ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Key Middle East players and top diplomats meeting in Rome failed to reach agreement on a plan to end the 15-day-old conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants.

They held a news conference on their progress Wednesday.

The transcript is available here.

The UN and IDF sheds some light on the killing of the 4 UN observers.

Now that Koffi Annan can no longer see what is happening at the border and the UN is effectively tied up in knots with the impossible demands Israel has made, there will be no agreement in Rome. Israel will take all the time they want and not have to fear a ceasefire originating with the UN. The United States has shown they are in no hurry for this type of agreement, so Israel will continue this war for as long as they like.

That was supported from an analyis done by Stratfor

"Halutz wants to continue the air campaign and hold the army, and the army is demanding to be cut loose. It does not want to do attritional, small-unit warfare in south Lebanon. We do not know how this argument is playing out, but there is a decision that ultimately will have to be made by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Now, bear in mind that retired Israeli officials can and will like anything if it is in the national interest. All of this sudden chatter about dissatisfaction may simply be disinformation designed to throw Hezbollah off-guard. Perhaps--but we suspect not. It rings true, given traditional Israeli doctrine and Halutz's introduction of a new untested doctrine--and the fact that, to this point, the IAF has not succeeded while public opinion around the world, which had been mildly pro-Israeli at the beginning of the campaign, is turning against it. Plus, there are an awful lot of soldiers sitting around and waiting, draining the economy. We expect this is a real split (inserted: between the airforce and the army), and its outcome will determine the shape of this war from the Israeli side.

In the meantime, Hezbollah seems to be holding together, resisting where attacked on the ground. We do not know what effect the bombing is having on it, but there is no sign of disintegration. Hezbollah is playing the game it dealt the cards for and seems, for the moment, content."

-----

Need more time to disarm Hizbullah, with Israel's present strategy, the path is now cleared for an indeterminate length of time.

UNIFIL deployment overlay map

On the opening to these threads. It's now the 26th of July, perhaps we should hope this will be known as the July War and be over soon.

By the way, not being from the US and only a few months old and still in my mummys tummy, I did not know much about the USS Lberty. So I googled it and took a browse, I thought I might share some for those like me who knew little about it.

What really happened - USS Liberty

'The USS Liberty': America's Most Shameful Secret

USS Liberty - Audio and PDF files.

USS Liberty Survivors

Myths and Facts - Jewish Virtual Library

A poll found that 70% of lebanese support HA taking prisoners. (AFP)

Asad abu khalil posted the details of the poll.

"So what do the Lebanese people really think? Now that there are American Zionists who regularly speak on behalf of the Lebanese people, now that I have seen Bush--BUSH--speak about what the people of Lebanon need, and now that some Lebanese mercenaries and war criminals have been anointed to speak on behalf of Lebanon, we have at least a survey of Lebanese public opinion. It was conducted by the reliable Markaz Bayrut li-l-Abhath (and I thank `Abduh and Amal for sharing the unpublished results with me).

These are some of the highlights:

70 % support the capture of the two Israeli soldiers (73.1 among Sunnis, 96.3 among Shi`ites, 40% among Druzes, and 55 among Christians);

87% support that "the resistance fight Israeli aggression on Lebanon" (88.9 among Sunnis, 96.3 among Shi`ites, 80% among Druzes, and 80% among Christians);

8% think that America adopted a positive position toward Lebanon during this war (7.9% among Sunnis, 4 among Shi`ites, 13.6 among Druzes, and 15 among Christians).

PS Sample size is 800. The overwhelming majority were face- to -face interviews (including all displaced individuals).

two lebanese army barracks in Amchit - Jbeil were hit by air raids

LBC
__________________
consecutive and repetitive raids one the army barracks in amchit

A huge fire began

LBC
01:48 Diplomats: Top Iranian security official flew to Syria to meet senior officials (Reuters)
__________________

Huge news (if true):

أكدت المعلومات التي وردت "ايلاف" من الجنوب اللبناني عن سقوط 38 قتيل اسرائيليا من قوات النخبة غولاني

Translation:

Elaph, from private sources in Bint Jbeil confirms that 38 Israeli soldiers from the elite Golani group were killed today in Bint Jbeil...

Elaph also states that Israel has withdrew back to Maroun el Ras after this heavy loss.

