One dead in Katyusha barrage in Nahariya and Safed
Attack on Nahariya kills one; Rockets land inside Haifa for the first time.
IAF attacks Beirut-Damascus highway
Country's main artery closed; extent of damage unknown.
Analysis: Hoping the ripples reach Teheran
By HERB KEINON
On each front Israel is facing one of Iran's proxies - Hamas in the south; Hizbullah in the north.
Analysis: The predicament of the Lebanese government
By PAULA MARGULIES
Beirut must distance itself from the terrorist party, while maintaining its delicate national unity.
'IAF is ready for any operation'
Air force has struck dozens of homes used as cover for Katyusha launchers.
Goldwasser, Regev families await word
Kidnapped reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev are both students.
#2
bombs can take out that electrical supply in 5...4...3...
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 23:06 Comments ||
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#3
Will Egypt supply water to Gaza? Fine. Let Egypt put up with free water to Gaza. And the electricity. And their little dog, too. There is no more Palestine Authority, so no more Oslo Agreement. No more utilities. Israel finishes the fence. Seals the Gaza/Israel border crossings and the Paleos can contemplate their navels and fate.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/13/2006 23:15 Comments ||
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#4
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised overnight Thursday to repair all damages caused by IAF air strikes in Lebanon, Army Radio reported.
In other words: Go ahead and let them kick the $hit out of you. We'll kiss it and make it better after the bad man is gone. We gotta go now!
At least 19 suspected Taleban militants have been killed in clashes in southern Afghanistan, officials say. A Helmand province government spokesman said Taleban fighters attacked the village of Nawzad, targeting a garrison of Afghan and coalition troops. Shopkeepers were surrounded and ordered to leave the centre of the village before the attack began, reports said.
Coalition forces launched air strikes, with reports saying 12 Taleban died in a car, with others killed elsewhere. The fighting, which lasted several hours, broke out on Wednesday morning, US military officials said. "The Taleban surrounded this area, including a nearby bazaar, and told all their shopkeepers to leave before attacking the compound with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades," Afghan spokesman Ghulam Muhiddin told the Associated Press news agency.
Well, that was nice of them.
Seven attackers were killed and two injured in the initial fighting, with another 12 killed when coalition forces bombed a Taleban vehicle trying to leave the area, the officials said.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006 09:11 ||
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#1
Okay, this is good news! But darn, I've noticed the daily numbers of Tali-turbans getting sent off to paradise dropping from 40 to 30 and now to 19.
Hmmmm, are they concealing their positions better or running out of youthful Paki idiots?
#2
Running out of youthful Paki idiots. This is natural selection in action. Unfortunately, leaving any of them alive means that only the smart ones will reproduce. Better to kill off the whole herd of "Taleban militants."
BTW, are there any "Taleban non-militants"? I doubt it.
#3
It's not a bad sign, really. Insurgencies always end in a whimper rather than a bang. Does anyone remember the "New People's Army" of the Philippines or "Sendero Luminoso" of Peru? Those commies were on the rampage 20 years ago, but now they're practically extinct. There aren't enough days in the year to celebrate the defeat of all these dungheads.
POLICE in Afghanistan's capital Kabul today arrested a man they said was planting a 10-kilogram bomb outside the Information Ministry.
The arrest came a day after six other men were caught in the capital with bombs and remote-control detonators, police said. "A terrorist was arrested while planting a bomb in front of the Ministry of Information and Culture," Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said. "He had some Taliban-related documents on him."
The man was planting the bomb on a side street near the ministry, said police criminal investigation department chief Ali Shah Paktiwal. The explosives were hidden in a shopping bag, he said.
The centre of the capital was hit by four minor bomb blasts over two days last week, with one person killed and about 50 wounded. One of the bombs was outside the Justice Ministry and close to other ministries and the presidential compound.
The Taliban, which is waging a growing insurgency focused on the east and south of the country, claimed responsibility for the blasts. But intelligence sources said a host of disaffected groups could have been responsible.
Kabul has seen relatively little of the insurgency-linked violence gripping areas bordering Pakistan although there have been several suicide attacks on foreign and Afghan soldiers in the war-scarred city.
#1
Bombs in India. Bombs in Afghanistan. What do they have in common. Shared a border with Pakistan.
Why does our government in seeming blindness appear to ignore the Pakistani links with terror all around the world? Making the choice to reward Pakistan's lack of real action against terror and known nuclear proliferation.
#2
SPOD:
Pakistan's links to terrorism are not being ignored, though it may look that way. There are several good reasons for the non-confrontational approach.
1) The official Pakistan government position supports our efforts.
2) We would make more enemies than allies, internationally and within Pakistan, with a more confrontational approach.
