive if they attacked Iran. "Without doubt, if criminal [United States and Israel] want to make any moves against Iran they will be stricken by a blow 100 times stronger and they will not survive in the face of Iran's power," General Yahya Rahim Safavi said. Iran's leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction in recent months, stating last week that Israel had “pushed the button of its own destruction,” an allusion to Iran's nuclear intentions.

These pricks like to do the "talk" now let's see them do the "walk" they so stupidly say they can do! Enough

Jag

[Ryan Ruck]

Missiles Neutralizing Israeli Tanks

Hezbollah's sophisticated anti-tank missiles are perhaps the guerrilla group's deadliest weapon in Lebanon fighting, with their ability to pierce Israel's most advanced tanks.

Experts say this is further evidence that Israel is facing a well-equipped army in this war, not a ragtag militia.

Hezbollah has fired Russian-made Metis-M anti-tank missiles and owns European-made Milan missiles, the army confirmed on Friday.

In the last two days alone, these missiles have killed seven soldiers and damaged three Israeli-made Merkava tanks - mountains of steel that are vaunted as symbols of Israel's military might, the army said. Israeli media say most of the 44 soldiers killed in four weeks of fighting were hit by anti-tank missiles.

"They (Hezbollah guerrillas) have some of the most advanced anti-tank missiles in the world," said Yossi Kuperwasser, a senior military intelligence officer who retired earlier this summer.

"This is not a militia, it's an infantry brigade with all the support units," Kuperwasser said.

Israel contends that Hezbollah gets almost all of its weaponry from Syria and by extension Iran, including its anti-tank missiles.

That's why cutting off the supply chain is essential - and why fighting Hezbollah after it has spent six years building up its arsenal is proving so painful to Israel, officials say.

Israel's Merkava tanks boast massive amounts of armor and lumber and resemble fortresses on tracks. They are built for crew survival, according to Globalsecurity.org, a Washington-based military think tank.

Hezbollah celebrates when it destroys one.

"A Zionist armored force tried to advance toward the village of Chihine. The holy warriors confronted it and destroyed two Merkava tanks," the group proclaimed on television Thursday.

The Israeli army confirmed two attacks on Merkava tanks that day - one that killed three soldiers and the other killing one. The three soldiers who were killed on Friday were also killed by anti-tank missiles, the army said.

It would not say whether the missiles disabled the tanks.

"To the best of my understanding, they (Hezbollah) are as well-equipped as any standing unit in the Syrian or Iranian armies," said Eran Lerman, a retired army colonel and now director of the Israel/Middle East office of the American Jewish Committee. "This is not a rat-pack guerrilla, this is an organized militia."

Besides the anti-tank missiles, Hezbollah is also known to have a powerful rocket-propelled grenade known as the RPG29. These weapons are also smuggled through Syria, an Israeli security official said, and were previously used by Palestinian militants in Gaza to damage tanks.

On Friday, Jane's Defense Weekly, a defense industry magazine, reported that Hezbollah asked Iran for "a constant supply of weapons" to support its operations against Israel.

The report cited Western diplomatic sources as saying that Iranian authorities promised Hezbollah a steady supply of weapons "for the next stage of the confrontation."

Top Israeli intelligence officials say they have seen Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers on the ground with Hezbollah troops. They say that permission to fire Hezbollah's longer-range missiles, such as those could reach Tel Aviv, would likely require Iranian go-ahead.

The Metis-M (aka AT-13) and RPG-29 are both fairly advanced anti-tank weapons. No surprise the Russians are supplying them to the Hezzies. And if the Russians are supplying them to the Hezzies, that should tell you that they will give them to anyone.

[Ryan Ruck]

Syria 'Ready For Possible Regional War'

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem crossed into Lebanon Sunday for the first visit by a top Syrian official in more than a year, Lebanon's state news agency said.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting with his Lebanese counterpart, Fawzi Salloukh, Moallem said "Syria is ready for the possibility of a regional war if the Israeli aggression continues."

He added that a US-French draft resolution to end the war "adopted Israel's point of view only." Underlining his support for Hizbullah, Moallem said, "as Syria's foreign minister I hope to be a soldier in the resistance."

Salloukh said that "Israel cannot take in peace what it had failed to take in war."

"If Israel attacks Syria by any mean, on the ground, by air, our leadership ordered the armed forces to reply immediately," he said after emerging from a meeting with Lebanese President Emil Lahoud.

Israel has issued several pledges not to attack Syria.

According to Moallem, the US-French cease-fire plan was "a recipe for the continuation of the war."

Moallem's visit comes amid strained relations between Lebanon and Syria as a result of the Feb. 14, 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A UN investigation has implicated several Syrian officials in the murder.

Syria denied any involvement in the Hariri assassination that led to an international isolation of Damascus.

Prompted by the crisis that followed Hariri's assassination, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April 2005, ending a 29-year military presence.

[Ryan Ruck]

Captured Hizbullah Kidnapper Details Syrian, Iranian Collusion

The IDF released videotaped footage of an interview with a captured Hizbullah member who was involved in the July 12th attack in which eight IDF soldiers were killed and two others kidnapped.

Chief of military intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, told cabinet ministers on Sunday that the Hizbullah terrorist had been taken prisoner during an operation in Lebanon. Soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev are still being held hostage by the Iranian-backed Hizbullah.

Among other revelations of Hizbullah recruitment and training methods, the captured terrorist, Hussein Ali Sliman, said that he and a group of 40 or 50 others travelled from Beirut to Iran by way of an unofficial Syrian air strip in 2003. He also noted that the caravan of Hizbullah vehicles crossing into Syria travelled by way of an official military lane. The trip was undertaken for one of two practical field exercises of Hizbullah terrorists under Iranian tutelage.

Sliman, age 22 from the Beirut-area Burj Al-Barajneh PLO refugee camp, was interrogated after being captured by IDF forces in an unspecified raid in Lebanon. Speaking in Arabic, the captive Hizbullah member appears to be very calm and cooperative with his off-camera interrogator in the edited recording.

Early in the interview, Sliman described how he began Hizbullah militia training activities at the age of 15, after school hours, in his home town. The training, Sliman said, lasted one and a half months, during which the youths were given military, educational and religious instruction.

