Bill's Bites: Lebanon

Tuesday, 19 June 2007

2007.06.19 Israel/Lebanon/Palistan Roundup

Six of One...

Below the fold:

Brothers to the Bitter End

See also:

Lebanon launches attack on militants in refugee camp

(CNN) -- Lebanon's military on Friday launched a new artillery attack on a Palestinian refugee camp north of Tripoli where Islamic militants have been holed up.

The renewed fighting comes after more than a week of relative quiet between the military and the militants of Fatah al-Islam, which is said to be affiliated with al Qaeda, inside the camp.

It was some of the heaviest daylight artillery fire seen since the start of the campaign to root out the militant faction. The fighting at the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli, which started May 20, is the worst internal violence since the end of Lebanon's civil war in 1990.

Nahr al-Bared is one of several Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon dating back to the 1948 Mideast war that followed the creation of Israel. ...

Heavy Fighting Resumes in Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Under the cover of artillery barrages, dozens of Lebanese army tanks and armored carriers moved toward a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon Friday in pursuit of Islamic militants holed up inside.

About 50 armored carriers and battle tanks from elite units massed at the northern edge of the camp and drove toward the forwardmost positions, according to AP Television News crew at the scene.

There was no confirmation that the army units were making a final push to take over the camp, instead of simply advancing to grab territory and isolate the militants in pockets. But a significant decrease in shelling, accompanied by a rise in machine gun fire from armored carriers and exchanges of automatic rifle fire, suggested the troops were already engaging the militants. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on June 1, 2007 at 02:08 AM in Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 30 May 2007

2007.05.30 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

See previous: 2007.05.29 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

Living in Terror
Fred Dalton Thompson

Let me ask you a hypothetical question. What do you think America would do if Canadian soldiers were firing dozens of missiles every day into Buffalo, N.Y.? What do you think our response would be if Mexican troops for two years had launched daily rocket attacks on San Diego -- and bragged about it?

I can tell you, our response would look nothing like Israel's restrained and pinpoint reactions to daily missile attacks from Gaza. We would use whatever means necessary to win the war. There would likely be numerous casualties on our enemy's side, but we would rightfully hold those who attacked us responsible.

More than 1,300 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza since Palestinians were given control two years ago. Israelis, however, have gone to incredible lengths to stop the war against them without harming Palestinian non-combatants. But make no mistake, Israel is at war. The elected Hamas government regularly repeats its official promise to destroy Israel entirely and replace it with an Islamic state. Hamas openly took credit for killing one woman and wounding dozens more last week alone.

The Palestinian strategy is to purposely target and kill Israeli civilians. Then, when Israel goes after those launching the attacks, Palestinians claim to be the victims. If Palestinian civilians aren't hurt in the Israeli attacks, they stage injuries and deaths. Too often, they garner sympathy and support from a gullible or anti-Semitic media in the international community.

Israelis, themselves, are often incapable of facing the damage they inflict in self-defense. Knowing this, Islamic extremists are using their own populations as human shields. ...

Read the whole thing, or listen to it as a podcast, here.

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U.N. approves Hariri assassination tribunal

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- In a challenge to Syria, the U.N. Security Council voted on Wednesday to set up a court to prosecute the murder two years ago of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.

In pushing through the resolution, Western powers are gambling that the boost to the Lebanese government's authority and to the rule of law will outweigh any violent reaction in the region.

Britain's U.N. ambassador, Emyr Jones Parry, told reporters the vote would "send the right political signal" to Lebanon, a country with a long history of political assassinations, many of which have gone unpunished.

After months of arguments between deeply divided Lebanese politicians and talks between the Beirut government and the United Nations, 10 council members supported the Western-sponsored resolution to set up the court and five abstained. There were no votes against.

Allahpundit has background and reax here. (H/T: Michelle)

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 30, 2007 at 04:14 PM in Lebanon, Syria | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 29 May 2007

2007.05.29 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

See previous: 2007.05.27 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

Below the fold, newest items at the top:

Jihadists moving into Lebanon from Syria

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Jihadists moving into Lebanon from Syria

NAHR EL-BARED, Lebanon -- Heavily armed foreign jihadists have been entering Lebanon from Syria from around the time Western authorities noticed a drop in the infiltration of foreign fighters from Syria to Iraq, Lebanese officials say.

Syrian authorities, hoping to disrupt Lebanon so they can reassert control of the country, "have stopped sending [the jihadists] to Iraq and are now sending them here," charged Mohammed Salam, a specialist in Palestinian affairs in Lebanon. "They sent those people to die in Lebanon."

Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, commander of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces, said about half of the militants who have been battling Lebanese forces in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp outside Tripoli for nine days had fought previously in Iraq.

