Iraqi Shias march in support of beleaguered Lebanon
(AFP)

21 July 2006

BAGHDAD - Hundreds of Iraqi Shias marched in support of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia Friday as imams led weekly prayers with condemnations of Israel, the United States and many Arab regimes.

Putting aside concerns about Baghdad’s rapidly worsening security situation, Iraqis focused their anger on Israel’s deadly 10-day-old bombardment of their co-religionists in Lebanon and on the international community’s response.

More than 300 members of radical Shia cleric Moqtada’s Al Sadr’s armed movement marched in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr City chanting support for Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militia which provoked Israel’s assault.

Carrying assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, and waving a yellow Hezbollah flag, the Mehdi Army militiamen paraded through the Shia district in solidarity with the militia battling Israel in southern Lebanon.

“We are at your command, Moqtada, we are at your command Nasrallah,” they chanted referring to Sadr and to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, one of the targets of Israel’s campaign.

The militiamen, dressed in military fatigues and black clothes, also carried banners reading: “The Mehdi Army and Hezbollah hand in hand for the defence of Islam and Shiism”.

Sadr himself, speaking at a mosque in the holy city of Kufa, called on the Arab League, the United Nations and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to demand an immediate halt to Israeli attacks.

Other preachers strongly condemned the international community for what they see as a low-key response to Israeli aggression, focusing their bitterness especially on Sunni Arab governments and Israel’s ally the United States.

US forces lead an international coalition deployed in Iraq and battling to restore stability after the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and have in the past clashed violently with the Mehdi Army.

In Najaf, Sheikh Sadr Al Din Al Qubanji, an imam linked to the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, on the main parties in the government, criticized the weak nature of international and Arab condemnation on Israel’s actions.

“This (weak) condemnation has given a green light to Israeli to continue its attack on Lebanon. Iraqis, even with all their suffering, stand with the Lebanese people and condemn the Israeli attack,” he added.

20:19 Halutz accuses Hezbollah of using mosques to conceal Katyusha launchers (Ch. 10)

20:17 Halutz: Close to 100 Hezbollah gunmen killed thus far (Channel 10)

20:35 Halutz says Lebanon ground operation to be limited in scope (Channel 1)

20:33 Halutz: Information points to all three abducted soldiers being alive (Haaretz)

20:31 Halutz: Israeli government, not int`l community, setting timetable for actions (Haaretz)

20:30 Roadblocks set up near TA beachfront due to possible terrorist infiltration (Haaretz)

20:30 Halutz: Senior members of Hezbollah hit in air force strikes (Haaretz)

20:26 Security forces suspect suicide bomber has infiltrated Tel Aviv region (Haaretz)

20:25 Syria continues to allow flow of weapons to Hezbollah (Channel 1)

20:25 Halutz: Don`t want to give dates, will try to keep operation short (Haaretz)
__________________

21 - Portuguese escapee says that Israel bombing civilian targets in Lebanon

UN urges Lebanon truce, pleads for humanitarian access to trapped civilians

Naharnet
__________________

21:51 Police lower alert level in Tel Aviv after arrest of three suspects (Haaretz)

21:51 Envoy to U.S. Ayalon: About 40 percent of Hezbollah military capability destroyed (AP)
__________________

22.30: Three consecutive Israeli raids on "Baldat al Khiyam" in the South. 22.29: Israel assures and Lebanese sources deny Israeli forces positioning in some southern villages. Tayyar ..Org . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

22.38: Israeli raids on the nuns quarter in the An-Nabatiyat city. Tayyar ..Org .

Israeli army finds the body of one of its soldiers who was missing in south Lebanon
LBCI

More Rockets Strike Israeli City of Haifa

Friday July 21, 2006 8:46 PM

AP Photo JRL160

By GABE ROSS

Associated Press Writer

HAIFA, Israel (AP) - Normally, Haifa's streets would have been crowded Friday with people shopping for the Sabbath. But when another barrage of Hezbollah missiles struck this port city in the afternoon, most streets were empty, and as a result only six people were wounded.

In Israel's third-largest city, where eight people were killed in a rocket attack last Sunday, many residents now avoid being far from a bomb shelter, knowing that air raid sirens are a daily occurrence.

On Friday, a missile hit the roof of a two-story post office at 1:10 p.m. and landed on its staircase out front. The attack in central Haifa blew out windows in offices and shops up to 100 yards away.

