Israeli-Arab War

[American Patriot]

Israel: Hezbollah rockets hit U.N. post (in Lebanon)
Associated Press ^ | July 21, 2006

JERUSALEM - A barrage of Hezbollah-fired rockets aimed at northern Israel fell short of their targets and struck a United Nations observation post in Lebanon, the Israeli army said Friday.

An army spokesman said it wasn't immediately clear if the United Nations Interim Force post was occupied at the time or if there were casualties.

[American Patriot]

[American Patriot]

[American Patriot]

[American Patriot]

Fox is reporting this morning that a "massive ground invasion is immenint" in Lebanon, by Israeli troops.

They have also reported that there is a chance of weapons of mass destruction being used by Hezzbuluah, probably chemical weapons obtained from Syria. I've heard at least five separate references to WMD since last evening.

Haifa is being hit right now by incoming missiles as I write this.

It appears to me that the Hezzbulah are doing little more than taking pot shots at the moment, the rockets have slowed. Either they are running out of rockets or the people launching them.

Either that, or this is a very serious 'bait' attempt to pull the Israeli's into foreign territory. Israelis charging into the north, will discover land mines, and snipers we think at this point.

[American Patriot]

Analysis: The ground operation has begun under our noses
Haaretz ^ | 7/21/6 | Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff

AVIVIM − Right under our noses, the Israel Defense Forces ground operation in Lebanon began Thursday. What was described as a minor commando operation was in fact a fairly large assault, involving several specialized units that are entering villages, carrying out searches and engaging in hard, close-range fighting with Hezbollah units.

The air force's limited success and the continued rocket attacks against northern Israel have drawn the IDF into Lebanon, where it is confronted by a well-organized, well trained and highly motivated Hezbollah force. In two days of fighting, eight soldiers belonging to the IDF's best units have died. The losses on the other side are grater, even if they are not being released.

On the other hand, there was a decline in the number of rockets fired at , with some 35 to 40 rockets striking fields in the upper Galilee.

Early Wednesday morning, IDF troops moved against a Hezbollah position near the village of Maroun Ras, just north of Avivim. At first light, the soldiers discovered a metal door leading to a subterranean bunker complex. It was impossible to see the complex from the air, and it enabled Hezbollah militants to hide after firing rockets against the north.

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

[American Patriot]

Israel calls up troops, warns Lebanese
AP on Yahoo ^ | 7/21/06 | Sam F. Ghattas - ap

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel called up reserve troops Friday and warned civilians to flee Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon, as it prepared for a likely ground invasion to set up a deep buffer zone.

Hezbollah militants fired at least 11 rockets at Israel's port city of Haifa, wounding five people. Israeli warplanes pounded Lebanon's main road link to Syria, collapsing part of Lebanon's longest bridge. A U.N.-run observation post near the border was hit, but no one was hurt.

Ships lined up at Beirut's port as a massive evacuation effort to pull out Americans and other foreigners picked up speed. U.S. officials said more than 8,000 of the roughly 25,000 Americans in Lebanon will be evacuated by the weekend.

After 10 days of the heaviest bombardment of Lebanon in 24 years, Israel appears to have decided that a large-scale incursion is the only way to push Hezbollah back. But mounting civilian casualties and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Lebanese could limit the time Israel has to achieve its goals, as international tolerance for the bloodshed and destruction runs out.

An Israeli military radio station warned residents of 12 border villages in southern Lebanon to leave before 2 p.m. Friday. It was the latest warning from the Al-Mashriq station, which has said Israeli forces would "act immediately" to halt Hezbollah rocket fire.

At least 335 people have been killed in Lebanon in the Israeli campaign, according to the Lebanese health minister. Thirty-four Israelis also have been killed, including 19 soldiers.

The United States — which has resisted calls to press its ally to halt the fighting — was sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the Mideast as soon as early next week, according to a senior Bush administration who spoke on condition of anonymity because Rice has not yet made her plans public.