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 29, 2007 at 12:38 AM in Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 24 May 2007

2007.05.24 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

See previous: 2007.05.23 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

Below the fold, newest items at the top:

Heavy Gunfire Erupts at Refugee Camp After Lebanese Ultimatum
Lebanon to receive weapons shipment from U.S
Finding The Right Motivation
U.N. agency knew of armed foreigners in Lebanon camp

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Heavy Gunfire Erupts at Refugee Camp After Lebanese Ultimatum

TRIPOLI, Lebanon — Heavy exchanges of gunfire briefly interrupted a two-day-old truce late Thursday between Lebanese troops besieging a Palestinian refugee camp and Islamic militants holed up inside.

The renewed fighting on the northern edge of the Nahr el-Bared camp appeared so far limited to exchanges, which lasted 20 minutes before tapering off into sporadic gunfire, and there was no sign that the troops positioned on the camp's edge were making any move to enter. Until sundown Thursday, only sporadic gunfire marred the truce.

Security officials said army positions came under heavy machine gun fire from Fatah Islam gunmen followed by rocket-propelled grenades, so the army "dealt" with the source of fire. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, said the army will not initiate fire but will respond to attack.

Earlier in the day, the Lebanese army moved troops around the Nahr el-Bared camp but did not attempt to advance, apparently giving time for negotiations and for the militants to comply with a government ultimatum to surrender or face a military assault. ...

Lebanon to receive weapons shipment from U.S

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Lebanese forces battling Islamic militants inside Lebanon will be resupplied by a shipment of U.S. military ammunition, which is expected to arrive within two days, senior U.S. officials told CNN's Barbara Starr on Thursday.

In the meantime, both sides flatly rejected calls to surrender.

A statement attributed to Fatah al-Islam was sent Thursday to several media outlets in Lebanon, saying the militant group intends " to blow up several crusaders' universities and schools tomorrow in the event the Lebanese army does not surrender." Crusaders usually refers to Americans or Westerners.

Responding to Lebanon's call for immediate military assistance, the U.S. military will send as many as six cargo flights carrying ammunition to Lebanon, the officials said.

One senior U.S. military official said it is rare to send military flights on such a mission, considering the sensitive nature of the United States' role in the Middle East. But the Bush administration decided it could not wait to charter commercial cargo planes for the resupply mission, the official said.

The senior officials stressed that the flights are carrying only supplies for Lebanese forces, and the U.S. military has no intention of involving its troops in the fighting, which began Sunday.

The United States is a strong supporter of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government, which it sees as a rare example of a young democracy in the Middle East.

Finding The Right Motivation
Ed Morrissey

Hamas has decided to enter a unilateral cease-fire with Israel and to stop the launching of rockets at Israeli cities. This sudden reversal after more than a week of constant barrage comes courtesy of an announced change in Israeli strategy -- in which they would target the political leaders of Hamas:
Israel's threat to target senior Hamas leaders in response to the Kassam rocket attacks from Gaza has prompted the group to agree to a unilateral cease-fire with Israel, Palestinian Authority officials said Wednesday.

"Hamas wants to stop the Kassam rockets. They are especially worried about reports that Israel may assassinate [PA Prime Minister] Ismail Haniyeh and [Hamas chief] Khaled Mashaal," the officials told The Jerusalem Post. ...
Hamas officials in Syria engaged in stand-up comedy when complaining about the new Israeli strategy. They called it "state terror" and an assassination threat against "an elected prime minister". They conveniently forgot to mention his status as the head of the organization that has chucked bombs at Israeli citizens for weeks, and really off and on for years. This announcement shows that Haniyeh could have stopped these rocket attacks at any time, which makes him a terrorist first and foremost. ...

U.N. agency knew of armed foreigners in Lebanon camp
By Betsy Pisik, The Washington Times

NEW YORK -- The U.N. agency that oversees the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, the scene of three days of battles between Lebanese troops and Muslim militants, said yesterday it had been aware for months that heavily armed foreigners were moving into the Palestinian enclave but were helpless to stop them.

The extremists of Fatah Islam, who local reports say hail from Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Bangladesh, apparently entered the camp, just north of Tripoli, several months ago. They are thought to have arrived in a group, not individually.

Officials of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) could not say how a large band of foreigners carrying what has been described as mortars, rockets, explosive belts and other heavy weapons were able get past the Lebanese army soldiers stationed outside the camp.

They also could not explain why militias of young Palestinian men who provide security and gather intelligence throughout Nahr el-Bared and other Palestinian areas allowed foreign fighters to settle there.

"Somebody hasn't been doing their job," said Karen Koning AbuZayd, commissioner-general of UNRWA. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 24, 2007 at 02:46 AM in Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 23 May 2007

2007.05.23 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

See previous: 2007.05.22 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

Below the fold, newest items at the top:

Lebanon warns militants: Surrender or else
Explosion hits resort town near Beirut
Furious Street Battles Remind Lebanon of Its Past

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Lebanon warns militants: Surrender or else

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Lebanon's defense minister issued an ultimatum Wednesday to Islamic militants barricaded in a Palestinian refugee camp to surrender or face a military onslaught, as the army reinforced its positions, raising fears of what could be a bloody showdown.

