Lebanon faces humanitarian disaster
Brian Whitaker, Beirut
July 18, 2006

is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis as thousands of Shiite Muslims either flee their homes in fear of Israeli bombardments or find themselves trapped.

In Beirut, where Israel has dropped leaflets urging residents to leave suburbs controlled by Hezbollah, schools are being overwhelmed as families seek refuge in classrooms. But hundreds have no choice but to sleep out in the open.

Of the 600 homeless Shiites who spent Saturday night in the city's Sanayeh park, 70 per cent were children. Police have been turning journalists away. "No photographs," said one officer.

A volunteer relief worker said Lebanese authorities had been slow to act during the first few days of the crisis and would be embarrassed by such images.

Before the war began, more than 500,000 Shiites were believed to be living in al-Dahiya, the area most heavily targeted by the Israelis. The Lebanese authorities opened dozens of schools at the weekend but these are now overflowing.

The Chakib Arslan school, in Verdun, was considered suitable for up to 180 people, but now holds 850. Most arrived only with what they were wearing or could carry.

As the sound of three bombs shook the school, a teenage girl burst into tears. Faten and her 16 relatives are living in a classroom. "Our house was not safe," she said. "Hezbollah told us to go and we left four days ago. We have $100 between us and my father needs medicine. We can't get it for him."

Rami, a volunteer, said sometimes families were able to buy food. "Most of the time the Government doesn't help much but it sends a little food," she said.

The relief effort is being run by several organisations and political groups, comprising Christians and Muslims. "It began with a sit-in, in solidarity with Gaza, but then turned into relief work," said Ghassan Makarem of Helem, a Lebanese gay and lesbian organisation. "It's a mix of NGOs, leftist groups, Palestinian youth groups, and others."

But outside Beirut, there is no such help and people are fending for themselves. Many cannot leave because roads are impassable, and those who do escape are at risk of attack.

more

Ali Waked | July 17

Yediot Aharonot - The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, Fatah’s armed wing, claimed Monday afternoon they had kidnapped a Border Guard officer in the West Bank.

An announcement published by the group claimed the abduction was carried out in the Judea and Samaria area and to prove the claim, the announcement included the name of the officer allegedly kidnapped.

The IDF responded that the name was not recognized, but added they were investigating the claims.

[more at link above]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

July 17

Haaretz - Iran's foreign minister arrived in Syria for talks with its government Monday on the crisis in neighboring Lebanon.

Iran and Syria are the principal sponsors of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that provoked the current fighting when its guerrillas crossed into northern Israel last Wednesday and kidnapped two Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki did not speak to reporters on arrival in Damascus, but went headed straight for talks with President Bashar Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Moallem.

[more at link, above]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Pakistan stands with Lebanon: PM

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan stands by the people of Lebanon, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told his Lebanese counterpart Fouad Siniora on Sunday. Pakistan “strongly condemns the violence being committed against Lebanon” and urges that the loss to life and property stop immediately, Aziz told Siniora in a phone call, an official statement said. “Pakistan strongly stands by the Lebanese people and fully respects their sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said. “We appeal to the world community, the permanent members of the Security Council, the UN and other relevant bodies to intervene,” he added. staff report

Daily Times

A Divide Deepens in Arab World
By Kim Murphy, Times Staff Writer
July 17, 2006

DAMASCUS, Syria — The rapidly escalating conflict in Lebanon has divided the Arab world, deepening the gulf between rulers and ruled and reinforcing in the public's mind the impotence of leaders who for two generations have been unable to produce a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, governments with ties to the United States have guardedly denounced Hezbollah for the attack on Israel that triggered the fighting — even as their citizens began tacking up posters of Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the cleric who heads the Shiite Muslim militant group and has vowed to bring "war on every level" to Israel's door.

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The disconnect between the broad range of public support for Hezbollah and the unease felt by many Arab leaders is one of the reasons that Arab governments have been largely unable to mount an effective diplomatic response to Israel's 5-day-old bombing campaign.

Over the weekend, for example, the Arab League, meeting in Cairo, was able to agree on little more than a statement urging all parties to avoid actions that might "undermine peace and security," appealed to the United Nations for intervention and unsurprisingly declared the Middle East peace process dead.

On one level, the divide pits Syria and non-Arab Iran, which are longtime backers of Hezbollah, against Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, whose Sunni Muslim-led governments fear the rise of Islamic militancy and the influence of Iran.

"The resistance will win and the Israeli aggression will fail," Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal said in a statement Sunday, pledging a "firm and direct response" if Syria is attacked. "The resistance has hit deep inside Israel, and the enemy did not expect this."

Iran, meanwhile, threatened that Israel would suffer "unimaginable losses" if it widened the conflict with a strike on Syria.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday rallied behind Hezbollah, describing Israel as "an evil, cancerous tumor" in the midst of the Islamic world.

By contrast, the Saudis on Friday blamed the current crisis on "irresponsible adventurism" by Hezbollah — a statement echoed by Jordan and Egypt.

The divide also separates those governments from large segments of their populations.

"What has the Egyptian government done to thwart the Israeli aggressions? The government is having normal relations with Israel, sitting back and saying how much they love Palestine, while Palestinians are being shot dead every day. And then comes this very small nationalist resistance movement which finally manages to do something that all the Arab governments with their huge armies haven't been able to do," said Iman Hamdi, a political scientist at the American University in Cairo.

"It very much discredits these regimes in the eyes of the people," she said.

The decision by President Bush not to support the Lebanese government's plea for a cease-fire, even though that government has been backed by the United States, has dealt a further blow to public feelings about the U.S. in the region.

Members of the governing bloc in the Lebanese parliament, led by Saad Hariri, "are the most pro-American Arabs in the Middle East. They have promised, 'America will protect us if we stand against Syria,' " said Joshua Landis, a Middle East expert and professor at the University of Oklahoma.

Now Israel is "blowing the hell out of them, and America isn't taking one step to protect them," Landis said. "The whole Arab world is going to look and see that Hariri has been sacrificed on the altar of Israeli power. For the Arabs, this just rips the face of democracy right off."

Even the U.S.-backed Cabinet in Iraq has been critical, with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki calling on Arab leaders to "adopt a clear stance that denounces the criminal operations committed in Lebanon and Gaza."

The one action that Arab governments have been able to agree on so far is to pledge money to help Lebanon. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates promised $90 million.

more at LA Times

Cairo | July 17

The Daily Star (Egypt) - The Arab League said on Saturday after an emergency meeting of foreign ministers that the Middle East peace process had failed and called on the United Nations Security Council to intervene to stop the escalating violence.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa announced the decision following a heated closed-door session in Cairo aimed at finding a way to end a widening Israeli offensive on Lebanon and attacks in the Palestinian territories.

"We all decided that the peace process has failed and that the mechanisms, proposals and committees were either deceptive or sedatives or contrary to the peace process, or handed the process over as a gift to Israeli diplomacy to do with as it wished," Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said.

[more at link, above]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

July 17

Yediot Aharonot - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert addressed the Knesset plenum Monday regarding the fighting in the north: “Israel did not ask for these confrontations, but there were those who interpreted our will for peace as a sign of weakness. Our enemies were wrong to think our restraint was a sign of weakness."

“Israel has no territorial argument, neither on the southern or northern border,” Olmert added.

Olmert said Israel was interested in a stable and calm Lebanon, free of external powers.

[more at link, above]

[Comment: The messaging that this is a limited incursion against state proxies continues. ~ JPD]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Analysis: What Israel hopes to accomplish
By Claude Salhani Jul 17, 2006, 15:06 GMT
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WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- For the first time since Israel pulled out of Lebanon six years ago after its 18-year occupation of the south, the Jewish state is getting involved once again in a major way in the Lebanese quagmire. Or perhaps the more correct term would be to say that Israel is engaging over Lebanon rather than getting drawn inside the country anew.

Many are those in Israel -- both among the military and the civilians -- who remember the long and costly Lebanon war of 1982. In fact, it was that very war, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee, that spawned the Lebanese Hezbollah and deeply divided Israeli public opinion as rarely before.

The 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the subsequent siege of Beirut had ripped apart the very fabric of Israeli society. Many questioned the wisdom of the operation and even within the military establishment there were diverging opinions. If the 1982 invasion of Lebanon was the cause that gave birth to Hezbollah, on the other hand that same war also produced the Peace Now movement in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert knows only too well the history of that war, a war that nearly ended the illustrious career of his former boss, Ariel Sharon, then defense minister, when Israeli troops were accused of allowing Lebanese Christian militias to massacre Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, then under their control.

That is why no Israeli soldier is about to set foot inside Lebanon anytime soon with intent to stay. Any ground operation will most probably have pre-set objectives, such as the destruction of Hezbollah bases and the capture of its leadership. And that is why Israel`s wrath is so intense. It explains why the unrelenting aerial bombardment by the Israeli Air Force, army and navy on targets inside Lebanon has been so fierce as Israel tries to fight a war without over-committing boots on the ground.

There even appears to be some logic to Israel`s insane bombardment of Beirut, its suburbs and other cities, ports, airports, roads, bridges, etc. Israel`s plan, it would seem, is to pound Hezbollah to the ground -- or nearly enough -- to weaken it to the point where it would be too weak to resist accepting the implementation of U.N. Security Resolution 1559, calling for the disarmament of all militias, and to accept to be disarmed by the Lebanese Army -- the only boots on the ground that should exist in Lebanon in the first place.