The mission would be the first U.S. diplomatic effort on the ground since the Israeli onslaught against Lebanon began.

"We are all very concerned about the situation in the Middle East, and want to find a way forward that will contribute to a stable and democratic and peaceful Middle East," Rice said Friday as she met a three-member U.N. team.

Two Apache attack helicopters collided in northern Israel near the Lebanon border, killing one air force officer and injuring three others, two seriously, Israeli officials said. Israel's air force began an investigation.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, meanwhile, said his country was sending urgent aid to Lebanon by air and sea and he called for safe passage.

His comments came a day after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned of a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and called for an immediate cease-fire, even as he admitted "serious obstacles" stand in the way of even easing the violence.

"We are setting up a humanitarian air and sea port," Douste-Blazy said in Beirut. "At the same time, we demand the establishment of humanitarian corridors."

Top Israeli officials met Thursday night to decide how big a force to send in, according to senior military officials. They said Israel won't stop its offensive until Hezbollah is forced behind the Litani River, 20 miles north of the border — creating a new buffer zone in a region that saw 18 years of Israeli presence since 1982.

Israel has stepped up its small forays over the border in recent days, seeking Hezbollah positions, rocket stores and bunkers. Each time it has faced tough resistance.

Israeli warplanes fired missiles that partially collapsed a 1.6-mile suspension bridge linking two steep mountain peaks, part of the Beirut-Damascus highway in central Lebanon. The bridge has been hit several times since the fighting began.

The bombing also set ablaze three buses that had just dropped off passengers in Syria, but the drivers escaped, police said.

Renewed attacks struck the ancient city of Baalbek, a major Hezbollah stronghold, and security officials said two people were killed and 19 wounded. They also attacked Hezbollah strongholds in south Beirut and elsewhere overnight.

Strikes in south Beirut killed one person, and missiles that hit a village near the border with Israel, Aita al-Shaab, killed three, officials said.

A house in the border village of Aitaroun was flattened, with 10 people believed inside, but rescuers could not reach it because of shelling, security officials said.

Air raid sirens wailed in Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, and at least 11 rockets struck in two barrages. Five people were wounded, with 23 treated for shock.

More rockets were fired elsewhere into northern Israel, the army said, with strikes reported in Rosh Pina, Safed and in several communities near the Sea of Galilee.

Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets from the Lebanese border since fighting began, forcing hundreds of thousands of Israelis into underground shelters. Eight people in Haifa were killed July 16.

A U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said an artillery shell fired by the Israeli military made "a direct hit on the U.N. position overlooking Zarit."

An Israeli military spokesman said the rockets were fired by Hezbollah guerrillas at northern Israel. The differing accounts could not immediately be reconciled.

During an Israeli offensive against Lebanon in 1996, artillery blasted a U.N. base at Qana in southern Lebanon, killing more than 100 civilians who had taken refuge with the peacekeepers.

The U.N. mission, which has nearly 2,000 military personnel and more than 300 civilians, is to patrol the border line, known as the Blue Line, drawn by the U.N. after Israel withdrew troops from south Lebanon in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation.

Hezbollah said three of its fighters had been killed in the latest fighting with Israeli troops, bringing to six the number of guerrillas killed since Israel launched the massive military campaign against Lebanon after the militant Shiite Muslim group captured two of its soldiers on July 12.

Annan denounced Israel for "excessive use of force" and Hezbollah for holding "an entire nation hostage" with its rocket attacks and capturing the Israeli soldiers.

Neither side showed any sign of backing down.

The Israeli army issued a call-up of reserves. The exact number of troops was not disclosed, but a military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said it would be several thousand.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah shrugged off concerns of a stepped-up Israeli onslaught, saying the captive soldiers held by his guerrillas would be freed only as part of a prisoner exchange brokered through indirect negotiations.

He spoke in an interview taped Thursday with Al-Jazeera to show he had survived an airstrike in south Beirut that Israel said targeted a Hezbollah leadership bunker. The guerrillas said the strike only hit a mosque under construction and no one was hurt.