Rescue workers raced to the scene and took the wounded away in ambulances, including a middle-aged woman who was bleeding from both legs.

At the Russian-language bookstore next to the post office, the windows were blown out and blood stained the floor.

Six people were wounded, one seriously, and 22 others were treated for shock, police said.

Mutlak Michlof, who owns a hair salon near the post office, said: ``I sat by the window and suddenly there was a siren. So my customers went farther inside and I stood there. Then there was a boom and everything fell on me. This is a huge mess.''

Another rocket exploded in a northern suburb of Haifa just after 2:45 p.m., hitting a compound of temporary housing for 450 Ethiopian immigrants, 230 of them children.

The missile struck the ground near the main building used by the government agency that manages the compound, and caused no casualties despite spraying shrapnel and dirt over a nearby soccer court.

Shlomo Mola, 40, who works for the agency, said that when the air raid sirens sounded, he moved a group of children toward the center of the building.

``We knew it was close. People were screaming and crying. Suddenly everything was smoky and hazy,'' he said.

In all, air raid sirens sounded five times in Haifa on Friday, and seven rockets hit the city, five of them landing in open areas and causing no casualties, police said.

more

Why bother at all?

Shiite cleric: Israel will collapse like New York's twin towers

Radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Friday predicted Israel would collapse like New York's twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, if Sunnis and Shiites join in their fight.

"I will continue defending my Shiite and Sunni brothers, and I tell them that if we unite, we will defeat Israel without the use of weapons," Sadr said during a speech in the southern city Iraqi city of Kufa. (AP) .

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3279488,00.html

22.38 - israeli raid on HAY AL RAHBAT in AL NABATIYE

22.44 - italian foreign affairs minister: we did not invite syria,iran and israel to attend the convention about lebanon

23.12 - chirac invites solana to work on achieving an immediate cease fire

23.17 - israeli jets are flying around over the area from AADLOUN to AL ZAHRANI

23.43 - israeli flights over AAKAR,AL BEKAA and raids over SOUR and AL KHIAM areas

www.tayyar.org

BEIRUT, July 21 (Reuters) - At first, Bushra Khayyat tried to ignore the incessant ringing of the phone at her house in Lebanon's southern port city of Sidon. It was 4 a.m., but she finally got out of bed.

"I said hello and got a recorded message from Israel," she told Reuters.

In clear Arabic, the strong voice on the phone said: "Oh Lebanese people, we tell you not to follow Hizbollah. We will continue to strike and no one will bring your prisoners back from Israel except the Lebanese government."

Other residents of the south have received similar calls.

"My grandmother got two calls at 5 and 6 in the morning saying the Israeli state would not stop the attacks and asking everyone to leave the area south of the Litani," said one woman who is stranded in Sidon. "She slammed the phone down."

Israel has dropped flyers on Lebanon during its 10-day-old conflict with Hizbollah guerrillas, warning people to stay away from the group's strongholds, warning them to evacuate their villages in the south or caricaturing the chief of Hizbollah.

But there was something eerie about the phone calls.

"It was a shock to get a call from Israel," said Khayyat, who has since fled the bombardment to Syria and then France.

"I have caller ID on my landline and when I checked it came up as 'out of area'. It's not that I was scared, I just wished I could talk back to the voice but it was a recorded message."

Khayyat got a similar call two nights later, this time answered by her maid, who, panicking when she heard a voice announce "this is Israel", immediately put down the phone.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L21887307.htm

Lebanon victims buried in mass grave By NASSER NASSER and HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writers
46 minutes ago

Soldiers laid 72 coffins in two trenches, a mass grave for victims of the Israeli bombardment. Elsewhere, mounds of rubble sat undisturbed; rescue workers were too fearful of missiles to search for bodies.

Lebanese have streamed out of south Lebanon since fighting erupted between Israel and Hezbollah last week, leaving some villages almost deserted. But many people are believed trapped in their homes — too poor to live anywhere else, too afraid to travel or unable to go because bridges and roads have been destroyed.

An estimated 400,000 Lebanese make their home south of the Litani River, 20 miles from the Israeli border, and it's not known how many remain — but those that do risk being caught up in an Israeli ground offensive against Hezbollah.

"It is not looking good and it's going to last for some time," Ali Sayegh, a 39-year-old furniture salesman from Tyre, said of the Israeli offensive.