Sliman: "I was young. In 2000, I took part in a combat course, after the liberation [a reference to the Israeli unilateral withdrawal from southern Lebanon in that year - ed.]."

Interrogator: "And until 2000, what did you do during that period?"

Sliman: "Nothing. Mosque attendance. Mosque attendance and lessons with the sheikh [Muslim cleric]."

After a multi-faceted 45-day combat course in the Ba'albek region of eastern Lebanon, Sliman learned how to use anti-tank weapons and eventually took part in what might be likened to a military officers course for commanders of specific districts.

When asked by his questioner if he took courses outside of Lebanon, Sliman answered, "Not a course. I took part in practical field training exercises ['war games' - ed.]. Two exercises."

Interrogator: "When was the first exercise?"

Sliman: "At the end of 2003."

Interrogator: "Where did you do it?"

Sliman: "In Iran."

Interrogator: "How did you leave for Iran?"

Sliman: "We left Beirut in cars, range rovers, other vehicles...."

Interrogator: "Hizbullah cars. It is known that military cars belong to the Hizbullah."

Sliman: "Not military vehicles, but..."

Interrogator: "But they are recognized as belonging to the Hizbullah."

Sliman: "Yes. Recognizable."

The captured Hizbullah terrorist was then asked where they went from Beirut. "From Beirut to the Damascus airport," he replied. "At the Al-Missna Crossing, by way of the military lane."

After clarifying that the group of about 50 Hizbullah terrorists traveled to Syria as a group, by way of a military crossing, the interrogator asked Sliman what they did once they reached the Damascus airport.

Sliman: "We did not enter the Damascus airport, we entered a separate area...."

Interrogator: "That is to say, unofficial."

Sliman: "Yes, unofficial."

Interrogator: "They entered the Damascus airport..."

Sliman: "An airport bus, the bus came and took us and we took off in the plane."

Interrogator: "Did they stamp your passports when you left?"

Sliman: "We didn't have any passports."

The video then cuts to a discussion of the attacks Sliman carried out once back in Lebanon. In 2005, he was part of a peripheral team assigned to prevent Israeli tanks from firing at the border town of Rajar, as another cell attempted to kill or kidnap IDF soldiers stationed on the Israeli side of the border. That operation failed. "The main goal was really not achieved," he admitted, "but the secondary goal was to land a harsh blow against the military outposts."

Regarding his part in the July 12th attack and kidnapping on the Lebanese-Israeli border, Sliman said that he was assigned to prevent the approach of IDF reinforcements from nearby military positions.

[Malsua]

Here's an interesting tidbit I picked up somewhere. I'd give credit if I could remember where I saw it. On a page detailing the fraud from the wire services anyway.

Note how casualties are reported.

If Innocent Isrealis are killed, it's reported like this. "5 people were killed today by a rocket"

If Innocent Lebanese are killed it's reported like this "40(meaning 5) Innocent Civilians were killed today by Israel"

Get it, Isreal kills innocents Civilians, Rockets kill People. Shameful. Isreal goes out of its way not to target non combatants, and Hizzies intentially target innocents. What a joke the media has become.

-Mal

[Aplomb]

I read that, too, Mal. Zombie at www.zombietime.com said it was a well-researched comment made by Doss over at little green footballs, where some of the comments are always great, by the way: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/webl...ry=21979#c0156

[falcon]

IDF Commando Raid South of Tyre; Abandoning the Litani?

By Bill Roggio

Southern Lebanon. Green indicates Israeli occupied town; red IDF warned towns of operations; yellow Israeli airstrikes; orange clashes. Click map to view.

Israeli Defense Force commandos have conducted another behind the lines raid in Hezbollah territory, this time in the town of Ras al-Biyada (Al Bayyadah on the map), which sits on the Lebanese coast about five kilometers north of the Israeli border. Reports indicate 30 to 40 commandos were inserted by helicopter near Ras al-Biyada, the target being an apartment complex. Five Lebanese are reported to have been killed and 8 IDF commandos were wounded. The Ras Al-Biyada raid follows the raid in Tyre and Baalbek, as well as 15 other special operations missions behind enemy lines.
The IDF special operations missions in Hezbollah territory come with great risk, and demonstrate Israel's abilities to hit Hezbollah with ground forces away from the front lines. These missions have a psychological impact on both Hezbollah and the Israelis.
But the Ras Al-Biyada raid also demonstrates just how shallow the Israeli penetration is in southern Lebanon. Ras Al-Biyad is but 5 kilometers from the border, yet the IDF had to perform a helicopter insertion of commandos in a region where there is well developed road system running northward up the coast. Hezbollah indicates they clashed with the IDF in Shama to the east Al-Biyada, but this could not be independently confirmed. Clashes have been reported in Bint Jubayl, Tayybayah, Hula, Dibil, and Ayta al Shaba. Israel is said to be in 20 villages and towns along the border. A look at the battle map shows that the IDF appears to be sticking to the 6-8 kilometer buffer zone, and shaping their operations to meet this goal.
The Jerusalem Post reports the "IDF ditches plans to reach Litani River" as the IDF "finished recreating the 10-kilometer-deep security zone Israel held during its 18-year presence in Lebanon which ended in 2000." The Israeli government appears to be banking on a political solution as opposed to striking further at Hezbollah's operational capabilities.

While the IDF initially had planned to send troops north to the Litani River - a line from which officials said it would be easier to prevent rocket attacks - high-ranking military sources told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that due to the mounting diplomatic pressure the plan had been deferred for the time being.

Remains of a Misrad-1 shot down over the Mediterranean Sea near Acre. Click photo to view.

At this point in time it appears the Israeli government has yet to formulate a coherent military strategy to deal with Hezbollah's military organization and their short range and mid range rockets, which continue to rain down of Israeli cities and towns at a rate of 150 to 200 per day. Hezbollah is not only surviving the IDF attacks, it is striking deep inside Israeli territory. This is not going unnoticed in the Muslim and Arab world. hezbollah's prestige grows daily.
Israel can now add armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to the potential Hezbollah threat. The Israeli Air Force shot down a Hezbollah Misrad-1 UAV off the coast of Acre, which is 15 kilometers north of Haifa. The Misrad-1 can carry a 45 kilogram warhead, and although there was speculation this UAV was armed, the Israeli Air Force denied this.



http://counterterrorismblog.org/

[falcon]

You will neve see this report by the major news media.
Israelis phone targeted buildings before air strikes

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, August 8, 2006

TEL AVIV — Israel's military has begun calling Palestinians whose homes have been targeted as terror sites in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

Military sources said Israel had sent a telephone message to residents of a house destroyed in the northern Gaza Strip. The message warned the residents that their building would be the target of an air strike.

