Israeli-Arab War

[American Patriot]

Hizbullah: We're arming for second round [Thank You Kofi]
YNet ^ | Aug. 31, 2006 | Dudi Cohen




In interview to Iranian news agency, group representative in Tehran says his organization is preparing for 'second round against Israel,' contrary to UN resolution


Hizbullah representative in Iran Muhammad Abdullah Sif al-Din, said Wednesday that Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah has a new strategic plan to rearm ahead of the "next round against Israel."


In an interview with the Iranian news agency Fars, al-Din said: "No one can promise us that Israel won't attack again. Whoever lives as a neighbor to the Zionist regime is in danger and must not save any effort to obtain all of the means to defend himself. We are convinced that there still danger and the situation has not yet been solved. We must, all the time, prepare ourselves for self-defense and to plan for the next stage."
'Situation is good'


During an interview, al-Din was asked about Hizbullah's military situation after the war.


"Our situation is very good, the Israelis didn't manage to strike Hizbullah's military command and our ability to launch missiles. In the first days we launched 100 missiles and in recent days we fired 350 missiles a day. So we have no problem from a military perspective," he replied.


Unlike Nasrallah, the Hizbullah representative in Iran expressed no regret for kidnapping soldier, the operation which caused the outbreak of the war. "In retrospect, if Israel would have attacked again and we had to defend ourselves, we could have done it again and with great vigor," he said.
Regarding UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701, calling for, among others, the disarmament of Hizbullah, Sif Al-Din said that his organization had no intention of disarming, as the issue was an internal Lebanese one.
"From the perspective of the parliament and government in Lebanon, Hizbullah is not a military militia, but a resistance force. Therefore, the clause in resolution 1559 (calling on the disarmament of armed militias – D.C.) can't include Hizbullah. The Lebanese agreed among themselves that Hizbullah's disbanding is an internal issue and should be solved among one another," he said.


He added that pressure from the West on Hizbullah would not be effective.
"After the murder of the Lebanese prime minister, Rafik al-Hariri, and resolution 1559, heavy pressure was placed on Hizbullah in order to disarm. We all understood that no one can disband Hizbullah, even Israel's foreign minister admitted this," said al-Din.


'Lebanese army can't deal with Israel'


The Hizbullah representative to Iran added that Lebanon had one problem and that was "a possible attack by the Zionist regime on Lebanon. We have to discuss the way to defend ourselves. Our main problem is how to use force to defend Lebanon," he said.


Despite his remarks on the arming of Hizbullah for a second round with Israel, al-Din said that he was not interested in war.


"We are not interested in war, because we have families. We want to live. But so long as there is a danger called the Zionist regime we'll continue to protect ourselves. The current way is best way to remove the danger from the direction of the Zionist regime," he added.


Addressing the deployment of the Lebanese army in south Lebanon, al-Din said that his organization had no opposition to the move so long as it would not be asked to disarm. He added that there was no possibility that Hizbullah would join the Lebanese army.


"One of the reasons we didn't agree in advance to the deployment of the army in south Lebanon is that we are worried for the army, because it doesn't have the capability of dealing with Israel. If the Lebanese agree that the army deploys in the south, we have no problem. But the entrance of the army to this area is dangerous for it and we are worried from this perspective," he said.

[Backstop]

One day, I truly hope the worldwide Jewish community rises up, and beats the living h*ll out of their attackers.

Note the Neo-Nazi remarks in red. Homegrown terrorists? I've wondered when this was gonna become more prevalent; either the Islamoterrorists have found willing actors to propagate their hatred, or the Neo-Nazis have just found opportunity.

I'll wager it's Islamoterrorist supported.

TimesOnline.UK

Attacks on Jews soar since Lebanon
By Joanna Bale and Anthony Browne

Synagogues and citizens have been targeted

BRITISH Jews are facing a wave of anti-Semitic attacks prompted by Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Synagogues have been daubed with graffiti, Jewish leaders have had hate-mail and ordinary people have been subjected to insults and vandalism.

On Thursday an all-party parliamentary inquiry will state that anti-Semitic violence has become endemic in Britain, both on the streets and university campuses. The report will call for urgent action from the Government, the police and educational establishments. Backstop's Note: How about giving the option of self-defense without the possibility of serving jail time back to the British citizen's?