3) We don't have the resources, military or political, to 'win' a confrontation with Pakistan.
4) We cannot support the fight in Afghanistan without at least passive cooperation with Pakistan.
5) Pakistan has nukes, and at least so far seems to have been effectively keeping them out of the hands of the Islamofascists.
6) There really is a significant part of the Pakistani population that is pretty reasonable.
We 'pressure' Pakistan in some pretty significant ways - nuclear technology transfer agreements with India and arms sales to India are major. Something is making Mushie expend resources in the NWF - not real effectively, but not totally 'fake' either, and against substantial internal opposition (ISI). And opposition to our forays across the border from Afghanistan have been nothing more than the internally-necessary verbage.
In summary, Bush recognizes the role of segments within Pakistan in the Islamofascist War; they are not being ignored; there are good reasons (one can argue whether they are sufficiently good reasons, but that's a different discussion) why more action is not being taken; and there is almost certainly more 'action' being taken than the NYT has told you about yet.
#3
1) The official Pakistan government position supports our efforts.
In public. Mushy's still dictator of a nation that named itself "Land of the Pure", and after his coup among the bits of the Paki Constitution that were re-instated were the bits declaring sharia the law of the land.
6) There really is a significant part of the Pakistani population that is pretty reasonable.
Uh-huh. Which is why "every store in every market has a collection box for LeT", as a recent story put it.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/13/2006 7:51 Comments ||
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#4
Pakistan has nukes, and at least so far seems to have been effectively keeping them out of the hands of the Islamofascists.
So far. And when they do get their mits on them will we regret not having dealt with them more firmly. They are doing exactly as instructed by the Koran - tell the infidel one thing whilst doing another. Time to take the thumb out of our collective butt and wipe Wazoostan off the map village by village.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
07/13/2006 8:05 Comments ||
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#5
or madrassa by madrassa
Posted by: Howard UK ||
07/13/2006 8:06 Comments ||
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#6
arrested? Strap it to him, take him to an open field and set em off
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 8:37 Comments ||
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Six people including two militants were killed in violence in Afghanistan on Wednesday. A market bombing in a southern border town killed two men while a suicide attack on a US military convoy in the east claimed the life of a child in the latest violence to sweep Afghanistan, officials said. Afghan officials also reported heavy fighting on Tuesday after militants attacked a patrol by provincial security forces in eastern Khost province, near the Pakistan border, and that a large number of militants died.
An upsurge in attacks by Taliban forces since the spring has triggered the deadliest fighting since the militias ouster from power in late 2001. The US-led coalition has launched a major offensive in the volatile south, killing hundreds of militants in the past two months, including an estimated 70 militants fighters since Monday.
On Wednesday, a bomb planted in a fruit cart exploded in a crowded market in the Kandahar provincial town of Spin Boldak, about one kilometre from the Pakistani border. Area police chief Haji Abdul Wasay said two male civilians were killed and eight other people wounded.
Meanwhile, a suicide attacker in a car detonated a bomb near a US military convoy 25 kilometres east of Khost city, killing a boy who was playing nearby and wounding three other children, said Khost Governor Merajuddin Pathan. Two American soldiers were slightly wounded in the attack, which occurred at about 10am in Yaqoobi district, he said. The bomber also died.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Algiers, 13 July (AKI) - Islamic militants killed five guards in an assault on a campsite in the Algerian coastal townof Larhat, near Tipasa, some 130 km west of the capital Algiers, reports said on Thursday. The London Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat said the militants robbed the tourists at the site. Newspapers El Watan and El Khabar said the five victims were ensuring security for around 50 families at the campsite when the assailants surprised them shortly before midnight on Monday.
"Honey, where do we want to take the family on vaction this year?"
"How about Algeria? I hear they have a lot of interesting local customs."
The rebels set fire to three vehicles and stole the campers' mobile phones and other personal belongings before fleeing.
Reports did not identify the militants but experts usually blame such attacks on the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and has rejected an amnesty offered by president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The government says around 2,200 jailed rebels have been freed under the amnesty, which will expire at the end of next month.
Under the measure, militants were offered a pardon starting February provided they were not involved in massacres, rapes and bombings of public places .
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006 09:03 ||
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#1
"How about Algeria? I hear they have a lot of interesting local customs."
#2
If a couple of dozen "militants" attacked a campsite of 50 families in Louisiana, they'd have had their a$$es handed to them in a paper sack. Everyone down there goes camping with at LEAST a .22 pistol, and most carry .38s. Of course, the United States has a long history of an armed but loyal populace, rather than armed religious fruitcakes. Attacks like these are caused by two things: a lack of basic personal freedoms (mostly due to religion) and armed nutjobs (basically religious idjits). Seems the best way to solve the underlying problem is to get rid of the guiding religion and install personal freedoms.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 15:42 Comments ||
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Bandits shot hundreds of rounds of automatic gun fire at Hidalgo County Sheriffs deputies and Border Patrol agents Wednesday from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.