38
قتيلا اسرائيليا من قوات النخبة غولاني، وعن تراجع اقرأ أيضا

قوات الطليعة الاسرائيلية وتلك التي انزلت مروحيا الى الخلف وعودة الاشتباكات الى المناطق المحيطة بتلة مارون الراس الاستراتيجية. بينما اعلن الجيش الاسرائيلي بشكل غير رسمي عن سقوط 30 اصابة بين صفوف جنوده في اشتباكات قصيرة المدى ووجها لوجه مع مقاتلي حزب الله. وان كانت هذه المعطيات صحيحة، فهي تخرج عن المنطق العسكري التقليدي، خاصة ان تلة مارون الراس تشكل اعلى مرتفع في كل منطقة صور، وهي مشرفة على مدينة بنت جبيل وقرى عيترون وعين ابل ويارون، وسيطرة القوات الاسرائيلية عليها تمنحها تفوقا ناريا على القرى المذكورة. الا ان الكلام الذي ينقله لنا احد الناشطين (عبر نازح الى بيروت) من خلال الاتصالات اللاسلكية بعد انقطاع الخطوط الهاتفية نهائيا عن المنطقة، يؤكد التالي:

- ليل امس الثلاثاء تمكن مقاتلوا حزب الله من دفع الاسرائيليين بعيدا عن نقطةتلة مسعود، وهي الاشتباكات التي استمرت صباح اليوم، وكانت قوات غولاني قد انزلت مجموعة من عناصرها (ربما توازي عشرين عنصرا) على هذه التلة، وتقدمت القوة الاسرائيلية نحو المستشفى الذي يعرف باسم مستشفى الـ17، على مدخل مدينة بنت جبيل، الا ان عناصر حزب الله ضربتها. ويقول الناشط ان المقاومة ضربت هذه القوة باكملها (باصابات بين قتيل وجريح)، واجبرت الاسرائيلين الى معاودة القتال على تلة مارون الراس للحفاظ عليها.

- صباح اليوم حاولت القوات الاسرائيلية تعزيز مواقعها والتقدم من نقطة المسلخ التي نزلت عليها امس الثلاثاء، والتقدم من هذه النقطة نحو بنت جبيل من ناحية الغرب، تحت دعم مواقع اسرائيلية مستحدثة في مارون الراس، الا انها اصطدمت مجددا بعناصر حزب الله الذين اشتبكوا مباشرة بالاسلحة الخفيفة مع جنود غولاني، ومجددا تحولت عملية تطويق مدينة بنت جبيل من ناحية عيترون – تلة مسعود (شرقا)، وعين ابل – المسلخ (من الجنوب الغربي) الى عملية اشتباكات ومواجهة مباشرة بالاسلحة الخفيفة.

ويؤكد المصدر الناشط من داخل مدينة بنت جبيل ان ثمة قتالا يدور حاليا في منازل منطقة المسلخ، البعيدة نسبيا عن قلب المدينة، مع ترك القوات الاسرائيلية لطريق بنت جبيل الشمالية (نحو تبنين) مفتوحة على امل انسحاب عناصر حزب الله منها.

ويشكل اصرار الجانبين على تركيز المعركة على هذا المحور مثار استغراب، خاصة ان هذه المنطقة لا تشكل سوى بضعة كيلومترات مربعة، تعتبر ساقطة عسكريا بيد الجيش الاسرائيلي بعد استيلائه على تلة مارون الراس، علما ان الجيش الاسرائيلي كان يعد ويعلن عن نيته التقدم من محور بلدة الخيام، وهي العملية التي يبدو انه تم تأجيلها بعد ضراوة المعارك في منطقة بنت جبيل.

دمار ودمار
وعلى المستوى الانساني افاد السكان المحليون في مدينة صور ان عدد الاصابات البشرية بين السكان يستمر في الارتفاع، وان المستشفيات بدأت تعاني من النقص في المواد الطبية وفي الاسرة الجاهزة لاستقبال المصابين، وبالفعل فان هذه المستشفيات تحاول البحث عن طرق لاجلاء عدد من مرضاها والمصابين الى اية منطقة اكثر امنا من المدينة التي تتعرض الى عمليات قصف يومية.

وقصف القوات الاسرائيلية جوا وبرا عدد من المناطق اللبنانية هي: بلدة برج الشمالي في صور ومنطقة الشواكير. وبلدات راس العين، زبقين، جبال البطم، الحنية، عين بعال، باتولاي، الحوش، برج رحال، بدياس، معروب، العباسية، صريفا وطورا، عيتيت، معركة ووادي العزية، السماعية ودير قانون رأس العين. منطقة العين وخلة حسن، اضافة الى ضفاف الليطاني عند القاسمية، وادي الكفور، برعشيت وشقرا، مثلث زفتا -النميرية – النبطية، وطى ميفدون.

ودمرت محطة السلطانية للبث الخلوي، مما ادى الى توقف الارسال وقطع الاتصالات عن عدد كبير من القرى والاهالي المحاصرين.

واثر تحذيرات اسرائيلية لعدد من القرى توجه قاطنوها الى مواقع لقوات الطوارئ الدولية للاحتماء الا ان الاخيرة رفضت استقبال السكان. علما ان السكان من بلدات يارين، زلوطية، البستان وأم التوت. كما تستمر عمليات رفع الجثث من تحت انقاض المباني في العديد من القرى التي تشهد هدوءا نسبيا للاعمال الحربية.