Mark Gardner, of the Community Security Trust, said: “In July, when the conflict in Lebanon began, we received reports of 92 incidents, which was the third-worst month since records began in 1984.” In 2000 the monthly average was between 10 and 30 incidents.

The former minister Denis MacShane, who chaired the parliamentary inquiry, said: “These figures confirm the evidence given to us that anti-Semitic attacks are a very real problem.”

The Board of Deputies of British Jews submitted evidence to the inquiry that anti-Semitism in Britain was at its worst level.

The July incidents “were more dispersed than usual”, Mr Gardner said. “It is usually a small number responsible for a large number of attacks, but these were very widespread across the country and included graffiti attacks on synagogues in Edinburgh and Glasgow.”

The attackers, when visible, are from across society, he said. “When it’s verbal abuse, it’s just ordinary people in the street, from middle-class women to working-class men. All colours and backgrounds. We hardly ever see incidents involving the classic neo-Nazi skinhead. Muslims are over-represented.”

In hate-mail to senior Jewish figures, ordinary Jewish people were being blamed for the deaths of Lebanese civilians. “There are also references to the Holocaust, saying that Hitler should have wiped out the Jews.”

Mr Gardner said that the rise in attacks reflected increased hostility to Israel and Jews in the media and across society: “The number of anti-Semitic attacks reflects the mood music around Jews and Israel.”

There have been several attacks in Golders Green and Hampstead Garden Suburb in North London, where there is a large Jewish population. La Maison du Café in Golders Green Road was targeted two weeks ago by two young men who threw chairs at the restaurant, punched workers and threatened to kill the owner, Ruth Cohen, with a knife.

Ms Cohen, 34, said: “They asked if it was a Jewish restaurant. They said they were going to kill me and called me a ‘dirty Jew’, a ‘stinking Jew’. One of them had a knife. A colleague came out. They started punching him and throwing chairs.”

In Hampstead Garden Suburb, swastikas and the words “Kill all Jews” and “Allah” were daubed on the house and car of Justin Stebbing. Dr Stebbing, who works at a hospital, said: “I felt violated. It’s horrible.”

Jon Benjamin, of the Board of Deputies, said: “The problem is the spin that Israel is an irredeemably evil regime, and we are concerned that it may become common currency to connect British Jews with this.”

The Association of Chief Police Officers said: “Our National Community Tension Team are alert to recent incidents. We are working with the CST. We are strongly encouraging reporting of incidents.”

[Sean Osborne]

Hizbullah representative in Iran Muhammad Abdullah Sif al-Din, said Wednesday that Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah has a new strategic plan to rearm ahead of the "next round against Israel."

Well, duuuuh, gee... like we need these Hezbo's to tell us the obvious, or what? As if this was some kind of freaking "breaking news" on August 31, 2006 or what? What gives YNet?

Everybody knows that this war is a multi-phased operation. We also know that muffin-head Nasrallah is not the strategist of this plan, but that he takes his orders directly the his own chain-of-command,( i.e.: Beginning with Ayatollah Khamenei, and flowing downhill in the islamofascist sewage pipe to Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad and into his Revolutionary Guard commanding officers own cesspool) before he ever gets a whiff of his janitorial duties.

[Sean Osborne]

Apply what NEIN and others have been saying about the "next 90 days" to the following from Debka.



“Lebanese Security” Is the Pretext for the Naval Babel around Lebanon’s Shores

DEBKAfile Exclusive Military Report
September 4, 2006, 11:37 AM (GMT+02:00)

The extraordinary buildup of European naval and military strength in and around Lebanon’s shores is way out of proportion for the task the European contingents of expanded UNIFIL have undertaken: to create a buffer between Israel and Hizballah.

Close investigation by DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources discloses that “Lebanese security” and peacemaking is not the object of the exercise. It is linked to the general anticipation of a military clash between the United States and Israel, on one side, and Iran and possibly Syria on the other, some time from now until November.

This expectation has brought together the greatest sea and air armada Europe has ever assembled at any point on earth since World War II: two carriers with 75 fighter-bombers, spy planes and helicopters on their decks; 15 warships of various types – 7 French, 5 Italian, 2-3 Green, 3-5 German, and five American; thousands of Marines – French, Italian and German, as well as 1,800 US Marines.