The deputies were responding to a call from two brothers who swam across the river after an initial gunfight at a ranch in Mexico, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said. Treviño would not identify the two brothers, but said the two U.S. citizens are suspects in other criminal investigations.
The two brothers called 911 around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday and told the operator that they were near the Brewster Ranch south of Donna. They say an unknown number of gunmen burst into their family ranch in Mexico and killed a ranch hand. The two brothers escaped, but the kidnappers took their father, Treviño said. The brothers made it across the Rio Grande and called 911.
At least three deputies and four Border Patrol agents took the two brothers back to the riverbank to see if they might find any evidence or the shooters. Instead, shooters from Mexico fired automatic weapons at the group. The barrage went on for almost 10 minutes, alternating between shots coming from Mexico and the east.
Treviño believes that the shots from the east were most likely on American soil. The heaviest gunfire came after the shots from the east ended, most likely an attempt to divert attention and allow the shooters from the east to cross back.
Border Patrol officials did not respond to phone calls last night.
Treviño plans to search for evidence tomorrow at the sight of the shooting, south of Valley View Road and Military Highway. If authorities find weapons or casings that can be traced, they might be able to charge someone with attempted capital murder of the agents, deputies and two brothers, Treviño said.
Treviño says that his deputies have never been shot at from the Mexican side of the river. "This is one of the reasons that I do not allow my deputies to patrol the riverbanks or levies close to the river," Treviño said, "because we do know there are drug gangs and human trafficking gangs that will not hesitate to shoot in our direction to get us out of the area."
#2
but..but..the ownership and possession of weapons in Mexico, like many US cities, is highly regulated and automatic weapons are illegal. Must be mistaken, otherwise these shots would be coming from the military or police or criminals....but I repeat myself....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 8:36 Comments ||
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#3
We are on the brink of a World War and this crap is still allowed to go on.
Patrol the damned border.
Return fire if fired upon.
Shoot to kill.
If prisoners are taken, prosecute to the full extent of the law and sentence them to work building a wall/barricade/tank trap/moat along the border.
It's long past time for some SOF/NGuard training in the desert terrain/climate there anyways...
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/13/2006 9:12 Comments ||
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#4
Don't forget Poncho Villa. It's what Mexicans, as paleostinians, like to do.
#5
Sounds like it's time for that Sheriff to set up some concealed sniper blinds with overlapping fields of fire. Then put in some offset speakers with radio receivers in the lanes where smugglers pass.
You order them to halt, and if the dumbasses respond with a spray of weapons fire, your deputies put a round right through their belt buckle.
#9
Time to call in the Mexican ambassador and ask him whether he intends to control his border or give up his sovereignty. U.S. helicopter gunships ought to be blasting these vermin all the way to Mexico City if necessary.
#11
We dick around with this because our pathetic politicians have not yet realized that the American people do intend to take back control of America from the corrupt democrats and their lapping dogs in the MSM.
Keep up the fight. Keep spreading the word.
#12
It's long past time for some SOF/NGuard training in the desert terrain/climate there anyways...
Hey! I just got back from Iraq! Woldn't mind the opportunity for working with the Sooper Friends tho...
Posted by: N guard ||
07/13/2006 10:19 Comments ||
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#13
At least three deputies and four Border Patrol agents took the two brothers back to the riverbank to see if they might find any evidence or the shooters. Instead, shooters from Mexico fired automatic weapons at the group. The barrage went on for almost 10 minutes, alternating between shots coming from Mexico and the east.
They wanted evidence, and they got evidence. Yea, more than they desired...
#14
Welcome back, N Guard, thanks for your service, and still looking for a way to make my thanks to you and your comrades more tangible in some significant way.
#16
Treviño says that his deputies have never been shot at from the Mexican side of the river. "This is one of the reasons that I do not allow my deputies to patrol the riverbanks or levies close to the river," Treviño said, "because we do know there are drug gangs and human trafficking gangs that will not hesitate to shoot in our direction to get us out of the area"
WTF?! Let's hit these guys and hit them hard.
also how come we don't hear about this in the MSM news huh?! Wake up America, time to stop hitting the snooze button
Unf*ckingbelievable. I hate it when the morning news is so crappy, I'm going to go on a long horse ride now.
Posted by: Jan ||
07/13/2006 11:56 Comments ||
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#17
Yep, it's sad and what's even more pathetic is that if an American rancher shoots some wetback coming on to his land it will be all over the msm.