واعلن الجناح العسكري لحزب الله "المقاومة الاسلامية" عن عمليات قصف بالصواريخ طاولت بلدات ومستوطنات داخل اسرائيل اهمها: كريات شمونة وكرمائيل وكفرسولد وغونين، معالوت وكريات بيالك وغوش وغورين وأفيفيم ونهاريا.

ومن جانبها اعلنت اسرائيل اصابة ستة اشخاص على الاقل بجروح اصابة احدهم خطرة، في اطلاق صواريخ على مدينة حيفا شمال اسرائيل
http://www.elaph.com/ElaphWeb/Politi...6/7/165343.htm
__________________

05:36 U.S. blocks Security Council statement condemning Israel`s attack on UN post (AP)
__________________

They stayed with me, 1,500 souls in Bint Jbeil. I went to the public garden where displaced people were now living, I went to the cooperative supermarket in Sabra, I went to an air-conditioned cafe with WiFi, and the 1,500 souls were with me. I had lunch, tried to write - still with me. Until after sunset, a journalist friend told me he had interviewed the mayor of Bint Jbeil in the afternoon. The man had suffered a stroke this past Sunday and had been evacuated for treatment. By today he had recovered and was struggling to find a way to get the remaining 40 Lebanese-Americans trapped in Bint Jbeil. My friend allowed me to sigh with some relief, the trapped souls were 400 not 1,500 today. (Most of the residents of Bint Jbeil are Lebanese-Americans from Dearborn and Detroit Michigan.)

Is there a point to relaying to you the events of the past few days? I am still stuck to the television. I am still living from breaking news report to breaking news report. I now get things from the second-tier horse's mouth, so to speak, journalists whom I have taken to hovering around.

Khiyam shall soon be rubble. As is Bint Jbeil. After Khiyam will be Tyre. The Beqaa has been pounded. Israelis targeted factories, some operational, others under construction. None were Hezbollah fortresses, of course. They also hit a UNIFIL outpost last night killing UN international observers.

This will be a long note because it is a cluster from the past few days. It will most likely be a tedious read. It reflects my encounters these past few days, conversations and discussions with friends journalists and analysts as well as vignettes from Beirut under siege. As I attempt to tie all of these sections together, I am back at the Cafe with WiFi. Yesterday they played the soundtrack from Lawrence of Arabia. I don't know if they were aware of the "post-colonial" and "post-post-colonial" dimension. Condi was in Jerusalem. The Bedouins were firing rockets at Haifa. And Faisal spoke late into the night, promising the rockets would go further than Haifa.

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5260.shtml

When Israel started this war on Lebanon they stated that their objective was destroying Hizballah.

A few days later it became disarming HA. Then, last week the objective became establishing a security zone from Litani and southward and keeping HA to the north of the river far enough so that their missiles don't reach Israel.

Today, a new strategy, a new objective (as reported by ABC news): establish a security zone just 1.2 miles wide along the border and hold it until international troops are deployed...

07:21 IAF attacks 90 targets in Lebanon overnight (Israel Radio)

07:21 Australian FM: Deploying peacekeepers to southern Lebanon would be `suicide` (AP)

06:06 Australia to withdraw its 12 peacekeeping troops from southern Lebanon (AP)

06:05 Militant web site promises al-Zawahri message on Gaza and Lebanon `soon` (AP)

06:03 Iran`s foreign minister to visit Malaysia for possible talks on Mideast crisis (AP)

The lack of action prompted Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of Lebanon to lash out with a cry of despair.

“Is the value of human life less in Lebanon than that of citizens elsewhere?” he asked. “Are we children of a lesser god? Is an Israeli teardrop worth more than a drop of Lebanese blood?”

Accusing Israel of “barbaric destruction,” he vowed to seek justice, announcing that Lebanon would begin legal proceedings for war reparations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/wo...rtner=homepage

WHY ISRAEL IS LOSING

The world is witnessing what could be a critical turning point in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel is now engaged in a war that could permanently undermine the efficacy of its much-vaunted military apparatus.

Ironically, there are several reasons for believing that Israel's destruction of southern Lebanon and southern Beirut will weaken its bargaining position relative to its adversaries, and will strengthen its adversaries' hands. (...)

As will soon be demonstrated by events on the ground, Israel will not be able to destroy or even disarm Hizballah. Neither will Hamas, Hizballah, Lebanon, or Syria permit Israel or America to dictate terms to them. Consequently, if Israel lingers too long in Southern Lebanon, its presence will be paid for at such a high cost, that it will be forced to withdraw in ignominy, as it has so many times in the past.

In the end however, Israel's loss of power will make it even more dangerous, because the more threatened the Israelis feel, the more likely they will launch destructive wars against the Palestinians and Israel's other adversaries.

Finally, the same can be said of the U.S., with respect to its loss of global power. Instead of becoming more careful with its use of force, the erosion of America's global dominance will likely make the U.S. government more aggressive, as it attempts to re-assert its former position relative to its adversaries and competitors.