It is improbably billed as support for a mere 7,000 European soldiers who are deployed in Lebanon to prevent the dwindling Israeli force of 4-5,000 soldiers and some 15-16,000 Hizballah militiamen from coming to blows as well as for humanitarian odd jobs.

A Western military expert remarked to DEBKAfile that the European naval forces cruising off Lebanese shores are roughly ten times as much as the UNIFIL contingents require as cover, especially when UNIFIL’s duties are strictly non-combat. After all, none of the UN contingents will be engaged in disarming Hizballah or blocking the flow of weapons incoming from Syria and Iran.

So, if not for Lebanon, what is this fine array of naval power really there for?

First, according to our military sources, the European participants feel the need of a strong naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean to prevent a possible Iranian-US-Israeli war igniting an Iranian long-range Shahab missile attack on Europe; second, as a deterrent to dissuade Syria and Hizballah from opening a second front against American and Israel from their eastern Mediterranean coasts.

Numbers alone do not do justice to the immense operational capabilities and firepower amassed opposite Lebanon. Take first the three fleet flagships.

From France’s nuclear-powered 38,000-ton Charles De Gaulle carrier (see insignia), 40 Rafale M fighter craft whose range is 3,340 km can take off at intervals of 30 seconds. The ship also carries three E-2C Hawkeye surveillance craft. The combat control center of the French carrier can handle 2,000 simultaneous targets. The carrier leads a task fore of 7 warships carrying 2,800 French Marines.

Charles De Gaulle s also a floating logistics center operating water desalination plants for 15,000 men and enough food to feed an army for 90 days.

The USS Mount Whitney (the tallest snowcapped peak in the United States), has the most sophisticated command and control suite in the world. Like the French Charles De Gaulle , it exercises command over a task force of 1,800 sailors, Marines, Air force medical and other personnel serving aboard the USS Barry, the USS Trenton , HSV Swift and USNS Kanawha .

Available to the fleet commander, US Vice Admiral J. “Boomer” Stufflebeem, formally titled commander of Joint Task Force Lebanon, is the uniquely advanced C41 command and intelligence system through which he can flash intelligence data to every American commander at any point between the eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf and Iran. USS Mount Whitney communications are described as unsurpassed for the the secure transmission of data from any point to any other point in the world through HF, UHF,VHF, SHF and EHF.

The third carrier joining the other two is the Italian aircraft-helicopter carrier Garibaldi , which has launch pads for vertical takeoff by 16 AV-8B Harrier fighter-bombers or 18 Sikorsky SH-3D Seak King sea-choppers (or Italian Agusta Bell AB212 helicopters), designed to attack submarines and missile ships.

Military experts estimate that the Garibaldi currently carries 10 fighter planes and 6 helicopters.

The new European naval concentration tops up the forces which permanently crowd the eastern Mediterranean: the Italian-based American Sixth Fleet, some 15 small Israeli missile ships and half a dozen submarines and the NATO fleet of Canadian, British, Dutch, German, Spanish, Greek and Turkish warships. They are on patrol against al Qaeda (which is estimated to deploy 45 small freighters in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean). The British have permanent air and sea bases in Cyprus.
This vast force’s main weakness, according to DEBKAfile’s military sources, is that it lacks a single unified command. A sudden flare-up in Lebanon, Syria or Iran could throw the entire force into confusion.

On paper, it has three commanders:

1. French General Alain Pellegrini is the commander of the expanded UNIFIL ground, naval and air force in Lebanon. In February 2007, he hands over to an Italian general who leads the largest of the European contingents of 3,000 men. It is hard to see France agreeing to place its prestigious Charles De Gaulle flagship under non-French command.

2. The American forces opposite Lebanese shores are under direct US command. Since the October 1993 debacle of an American peace force under the UN flag in Somalia, Washington has never again placed its military under UN command. (There is no American contingent in the UNIFIL ground force either.)

In other words, USS Mount Whitney , while serving the European fleets as their operational and intelligence nerve center will stay under the sole command of Vice Admiral Stufflebeem in all possible contingencies.

3. Similarly, the NATO fleet will remain under NATO command, and Israel’s air and naval units will take their orders from Israeli Navy Headquarters in Haifa and the General Staff in Tel Aviv.