Fighters from the al Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam militant group vowed not to give up and to resist any Lebanese assault.

Storming the Nahr el-Bared camp -- a densely built-up town of narrow streets on the Mediterranean coast -- could mean rough urban fighting for Lebanese troops and further death and destruction for the the thousands of civilians who remain inside.

It could also have grave repercussions elsewhere across troubled Lebanon, sparking unrest among the country's estimated 400,000 Palestinians. Already some of the other refugee camps in Lebanon, which are rife with armed groups, are seething with anger at the fighting. ...

"Preparations are seriously underway to end the matter," Defense Minister Elias Murr said said in an interview with the Al-Arabiya television. "The army will not negotiate with a group of terrorists and criminals. Their fate is arrest, and if they resist the army, death." ...

Explosion hits resort town near Beirut

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- An explosion hit one of Lebanon's most important mountain resorts late Wednesday, wounding at least five people, police said.

The blast rocked the Druse town of Aley around 9 p.m. and was heard as far as Beirut's Mediterranean coastline about 12 miles to the west.

Police officials said the bomb that went off was hidden in a bag and placed at the entrance of a building in a narrow street about 200 yards from the main government building in the town. Ambulances and police rushed to the area minutes after the blast.

The explosion sheered off walls of apartments, felled electricity cables and wrecked parked vehicles. It also blew off shutters on the many shops in the street. Dozens of onlookers quickly gathered to inspect the aftermath of the blast.

Aley is popular with Arab tourists from the oil-rich Gulf who usually begin arriving in June to spend the summer in Lebanon.

Residents of the area are known to be loyal to Druse anti-Syrian leader Walid Jumblatt, who had warned Tuesday of stepped-up violence and explosions across Lebanon. ...

Furious Street Battles Remind Lebanon of Its Past

NAHR AL BARED REFUGEE CAMP, Lebanon, May 22 — The stark reality of the three-day battle in this seaside refugee camp became apparent Tuesday on a drive through the area during a brief but dangerous lull in the fighting.

Bodies lay in the rubble-strewn streets, some unrecovered through three days of fighting.

At the approach of a car, terrified Palestinians emerged from hiding, then scrambled for safety when snipers opened fire on them from various directions. A spontaneous demonstration against the fighting quickly ended when the demonstrators came under fire, leaving two dead and several others wounded.

Soon the crackle of heavy machine-gun fire in the distance offered an ominous warning of impending attack, and minutes later mortar shells landed on a United Nations convoy delivering badly needed food and medical supplies.

No one, it seemed, was safe from the violence.

Three days after a police raid touched off a violent confrontation between the Lebanese Army and a militant Palestinian group, Fatah al Islam, the first clear look inside the camp on Tuesday presented stark reminders of Lebanon’s bloody past.

And ominous warnings from Palestinian groups in other camps as well as a suicide bombing in an apartment in Tripoli raised fears that the conflict could spread to other parts of the country and destabilize the already shaky government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 23, 2007 at 03:06 AM in Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 21 May 2007

2007.05.21 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

See previous: 2007.05.20 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

Below the fold:

AQ Starts Trouble In Lebanon
Gunbattles rage around Lebanon refugee camp
Death Toll at 65 in Lebanon- Wanted Terrorist Among Dead

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AQ Starts Trouble In Lebanon
Ed Morrissey

Terrorist attacks and the government's response have killed more than 30 people in Lebanon overnight. At least one of the factions has ties to al-Qaeda, and some believe Syria may have quarterbacked these latest uprisings in an attempt to undermine the Lebanese government:
Government soldiers Sunday battled members of an Islamic group at a refugee camp near the Syrian border and in a nearby coastal city, with at least 33 people killed in the worst bloodshed here in almost a year.

A bomb went off before midnight in an affluent Christian neighborhood of Beirut, killing one woman and injuring five other people, relief workers said. It was unclear whether the explosion was connected to the earlier fighting in the north.

The heavy, daylong combat stoked fears among many Lebanese that neighbor Syria was involved and trying to foment unrest at a crucial time.
The involvement of al-Qaeda demonstrates the rising influence of radical Islamists in northern Lebanon. Previously, Hezbollah represented the Islamist faction in Lebanon, and they stayed almost exclusively in the south, where they claimed a mandate of protecting Lebanon from Israel. Now the UN refugee camps in the north, where Nahr-el-Bared sits on the coast north of Tripoli, have become infiltration targets for AQ as well as the normal Palestinian terrorist groups.

How much does Syria have to do with these new Islamist inroads? ...

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Gunbattles rage around Lebanon refugee camp

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Dozens of fighters reportedly have been killed or wounded as Lebanese forces engaged Monday in a second day of fierce gunbattles with Islamic militants at a Palestinian refugee camp outside Tripoli.