"There were two phone calls just to make sure they understood what we were about to do," a source said.

The sources said the method has been used in Lebanon during the current war against Hizbullah. They said Lebanese have responded to the telephoned warnings.

Mohammed Shurafa said in an interview with a Gaza radio station that he received a call from a man who identified himself as an Israel Army representative. The caller ordered the resident to leave his house.

The military has acknowledged the story. A spokeswoman said the northern Gaza house was used as a warehouse for the Islamic Jihad.

Shurafa said he and his family complied. But a few minutes later, concluding that the call was a joke, they returned. At that point, the telephone rang again.

"He said: 'Why did you return? This is not a joke,'" Shurafa recalled.

Shurafa said he and his family fled the home. Several minutes later, the house was struck by an air-to-ground missile.

On Tuesday, Palestinian gunners fired at least three Kassam-class, short-range missiles into Israel. There were no reports of injuries.

In an unrelated development, at least four Palestinian Authority employees fainted after they opened a package believed to have contained lethal toxins. PA sources said the package was addressed to Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Eddin Shaer, sought by Israel.

www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2453956.0680555557.html

[falcon]

Israel to evacuate 25,000 residents near border

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, August 8, 2006

TEL AVIV — Israel's military plans to evacuate tens of thousands of residents from the north.

Officials said the military's Home Front Command would evacuate at least 25,000 residents from communities near the Lebanese border beginning on Aug. 9.

"There are intentions to evacuate people and communities who have been sitting in bunkers during the last four weeks," Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Gershon, head of the military's Home Command, said. "There have been places found for 25,000 people."

Gershon said the evacuation would take place in cooperation with civilian authorities. He said the effort would focus on removing residents whose communities have been under attack since the start of the war on July 12.

Officials said elderly and disabled residents would be given preference in the evacuation effort. They said temporary quarters were being found for these people.

"They will go to several locations over the next few days," an official said. "The places are being prepared."

In the first stage, officials said, 2,000 elderly residents would be evacuated. They said the residents would be relocated to kindergartens and military bases.

Gershon said more than 200,000 people have fled the north. Many have been living in a privately-financed tent city near the southern city of Ashkelon adjacent to those expelled by the army during the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in September 2005.

Israeli sources said about 330,000 people have left their communities. About 1 million people live in the area from Haifa to the Lebanese border.

The plans by the Home Front reflected an assessment that despite the expectation of an imminent Security Council ceasefire resolution, Hizbullah rocket strikes would continue for at least the next few weeks. So far, Hizbullah, intensifying salvos, has fired more than 3,000 rockets into Israel.

Public Security Director Avi Dichter said Hizbullah has fired 5,000 rockets. On Tuesday, Hizbullah fired numerous rocket salvos throughout northern Israel.

"We are observing among Hizbullah that they are experiencing certain difficulties in bringing Katyusha supplies to the south, apart from those that have been well hidden during the last few years in civilian cellars," Brig. Gen. Yehoshua Shichrur, deputy operational chief of Northern Command, said.

www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2453956.077777778.html

[Aplomb]

This war is about good verses evil. Diplomacy and negotiations will not work, unless Israel agrees to back down and admit a defeat and possibly give up land--which will result in continued assults by terrorists in Israel and toward the U.S. as well. This is not about two countries in battle against enemy soldiers that need to make amends and shake hands and get along and agree to peace. Talks are viewed as opportunities to take advantage of perceived weakness by terrorists. Hezbollah targets civilians, Israel defends itself by attacking Hezbollah, let's not forget that, and let's hope that one whole month of fighting and loss of brave lives has not been for nothing...

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

Aug. 11, 2006 4:12 | Updated Aug. 11, 2006 14:37
A test for the US, too



We know that the expanded ground offensive approved Wednesday by the cabinet risks a terrible human toll in the lives of our soldiers. The cabinet took this wrenching decision with its eyes open, aware that Hizbullah is dug in and well-armed with sophisticated weaponry, for some of which our forces do not have fully satisfactory defenses.

Yet, the decision was taken, because the alternative would be to allow an Iranian-backed militia to defeat Israel, an outcome that the cabinet and our military leaders regard as an existential threat to this country.

Many, understandably, ask why this is so, given that Hizbullah is a militia with a few thousand fighters, has no tanks or aircraft and could not invade Israel.

The answer is that the entire Arab world is watching to see whether Hizbullah is a match for the mighty Israeli army. If it is, we are not the regional superpower we are made out to be.

In this region, Hizbullah's survival in the face of the best Israel can throw at it is the equivalent of throwing blood in a tank full of sharks. It would embolden the jihadis of the region and deal a terrible blow to those nascent forces that believe the Arab world, for its own sake, must advance on the path of democracy and freedom rather than death and dictatorship.

This is the impeccable logic behind the Israeli consensus and the cabinet's decision. Which begs the question: Why, if this conflict is an existential one as the cabinet asserts, did Prime Minister Ehud Olmert order the extended operation stopped just hours after it had been authorized?

The explanation given was the desire to give diplomacy a few more days. But we know that neither the most "robust" international force, nor the Lebanese army, will dismantle the Hizbullah fortifications strewn between where the IDF is currently deployed and the Litani river - the same area from which Israel is currently being bombarded with missiles. We know that, at best, an international force will only keep Hizbullah from returning to areas from which the IDF has evicted it.

Olmert must decide: is this an existential conflict or isn't it? If it is, then why hold out hope for a feckless international solution that he must know will leave Hizbullah to bombard Israel another day - the next time, potentially, with unconventional weapons?

Indeed, the only hope for an international solution that will hold water will come after the approved ground operation is completed.

In this context, the White House's sudden decision to return to the language of moral equivalence is very puzzling and disturbing.

Presidential spokesman Tony Snow said just after the cabinet decision that "we want an end to violence and we do not want
escalations."

