Israeli-Arab War

[Aplomb]

...not bad shooting, either!

http://israelnn.com/news.php3?id=110353

IDF Kills Gaza Two Terrorists Preparing Bomb Attack 17:32 Aug 18, '06 / 24 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Israel soldiers killed two terrorists Friday afternoon west of Kibbutz Kfar Aza in the western Negev, near the separation fence, where they were preparing bombs for an attack on the IDF> One of the terrorists died almost immediately, and the second succumbed to his wounds while he was fleeing. At least two others were injured.

[samizdat]

Rather strange mixup of Islam UN troops.

They include Indonesia and Malaysia which have pledged up to 1,000 troops each. While Italy approved 3,000 troops Friday, most other donor-nations are demanding clear guidelines for their mandate. France is only sending 200 soldiers until this is clarified. Bangladesh has offered up to 2,000 troops.
Israel objects to countries which do not recognize its existence taking part in Lebanon force
August 18, 2006, 10:16 PM (GMT+02:00)
http://www.debka.com/

[Aplomb]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/752185.html Hezbollah claims it foiled IDF raid near Baalbek

IDF officer killed in commando raid in east Lebanon; Raid aimed to prevent arms deliveries to Hebzollah

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies

An Israel Defense Forces officer was killed and two other officers were wounded - one seriously - during a commando raid near the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon early Saturday. Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV said the unit was transported by helicopter before dawn, and was being driven in two vehicles to raid the office of senior Hezbollah official Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek in the village of Bodai before being intercepted by Hezbollah militants. The commandos identified themselves as the Lebanese army, but the guerrillas grew suspicious and gunfire erupted, forcing the unit to retreat.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the raid was a "naked violation" of a United Nations truce between Israel and Hezbollah.

"It is a naked violation of the cessation of hostilities declared by the Security Council," Siniora told reporters. He said he protested the incident to visiting UN envoys who would take the matter up with Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Lebanese security officials later said that three Hezbollah guerillas were killed in the fighting.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Beri, Hezbollah's main ally in government, said he also raised the incident with the envoys.

"If Lebanon had launched a similar act, wouldn't the Security Council have met to impose tough sanctions against it?" Beri asked, adding that he saw the raid as an attempt by Israel to provoke Hezbollah into retaliation and foil the deployment of the Lebanese army in south Lebanon.

"I'm sure that the resistance (Hezbollah) has enough awareness and realization of the conspiracy to refrain ... from retaliating ...," he said.

Earlier Saturday, Israeli aircraft fired several rockets at a target in a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon early on Saturday morning, a Lebanese security source said.

The IDF said the assault aimed to disrupt arms smuggling to Hezbollah from Iran and Syria and that such operations would continue until "an effective monitoring unit" was in place to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its arsenal.

"Special forces carried out an operation to disrupt terror actions against Israel with an emphasis on the transfer of munitions from Syria and Iran to Hezbollah," the IDF said, adding that the operation had achieved all its aims.

"If the Syrians and Iran continue to arm Hezbollah in violation of the (UN cease-fire) resolution, Israel is entitled to act to defend the principle of the arms embargo," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. "Once the Lebanese army and the international forces are active... then such Israeli activity will become superfluous."

The provincial government official, Bekaa Valley Gov. Antoine Suleiman, confirmed the troop landing.

Following the battle, Israel Air Force helicopters fired missiles as the commandos withdrew, leaving the area within an hour.

Witnesses at the site saw a destroyed bridge about 500 meters from the area where the landing took place. The witnesses said they believed it was destroyed by Israeli missiles.

IAF warplanes crisscrossed the skies above Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley early Saturday near Baalbek, security officials said.

The IAF has not attacked Lebanon since the UN cease-fire was implemented August 14.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release information to reporters, could not confirm whether there were any airstrikes.

Similar overflights were reported in the area Friday night.

[American Patriot]

The Threat and the Strength
FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | August 14/21, 2006 | Benjamin Netanyahu



[Below is a translation of Benjamin Netanyahu's speech in the Knesset on August 14 after the ceasefire]


We have experienced trying days of agony and mourning, sorrow and sacrifice, devastation and destruction, but also days of a great spirit that unites the nation. Our hearts skipped a beat when our soldiers went to battle to defend us. We grieve with the families who lost their sons on the battlefront and loved ones on the home front. We pray for the speedy recovery of our wounded soldiers and for the safe return of our abducted servicemen Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser and Gilad Shalit.


My friends, this is a moment of unity but also a moment of reflection. I refer not only to the lessons that must be drawn from the recent conflict, which surely will be discussed at length. As we take stock of our situation, we must remember one basic truth. Every living creature, whether a biological organism or a nation, must do two things to survive: identify the threats to its existence and develop the capacities to thwart those threats.


A hundred years ago our people did not have such capabilities. One leader, Herzl, saw the burning coals of anti-Semitism and understood that they would kindle a great conflagration that would first consume European Jewry and then all Jewry. But Herzl also saw the great strengths that lay hidden within the dispersed Jewish people. He understood that if the Jews would gather in their ancestral homeland, they would be able to reestablish their sovereignty and thus thwart the threats to their survival and future.
Today I say: we stand before a grave danger, a new conflagration that threatens to consume our people. This is a threat not only to our soldiers, our citizens and our economy. It is a threat to our very existence.


Our sages taught us that in each generation new enemies rise who seek our destruction. But not since Hitler has there risen such an arch enemy of our people like Iran's president, Ahmadinejad, who openly declares his intention to annihilate us, and who is developing nuclear weapons for this evil purpose. Until those weapons are ready, he uses Iran’s proxies to choke Israel in an octopus-like manner: in the south, the militant Sunni tentacle of Hamas, and in the north, the poisoned tentacle of Hezbollah, part of the Shiite crescent that extends from Iran to Lebanon. This is an existential danger that must be recognized now, while there is still time to act.


This war equally demonstrated the great strengths that our people possess. Against the backdrop of mishaps and logistic failings, our soldiers’ bravery and valor shine even more. We witnessed their purity of heart, their camaraderie and above all their sacrifice, as many fell while saving their brothers in arms. In the regular army and the reserves, on land, sea and air, in the various security and emergency forces – the strength of our fighting men and women was seen in all its might and no one should belittle it.