Lebanese streamed north into Beirut and other regions, crowding into schools, relatives' homes or hotels. Taxi drivers in the south were charging up to $400 per person for rides to Beirut — more than 40 times the usual price. In remote villages of the south, cut off by strikes, residents made their way out over the mountains by foot.

The price of food, medical supplies and gasoline rose as much as 500 percent in parts of Lebanon as the bombardment cut supply routes. The World Food Program said estimates of basic food supplies ranged from one to three months.

The U.N. estimated that a half-million people have been displaced, with 130,000 fleeing to Syria and 45,000 believed to be in need of assistance.

More than 400,000 people — perhaps as many as a half-million — are believed to live south of the Litani, according to Timur Goskel, a former top U.N. adviser in the south. The river has twice been the border of Israeli buffer zones. In 1978, Israel invaded up to the Litani to drive back Palestinian guerrillas, withdrawing from most of the south months later.

Israel invaded Lebanon again in a much bigger operation in 1982 when its forces seized parts of Beirut. It eventually carved out a buffer zone that stopped at the Litani. That zone was reduced gradually but the Israeli presence lasted for 18 years until 2000, when it withdrew its troops completely.

___

Associated Press Writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Gabe Ross in Haifa, Israel, contributed to this story.

[American Patriot]

Posted on FR this morning - Vanity post.


"Our troops will fight alongside Hezbollah"

Lebanons complicity with Hezbollah is odd, to say the least. The prime minister stated that his troops will fight alongside Hezbollah in the event of an Isreali ground invasion - what does it mean? A U.N. resolution (yes I know, that organization is 100% useless) was put forth requiring that those terrorists be disarmed and disbanded. Instead Lebanese troops sat on the sidelines and did nothing. As a result of this inaction, Hezbollahs capturing of the Isreali soldiers and firing of rockets into Isreal, Lebanon is taking a pounding and the Lebanese people are suffering - ALL BECAUSE OF HEZBOLLAH. The statement of solidarity has several possible meanings:

A) Lebanon doesnt want to piss Iran and Syria off

B) This is a prelude to inviting the Syrian military back into Lebanon, despite the fact that many Lebanese wanted them out because of Hariris assasination

C) The prime minister is bluffing

D) The statement is meant to appease Hezbollah elements of the Lebanse government

Pitting the Lebanese military against the Isreali military would be a a disaster for the Lebanese government, not to mention like dropping thier soldiers into a meat grinder. Anyone care to weigh in on this suicidal tactic?

[American Patriot]

Muslims Use Day of Prayer to Protest (Sadr says Israel will fall just like the World Train Center)
AP ^ | July 21 2006 | MAGGIE MICHAEL


Thousands across the Muslim world used Friday's Islamic day of prayer to protest Israel's attacks on Hezbollah, urging Sunni-Shiite unity to defeat the Jewish state.

Waving posters of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, thousands gathered after Friday prayers at Cairo's Al-Azhar Mosque, the most prominent Sunni Muslim institution in the Arab world.

"Sunnis or Shiites (there is) no difference; all together to resist the enemy," Sameh Ashour, head of the Arab Lawyers Union, told the crowd. "Resistance is the solution."

In Iraq, radical anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr predicted Israel would collapse like the World Trade Center if Sunnis and Shiites join together to fight.

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

[American Patriot]

Condi Rice speaking now...

US is calling for IMMEDIATE RELEASE of the kidnapped soldiers.

[American Patriot]

Red Alert: The Battle Joined

The ground war has begun. Several Israeli brigades now appear to be operating between the Lebanese border and the Litani River. According to reports, Hezbollah forces are dispersed in multiple bunker complexes and are launching rockets from these and other locations.