What does this mean? That suddenly the White House sees Israel on the same plane as Hizbullah? Does it mean that President George W. Bush believes that a UN resolution imposed now, perhaps after a watering-down by France at the behest of the Arab League, will produce the long-term stability that Washington has said it is seeking?

Again, if Israel has been dragged into an existential conflict, the White House should not be pressuring the Israeli government, and Israel's prime minister should not be pretending - or worse, not pretending - that he might accede to that pressure. In the same White House press conference, Snow excoriated the "extreme left" Democrats who toppled Senator Joseph Lieberman in his party primary. It was a "defining moment" for Democrats, he said, who were ready "simply to walk away" from Iraq's nascent democracy. This would "encourage terrorists not only in Iraq, but throughout the region and throughout the world."


It would also vindicate Osama bin Laden, who "some years ago said that one of the keys is that, if you simply stay at terror long enough, the West is too weak. He said the Americans were too weak and would stand down."

"A white flag [in Iraq]," Snow summed up, "means a white flag in the war on terror." It should need no explaining to this White House that for Israel to wave a white flag in the face of Hizbullah would have implications similar to those of the US doing so in Iraq. Iran's attack, through Hizbullah, is as much an attack on and a test of the United States as it is of Israel.

[Jag]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/11/wo...rtner=homepage

Israel Asks U.S. to Ship Rockets With Wide Blast

By DAVID S. CLOUD
Published: August 11, 2006
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 — Israel has asked the Bush administration to speed delivery of short-range antipersonnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, which it could use to strike Hezbollah missile sites in Lebanon, two American officials said Thursday.

The request for M-26 artillery rockets, which are fired in barrages and carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area, is likely to be approved shortly, along with other arms, a senior official said.

But some State Department officials have sought to delay the approval because of concerns over the likelihood of civilian casualties, and the diplomatic repercussions. The rockets, while they would be very effective against hidden missile launchers, officials say, are fired by the dozen and could be expected to cause civilian casualties if used against targets in populated areas.

Israel is asking for the rockets now because it has been unable to suppress Hezbollah’s Katyusha rocket attacks in the month-old conflict by using bombs dropped from aircraft and other types of artillery, the officials said. The Katyusha rockets have killed dozens of civilians in Israel.

The United States had approved the sale of M-26’s to Israel some time ago, but the weapons had not yet been delivered when the crisis in Lebanon erupted. If the shipment is approved, Israel may be told that it must be especially careful about firing the rockets into populated areas, the senior official said.

Israel has long told American officials that it wanted M-26 rockets for use against conventional armies in case Israel was invaded, one of the American officials said. But after being pressed in recent days on what they intended to use the weapons for, Israeli officials disclosed that they planned to use them against rocket sites in Lebanon. It was this prospect that raised the intense concerns over civilian casualties.

During much of the 1980’s, the United States maintained a moratorium on selling cluster munitions to Israel, following disclosures that civilians in Lebanon had been killed with the weapons during the 1982 Israeli invasion. But the moratorium was lifted late in the Reagan administration, and since then, the United States has sold Israel some types of cluster munitions, the senior official said.

Officials would discuss the issue only on the condition of anonymity, as the debate over what to do is not resolved and is freighted with implications for the difficult diplomacy that is under way.

State Department officials “are discussing whether or not there needs to be a block on this sale because of the past history and because of the current circumstances,” said the senior official, adding that it was likely that Israel will get the rockets, but will be told to be “be careful.”

David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, declined to comment on Israel’s request. He said, though, that “as a rule, we obviously don’t fire into populated areas, with the exception of the use of precision-guided munitions against terrorist targets.” In such cases, Israel has dropped leaflets warning of impending attacks to avoid civilian casualties, he said.
In the case of cluster munitions, including the Multiple Launch Rocket System, which fires the M-26, the Israeli military only fires into open terrain where rocket launchers or other military targets are found, to avoid killing civilians, an Israeli official said.

The debate over whether to ship Israel the missiles, which include the cluster munitions and use launchers that Israel has already received, comes as the Bush administration has been trying to win support for a draft United Nations resolution that calls for immediate cessation of “all attacks” by Hezbollah and of “offensive military operations” by Israel.

Arab governments, under pressure to halt the rising number of civilian casualties in Lebanon, have criticized the measure for not calling for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

While Bush administration officials have criticized Israeli strikes that have caused civilian casualties, they have also backed the offensive against Hezbollah by rushing arms shipments to the region. Last month the administration approved a shipment of precision-guided munitions, which one senior official said this week included at least 25 of the 5,000-pound “bunker-buster” bombs.

Israel has recently asked for another shipment of precision-guided munitions, which is likely to be approved, the senior official said.

Jag

[Aplomb]

I can't believe this !

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,207902,00.html

Olmert Orders Expanded Offensive as France, U.S. Agree on Resolution

Friday, August 11, 2006

UNITED NATIONS — France and the United States reached a deal Friday on a final draft resolution aimed at ending the monthlong conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, with a likely vote by the U.N. Security Council later in the day.

The agreement came as Israeli forces threatened to lobby a lightening strike against Hezbollah and troops of forces made their way across the Lebanon border after Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert ordered an exanded offensive.

A vote on the resolution was not expected before 7 p.m., a member of the French delegation told FOX News at the United Nations.

The resolution, if passed, would authorize the deployment of 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon to support Lebanon's deployment to the region "as Israel withdraws."

The draft would ask the U.N. force to monitor a full cessation of hostilities and help Lebanese forces gain full control over an area that has previously been under de facto control of Hezbollah militias.

The text of the draft says the force's mandate would include several elements: monitoring the cessation of hostilities, accompanying Lebanese troops as they deploy and as Israel withdraws, and ensuring humanitarian access to the area.

Initial indications were that Israel might be willing to accept the resolution even though it makes a key concession to Lebanon.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said the resolution would give U.N. forces in south Lebanon a mandate under Chapter 6 of the U.N. Charter — which Israel has previously opposed. But she said the mandate would be modified to make the force stronger than it's been in the 28 years it has been in south Lebanon.

The U.N. force, known by its acronym UNIFIL, would help coordinate the deployment of Lebanese forces to the south, which has been under de facto control of Hezbollah militias for years. Israeli troops that have occupied the area in more than four weeks of fighting would then withdraw.