The second strength we witnessed was that of our citizens in the home fronts north and south. They endured their suffering stoically. Not only did they not call for the end of the war, they did the exact opposite: “Go on�, they said, “we are ready to stay in the bomb shelters for many more weeks, as long as you finish the job�. This extraordinary bottom-up message emanated from the common man in an attempt to stiffen the resolve of the leadership at the top. While visiting the north during the course of the war, my colleagues and I heard this message repeated by residents in bomb shelters time and again in a single powerful voice.


Third, the strength of our entire nation was revealed. People of all walks of life mobilized themselves to help those under rocket fire: businessmen, teachers, nurses, writers, artists, everyone. The citizens of Israel opened their hearts, their pockets and their homes, saying: “A time of trouble has befallen Israel. We are all brothers. We have one fate. All Jews are responsible for one another.� This is the people I have faith in. This is the people that has performed wonders and will perform them again, a nation that has defied the laws of history.


But for us to be able to meet the great challenges ahead, we must be frank: there were many failures - in identifying the threat, in preparing for it, in conducting the war and in dealing with the home front. Yet today I wish to emphasize three points that I believe are crucial for ensuring our security and our future. My first point: The concept of unilateral withdrawals has collapsed. This is not only my personal view but a growing realization that has trickled down to almost every part of this house. The policy of unilateral withdrawals has been shown to be weak and, no less important, to be perceived as weak by our enemies. It must be replaced with a policy of strength, deterrence, and reciprocity.


In 2000 we withdrew from Lebanon without any guarantees or security agreements. In Hezbollah's eyes, Israel was fleeing Hezbollah terror. This prompted Nasralla's "cobwebs" speech about Israel's weakness, which reverberated with Hamas and triggered the second Intifada. The result of this second Intifada led to a second Israeli unilateral withdrawal, and Israel was again perceived as fleeing before terror. This Hamas success in turn reverberated back to Hezbollah, and so on.


Unilateral withdrawals not only eroded our deterrence, they also gave our enemies improved positions from which to shell and rocket our cities and towns. The concept of unilateral withdrawal has vanished, and if it hasn’t – it should!


My second point: The root cause of the conflict has been finally exposed. This is not a conflict about a particular piece of land. We withdrew from every inch of Lebanon, yet we were attacked. We withdrew from every inch of Gaza, yet we were attacked. Our enemies tell us that even if we give up every last inch of Judea and Samaria and return to the pre-1967 borders, this would make no difference to them. As Nasrallah said: “We launch our missiles at the enemy’s occupied settlements�, i.e., Tiberias, Safed, Acre, Haifa - all in pre-1967 Israel. At its core, this is a conflict about Israel’s very existence, whatever our borders may be.


Here is a simple truth: If our enemies lay down their arms, there will be no more war. But if Israel lays down its arms, there will be no more Israel. For the crux of the conflict is their desire to destroy us.


But our enemies wish to destroy not only us. And this brings me to my third point: The need for alliances, and our ability to build new alliances in a volatile world. Every country needs alliances. This is true of a superpower like the United States, let alone a small country like Israel. We can establish alliances today precisely because the threat of militant Islam is not directed at Israel alone but is also directed at many other nations. I see a potential for alliances within the Arab world - and most certainly in the Western world, which is experiencing this same militant Islamic threat in diverse ways, such as the recent plot to blow up airliners in the sky.


Alliances are based on common values and common interests. Such a partnership surely exists between Israel and the United States. We expect President George Bush to stand by his promise not to let Iran acquire nuclear weapons. We unreservedly support his goal of protecting humanity from the greatest threat of all.


Yet values and interests are but two of the three components of alliances. The third vital component is power. My friends, within this house you know this all too well: No one sides with the weak. You side with the strong. The same is true in international affairs.


Our top priority, therefore, must be to nurture and develop our military, political, economic, social and spiritual strength. That is the key to ensuring our future.


This war caught many of us sleeping, and we received a wakeup call. It summons us to return to reality and to return to ourselves, to those values and principles that guaranteed our survival in the past and will guarantee it in the future.


A final point about the home front: Sometimes the citizen does for the country, and sometimes the country does for the citizen. This is one moment when both kinds of giving are dramatically intertwined. The residents of the northern and the southern fronts surely gave to our country their sacrifice and anguish, and now is the time for the country to give back to them. To this moment I haven't been able to get an answer to a simple question: why was a state-of-emergency not declared? If there ever was a real need to declare such an economic emergency state, it is now. In none of Israel's previous wars – ’56 ’67, ’73, ’82, or even the War of Independence – were our cities savaged by such attacks. We must immediately declare a state of civilian emergency to help those Israelis in dire need. This is not just about homes destroyed but also about lives lost and families torn asunder, and children who live in unremitting anxiety and trauma. What is needed is not merely direct material compensation, but increased aid that must be generously provided. Thank God we have the ability to provide it, since Israel’s economy is robust as a result of our policy in the last three years. If we do what is needed, the Galilee will once again turn from black to green. And turn it we must!


During the five weeks of the war my colleagues and I served as a responsible and loyal opposition. We helped in the battle for public opinion and in other matters. All the opposition members acted in exemplary fashion. Our public duty includes telling the truth, and I tell it here: Regrettably, there will be another round of confrontation. This appears unavoidable because the just goals put forward by the government were not achieved, – not the return of our kidnapped soldiers, not the disarming of Hezbollah, nor the removal of the rocket threat.


What we have today is a respite between the battle ended and the battle ahead. We will use this respite to rebuild our strength, but we must understand that our enemies will do the same. They too will rearm and refortify their positions, because frankly there is nothing to prevent them from doing so – not any political agreement nor any UN resolution.


Therefore, as we prepare for the days ahead, I say this to Nasrallah and his Iranian patrons: You will not defeat us! This nation has triumphed over greater terrorists and tyrants, and we will overcome you as well.


I believe that the day will come when a new Cyrus will emerge in Persia to replace the genocidal Haman of our day. But until that day comes, Israel’s enemies must know: This nation is strong! This army is strong! And even if more challenges and struggles lie ahead, with God's help, "Judea will rest assured" and the people of Israel shall dwell in their land for eternity.