The Lebanese Cabinet met to discuss how it will respond to violence in the northern port city; on Sunday, the Cabinet declared its "full support" for military efforts to end the fighting, said Mohamed Chatah, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

"I'm not in a position to tell you the exact manner in which security forces are going to root up these elements, but it's going to happen," Chatah said. "It's going to happen after the security forces themselves advise the government on what they need."

Lebanese security forces are targeting militants and are not randomly shooting into the refugee camp, Chatah said.

The fighting was sparked Sunday when Lebanese Internal Security Forces raided a building in a neighborhood north of Tripoli, army sources said.

Militants from Fatah al-Islam began shooting at the forces, who returned fire, triggering clashes in the vicinity of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp.

Lebanese Internal Security Forces arrested four militants and found the bodies of 10 militants inside the building where they had barricaded themselves, an ISF spokesman said. Explosives were strapped to two bodies.

Security forces conducted the raid after Fatah al-Islam members tried to rob a bank Sunday and "take control of several security strongholds in the north, as if they were planning to carry out a major security operation," according to Ahmad Fatfat, a member of parliament and a minister in Siniora's Cabinet. ...

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Death Toll at 65 in Lebanon- Wanted Terrorist Among Dead
Gateway Pundit

One of the men killed in Sunday's fighting, Saddam El-Hajdib, was a suspect in a failed German train bombing a sign that Nahr al-Bared refugee camp had become a refuge for militants planning attacks outside of Lebanon. In fact it had been reported that the Al Qaeda-linked group was in the advanced planning stages for spectacular external attacks against civilian targets in Europe and the America.

Lebanese officials say the terrorists have Syrian allegiance and only take orders from Syria.

[image]

The BBC said one of the militants killed in the fighting was wanted in Germany for an attempted train bombing last year:
Lebanese troops and Islamist militants have clashed in the city of Tripoli for a second day, after earlier violence left about 50 people dead.
Troops shelled Fatah al-Islam positions around the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, the focus of much of Sunday's fighting.

More than 20 soldiers and 20 militants were killed in Sunday's clashes, and an unconfirmed number of civilians.

It was Lebanon's bloodiest internal fighting since the country's civil war ended 17 years ago...

"There are security procedures under way," Ghazi Aridi said. "We had casualties, but we will continue and those cells have also suffered casualties."

Mr Aridi said the militants killed on Sunday included "key leaders who have carried out and have been planning to carry out large attacks".

One of the dead militants was wanted in Germany over an unsuccessful plot to blow up trains last July, Lebanese security officials told journalists.
CNN reported that officials found the bodies of 10 terrorists inside a building where they had been barricaded. Explosives were strapped to two of the bodies. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 21, 2007 at 02:08 PM in Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 20 May 2007

2007.05.20 Israel/Lebanon/"Palestine" roundup

Below the fold:

39 Killed in Lebanon Violence
Israeli strikes kill 10 in Gaza, Palestinians say

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39 Killed in Lebanon Violence

TRIPOLI, Lebanon — Lebanese army tanks pounded a shadowy group suspected of ties to Al Qaeda on Sunday, targeting its hideouts inside a Palestinian refugee camp after hours of clashes killed at least 22 soldiers and 17 militants.

The violence between the army and the Fatah Islam group erupted both in the northern port city of Tripoli and the adjacent Nahr el-Bared refugee camp. It added further instability to a country already mired in its worst political crisis between the Western-backed government and Hezbollah-led opposition since the end of the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war.

It was the most serious fight the army had engaged in Lebanon in more than a decade and the worst violence to hit Tripoli in two decades.

The clashes between army troops surrounding the camp and Fatah Islam fighters began after a gunbattle raged in a neighborhood in Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni city known to have Islamic fundamentalists, witnesses said.

Fighting spread after police raided suspected Fatah Islam hideouts in several buildings in Tripoli, searching for men wanted in a recent bank robbery. A gunbattle ensued and troops were called in to help the police.

Militants then burst out of the refugee camp, seizing Lebanese army positions, capturing two armored vehicles and ambushing troops. They killed two soldiers on roads leading to the city.

Smoke billowed from the camp as a steady barrage of artillery and heavy machine gunfire from army positions pounded militant positions inside.

Security forces were able to quell the resistance in Tripoli after sundown, and troops seized all positions around the refugee camp late Sunday, the army said.

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Israeli strikes kill 10 in Gaza, Palestinians say

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Hours after Israel's prime minister vowed to respond to ongoing rocket attacks with an increased military response, Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 10 Palestinians, including a child, Palestinian security sources said Sunday.

Tank fire struck a house in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, wounding four people and killing a child, the sources said.

An Israel Defense Forces representative said the strike was in response to two rocket attacks on the Israeli town of Sderot. Fire was returned to the location from where it had emanated, he said.

And a pre-dawn Israeli airstrike Monday targeted a metal workshop in Gaza City, killing one man, the sources said.

An IDF spokeswoman confirmed the attack, calling the target a rocket production site.

Shortly before the missile attack, another airstrike hit the Gaza City home of Hamas lawmaker Khalil Hayya, the sources said.