The U.S. and France had originally wanted UNIFIL force deployed under the Charter's Chapter 7, which would give the troops even more robust rules of engagement. But Lebanon objected because of its fears that such a mandate would make the peacekeepers look like occupiers.

"You never get a deal like this with everybody getting everything that they want," Beckett said. "The question is, has everybody got enough for this to stick and for it to be enforceable? Nobody wants to go back to where we were before this last episode started."

The two sides sent the new text to the governments of Israel and Lebanon, but a French diplomat said the vote would go ahead whatever the response. The council was likely to vote on the document about 7 p.m. EDT, the diplomat said.

There were indications that diplomats had managed to find language to eased Israel's concerns that a Chapter 6 mandate, no matter how enhanced, would leave the force too weak. An individual close to the Israeli government said there's a "good chance" Israel will a accept the new cease-fire proposal. The individual spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the government's high-stakes negotiations.

That reversal occured just hours after Olmert expressed dissatisfaction with earlier Security Council proposals and decided to launch an expanded ground offensive in southern Lebanon.

Israel, backed by the United States, is chiefly concerned that Hezbollah not be allowed to regain its strength south Lebanon once a cessation of hostilities goes into effect. Washington has supported Israel's insistence on staying in southern Lebanon until a robust international force is deployed.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora received a copy of the U.S.-French draft resolution, government officials said. He was studying the document and contacting politicians for their input, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The officials refused to say whom Saniora was talking with, but the leading Lebanese Broadcasting Corp., said he was in touch with Hezbollah officials as well as parliament speaker Nabih Berri, Hezbollah's de facto negotiator.

The announcement of the new text came after a morning of heated negotiations between senior diplomats, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Beckett, to accommodate concerns from both sides.

The latest draft appears to eliminate the prospect of a new, independent multinational force that would patrol a buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon.

A senior U.S. official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. and France envision a 10-day time frame between the moment a halt to the hostilities is declared and when UNIFIL troops go into action in the south.

The deal also renders moot a Russian-proposed draft resolution calling for a blanket 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire in Lebanon. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin had said he was increasingly impatient about the diplomatic efforts because the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon was reaching "catastrophic" proportions.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also expressed frustration that the council had yet to take action.

"I think we've had enough discussions," he said. "The issues have been discussed all around and it is time for decision, and I hope the council will take firm action today."

More than 800 people have died in the monthlong conflict, hundreds of Lebanese civilians and dozens of Israelis.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In the meantime, Olmert has given the order for the ground invasion--Go IDF!!!

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia Denies Supplying Hezbollah with Anti-Tank Armaments

Russia has not supplied modern anti-tank armaments to the Middle East, so Hezbollah militants cannot possibly be in possession of them, Deputy President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems Col. Gen. Leonid Ivashov told Interfax-AVN.

“Had Hezbollah obtained modern close-combat weaponry, including grenade launchers, I think that Israeli army casualties would be incomparable to the current figures,” he said.

Ivashov previously headed the Russian Defense Ministry’s Main Department of International Military Cooperation.

Ivashov’s statement came as a response to a Monday article in the Israeli Ha’aretz daily claiming Hezbollah had obtained Russian RPG-29s from Syria.

Hezbollah has rather primitive missile launchers for use in guerrilla warfare, items which Russia has never produced. Such weapons may be manufactured in the Middle East, Ivashov said.

Meanwhile, head of the Military Forecasting Center Anatoly Tsyganok ruled out the possibility of deliveries of modern anti-tank weapons to Hezbollah from Russia or Syria.

“Any accusations alleging Russian or Syrian deliveries of anti-tank weapons to any forces in Lebanon are unfounded. The Israeli side has not presented any evidence of this, and it is unlikely that it will,” he told Interfax-AVN on Monday.

RPG-29 weapons have been supplied to India, China and some other countries. “Most probably, such weapons, should Hezbollah militants really have any, might have been brought to Lebanon through third countries,” Tsyganok said.

Well, here’s a big surprise…

[falcon]

Hezbollah claims spies inside Israeli intelligence
Agents said passing information on rocket targets, military installations
Posted: August 12, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

JERUSALEM – Hezbollah has a vast network of spies operating inside Israel, providing the organization with information on rocket targets, military installations and sensitive industrial sites, such as chemical plants, according to a Palestinian newspaper affiliated with the Islamic Jihad terror group.

The newspaper, Palestine Today, quoted what it said was a Hezbollah source in Beirut claiming Hezbollah has infiltrated Israeli intelligence agencies and knows "every inch" of the Jewish state.

"The places we chose to hit with the rockets are decided upon according to information our agents give us and keep on giving us," the Hezbollah source was quoted as saying. "We have information about every inch inside Israel, including places where the army keeps its weapons, especially chemical weapons and explosives."

"We have a very developed network of spies that can give the organization (Hezbollah) all it wants inside Lebanon and Israel. This system is based on people working deep inside Israel very secretly, including members in the Israeli intelligence agencies," the source claimed.

Palestine Today is known to be affiliated with Islamic Jihad, which Israel says works closely with Hezbollah and receives funding from the Lebanese terror group.

Israeli intelligence officials tell WND they are "very aware" of a possible Hezbollah spy network currently inside Israel and have been working to crack it. They also say they don't discount Palestine Today's claims Hezbollah has spies inside the Israeli intelligence community. An Israeli Arab military officer previously was convicted of spying for Hezbollah.

The Palestinian newspaper interview comes one day after Israel revealed it arrested an Israeli Arab it suspects of spying for Hezbollah, accusing him of passing to the terror group information on troop movements and rocket landings during the Jewish state's current military campaign in Lebanon.

It also follows a WND exclusive interview earlier this week with a senior terror leader here who said Hezbollah has an advanced spy network operating inside Israel consisting of "tens" of agents, mostly Arab-Israelis who provide the Lebanon-based terror group with strategic information such as rocket targets and locations of military installations.

In Israel this week, the Nazareth District Court received a charge sheet against Riyad Mzarib, 30, a Bedouin Arab from an Israeli village in the Jezreel Valley, accusing him of conspiring to assist Hezbollah during wartime, holding contacts with the terror group and delivering to them strategic information in exchange for participation in a drug ring.