[Sean Osborne]

CLICK THIS LINK TO SEE REAL PHOTO FRAUD AND BLATANT, ANTI-ISRAEL IMAGE DISINFORMATION FROM THE MAIN STREAM MEDIA.


http://www.aish.com/movies/PhotoFraud.asp


AFTER VIEWING THE ABOVE, then and only then ask yourself - which side in this war does the Main Stream Media serve and support:

A. Israel ( in acts of self-defense in the face of the kidnappping of its soldiers by Iranian-sponsored islamofascist terrorist groups such as HAMAS AND HEZBOLLAH)

- OR -

B. Iranian-sponsored islamofascist terrorist groups such as HAMAS and HEZBOLLAH.

[American Patriot]

OMG....

You mean the media is being FRAUDULENT????

(Oh, wait, I already knew this.. sorry, I just forgot for a moment.)

[falcon]

DEBKAfile Exclusive: American electronic warfare experts in Israel to find out how Hizballah’s Iranian systems neutralized Israeli EW
August 23, 2006, 3:18 PM (GMT+02:00)
>DEBKA-Net-Weekly 266 first drew attention to Iran’s heavy EW investment and its successful functioning in the Lebanon War on Aug. 11, 06. This first account will be followed up in the next DNW issue out on Friday, Aug. 25.
DEBKAfile on Aug. 23 adds: The American EW experts are interested in four areas. 1. The Israeli EW systems’ failure to block Hizballah’s command and communications and the links between the Lebanese command and the Syria-based Iranian headquarters. 2. How Iranian technicians helped Hizballah eavesdrop on Israel’s communications networks and mobile telephones, including Israeli soldiers’ conversations from inside Lebanon. 3. How Iranian EW installed in Lebanese army coastal radar stations blocked the Barak anti-missile missiles aboard Israeli warships, allowing Hizballah to hit the Israeli corvette Hanith. 4. Why Israeli EW was unable to jam the military systems at the Iranian embassy in Beirut, which hosted the underground war room out of which Hassan Nasrallah and his top commanders, including Imad Mughniyeh, functioned.
From DEBKA-Net-Weekly 266:
Until the watershed date of July 12, 2006, when the Hizballah triggered the Lebanon War, Israel was accounted an important world power in the development of electronic warfare systems – so much so that a symbiotic relationship evolved for the research and development of many US and Israeli electronic warfare systems, in which a mix of complementary American and Israeli devices and methods were invested.
In combat against Hizballah, both were not only found wanting, but had been actively neutralized, so that none performed the functions for which they were designed. This poses both the US and Israel with a serious problem in a further round of the Lebanon war and any military clash with Iran.
DEBKAfile’s military sources add: Both intelligence services underestimated the tremendous effort Iran invested in state of the art electronic warfare gadgetry designed to disable American military operations in Iraq and IDF functions in Israel and Lebanon. Israel’s electronic warfare units were taken by surprise by the sophisticated protective mechanisms attached to Hizballah’s communications networks, which were discovered to be connected by optical fibers which are not susceptible to electronic jamming.
American and Israeli experts realize now that they overlooked the key feature of the naval exercise Iran staged in the Persian Gulf last April: Iran’s leap ahead in electronic warfare. They dismissed most the weapons systems as old-fashioned. But among them were the C-802 cruise missile and several electronic warfare systems, both of which turned up in the Lebanon war with deadly effect.




http://www.debka.com/

[catfish]

I would like to clarify a couple things for everybody. I dont necessarily think others here were wrong, just that they jumped the gun a little. I do think we are living in the End Times like others here. However I didnt think that this war was "it", at least not just yet. I do think that what occured is setting the stage for what Sean and others posted before. The next round, and I certainly believe there will be another round, will be a different story.

Ultimately I believe certain things need to happen before all hell breaks loose concerning Israel, Iran, Syria, and the rest of the middle east. First and foremost, Olmert has to go, regardless of what happens. He doesnt have the balls for the job and I dont think he has long in his position. I can only hope and pray he gets sent out on his ass and that a real leader like Netanyahu gets the job.

I also think Iran has to further its nuke program more before things really get going. That is obviously happening, and with the UN and the US really doing nothing but taking what Pres Whackjob dishes out, the time that Iran needs to further their program they will get.

Finally, for now, I think an expanded UNIFIL force needs to be in place. Once that happens and proves to Israel that it is worthless like we all know it will be, watch out. I think this is a very important part of the scenario because when the war starts again with an expanded UNIFIL caught in the middle, things will get very interesting.

[Sean Osborne]

catfish,

Now yer talkin' my lingo!!! I think your points are all dead on correct except for one which is just slightly askew time wise...

I also think Iran has to further its nuke program more before things really get going.

Check this out... this may alter your assessment just a tad...

The consensus of the people I've been talking to about this for quite some time now, which also we discussed very bluntly in emails this morning, is that there exists a 50/50 chance of Israel going it alone against Iran.

Either they will, or they won't. We believe they won't due to:

1.) The ineptitude of Olmert and crew.

and

2.) The fact that Israel 'going it alone' would mean maybe a 50% reduction of Iranian nuclear capability. There's no dividend in kicking a hornets nest for only a 50% payoff.

Israel has critical unfinished business with Hezbollah and Syria.

That is priority one.

Also to factor in here...

Despite President Bush' claim that he will not allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons - there's not a damn thing he can do about it or to alter the reality of this issue - Iran already has nuclear weapons capability thanks to North Korea, Pakistan and the AQ Khan nuclear proliferation network.

POTUS hands are tied.

If we went after Iran we'd achieve maybe 80% reduction of Iranian nuclear capability and a major regional war to boot with disasterous blowback on US and Coalition forces in Iraq.

The real bottom line is that the US Army is too small and is quite broken due to Iraq and we do not have the strategic depth required at this time to "Git 'R' Done".

Iran will declare its membership in the world nuclear club within a couple of days - tops - and the North Korean nuke test will be the proof in the puddling that their jointly desgined and produced devices work as designed. Iran is the chief source of funding and sponsorship of the North Korean nuclear program.

All Russia and Red China have to do is sit back and wait.

[falcon]

Israel Adds 2 Nuclear-Capable Submarines

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 24, 2006; 8:19 PM

JERUSALEM -- With the purchase of two more German-made Dolphin submarines capable of carrying nuclear warheads, military experts say Israel is sending a clear message to Iran that it can strike back if attacked by nuclear weapons.

The purchases come at a time when Iran is refusing to bow to growing Western demands to halt its nuclear program, and after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

The new submarines, built at a cost of $1.3 billion with Germany footing one-third of the bill, have diesel-electric propulsion systems that allow them to remain submerged for longer periods of time than the three nuclear arms-capable submarines already in Israel's fleet, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The latest submarines not only would be able to carry out a first strike should Israel choose to do so, but they also would provide Israel with crucial second-strike capabilities, said Paul Beaver, a London-based independent defense analyst.