#18
That picture, is that the L.A. school district heads?
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 13:57 Comments ||
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#19
Re #13: this sentence reads very close to a RAB crossfire episode, except they haven't yet found the round of bullet or the shuttergun, or encountered wildly aimed fire from unknown accomplices. Perhaps this is just the 'Pre-RAB Primer' books on tape series being validated.....
#20
Unfortunately, locals in the southwest know that this has been ongoing for 20 years. But it is escalating. The drug cartels have complete control in Mexico. They try to buy off the law. This works for 90% of local and federal agents in Mexico. The last 10% is murdered. They are getting much braver about incursions...fully armed incursions..into US territory. Why not, no one stops them. This area abutting Hidalgo County is one of the main paths. It is far beyond what a local sheriff or cadre of volunteer Minutemen can handle. The governor of Texas should activate his National Guard. This is precisely what a "national guard" was organized for. Bring them out, fully armed . Use 50 cal. on these scumbags. Kill 20, 30 whatever. Don't say shit to Mexico. They'll be yelling their heads off. US State Dept. then gets Fox on the phone and says FU. Either stop this overnight or we pursue into Mexican territory at will as required. We will execute anyone firing on US citizens.
#21
The situation is nonsensical, so it calls for a nonsensical solution. Create flyers for a non-existent vigilante organization that threaten to kill "Any Mexican national carrying an automatic weapon across the border", over a several hundred mile stretch of border.
Of course the US authorities will freak out, but there is as much nothing they could do to stop such killing as there is to stop such Mexicans in the first place.
That is the only solution to stop one is to stop the other.
Subsequent flyers could have faked b&w photos showing "dead armed Mexicans" and their machine guns and maybe some packages of "drugs". This would really freak out the government.
They would have so many people out looking for the vigilantes that they would get into firefights with the Mexicans.
The fun things you can do with Google image, a word processor and a xerox machine.
#22
Not a bad COA 'moose, but I'll do you one better. How about any "illegal" caught coming across the border will be shot on sight. Afterall it is an invasion.
#23
Yep, it's sad and what's even more pathetic is that if an American rancher shoots some wetback coming on to his land it will be all over the msm.
Not only that, but the illegal alien or his family will sue and become the new owners of the ranch. As a bonus, they will also receive permanent residency documents in the process.
Posted by: ed ||
07/13/2006 21:54 Comments ||
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#24
nice... no. The "Friendship Fence" will stop this
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:11 Comments ||
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Just after the Mumbai blasts, a call from Karachi to Dhaka said: "Mubarakan, mubarakan (congratulations)" a clear mission-accomplished message.
Around the same time, a call from PCO near Juhu, Mumbai, went to an anxious "mother" in Karachi.
The caller assured his mother that he was all right (salamat) but could not disclose his location and, saying he could not talk at length, hung up.
An intensive intelligence operation involving central agencies and Mumbai police is on, trawling telecom gateways in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata to track calls which contain "footprints" to Tuesdays serial blasts.
The gateways route calls to Pakistan and Bangladesh, the two places where the terror mastermind could be holed up. The task is daunting but crucial.
Its backbreaking and intensive work. But as communication had to be the key in such a meticulously terror operation, there were bound to be some tell-tale evidence use of codes for bombs that the perpetrators would have used.
Never a simple task, the job of investigators has been made even more difficult because the post-blast chaos at the train stations may well have destroyed precious forensic evidence and the mobile handsets of some of the terrorists who may have been able to alight from the trains on time.
As part of the cat-and mouse game, terrorists, said officials, have been getting wiser. No PCO is used twice. Masterminds always interface through Thruway sat phones, the ability to track which is limited to a few organisations.
Most police forces cannot track these hand-held sat phones, now common in West Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, the calls are often routed through a third country in a variation of conferencing.
In Kathmandu, the police on Thursday confirmed arresting Pakistanis for dealing with RDX but the connection to the Mumbai blasts was not established.
"There could be some connection ... we are not certain at this point," an officer said. Investigations in Nepal have been joined by an Indian team comprising RAW, Delhi police Special Cell and IB officials.
The tip-off was from India. Two of those held have been identified as Aftab Moiuddin and Ghulam Hussain Cheema. RAW sources said there was, as yet, no definitive link between the Pakistanis and the blasts.
The men were arrested from Kathmandu hotels the same night the blasts took place. The local media had on Thursday reported that two persons were arrested from Hotel Everest and the others from a hotel near Thamel, Kathmandus tourist hub.
A senior police officer said two of the arrested were released after initial investigations, but the other two were still in custody.