Hezbollah's strategy appears to be threefold. First, force Israel into costly attacks against prepared fortifications. Second, draw Israeli troops as deeply into Lebanon as possible, forcing them to fight on extended supply lines. Third, move into an Iraqi-style insurgency from which Israel -- out of fear of a resumption of rocket attacks -- cannot withdraw, but which the Israelis also cannot endure because of extended long-term casualties. This appears to have been a carefully planned strategy, built around a threat to Israeli cities that Israel can't afford. The war has begun at Hezbollah's time and choosing.

Israel is caught between three strategic imperatives. First, it must end the threat to Israeli cities, which must involve the destruction of Hezbollah's launch capabilities south of the Litani River. Second, it must try to destroy Hezbollah's infrastructure, which means it must move into the Bekaa Valley and as far as the southern suburbs of Beirut. Third, it must do so in such a way that it is not dragged into a long-term, unsustainable occupation against a capable insurgency.

Hezbollah has implemented its strategy by turning southern Lebanon into a military stronghold, consisting of well-designed bunkers that serve both as fire bases and launch facilities for rockets. The militants appear to be armed with anti-tank weapons and probably anti-aircraft weapons, some of which appear to be of American origin, raising the question of how they were acquired. Hezbollah wants to draw Israel into protracted fighting in this area in order to inflict maximum casualties and to change the psychological equation for both military and political reasons.

Israelis historically do not like to fight positional warfare. Their tendency has been to bypass fortified areas, pushing the fight to the rear in order to disrupt logistics, isolate fortifications and wait for capitulation. This has worked in the past. It is not clear that it will work here. The great unknown is the resilience of Hezbollah's fighters. To this point, there is no reason to doubt it. Israel could be fighting the most resilient and well-motivated opposition force in its history. But the truth is that neither Israel nor Hezbollah really knows what performance will be like under pressure.

Simply occupying the border-Litani area will not achieve any of Israel's strategic goals. Hezbollah still would be able to use rockets against Israel. And even if, for Hezbollah, this area is lost, its capabilities in the Bekaa Valley and southern Beirut will remain intact. Therefore, a battle that focuses solely on the south is not an option for Israel, unless the Israelis feel a defeat here will sap Hezbollah's will to resist. We doubt this to be the case.

The key to the campaign is to understand that Hezbollah has made its strategic decisions. It will not be fighting a mobile war. Israel has lost the strategic initiative: It must fight when Hezbollah has chosen and deal with Hezbollah's challenge. However, given this, Israel does have an operational choice. It can move in a sequential fashion, dealing first with southern Lebanon and then with other issues. It can bypass southern Lebanon and move into the rear areas, returning to southern Lebanon when it is ready. It can attempt to deal with southern Lebanon in detail, while mounting mobile operations in the Bekaa Valley, in the coastal regions and toward south Beirut, or both at the same time.

There are resource and logistical issues involved. Moving simultaneously on all three fronts will put substantial strains on Israel's logistical capability. An encirclement westward on the north side of the Litani, followed by a move toward Beirut while the southern side of the Litani is not secured, poses a serious challenge in re-supply. Moving into the Bekaa means leaving a flank open to the Syrians. We doubt Syria will hit that flank, but then, we don't have to live with the consequences of an intelligence failure. Israel will be sending a lot of force on that line if it chooses that method. Again, since many roads in south Lebanon will not be secure, that limits logistics.

Israel is caught on the horns of a dilemma. Hezbollah has created a situation in which Israel must fight the kind of war it likes the least -- attritional, tactical operations against prepared forces -- or go to the war it prefers, mobile operations, with logistical constraints that make these operations more difficult and dangerous. Moreover, if it does this, it increases the time during which Israeli cities remain under threat. Given clear failures in appreciating Hezbollah's capabilities, Israel must take seriously the possibility that Hezbollah has longer-ranged, anti-personnel rockets that it will use while under attack.

Israel has been trying to break the back of Hezbollah resistance in the south through air attack, special operations and probing attacks. This clearly hasn't worked thus far. That does not mean it won't work, as Israel applies more force to the problem and starts to master the architecture of Hezbollah's tactical and operational structure; however, Israel can't count on a rapid resolution of that problem.