Israel is already believed to have that ability in the form of the Jericho-1 and Jericho-2 nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, which are buried so far underground they would survive a nuclear strike, he said.

"The Iranians would be very foolish if they attacked Israel," Beaver said.

German officials have said the contract for the new submarines was signed July 6, and the Jerusalem Post reported this week the subs will be operational shortly.

Israel, operating on a policy of nuclear ambiguity, has never confirmed or denied whether it has nuclear weapons. It is believed, however, to have the world's sixth-largest stockpile of atomic arms, including hundreds of warheads.

Iran so far has resisted calls by the U.N. Security Council to halt uranium enrichment, which can produce, among other things, the material for atomic bombs. The council set an Aug. 31 deadline that is accompanied by the threat of sanctions.

The dispute over Tehran's nuclear program revolves around Iran's insistence it wants to master the technology simply to generate electricity. Critics say Iran wants to make nuclear weapons.

The Dolphin submarine could be one of the best deterrents, Beaver said. The technology on the subs makes them undetectable and gives them defensive capabilities in the case of attack, he said.

"They are very well-built, very well-prepared, lots of interesting equipment, one of the best conventional submarines available," Beaver said. "We are talking about a third string of deterrence capabilities."

Michael Karpin, an expert on Israel's atomic weapons capabilities who published a book on the issue in the United States, said nuclear-armed submarines provide better second-strike capabilities than missiles launched from airplanes.

"Planes are vulnerable, unlike nuclear (armed) submarines that can operate for an almost unlimited amount of time without being struck," Karpin said. "Second-strike capabilities are a crucial element in any nuclear conflict."

In Germany, members of two opposition parties criticized the deal. Winfried Nachtwei, national security spokesman for the Greens, said the decision was wrong because Germany had obtained no guarantee the submarines would not be used to carry nuclear weapons.

"This red line should not be crossed," Nachtwei was quoted as saying by the newspaper Taz. "Otherwise it is a complete renunciation of Germany's policy of non-proliferation."

David Menashri, an Israeli expert on Iran, said Tehran is clearly determined to obtain nuclear weapons and "the purchase of additional Dolphin submarines by Israel is a small footnote in this context."

What also makes Tehran dangerous, Beaver said, is that it may not understand the consequences of carrying out a nuclear strike.

"They (Iran) have a belligerent leadership and that's why Israel is prudent in ensuring that it has that deterrent capability," Beaver said. "What they (the submarines) are is a very good insurance policy."

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/24/AR2006082401050.html

[samizdat]

"The Iranians would be very foolish if they attacked Israel,"

Let's see. With a sub, they wouldn't attack Cuba nor Venezuela- but Mexico- ¡SÃÂ*!
Hmmm. British isles, or Taiwan perhaps?

or pehaps they're foolish. No sense rebuking a fool in their folly.

[falcon]

AMIR TAHERI was on the Laura Ingram show this morning he pointed out alot more of what is going on in the Middle East. I will try and find the transscript and post it here also.


Hezbollah Didn't Win
Arab writers are beginning to lift the veil on what really happened in Lebanon.

BY AMIR TAHERI
Friday, August 25, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

The way much of the Western media tells the story, Hezbollah won a great victory against Israel and the U.S., healed the Sunni-Shiite rift, and boosted the Iranian mullahs' claim to leadership of the Muslim world. Portraits of Hassan Nasrallah, the junior mullah who leads the Lebanese branch of this pan-Shiite movement, have adorned magazine covers in the West, hammering in the message that this child of the Khomeinist revolution is the new hero of the mythical "Arab Street."

Probably because he watches a lot of CNN, Iran's "Supreme Guide," Ali Khamenei, also believes in "a divine victory." Last week he asked 205 members of his Islamic Majlis to send Mr. Nasrallah a message, congratulating him for his "wise and far-sighted leadership of the Ummah that produced the great victory in Lebanon."

By controlling the flow of information from Lebanon throughout the conflict, and help from all those who disagree with U.S. policies for different reasons, Hezbollah may have won the information war in the West. In Lebanon, the Middle East and the broader Muslim space, however, the picture is rather different.

Let us start with Lebanon.

Immediately after the U.N.-ordained ceasefire started, Hezbollah organized a series of firework shows, accompanied by the distribution of fruits and sweets, to celebrate its victory. Most Lebanese, however, finding the exercise indecent, stayed away. The largest "victory march" in south Beirut, Hezbollah's stronghold, attracted just a few hundred people.

Initially Hezbollah had hesitated between declaring victory and going into mourning for its "martyrs." The latter course would have been more in harmony with Shiite traditions centered on the cult of Imam Hussain's martyrdom in 680 A.D. Some members of Hezbollah wished to play the martyrdom card so that they could accuse Israel, and through it the U.S., of war crimes. They knew that it was easier for Shiites, brought up in a culture of eternal victimhood, to cry over an imagined calamity than laugh in the joy of a claimed victory.

Politically, however, Hezbollah had to declare victory for a simple reason: It had to pretend that the death and desolation it had provoked had been worth it. A claim of victory was Hezbollah's shield against criticism of a strategy that had led Lebanon into war without the knowledge of its government and people. Mr. Nasrallah alluded to this in television appearances, calling on those who criticized him for having triggered the war to shut up because "a great strategic victory" had been won.

The tactic worked for a day or two. However, it did not silence the critics, who have become louder in recent days. The leaders of the March 14 movement, which has a majority in the Lebanese Parliament and government, have demanded an investigation into the circumstances that led to the war, a roundabout way of accusing Hezbollah of having provoked the tragedy. Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has made it clear that he would not allow Hezbollah to continue as a state within the state. Even Michel Aoun, a maverick Christian leader and tactical ally of Hezbollah, has called for the Shiite militia to disband.

Mr. Nasrallah followed his claim of victory with what is known as the "Green Flood"(Al-sayl al-akhdhar). This refers to the massive amounts of crisp U.S. dollar notes that Hezbollah is distributing among Shiites in Beirut and the south. The dollars from Iran are ferried to Beirut via Syria and distributed through networks of militants. Anyone who can prove that his home was damaged in the war receives $12,000, a tidy sum in wartorn Lebanon.