Asked why they were taken into custody on the night of the blasts, another officer said anyone who hides and deals with explosives like RDX is considered a terrorist.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 18:25 ||
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#1
n Kathmandu, the police on Thursday confirmed arresting Pakistanis for dealing with RDX but the connection to the Mumbai blasts was not established.
What interesting commerce these Pakistanis deal in.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 18:36 Comments ||
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#2
wotta surprise...I'm flummoxed
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 18:53 Comments ||
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#3
Dunno, Frank, I think my surprise meter's busted. Not because it didn't register, but because all the digits started flashing and smoke started coming out of the casing. Apparently it couldn't handle such a total lack of surprise.
'Course, the big question is how many of these calls -- and the call chains they started -- ended at the offices of the ISI.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/13/2006 21:08 Comments ||
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#4
nahhhh payphone down the street. "untraceable" according to the ISI
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 21:30 Comments ||
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BOMBAY, India - Indian authorities named two suspects Thursday in this week's train bombings, an apparent breakthrough in the frenetic investigations into the well-coordinated attacks that killed at least 200 people. The government's Anti-Terror Squad released photos of young, lightly bearded men identified as Sayyad Zabiuddin and Zulfeqar Fayyaz, said Sunil Mane, an anti-terror official.
Officials did not provide their nationalities, and it wasn't clear where the photos head shots which appeared to have been taken for identification documents originated.
But officials said earlier Thursday that the prime suspect in Tuesday's bombings is Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group that operates in Kashmir, the Himalayan region at the center of the long-running India-Pakistan conflict. "Different indicators are there which hint at their involvement," said D.K. Shankaran, the top bureaucrat in Maharashtra state, where Bombay is the capital city. He refused to elaborate, but said seven teams of investigators were sifting through clues. "The probe into blasts is on track and we should have something substantial soon."
Lashkar has previously carried out near-simultaneous explosions in Indian cities, including a bombing in New Delhi in October that killed more than 60 people. Lashkar was also named in an attack on India's Parliament in 2001.
A spokesman for Lashkar, Abdullah Ghaznavi, has denied the group was involved in the serial train bombings across Bombay that left at least 200 people dead and more than 700 injured.
Also Thursday, a man claiming to represent al-Qaida reportedly said the terror network had set up a wing in Kashmir, where Muslim militants have been fighting for independence or union with overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan. There was no way to immediately verify the statement, which if true would be the first time Osama bin Laden's network has claimed to have spread to Indian territory.
Kashmir's Current News Service reported that it received a telephone call from a man who identified himself as Abu al-Hadeed, an Arabic name. The man, however, spoke in Urdu, the language of most Muslims on the Indian subcontinent.
The news service, based in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian part of Kashmir, reported that the man said, "Today a unit of al-Qaida has been established in Jammu and Kashmir which shall henceforth be called al-Qaida Jammu and Kashmir." The man also praised the Bombay bombings. "Whosoever has carried out the attacks in Bombay we express our gratitude and happiness," the man reportedly said, and also appealed to Indian Muslims to take up the struggle against the Indian government.
The developments came after police conducted raids across this city of 16 million people and detained 350 people for questioning, most of them in Malwani, a northeastern suburb of Bombay, said police Inspector S. Goshal. He said none was formally arrested or charged, and they were rounded up only to help with the investigations.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006 16:06 ||
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Image released by Indian Police today of a man identified as Sayyad Zabiuddin. Indian authorities named two men as the first suspects in this week's train bombings
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 16:13 Comments ||
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New Delhi - Investigators probing the 7/11 attacks in Mumbai are confident that they will be able to crack the bigger conspiracy after obtaining several crucial leads like the pencil timers recovered from three of the seven sites.
Investigators have rounded up over 150 people in Mumbai and prepared identikits of suspects based on eyewitness accounts of passengers behaving strangely before the explosions. They have also recovered timers hidden in pencils in at least three of the seven blast sites. The train bombings in Mumbai preceded by a series of blasts in Srinagar killed more than 200 people and injured over 700.
Both the strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and Mumbai subsequently have been coordinated. We have some pinpointed information of some modules leading to the bigger plot but it will be premature to disclose it at this juncture, highly-placed intelligence sources told IANS. However, we are confident that this conspiracy will be cracked shortly. An operation of this magnitude leaves behind certain footprints, said an investigator refusing to disclose the vital clues that had been obtained.
The meticulousness of the operation, the explosives used and the use of remote control devices has raised the possibility of the Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) being involved, perhaps in collaboration with local groups. Despite the LeTs stout denial, security agencies believe that only this organisation has the wherewithal to organise such an attack because of its widespread network of fund managers who are able to organise money and explosives.
