The Lebanese Army helped Hezbollah militants destroy evidence of its continued military activity in the south of the country after a hidden arms cache exploded there earlier this week, Israel's envoy to the United Nations has charged in an official complaint.
In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Gabriela Shalev described the abandoned building in which the explosion took place as "an arms cache that consisted of Hezbollah arms, including rockets, mortars, artillery shells, grenades, and additional ammunition which had been brought to the area following the Second Lebanon War."
According to Shalev, the incident proves that Hezbollah has been acting in violation of UN Resolution 1701, which called for a cease-fire in southern Lebanon after the 2006 conflict.
"This recent explosion is a glaring example of Hezbollah's use of civilian infrastructure," Shalev wrote. "With more than 20,000 rockets in its possession south of the Litani River, Hezbollah gravely endangers the local Lebanese civilian population by turning their houses into military bunkers and storages."
According to Shalev, this incident was one of a number of similar instances in which Hezbollah has violated the cease-fire agreement, which calls for the complete absence of weapons and non-UNIFIL military in the zone between the blue line and the Litani River, and kept its arsenal intact. In her letter to Ban, she cited similar instances as having occurred in March 2008 and January 2009.
"Unfortunately, such obstruction is not an isolated incident and reflects a pattern in which Hezbollah uses various means - including so-called 'civilians' - in order to prevent UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces from fulfilling their mandate," she wrote.
Following the explosion, Shalev wrote, UNIFIL forces were delayed by Lebanese troops to enable Hezbollah to rid the area of evidence. This assistance, said Shalev, has made the violations "all the more severe because an official organ of the Lebanese state - the Lebanese Army - delayed UNIFIL from fulfilling its obligations. As such, this obstruction of movement must be denounced in very clear and robust terms."
"All of these flagrant violations of resolution 1701 - inter alia, the arms smuggling and the obstruction of movement of UNIFIL forces - must be denounced and addressed in clear and unambiguous terms by the international community," wrote Shalev.
[Iran Press TV Latest] As Iran tries to cope with the aftermath of its disputed presidential election, influential cleric and politician Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani puts forward proposals to end the post-vote "crisis."
Ayatollah Rafsanjani, who was leading the Friday prayers at Tehran University for the first time since election, told hundreds of thousands of people that ambiguities surrounding the June 12 presidential vote had broken the trust of Iranians in the establishment. "Our key issue is to regain the trust which the people had and now to some extent is shattered," Rafsanjani said.
Rafsanjani, a two-time former president who heads both the top political arbitration body and the clerical body, criticized the government for its handling of the controversy over the election. He suggested that failing to listen to the voice of those who are dissatisfied with the election's results had disrupted the national unity. "Doubt has been created," he said. "There are two currents; one has no doubt and is moving ahead. And the other is a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts. We need to take action to remove this doubt."
While pointing out that rebuilding the trust is not a straightforward task and cannot be achieved overnight, Rafsanjani suggested that the release of people who protested against the result of the vote could be the first step in restoring people's trust in the establishment. "It is not necessary that in this situation people be jailed. Let them join their families."
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Newly re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday his next government "would bring down the global arrogance," signaling a tougher approach by Tehran toward the West after last month's disputed election.
Ahmadinejad, in his first provincial trip after the June 12 presidential vote, said Iran's enemies had tried to interfere and foment aggression in the country, referring to mass opposition protests against the official election result.
The hardline president, who often rails against the West, said the Islamic Republic wanted "logic and negotiations" but that Western powers had insulted the Iranian nation and should apologize.
Iranian leaders often refer to the United States and its allies as the "global arrogance."
"As soon as the new government is established, with power and authority, ten times more than before, it will enter the global scene and will bring down the global arrogance," he told a big crowd in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
"They should wait as a new wave of revolutionary thinking ... from the Iranian nation is on the way and we will not allow the arrogant (powers) to even have one night of good sleep," Ahmadinejad said, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni
" The Zionist regime had met with the hypocrite group (the term Iran uses for the PMOI) on the sidelines of (a meeting in) Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt and in Paris to assassinate Mr. Ahmadinejad "
Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie -- Iranian Intelligence Minister
Ejeie said on Friday that Israel had planned to assassinate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad around the time of last month's presidential election.
The Fars news agency quoted Ejeie as saying that Israeli officials had met members of the exiled Iranian opposition group, People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), to execute the plan.