Hayya was not home at the time, but the strike killed at least eight Palestinian civilians -- including some of the lawmaker's relatives, who were inside -- Palestinian medical sources said.

More than a dozen others were wounded, the sources said.

Hayya was at a meeting with Hamas and Fatah officials in Gaza City at the time of the airstrike to discuss the ongoing truce between the two Palestinian factions, according to Ramattan, a Palestinian news agency. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on May 20, 2007 at 08:53 PM in Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sunday, 18 March 2007

France Wanted Israel To Attack Syria

Report: France urged Israel to hit Syria
JPost Staff

French President Jacques Chirac told Israel at the start of the war in Lebanon that France would support an Israeli assault on Syria, it was reported on Sunday.

Army Radio reported that in the message, which was delivered by Chirac to Israel via a secret channel, the French president suggested that Israel invade Damascus and topple the regime of Bashar Assad. In exchange, Chirac assured Israel full French support for the war. ...

Hat tip Michael Ledeen, via Ed Morrissey, who has thoughts on the matter here.

Contributed by Bill Faith on March 18, 2007 at 09:05 PM in Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 07 March 2007

Top Iranian General Defects? -- Update

See previous: Top Iranian general dies? disappears? defects? kidnapped?

Panic in Tehran
PJM in Tel Aviv

The disappearance and possible defection of former Iranian deputy defense minister Ali Reza Asgari has the Iranian government deeply worried — and for good reason.

Meir Javedanfar, an expert on Iran and co-author of an upcoming book on Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reports.

The recent disappearance of Ali Reza Asgari, Iran’s former deputy defense minister who was on a visit to Istanbul has been a mystery for the past several days.

Now a report by the Arabic newspaper Al Sharq Al Wasat says that Asgari defected to the US after arriving in Istanbul from Damascus on February 7th.

Although the story has not been confirmed by any sovereign authority, it is already evident that the saga has created panic inside Ahmadinejad’s administration.

Soon after his disappearance was discovered, Iran dispatched an operations team to Ankara to help the Turkish authorities to look for him. At the same time, a public relations campaign was launched with Iranian minister Mottaki has doing his best to downplay Asgari’s importance as an official in order to reduce the damage to the Iranian government’s image.

He wasn’t fooling anyone. It is clear that Asgari is a man privy to numerous secrets which Iran desperately does not want revealed. As well as being a former deputy defence Minister, Asgari was also a General in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC). The IRGC, more than any other branch of Iran’s armed forces, is aware of, and has access to Iran’s nuclear program. Its members are in charge of monitoring and protecting Iran’s nuclear installations, and scientists. ...

More at Hot Air, OTB, Wizbang, Forward Movement.

Contributed by Bill Faith on March 7, 2007 at 06:05 PM in Iran, Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 22 February 2007

Syria Arming Up
Ed Morrissey

Syria has embarked on a program to bolster its military after the war last summer in Lebanon, Ha'aretz reported this morning and repeated by the AP. They have begun acquiring heavy weapons from the Russians and the Iranians, including medium-range missiles that threaten just about every possible target in Israel:
Damascus has large numbers of surface-based missiles and long-range rockets, including the Scud-D, capable of reaching nearly any target in Israel, the report said, and the Syrian navy has received new Iranian anti-ship missiles.

Haaretz also said Russia was about to sell Syria thousands of advanced anti-tank missiles, despite Israeli charges that in the past Syria has transferred those missiles to Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. ...
The two nations remain at war, although they have not fought it for decades. The Syrians want the Golan Heights back, and the Israelis want the Syrians to stop funding and supplying Hezbollah. The new weapons systems, in fact, seem ideal for that kind of arms transfer, the kind specifically prohibited by UN Security Council Resolution 1701. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on February 22, 2007 at 01:31 PM in Iran, Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon, Syria | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 09 February 2007

"Lebanese death porn paparazzi revealed"

Qana Media Swarm Revealed
Charles Johnson (H/T: Jules C.)

Here’s a photograph taken during the ghoulish dead baby display after Israel’s bombing of the town of Qana, at the height of the Hizballah media blitz, but from a different angle than the dozens and dozens of similar photos that were splashed all over the front pages of the newspapers of the world.

This angle’s a revealing one, an angle that for some reason, we haven’t seen before: the view from behind the “paramedics” who paraded with bodies for hours, staging and arranging them for an obviously very eager world media. (Hat tip: Viggo.) [image] ...

UPDATE at 2/9/07 5:03:06 pm:

Why was this picture left in the editor’s kill file until now?

Because it really wrecks the suspension of disbelief that actors need to convince the audience.

It’s like seeing the scaffolds and lights and fake landscapes behind the scenes at a theater, in the middle of a performance.

The Qana photographs are some of the most gut-wrenching, heart-breaking images you could ever imagine. And that’s why it’s important to recognize that there are people with souls so dead and intentions so evil that they will use this fact to manipulate your feelings.