"There are not many people left in Tyre, very few walk the streets and there is a shortage of fresh produce," said Sayegh, who moved to a seaside hotel after sending his wife and two daughters abroad last week.

Israel has been broadcasting radio messages into southern Lebanon and dropping leaflets, urging all residents south of the Litani to flee. Sometimes the warnings name specific villages and say residents should clear out.

More....

link

'Hizbullah is doing more for our cause than any Arab government has ever done'

Jonathan Steele in Beirut
Friday July 21, 2006
The Guardian

His face smiles from posters all over Sabra and Shatila camp, the once world-famous home of 12,000 Palestinian refugees in Beirut, and finding anyone willing to criticise Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon's Shia militia, is a hopeless venture.
The man who launched the attack into Israel last week that captured two soldiers is widely regarded as a hero, however grim the destruction that Israel's retaliation has caused.

"Hizbullah is doing more for the Palestinian cause than any Arab government has ever done. When he says he will resist Israel, he does," said Muhammad Hassan, who runs a small barber's shop. "We didn't know he had such technology - and especially the ability to hit an Israeli warship. It was a nice surprise."

His enthusiasm for Hizbullah's leader is not blind or unquestioning. A customer nodded in support as Mr Hassan conceded: "It's diverting attention from Gaza to Lebanon, and everyone's focusing on Lebanon now." After a pause, he added: "I'm not sure whether Hizbullah should have waited but it has lessened Israel's pressure on Gaza. He may have wanted to give Gaza a breathing space." The customer chipped in: "Now there are two fronts."

Sabra and Shatila became headline news in 1982, when Israeli forces during an earlier invasion of Lebanon surrounded the camp and allowed Christian militias in to slaughter unarmed Palestinians. At least 700 people, perhaps as many as 3,500, were massacred, an atrocity for which an Israeli inquiry concluded that Ariel Sharon, then Israel's defence minister, bore "personal responsibility".

About 400,000 Palestinians live in Lebanon, almost a 10th of the country's population. Although Israel's current onslaught has not specifically targeted any of the 12 camps registered by the UN relief agency, Palestinians have suffered as much as Lebanese.

Most of the camps are in the south, three close to the stricken port of Tyre, two near Sidon and four in Beirut's southern suburbs, near the Shia areas Israel has pounded with a huge tonnage of bombs in the past week.

In the narrow alleys of Shatila, most people are too poor to have anywhere to flee to. More than 700 go into the dusty basement of an unfinished school building every evening to shelter from the bombing. A few lightbulbs, strung from waterpipes, send dim rays through the gloom, illuminating mattresses and thin carpets on the concrete floor.

Nohad, a volunteer for Najdeh, a women's rights NGO which works in the Palestinian camps, says there was much criticism of Hizbullah before the current crisis. "But whatever people think of Hizbullah ideologically, it is weakening the enemy. It's showing the enemy is not as strong as it claims to be. Hizbullah is the only group which is doing something for Palestinians."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1825551,00.html

But I have no interest in diplomacy for the sake of returning Lebanon and Israel to the status quo ante. I think it would be a mistake.
.
What we're seeing here, in a sense, is the growing -- the birth pangs of a new Middle East.

Transcript
Secretary Rice Holds a News Conference
CQ Transcripts Wire
Friday, July 21, 2006; 2:29 PM

WaPo

22.7.06
Dear All

The group of civil society organizations "Lil Hayat" (For Life) is inviting all Lebanese to gather in front of the Martyr’s Square on Saturday 22 July 2006 at 11:00 a.m. for 10 minutes of silence to mourn the Martyrs that fell due to Israeli aggressions.
All persons willing to participate in this demonstration are urged to wear BLACK and to meet us at the Martyr’s Square. Please note that pamphlets carrying the name and age of the children that were massacred will be held during this silent demonstration.

Be many so we can be one.