The Green Flood has been unleashed to silence criticism of Mr. Nasrallah and his masters in Tehran. But the trick does not seem to be working. "If Hezbollah won a victory, it was a Pyrrhic one," says Walid Abi-Mershed, a leading Lebanese columnist. "They made Lebanon pay too high a price--for which they must be held accountable."

Hezbollah is also criticized from within the Lebanese Shiite community, which accounts for some 40% of the population. Sayyed Ali al-Amin, the grand old man of Lebanese Shiism, has broken years of silence to criticize Hezbollah for provoking the war, and called for its disarmament. In an interview granted to the Beirut An-Nahar, he rejected the claim that Hezbollah represented the whole of the Shiite community. "I don't believe Hezbollah asked the Shiite community what they thought about [starting the] war," Mr. al-Amin said. "The fact that the masses [of Shiites] fled from the south is proof that they rejected the war. The Shiite community never gave anyone the right to wage war in its name."

There were even sharper attacks. Mona Fayed, a prominent Shiite academic in Beirut, wrote an article also published by An-Nahar last week. She asks: Who is a Shiite in Lebanon today? She provides a sarcastic answer: A Shiite is he who takes his instructions from Iran, terrorizes fellow believers into silence, and leads the nation into catastrophe without consulting anyone. Another academic, Zubair Abboud, writing in Elaph, a popular Arabic-language online newspaper, attacks Hezbollah as "one of the worst things to happen to Arabs in a long time." He accuses Mr. Nasrallah of risking Lebanon's existence in the service of Iran's regional ambitions.

Before he provoked the war, Mr. Nasrallah faced growing criticism not only from the Shiite community, but also from within Hezbollah. Some in the political wing expressed dissatisfaction with his overreliance on the movement's military and security apparatus. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they described Mr. Nasrallah's style as "Stalinist" and pointed to the fact that the party's leadership council (shura) has not held a full session in five years. Mr. Nasrallah took all the major decisions after clearing them with his Iranian and Syrian contacts, and made sure that, on official visits to Tehran, he alone would meet Iran's "Supreme Guide," Ali Khamenei.

Mr. Nasrallah justified his style by claiming that involving too many people in decision-making could allow "the Zionist enemy" to infiltrate the movement. Once he had received the Iranian green light to provoke the war, Mr. Nasrallah acted without informing even the two Hezbollah ministers in the Siniora cabinet or the 12 Hezbollah members of the Lebanese Parliament.

Mr. Nasrallah was also criticized for his acknowledgement of Ali Khamenei as Marjaa al-Taqlid (Source of Emulation), the highest theological authority in Shiism. Highlighting his bay'aah (allegiance), Mr. Nasrallah kisses the man's hand each time they meet. Many Lebanese Shiites resent this because Mr. Khamenei, a powerful politician but a lightweight in theological terms, is not recognized as Marjaa al-Taqlid in Iran itself. The overwhelming majority of Lebanese Shiites regard Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, in Iraq, or Ayatollah Muhammad-Hussein Fadhlallah, in Beirut, as their "Source of Emulation."

Some Lebanese Shiites also question Mr. Nasrallah's strategy of opposing Prime Minister Siniora's "Project for Peace," and instead advancing an Iranian-backed "Project of Defiance." The coalition led by Mr. Siniora wants to build Lebanon into a haven of peace in the heart of a turbulent region. His critics dismiss this as a plan "to create a larger Monaco." Mr. Nasrallah's "Project of Defiance," however, is aimed at turning Lebanon into the frontline of Iranian defenses in a war of civilizations between Islam (led by Tehran) and the "infidel," under American leadership. "The choice is between the beach and the bunker," says Lebanese scholar Nadim Shehadeh. There is evidence that a majority of Lebanese Shiites would prefer the beach.

There was a time when Shiites represented an underclass of dirt-poor peasants in the south and lumpen elements in Beirut. Over the past 30 years, however, that picture has changed. Money sent from Shiite immigrants in West Africa (where they dominate the diamond trade), and in the U.S. (especially Michigan), has helped create a prosperous middle class of Shiites more interested in the good life than martyrdom ÃÂ* la Imam Hussain. This new Shiite bourgeoisie dreams of a place in the mainstream of Lebanese politics and hopes to use the community's demographic advantage as a springboard for national leadership. Hezbollah, unless it ceases to be an instrument of Iranian policies, cannot realize that dream.

The list of names of those who never endorsed Hezbollah, or who broke with it after its Iranian connections became too apparent, reads like a Who's Who of Lebanese Shiism. It includes, apart from the al-Amins, families such as the al-As'ad, the Osseiran, the al-Khalil, the Hamadah, the Murtadha, the Sharafeddin, the Fadhlallah, the Mussawis, the Hussainis, the Shamsuddin and the Ata'allahs.

Far from representing the Lebanese national consensus, Hezbollah is a sectarian group backed by a militia that is trained, armed and controlled by Iran. In the words of Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the Iranian daily Kayhan, "Hezbollah is 'Iran in Lebanon.' " In the 2004 municipal elections, Hezbollah won some 40% of the votes in the Shiite areas, the rest going to its rival Amal (Hope) movement and independent candidates. In last year's general election, Hezbollah won only 12 of the 27 seats allocated to Shiites in the 128-seat National Assembly--despite making alliances with Christian and Druze parties and spending vast sums of Iranian money to buy votes.

Hezbollah's position is no more secure in the broader Arab world, where it is seen as an Iranian tool rather than as the vanguard of a new Nahdha (Awakening), as the Western media claim. To be sure, it is still powerful because it has guns, money and support from Iran, Syria and Hate America International Inc. But the list of prominent Arab writers, both Shiite and Sunni, who have exposed Hezbollah for what it is--a Khomeinist Trojan horse--would be too long for a single article. They are beginning to lift the veil and reveal what really happened in Lebanon.

Having lost more than 500 of its fighters, and with almost all of its medium-range missiles destroyed, Hezbollah may find it hard to sustain its claim of victory. "Hezbollah won the propaganda war because many in the West wanted it to win as a means of settling score with the United States," says Egyptian columnist Ali al-Ibrahim. "But the Arabs have become wise enough to know TV victory from real victory."

www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008847

[Ryan Ruck]

Putin Says Russia May Join UN in Lebanon; UN Warns of 'Vacuum'

Russia is considering sending troops to the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon to enforce the Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire, President Vladimir Putin told Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

``He said he is thinking about it,'' Prodi told reporters at his vacation villa in Tuscany, after a telephone conversation last night with Putin. Prodi's spokesman confirmed his comments. Putin ``has started talking to his collaborators and he'll give us an answer in the coming days,'' he said.