And it is precisely because America and Israel are losing influence over global events, that an American attack upon Iran in 2007 becomes more likely.

God help us all.

read in full...
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m25038&hd=0&size=1&l=x

Exclusive: US calls for Mount Dov talks

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Herb Keinon, THE JERUSALEM POST Jul. 26, 2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The US is "counseling" Israel to negotiate a possible withdrawal from the Mount Dov (Shaba Farms) area with Lebanon as part of a long-term arrangement for Lebanon, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

This issue was one of the focuses of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's talks in Jerusalem Tuesday with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

However, this issue - as well as discussions about the mandate and composition of a possible multinational force in Lebanon - was shunted aside Wednesday because of the bitter fighting and the IDF losses at Bint Jbail....

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

Kuwaiti newspaper: Nasrallah in Damascus, to meet with Assad, Larijani
(12:33 , 07.27.06)

Kuwaiti newspaper: Nasrallah in Damascus, to meet with Assad, Larijani

Iranian National Security Advisor, Ali Larijani will arrive today in Damascus for a meeting with the President of Syria, Bashar Assad, and the leader of Hizbullah, Hassan Nasrallah, as reported by Kuwaiti newspaper, al-Seyassah. According to the report, the meeting is in order to discuss the fighting and equipment of Hizbullah. Iranian weapons continue to flow through Syria.

According to the report, Nasrallah is transported through the streets of Damascus in an armored car. It was also reported that Nasrallah's last speech, broadcast Tuesday, was recorded in a studio belonging to Syrian intelligence. It should be noted that there is no verification of the report from any other source and that the newspaper relies on reports sanctioned for publication. (Roee Nahmias)

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3282157,00.html

World 'backs Lebanon offensive'
BBC

Israel says diplomats' decision not to call for a halt to its Lebanon offensive at a Middle East summit has given it the green light to continue.

"We received yesterday at the Rome conference permission from the world... to continue the operation," Justice Minister Haim Ramon said.

His comments came ahead of an Israeli cabinet meeting to decide whether to intensify the military offensive.

There have been more Israeli air raids and fighting continues in the south.

Foreign ministers attending crisis talks on the violence in Rome on Wednesday failed to unite in calling for an immediate ceasefire, vowing instead to work with "utmost urgency" for a sustainable truce.

Speaking on Israeli army radio, Mr Ramon - a close confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - said "everyone understands that a victory for Hezbollah is a victory for world terror".

He said that in order to prevent casualties amongst Israeli soldiers battling Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, villages should be flattened by the Israeli air force before ground troops move in.

'All southerners terrorists'

He added that Israel had given the civilians of southern Lebanon ample time to quit the area and therefore anyone still remaining there can be considered Hezbollah supporters.

"All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah," Mr Ramon said.

more
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5219360.stm

"He said that in order to prevent casualties amongst Israeli soldiers battling Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, villages should be flattened by the Israeli air force before ground troops move in.

He added that Israel had given the civilians of southern Lebanon ample time to quit the area and therefore anyone still remaining there can be considered Hezbollah supporters.

"All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah," Mr Ramon said."

Does this include the old, the infirm, those without transport, and those just too damn terrified to move?

It's monstrous.

July 27, 2006
The Israelis
Haifa, Suddenly Vulnerable, by Turns Is Stoic and Fearful, Stir-Crazy and Looking to Fight

NYT
By STEVEN ERLANGER

HAIFA, Israel, July 26 — Haifa, a city of 250,000 people, beautifully rising along a mountain, on Wednesday looked like a Hollywood set during an actors’ strike. The streets were almost empty, the shops shuttered, the gas stations closed, the street lights blinking their cycle of stop and go for no particular reason.

There have been periods of threat before, especially farther north in Nahariya and smaller towns, but missiles had never reached Haifa. Now, with Hezbollah employing more sophisticated and longer-range Syrian and Iranian missiles, this multiethnic city, one of Israel’s jewels, is suddenly vulnerable.

Dozens of missiles have struck Haifa in recent days, completely paralyzing it. They have driven residents into shelters or out of the city, and many who have stayed have sent their children farther south, where the missiles have not yet reached.

The people here are intermittently anxious and combative, troubled and proud at this new challenge that history has thrown at them.

Meirav Ben Simchon, 30, has spent 13 days here, and she is in a combative mood. “We can live like this for 10 years if we have to,’’ she said. “We’re a nation of power and belief” — and then she bent down to touch the cracked earth. “No one will take this land away from us,” she said. “No one.”

This part of town, a poor section called Kiryat Eleazer, is full of immigrants from northern Africa and Russia living in inexpensive apartments that share a dank underground shelter built in the 1950’s. A Katyusha landed a half-block away two days ago, breaking windows and lightly injuring two people. When the sirens go off, residents run, eyes wide, for the shelter door.