Israel wants the Lebanese government to assume its responsibility and take control of the south -- a parcel of land that has plagued Israel for several decades now as its control passed from the Palestine Liberation Organization to Hezbollah. Two invasions by Israel -- the first in 1978 that brought about the deployment of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and the second in 1982 -- failed to pacify Israel`s northern frontier.

Just as Israel set about to distance the PLO from its northern border in 1982, it is now seeking to do the same with the Lebanese Hezbollah, who has replaced the PLO in southern Lebanon as the primary threat along Israel`s northern border. Except this time the battle to distance the Shiite militant organization will be done mostly from the skies and the sea. The only Israeli soldiers likely to set foot on Lebanese soil would be for very specific operations. The likelihood of a renewed Israeli occupation is unrealistic.

Israel essentially seeks to reverse Hezbollah`s victory as seen by the Shiites, that it was them who forced Israel out of southern Lebanon in 2000. That victory paid much dividend to Hezbollah, both in Lebanon and in the rest of the Arab world, where they were hailed as heroes. Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian faction in Gaza, hoped to emulate Hezbollah in many ways. This latest Israeli assault is undoubtedly meant to 'set the record straight' and discourage hopes within Hamas that they could gain same stature as Hezbollah -- something for which the Palestinians in Gaza received a brief apercu following the capture of Cpl. Gilad Shalit a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile reports from southern Lebanon indicate that Israel in aiming to clear a swath of at least 36 miles between its northern border and the militias, and this by any means possible. A United Press International correspondent in the area seems to think Israel might create a DMZ -- a demilitarized zone -- along its frontier with Lebanon. At that point the Lebanese army could move its units into southern Lebanon and assume control of the region. In the aftermath of hell and high-fire that rained down on South Lebanon as part of Israel`s campaign to expel the Shiite militants from the area, south Lebanese villagers would welcome the legitimacy of the national Lebanese army. But as in all occupations, or call it deployment of troops, the honeymoon period between the newly arrived military and the villagers is a short-lived one.

The Lebanese Army, if it goes into the south, had better come prepared to replace Hezbollah in all capacities the Shiite organization fulfilled in the underdeveloped south. That includes setting up free clinics, schools and social centers. Of course the Lebanese armed forces are not geared to the administration of school and medical dispensaries. This would require an immediate and close involvement of the Lebanese government to ensure that competent ministries pick up the slack where Hezbollah left off. They will only have one chance at getting it done right, because honeymoon periods have a tendency to run out rather quickly. And people in need have very short-term memories. A few mistakes by the Lebanese military and/or the government and the villagers will be clamoring for Hezbollah`s return.

(Comments may be sent to Claude@upi.com.)

upi

Israel Considers Conditional Cease Fire
By Laura King and Megan K. Stack, Times Staff Writers
10:25 AM PDT, July 17, 2006

BEIRUT -- Israel for the first time today signaled its willingness to accept a cease-fire based on a pullback of Hezbollah guerrillas from Lebanon's frontier and the release of two captured soldiers, even as other countries, including the United States, began efforts to evacuate their war-trapped citizens.

Israeli aircraft hammered targets across Lebanon for a sixth day, pressing a punishing assault that demolished more roads and highway bridges and again hit Hezbollah's battered headquarters. Israeli forces also made a limited ground foray into Lebanon but returned to base, the military said.

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Hezbollah aimed dozens of rockets at Israeli towns and cities, penetrating deeper into northern Israel than before.

One barrage peeled the façade off a vacant three-story building in the northern Israeli town of Haifa, the scene of the incursion's most lethal rocket attack a day earlier that killed eight people, and the city's busy commercial port was closed by rocket fire.

Israeli officials said Hezbollah fired its deepest strike into Israel yet, sending rockets into the town of Atlit, about 35 miles south of the frontier and five miles south of Haifa. No one was hurt.

Casualties again edged upward, with the death toll exceeding 180 on the Lebanese side, nearly all of them civilians. Twenty-four Israelis have been killed since the region's worst fighting in two decades erupted last week, half of them civilians and half troops.

In an apparent softening of its previous cease-fire terms, a senior Israeli official said a cease-fire would be possible if Hezbollah withdrew fighters from the border zone and released the two Israeli soldiers seized last week in a cross-border raid. Previously, Israel had demanded the disarming of Hezbollah, the only Lebanese faction to have kept its weaponry after the end of the civil war.

A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Israeli position had been conveyed to Italy's prime minister, who has been trying to mediate a truce.

Talk of a cease-fire also came from Iran, blamed by the United States and Israel as the guiding hand behind Hezbollah. Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki said talks in Damascus with Syria's vice president Farouk Sharaa that a truce and a prisoner exchange would be "an acceptable and fair" way to stop the fighting.

Israel was cool to the idea of the deployment of an international peacekeeping force in south Lebanon to bolster what has been a small and largely ineffectual United Nations contingent.

The idea of an international peacekeeping force, put forth by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was rejected by Israel as premature, reservations that were echoed by the Bush administration.

"I don't think we're at that stage yet," said government spokeswoman Miri Eisin. "We're at the stage where we want to be sure that Hezbollah is not deployed at our northern border."

much much more

Hanan Greenberg | July 17

Yediot Aharonot - IDF sources estimate Monday that the “downed Israel Air Force jet seen falling from Beirut’s skies" was actually a Zelzal-type long-range missile, which is capable of reaching central Israel.

According to army sources, the Air Force struck a missile launching device, and as a result one rocket was accidentally fired but landed nearby.

Earlier Hizbullah's television station and other media in the Arab world reported that an Israel Air Force aircraft crashed in eastern Beirut, in an area called al-Warwar.

[more at link, above]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

believes that Syria can save the Middle East

Lauren Rosen interviews Mark Perry, co-Director of Conflicts Forum, a Beirut-based nongovernmental organization that has, over the past three years, put former senior American and British policy-makers and intelligence officials in talks with Hezbollah and other militant political Islamic groups in Lebanon. He formerly worked as an adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and as a reporter for Newsday. Perry has recently returned from Beirut and is now in Arlington, Virginia. Laura Rozen interviewed him by telephone Friday about the unfolding crisis in Lebanon and Israel.

Aluf Benn | July 17

Haaretz - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin on Monday joined British Prime Minister Tony Blair and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in calling for the deployment of an international force in southern Lebanon, in order to end the spiraling conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Villepin also called for an immediate truce between Israel and Lebanon on humanitarian grounds.

De Villepin was speaking after meeting the Lebanese government in Beirut in an effort to find a solution to the confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

The French premier arrived in Beirut on Monday to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and express France's support for Lebanon.

Israel on Monday reiterated its opposition to the initiative of deploying an international force in Lebanon.

[more at link, above]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Worth seeing.

Beirut | July 18

The Daily Star (Lebanon) - The relentless bombardment of Lebanon has caused an incredible amount of death and destruction. The first detailed report by the Internal Security Forces' directorate general, released Monday, documented the sheer amount of human and material damage since last Wednesday as a result of Israeli raids over vital public utilities and residential areas.

Crucial infrastructure was among the first to be targeted, including an initial aerial attack on a power station.

The runways of Rafik Hariri International Airport, the Qoleiaat Airport in North Lebanon and the Riyaq Military Airport in the Bekaa - were all severely damaged, as were the three main sea ports of Beirut, Tripoli and Jamil Gemayel.

[more at link, above]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Nada Bakri | Beirut | July 18

The Daily Star (Lebanon) - French President Jacques Chirac on Monday backed the idea of an international force to restore order in Lebanon and described Israel's offensive as "aberrant," as his premier paid an emergency visit to the Lebanese capital. Echoing Chirac's comments, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin urged Hizbullah and Israel to join in a cease-fire and proposed dispatching international monitors to southern Lebanon as part of a settlement to end the bloodshed.

De Villepin's visit is part of diplomatic efforts to end the fighting, as world powers moved to give teeth to the proposed international force for Lebanon.

Following a summit of leaders of the Group of Eight industrial nations, Chirac said that "some means of coercion" may be needed to enforce UN Resolution 1559, which calls for the disarmament of Hizbullah and other militia in Lebanon.

"The application of 1559 is the essential element, and this will probably require some means of coercion," Chirac said.

He said that Israel's attacks on Lebanon had created a "dramatic situation" which would require major reconstruction of Lebanon's infrastructure and had hit ordinary Lebanese.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

July 18

The Daily Star (Lebanon) - Israel continued its bombardment of Lebanon Monday, targeting the South, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut's southern suburbs, leading to the death of at least 46 Lebanese and pushing the overall death toll to over 200 since Wednesday. The latest strikes came as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the fighting in Lebanon would end when the two soldiers captured by Hizbullah on Wednesday were freed, rocket attacks on Israel stopped and the Lebanese Army deployed along the border.

Delivering a speech to Israel's Parliament, Olmert said Israel would have no mercy on militants who attack its cities with rockets.

"We shall seek out every installation, hit every terrorist helping to attack Israeli citizens, destroy the entire terrorist infrastructure, in every place. We shall continue this until Hizbullah does the basic and fair things required of it by every civilized person," he said.