The Israelis have by now thought the problem through. They don't like operational compromises -- preferring highly focused solutions at the center of gravity of an enemy. Hezbollah has tried to deny Israel a center of gravity and may have succeeded, forcing Israel into a compromise position. Repeated assaults against prepared positions are simply not something the Israelis can do, because they cannot afford casualties. They always have preferred mobile encirclement or attacks at the center of gravity of a defensive position. But at this moment, viewed from the outside, this is not an option.

An extended engagement in southern Lebanon is the least likely path, in our opinion. More likely -- and this is a guess -- is a five-part strategy:

1. Insert airmobile and airborne forces north of the Litani to seal the rear of Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon. Apply air power and engineering forces to reduce the fortifications, and infantry to attack forces not in fortified positions. Bottle them up, and systematically reduce the force with limited exposure to the attackers.

2. Secure roads along the eastern flank for an armored thrust deep into the Bekaa Valley to engage the main Hezbollah force and infrastructure there. This would involve a move from Qiryat Shimona north into the Bekaa, bypassing the Litani to the west, and would probably require sending airmobile and special forces to secure the high ground. It also would leave the right flank exposed to Syria.

3. Use air power and special forces to undermine Hezbollah capabilities in the southern Beirut area. The Israelis would consider a move into this area after roads through southern Lebanon are cleared and Bekaa relatively secured, moving into the area, only if absolutely necessary, on two axes of attack.

4. Having defeated Hezbollah in detail, withdraw under a political settlement shifting defense responsibility to the Lebanese government.

5. Do all of this while the United States is still able to provide top cover against diplomatic initiatives that will create an increasingly difficult international environment.

There can be many variations on this theme, but these elements are inevitable:

1. Hezbollah cannot be defeated without entering the Bekaa Valley, at the very least.

2. At some point, resistance in southern Lebanon must be dealt with, regardless of the cost.

3. Rocket attacks against northern Israel and even Tel Aviv must be accepted while the campaign unfolds.

4. The real challenge will come when Israel tries to withdraw.

No. 4 is the real challenge. Destruction of Hezbollah's infrastructure does not mean annihilation of the force. If Israel withdraws, Hezbollah or a successor organization will regroup. If Israel remains, it can wind up in the position the United States is in Iraq. This is exactly what Hezbollah wants. So, Israel can buy time, or Israel can occupy and pay the cost. One or the other.

The other solution is to shift the occupational burden to another power that is motivated to prevent the re-emergence of an anti-Israeli military force -- as that is what Hezbollah has become. The Lebanese government is the only possible alternative, but not a particularly capable one, reflecting the deep rifts in Lebanon.

Israel has one other choice, which is to extend the campaign to defeat Syria as well. Israel can do this, but the successor regime to Syrian President Bashar al Assad likely would be much worse for Israel than al Assad has been. Israel can imagine occupying Syria; it can't do it. Syria is too big and the Arabs have learned from the Iraqis how to deal with an occupation. Israel cannot live with a successor to al Assad and it cannot take control of Syria. It will have to live with al Assad. And that means an occupation of Lebanon would always be hostage to Syrian support for insurgents.

Hezbollah has dealt Israel a difficult hand. It has thought through the battle problem as well as the political dimension carefully. Somewhere in this, there has been either an Israeli intelligence failure or a political failure to listen to intelligence. Hezbollah's capabilities have posed a problem for Israel that allowed Hezbollah to start a war at a time and in a way of its choosing. The inquest will come later in Israel. And Hezbollah will likely be shattered regardless of its planning. The correlation of forces does not favor it. But if it forces Israel not only to defeat its main force but also to occupy, Hezbollah will have achieved its goals.
Send questions or comments on this article to analysis@stratfor.com.