For Sarah Schlossberg, sitting downstairs in the shelter, this conflict is “unpleasant, but I’m used to worse.” She arranged her skirt on a plastic chair and brushed her gray hair behind her ears.

“It’s not my first war,” she said. When was that? “In 1939, in Poland,” she said.

Marina Abayev, 40, came to Israel 10 years ago from Baku, Azerbaijan, with her husband and her parents. “After two weeks, I can’t control the kids anymore,” she said, pointing to Sabrina, 7, and Eyal, 5, racing around the dirt courtyard near the shelter door. Last night, she let the children sleep at home, but a siren frightened them and they came down to the shelter.

It is not the Israel she expected, she said, but her children, born here, are Israeli. Then her eyes grew moist, and she said: “If there was another place for them I’d leave. Really, there’s no tomorrow for this country, only today. I have to say it: it’s too dangerous here.”

Georgette Gaon, 40, stirred on the mattress on the shelter floor. “Israel is always vulnerable with all this terror,” she said. “We can be on a bus, and boom! Now with this war, we hope it’s a good step, and we’ll finish with these crazy Hezbollah.”

She goes home to cook for the people here, and has sent her two children, 10 and 8, south to relatives in Hadera. Is Hadera safe? She laughed. “No, Nasrallah’s crazy,” she said, referring to the Hezbollah leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. “He talks about hitting Tel Aviv.”

Mrs. Gaon is a hawk. “The army is doing pretty well,” she said, adding, “They should have started with Syria. We have to teach some lessons.

more

Rice's diplomatic scorecard is grim after Italy summit
Pessimism grows over U.S. ability to forge peace
Jul. 27, 2006
TIM HARPER, WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON—An international force in south Lebanon? A great idea decidedly short on volunteers.

A ceasefire? Urgently needed, but not right away.

A disarmed Hezbollah? A prerequisite, with no one publicly working toward that end.

This was the distinctly grim diplomatic scorecard left behind by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she departed an international meeting in Rome yesterday, leaving the future of the Israeli-Hezbollah war unclear on one of the deadliest days yet in the 16-day-old conflict.

"We are following the American-Israeli script," says Marina Ottaway, a Middle East expert at Washington's Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"This gives Israel a free hand to continue the bombing for another week or 10 days before Rice returns to the region and puts a stop to it."

In Rome, Rice's position may have sparked frustration, but back in the United States, there is growing concern over backlash and isolation, two perceptions the White House furiously sought to dispel yesterday.

There is a sense of pessimism here that a Bush administration that has never shown any interest in being an "honest broker" in the Middle East can somehow turn this lengthy bloodshed into something positive and durable in the region.

"This is an administration which makes war and makes rhetoric, not diplomacy," said Judith Kipper, a Middle East analyst at the non-partisan Council on Foreign Relations.

"Now there is a historic opportunity for this president. There is a chance for lasting peace and stability in the region, but given the history of this administration, it is only possible, not probable."

White House spokesman Tony Snow maintained there was no diplomatic failure in Rome, where Rice, with the backing of Ottawa and London, resisted calls for an immediate ceasefire. "The violence starts with Hezbollah," he said. "And we don't stop the violence. They do."

Snow also refused to put any timeline on efforts to stop the killing on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Ottaway said there is not an Arab on the planet who is not convinced that U.S. President George W. Bush is playing Israel's game. "He never projected the image of honest broker," she said. "It was honest broker with an Israeli bent. They never tried to even give the impression otherwise."

Anthony Cordesman, a former Pentagon intelligence official now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, says Bush is paying the price for his failure to seriously engage in the Middle East peace process while fruitlessly trying to bring stability to Iraq following the 2003 invasion.

Most U.S.-based analysts say it is time for European militaries — particularly France, which has substantial historical links to Lebanon — to step up if an international force is to be cobbled together. And pressure was growing on the Bush administration to engage Syria, if there was to be an honest effort to disarm Hezbollah.

"Before you can even start to put together an international force, you have to determine its mission," Cordesman said. "The U.S. and Israel want the force to enforce something that will eliminate the Hezbollah threat, while the rest of the world wants an immediate ceasefire for humanitarian reasons."

Italy and Spain have indicated interest and European Union officials told the Associated Press a force could be composed of French, German and Spanish troops, supplemented by forces from Turkey, the Netherlands, Canada and Arab states such Egypt or Saudi Arabia.

But it's easier to divine who won't be part of any force.

Washington is out of the picture because it is too closely aligned with Israel. British troops, similarly, would also be seen to be doing Israel's bidding. Canada is among those countries whose troops are spread too thin, with 2,200 troops deployed in Afghanistan, despite the EU musings.

Toronto Star

Israel withdraws unilaterally? Diplomatic settlement? Israel snared in counter-insurgency? Lebanese government falls? Israel invades Lebanon?