Israeli officials have said publicly that Israel would not stop fighting until Hizbullah is dismantled. But Olmert's comments Monday seemed to be a softening of that position.

Israel's deputy armed forces chief of staff, Major Moshe Kaplinsky, said Monday that his country's armed offensive in Lebanon would last "at least another week."

[more at link, above]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Lebanon: the world looks on

· EU criticism of Israel removed
· Statement diluted following British pressure
· Death toll passes 200

Ewen MacAskill and Rory McCarthy in Nahariya, and Patrick Wintour in St Petersburg

Tuesday July 18, 2006
The Guardian

Western leaders remained paralysed yesterday as Lebanon suffered one of its bloodiest days since Israel began its bombardment a week ago.

For the second time in 48 hours western governments declined to intervene as Israeli forces, on the sixth day of aerial attacks, killed 47 people and wounded at least 53. Hizbullah, the Iranian-backed militia, also stepped up its attacks, launching 50 rockets against Israel, the highest number in a single day. The death toll since Israel began its attack has risen to 210 in Lebanon and 29 in Israel.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, dismissed hopes of a quick resolution to the conflict last night, vowing his military would continue operating at full intensity. He said Israel would not stop until two of its captured soldiers were freed, the Lebanese army deployed to protect Israel's northern border and Hizbullah forced to disarm.

He said both Hizbollah and Hamas, the Palestinian group, were working with the support of "the axis of evil that stretches from Tehran to Damascus. When missiles rain on our cities, our response will be to wage war with greater determination, courage and sacrifice," he said. "We don't seek war or head-on confrontation but if necessary we shall not flinch from them."

more

yeah it takes a lot of courage to sacrifice the innocent(snark on)

Not just smartass deconstruction-some very good links and an opportunity to ask questions of a first-rate scholar at the end of the piece


Shmuel Rosner | July 17

Ha'aretz - Like every important event, the war in Lebanon has already given us a large variety of spin-words and banal political clichés. It comes from Israel, Lebanon and the international community. A leader usually throws an expression into the air that the ordinary citizen will pick up and relay to every passing TV camera.

So here it is :the first big parade of words. Readers can suggest additions by sending them to rosnersdomain@haaretz.co.il.

As long as it takes: Usually means as long as the U.S. administration allows it to happen. In the current crisis the Americans are sensing there?s a genuine opportunity to weaken Hezbollah. They will feel obligated to intervene sooner rather than later in one of two cases: Heavier price in human life on the Lebanese side; or growing outcry coming from important allies in the international community.

The fragile Lebanese democracy: The Arab world is now working on a new definition for democracy. From now on please use "democracies" to denote countries in which there's a weak government chosen by the people, and a strong militia controlled by outside forces. Thus, the democracy is safe on both accounts: You cannot act against the government, as it is a legitimate, democratically-elected leadership, and you cannot ask the government to take responsibility for its territory as it is too weak to act against the militias, and you don't want to risk its collapse.

Hezbollah is a terror organization: And like all terror organizations, it is allowed to get people elected to the parliament, operate freely in a sovereign state and demand negotiation with its leadership.

Resolution 1559: Yet another proof that the UN is capable of calming a troubled area, and that good paperwork is an efficient tool in the war against terror.

Crossing red lines: Something your enemy does. Israel says the abduction of soldiers was a crossing of a red line, and later it was the firing of Katyushas on Israeli cities. Hezbollah draw the lines in other places. "As long as the enemy pursues its aggression without limits and red lines we will pursue the confrontation without limits and without red lines, its leader said.

We are monitoring the situation: By way of drinking champagne, having fun and talking about a whole lot of other issues.

The right to self defense: No country or leader will deny the right of every man for self defense. Of course Israel has the right to self defense. The question, argued by Israel?s critics, is whether the actions in Lebanon can be considered an act of self defense. But hey, who are we kidding here? We all know the real meaning of this expression, don?t we? It means you can keep bombing until we say otherwise

Restraint: Bombing Beirut.

It was irresponsible and unacceptable: The sentence with which one describes Hezbollah's behavior before saying that "The Israeli strikes targeted Lebanon's equipment, its roads, its communications, its energy sector and its airport. Why?" Here's a hint: The answer to the question (this one was articulated by France's Jacques Chirac) might be hiding in the first sentence.

Iran and Syria are responsible: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that 'ran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas' are trying to destabilize 'democratic and moderate forces'. And what do we do about it? Bomb Hamas and Hezbollah and denounce Iran and Syria. Does this line of action have any connection to the fact that it's easier to pick a fight with the weaker bully?

We would call for a show of moderation from all parties involved: Another one from Chirac, but you could hear similar statements coming from a variety of international leaders. What they mean is one of two things: We care so much that even taking a side from afar seems too demanding. Or: We know Israel has every right to defend itself, but upsetting Hezbollah is too risky.

Lobby
Is this great timing to publish a long piece
asking if the Israel lobby has too much influence?

The Washington Post gave it its entire Magazine cover, proving, yet again, that I was right when I wrote a couple of weeks ago this: 'I'm sorry to admit that Walt and Mearsheimer won this round of the battle. They wanted to make a national debate of the issue, and to some extent they succeeded' (Read 'The unappreciated love of Walt and Mearsheimer' here).

My guest this week is probably one of the three most knowledgeable Americans about the Middle East. Martin Indyk will answer my questions, and yours. Just send them to rosnersdomain@haaretz.co.il.

For obvious reasons, both the Iran Time Saver and the Hamas Time Saver are dealing with different aspects of the crisis in Lebanon. Both were updated during the weekend, and contain links to some interesting articles.

_{"at some point I'm hopeful I'll figure out something to put here"}

'Yo, Blair!': Overheard at the G8
Published: 18 July 2006
Bush: Yo, Blair. How are you doing? (Does he regard Mr Blair as an equal? What about 'Yo, Tony'?)

Blair: I'm just...

Bush: You're leaving?

Blair: No, no, no not yet. On this trade thingy....(inaudible) (Mr Blair is getting anxious that the World Trade Organisation is falling apart because some nations, including the US, are putting domestic interests before a worldwide free trade agreement)

Bush: Yeah, I told that to the man.

Blair: Are you planning to say that here or not?

Bush: If you want me to.

Blair: Well, it's just that if the discussion arises...

Bush: I just want some movement.

Blair: Yeah.

Bush: Yesterday we didn't see much movement.

Blair: No, no, it may be that it's not, it may be that it's impossible.

Bush: I am prepared to say it.

Blair: But it's just I think what we need to be an opposition...

Bush: Who is introducing the trade?

Blair: Angela (The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, will lead the trade discussion. That is good for Mr Blair. She is on his side.)

Bush: Tell her to call 'em.

Blair: Yes.

Bush: Tell her to put him on, them on the spot. Thanks for the sweater it's awfully thoughtful of you.

Blair: It's a pleasure.

Bush: I know you picked it out yourself.

Blair: Oh, absolutely, in fact (inaudible)

Bush: What about Kofi? (inaudible) His attitude to ceasefire and everything else ... happens. (Change of subject. Now they are on to Lebanon and the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan)

Blair: Yeah, no I think the (inaudible) is really difficult. We can't stop this unless you get this international business agreed.

Bush: Yeah. (Mr Blair is trying to push the idea of a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. That 'yeah' does not sound like a wholehearted agreement)

Blair: I don't know what you guys have talked about, but as I say I am perfectly happy to try and see what the lie of the land is, but you need that done quickly because otherwise it will spiral. (Meaning: 'Please, George, let me go to the Middle East and be a world statesman')

Bush: I think Condi is going to go pretty soon. (Meaning: 'No')

Blair: But that's, that's, that's all that matters. But if you... you see it will take some time to get that together. (Meaning: 'Oh well, all right, if you don't want me to. Just a thought')

Bush: Yeah, yeah.

Blair: But at least it gives people...

Bush: It's a process, I agree. I told her your offer to... (Meaning: 'Drop it. You're not going.')

Blair: Well... it's only if I mean... you know. If she's got a..., or if she needs the ground prepared as it were... Because obviously if she goes out, she's got to succeed, if it were, whereas I can go out and just talk.

Bush: You see, the ... thing is what they need to do is to get Syria, to get Hizbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over. (Mr Bush is expressing his belief that Syria is pulling Hizbollah's strings, while Mr Blair is hinting the Syrians might be up to no good as well)

Blair: (inaudible)

Bush: (inaudible)

Blair: Syria.

Bush: Why?

Blair: Because I think this is all part of the same thing.

Bush: Yeah.

Blair: What does he think? He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine, if we get a solution in Israel and Palestine, Iraq goes in the right way... (Here they might be talking about Kofi Annan, or they may mean the Syrian President, Bashir Assad)

Bush: Yeah, yeah, he is sweet. (Mr Bush is probably being sarcastic)

Blair: He is honey. And that's what the whole thing is about. It's the same with Iraq.

Bush: I felt like telling Kofi to call, to get on the phone to Assad and make something happen.

Blair: Yeah.

Bush: (inaudible)

Blair:(inaudible)

Bush: We are not blaming the Lebanese government.

Blair: Is this...? (at this point Blair taps the microphone and the sound is cut)

_{"at some point I'm hopeful I'll figure out something to put here"}

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/07/17/woolsey/

Hezbollah rejects ceasefire proposals by foreign envoys

Associated Press

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Hezbollah on Monday dismissed international ceasefire proposals as “Israeli conditions,” accusing foreign envoys of allowing Israel time to continue its military offensive to force Lebanon into submission.