But imagine if pictures like the one above had the same 24/7 coverage as all those pictures with a weeping rescuer running alone down a dusty road. Context, anyone?

UPDATE at 2/9/07 6:03:18 pm:

More context: [video link]

Contributed by Bill Faith on February 9, 2007 at 09:02 PM in Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon, Media Malpractice | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Siniora Standing Up To Hezbollah?

Siniora Standing Up To Hezbollah?
Ed Morrissey

Critics of the agreement that ended the Israeli campaign against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon last summer pointed out that Hezbollah appeared free to re-arm itself without much interference. The UNIFIL forces that were supposed to keep the peace wound up explicitly stating that disarming Hezbollah fell outside of their mission, and that responsibility lay with the Lebanese Army. At the time, that force made it clear that they would not start a civil war by stripping Hassan Nasrallah and his organization of its arms, but would instead concentrate on moving back into the sub-Litani region with as little conflict as possible.

That appears to have changed, possibly spurred by Nasrallah's attempts to bring down Fuad Siniora's government. The Lebanese authorities have seized a shipment of weapons meant for Hezbollah, and they do not intend on giving it back to them: ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on February 9, 2007 at 02:39 PM in Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thursday, 08 February 2007

Israel, Lebanon Exchange Fire At Border
Ed Morrissey

Israeli and Lebanese Army troops exchanged fire on the border near Maroun al-Ras, the first shots fired since the cessation of hostilities last summer. A wayward bulldozer apparently sparked the incident, and the UN has started deploying peacekeepers in the area (via Israel Matzav): ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on February 8, 2007 at 11:17 AM in Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Monday, 05 February 2007

"The Beirut Branch of the Mossad"
Michael J Totten (H/T: Jules C.)

BEIRUT – Hezbollah has killed more Americans than any terrorist organization in the world after Al Qaeda. In 1983 a suicide-bomber drove a truck into a U.S. Marine barracks south of Beirut and killed 241 Americans with a single gigantic blast.

President Ronald Reagan then withdrew American forces from Lebanon which had been sent as a peacekeeping force during the civil war. The U.S. won’t likely ever return. Hezbollah has calmed down, somewhat, and no longer poses a serious threat – military, terrorist, or otherwise – to the United States.

More Lebanese than you probably think want Americans to return, even so. Not the majority, to be sure, but a sizeable minority, perhaps no smaller than the those who wish to be ruled once more by the Syrians, or by the Iranians. You will meet these people if you go to Beirut, and you will meet lots of them.

One prominent Lebanese who wants to see the U.S. come back is Toni Nissi. He heads up the Lebanese Committee for UNSCR 1559, an NGO which advises and lobbies the Lebanese government and the international community for the disarmament of illegal militias in Lebanon as required by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559. Hezbollah, of course, is at the top of that list.

Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has ramped up his criticism of Toni and his NGO lately by bullying journalists into putting him on a blacklist and by denouncing him on television as “the Beirut branch of the Mossad.” ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on February 5, 2007 at 01:35 AM in Islamism Delenda Est, Lebanon | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Saturday, 03 February 2007

Nasrallah Admits Hezbollah Funded, Run By Iran And Syria
Ed Morrissey

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah told an Egyptian interviewer that Iran and Syria fund, train, and control his organization as an effort to spread radical Shi'ite Islam throughout the region:
"Iran assists the organization with money, weapons, and training, motivated by a religious fraternity and ethnic solidarity," Nasrallah said. "And the help is funneled through Syria, and everybody knows it." ...
This comes as little surprise to anyone, but it does provide explicit confirmation of Iran's use of proxy terrorists in the region to extend its hegemony through violence and intimidation. It also confirms that Syria allows itself to be used as a conduit for the Iranian mullahcracy. The admission makes it clear, despite Nasrallah's insistence that Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization, that Nasrallah leads a group that owes its allegiance to Teheran and not Beirut.

Nasrallah also admitted that he miscalculated the Israeli response to their attack on IDF outposts this summer. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on February 3, 2007 at 02:02 PM in Iran, Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 02 February 2007

Hillary Says We Should Chat with Hezbollah, Hamas
Greg Tinti

Speaking before AIPAC today, Hillary Clinton said that the US needs to talk to Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas so that we can "understand" why our enemies hate us and then use that knowledge to defeat them.

You know, just like all the other great historical struggles were won.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Thursday the United States should talk with Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah as she outlined a plan for the Middle East that left open the possibility of military action against Tehran. ...