The naval Babel piling up in the eastern Mediterranean may therefore find itself at cross purposes when action is needed in an armed conflict. Iran, Syria and Hizballah could be counting on this weakness as a tactical asset in their favor.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Hiya Sean,

It is hard to see France agreeing to place its prestigious Charles De Gaulle flagship under non-French command.

Exactly. I just do NOT see that happening. French hubris will NOT allow it. I'd be stunned if it happens.

The naval Babel piling up in the eastern Mediterranean may therefore find itself at cross purposes when action is needed in an armed conflict.

This is a receipe for disaster. They NEED a unified command.

One more thing....I'm suspicious of France's motives. All you have to do is look at France and you'll see a country thats becoming more muslim by the day. France has to have the recent muslim riots in the back of their minds with every decision they are making regaring Israel and Lebanon. I believe thats the reason they suddenly dropped the number of troops they were sending to just 200 military engineers. (yes I know the number has since changed)
They didn't want to anger the French muslims.

Finally...this is just my own theory but I fear that the UN force will be of no help at all to Israel's security. (this is a no-brainer).
It's REAL purpose is to be an obstacle to Israel.

"Human shields" for Hizbollah....and when the Jews finally DO return Hizbollah fire to defend themselves...UN (and French) troops will be killed. (which I believe is their plan all along)
When pictures of dead French and UN soldiers fill the TV screens in France and Europe..THAT will be the excuse that the French and the UN need to take action against Israel. And my my...how convenient that the French already will have the Charles DeGaulle and six other French warships already pre-positioned and ready to act.

The Israeli's better not turn their backs on the French.

Hizbollah is re-arming as we speak...it won't be long now.


***

[Jag]

Europe nixes landing rights for El Al planes with IDF cargo

By Zohar Blumenkrantz, Haaretz Correspondent

A number of European states are refusing to allow El Al cargo planes carrying Israel Defense Forces equipment from stopover landings in their airports. The refusal came from states considered friendly with Israel, including Britain, Germany and Italy, according to Captain Etai Regev, the chairman of El Al's pilots' union. Regev sent a letter of complaint on the matter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and to the Defense Ministry, the Finance Ministry, and the Tourism Ministry. According to Regev, El Al flights bearing heavy loads that arrive from U.S. bases "are not given approval by European states to make stopover landings for refueling, for political reasons. "As a result, cargo planes are taking off from the U.S. with much lighter weight, and are reaching Israel with significantly fewer munitions than needed." Regev called this "a substantial blow to state defense." In his letter, Regev complained about the government's decision last month to allow Italy's flag carrier, Alitalia, to fly Israeli state employees abroad for the first time. "Israel's response to this is the transfer of labor to Italian pilots at the cost of Israeli pilots," he wrote. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/758607.html Jag

[Backstop]

France.

Over the years, those guys have managed to really get on my nerves.

It's not just about the mustard any more.

[samizdat]

Ohlmert took much flak for his restraint- well, he didn't want to invite a full fledged war yet with Syria and Iran. And the supplies, as obviously pointed out weren't ready.
The Israel National Newsreported on September 4, 2006:

In his first meeting with the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee since the war began, Olmert told lawmakers, "If we have go to war with Syria, we will do away with the limitations on the use of force we placed upon ourselves in Lebanon."

During the war, the government said it did not prevent the military establishment from carrying out its plans. Senior army officers contradicted that claim and said the ground assault was delayed several days by the government.

Reserve officers have complained about lack of strategic guidance and concrete military plans, old equipment and inadequate training, which they said increased the number of casualties sustained by the ground forces.

Nonetheless, Olmert maintained that the war in southern Lebanon sent a clear message to Syria. "What we have done in Lebanon amounts to a deterring element against the Syrians, because they now realize that, while in Lebanon we restrained our use of force, in a campaign against them we will not adhere to such restraints," he asserted.

Olmert also decided Monday to shelve his unilateral withdrawal plan, a major reversal in policy. The prime minister won the elections earlier in the year and built his coalition government on a platform in which his unilateral withdrawal plan was the centerpiece. Olmert had vowed to begin the process of setting permanent boundaries for the country by the end of this year if the Palestinian Authority had not come to the negotiating table by that time.