According to an Israeli police commander, Mzarib confessed to having delivered to Lebanese representatives reports on the movements of Israeli Defense Forces and the location of Hezbollah missile hits in the north. He was arrested July 21, nine days after the war broke out here.

Since Israel started its military campaign in Lebanon last month following a Hezbollah attack, the Lebanese militia has fired more than 3,400 rockets into northern Israeli cities, including into Haifa, the country's third largest. About one-third of the Israeli population is under rocket threat. Fifty-one Israelis have been killed so far by Hezbollah rocket attacks.

While Hezbollah projectiles lack guidance systems, the rockets are launched from specific areas in Lebanon using a rocket's known trajectory and travel distance to score hits on particular Israeli sites.

Israeli security officials say they have been surprised by the accuracy of Hezbollah's rocket attacks. Several Katyushas have scored direct hits on Israeli military installations and other strategic facilities. Last weekend, 12 Israeli soldiers were killed and another 12 were wounded by a Hezbollah rocket attack on a military post at Kfar Giladi in the Upper Galilee.

In a WND interview this week, Abu Oudai, a chief of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group's rocket infrastructure in the West Bank, said Hezbollah has tens of agents in Israel that provide it "with the information it needs."

"[Hezbollah] receives extremely high-quality information from their agents inside Palestine," Abu Oudai said. "We are talking about detailed maps of neighborhoods, locations of military bases and regular information every day from many sources to help the heroes (Hezbollah) fire rockets more accurately into [northern Israel]."

He said after rocket attacks, Hezbollah agents send the terror group information on hits and misses.

The Al Aqsa Brigades, the declared "military wing" of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, is responsible for scores of shooting attacks, rocket launchings and, together with Islamic Jihad, every suicide bombing inside Israel the past two years.

Israel says senior Brigades leaders, particularly the group's cell in Nablus in the northern West Bank, coordinate their attacks with Hezbollah and receive funding from Iran and Syria funneled through Hezbollah channels. Several Brigades leaders have spoken openly to WorldNetDaily about their group's affiliation with Hezbollah.

Israeli intelligence officials tell WND they are "very aware" of a possible Hezbollah spy network currently inside Israel and have been working to crack it.

At least 12 suspected Hezbollah agents have been arrested in Israel the past year, including Jasaan Athamleh, leader of an Arab-Israeli political coalition. Athamleh was arrested seven months ago along with his brother and is thought to be a senior Hezbollah agent. It recently was revealed a Canadian professor accused of spying for Hezbollah was arrested here just before fighting broke out July 12.

In 2002, Israel convicted a Druze Arab IDF lieutenant-colonel of spying for Hezbollah in exchange for money and drugs. Prosecutors said the officer provided Hezbollah with intelligence about army movements, details of weak spots along the Israeli border and a map of Tel Aviv identifying gas and electrical depots.

Security sources say they suspect most Hezbollah agents operating here are Arab-Israeli. They say Hezbollah's most successful recruiting ground is Mecca, where Arab-Israelis travel for the pilgrimage there required by Islam. While Saudi Arabia does not admit Israelis, Arab-Israelis can travel to Jordan where they turn in their passports temporarily for a Jordanian passport voucher they can use to enter Saudi Arabia.

The sources said Israeli Hezbollah agents receive advanced training by Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guard members.

"Hezbollah, with the help of Iran, works like the army of a sovereign country," said a security official. "This includes the recruitment and development of spy networks."

www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51487

[Aplomb]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exer...21389FB813.htm

Israel, Hezbollah issue caveats on deal

Saturday 12 August 2006, 22:47 Makka Time, 19:47 GMT

Hezbollah says it will abide by a UN-backed ceasefire and Israel says it plans to halt offensive operations on Monday, but both sides issued caveats to their acceptance of a UN resolution to end the fighting.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, said on Saturday that his fighters would observe the UN resolution ending fighting once the timing of the truce was agreed and adhered to by Israel.

"We will not be an obstacle to any [government] decision that it finds appropriate, but our ministers will express reservations about articles [in the UN resolution] that we consider unjust and unfair," he said in a speech broadcast on Hezbollah's Al-Manar television.

But he called continued resistance to the ffice:smarttags" />lace w:st="on">Israelilace> offensive "our natural right" and predicted more intense fighting to come.

"The war has not yet ended," he said. "That can be seen on the ground where Israeli offensives are still ongoing.

"Hezbollah has the right to resist Israeli soldiers still in Lebanon, but will co-operate with Lebanese soldiers and UN troops due to be deployed to southern Lebanon as part of the Security Council resolution," he said.

"We must not make a mistake, not in the resistance, the government or the people, and believe that the war has ended. The war has not ended. There have been continued strikes and continued casualties," he added.

Nasrallah also warned Beirut: "During the next period, the Lebanese government should bear its responsibilities with regard to political security, reconstruction, and humanitarian sides."

The Lebanese cabinet accepted the resolution during a four-hour long meeting on Saturday.

"It was a unanimous decision, with some reservations," Fuad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister, said.

Cleaning the area
Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, said on Saturday that Israel's offensive against Hezbollah was expected to end on Monday.

"We said [we would] allow the army the time it needed and I think that will be until some time on Monday," she told Channel Two television.

Another senior Israeli official said offensive operations would stop at 7am on Monday (0400 GMT), but troops would "be cleaning the area" of Hezbollah fighters and weapons after that.

"Cleaning the area falls under defensive operations," the Israeli official said. Such operations are permitted under the resolution.

"We are the tool that is supposed to drive Hezbollah out of the south so the UN force can move in," the official added.

Despite the UN resolution's demand for a "full cessation of hostilities", Israeli air raids killed 20 people on Saturday.

Israeli forces also made their deepest push into Lebanon in this conflict, some reaching the Litani River, about 20km north of the border between Israel and Lebanon.

The Litani is the line behind which Hezbollah is expected to withdraw under the UN resolution.

Hezbollah fired 65 rockets at northern Israel on Saturday, wounding several people, and clashed with Israeli troops, killing seven and wounding 70.