Center of Research and Training for Development Action (CRTDA)
Lebanese Association for Democratic Election (LADE)
Permanent Peace Movement
Nahwa al-Muwatinya
Amam05
Haya Bina
Helem
Spring Hints
Lebanese Center for Civic Education
Lebanese Association for Active Learning
Youth Association for Blinds
Organization of Arab Parliamentarians Against Corruption
Lebanese Transparency Association
Arab NGOs Network for Development
Lebanese Forum for Development
Lebanese Center for Policy Studies
Mouvement Sociale
Coordination Forum for the Palestinian Organization
Byblos Ecologia
Mirsad
Frontiers
Green Line Association
Kafa
Maharat
Sawa Group
Development for People and Nature Association
Khiam Center for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims
Lebanese Union for the Disabled
National Association for Vocational Training and Social Services
Cultural Center for Southern Lebanon
Let’s Build Trust
Humanitarian Group for Social Development
MADA
Samir Kassir Foundation
GIL
Lebanese Association for Professional Divers
Norwegian People’s Aid
Fisherman’s COOP
Environment Ray Organization
Lebanese NGOs Network
Green Square

posted by Delirious @ 1:25 AM
http://lebanonheartblogs.blogspot.com/

Some visuals to assist...

WARNING Very Graphic.

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/7148...40474FEB71FB79

http://cache.gettyimages.com/xc/7148...23A347A4D76E3A

Fine piece here:

http://lebanesebloggers.blogspot.com/2006/07/lebanon-sold-out.html

IMPORTANT LINK: LEBANON WAR - LINKS

http://lebwarlinks.bravehost.com/

The savage war on Lebanon is being waged not only militarily but also through a propaganda war that exploits the bias of much of the Western media.

A new website was created in an attempt to collect the courageous efforts of all those who are fighting back to defend Lebanon and stop the atrocities against its civilians.

The website contains images, video, posters, political demonstration information, links to other websites...

Contact information: If you have any new links that are suitable for publishing here, or if you have any suggestions, please email us at lebwarlinks@yahoo.com

Another website with video, news and pictures
http://www.lebwar.org/

Yaakov Katz | July 21

The Jerusalem Post - The IDF was gearing up for a large-scale ground incursion into Lebanon on Friday. Thousands of reservists were being mobilized to the North throughout Friday to beef up forces stationed in the area in preparation for a possible operation.

In total, three to four ground divisions will be operating along the Lebanese front.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz said on Friday that the defense establishment was evaluating the size of the force needed to conduct a large-scale operation in Lebanon.

"We have no intention of being dragged into something that Hizbullah wants to drag us into," Peretz said. "Nevertheless, we will operate in every place that we find it necessary."

On Friday afternoon, the IAF dropped leaflets over southern Lebanon all the way up to the Litani River calling on residents to move northward to avoid being caught in clashes between IDF forces and Hizbullah cells. The move could signify a step in preparation for the ground incursion.

[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.

Yaakov Katz | July 21

The Jerusalem Post - Last month, the Northern Command conducted a massive exercise to practice war with Hizbullah. At the time, senior officers claimed that the IDF's working assumption was that the border could flare up at any moment, although it's doubtful anyone believed then that the situation would evolve into an all-out war.

The exercise was considered a groundbreaking success in that it simulated a new concept in the art of warfare under consideration by the General Staff. Dubbed "Integration of Branches," the concept essentially takes the chief of staff out of the operational picture and sets the regional commander, in this case OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam, in charge of what the IDF is now calling the "operation zone."

In the past, the regional commander was only in charge of his own ground forces plus a restricted section of the battle zone. Air and navy forces were under the command of the chief of staff, as were decisions about incursions into enemy territory.

[emphasis added]

[Comment: This would seem possibly to be an indicator that this was a planned pre-emptive that got bumped up. ~ 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.

The US and Israel blame Syria and Iran for supplying missles.
How about blaming the US for supplying tanks, missles, bombs and other warfare equipment that is attacking Lebanon!
This equipment was only for defence.
They are using it for offence!
Hezbollah was only organized for defence of Lebanon.
Bush, give me a break!
Let the Palestinians have a home without Israeli occupation!

_{repressive governments mix administrative clumsiness & inefficiency with authoritarian tendencies.}

Lexicon of Lebanon War II

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/741144.html

Ehud Asheri

Alertness: One level below "preparedness." The term that the Israel Defense Forces Spokesman's Office has found to characterize the level of civilian deployment required "from Tel Aviv northward," without throwing the population of that city into panic. Clearly this has not helped. At least in my immediate environment, the "alertness" has killed the "fortitude."

Beyond: "Beyond Haifa" - An up-to-date name for Tel Aviv.