“The international envoys have conveyed Israeli conditions. These conditions are rejected,” said Hezbollah legislator Hussein Haj Hassan. “We accept what secures our country's interest and pride and dignity and not to submit to Israeli conditions,” he said on al-Jazeera television late Monday.

He spoke after UN and European Union envoys as well as France's prime minister discussed with Lebanon's government ways to end the six-day-old ferocious fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas. Israel has demanded the guerrillas release two Israeli soldiers they captured last Wednesday and pull far back from the border as conditions for any ceasefire.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television, in its prime news bulletin presentation, accused the envoys of coming to Lebanon for a “clear-cut objective to give more time for enemy aircraft to carry out more destruction and devastation so that someone can raise the banner of surrender.”

Hezbollah said it wanted an unconditional ceasefire. According to Al-Manar, which has become the guerrillas main window to the outside world after its top leaders have gone into hiding because of the Israeli onslaught on their offices and homes, Hezbollah pledged to continue firing rockets on Israel and to target more cities deeper in that country.

“This is the beginning. Beware of our cyclone. Today it's Haifa. Tomorrow it's Haifa, Acre and what's beyond and farther than Haifa after all the red lines have been shattered,” the news announcer said on al-Manar, referring to Hezbollah's threat to strike deeper into Israel after hitting Israel's coastal cities.

Israeli officials have warned Hezbollah has Iranian-supplied missiles that could hit Tel Aviv, south of Haifa and Israel's largest metropolis.

The Hezbollah broadcast said the foreign envoys' proposals were to push the guerrillas away from the border, deploy the Lebanese national army and hand over the captive Israeli soldiers to the Lebanese government.

Haj Hassan, the Hezbollah legislator, outlined Hezbollah's terms for ending the fighting. “We want a ceasefire without conditions and then indirect negotiations that will lead to an exchange of prisoners. This is what we can accept. Anything else will be Israeli conditions that can never be accepted,” he told al-Jazeera.

more

LINK

Aluf Benn | July 18

Ha'aretz - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni hinted Tuesday that Israel would not object to a temporary international force in south Lebanon, despite earlier an outright Israeli rejection of such a plan.

Speaking after a meeting with a United Nations delegation headed by special envoy Vijay Nambiar, Livni said that while Israel would prefer the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south of the country, "we will consider other solutions put forward."

"If there is a need to strengthen the Lebanese army somehow, so that the military in south Lebanon is effective, and prevents Hezbollah from returning, we will consider ways to do achieve this," Livni said.

[Comment: I think the translation on the messaging trend seen here and over the past few days is that the Israelis don't want to see a ceasefire before they've accomplished their objectives, but if the western powers want to put a peacekeeping force in, so that Hizbollah can attack it (as I think they inevitably would), the west is welcome to feel their pain. ~ JPD]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

David Horovitz | July 18

The Jerusalem Post - Israel is well aware of the extent of both Syrian and Iranian involvement in the ongoing Hizbullah rocket offensive - as the sources of weaponry, and much more besides. The Teheran-Damascus axis, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stressed in his Knesset speech on Monday night, is subcontracting terrorism - to Hamas and to Hizbullah.

The rockets now daily hitting Haifa and points ever-further south are Syrian made. The missile that hit the Hanit vessel off the Lebanese coast on Friday was Iranian-made. Iran is reported to have several hundred of its own Revolutionary Guards based in Lebanon, working with Hizbullah; some of them may well have been killed in the Israel Air Force's raids on Hizbullah's Dahiya command neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

But Israel remains determined, so far as it is able, not to have this conflict escalate to include those two enemy states. Indeed there is a concern in the defense establishment that Hizbullah, isolated and struggling for survival amid the intensifying IAF strikes, may resort to desperate measures to try and draw in the Syrians - including even firing itself on a Syrian target, an attack that would be misrepresented as Israeli fire in the hope of prompting the already jumpy Syrians into injudicious action.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

The Jerusalem Post - A state of emergency was declared Sunday at the Haifa industrial zone after Katyusha rockets landed nearby, killing eight people and injuring at least 20 others. The continued rocket attacks on Haifa have raised fears that a real danger exists to strategic installations in the industrial zone, including an oil refinery.

On Sunday, the Home Front Command shut down the Haifa Port, the main entrance to Israel by sea. Ships were not allowed into Haifa to unload fuel and other goods, and were being diverted to other Israeli ports. Ships were allowed to leave the port.

In addition, the Haifa oil refinery was reducing petrol stock and was dumping oil out of fear that a rocket attack could spark a major blast and fire in the coastal city.

[Comment: This is what I'd be concerned about, too. The refineries are fairly close to the railyard that was hit on Sunday and again more recently. The H-shaped white building depicted in this google maps link is, I think, the railyard, while the large industrial complex with all the tanks to the south is a refinery. ~ JPD]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Hanan Greenberg | July 18

Yediot Aharonot - The diplomatic clock has began ticking – and the Israel Defense Forces is seeking to harvest the gains of the operation in Lebanon as soon as possible. Army sources said Tuesday evening that the chief of staff has ordered the Air Force to destroy all Hizbullah positions on the northern border by Saturday.

As part of the same effort, two outposts in the northern part of the Rajar village have been destroyed.

"Explosives of between hundreds of kilograms to a ton have been planted among the outposts, which means we must act very cautiously," a senior IDF source said.

In the context of the new policy, every gunman found at a distance of up to a kilometer from the border will be hit.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Nayla Razzouk | Beirut | July 18

AFP - Israel rejected calls for a ceasefire Tuesday as it pounded a Lebanese army barracks and flattened homes on the seventh day of an assault that has killed at least 240 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing for their lives.

Helicopters, ferries and cruise liners were being chartered to pick up foreign nationals trapped in the deadliest cross border violence in decades between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

Lebanon's grim body count continued to mount, with 11 soldiers and at least four civilians killed and several families trapped and feared dead under the rubble of houses pulverised by Israeli missiles.

And across the border in northern Israel, a civilian was killed when a rocket hit a park in the resort of Nahariya in the latest of hundreds of rocket attacks by Hezbollah.

Prime Minister Fuad Siniora accused Israel of "committing massacres against Lebanese civilians and working to destroy everything that allows Lebanon to stay alive".

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff | July 18

Ha'aretz - The Israel Defense Forces' Head of Operations Directorate, Major General Gadi Eisencott, said Tuesday evening that "over the course of the last 24 hours, very successful attacks have continued, especially those of the air force but also other units, by land and by sea, in Lebanon."

"Until now, over 1,000 terrorist targets have been attacked, including 180 Katyusha and long-range rocket launch sites," Eisencott said.

Israel Air Force warplanes continued bombing Lebanon on Tuesday, killing 13 civilians - all of them members of two families - and 14 Lebanese soldiers. An armed Hezbollah operative and the driver of a truck carrying humanitarian supplies were also killed in Tuesday's raids.

The death toll since the start of the IDF military campaign in Lebanon has risen to 220, the majority of the casualties being civilian.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

July 18

The Jerusalem Post - MDA rescue teams responded on Tuesday to 27 Katyusha rocket attacks, the organization reported on Tuesday night.

All-in-all 125 rockets fell on northern Israel on Tuesday, Israel Radio reported.

Of the 69 casualties MDA reported, one man was killed in Nahariya, one was moderately wounded, 18 were lightly wounded and 49 suffered from shock.

[Comment: I'm having a hard time reconciling these numbers of rockets with a recent statement from an IDF general to the effect that they were seeing a decline in the number of rocket attacks. My understanding was that the number of attacks on Monday was somewhere around 50 or 75. ~ JPD]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

July 18

al-Jazeera - Israeli aircraft struck targets across Lebanon on Tuesday, hitting many areas north and east of Beirut that have so far been quiet.

Nine civilians, all from one family and including children, were killed and four wounded in an air strike that destroyed a house in the south Lebanese village of Aitarun. Four others died in strikes elsewhere in the south.

Another strike at a Lebanese army barracks at Jumhur area, east of Beirut, killed 11 Lebanese soldiers and wounded 30.

Aljazeera television reported that Israeli forces had also attacked targets around Zahle, a mainly Christian town in central Lebanon, and attacked ambulances on nearby roads.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

For all the articles :)

- The Lebanese Govt position seems to have gone almost unreported - billy

Daily Star, Lebanon

Beirut - Monday, July 17, 2006

Statement by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora

As we were preparing for a new phase of reform and development, here we are again facing Israeli attacks that have killed civilians, destroyed the country's roads and airport, hit its main ports and violated Lebanon's sovereignty and its citizens' rights and dignity. Nothing is stopping this criminal war machine from murdering our people and leaving them homeless.

The fourth day of this aggressive war saw the destruction of many civilian locations and acts of murder in the South, the North and the Bekaa. This machine of war and destruction is targeting our cities and villages.

[...]

This war has surpassed the issue of the detainees; it is now the cause of a people whose territory and security is being violated by Israel for unjustified reasons. Israel is imposing a collective punishment that does not have any moral or legal legitimacy. Our country today is facing one of the fiercest attacks that has ever been witnessed by any country or any people in the world.