At Monday’s meeting, the prime minister said the situation in the country now merits a different response. Olmert told committee members, “Something has changed. The priorities I thought to be the right ones before are not relevant for now.”

Jerusalem is not yet surrounded by armies, but Israel is. Syria wants the golan hts back.

[falcon]

GLOBAL JIHAD
Captured booklet links Iran to Lebanon war
Israeli soldiers find 'ideological guide' in possession of Hezbollah operatives

---

Posted: September 6, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Cover of 'jihad' booklet captured by Israel forces in Lebanon

A booklet captured by Israeli forces in the recent war against Hezbollah provides more documentation of the influence of Iran upon the terrorist group's operatives in Lebanon.
On Aug. 27, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center of the Center for Special Studies in Israel released an analysis of a booklet entitled "Al-Jihad" (Holy War) that was found in the possession of Hezbollah operatives in front-line outposts in Lebanon during what Israel is terming the "Second Lebanon War."
The 64-page booklet was published in 2004 in Iran by the Imam Khomeini Culture Center, named after the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.


According to the ITIC analysis, the booklet is considered "an ideological guidebook" that presents jihad to be "a doctrine and a program of action" encouraging Muslims to sacrifice their lives "for the sake of Allah and to attain paradise."
The ITIC report concluded:

This radical Islamic worldview is spread and disseminated in Lebanon among Hezbollah in particular and the Shi'ite community in general, through the use of intensive indoctrination activities (da'wa). In our assessment, it comprises the Islamic religious ideological basis on which Iran's armed forces are indoctrinated, as well as the Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah in Lebanon, also serves as Ayatollah Khamenei's top representative in Lebanon, with authority including "religious matters." Ayatollah Khamenei, as supreme leader in Iran, also is the supreme commander over Iran's military forces, including the Revolutionary Guard.
According to the analysis of Yoram Kahati, a senior researcher and deputy director of the ITIC, the booklet is a call for martyrdom in a battle against the enemies of Islam:

The booklet ends with an emotional, dramatic and direct plea to "the believer who fights the holy war against the infidels" to take pride in being "the element of power for restoring truth and eradicating lies." This is an expression which describes, in fact, the main purpose of the universal message of Islam according to Khamenei. Therefore, the "warrior-believer" is told that he is part of revolutionary Islam, which stands for the "abolishment of deprivation" and encourages the various peoples (Muslims and non-Muslims alike) to do away with "dominance" (i.e., foreign rule).

The cover of the booklet displays a photograph of Ayatollah Khamenei overlooking an insert of three fighters who most likely represent Hezbollah fighters. The back cover shows the Lebanese main branch of the Imam Khomeini Culture Center in Harat Hreik, in Beirut's southern Shi'ite suburb that was heavily bombed by the Israeli Air Force during the Second Lebanon War.
The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center is an information project of the Center for Special Studies, a non-governmental organization located near Gelilot north of Tel Aviv, headed by retired Lt. Col. Reuven Erlich.



http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ar...TICLE_ID=51852

[Aplomb]

Hmpt, well, that whole area is Muslimlace, so it's not just France that I am worried about, it's the majority of of the international peacekeepers, who are actually about stopping Israelis from defending their country. The other thing is America is in a war defined as the "war on terror" so let's stand w/ Israel.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=111546

Peretz: Decision to Lift Embargo Followed US Pressure 22:22 Sep 06, '06 / 13 Elul 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Defense Minister Amir Peretz on Wednesday stated that the decision to lift the air/sea embargo on Lebanon followed US pressure to do so. The senior minister added that the international community has accepted responsibility for the deployment of the stabilization force in southern Lebanon. Regarding captive soldier Gilad Shalit, who is being held by Hamas, Peretz stated, “we must do a lot and say little.”

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull
Israel condemned for cluster bomb use


While international bodies are looking into the use of cluster bombs by Israel during the Lebanon war, an effort in the US Senate to curb the use of these munitions was defeated Wednesday by a 70 to 30 vote.

The initiative to prohibit the use and sale of cluster bombs by the US was put forward by Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein of California and Patrick Leahy from Vermont. They attempted to attach a provision to the Pentagon budget, which would require the US, and the countries that it sells arms to, including Israel, to avoid using cluster bombs "in or near" civilian areas. According to the suggestion, the Pentagon would have to freeze all use or sale of cluster bombs until new rules are put in place regarding the use of these munitions in civilian areas.