Crushing: The Israeli response to the rocket threat. A common expression in the culinary world that has been borrowed to describe in a polite way massive, unfocused army bombardments that are not based on intelligence information (synonym: "statistical bombing"). The Israel Air Force attacks are "crushing" the ground in the hope that someone or something important will be hit - and if not, so what? In any case, the entire area is a "terror infrastructure." Other possibilities: "grinding," "pulverizing," "finely mincing," "barbecuing."

Embrace: Until recently it was customary to "extend a hand, to "identify" and to "support." During the past two weeks everyone has begun to "embrace." Ehud Olmert, a serial embracer, gave the signal for this. After the abduction at Kerem Shalom, he announced that "the people of Israel embrace the Shalit family." In his speech this week in the Knesset he declared: "I would like to give a big embrace to the families of the abductees and the boys themselves." He is not the only one. Actor Zvika Adar went up north "to embrace" residents, Supersol "is embracing the inhabitants of the line of hostilities" (and inviting them to its branches), the daily Maariv and Bank Discount are "embracing residents of the north" (and distributing newspapers to them), Pelephone is sending them a digital "embrace" (represented by two parentheses), and even Bank Igud is "embracing the people of the north" (and referring them to its branches). In contrast to formal expressions like "identifying" and "reinforcing," embracing is an image from the intimate realm that has spilled over, to its detriment, into the public, political and commercial realm. Along the way it has undergone a process of cheapening, so much so that it is already difficult to embrace your beloved without thinking about Olmert, Pelephone and Supersol. If the war goes on, they are liable also to "be there for us."

Fortitude: As used in "home-front fortitude," this is a delicate way of saying "keep getting pounded quietly." A term coined by the chief of staff at the start of the IDF's actions as a counterweight to Nasrallah's "spider webs." Synonyms: "strength," "staunchness," "determination," "backing." Behind all of them hides an interest in getting an unconditional mandate from the public to continue the "crushing" (see above), even at the price of civilian losses. Therefore, extolling "home-front fortitude" began way before the home front even began to understand what was befalling it. Two things are annoying about the most worn cliche on the ground: It delegitimizes any manifestation of civilian distress, and it places the responsibility for "victory" on the population instead of on the country's statesmen and the generals.

Gang: The name given by IAF commander Eliezer Shkedi to Hezbollah. Accordingly, Nasrallah is "the gang leader." If it is impossible to crush him with airplanes, it is always possible to crush him with words. Shkedi knows very well that Hezbollah is far from being a "gang." The use of this disparaging word only reveals the frustration of the major general, who has suddenly become a rank-and-file propagandist. But in this field, he doesn't stand a chance against Nasrallah.

He: "He" armed himself, "he" hid the rockets, "he" abducted soldiers, "he" is lobbing Katyushas, "he" is shooting at civilians. Thus one achieves a rhetorical combination of demonization and glorification. Hezbollah is Nasrallah. "He" does everything by himself. How does he manage to do everything?

Running away: In the Gulf War they called this "defecting" in order to condemn anyone who dares leave his home for fear of a missile attack. This time the term being used is "running away," but the tone of condemnation remains palpable ("It isn't seemly to run away," said author A.B. Yehoshua, who decided to remain in his home in Haifa). It is more important to preserve "home-front fortitude" than his children's lives.

Sharon's heritage: It used to be "a settlement on every hilltop." Then it was replaced by "disengagement from every hilltop." Today it denotes "defeatism" in face of the armed terror entity that dug in on our northern border.

Special situation: Up until these week we knew "emergency situations" on the home front. This week the "special situation" has entered our lives. This is an official term that grants the security forces civil-emergency authority, but on this occasion it is supposed to serve as an antidote to panic, like "alertness" (see above). In fact, this is really a "dangerous situation," but the lawmaker was not eager to scare civilians.

Strategic surprise: A sophisticated upgrading of "home-front fortitude." The "strategic surprise" is not the Hezbollah's missile and rocket capabilities: It is the Israeli public's fortitude. All at once the civilians are transformed from a strategic target to a strategic asset. If one is already being pounded by a rocket, it is better to get pounded as an asset and not as a burden. As if there were any choice.

Strengthened: This is used as in the case of "we have come out strengthened." An especially self-righteous variant of "home-front fortitude." The mother of all the cliches that have basked in glory this week, thanks to IDF Spokeswoman Miri Regev, the most "strengthened" woman in Israel.