Lebanon faces a ``security vacuum'' unless the peacekeepers and Lebanese soldiers are deployed to oversee the cease-fire, UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said after visits to Lebanon and Israel yesterday. There is ``reason for pessimism'' until peacekeepers are in place, he said.

The cease-fire that came into force Aug. 14 halted a 33-day war between Israel and the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group. European Union ambassadors are meeting in Brussels today to prepare an UN foreign ministers' meeting on Aug. 25 to determine Europe's contributions to the force.

Prodi said Italy can take command of the UN mission and has been speaking to world leaders this week to coordinate efforts. France, which offered to extend its command of the current UN Interim Force in Lebanon, or Unifil, until February, came under criticism for only offering 200 new soldiers, doubling its existing deployment. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert then asked Italy if it could lead the force.

Italian Troops

Italy is expected to send as many as 3,000 soldiers to Lebanon. Unifil currently numbers 1,990 troops and the UN wants it to rise to a total of 15,000, stationed alongside 15,000 Lebanese soldiers. The UN wanted a first group of 3,500 peacekeepers deployed before the end of August.

Bangladesh, Malaysia and Nepal are among countries that have pledged soldiers. The UN is now seeking ``some concrete indications of enhanced offerings from the European countries for this force,'' Vijay Nambiar, a special political adviser to Secretary General Kofi Annan, said yesterday in Israel. Annan will attend the Aug. 25 EU meeting in Brussels.

Israel wants UN forces to be stationed at Lebanon's border with Syria to prevent Hezbollah receiving arms, Olmert said Aug. 24.

The Shiite Muslim group, which is also backed by Iran, is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Israel. It has been linked to terrorist acts including rocket attacks on Israeli towns, the 1983 bombings that killed 241 U.S. and 58 French soldiers in Beirut, and the 1994 attack that killed 85 people at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Hezbollah was formed in 1982.

UN Resolution

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, approved Aug. 11, which demanded an end to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, calls for the group to disarm and stop importing weapons from abroad, and for Lebanon's airports and harbors to open again.

Measures to prevent weapons smuggling will allow Israel to lift the air and sea embargo it imposed on Lebanon during the fighting, Olmert said.

Any move to police the border would be a ``withdrawal of Lebanese sovereignty and a hostile position,'' the Israeli daily newspaper Ha'aretz cited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as saying. Ha'aretz said the president made the comments in an interview to be aired by Dubai Television today, according to advanced excerpts from his speech.

Abducted Soldiers

The conflict in Lebanon began after Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack on July 12. Israeli air strikes were followed by a ground offensive. About 1,200 Lebanese were killed and 4,500 wounded, Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat said on Aug. 16. Olmert said last week that 159 Israelis were killed.

The UN delegation raised the issue of the abducted soldiers in its discussions with Israeli and Lebanese government officials, Roed-Larsen said without elaborating.

The U.S. State Department estimates Hezbollah gets about $100 million a year from Iran. The group's stated goals, according to the State Department, include the destruction of Israel and Islamic rule in Lebanon.

The Lebanese army has taken up positions in about 70 percent of the area between the border with Israel and the Litani River, Riszard Morszymski, deputy spokesman for the UN force in the area, said yesterday. The Litani River is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border.

The Lebanese army's line is about 8-10 kilometers from the border, while the Israeli military controls a strip about 4-5 kilometers inside Lebanon, Morszymski said. Unifil soldiers are deployed in between.

Representatives of Italy's foreign and defense ministries will meet with Lebanese officials in Beirut today to discuss the arrival of new UN forces, Italy's Foreign Ministry said in an e- mailed statement.

Italy and France have had troops in Unifil since it was created in 1978 as a buffer between Israel's forces and Palestinian fighters based in Lebanon.

[falcon]

Hezbollah`s Thermobaric Arsenal (maybe)

Hezbollah have deployed a range of new high-tech weaponry in Southern Lebanon. Many commentators have noted the effectiveness of their anti-tank missiles against Israeli armor , with apparently reliable reports of Iranian-made copies of the AT-5 Spandrel and Russian-made Kornet-E and Metis-M anti-tank guided missile which were apparently supplied by Syria.

However, less attention has been paid to the reported use of missiles against infantry. In particular, in one instance

“a missile that was fired at a building soldiers were staying in caused the building to collapse, claiming the lives of nine reservists. "

That sort of effect does not suggest a HEAT warhead, which would punch a hole through a wall and do limited damage beyond. It looks more more like a powerful thermobaric blast, which produces a sustained pulse capable of knocking down walls. Both the Metis-M and Kornet-E missiles have thermobaric warhead options. Note that, as the Russians do not make a distinction, the makers describe Kornet warhead as ‘fuel air explosive’.
According to the Marine Corps Gazette, US Marine developed the tactic of using thermobaric SMAW-NE rounds in Fallujah: "SMAW gunners became expert at determining which wall to shoot to cause the roof to collapse and crush the insurgents fortified inside interior rooms."
As previously noted with the proliferation of thermobaric rounds coming from China, Russia, Eastern Europe and possibly Iran, it was only a matter of time before they turned up in the hands of guerrilla forces. Thermobaric weapons are likely to cause greatly increased casualties for three reasons.
- As is clear from the above, they turn buildings from safe cover into death traps. (One US thermobaric test was called 'Bring Down The House'). Armored vehicles, unless buttoned down, also offer little protection.
- They negate any benefits given by body armor; some studies (NB - PDF) suggest that wearing armor may actually worsen the injuries produced by a thermobaric blast – “enhancing blast effects by increasing target surface area and changing the effective loading function on the thorax."
- The internal injuries produced may be much harder to treat in the field than more normal shrapnel wounds. Hence the rush for new diagnostic tools: "Early diagnosis of internal trauma induced by a primary blast wave via a field-deployable, rapid, and non-invasive technique will provide an invaluable tool in the subsequent success of treating such conditions".
When Israel was accused of using fuel-air weapons earlier on in the conflict there was a wave of objections to this type of munition. It will be interesting to see whether Hezbollah denies or confirms using them, and whether any similar objections are raised.



http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002694.html

[Jag]