[American Patriot]

Terror alert in Tel Aviv
YNet ^ | July 21, 2006 | Avi Cohen

Police set up roadblocks following warnings that suicide bomber infiltrated Israel, plans to blow up in city

Owing to warnings of a possible terror attack in Tel Aviv, security forces across the Dan bloc were on heightened alert Friday night. According to reports, a female suicide bomber had managed to infiltrate the city.

Police and security forces set up roadblocks throughout the area.

This is not the first time recently that roadblocks were set up in the vicinity of Israel’s coastal cities. On Wednesday alert levels were raised in the Sharon area after intelligence was received that a suicide bomber had infiltrated Israel and planned to blow up in the area. Following a few hours of searches in the area, the terrorist and his driver were nabbed by security forces at two construction sites in Hod Hasharon.

The security establishment has 22 warnings of planned suicide bombings and kidnappings in Israeli territory. Owing to the warnings, a general closure was imposed on the territories until at least Saturday night. Most of the security establishment’s warning were coming from the West Bank areas and were regarding attacks plotted by the Islamic Jihad.

A senior security official told Ynet that Israel had intelligence information proving that Hizbullah had specifically turned to Palestinian terror groups in the West Bank asking them to carry out attacks to open a third front in addition to the north and south fronts.

[Aplomb]

Posted on FR this morning - Vanity post.


"Our troops will fight alongside Hezbollah"

Lebanons complicity with Hezbollah is odd, to say the least. The prime minister stated that his troops will fight alongside Hezbollah in the event of an Isreali ground invasion - what does it mean? A U.N. resolution (yes I know, that organization is 100% useless) was put forth requiring that those terrorists be disarmed and disbanded. Instead Lebanese troops sat on the sidelines and did nothing. As a result of this inaction, Hezbollahs capturing of the Isreali soldiers and firing of rockets into Isreal, Lebanon is taking a pounding and the Lebanese people are suffering - ALL BECAUSE OF HEZBOLLAH. The statement of solidarity has several possible meanings:

A) Lebanon doesnt want to piss Iran and Syria off

B) This is a prelude to inviting the Syrian military back into Lebanon, despite the fact that many Lebanese wanted them out because of Hariris assasination

C) The prime minister is bluffing

D) The statement is meant to appease Hezbollah elements of the Lebanse government

Pitting the Lebanese military against the Isreali military would be a a disaster for the Lebanese government, not to mention like dropping thier soldiers into a meat grinder. Anyone care to weigh in on this suicidal tactic?

I'd venture to give my opinion based on what has been reported at MEMRI. http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD120806

LEBANESE REACTIONS

Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on Al-Manar TV, July 16

On July 16, 2006, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah gave a speech, aired on Al-Manar TV. The following are excerpts (translated by MEMRI TV, see http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=1194 ):

"I want to say a few words to the good, steadfast, honorable, and pure people, whom we have heard in recent days on the media. We have heard their perseverance, their support, and their love.

"You are truly a great people. I am not just saying this out of pride, arrogance, or flattery. This is a people of historic [greatness], on whom hopes are pinned to save Lebanon and the nation - the entire nation - from its state of degradation and humiliation, and to instill new hope in the nation.

"I tell you again that with your support, your embrace, with your love, your perseverance, and your steadfastness, we will be victorious. The buildings and places that are being destroyed - we will cooperate with the Lebanese state...

"But in this matter, I say to you: Do not worry about what the Israeli war machine can destroy. All we wish is that the wounded be healed, and that the living have a long and healthy life. As for what is being destroyed - with the help of Allah, and by cooperation with the Lebanese state... We too, as an interested party, are determined to be serious in rebuilding what is being destroyed.

"I tell you, without going into details now, that we have friends who are also serious in this, and who have a very great ability to help us with pure, clean, and honorable money, and without any political conditions.

"There is nothing to worry about regarding the rebuilding of our country. What is important is that we persevere now and emerge victorious from this battle...