Just this year alone, police in Delhi were able to thwart several attempts to smuggle in arms and explosives. We have intercepts in the past to show where terror has been outsourced. This is a clever strategy to reveal that responsibility does not lie with one single organisation, said one investigator in Mumbai. According to investigators, the nature of the explosions in the trains suggest that over 50 kg of RDX would have been used for assembling the bombs.
Though the needle of suspicion points to the LeT, the several investigating teams formed after the blasts are also looking at the possibility of the involvement of a cadre of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), being trained up outlawed outfits in Bangladesh. After the March 7 twin explosions in Varanasi, it was discovered that the militants who engineered the attack were reportedly trained by the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jijad-i-Islami (HUJI). Similarly, central security agencies established links between the mastermind of the Dec 28 attack on Bangalores Indian Institute of Science and the LeT. Three persons detained - two in Bangalore and one in Hyderabad - were found to have links with the Al-Hadees group based in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. The LeT has cells in both countries, said an intelligence official.
In fact, five months ago, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had prepared a position paper of the camps in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia that were providing support to terror outfits operating in India.
Bangladesh provides the warm bodies and Saudi provides the cash and 'religious instructors'
Investigators confirmed that most of the bombs were placed in the overhead luggage racks in the first class compartments of the trains. This seemed to concur with reports from the citys hospitals that victims suffered head and chest injuries, probably caused by blasts above them. But without the aid of video surveillance footage, which helped the British police identify suspects after the 7/7 attacks in London last year, the job of the Mumbai police force and the intelligence agencies may not be that easy.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006 15:54 ||
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SRINAGAR, India (AP) -- A man claiming to represent al-Qaida in Kashmir said the terror network had set up a wing in Kashmir and appealed to Indian Muslims to take up jihad, an Indian news agency reported Thursday. An official said the government said it was taking the claim "very seriously." The man, who identified himself as Abu al-Hadeed, told Kashmir's Current News Service that "who so ever has carried out the attacks in Bombay we express our gratitude and happiness."
As word of the announcement spread, a senior intelligence official in Kashmir said the call had been placed from a local landline phone that authorities were trying to trace. "Our immediate effort is to locate the caller and ascertain the authenticity of the claim," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media. "The government is taking it very seriously." It was impossible to independently verify the caller's identity and if he actually represents a new wing of al-Qaida.
There have been allegations that Islamic militants fighting to wrest predominantly Muslim Kashmir from India have ties to al-Qaida, but Thursday's statement is the first time Osama bin Laden's network has claimed to have spread to the Indian territory.
Must have just opened a office
"We appeal to Muslims in India to fight for freedom and Islam and choose jihad as their way to achieve freedom and establishing Islamic ways," al-Hadeed was quoted as saying. He added the Bombay bombings "are a reaction to what is happening to the minorities, especially Muslims in India."
Al-Hadeed identified the network's Kashmir leader as Abu Abdul Rehman al-Ansari. Both names are Arabic, not Urdu, the language spoken by most of Muslims in India and Pakistan. Current News said al-Hadeed spoke in Urdu. But he reportedly said: "Henceforth our statements will be in Arabic."
Cuz it's the Holy Language of the true leaders of islam. Everybody else are just tools to be used. It sounds arrogant enough to be al-Qaida
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006 09:54 ||
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#1
Check for flow of Saudi Riyals ... use SWIFT program, oops, I forgot, NYT blew that one up.
Mumbai, 13 July (AKI) - The Indian police have detained hundreds of people in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai and various parts of Maharashtra state for questining in connection with Tuesday's blasts on Mumbai's railway network which killed at least 185 people and injured hundreds of others. Various wire reports say the numbers detained range from 150 to 350 people. According to a Press Trust of India (PTI) report, most of those detained were suspected activists of the banned Muslim organisation Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
The PTI said that the activists were detained by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) after an overnight drive by the city's police in which railway stations and hotels were searched and the SIMI activists rounded up. The Reuters news agency said that the police have also prepared three sketches of suspects who were seen at the bomb sites. No group has claimed responsibility for the series of blasts which occured in a span of 20 minutes. Reports say that the police suspect the bombs were placed in leather bags and kept in luggage racks.
Pakistan's foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri has reacted angrily to various suggestions that Pakistan could be behind the blasts. In an interview braodcast on CNN, he said that India should be careful about ant attempt to attribute the attacks to so-called Pakistan-based militants. He repeated Pakistan's condemnation of the blasts but asked "why should there be finger pointing every time?"
Ummm, cause it's true?
India's prime minister Manmohan Singh called for calm in the wake of the attacks. Many fear that the bombings could trigger clashes between Hindus and Muslims in India. Singh commended the police, firefighters and doctors who are involved in the rescue work.