Hizbollah expected "limited damage"
Sat Aug 26, 2006 09:53 AM ET

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The magnitude of the Israeli response to Hizbollah's cross-border operation in July took the Lebanese guerrilla group by surprise, Hizbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem said in an interview published on Saturday.
Qassem told an-Nahar daily that Hizbollah had expected an Israel attack at some stage as part of a joint plan with the United States but it had no indication it would come in July.
"We were expecting the Israelis would respond at the most by bombing for a day or two or some limited attacks or targeting certain places, such that it would not go beyond three days and some limited damage," he said.
After Hizbollah fighters seized two Israeli soldiers on July 12, Israel started bombing Lebanon's civilian infrastructure in a one-month war which displaced more than 900,000 people.
Israeli attacks killed close to 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and did damage worth billions of dollars. Israel lost 157 people, mostly soldiers inside Lebanon.
Qassem said: "Frankly we were surprised by the great size (of the Israeli response) and by this serious attack."
Two days after the war began, Hizbollah learned that Israel and the United States had been planning an attack in September or October. U.S. media have also said the United States was enthusiastic about Israeli plans to strike at Hizbollah.
"Israel was not ready. In fact it wanted to prepare for two or three months more, but American pressure on one side and the Israeli desire to achieve a success on the other ... were factors which made them rush into battle," Qassem said.
The Israeli army said it would not comment on the state of its planning at the start, saying this was a "political matter."
Leading up to the war, the Israeli government showed little public interest in Hizbollah, focusing on isolating Hamas after the Islamist group won Palestinian elections and on a now-shelved plan to reshape the occupied West Bank.
Soldiers returning from the front say training in recent years focused too much on dealing with action in Palestinian streets, not on fighting a more formidable force like Hizbollah.
The Hizbollah official said the guerrilla group would co-ordinate with the Lebanese army as it moves into parts of south Lebanon dominated by Hizbollah.
But Hizbollah will not give up the concept of resistance against Israel, on the grounds that Israel continues to occupy the Shebaa farms region, holds Lebanese prisoners and overflies Lebanese territory almost every day.
"The justifications for ending it (resistance) are not yet there. When we agree on a defense plan to confront Israel, defining the job of the resistance, the army and the Lebanese people, then we will see what the rules and roles are," he said. The Shebaa Farms is a small patch of land claimed by Lebanon, but occupied by Israel since it captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war. The United Nations deems the territory Syrian until such time as Syria cedes it to Lebanon.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Jag

[Aplomb]

http://www.yonitheblogger.com/2006/0...d_raising.html

Documents captured during the Lebanon war reveal how Hizbullah raises funds. Through a non-profit association, the terror group collects donations from Lebanese in Lebanon, the U.S. and elsewhere.

...snip...

An Islamic Resistance Support Association leaflet emphasizing that contributions will be used to buy weapons to destroy Israel . (Taken from the village of ‘Aita al-Sha'ab). The picture on the front (left) shows a collection box in the form of the Dome o
The association collects considerable sums of money in Lebanon from both the private and public sectors, including businesses, mosques, educational institutions, gas stations, shopping centers, and road blocks. In addition to national fund-raising campaigns, the Islamic Resistance Support Association has scattered thousands of collection boxes in places where people (especially Shi'ites) congregate. Some of its activities are coordinated with other Hizbullah socio-economic institutions, such as the building fund (jihad al-bina'), and the fund for the wounded and the martyrs' fund (muasasat al-shaheed).
The logo of the Islamic Resistance Support Association contains the Arabic word daam (“support”) in red, its first letter fashioned as a hand holding a pen which ends in a rifle. The upper part shows a half-circle symbolizing the globe, which also appears
HIzbullah's efforts to raise funds extend to Lebanese Shi'ite communities around the world . The Islamic Resistance Support Association was involved in raising funds in Detroit , Michigan, where there is a large Shi'ite Muslim population of Lebanese extraction. The money was collected in the same sort of collection box used in south Lebanon, placed in restaurants frequented by Detroit 's Shi'ite population.

more at the link

[Jag]

Israeli general plots war with Iran

http://www.washingtontimes.com/world...2213-1606r.htm


JERUSALEM -- Israel has appointed a top general to oversee a war against Iran, prompting speculation that it is preparing for possible military action against Tehran's nuclear program.
Maj. Gen. Elyezer Shkedy, Israel's air force chief, will be overall commander for the "Iran front," military sources told the London Sunday Telegraph.
News of the appointment comes just days before a United Nations deadline expires for Iran to give up its nuclear program, which Western governments fear will be used to produce atomic weapons. Despite Iran's offer last week to engage in "serious talks" on the matter, Israel fears even more than other Western nations that the offer is simply to buy time for Tehran to secure all the technology it needs to build the bomb.
"Israel is becoming extremely concerned now with what they see as Iran's delaying tactics," said Israeli Iran analyst Meir Javedanfar. "[The planners] think negotiations are going nowhere, and Iran is becoming a major danger for Israel. Now they are getting ready for living with a nuclear Iran or letting the military take care of it."
The prospect of Israel "living with" a nuclear Iran appears remote. Last week, Giora Eiland, Israel's former national security adviser, told reporters that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would "sacrifice half of Iran for the sake of eliminating Israel."
Mr. Ahmadinejad "has a religious conviction that Israel's demise is essential to the restoration of Muslim glory, that the Zionist thorn in the heart of the Islamic nations must be removed," Mr. Eiland said.
Gen. Shkedy, who was appointed to the role two months ago, will coordinate intelligence gathered by Israel's foreign spy agency Mossad and military sources, in order to draw up battle plans. Then, during any war with Iran, he will command the campaign from a "hot seat" in the Israeli army's headquarters in Tel Aviv.
"It's natural that Shkedy is nominated to this role, because the air force is Israel's only force that can reach and sustain a military operation against Iran," said Uri Dromi, a former air force colonel and military analyst.
"Everyone is playing with dates and time frames, but the list of options is becoming shorter," he added. "I think we have one year open [to launch military action]. Israel will have to decide."
Officially, Israel stresses that it does not want to take the lead in tackling Iran and that a massive campaign of air strikes would be best led by the United States, which has forces in Iraq that are much closer to Iranian targets.
Gen. Shkedy's appointment to the Iran command role was made by Israel's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, in the run-up to this summer's Lebanon war but emerged only last week.
Gen. Shkedy, 49, is the son of Holocaust survivors and has a picture in his office of an Israeli F-15 flying over Auschwitz.
The father of three makes no bones about the Iranian threat to Israel.
"Ahmadinejad is trying with all his might to reach a nuclear capability. There's no argument about his intentions," he said in an interview two months ago, about the time of his appointment.
"This ... nuclear weaponry can come to constitute an existential threat to Israel and the rest of the world. My job is to maximize our capabilities in every respect. Beyond that, in this case, the less said the better."