"The last point I want to make... I would like to turn to the peoples of the Arab and Islamic world. I turn to them only to make things clear to them, and to face them up to their responsibility. I have no intention to appeal to them, to call upon them, or to request anything from them. From the first moment of Operation True Promise and the ensuing confrontations, I and my brothers have taken upon ourselves and have agreed that in this confrontation we would not ask for anything from any human being.

"Many have called us to offer their services, but we have said that we ask for nothing. We will not initiate any request - not on the material level, the political level, not with regard to the media, not on the popular level, or the military level. We make appeals, requests, and supplications only to Allah, because we believe in Him, in His capabilities, in His greatness, and in His true promise that the believers will be victorious.

"We place our trust in Allah. When I am turning now to the Arab and Islamic peoples, I am not doing so to ask them to save us or give us aid. No. We, Allah be praised, are fine. We are in a very strong position, and we are at the beginning of a confrontation on which we pin great hopes.

"But I would like to face them up to their responsibility. Yesterday, you - and especially the Arab peoples - witnessed the outcome of the meeting of the Arab foreign ministers, and saw what can possibly come out of the Arab League. They themselves talk about the failure of the so-called peace process, and it has become clear that they are incapable - as governments, leaders, and regimes - of doing anything.

"In any case, we do not place our bets there. You, the Arab and Islamic peoples, have an interest in taking a stand for the sake of your place in the world to come, if you believe in it, and for the sake of your life in this world, your honor, your strength, your future, and the future or your children and grandchildren. In other words, the way things are now… If, in this conflict, God forbid, Israel succeeds in defeating the resistance in Palestine or in Lebanon, the Arab world - both governments and peoples - will drown in eternal humiliation. It will have no way out. This will only increase the condescension of the Zionists and of their American masters towards the Arab governments and peoples. The American and Israeli interference in the affairs of these governments and peoples will only increase, along with the plundering of our resources, the eradication of our culture and civilization, and the disintegration and division of this region, which will be drawn into internal strife, and so on.

"Today, the Arab and Islamic nation is facing a historic opportunity to unite, to release themselves from the plan of disintegration, sectarian and civil wars, to which America is pushing the peoples of the region.

"Today, the peoples of the Arab and Islamic nation are facing a historic opportunity to accomplish a great historic victory over the Zionist enemy.

"The question is not who imposes his conditions on whom. Today, we have a great opportunity of this kind. I am not exaggerating. In 2000, we in Lebanon, with modest capabilities and efforts, and with a small number of mujahideen, with few supplies and little equipment, presented a model of how resistance can overcome an occupation army.

"Today, we are presenting a model, along with the Lebanese people and Lebanon in its entirety - although we serve as the spearhead, and although villages, towns, and neighborhoods affiliated with us are subject to killing and destruction... This is true of all Lebanese, but they are concentrating on us... We are trying to present another model - a model of steadfastness, resistance, perseverance, courage, and of the ability to defeat the enemy. We do this in a battle that is unbalanced in material terms, but in spirit, morale, determination, wisdom, planning, and in placing our trust in Allah, this battle is unbalanced in our favor.
"Where are you, oh Arab and Islamic peoples? What are you doing? How will you act? That is up to you. As far as we are concerned, when we began the resistance in 1982, we did not look beyond our borders at all. We looked only to Allah. We relied only upon our people and our mujahideen. Today, we are the same. But what I wanted to tell you at this sensitive moment, and following many military successes in recent days, and following many surprises - and more surprises are yet to come, Allah willing - is that Hizbullah is not waging the battle of Hizbullah or of Lebanon. We are waging the battle of the nation, whether we like it or not, whether the Lebanese like it or not. Lebanon and the resistance of Lebanon are waging the battle of the nation. Where does the nation stand with regard to this battle? This question is directed at you, for the sake of your life in this world and in the world to come."

It looks like "unity" to me for the preservation of the Muslim nation, and the right time in their collective minds to rid the world of the Crusaders and the Zionists. Yep, I see this being a world war all right.