In a television address to the nation on Wednesday he paid "tribute to all those who showed courage and humanism in responding to the cowardice of terrorists." "These elements have not yet understood that we Indians can stand united... that we will stand united. They have not yet understood that we will never let them win," said the Indian prime minister.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006 08:58 ||
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People need to realise that Pakistan Iran and Syria are the enemy and paid by Saudi.
These are the enmey of the West and needs sorting.Iran must be first as they have the bravado that we are scared of them!
(KUNA) -- The Mumbai police Wednesday night said they have found a credible Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) link in Tuesday's serial blasts that killed 190 people and injured 625 in the city. "Evidence suggests the LeT has a strong link with the blasts," city police told reporters Wednesday evening, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. "In January the police had unearthed Lashker's efforts to rebuild its terror network in Mumbai. The matter came to light with the arrest of three Kashmiri men with LeT links and a cleric," the police added.
Naturally there's a holy man involved...
They said: "The LeT module in Mumbai has developed a well-knit network of terror sleepers. In fact the Mumbai network has become the most lethal, with tentacles spread across the subcontinent." The Mumbai module was set up four years ago with the coming together of the LeT and local activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the police claimed. "We may have had intelligence inputs on terror targets, but it is not always possible to pin down the outfits or learn the exact nature of their plans. Sometimes we are successful, at other times we are not," the police said. "The patterns of the blasts also point out the involvement of the SIMI in the blasts."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Six tourists were wounded on Wednesday in a fresh grenade attack in Indian Kashmir, a day after militants killed nine tourists in the insurgency-racked region. "Three tourists from New Delhi and three others (from Indian Kashmir) have been wounded in a grenade attack" in the resort town of Gulmarg, a police spokesman said.
The grenade was hurled as the tourists boarded a bus, the spokesman said in Srinagar, the scene of five grenade attacks targeting tourist vehicles and holiday areas on Tuesday. "They are being shifted to a Srinagar hospital," the police spokesman said, adding one was in critical condition.
One of the tourists hurt in the Srinagar attacks died in hospital to take the death toll to nine, doctors said. Seven of the dead were from India's West Bengal state while two were from Bihar. Some 39 people were hurt in Tuesday's blasts.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A suspected pro-Taliban militant was killed when a grenade he was handling went off at a religious school, a security official said on Wednesday.
Giving a class, was he? I hate it when that happens.
The man identified as Abdul Rahman died and two companions were wounded when the grenade's pin was accidentally removed, the official said requesting anonymity. The incident took place in the town of Jandola which borders the restive South Waziristan tribal district.
"Thou shalt not stoppeth at two, but proceedth directly to three. To three shall thou counteth, and the number to which thou shalt count shall be three. Five is right out ..."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Is it my imagination or are we seeing more and more "work accidents" lately?
#8
Does this mean the "religious school" will have to order more grenades?
At Catholic school those nuns did enough damage with those steel edged rulers. I shudder to think what they could do with a grenade.
#12
" Brave Lions, this is how we deal with Infidels. These are the latest delivery from China and are 50% more destructive then the older series. You can kill hundreds of infidels with each of these beuatiful grenades. Just approach a crowded market, then pull this pin, like this, and..."
Four top commanders of Brahamdagh Bugti, the second-in-command of armed Bugti tribesmen, surrendered to the government on Wednesday along with 40 armed men, government sources claimed. "Those who surrendered include the top commanders Jumma Khan, Wadera Ali Gul, Rahim Khan and Ali Murad, and some 40 other tribesmen," the government official said, adding that their weapons had been seized.
However, sources in Nawab Akbar Bugti's Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) rejected the official claims, saying the men were not Bugti loyalists. "They were some miscreants involved in some other crimes. Now the government wants to brand them as Bugti tribesmen in order to defame us," said the JWP source.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, let's get it straightened out before I mess up my score card.
Countries like Pakistan and Iraq should pass laws requiring gun registration. Then, when the police or some army finds a gun which is not registered, the holder of that particular weapon sits in the corner for a decade or so. Maybe the UN will adopt such a stance.
What am I smokin ?
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United States vetoed a UN draft resolution that would have called for an end to Israeli attacks and "disproportionate use of force" in the Gaza Strip as well as for the release of a kidnapped Israeli soldier. The Security Council resolution received 10 votes, one against from the United States with four abstentions, French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, the council president for July, announced.
Explaining his negative vote, US Ambassador John Bolton described the text as "unbalanced" and was "not only untimely but also outmoded" because of the attacks against Israel by Lebanese Hezbollah militants and UN chief Kof Annan's decision to send a crisis team to the region. He said adoption of the resolution would have exacerbated tensions in the region and would have undermined "our vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security."