The issue of the use of cluster bombs began drawing renewed attention following the war between Israel and Hizbullah, in which Israel used cluster bombs in areas in which it believed rocket-launching Hizbullah fighters were hiding. Cluster bombs are munitions that break into dozens of "bomblets" as they near the target and thus are able to hit multiple enemy forces on the ground. Human rights groups have argued that the use of cluster bombs should be forbidden due to their heavy collateral damage and the fact that a significant percentage of the bomblets do not explode on contact and pose a threat for civilians returning after the fighting is over.

The US reaction to these demands has been relatively moderate. Apart from the Feinstein - Leahy initiative that failed in Congress Wednesday, there were also attempts to get the administration to investigate Israel's use of the bombs during the war. The State Department announced two weeks ago that it would open an inquiry into the question whether Israel broke the rules of use set out by the US when it supplied Israel with the weapons. Meanwhile, there was no official word regarding the results of this inquiry, and Israeli officials said they have received no request for clarifications concerning the use of the bombs.

Israel contends that the use of cluster bombs is in accordance with international law. A memorandum put out by the Israeli foreign ministry quotes a Human Rights Watch report stating that 56 countries have cluster bombs. Nine of them - including the US, Russia and Britain - have actually used them. The memorandum goes on to argue that while Hizbullah used civilian areas as launching sites against Israel, the IDF kept to the rule of not targeting civilians.

"The IDF does not deliberately attack civilians and takes steps to minimize any incidental collateral harm by warning them in advance of an action, even at the expense of losing the element of surprise," the memo reads.
"The IDF only uses weapons that are legal," The IDF Spokesperson's Office said in a statement. "All of the weapons and methods used by the IDF are permitted by international law."

"The IDF refrains from purposely attacking innocent civilians and works to minimize the harm inflicted on those not involved in terror activity," the statement read.
Most criticism against Israel on this issue is coming from international human rights groups and the UN. The UN undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland defined Israel's use of cluster bombs as "immoral" and called on the countries supplying Israel with the bombs to discuss their future sales of these arms to the Israeli army. The UN human rights council also passed a resolution forming a three-member committee to investigate allegations that Israel violated human rights during the war.

The committee will look into the use of cluster bombs by Israel in civilian populations in Lebanon.


The information triggering this investigation, as well as the call for the State Department to look into the issue, came from NGO's operating on the ground in Lebanon which reported that hundreds of bombs were found scattered all over the region. Pro-Israel activists in the US claim this information is not reliable and that the groups collecting the data are advocacy organizations, which have their own agenda opposing the use of cluster bombs.
The president of Bnai Brith International Joel Kaplan and the executive vice president Daniel Mariaschin sent a letter to UN undersecretary Egeland in which they blame him of acting 'as an un-appointed moral arbiter with regard to disputed, unproven facts on the ground and the interpretation of international humanitarian law."

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia To Send Troops For Lebanon Rebuilding

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russia would send troops to Lebanon to help rebuild it after the conflict with Israel.

Russia will send a "a group of servicemen as part of a battalion for reconstruction work," Putin said at a meeting with senior cabinet ministers, state television reported.

Putin instructed Kremlin chief-of-staff Sergei Sobyanin to prepare the paperwork for the deployment, which will have to be approved by the upper house of parliament.

Russia's troops will not work as part of the United Nations peacekeeping force, which is being expanded to uphold a shaky truce between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said at the meeting with Putin.

Israel invaded south Lebanon after Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross border raid on July 12. The conflict killed nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilian, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers

A truce brokered by the United Nations halted the war on Aug. 14.

Ivanov said an advance party would set off this week and the main bulk of the Russian forces could leave for Lebanon by the end of the month.

"A special reconnaissance group of military specialists, engineers and bomb disposal experts are ready to leave this week for Lebanon," Ivanov told Putin.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Lebanese government had accepted Russia's offer to send forces.

[Ryan Ruck]

Both Russia and China in Lebanon? This should raise some red flags (pun intended!).

Beijing Strategy And Lebanon Mission

China will contribute 1,000 men to the peacekeeping force in Lebanon. Premier Wen Jiabao announced this on 18 September during a visit of the Italian premier, Romano Prodi. Analysts believe the move is prompted by economic reasons but also by a desire to reinforce China's role in international affairs.