UK, The Independent's Analysis of Options

Al-Qaeda 'to avenge Israel deeds'
BBc

Al-Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has said in a video the militant network will respond to attacks on Muslims in Lebanon and Gaza.

The video was broadcast by Arabic television station al-Jazeera.

Al-Qaeda could not remain silent in the face of a "Crusader war" and now saw "all the world as a battlefield open in front of us", he said.

Events in Lebanon and Gaza showed the importance of the battle in Afghanistan and Iraq, he added.

"As they attack us everywhere, we will attack them everywhere. As they have joined forces to fight us, our nation will unite to fight them," he said.

"The shells and rockets which are tearing the bodies of Muslims in Gaza and Lebanon are not purely Israeli. They are produced and financed by all the countries of the Crusader alliance.

"Therefore, all those who have taken part in the crime must pay the price. We cannot just watch these shells as they pour wrath on our brothers in Gaza and Lebanon and sit back in submission."

The statement is thought to be the first comment by al-Qaeda against Israel's war on Lebanon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5220162.stm

Ayman al-Zawahri the uniter
Al-Qaida Calls for Holy War Against Israel

.......

He also called for the "downtrodden" throughout the world, not just Muslims, to join the battle against "tyrannical Western civilization and its leader, America."

"Stand with Muslims in confronting this unprecedented oppression and tyranny. Stand with us as we stand with you against this injustice that was forbidden by God in his book (the Quran)," al-Zawahri said.

Kamal Habib, a former member of Egypt's Islamic Jihad militant group who was jailed from 1981 to 1991 along with al-Zawahri, said the al-Qaida No. 2's outreach to Shiites and non-Muslims was unprecedented and reflected a major change in tactics.

"This is a transformation in the vision of al-Qaida and its struggle with the United States. It is now trying to unite Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims and calling for non-Muslims to join the fight," he said.

Al-Zawahri wore a gray robe and white turban in the video. A picture of the burning World Trade Center was on the wall behind him along with photos of two other militants. One appeared to be a bearded Mohamed Atta, the Egyptian ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks. The other was Mohammed Atef, also known as Abu Hafs al-Masri, a former top lieutenant of bin Laden who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan in November 2001.

The Arab satellite station did not transmit the entire tape, using instead selected quotes interspersed with commentary from an anchor.

An Al-Jazeera official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters said the full tape was about eight minutes long. The satellite channel aired only about half the message. It would not say how it received the tape.

"The shells and rockets ripping apart Muslim bodies in Gaza and Lebanon are not only Israeli (weapons), but are supplied by all the countries of the crusader coalition. Therefore, every participant in the crime will pay the price," al-Zawahri said.

"We cannot just watch these shells as they burn our brothers in Gaza and Lebanon and stand by idly, humiliated," he added.

.........

Israel Decides Not to Expand Offensive

Thursday July 27, 2006 3:01 PM

AP Photo AXLP103

By LAURIE COPANS

Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) - Top Israeli Cabinet ministers decided Thursday not to expand the country's Lebanon offensive but ordered the call up of thousands of additional reserve soldiers to boost the campaign. The decision came as Israeli jets pounded across Lebanon on Thursday, extending their air campaign a day after suffering its highest one-day casualty toll in fighting with Hezbollah, with nine soldiers killed.

So far, 16 days of bombardment and intense ground fighting in recent days have been unable to stop the Hezbollah rocket attacks. On Wednesday, the guerrillas unleashed their biggest volley yet - 151 rockets into northern Israel.

On Thursday, a Hezbollah rocket slammed into a laundry detergent plant in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona, setting a warehouse on fire, Israeli security officials said. Farej Fares, a local police commander in the northern town, said no one was in the building when it was hit, and that there was no threat of toxic materials being released into the air.

The Israeli military warned Lebanese in the south on Thursday that their villages would be ``totally destroyed'' if missiles are fired from them.

more

how are people who are civillians and unarmed suppose to stop the rockets?

TERRORISM: GRAPHIC CHANGE TO AL-QAEDA VIDEO

Dubai, 27 July (AKI) - The latest video of Ayman al-Zawahiri, broadcast on Thursday by the al-Jazeera network, was put together by the al-Sahab production house which has produced all the propaganda videos by the al-Qaeda leadership, but there has been a dramatic change of graphics. Cybernauts who are frequent visitors to radical Islamist forums are asking what hidden message lies in the details of this latest film. For the first time al-Zawahiri appears against a backdrop of four photos, of which only three are visible, with studio lighting. In the past he has usually been seen against a plain dark background.

The first photo, on the left of the al-Qaeda number two, shows Sheikh Abu Hafs al-Masri, who was killed in the US bombing campaign on Afghanistan in late 2001. The second, in a central position, shows the World Trade Centre twin towers in flames, while the third, on al-Zawahiri's right, shows a young Mohammad Atta, head of the 19 suicide bombers who carried out the 11 September, 2001 attacks.