[Aplomb]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749566.html

U.S. assures Israel it will not be forced to withdraw from Shaba

By Aluf Benn, Amos Harel, Yoav Stern and Eli Ashkenazi, and Agencies

A United Nations-brokered cease-fire would go into effect on Monday morning at 7 A.M., a senior Israeli government official said Saturday afternoon. By then, Israel Defense Forces troops are expected to reach the Litani River, some 30 kilometers inside Lebanon, with the purpose of cutting off Hezbollah forces further south, toward the border with Israel. In the event that the fighting resumes, IDF forces will then be in a position to move more effectively against Hezbollah militants. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Saturday evening that the offensive had continued despite the UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to the war because the army had requested an extension. "We said (we would) allow the army the time it needed and I think that will be until some time on Monday," she told Channel Two television.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday she hoped that the shooting would end within "a day or so."

In an interview with Israel Television, Rice said, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan "is working with the parties to establish a timetable for the
cease-fire, but I would hope that within no more than a day or so that there would be a cessation of the hostilities on the ground."

Rice said the broadened IDF offensive in Lebanon, which was ordered Friday a few hours before the cease-fire resolution was adopted at the UN, had been anticipated and was normal. "I understand that this is going on," she said. "My understanding is that this is part of the normal operations that were contemplated. When the cease-fire - the cessation of hostilities - comes into being, Israel will stop."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office, meanwhile, had said late Friday that the expanded incursion into Lebanon would continue "for the time being," despite Israel's agreement to a cease-fire resolution drafted by the United Nations Security Council. The cabinet is expected to vote Sunday on the resolution.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Saturday morning that Israel would press ahead with its military offensive in south Lebanon until the Cabinet approved the cease-fire deal. "The logic would be that even in the framework of this successful outcome, if you hand over to the Lebanese army a cleaner south Lebanon, a south Lebanon where you have Hezbollah removed from the territory, that makes their [the Lebanese] troubles a lot easier," Regev said.

U.S. pledge to Israel on Shaba enabled breakthrough
Haaretz Diplomatic Correspondent Aluf Benn reports that an agreement reached between Israel and the United States on the disputed Shaba Farms area, located on Israel's border with Lebanon, enabled a breakthrough in reaching a cease-fire resolution at the United Nations on Friday.

In letters exchanged between U.S. and Israeli leaders, U.S. officials assured Israel that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan would be authorized to determine whether the area belongs to Lebanon or Syria, but that the future status of the territory would only be determined in negotiations between Israel and Farms' rightful owners.

A senior government source said that Israel would not be obligated to withdraw from Shaba Farms, even if Annan's investigation determines that they belong to Lebanon.

In the negotiations that preceded the cease-fire deal, Lebanon demanded that Israel hand over Shaba Farms as a "deposit" to the UN, with the small strip of territory later to be given to either Lebanon or Syria, according to the results of Annan's investigation.

But Olmert strongly opposed the Lebanese demand, telling U.S. officials that Israel viewed the Shaba Farms as part of the Golan Heights, which was captured by Israel from Syria in 1967. He said that a withdrawal from part of the Golan would require a majority of 61 members of Knesset - a majority he does not have - or a national referendum. In 1981, the Knesset voted to extend Israeli law to the Golan.

With Olmert refusing to budge on the Shaba issue, the UN Security Council announced that Annan would determine the exact delineation of area of the Farms and present his findings to the Security Council within 30 days.

When Israel withdrew from south Lebanon in May 2000, the UN determined that the Farms were Syrian territory and that their future therefore had to be determined in negotiations between Jerusalem and Damascus.

A government source said Friday that Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni had agreed to the UN cease-fire resolution following last-minute changes to the text. "The various key ministers have voiced satisfaction at the amendments made over the last few hours," the source said. "For implementation by Israel, this now requires a cabinet vote. The idea is that the military offensive will continue until then."

Earlier Friday, Olmert issued the order for an expanded ground operation after diplomatic efforts at the UN appeared to be faltering. Another stumbling block was Lebanon's opposition to a more robust contingent of UNIFIL troops and to granting UNIFIL the authority to enforce the cease-fire.

Olmert thanks Bush
Olmert thanked U.S. President George W. Bush Friday for his work on the UN Security Council resolution to stop violence between Israel and Hezbollah, the White House said in recounting the first direct talks between the two leaders since the fighting began.

The eight-minute phone call with Bush at his ranch in Texas was initiated by Olmert, said Frederick Jones, spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House.

"The president expressed his view that the crisis was provoked by Hezbollah with the support of Iran and Syria and that we need to ensure that the reach of the Lebanese government extends throughout the country," Jones said.

[Aplomb]

I'd say I've got a joke here for you, but this isn't funny. This agreement looks like some fancy-worded toilet paper to me.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749631.html

TEXT: UN cease-fire resolution on conflict in Lebanon

By Reuters

Following is the text of the operative provisions of a draft resolution circulated to members of the UN Security Council on Friday. The preambular provisions have been omitted for reasons of length. THE SECURITY COUNCIL, ... Determining that the situation in Lebanon constitutes a threat to international peace and security;