"I have advocated engagement with our enemies and Israel's enemies because I want to understand better what we can do to defeat those who are aiming their hatred, their extremism and their weapons at us," Clinton told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee dinner in New York. ...
If Hillary thinks it's alright to sit down and chat with Hezbollah, then why shouldn't we sit down with al Qaeda too so we can try to "understand" them and why they're so gosh darn pissy at us? ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on February 2, 2007 at 12:23 AM in Hillary Clinton, Iran, Iraq, Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Monday, 29 January 2007

Fauxtography: A new one from Hezbollywood
Allahpundit

Totten’s got it. He assumes a little more knowledge of Lebanese politics from his readers than we do from ours, so I’ll try to explain. The guy on TV holding the photo is Michel Aoun, a Lebanese Christian leader who’s aligned himself with Hezbollah. The guy in the photo pointing a gun at the Lebanese army is supposed to be a member of the Lebanese Forces, a rival Christian faction led by Samir Geagea, who’s currently aligned with the anti-Syrian/anti-Hezbollah faction. It’s a frame up, pure and simple. And thanks to the Lebanese bloggers, it’s been detonated.

Here’s a video that puts it all together. I wonder if this will get picked up in the Lebanese media. [video link]

Contributed by Bill Faith on January 29, 2007 at 01:12 PM in Islamism Delenda Est, Lebanon, Media Malpractice | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday, 26 January 2007

Video: Angry Lebanese denounce Iranian puppet
Allahpundit

I haven’t covered the general strike and ensuing violence in Beirut this week because, quite frankly, our posts on Lebanon rarely crack single digits in comments. Readers don’t want to hear about the nascent civil war, which would pit the U.S. and Sunni powers in a proxy battle with Iran? Then about the nascent civil war they shall not hear.

Rick Moran’s covering it, thankfully. I commend his latest to you. The government imposed a curfew on Beirut last night after university students on the pro- and anti-Hezbollah sides attacked each other with clubs and stones. Meanwhile, Nasrallah’s attempt to bring the country to its knees is earning him all kinds of new friends. Click the image to meet a few.

Contributed by Bill Faith on January 26, 2007 at 11:30 AM in Islamism Delenda Est, Lebanon | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tuesday, 23 January 2007

Hezbollah Riots in Lebanon
Michael J Totten (H/T: Michelle)

While I was in Lebanon gathering the material I've been publishing, Hezbollah kept threatening to strangle the country by seizing major roads, including the one that leads to the airport. I was worried I might get stuck there, but I didn't. Today, though, they finally make good on their threat. Palestinian guerillas are reportedly helping.

Future TV and LBC say there are clashes between rioters and commuters. Cars, as well as tires, are burning.

UPDATE: Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Seniora accuses Hezbollah of intimidation and terrorism. He may be over-reacting a bit with the t-word in this context, but it's telling because he used to call them a "resistance" movement instead of terrorists. Those days are gone.

UPDATE: ...

Read the whole thing and keep checking back for updates.

***

Iran/Hezbollah Makes Its Move
Jules Crittenden

While we’re distracted with Billary, Obama, SOTU, surge, etc., Iran and its Hezbollah stooges are making their move in Lebanon. Haaretz report here.
Two people were killed and at least 100 more wounded Tuesday in clashes during a Lebanese general strike called by the Hezbollah-led opposition in a bid to topple Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s Western-backed government.

Lebanon’s anti-Syrian majority leaders Tuesday accused the opposition of staging a “coup” against the government by blocking major roads. Thousands of protesters blocked main roads in Beirut and around the country with rubble and burning tires as the strike began.

“This is a coup d’etat. This is a revolt in all sense of the word,” Christian leader Samir Geagea told the Lebanese television station LBCI.
Freedoms Zone’s own Blacksmiths of Lebanon are all over it. Blacksmith Jade in comments below has more on the timing:
[...]
This is actually bad timing by the mullahs. The day George Bush is due to speak to Congress, Islamic Terrorism and Regional Domination Inc. just bought a big billboard advertisement for why Iran needs a big smackdown in Iraq, and why its nuke sites have to be taken out. Iran … not George Bush, the United States or even al-Qaeda … is the greatest threat to peace and stability in the Middle East and possibly, short-term, in the world. Maybe this will even get pencilled into tonight’s speech. I doubt it will convince anyone, however.

***

Iran Turns Up the Heat
John Hinderaker

Our friends at MEMRI have pulled together a series of news stories from the Middle East that, collectively, paint a grim picture. In Lebanon, Hezbollah has declared a general strike with the objective of bringing down the government. Hezbollah supporters have blocked streets and highways with burning tires, as in the photo below: [image]

MEMRI reports:
On January 22, 2007, the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is close to Hizbullah, came out with a front-page headline declaring "Tomorrow All of Lebanon Will Be Immersed in Rage." The daily reported that "tomorrow, Lebanon will enter a new phase in the internal political conflict that has foreign aspects. On Tuesday, the opposition will launch a new, high-quality wave of activity which now aims to topple the [current] government and to promote the establishment of a new [one]." According to the daily, the opposition's plan of action, starting tomorrow, includes "blocking main and secondary roads all over Lebanon, from the north to the south, including the Beqa' valley and [the capital] Beirut... The roads will be blocked with tires... This will be accompanied by demonstrations on the roads and at [major] junctions: the resident of each region will stay in their area and block the roads there... so that traffic will be completely paralyzed."
Hezbollah's call for a general strike, and its effort to bring down Lebanon's government, are widely assumed to have been ordered by Iran. Al Jazeera, meanwhile, lost no time in "recognizing" the Hezbollah-led Lebanese opposition: ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on January 23, 2007 at 01:15 PM in Iran, Islamism Delenda Est, Lebanon | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wednesday, 17 January 2007

"Israel, Syria reached outlines of peace deal this summer"
-- Updated and bumped: Israel, Syria deny

Israel, Syria reached outlines of peace deal this summer
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent

In a series of secret meetings in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006, Syrians and Israelis formulated understandings for a peace agreement between Israel and Syria.