[...]

On the political level, we will keep the Cabinet sessions open and contact all Arab and international forces for help. We believe in the fairness of our cause, the unity of the people and the government and the cooperation of the relevant forces and authorities.

The government has stated that it was not aware of what was to take place and does not adopt the operation carried out by Hizbullah to capture the two Israeli soldiers. Israel has no right to devastate Lebanon, render its citizens homeless and destroy its ports. This makes us more dedicated than ever adhere to the government's sole right to protect Lebanon and the Lebanese from any threat or attack.

[...]

Accordingly, we urge an immediate cease-fire under the auspices of the United Nations, which would be able, in cooperation with sisterly Arab countries and the Lebanese government, to resolve all the problems that caused the latest clashes.

Secondly, we call for the establishment of the government's sovereignty in all Lebanese territory in cooperation with the UN ... and adherence to the Truce Agreement signed in 1949 and the Taif Accord.

Third, Lebanon urges its brothers and friends in the world to immediately help the Lebanese by either pressuring Israel to stop its attacks or providing humanitarian aid.

The Lebanese government holds the Israelis responsible for this humanitarian and economic catastrophe in Lebanon. We were still working on erasing the signs of the Israeli invasions in 1982, 1993 and 1996 and now Israeli aggression is targeting us one again.

Lebanon is a cursed country that needs immediate and comprehensive help to rebuild what has been destroyed by this hideous war.

We are very proud of our country and we will overcome this crisis. Lebanon will survive; Lebanon will survive; Lebanon will survive.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad: Day of happiness for region near

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday, “The day of happiness for the region is near… The world is on the verge of great changes,” according to the Iranian news agency.

Ahmadinejad added that he considered Israel’s operation in Lebanon “a type of playing with fire.” (Dudi Cohen)

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Hizbollah, which claims links to the Lebanese group of the same name, said on Tuesday it stood ready to attack Israeli and U.S. interests worldwide.

"We have 2,000 volunteers who have registered since last year," said Iranian Hizbollah's spokesman Mojtaba Bigdeli, speaking by telephone from the central seminary city of Qom.

"They have been trained and they can become fully armed. We are ready to dispatch them to every corner of the world to jeopardise Israel and America's interests. We are only waiting for the Supreme Leader's green light to take action. If America wants to ignite World War Three ... we welcome it," he said.

Iranian religious organisations have made great public show of recruiting volunteers for "martyrdom-seeking operations" in recent years, usually threatening U.S. interests in case of any attack against the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme.

But there is no record of an Iranian volunteer from these recruitment campaigns taking part in an attack.

Iran's Hizbollah (Party of God) says it is spiritually bound to Shi'ite Muslim guerrillas in Lebanon but its command structure and funding are unclear.

Despite Iranian Hizbollah's insistence that it takes orders from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, government ministries say Hizbollah does not implement official policy. Iran's government has said it hopes for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli offensive in Lebanon.

While Iran did fund and support Lebanese Hizbollah during the 1980s, Tehran says it has not contributed troops or weapons in the latest violence. Israel says Iranian armaments have been fired against it.

Ahiya Raved | July 18

Yediot Aharonot - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived Tuesday evening at the rocket-battered city of Haifa and met with the heads of about 60 regional councils in northern Israel, which have been subjected to ongoing and deadly barrages for almost a week now.

"This is a state of emergency, we will do everything to help you," he promised.

Olmert also met with Israeli ambassadors and heads of delegations leaving for diplomatic missions, and pointed a finger mainly at Iran.

"The timing of Hizbullah's operation in the north was not coincidental," he said. "It was coordinated with Iran and was aimed at drawing the international attention from Iran. Unfortunately, Iran's trick succeeded. Everyone now remembers the G8 decision on the Lebanese issue and fails to deal with the Iranian issue."

[Comment: Sounds like someone smells an advantage against an enduring regional foe - either that or this is thought to be a good lever to get them enough time to carry out their objectives. ~ JPD]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Hanan Greenberg | July 18

Yediot Aharonot - Although Hizbullah has suffered a harsh blow from Israeli air force strikes which took out a good percentage of their available weapons, Syria was continuing to smuggle arms into Lebanon to rearm the group, IDF Operations Branch Head Major General Gadi Eisenkot said during a press briefing Tuesday.

Thus far, the IAF managed to intercept a number of trucks transporting rockets from Syria to Hizbullah, including trucks laden with the 20mm-diameter rockets with warheads like the one that hit the Haifa train depot Monday, claiming eight lives. Maj.-Gen. Eisenkot said he would be very surprised if official elements in Syria were unaware of these transports.

“These are rockets that belong to the Syrian army. You can’t find them in the Damascus market, and the Syrian government is responsible for this smuggling,” Eisenkot said, but stressed, “We are not operating against Syria or the Lebanese army.”

During the briefing, Maj.-Gen. Eisenkot said the IDF has hit over 1,000 targets, 180 of them Katyusha and rocket storage sites and 350 launch sites. Over 250 missile strikes were carried out with the aim of blocking traffic arteries, and 200 buildings used by Hizbullah were hit. According to Eisenkot, Israel’s offensive would continue without time limitations.

[Comment: Surely the Syrians aren't crazy enough to try this. Sounds odd to me. ~ JPD]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

July 19

The Daily Star (Lebanon) - The US secretary of state said Tuesday any cease-fire in Lebanon ought to be based on fundamental changes, publicly disagreeing with her Egyptian counterpart, who called for an immediate halt to fighting.

As part of international efforts to end the violence, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for a bigger, better-armed and more robust international force to stabilize Southern Lebanon and buy time for the government to disarm Hizbullah guerrillas.

Rice, at a joint news conference in Washington with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit, said she was primed to visit the region when it will be "helpful and necessary."

Asked about calls for an immediate cease-fire in the region, Abu al-Gheit said: "A cease-fire is imperative, and we have to keep working to reach that objective. It is impera-tive. We have to bring it to an end as soon as possible ... We should do it now."

Rice immediately stated the US position, that a cease-fire was only advisable once the root cause of the fighting - including, in the US view, Hizbullah's attacks - was addressed.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Lysandra Ohrstrom | Beirut | July 19

The Daily Star (Lebanon) - Israel switched gears in its military campaign against Lebanon Monday and Tuesday, launching a series of debilitating air strikes against privately owned factories throughout the country and dealing a devastating blow to an economy already paralyzed by a week of hits on residential areas and crucial infrastructure.

The production facilities of at least five companies in key industrial sectors - including the country's largest dairy farm, Liban Lait; a paper mill; a packaging firm and a pharmaceutical plant - have been disabled or completely destroyed. Industry insiders say the losses will cripple the economy for decades to come.

"I think the picture will be much worse than we can possible imagine when the whole thing ends, but the direct damage from yesterday's attacks to the industrial sector alone will take years to recover from," said Wajid al-Bisri, the vice-president of the Lebanese Association of Industrialists (LAI).

"So many of these factories were barely functioning before," he added, "because of local obstacles to production like high energy costs and labor."

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Unlikely to spill beyond Lebanon, analysts predict Israel, Syria, Iran not ready for The Big One
Jul. 18, 2006
MITCH POTTER, MIDDLE EAST BUREAU

JERUSALEM—The seventh day began early this morning with no rest. No rest for rocket-peppered northern Israel, no rest for the bomb-addled Hezbollah militias, no rest for the whole of woebegone Lebanon, which continues to pay the highest price of all for the proxy war erupting in its face.

Measured by the frenetic calendar of Middle East geopolitics, seven days is actually quite a stretch. Longer by a day, in fact, than the transformative Six Day War of 1967, a conflict that consigned both its Israeli victors and its vanquished Arab neighbours to mutually humiliating roles from which they have yet to fully recover — the occupier and the occupied.

For all the sound and fury, today's war may never actually be worthy of its own name. It appears likely it will not become The Big One. Though all the ingredients for something larger exist, neither Israel, nor Syria, nor even Iran, appears to want the larger battle.

Not yet, at least.

"The risk exists, but it is very small," said Cameron Brown, an analyst with Israel's Interdisciplinary Centre at Herzliya.

"It is screamingly obvious that war is the last thing Syria or Iran want. As for Israel, it has its hands full on two fronts and there is a limit to what one army can do. I think Israel's strategy is not to overreach, but to focus on devastating Hezbollah. And leave other things for later."

That's not to say the current battle will end tomorrow. When a microphone catches U.S. President George W. Bush spitting expletives against Syria between mouthfuls of buttered roll, one cannot anticipate Washington applying the brakes anytime soon.

Also, as Brown notes, when you hear U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wondering whether now is really the right time for a ceasefire, "that tells us the U.S. doesn't really mind if Israel pummels Hezbollah to nothing. That's fine with the Americans."

As for Syria, much has been written about the diminished state of its rusting military capabilities. Whatever symbolic deployment its forces may muster, there remains the reality that the infinitely better equipped Israeli Air Force can own Syria's skies at will.

Whatever temptation there may be for Israel to press its advantage now by targeting Khaled Meshaal and the rest of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, it remains sobered by the fact that Syria has missiles. Serious missiles. Missiles that put pale to what already has landed in northern Israel.

"Syria has developed four varieties of Scud missiles. And with all due respect to the Katyusha, the Scud-D represents another universe. They have real warheads, and it is known that Syria has chemical agents such as VX," said Brown.