One internet forum member asked why they had chosen those three photos, but no one has provided a coherent answer.

Abu Hads al-Masri is also the name of a European cell of al-Qaeda, while the other two photos are a clear visual reference to the activities of the terror network in the United States.

(Ham/Aki)

Bin Lauden's Fatwa

I would think Arabs see the United States supporting their Zionist enemy 100%. They believe Israel is America's client state. They also believe America covets their oil resources. They harbour big grudges with the United States.

By the United States choosing to support Israel, and using their veto power once more for Israel's disproportionate reactionary invasion into Gaza and Lebanon (a trumped up reason.) Those actions validate Arab beliefs they have no choice but to continue terrorist acts as revenge for what they feel was done to them and by this latest war, continues to be done. Think about it...not once has the United States been seen as reigning Israel in. Sanctions have been imposed on Middle Eastern countries, Iraq is occupied and making the United States have made public statements that they'll invade Iran or look the other way if Israel does it for them.

It's obvious the United States does not seek a ceasefire. Instead they have given Israel the go ahead to continue its war. The longer this war continues, the more Arabs will seek organizations like Al Quaeda, Hamas and Hizbulla.

(note: AFAIK this is not satire. - ES)

by Rory Mulholland Wed Jul 26, 11:14 AM ET

TIBERIAS, Israel (AFP) - Reuven Zelinkovsky was a colonel in the Israeli army, but now he has renounced military might to join a squadron of yogic flyers at the Sea of Galilee to throw a "shield of invincibility" around the Jewish state.

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As Hezbollah rockets fired from nearby Lebanon boomed in the background, he explained that the solution to the latest conflict to engulf the Middle East was "not to kill the enemy but to kill enmity."

This can be done through the "technology" of yogic flying which, for those trained in the technique, is the spontaneous result of transcendental meditation, said Zelinkovsky as he emerged Tuesday from the first of two daily four-hour sessions.

The bespectacled electronics engineer, who served in the army from 1966 until 1982, is part of a worldwide movement led by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the former guru to The Beatles.

The movement's Natural Law Party has unsuccessfully fielded candidates in US presidential and British general elections, touting yogic flying as a solution to the world's ills.

Yogic flying, derided by critics as glorified bum-hopping, is the purported ability to levitate through the advanced practice of transcendental meditation, or TM.

Proponents of the art say world peace can be achieved by thousands of simultaneous yogic flyers spread across the globe.

Here in Israel, according to a formula that says the square root of one percent of a country's population is the number needed to tap into a collective consciousness robust enough to create a "shield of invincibility," 265 people are needed.

But Zelinkovsky's squadron, which includes architects, health workers and pensioners, many of whom are also teachers of TM, now numbers only about 20 after falling from a peak of 65 last week.

This, he explained with the conviction of the converted, is why Israel's war with Hezbollah, which has already left hundreds dead, has not stopped.

"All my life I've been looking for scientific solutions to problems," said Zelinkovsky.

He slowly came to realise that his belief in the power of TM and military life were not compatible.

"I went to my commander and presented this solution. It was like talking to the wall so I left. In my mind I continue to be an army man. But now I use a new technology to serve the nation."

(...)

link to Raw Story article

(Comment: let's see now - Yogic Flying:

1) extremely risky, 2) cannot be shown empirically to contribute to Israel's security, 3) shows a very tenuous grasp of the meaning of the word "defense", 4) shows a tenuous grasp on physical reality itself, 5) a tiny radical fringe minority of humans on the planet would support it, and 6) stands no chance of either initiating atrocity or launching WWIII

vs current Israeli policy:

1) extremely risky, 2) cannot be shown empirically to contribute to Israel's security, 3) shows a very tenuous grasp of the meaning of the word "defense", 4) shows a tenuous grasp on physical reality itself, 5) a tiny radical fringe minority of humans on the planet would support it, and 6) stands a very real chance of either initiating atrocity or launching WWIII

Hmmmmmm - ES)

EU says Israel misinterpreted Rome conference result

The European Union said Thursday that Israel misinterpreted the outcome of the Middle East conference in Rome and that the fighting in Lebanon should cease immediately.

Speaking on behalf of the European Union, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said Israeli views that the Rome declaration indicated it should continue its offensive were "Totally wrong." Finland is current president of the EU. (AP)

(07.27.06, 18:02)

came as its justice minister said the declaration of Wednesday’s Rome conference on the Lebanese crisis amounted to green light for Israel to step up it’s offensive. Germany’s foreign minister called that interpretation a “gross misunderstanding.”

Toronto Star

I guess...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14047026/

Oil spill adds ecological crisis to Lebanon's agony

BEIRUT –– Along Lebanon's sandy beaches and rocky headlands runs a belt of black sludge, 10,000 to 30,000 tonnes of oil that spilled into the Mediterranean after Israel bombed a power plant.