This is the largest peace force ever dispatched by Beijing, already represented in UNIFIL by 187 soldiers. China will also give 40 million yuan (around five million US dollars) in humanitarian aid to Beirut.

Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a China expert at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, said Beijing was working to establish closer ties with the Arab oil-rich world while at the same time maintaining its direct military cooperation “in a politics of equilibrium”. In August, Beijing condemned Israeli attacks on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. The brief conflict also killed a Chinese UN observer.

Yitzhak Shichor, professor of East Asian Studies at Haifa University in Israel, said: “Up until now, Beijing has hesitated to engage more into the affairs of the Mideast, most notably because this means it will have to take sides," but it could thus intervene in a neutral manner.

Milton Liao Wen-chung, a China defence expert with the Council of Advanced Studies in Taipei, said China could also deploy non-military personnel under the UN standard, like medics and technicians. But Liu Jiangyong, a vice-president of Qinghua University's Institute of International Studies, said the decision showed an image change by Beijing, now geared more towards the international arena, crediting the People's Liberation Army as a positive force, revealing “support for the United Nations and its peacekeeping efforts.”

Wen’s announcement earned the immediate applause of Premier Prodi, who said China’s participation was a reflection of its rising international status. In the past, the United Nations had sought to involve China in such operations several times.

In such a role, China is at an advantage compared to the United States and Russia, often considered as invaders, and also compared to other economic powers like Japan, which have a still recent colonial past. On the contrary, Beijing does not have conflicts with other states behind it, and its recent past is not marked by a policy of military colonial expansion (excluding the “domestic” problems of Tibet and Xinjiang).

This allows it to undertake better the role of neutral peacekeeping in ethnic-religious conflicts or those of the colonial sort. China has always been one of the non-aligned countries, revealing its independence in relation to the past division of the world into the Russia-USA blocks.

However, there is no lack of voices expressing concern that China's policy of not interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries may be just formal, a comfortable justification not to see human rights abuses in other states and to conclude profitable economic agreements. Beijing has been using this policy to impose a veto on any serious condemnation or intervention in Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur while its businesses have important agreements in the country’s oil sector. Likewise, Chinese support has been vital for Myanmar's military junta, for Iran’s nuclear development and for the oddities of North Korea.

Valerie Niquet, director of the Asian Centre of the French Institute of International Relations, said China only wants to “gain credit as a powerful figure”. All agree however, that with the dispatch of troops to Lebanon, China is showing it wants to become more and more involved on the global scene. The country has been participating in peace missions only since 1992. Previously, they were considered to be an instrument of US imperialism. So far, China has sent above all civil personnel on mission, like doctors and engineers, and thus has operated less close to war zones, with less risks of involvement in crossfire.

[Sean Osborne]

Both Russia and China in Lebanon? This should raise some red flags (pun intended!).

Ryan,

In the worldview of those familiar with the TransAsianAxis this should raise a "red flag". Most will take note of the significance.

With others this will hardly even get a second thought, if not a "so what" response.

With those Christians and Jews familiar with Biblical prophecy (both Christian and Jewish believers)... this development has very specific implications.

ANY Russian or Chinese military activity in the near vicinity of Israel has very specific Biblical implications and has exceptional and very deep meanings - which is why I reserve my commentary on these devlopments to the "Current Events and Biblical Prophecy II" thread in the RD forum.

[MinutemanCO]

This is huge. Both China and Russia with intel forces on the ground in the ME. The structure for major ME/World conflict appears to be coming together in a hurry.

We cannot say that we didn't see the signs prior to the development of a major event. We can say, however, that we ignored the signs because we didn't want to believe that the Russians and the Chinese were truly aligned against us. "You mean communism didn't really fall with the crumbling of the Iron Curtain?"

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia Supplied Hezbollah With Intelligence During War

Russia found itself indirectly ( ) aiding Hezbollah during the summer's Lebanon war when data collected by Russian-manned listening posts in Syria was transferred to the terror group.

According to Jane's Defence Weekly, an advanced listening post on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights fed real-time intelligence to Hezbollah throughout the conflict with Israel.