"The gain for Israel is pretty small to want to open up that can of worms."

Israel's Deputy Chief of Staff, Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, spoke bluntly on the matter yesterday at army headquarters in Tel Aviv. "Israel has no intention of confronting Syria or harming Lebanese civilians," he said.

As for Iran, the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may speak of erasing Israel from the map, but for now the Iran-backed proxies of Hezbollah may be as much as he is willing to invest in the project, according to Meir Javedanfar, analyst and director of the Middle East research group Meepas.

"Right now I would be surprised if the conflict spilled beyond Lebanon. For now, it looks like it won't. Hezbollah, which has relied on Iran for most of its training and most of its missiles, is doing all the bidding," he said.

"As for Israel, I think it is saving Iran for D-Day — that is the day, if and when, they go after Iran's nuclear installations. And that day has not arrived."

Were Israel to attempt anything less than all-out attack on Tehran's nuclear program, he said, it would be a huge strategic error, exposing Israel's air corridors, aircraft and strike techniques — in other words, "too much information" — to Iranian air defence planners.

"Israel already has the advantage in this respect in its battle with Hezbollah, because Hezbollah is showing its hand," said Javedanfar. "After six years of not really knowing what Hezbollah has, Israel is taking inventory, learning about the missiles, the constraints, the exact abilities of its enemy. It is kind of an investment strategy, in that sense."

Javedanfar went so far as to suggest there is a "voyeuristic" dimension to the Israeli strategy. "Israel is hoping that almost like a voyeur, Iran is watching and learning that Israel has the capacity to take hard blows. Israel is not just folding because missiles are landing in Haifa. It is proving to Iran that it has the ability to absorb."

One can never say never with this many projectiles in the air. Yesterday alone, at least 53 Lebanese were killed in 80 Israeli air strikes. And however many among them were civilians, there are likely to be more today. Whether the world's nerves are already deadened to such numbers after the astronomically high civilian losses in Iraq, or whether it is simply resigned to the fact that Hezbollah was the one that began the battle, the mood sweeping Israel is one of uncommon unity.

The fact that left-wing Israeli political figure Yossi Beilin, one of the architects of the Olso Accords, is so soundly behind the campaign in Lebanon demonstrates the Israeli mood. The doves are feeling hawkish. And some hawks, though still a minority, are thinking migration.

"Sooner or later, there is a wider conflict coming and personally, I think Israel should be the one to widen it," said Yossi Klein Halevi, foreign correspondent for The New Republic and a senior fellow of the Shalem Centre in Jerusalem.

"What I'm saying is we need to seriously consider taking advantage of the aggression directed against us ... .

"I'm wondering if this shouldn't be the time to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat, which is the ultimate threat to Israel and the region."

Toronto Star

-----

What deadly games the Middle East play with each other.

Beirut | July 19

The Daily Star (Lebanon) - Israel's deputy army chief said Tuesday that the offensive against Lebanon would end within a few weeks, as the Jewish state needed more time to complete "very clear goals." Israel also agreed to arrangements with several Western governments for a major evacuation of foreign nationals from Lebanon Wednesday, a senior army commander told Agence France Presse.

"Twenty boats are going to be able to leave Lebanon Wednesday against seven on Tuesday and just two on Monday," the commander said, asking not to be identified.

Major General Moshe Kaplinsky told Israel's Army Radio that "the fighting in Lebanon will end within a few weeks. We will not take months."

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Meris Lutz and Raed El Rafei | Beirut | July 19

The Daily Stars (Lebanon) - The people of Lebanon are reacting to the flood of refugees from the South with patience and empathy, welcoming displaced families into their neighborhoods, churches and mosques, but the effort is largely local and a lack of information about the numbers and whereabouts of refugees threatens to overwhelm relief efforts.

"I don't know how long we can last in this catastrophic situation," said Social Affairs Minister Nayla Mouawad, saying it is "almost impossible" to get aid to villages and towns in the South.

"We need aid, but what we need most urgently is the possibility to channel food and medicine," Mouawad told Agence France Presse Tuesday.

The United Nations Children's Fund representative in Beirut, Roberto Laurenti, estimated 500,000 people had been displaced from their homes.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff | July 19

Ha'aretz - The Israel Defense Forces estimate that 10-14 more days are necessary in order to meet the military aims of the operation in Lebanon.

According to General Staff estimates, it is possible to greatly intensify the scope of the attacks against the Hezbollah rockets, with special emphasis on their longer-range weapons, as well as strikes against senior members of the group's operational arm.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz said on Tuesday, during a meeting with senior IDF officers, that attacks against Hezbollah would continue "without letup and time limit."

A senior military source said on Tuesday that Israel seeks "to significantly weaken Hezbollah but not crush it." He said that "it is impossible to crush a popular, religious movement."

[emphasis added]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Hanan Greenberg | July 19

Yediot Aharonot - A week has passed since Hizbullah killed eight soldiers and kidnapped two , an incident which marked the beginning of Operation Change of Direction, and IDF officials expressed their satisfaction with the results.

"We are closer than ever to a new situation on the northern border," a senior military official told Ynet. "For 10 years Hizbullah has been building capabilities, and in a number of days a considerable part of them has been destroyed. Hizbullah leaders also know that what was won't be anymore."

According to the army's estimations, the fighting will end within a week.

The army officials were careful not to conclude the biggest military operation in the past few years, but said with satisfaction that "Hizbullah is shocked by the amount of information Israel had which led to a huge destruction of its capabilities."

But in spite of the satisfaction, the massive rocket fire continued. About 750-800 rockets were fired by midnight Tuesday at Israeli communities, 100 of them on Tuesday evening.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Damascus and Beirut | July 18

SANA - Premier Mohammad Naji Ottri on Tuesday renewed Syria's backing to the Lebanese people, saying that Syria will offer Lebanon what it needs of medical, nutritional, emergency and necessary materials.

Ottri, meeting a delegation of Islamic figures and associations headed by Sheikh Abdulnaser Jabri, reviewed the latest developments on the Lebanese arena and the Israeli continuing aggression in addition to the brutal crimes that target civilians and public utilities.

Minister of Endowments Ziad al-Din al-Ayyobi and Syria's Grand Mufti sheikh Ahmad Hassoun attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, two long vehicles of the International Red Cross Commission loaded with medicines crossed Syria into Lebanon through the border point of Areda to the north of Damascus.

On a different note and for the 6th day, Arab and foreign communities continued leaving Lebanon through the Syrian-Lebanese border points of Aboudea and Areda.

Lebanese National News Agency reported that families from Russia, Romania and Australia have left the country into Syria.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Tehran | July 18

Iran Daily - Thousands of people on Tuesday staged a rally at Tehran’s Palestine Square, denouncing the recent Zionist atrocities and the killings of innocent Lebanese civilians.

Ralliers carried placards reading ’The Iranian Nation Will Always Remain With Hezbollah’, ’The Great Move of the Palestinian Nation Will Continue’ and ’America is the Greatest Terrorist in the World’, IRNA reported.

Speaking at the gathering, Majlis Speaker Gholamali Haddad-Adel said Israel is the symbol of US hostility towards the world of Islam.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Wafa Amr | Occupied Jerusalem | July 19

Reuters - Israel's war on Hizbollah has sidelined conflict with the Palestinians, but whatever emerges from the fighting with the Lebanese group could help decide what happens in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

A perceived victory for Iranian and Syrian-backed Hizbollah could boost the Hamas Islamist group that heads the Palestinian government, struggling under Western sanctions as well as the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

If Israel deals a heavy enough blow to the Lebanese Shiite group, however, it may further weaken Hamas and put the Jewish state in a better position to dictate a de facto border in the occupied West Bank. "We are only spectators now," said one senior Palestinian official. "Whether we like it or not, our fate will be decided by the outcome of Israel's war in Lebanon and the conflict between the regional and international powers."

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Conservative Anger Grows Over Bush's Foreign Policy

"What they are doing on North Korea or Iran is what [Sen. John F.] Kerry would do, what a normal middle-of-the-road president would do," he said. "This administration prided itself on molding history, not just reacting to events. Its a normal foreign policy right now. It's the triumph of Kerryism."

what a crock, the mess in the world lays directly on Bushism

US hawks smell blood
By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON - Seeing a major opportunity to regain influence lost as a result of setbacks in Iraq, prominent neo-conservatives are calling for unconditional US support for Israel's military offensives in Gaza and Lebanon and "regime change" in Syria and Iran, as well as possible US attacks on Tehran's nuclear facilities in retaliation for its support of Hezbollah.

In a Weekly Standard column titled "Our war", editor William Kristol called Iran "the prime mover behind the terrorist groups who have started this war", which, he argued, should be considered part of "the global struggle against radical Islamism".

He complained that Washington recently had done a "poor job of standing up and weakening Syria and Iran" and called on

President George W Bush to fly directly from the "silly [Group of Eight] summit in St Petersburg ... to Jerusalem, the capital of a nation that stands with us, and is willing to fight with us, against our common enemies".

"This is our war, too," said Kristol, who was also a founder and co-chairman of the recently lapsed Project for the New American Century (PNAC).