Jag

[Ryan Ruck]

Moscow Considers Troops for Lebanon

As the United Nations cobbles together a peacekeeping force for Lebanon, debate is heating up in Moscow about whether to send troops to the Middle East.

A growing consensus of Defense Ministry officials and military analysts oppose sending ground forces. But a handful of political observers counter that the situation offers Russia an opportunity to restore some of its Soviet-era prestige.

"We are examining the situation," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Friday, Interfax reported. "The peacekeepers' status and their rights are not clear, as well as what they will do there and what kind of mandate they will have."

Ivanov, who was in Magadan, added: "No decisions about any Russian military contingent have been made yet. I think it would be premature to do so."

Ivanov's comments appeared to conflict with a report Friday in Kommersant that the Defense Ministry was prepared to send a 2,000-man brigade stationed in Samara to Lebanon.

A Defense Ministry spokesman declined to comment about the report Friday.

Mikhail Margelov, head of the Federation Council's Foreign Affairs Committee, voiced skepticism about sending troops. "That a number of nations have refused to participate in this operation is an alarm signal for me," Margelov said, according to Interfax.

And Valery Manilov, a former deputy chief of staff of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, said sending troops now would be premature. "As the confrontation unfolds according to Washington's specifications, and as Israel continues to ignore UN resolutions, the presence of our peacekeepers, with their status and duties still unclear, is hardly warranted," he said.

Margelov warned that if President Vladimir Putin decided to send troops to Lebanon, it would prompt heated debate in the Federation Council. By law, the president must get the approval of the upper house of the parliament to send troops abroad.

During last month's Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, Putin said Russia might participate in a Lebanese operation if the UN Security Council opted to send a peacekeeping mission there. Since then, the president has not said anything about Lebanon.

The UN-sponsored cease-fire took effect Aug. 14 after 34 days of fighting, which claimed the lives of nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon and about 150 Israelis. The conflict broke out after Hezbollah fighters kidnapped two Israeli soldiers.

On Friday, Ivanov also dismissed claims that during the fighting Hezbollah used Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missiles. Israel sent a delegation to Russia last week to complain about the missiles.

"No kind of evidence of Hezbollah having such equipment has been presented to us," Ivanov said, Interfax reported. ( )

Alexei Makarkin, a political analyst with the Center of Political Technologies, said Russian participation could boost the country's prominence in a region where the Soviet Union once wielded considerable influence.

"If Russia distances itself from this situation altogether, that will mean Russian has abandoned the geopolitical position it inherited from the Soviet years," Makarkin said.

But Makarkin added that Russia must determine exactly what its responsibilities would be before sending any troops, Makarkin said.

Dispatching troops to Lebanon would give Russia a useful argument to respond to accusations that Russian peacekeepers have been anything but in the breakaway Moldovan province of Transdnestr and the separatist Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a Kommersant article said.

Both Moldova and Georgia want the Russian troops to leave.

Russia participated in peacekeeping missions in the former Yugoslavia and Sierra Leone. It is currently taking part in missions in Liberia, Burundi and Sudan.

[Jag]

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtri...ans_08_30.html

Israel: Iran-backed group has occupied northern West Bank

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COMWednesday, August 30, 2006
JERUSALEM � The Israel Security Agency has determined that Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-sponsored insurgency, has imposed control over large parts of the northern West Bank. The agency concluded that Jihad has been operating in areas evacuated by the Israel Army in September 2005.

"The area of northern Samaria has become Jihad land," ISA director Yuval Diskin said.


On Tuesday, Diskin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Jihad has used the northern West Bank for arms smuggling, training and the production of rockets. Diskin said Jihad increased its activity in wake of the Israeli withdrawal from the area in 2005 and the dismantling of four Jewish communities, Middle East Newsline reported.
"I'd like to remind the panel that we opposed the withdrawal," Diskin said.

Officials said Jihad has become the leading insurgency group in the northern West Bank. They said Iran and Hizbullah have poured millions of dollars for an infrastructure to abduct Israelis and send suicide bombers into the Jewish state.

The Israeli withdrawal from the northern West Bank has also damaged the intelligence capability of the ISA and military, officials said. Diskin said Israel's presence in the area has been virtually nil.

The ISA has expressed opposition to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan for a unilateral withdrawal from 97 percent of the West Bank. In August, Olmert said he was suspending the plan to focus on rebuilding northern Israel in the aftermath of Hizbullah rocket strikes.

Diskin said Jihad and other Palestinian insurgency groups have sought to follow Hizbullah's model in southern Lebanon. He said Palestinian insurgents have focused on smuggling rockets and missiles from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip.

Over the last few months, Diskin said, the Palestinians smuggled 15,000 rifles, 2,300 pistols, 15 tons of TNT, four million munitions rounds, 15 Grad BM-21 rockets, 400 rocket-propelled grenades, 65 anti-tank missiles and dozens of anti-aircraft missiles. He said Jihad and other groups have sought to transfer weapons and plans from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank.
"At this point, anybody who wants to smuggle something through the Philadelphi route [Egypt-Gaza border] can apparently do so," Diskin said. "You can smuggle anything through Philadelphi except maybe a tank or plane."

This cannot bode well for Israel if true.
Jag

[American Patriot]

Gunman breaks into UK Embassy in Tel Aviv
CNN ^ | August, 31, 2006



JERUSALEM (AP) -- An armed man threatening to commit suicide apparently breached security at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv and was loose on the grounds inside, Israeli police said Thursday.


The man, of Arab descent, was demanding asylum in the United Kingdom, police officials said.


Embassy spokeswoman Karen Kaufman said police had been invited into the embassy compound and were seeking to deal with the situation. There were no reports of any shots fired.


Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the man was armed with a pistol and police were on the scene and had made contact with him. Police said anti-terrorist units had surrounded the site.


Police officials said the man was apparently a Palestinian informer for Israeli security services who had encountered financial troubles and was seeking refuge in the United Kingdom.


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