"The Zionist regime had met with the hypocrite group (the term Iran uses for the PMOI) on the sidelines of (a meeting in) Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt and in Paris to assassinate Mr. Ahmadinejad," Ejeie said.
But the PMOI set some conditions for the job, he said. "The hypocrites set some conditions for this job and asked that the U.S. and others remove their name from the (terror) black list," Ejeie said, referring to the recent removal of the PMOI's name from the Europe's terrorist black list.
"The enemies even approached the rebels in east of the country to achieve this aim," he added, referring to Sunni rebels who are engaged in a rebellion against Iran's Shiite government.
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran may prevent Iran's opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi from forming an opposition party, sources told Al Arabiya Thursday amid reports that he will attend Friday prayers in his first official public appearance since last month's disputed presidential election.
A statement posted late Wednesday on his website confirmed a media report earlier this week that he would attend the prayers at Tehran University to be led by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a rival of re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"I will join the lines (of worshippers) on Friday as I feel obliged to respond to the call of companions on the path to protecting rights to a noble and free life," Mousavi said.
" I will join the lines on Friday as I feel obliged to respond to the call of companions on the path to protecting rights to a noble and free life "
Mir Hossein Moussavi
The 67 year-old, who was Ahmadinejad's closest rival in the June 12 election, has charged that the vote was rigged and dismissed the next government as "illegitimate." The authorities reject charges of vote fraud.
The Interior Ministry is considering blocking Moussavi from forming or heading an opposition party, sources in the ministry told Al Arabiya.
Iran's Intelligence Minister also accused reformists of planning a velvet revolution and wreaking havoc in the country after election results were announced.
Iranian religious clerics from Qom said confessions were extracted under duress and are, thus, neither legally nor religiously valid and added that the authorities promised the detainees will be released this week before the Friday sermon whose imam will be former president Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi was attacked by men in plain-clothes on his way to Friday prayers at Tehran university, the website of his Etemad Melli political party reported. Etemad Melli quoted Karroubi's son Hossein as saying the reformist cleric was attacked when he got off the car in front of the university.
"When my father got out of the car in front of the university, some plain-clothes forces standing by the door attacked and assaulted him," Hossein said. "His turban fell. They insulted him using very abusive and outrageous names."
Karroubi, a former parliament speaker, nevertheless attended the weekly prayers, along with Iran's main opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and thousands of the two men's supporters.
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Tens of thousands of government opponents packed Iran's main Islamic prayer service Friday, chanting "freedom, freedom" and other slogans as their top clerical backer Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivered a sermon bluntly criticizing the country's leadership over the crackdown on election protests.
Outside, police and pro-government Basiji militiamen fired tear gas and charged thousands of protesters who chanted "death to the dictator" and called on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to resign. Dozens were arrested, piled in trucks and taken away, witnesses said.
Plainclothes Basijis stood in front of a line of riot police and pumped canisters of tear gas, which young protesters with green bandanas over their faces kicked away across the pavement, away from the crowds. Some set a bonfire in the street and waved their hands in the air in victory signs.
The opposition aimed to turn the Friday prayers at Tehran University into a show of their continued strength despite heavy government suppression since the disputed June 12 presidential election.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to have won the election, sat among the worshippers, attending for the first time since the turmoil began. Many of the tens of thousands at the prayers wore headbands or wristbands in his campaign color green, or had green prayer rugs, in a crowd that filled the former soccer field where prayers are held and spilling into nearby streets.
In his sermon broadcast live on radio nationwide, Rafsanjani reprimanded the clerical leadership for not listening to people's complaints over the election, which was declared a victory for Ahmadinejad despite opposition claims of fraud.
"Doubt has been created (about the election results)," Rafsanjani said. "There is a large portion of the wise people who say they have doubts. We need to take action to remove this doubt."
Rafsanjani couched his sermon in calls for unity in support of Iran's Islamic Republic. But his sermon was an unmistakable challenge to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who declared Ahmadinejad's victory valid and ordered an end to questioning of the results. Rafsanjani said the dispute has split clerics and warned of "crisis."
Worshippers interrupted Rafsanjani with chants of "azadi, azadi"--Persian for "freedom"--and the cleric got tears in his eyes as he spoke of how Islam's Prophet Muhammad "respected the rights" of his people. Rafsanjani said the leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, "knew that people's vote was the most important thing in our country" and insisted it be enshrined in the founding of the Islamic Republic.