Echoed Larry Kudlow, a neo-conservative commentator, at the Standard's right-wing competitor, the National Review: "All of us in the free world owe Israel an enormous thank-you for defending freedom, democracy and security against the Iranian cat's-paw wholly owned terrorist subsidiaries Hezbollah and Hamas.

"They are defending their own homeland and very existence, but they are also defending America's homeland as our frontline democratic ally in the Middle East," according to Kudlow, who, like Kristol and other like-minded polemicists, also named Syria, "which is also directed by Iran", as a promising target as the conflict expands.

The two columns are just the latest examples of a slew of commentaries that have appeared in US print and broadcast media since Israel began bombing targets in Lebanon in retaliation for Hezbollah's fatal cross-border attack last Wednesday.

They appear to be part of a deliberate campaign by neo-conservatives and some of their right-wing supporters to depict the current conflict as part of global struggle pitting Israel, as the forward base of Western civilization, against Islamist extremism organized and directed by Iran and its junior partner, Syria.

This view was perhaps most dramatically expressed by the former Republican Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, in an appearance on the National Broadcasting Co's Meet the Press on Sunday when he described the conflict as "the early stages of ... the Third World War".

The effort to frame the current round of violence as part of a much larger struggle - and Israel's role as Washington's most loyal front-line ally - recalls the neo-conservatives' early reaction to the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

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Israeli Soldiers 'Killed'
Updated: 11:10, Wednesday July 19, 2006

Two Israeli soldiers are reported to have been killed in a border clash with Hizbollah fighters.

Security officials in Jerusalem say Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants are exchanging heavy gunfire on the Lebanese side of the border and Israelis have been injured.

There were reports of injuries on both sides but the officials did not say if there were any fatalities.

Earlier, Israel unleashed fierce air strikes on Lebanon on Wednesday, killing 46 civilians and a Hizbollah fighter, as boats and buses left Beirut laden with thousands of foreigners fleeing the eight-day-old conflict.

Israeli ground troops crossed the border in what the Israeli army called restricted attacks on Hizbollah guerrilla positions in south Lebanon. Hizbollah said it had repelled the raids.

Despite international diplomatic efforts, there was no sign Israel or its Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim foes were ready to heed the Beirut government's pleas for an immediate halt to a war that has cost at least 282 lives in Lebanon and 25 in Israel.

Hizbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, wants to swap two Israeli soldiers it captured on July 12 for Lebanese and Palestinians in Israeli jails.

Israel is determined to drive the guerrillas from the south to halt cross-border rocket attacks.

At least 12 Lebanese, including several children, were killed and 30 wounded in an Israeli air strike that destroyed several houses in the southern village of Srifa, residents said.

At least 34 other civilians were killed in air strikes that hammered other parts of south and east Lebanon, security sources said. Hizbollah said one of its fighters was killed.

More Hizbollah rockets fell on the Israeli city of Haifa and one hit an empty seafront restaurant. A few people were hurt.

The conflict has forced about 100,000 Lebanese to flee their homes and foreigners have flooded out of the country.

Meanwhile, US President George Bush has once again blamed Hizbollah for the crisis and accused Syria of "trying to get back into Lebanon".

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13533752,00.html

Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff | July 19

Ha'aretz - Israel Defense Forces troops exchanged heavy fire with Hezbollah guerillas Wednesday inside Lebanese territory, across the Israel-Lebanon border.

The gunbattle broke out close to Moshav Avivim, which is located along the border, north of Safed. At least one Hezbollah guerilla was killed in the fighting.

A number of IDF ground troops crossed into southern Lebanon earlier Wednesday to carry out "pinpoint" attacks on Hezbollah outposts.

"These are restricted, pinpoint attacks," an IDF spokesman said. "This is nothing out of the ordinary. This has been happening close to the border."

Troops have crossed into southern Lebanon several times in recent days to destroy Hezbollah posts, returning soon afterwards. The army has not ruled out the possibility of a major land offensive at some stage.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Shmuel Rosner | Washington D.C. | July 19

Ha'aretz - The tentative date for U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the region is this Sunday, sources in Washington said on Tuesday.

However, they added, her departure could be delayed if the situation warrants it. The Bush administration is apparently sticking to its decision to allow Israel to complete its military operation before the international community imposes a cease-fire, and Danny Ayalon, Israel's ambassador to the United States, told the media on Monday that the time is not yet ripe for Rice's visit.

Meanwhile, Israel's United Nation's envoy Danny Gillerman on Tuesday said Rice was expected to arrive in the region on Friday.

Rice, whose intent to come sometime soon was confirmed by the State Department on Monday, will visit both Beirut and Jerusalem. She also plans to meet - in a four-way summit - with the foreign ministers of the Arab states that oppose Hezbollah's attacks on Israel, primarily Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The venue for that four-way summit is not definite, but may be Cairo.

[Comment: Well, I guess the clock is ticking for the IAF. ~ JPD]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

July 19

The Jerusalem Post - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Wednesday that Israel intended to work with the international community on the basis of the G-8 declaration which called for the deployment of an international supervisory force in south Lebanon to bring about a cease fire in the region.

At a joint press conference with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Livni reiterated that Israel demands that in addition to disarming Hizbullah, the three kidnapped soldiers are returned without any pre-conditions while attacks, both from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, are halted.

"As a condition to a ceasefire, Israel demands the enforcement of the UN Security Council resolution that calls for the deployment of the Lebanese Army throughout the country, the dismantling of Hizbullah and the prevention of the organization from rearming."

Livni said it was in everybody's interest to ensure peace and to accelerate a process that will bring long-term change to the region.

Solana said he was searching for a way to stop the crisis. "This is one of the hardest periods for the Middle East," he added. "Many people are suffering including families of captured soldiers."

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Israeli jets hit central Beirut
by
Wednesday 19 July 2006 7:48 AM GMT

Rescue crews helping a victim of an Israeli air raid

Israeli jets have hit central Beirut for the first time and dozens more people have been killed in continuing air attacks across south Lebanon, raising the toll there to about 295 people.

A truck in al-Ashrafiya district in central Beirut was struck by fire from an Israeli warship on Wednesday, the first time that central Beirut city had been hit.

Aljazeera's correspondent, Katia Nasir, reported that air raids had killed more than 55 people and destroyed much in the south during the day.

The fighting has killed about 295 people in Lebanon and 25 Israelis, mostly civilians.

In al-Srifa, at least 15 houses were completely demolished, the head of al-Srifa town municipality told Aljazeera.

News reports said at least 12 villagers, including several children, were killed and 30 wounded.

Afif Najdi, the mayor, said there had been a "massacre committed in Srifa".

"There are dozens dead and massive destruction. Emergency services are putting out fires [but] they cannot reach the houses to recover bodies," he said.

At least 29 other civilians were killed in air raids on other parts of south and east Lebanon, security sources said. Hezbollah said one of its fighters was killed in the fighting.

Ahmed Fatfat, the Lebanese acting interior minister, said Israel was trying to destroy Lebanon's infrastructure, not just defeat Hezbollah. "Are they turning it into a second Iraq?" he asked.

Red Cross hit

The International Red Cross told Aljazeera that they could not reach areas in Selaa town because of the destruction and road closures.

In al-Ansariya, a Red Cross centre was hit by an air raid, injuring a medic, Red Cross sources told Aljazeera.

Israeli tanks at the border

A car in Tyre was hit, injuring seven people, the correspondent said, and in al-Nabatiya, two woman and three children were killed in their house.

Another Aljazeera correspondent in Lebanon, Basam al-Qadiri, reported that Israel had struck a house in Maarabun town, near Baalbek, killing five civilians.

Another strike hit al-Nabishit area near Baalbek damaging a two-storey building, killing and injuring people, he added.

Israeli warplanes also struck Luci town in west Bekaa.

A base of the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the Bekaa was also hit, the PFLP said. The guerrilla group gave no word on casualties.

Beirut's international airport, which was forced to closed last Thursday, was also targeted again. Two missiles struck the runway but no casualties were reported.

"The intensive fighting against the Hezbollah organisation shall continue," Israel's inner cabinet said, adding that it was to get back the soldiers and remove the group's threat.

Israeli troops crossed the border to attack Hezbollah positions, and the group's al-Manar TV said two soldiers had been killed and two wounded. Hezbollah officials said that one of their fighters had been killed.

Military officials said Israeli troops crossed the border in search of tunnels and weapons.

Israeli medics said earlier two Israeli soldiers had been wounded in the fighting.

More Hezbollah rockets fell on the Israeli city of Haifa injuring several people. The group said it had also hit an air force base at Ramat David, about 35km inside Israel.

The Israeli military dismissed the report.

Israel said on Wednesday that its air strikes had destroyed "about 50%" of Hezbollah's arsenal.

The conflict has forced about 100,000 Lebanese to flee from their homes and many foreign citizens to evacuate.

Aljazeera + Agencies
By

You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/563D1044-AB85-4A30-82B4-77A00ADBB316.htm

Ma'an: Nasrallah Will Give Tel Aviv Residents One Hour to Flee
Wednesday, July 19, 2006 / 23 Tammuz 5766

Arab press sources close to the Hizbullah say that residents of Tel Aviv will be given one hour to flee before the terrorist group launches a barrage of missiles at the city.