Moscow has long maintained intelligence cooperation with Syria in a broad deal that gives it direct access to sensitive information and brings Russia large profits from defense and infrastructure contracts.

Israel has not publicly complained over Russia's intelligence gathering activities, though Jerusalem did take Moscow to task over the large quantities of Russian-made anti-tank missiles used by Hezbollah during the war.

Most of Israel's wartime casualties resulted from the deadly use of advanced anti-tank missiles that Hezbollah is believed to have obtained from Syria.

Russia initially denied the charges, insisting that controls over its arms sales prevented the weapons from falling into the wrong hands. Moscow has since agreed to investigate the charge.

[falcon]

Moscow has long maintained intelligence cooperation with Syria in a broad deal that gives it direct access to sensitive information and brings Russia large profits from defense and infrastructure contracts.

Here is another example of Russia playing the same game it did during the Cold War, when they were a Commie country, wake up world nothing has changed. They just put a new face on over the old Commie way of doing things. Plus I guessing that those contracts were signed way back when it was the USSR and have never been up-dated, but we will never know very sad.

[samizdat]

The days of Syria exporting regional, international Islamic terrorism and verbal diarrhea from Damascus are rapidly coming to an end.
Geez. What a couple of dip_____. (Assad and Ahmadinejad - A Hitler and Mussolini with nothing to smile about.)

http://www.israelnewsagency.com/syri...f48991008.html
What can Assad do? For starters he can shut down the offices of the Palestinian terror organizations in Damascus and ban their members' activity. Assad can announce that he agrees to meet with the prime minister of Israel in one of the two capitals or in a neutral place, as a first step toward peace negotiations. To compromise on the Golan Heights, for Israel depends on the Golan for much of its water.
If Assad is a man of peace he can speak with Israel Meretz-Yahad opposition peace party leader Dr. Yossi Beilin. He can also speak with industrialist and visionary Stef Wertheimer regarding the creation of Israel and Syria free trade zones on the Golan Heights.
The greatest victory in war is peace. We could still attain peace, save the bullets and thousands of lives. It's up to Assad.

[Sean Osborne]

This is huge. I mean huge. And it is, as far as I know... a world-wide open-sources media scoop. I recieved the images displayed below today. They are proof positive of the following article.


http://www1.idf.il/DOVER/site/mainpa...docid=55483.EN

Special Forces Raid in Baal-bek

Thursday 03/08/2006 13:03

IDF Special Forces En Route to Target. Illustration: IDF Spokesperson IDF air and ground special forces conducted a precise surgical raid yesterday in the municipality of Baal-bek. The target of the raid was a hospital known to be used by the Hezbollah terror organization as a one of its headquarters. Hezbollah weapons, computers, computer storage media, and a large amount of vital intelligence materials were seized. Ten terrorists were killed during the operation and five others were captured by Israeli forces. There were no IDF or civilian casualties. All IDF forces returned safely to their bases. The operation was praised as an intelligence and operational success and demonstrated yet again the long reach of the IDF in its fight against terror and terrorists, no matter where they are. In the afternoon Lieutenant General Dan Halutz, the Chief of Staff, expressed his thoughts on the mission. "The end result of this undertaking is still unclear to us, because we collected a lot of materials and we still need to analyze them, to decipher them, and to understand from them what we brought with us," he said. "But I have no doubt that we will find further benefits of this operation, because part of them are still hidden from view since we haven't had time to verify the quality of the items we brought."

Here are the images which prove the bold content above.

This is either Hezbollah laser-rangefinding or laser-based commo gear, or some exotic combination thereof.

Looks like a low-budget version of a US C2 center but is probably a mass production propaganda center within the Hezbollah HQ.

Image from IDF Special Forces taken during raid on Hezollah HQ in Baalbek, Lebanon during the recent war. Image reveals computers, modems, phone/fax, other military and civilian RF and digitial data devices - the most important of which are the two (2) olive-drab colored Russian-made tactical military radio's and the three (3) gray-colored COMSEC (cryptographic) devices.

Tactical map where intelligence derived from the communications room was displayed graphically on this map.

[Ryan Ruck]

Hmmm... Now just who would give them high tech goodies like that?

[Sean Osborne]

Iran. Syria. Russia.

And that map... the quality and size of the plotter which printed at that excellent resolution are simply outstanding.