War: The military conflict between Israel and Hezbollah does not yet have an agreed-upon name, but the media have determined that what we are having is a "war." As in "the Six-Day War" and "the Yom Kippur War." How has the fighting earned this binding definition? After all, it does not answer most of the criteria of a "war" per se (especially when the enemy is nothing but a "gang.") Apparently the term serves as a slogan for universal enlistment: "Israel at War" is how Channel 2 headlines its broadcasts. As civilians have become targets, it is necessary to enlist them in the fighting and this can be done only if they are convinced Israel has embarked on "a war for our home" (and preferably "a war of no choice"). No one is going to sit in a shelter for weeks on end for a mere "campaign".

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

Facts not reported in the US media.

The legitimate basis for the IDF's operation was stripped away the moment it began. It's no accident that nobody mentions the day before the attack on the Kerem Shalom fort, when the IDF kidnapped two civilians, a doctor and his brother, from their home in Gaza. The difference between us and them? We kidnapped civilians and they captured a soldier, we are a state and they are a terror organization. How ridiculously pathetic Amos Gilad sounds when he says that the capture of Shalit was "illegitimate and illegal," unlike when the IDF grabs civilians from their homes. How can a senior official in the defense ministry claim that "the head of the snake" is in Damascus, when the IDF uses the exact same methods? ...
Truthout

It all started on July 12 when Israel troops were ambushed on Lebanon's side of the border with Israel. Hezbollah, which commands the Lebanese south, immediately seized on their crossing. They arrested two Israeli soldiers, killed eight Israelis and wounded over 20 in attacks inside Israeli territory.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HG15Ak02.html

NOAM CHOMSKY:
Gaza, itself, the latest phase, began on June 24. It was when Israel abducted two Gaza civilians, a doctor and his brother. We don't know their names. You don't know the names of victims. They were taken to Israel, presumably, and nobody knows their fate. The next day, something happened, which we do know about, a lot. Militants in Gaza, probably Islamic Jihad, abducted an Israeli soldier across the border. That's Corporal Gilad Shalit. And that's well known; first abduction is not. Then followed the escalation of Israeli attacks on Gaza, which I don't have to repeat. It's reported on adequately.
Zmag

AFP reports...
Selon la police libanaise, les deux soldats ont été capturés en territoire libanais, dans la région de Aïta al-Chaab près de la frontière, alors que la télévision israélienne a indiqué qu'ils avaient été capturés en territoire israélien.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION: According to the Lebanese police force, the two soldiers were captured in Lebanese territory, in the area of Aïta Al-Chaab close to the border, whereas Israeli television indicated that they had been captured in Israeli territory.
Yahoo

HERE 's THE MAP:
http://thumbsnap.com/v/sEKsW7oj.jpg

Also:

Few readers of a British newspaper would have noticed the story. In the Observer of 25 June, it merited a mere paragraph hidden in the “World in brief” section, revealing that the previous day a team of Israeli commandos had entered the Gaza Strip to “detain” two Palestinians Israel claims are members of Hamas.

The significance of the mission was alluded to in a final phrase describing this as “the first arrest raid in the territory since Israel pulled out of the area a year ago”. More precisely, it was the first time the Israeli army had re-entered the Gaza Strip, directly violating Palestinian control of the territory, since it supposedly left in August last year.

As the Observer landed on doorsteps around the UK, however, another daring mission was being launched in Gaza that would attract far more attention from the British media – and prompt far more concern.
Global Research

Hizbullah MP Nawwar el Sahili to Larry King:
"yes we kidnapped 2 israelis, but no one bothers to ask why does israel hold many lebanese and occupy part of our land.
The kidnapping of the 2 israelis was a REACTION and not a provocation"

Larry King asked him whether the 2 are ok, he said: OF COURSE, we treat them like brothers, we are not terrorists like you call us, we are a resistance.
__________________

July 22, 2006
Weapons
U.S. Speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the Israelis
By DAVID S. CLOUD and HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON, July 21 — The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, American officials said Friday.

The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Iran’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah....

More:
NYT

What efforts by Iran? Has anyone seen any evidence of such?

Israeli raids arround elhallousieh, tayrdiba, el abbasieh, el chaaytieh, el klayleh, el zrerieh

Tayyar.org at 7.05am Lebanon time