Lebanon's Environment Ministry says the oil flooded into the sea when Israeli jets hit storage tanks at the Jiyyeh plant south of Beirut on July 13 and 15, creating an ecological crisis that Lebanon's government has neither the money nor the expertise to deal with.

"We have never seen a spill like this in the history of Lebanon. It is a major catastrophe," Environment Minister Yacoub al-Sarraf told Reuters.

"The equipment we have is for minor spills. We use it once in a blue moon to clean a small spill of 50 tonnes or so.

"To clean this whole thing up we would need an armada... The cost of a full clean-up could run as high as $40-50 million." Carried by a north-easterly wind, the spill has travelled 70-80 km up the coast of Lebanon, which has been bombarded by Israel for 16 days in a war against Hizbollah.

An Israeli warship damaged by a Hizbollah missile on July 15 may also have spilled diesel oil into the sea, according to the Environment Ministry website (www.moe.gov.lb).

At Beirut's Sporting Club, seven men in navy overalls perch on the edge of a man-made inlet skimming sludge, using buckets on the end of sticks and pouring it into plastic containers.

The ground around them is black, as are their forearms and clothes. The air is thick with acrid fumes that sting the eyes and irritate the throat.

The team is part of a pilot clean-up commissioned by the Environment Ministry. Another mop-up is underway at the San Antoine Sandy Beach Resort in northern Lebanon. –– Reuters

http://www.timesofoman.com/newsdetails.asp?newsid=33474

Israel Seeks to Align Public Expectations With Reality
Officials have stepped back from their rhetoric in the early days of the conflict. Hezbollah can be weakened but not destroyed, they now say.
By Laura King, LA Times Staff Writer
July 27, 2006

JERUSALEM — Even before Wednesday's bruising day on the battlefields of south Lebanon, Israel's leaders had begun scaling back public expectations of a decisive — or a quick — victory over the guerrillas of Hezbollah.

Heading into the confrontation, senior Israeli officials had declared that the Shiite Muslim militia would be dealt a blow from which it could not recover. Its arsenal would be destroyed and its fighters driven out of south Lebanon, the officials said.

Some spoke openly of killing Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, who triggered the confrontation two weeks ago by sending guerrillas on a deadly cross-border raid that led to the capture of two Israeli soldiers.

"We intend to break this organization," Defense Minister Amir Peretz said of Hezbollah during the conflict's first days.

The army's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, declared that Israel wanted to make it clear to the Lebanese "that they've swallowed a cancer and have to vomit it up."

PM urged: Stand up to Bush and call for ceasefire
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor, The Independent
Published: 28 July 2006

Tony Blair will face fresh pressure over the Middle East crisis today when he arrives in Washington to meet President George Bush. Senior Downing Street aides said the two leaders intended to show the world they were seeking an urgent end to the hostilities in Lebanon, despite the failure of the much vaunted Rome summit on Wednesday to deliver a unified call for a truce.

Israel's Justice Minister, Haim Ramon, added to the pressure yesterday, when he interpreted that indecision as a green light to continue the bloody assault on Lebanon.

"We received yesterday at the Rome conference permission from the world... to continue the operation," he told reporters.

The Prime Minister's visit takes place as 42 leading figures in politics, diplomacy, academia and the media put their names to a declaration urging Mr Blair to tell the President that Britain "can no longer support the American position on the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle-East". Their declaration, printed on the front page of today's Independent, calls on the Prime Minister to "make urgent representations to Israel to end its disproportionate and counter-productive response to Hizbollah's aggression".

After his stop-over in Washington, Mr Blair will fly on to California tonight to attend a conference with the media magnate Rupert Murdoch. An ally of Mr Murdoch, Irwin Stelzer, insisted Mr Blair was not Mr Bush's "poodle", but his "guide dog", particularly over the Middle East.

Lebanon Official Says 600 Civilians Killed

By ZEINA KARAM

BEIRUT, Lebanon Jul 27, 2006 (AP)— Up to 600 civilians are believed to have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Lebanon, with 382 confirmed dead and the rest either known to be buried under the rubble of buildings or missing, the health minister told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The civilian deaths, combined with casualty figures released by the Lebanese army and Hezbollah guerrillas, bring the confirmed death toll on the Lebanese side to at least 437 killed.

The 382 figure is known because the bodies have arrived at hospitals, Health Minister Muhammed Jawad Khalifeh said.

Police reports to the ministry say another 58 are known to be buried under the rubble of buildings wrecked in Israeli strikes, he said. "We have reports of around 150 people gone missing," he said.

"We believe around 600 people are dead," he said. He did not elaborate on why the missing are presumed dead.

My father was a freedom fighter in the Danish resistance during WWII.
How is this different to Hezbollah?
Back then they were called freedom fighters, now they are called terrorists!
Give me an honest answer!

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