[Sean Osborne]

This war is going to be kicked up several notches within 36 hours - if not sooner.

Anyone reading the prophecy forum would already know this and what follows subsequently as a result of this war.


One can accept Biblical prophecy or reject it.

Whatever...

The facts speak for themselves. Period.

[samizdat]

Just an update,...countdown. Could mossad have "suitcase" variety bombs in Damascus?

DEBKAfile Exclusive: Syria placed its army on war preparedness, pointed Scuds at Israel from Thursday, July 20, the day Tehran took control of Lebanon War
July 22, 2006, 12:27 PM (GMT+02:00)

Our sources add Syrian fighter pilots are sitting in their cockpits.
These orders went out from Syrian president Bashar Assad July 20 when Iran’s Revolutionary Guards commander Brig.-Gen Yahya Rahim Safavi (picture) assumed command of the Lebanon war from Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Tehran’s direct military intervention in the conflict was accompanied by an Iranian weapons airlift which began landing Wednesday, July 19, at the Abu Ad Duhur military airfield north of Homs. The deliveries include large quantities of new missiles, including the long-range Zelzal and Fajr 3 and Fajr 5 missiles, Katyusha rockets, anti-tank and anti-air missiles sent out from RG HQ in Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf.
Assad acted on the assumption that Israel, whose air force and ground forces are already hammering the cross-border supply routes north of the Litani River to block the passage of Iranian hardware to Hizballah, will soon decide to go for Iranian military operations in Damascus and Abu Ad Duhur.
Gen. Safavi has set up two forward command posts which coordinate war operations with Hizballah chief of staff Ibrahim Akil.
One center is working out of a cellar of the Iranian embassy in Beirut to regulate Hizballah rocket fire against Israel and direct the groups of 3 or 4 RG officers taking part in every Hizballah face-to-face engagement with Israeli ground troops in the south.
The second, housed in the basement of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, is in charge of communications, intelligence and getting hardware into Lebanon.
The deliveries were made to the Abu Ad Duhur airfield because it belongs to the joint Iranian-Syrian Scud missile factory which employs a large number of Iranian
engineers and technicians.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that some of the Iranian arms have Hizballah in Lebanon notwithstanding intense Israeli cutoff operations and their impact will probably be palpable in the coming days.

[catfish]

This is a war Israel cant win. Hezzbollah, Iran and Syria will only come out on top.

[American Patriot]

Not, Catfish, if the US and UK stand up and do their jobs too. I happen to know that.. something is happenng. Like Sean said. In the next 2-3 days....

[Sean Osborne]

This is a war Israel cant win. Hezzbollah, Iran and Syria will only come out on top.

Catfish,

Negative. Negative. Negative.

Irregardless of what Israel does or doesn't do, or what Israel's allies do or don't do, or what Israel's and our enemies do or don't do - the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob will take care of His business and His agenda as he deems fit within His Will to act.

Reread Isaiah 17 again, and then tell me if Damascus and the terrorists win over Israel.

Then read Ezekiel 38/39 and tell me if Russia, Iran and their allies win over Israel.

You know this as well as I do. You know the results before the events occur, or at least I think you used to know this.

[Segestan]

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=2950

Iranian commanders lead Hezbollah and Syria has called up thier own reserves with their pilots awaiting orders. Don't know if half of the sources are true but sure looks that way.


regards,

[Ace]

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

Jul. 22, 2006 21:42
'IDF has won control over Maroun al-Ras'
By JPOST STAFF AND AP


The commander of IDF ground forces said Saturday that the IDF has won control of the village Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon, allowing troops to overlook Hizbullah command posts in the area.

Maj.-Gen. Beni Gantz also said the soldiers had found a mosque in Maroun al-Ras that contained stockpiles of weapons, including rockets.
"The forces have completed, more or less, their control of the area of the village Maroun al-Ras, and there have been lots of strikes against terrorists," Gantz told reporters in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening. "It was a tough fight that went on for some time."