"Where people are not present or their vote is not considered, that government is not Islamic," Rafsanjani said.
He criticized the postelection wave of arrests, saying the leadership should show sympathy for protesters and release those detained. "Sympathy must be offered to those who suffered from the events... and reconcile them with the ruling system," he said. "We need to placate them."
Rafsanjani, a former president, regularly gives the Friday sermon but had not appeared since the election turmoil began. He is bitter rival of Ahmadinejad and is considered Mousavi's top supporter within Iran's clerical leadership, heading two of the three main clerical bodies that oversee the government. His daughter and four other relatives who openly backed Mousavi were briefly detained during protests last month.
In the days after the June election, hundreds of thousands marched in the streets in support of Mousavi. But after Khamenei validated the results, police, elite Republican Guards and Basiji militiamen launched a fierce crackdown on protesters in which hundreds were arrested and at least 20 killed--though human rights groups say the figure could be several times that official toll.
The scene outside the university on Friday was tumultuous. Before the sermon, police fired tear gas at hundreds of Mousavi backers trying to enter. When Mahdi Karroubi, another pro-reform candidate in the June election, headed for the prayers, plainclothes Basijis attacked him, shoving him and knocking his turban to the ground, witnesses said. "Death to the opponent of Velayat-e-Faqih," they chanted as they attacked him, referring to the supreme leader, the witnesses said.
Also arrested was a prominent women's rights activist, Shadi Sadr, who was beaten by militiamen, pushed into a car and driven away to an unknown location, Mousavi's Web site http://www.mowjcamp.com and a women's rights site http://www.meydaan.com said.
Inside the prayers--held on a former soccer field covered with a roof--some worshippers rubbed their eyes as tear gas from outside drifted in. They traded competing chants with some hard-liners in the congregation. When the hard-liners chanted "death to America," Mousavi supporters countered with "death to Russia" and "death to China."
It was a reference to Ahmadinejad's alliance with both countries. Ahmadinejad has come under criticism in Iran for not criticizing Beijing over Muslim deaths in China's western Xinjiang province.
After the prayers, some worshippers joined the protests outside, swelling their numbers to thousands, witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears of government retaliation.
In his sermon, Rafsanjani--known as a mercurial and savvy political insider--was careful not to mention Khamenei. But he sharply criticized the Guardians Council, a powerful clerical body that has become Khamenei and Ahmadinejad's strongest backers. The Guardians Council oversaw the election, then conducted a partial recount that validated Ahmadinejad's victory. Opponents dismiss the recount.
Rafsanjani said the Guardians Council had had an "opportunity to unite the people and regain their trust," but the chance was "not used properly."
Rafsanjani heads two other top clerical bodies, the Experts Council and the Expediency Council. In the past week, a behind-the-scenes power struggle between Rafsanjani and the Guardians Council has become public, fueling heavy hard-liner criticism of Rafsanjani.
Rafsanjani also openly spoke of the split among clerics over the election. Many other prominent clerics have been sharply critical of the government or have failed to announce their backing for Ahmadinejad, including most of the country's "maraje'-e-taghlid," or "sources of emulation," Shiite clerics of the highest rank whose religious rulings are closely obeyed by their many followers.
"The maraje'-e-taghlid have always supported and served (the people). Why some of them are offended?" Rafsanjani said. "We need to keep them beside us. We need to support them and rely on them."
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#1
And these current leaders of Iran are the ones Bambi wants to meet with no preconditions. What a maroon.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Newly re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday his next government "would bring down the global arrogance," signaling a tougher approach by Tehran toward the West after last month's disputed election.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran may prevent Iran's opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi from forming an opposition party, sources told Al Arabiya Thursday amid reports that he will attend Friday prayers in his first official public appearance since last month's disputed presidential election.
Defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi was attacked by men in plain-clothes on his way to Friday prayers at Tehran university, the website of his Etemad Melli political party reported. Etemad Melli quoted Karroubi's son Hossein as saying the reformist cleric was attacked when he got off the car in front of the university.
Tens of thousands of government opponents packed Iran's main Islamic prayer service Friday, chanting "freedom, freedom" and other slogans as their top clerical backer Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivered a sermon bluntly criticizing the country's leadership over the crackdown on election protests.