The unnamed sources are quoted by the Palestinian Authority-based news agency Ma'an as saying:

"The Lebanese resistance is preparing a retaliation parallel to Israel's military actions. Hassan Nasrallah will address the people of Tel Aviv and warn them to evacuate the city within one hour. As soon as the delay ends, hundreds of heavy missiles will start landing in the city, which has been divided into squares in order to let damage reach every inch of the city. An estimated 500 missiles are expected to land in Tel Aviv in a short period of time."

The Arab sources further said that the Hizbullah has been very careful in cultivating its public image, in order to increase the surprise effect of the planned barrage on Tel Aviv.

The war, from the perspective of Nasrallah, has not yet begun, the sources said, adding that other "surprises" planned by the Hizbullah include more kidnappings of Israeli soldiers from along the Lebanese border.

Also claiming to have "surprises" in store for Israel is the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad. On Tuesday night, the terrorist organization claimed to have fired a Katyusha rocket at Sderot. The Katyusha is a more deadly rocket than the Kassam, and is being deployed against Israel in the north of the country by the Hizbullah.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=107746

LEBANON: 'WE NEVER WANTED THIS WAR' SAYS TOP HEZBOLLAH OFFICIAL

Beirut, 19 July (AKI) - A top Hezbollah official in Beirut has said his group did not want war with Israel preferring instead to negotiate with the Jewish state on the release of prisoners. Shaykh Qudur Nur ad-Din received a Adnkronos International (AKI) reporter in his house in a Beirut district where he has been sheltering from possible Israeli attacks. "It is not true that the war started because of Hezbollah. What we did was to take some enemy soldiers prisoner, just as they have tried to capture our soldiers," Nur ad-Din says.

Nur ad-Din a member of Hezbollah's political bureau, the militant Shiite group's top decision making body, says that a 2004 prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah, proves that something similar could have been possible this time round.

In January 2004 more than two dozen Lebanese and Arab prisoners - including two senior Hezbollah officials- flew to Beirut after an exchange occurred at an air base in Cologne, Germany. Stephan Smyrek, a German who worked with Hezbollah, also was freed. The swap took place after Hezbollah released Elhanan Tannenbaum, an Israeli businessman and army reserve colonel and the bodies of three IDF soldiers.

"But this time the Israelis prepared their operation (the attack on Lebanon) a long time ago and they used the capture (last month by Hezbollah guerrillas) of two Israeli soldiers as a pretext to destroy Lebanon and the Islamic resistance (Hezbollah)", Nur ad-Din tells AKI.

"We are now focusing all our efforts on getting an unconditional ceasefire," says Nur ad-Din.

Israel however, has laid down three conditions that is says must be complied with before it will halt attacks: withdrawal of Hezbollah militants beyond the River Litani, the disarmament of the Shiite group's militants and the release of the two Israeli soldiers:

"It won't be the Israelis who will force us to withdraw from our own land," Nur ad-Din says, vowing that it in that case "we will continue to fight them."

Jihad Siqlawi | Tyre | July 19

AFP - At least 55 civilians were killed and scores wounded in a series of deadly Israeli raids across Lebanon Wednesday in the deadliest day since the bombardment began one week ago.

A total of 310 people, mostly civilians, have been killed and hundreds injured since the start of Israel's offensive in Lebanon.

- Twenty-one Lebanese civilians were killed and 30 others wounded in raids on the village of Srifa, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of the southern port city of Tyre, where 10 houses were destroyed.

- Six people, including a Lebanese woman and her three children, a Sri Lankan and a Sudanese national, were killed in an air bombardment on the central town of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon.

- Two civilians were killed and two others wounded in a strike on the southern border town of Rmaish.

- Two civilians were killed and two wounded in air strikes on roads in Kfarshuba, Bazuriyeh and the nearby entrance of Tyre.

- A woman was killed in bombardments on the border village of Alma Shaab.

- Eleven civilians were killed in an Israeli air strike on a four-storey building in the eastern Lebanese village of Nabi Sheet, near the ancient city of Baalbek.

- Five more civilians were killed in an air raid against a number of trucks near Maarabun, near Baalbek.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Hanan Greenberg | July 19

Yediot Aharonot - A senior Northern Command officer told Ynet Wednesday that IDF ground forces are operating deep inside Lebanese territory and against the 15-20 Hizbullah positions along the border with Israel.

AL-Jazeera reported that the Israeli Air Force struck two trucks in Beirut’s al-Ashrafiyeh quarter, marking the first time the IDF has operating against targets located in the capital’s center.

Military sources said warplanes attacked structures in which Hizbullah stores its money; among the targets hit were the four el-Mal (Money house) buildings in Bint Jbeil, Nabatiyeh, Baalbek and the Tyre area.

In addition, the “Shahid Fund” financial office in Beirut was also attacked by IAF jets, as were buildings used for Hizbullah financial operations in the capital.

The attacks are aimed at hindering Hizbullah’s ability to recuperate following the conclusion of the IDF operation in Lebanon.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

LATEST: Two Israelis killed in rocket attack on town of Nazereth - Israeli army. More soon. BBC

'Rockets do not discriminate'
Arab Israelis in Nazareth now feeling vulnerable
By Scott Wilson
The Washington Post

Updated: 5:01 a.m. CT July 18, 2006
NAZARETH, Israel - The rockets landed in darkness on either side of this sacred city, long considered out of range and off-limits for the radical armed groups that have bombarded Israel's Galilee region from south Lebanon.

Out of range because Nazareth lies across a hilltop more than 20 miles south of the Lebanese border, where Hezbollah gunmen set off a new war last week by capturing two Israeli soldiers and killing eight others. Off-limits because, like the people firing the rockets, most of the residents here are Arabs.

Amin Abu Taha, a dentist with two teenage children, worried as he took a midday break outside a coffeehouse along Paulus VI Avenue. "Israel is the most powerful state in the Middle East," he said, sweating in the summer heat. "But rockets do not discriminate. This is an old story that must be resolved."

The barrage around midnight Sunday caused no casualties and it remained unclear whether Hezbollah intended to hit Nazareth or the nearby Jewish town of Nazaret Ilit. But the explosions prompted feelings of fear, despair and a touch of pride here in Israel's largest Arab city.

Conversations along Paulus VI Avenue, empty of the Christian tourists who come to the place known as the home town of Jesus, also highlighted the peculiar place that Arab citizens hold within the Jewish state, especially in times of war. "From a political perspective, we have no impact," Abu Taha said. "And we know it."

The roughly 1.2 million Arab citizens of Israel -- one-fifth of the population -- do not serve in the army, now engaged on the northern and southern borders. They have slim representation in parliament, and receive scant government support for the kind of bunkers and warning systems that have been well used in other northern Israeli cities since the fighting began.

The people here also have far fewer places to flee than the Jewish residents of northern Israel, thousands of whom are heading south to family and friends to wait out the war. For many of the 75,000 Arabs of this city, their only family is in Lebanon -- where, since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, they have lived in refugee camps and cities that now may be under Israeli attack.

Wide range of opinions
Along streets and in market stalls abuzz with radio news broadcasts, opinions ranged Monday from fear that Hezbollah would target the city center to rage at other Arab nations for not joining the fight against Israel. Despite the rocket attacks, Nazareth remains a restive exception in a country that has largely rallied around the attacks inside Lebanon.

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Alex Fishman | July 19

Yediot Aharonot - Israeli intelligence was shocked to discover that arms were still flowing across the Syria-Lebanon border. Why would Syria want to be involved in this conflict? And Hizbullah has been stockpiling huge quantities of arms for years. Why do they need this fresh supply?

Turns out that Hizbullah is looking for any way they can to throw off Israel's attempts to strike a blow to Hibzullah's ability to fire missiles. They were shocked to discover how much information Israel has about their weapons storehouses.

When the organization recovered from the initial blow, they began looking for ways to deal with Israel's aerial pursuit of their launchers. In this context, they have started over the last few days to launch huge assaults at one time, rather than "drip" missiles all day long.

[Comment: Although this one's marked as opinion on the site, it seems pretty "newsy" - hope the opinion label doesn't mean that the author's pulling it from his nether regions. Worth reading all the way through. ~ JPD]

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

Updated report on the war in Lebanon - Day 8
Wednesday, 19 July, 2006 @ 10:38 AM

Beirut, Lebanon

The terrorising war in Lebanon continues. over 260 innocent civilians, mostly women and children were brutally killed. Following is a list of updates on developments of the war of destruction in Lebanon.its a looooooooon list

Roee Nahmias | July 19

Yediot Aharonot - The Qatar-based newspaper Al-Watan reported Wednesday that Syria and Iran will cooperate with each other in order to prevent the dissolution of Hizbullah and to preserve its struggle with Israel.

According to credible Syrian sources, the newspaper reported, there is an agreement between Damascus and Tehran stating the prevention of either military or political defeat of Hizbullah as paramount, creating a joint Syrian-Iranian stance based on the clear vision that any defeat of Hizbullah is a red line for the both countries.

Both Syria and Iran thoroughly understand that the measure of Hizbullah’s strength against Israel gives precedent to strategic changes in the whole region. The influence of the military confrontation being conducted now, claim the same Syrian sources, extend beyond all geographic borders and have implications for the entire Middle East, from Gaza to Iraq. As such, protecting the “resistance” in Lebanon and the territories is at the center of Damascus’ and Tehran’s strategic decisions.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.