1. Calls for a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations; 2. Upon full cessation of hostilities, calls upon the government of Lebanon and UNIFIL (The UN Interim Force in Lebanon) as authorized by paragraph 11 to deploy their forces together throughout the south and calls upon the government of Israel, as that deployment begins, to withdraw all of its forces from southern Lebanon in parallel; 3. Emphasizes the importance of the extension of the control of the government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory in accordance with the provisions of resolution 1559 (2004) and resolution 1680 (2006), and of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, for it to exercise its full sovereignty, so that there will be no weapons without the consent of the government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the government of Lebanon; 4. Reiterates its strong support for full respect for the Blue Line (separating Israel and Lebanon); 5. Also reiterates its strong support, as recalled in all its previous relevant resolutions, for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally recognized borders, as contemplated by the Israeli-Lebanese General Armistice Agreement of 23 March 1949; 6. Calls on the international community to take immediate steps to extend its financial and humanitarian assistance to the Lebanese people, including through facilitating the safe return of displaced persons and, under the authority of the government of Lebanon, reopening airports and harbors, consistent with paragraphs 14 and 15, and calls on it also to consider further assistance in the future to contribute to the reconstruction and development of Lebanon; 7. Affirms that all parties are responsible for ensuring that no action is taken contrary to paragraph 1 that might adversely affect the search for a long-term solution, humanitarian access to civilian populations, including safe passage for humanitarian convoys, or the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons, and calls on all parties to comply with this responsibility and to cooperate with the Security Council; 8. Calls for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent cease-fire and a long-term solution based on the following principles and elements: * full respect for the Blue Line by both parties, * security arrangements to prevent the resumption of hostilities, including the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani River of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL as authorized in paragraph 11, deployed in this area * full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state * no foreign forces in Lebanon without the consent of its government * no sales or supply of arms and related materiel to Lebanon except as authorized by its government * provision to the United Nations of all remaining maps of land mines in Lebanon in Israel's possession 9. Invites the Secretary-General (Kofi Annan) to support efforts to secure as soon as possible agreements in principle from the government of Lebanon and the government of Israel to the principles and elements for a long-term solution as set forth in paragraph 8, and expresses its intention to be actively involved 10. Requests the secretary-general to develop, in liaison with relevant international actors and the concerned parties, proposals to implement the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), including disarmament, and for delineation of the international borders of Lebanon, especially in those areas where the border is disputed or uncertain, including by dealing with the Shaba Farms area, and to present to the Security Council those proposals within thirty days 11. Decides, in order to supplement and enhance the force in numbers, equipment, mandate and scope of operations, to authorize an increase in the force strength of UNIFIL to a maximum of 15,000 troops, and that the force shall, in addition to carrying out its mandate under resolutions 425 and 426 (1978) a. Monitor the cessation of hostilities b. Accompany and support the Lebanese armed forces as they deploy throughout the south, including along the Blue Line, as Israel withdraws its armed forces from Lebanon as provided in paragraph 2 c. Coordinate its activities related to paragraph 11 (b) with the government of Lebanon and the government of Israel d. Extend its assistance to help ensure humanitarian access to civilian populations and the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons e. Assist the Lebanese armed forces in taking steps towards the establishment of the area as referred to in paragraph 8 f. Assist the government of Lebanon, at its request, to implement paragraph 14 12. Acting in support of a request from the government of Lebanon to deploy an international force to assist it to exercise its authority throughout the territory, authorizes UNIFIL to take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind, to resist attempts by forceful means to prevent it from discharging its duties under the mandate of the Security Council, and to protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and equipment, ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel, humanitarian workers, and, without prejudice to the responsibility of the government of Lebanon, to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence 13. Requests the secretary general urgently to put in place measures to ensure UNIFIL is able to carry out the functions envisaged in this resolution, urges member states to consider making appropriate contributions to UNIFIL and to respond positively to requests for assistance from the force, and expresses its strong appreciation to those who have contributed to UNIFIL in the past 14. Calls upon the government of Lebanon to secure its borders and other entry points to prevent the entry in Lebanon without its consent of arms or related materiel and requests UNIFIL as authorized in paragraph 11 to assist the government of Lebanon at its request 15. Decides further that all states shall take the necessary measures to prevent, by their nationals or from their territories or using their flag vessels or aircraft, (a) the sale or supply to any entity or individual in Lebanon of arms and related materiel of all types, including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment, and spare parts for the aforementioned, whether or not originating in their territories, and (b) the provision to any entity or individual in Lebanon of any technical training or assistance related to the provision, manufacture, maintenance or use of the items listed in subparagraph (a) above except that these prohibitions shall not apply to arms, related material, training or assistance authorized by the government of Lebanon or by UNIFIL as authorized in paragraph 11 16. Decides to extend the mandate of UNIFIL until 31 August 2007, and expresses its intention to consider in a later resolution further enhancements to the mandate and other steps to contribute to the implementation of a permanent cease-fire and a long-term solution 17. Requests the secretary-general to report to the council within one week on the implementation of this resolution and subsequently on a regular basis 18. Stresses the importance of, and the need to achieve, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on all its relevant resolutions including its resolutions 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967 and 338 (1973) of 22 October 1973 19. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.

[Aplomb]

Iran Poised To Be "Mother of All World Threats"

By Walid Phares


I gave an interview to NewsMax.com that reflects my current analysis and predictions for the Middle East. An excerpt follows, and you can see the entire interview here:

For anyone who still thinks the Israeli-Lebanon war is just a border scuffle, one Middle East expert shouts a dire warning: "As soon as a cease fire occurs, the ‘Hezbollah Blitzkrieg' will crumble the ‘Lebanese Republic of Weimar' and install its own ‘Khumeinist Republic' on the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean. The consequences of such a development are far beyond imagination for the region and the world. Hezbollah would have paved the way for Iran to create the mother of all world threats since Hitler."

So cautions Professor Walid Phares, author of "Future Jihad," a visiting fellow with the European Foundation for Democracy in Brussels, and a senior fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C.

In an exclusive interview with NewsMax, the Lebanese-born Phares likens the current Hezbollah offensive in Lebanon to a "putsch" -- with the convoluted aims of reestablishing a pro-Syrian-Iranian regime in Lebanon, reconstructing a third wing to the Tehran-Damascus axis, reanimating the Arab-Israeli conflict, rejuvenating Syrian dominance, isolating Jordan, reaching out to Hamas, crumbling Iraq, and unleashing Iran's nuclear programs.

The author also sees half-measures and premature truces as catalysts to even bloodier future conflicts:

"If Israel takes 40 kilometers [into the southern belly of Lebanon] and sits, Hezbollah and its allies will take the rest of the country and eliminate the Cedars Revolution [the Lebanese Democracy movement]. That is a certainty. Then the two camps will clash in a wider war in few more months."

As a corollary, however, the expert advises that if Israel gets even more aggressive and moves instead through the Bekaa (a fertile valley in Lebanon and Syria, located about 19 miles east of Beirut), it would shut down the Syrian-Lebanese borders (a major supply line for war materials flowing to Hezbollah)....

The long story short, says the expert: Syria, Iran and Hezbollah outmaneuvered the Lebanese politicians, as well as the West, by among other things keeping pro-Syrian Emile Jamil Lahoud, president of the Republic of Lebanon at the helm.

"It was terrible how the Lebanese politicians lost all the opportunities provided by the Cedars Revolution," laments Phares, "but it is worse that the bureaucrats in the U.S. and Europe didn't understand what Hezbollah was doing."

August 11, 2006 06:35 PM Print

http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006...ther_of_al.php