The main points of the understandings are as follows:

An agreement of principles will be signed between the two countries, and following the fulfillment of all commitments, a peace agreement will be signed.

As part of the agreement on principles, Israel will withdraw from the Golan Heights to the lines of 4 June, 1967. The timetable for the withdrawal remained open: Syria demanded the pullout be carried out over a five-year period, while Israel asked for the withdrawal to be spread out over 15 years.

I dunno, folks. Allah's sounding like he thinks it's a done deal but I don't read it that way and I think the Israelis are smarter than that.

***

Haaretz: Israel, Syria reached outlines of peace deal this summer
Allahpundit

The last meeting was in July, sometime shortly after IAF warplanes buzzed Assad’s house.

I’m going to sleep on it, but at first glance this would seem to be important:
According to the terms, Syria will also agree to end its support for Hezbollah and Hamas and will distance itself from Iran…

Syria would also exercise its influence for a solution to the conflict in Iraq, through an agreement between Shi’a leader Muqtada Sadr and the Sunni leadership, and in addition, it would contribute to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the refugee problem…

It also emerged that one of the Syrian messages to Israel had to do with the ties between Damascus and Tehran. In the message, the Alawi regime - the Assad family being members of the Alawi minority - asserts that it considers itself to be an integral part of the Sunni world and that it objects to the Shi’a theocratic regime, and is particularly opposed to Iran’s policy in Iraq. A senior Syrian official stressed that a peace agreement with Israel will enable Syria to distance itself from Iran.
In return, Syria would get the Golan Heights and not much else. Why would they have offered to make that deal with Bush weak, Olmert untested, and their Iranian patrons on the march? And why on earth would Israel have been the party to break off talks? ...

*** Update and bump. Original timestamp 2007.01.16.01:44

Olmert: No government officials involved in secret Syria talks

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that no government officials were involved in secret contacts with Syria, responding to a Haaretz report that understandings on a peace agreement between Jerusalem and Damascus were formulated in a series of secret meetings in Europe between September 2004 and July 2006.

"No one in the government was involved in this matter," Olmert told reporters in northern Israel. "It was a private initiative on the part of an individual who spoke with himself. From what I read, his interlocutor was an eccentric from the U.S., someone not serious or dignified."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry also rejected the report.

"No negotiations took place, the Haaretz report is completely false," a Syrian Foreign Ministry official said in Damascus. ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on January 17, 2007 at 06:31 AM in Islamism Delenda Est, Israel, Lebanon, Syria | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Saturday, 13 January 2007

War? -- What War?
Victor Davis Hanson

Reader Responses

I have learned a great deal reading the responses to these essays, and often try to predicate the next entry on the concerns of the readers.

So one reoccurring topic is the controversy over just how serious is the threat of radical Islam. I get a great deal of furious mail, suggesting that Bush & Co. for a variety of reasons (fill in the blanks: oil, Halliburton, etc.) have created a bogeyman out of a few ragtag terrorists, and dangerously and gratuitously set us on a path of war in the Middle East.

Such critics are emboldened by the luxuries of relative world peace. Remember, we enter into year six without an attack on the United States homeland comparable to September 11. That fact, taken together with the absence of a clearly-identified enemy nation state, has suggested to many that there is hardly a present threat comparable to dangers posed by Nazis, fascists, Japanese imperialists, or Soviet and Chinese communists of the past.

But how true is that really?

I. -Isms and –Ologies Are More Deadly

Global ideologies pose greater threats than particular bellicose states. Nazism, for example, was more dangerous than Prussian militarism because it much more easily appealed across national boundaries.

The same was true of communism versus, say, Japanese militarism that was predicated on unique thoughts about racial superiority rather than Pan-Asian communitarian solidarity. Bushido appealed to few non-Japanese.

Jihadism, however, resonates with Muslims in Pakistan, the Arab World, the Philippines, or Indonesia. Race, language, landscape, or nationality are not always predictable in our enemies, only a certain shared derangement guided by the idea that the West and its modernization have eclipsed Islam and are in some way responsible for radical Muslims’ current sense of inferiority and lost entitlement.

II. A Dirty Bomb Versus a Salvo or Air strike? ...

Contributed by Bill Faith on January 13, 2007 at 11:51 PM in Africa, Iran, Iraq, Islamism Delenda Est, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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