The United States, Israel's staunchest ally, last used its veto in the Security Council in October 2004, to block a similar draft demanding that Israel end all military operations in northern Gaza and withdraw from the area. France, a permanent member of the council, voted in favor while Britain, Denmark, Slovakia and Peru abstained.
Earlier versions of the Qatari draft had already been rejected by Western members for being "unbalanced" because they did not mention the abduction of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants and repeated rocket firing into Israel.
The latest version calls on Israel to "halt its military operations and its disproportionate use of force that endanger the Palestinian civilian population and to withdraw its forces to their original positions outside the Gaza Strip."
It also calls for the "immediate and unconditional" release of the abducted Israel soldier and urges Israel to immediately and unconditionally release all detained Palestinian ministers.
The Palestinian Authority is meanwhile asked "to take immediate and sustained action to bring an end to violence, including the firing of rockets on Israeli territory."
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006 15:58 ||
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#1
Nice job, Regis.
Posted by: Scott R ||
07/13/2006 16:17 Comments ||
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You get 16 of these resolutions before anybody does anything, and that anybody is us. Don'nt veto it, just let it go, and Israel can ignore it. All's that would happen would be next month the UN would say 'Oh yeah".
BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces said they had found the bodies of 20 bus drivers who had been kidnapped north of Baghdad earlier on Wednesday. Police had put the number of bus drivers kidnapped in Miqdadiya, 100 km (60 miles) northeast of the capital at 12, but Major General Ahmed al-Awad said 20 bodies had been found after gunmen snatched a group of drivers from a station.
Awad told state television that security forces released three kidnap victims during a search operation. The terrorists fled to a nearby village and we found 20 bodies. The bodies were those of the bus drivers, he told Iraqiya.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
What's the beef with bus drivers from kiz sakes.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:20 Comments ||
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#3
From KUNA reports it looks like these were the bodies of most of the men abducted by (presumably) Shia terror squads at a bus stop (rather than drivers at a station), where all the men present were detained, had ID's inspected, and the Shia among them abducted, and later murdered.
Gunmen hunt down civilians in Mosul (KUNA) -- A number of Iraqi civilians were killed on Wednesday in violent acts in Mosul, northern Iraq. An Iraqi Police source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that unknown gunmen killed three Shiite Kurds in Ansar neighborhood. The source added that insurgents also gunned down a medical worker, noting that the gunmen showered the victim with bullets in Zahra neighborhood, killing him and another civilian instantly.
Meanwhile, severe clashes erupted between Iraqi police and army forces on one side and gunmen on the other in Sukkar neighborhood. A gunman was killed and another was wounded, who was detained by Iraqi security forces. The security source said that the Iraqi Police arrested three armed groups this week, noting that the arrested gunmen revealed serious information and admitted committing a number of crimes. The source added that 19 dead bodies were found in several areas in Mosul this week.
Iraqi military kills, arrests 47 armed men in different parts of country
(KUNA) -- Iraqi Ministry of Defense said wednesday that its forces have killed and arrested 47 armed men in the last 24 hours in several parts of the country. A statement from the Iraqi ministry said forces from the eighth and tenth regiments were able to kill two armed men south of Al-forat River in mid Iraq. "Police checkpoints had 683 Iraqi patrolling vehicles who made the arrest of 45 people in cities of Baghdad, Mosul, and Ramadi", statement added.
Iraqi police discovers 20 bodies
(KUNA) -- Iraqi police said Wednesday that the bodies of 20 individuals, out of 25 persons that were kidnapped by insurgents, were found in Dayala province. Speaking to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Iraqi police sources said the individuals were abducted in north-eastern Baghdad's Al-Miqdadiya district. Earlier on Wednesday, insurgents took over a bus stop, sorted through the travelers' identification cards to distinguish Sunnis from the Shiites, and then abducted the Shiite men.
Armed cell's leader arrested W.Iraq
(KUNA) -- Multi National Forces (MNF) announced here on Wednesday that an armed cell's leader was arrested west of Iraq by the Iraqi police. Iraqi forces raided three separate targets out of Abu Ghraib town. The terrorist cell's leader and one of his henchmen were arrestd in a house without getting into armed engagements, MNF statement said. The detainee is responsible for planting explosive devices and training on how to use them, blowing up booby-trapped vehicles and launching RPG attacks.
Insurgents separate travelers by sect, kidnap 25 Shiites
(KUNA) -- Sectarian violence continues in Iraq as armed militants kidnapped at least 25 Shiite citizens in Al-Miqdadiya, north eastern Baghdad. The insurgents besieged a bus stop, sorted through the traveler's identification cards to identify the Sunnis' from the Shiites', and then abducted the Shiite men. This incident happened at 6:15 a.m. this morning.
In other news, Iraqi police freed a kidnapped person and arrested seven of his kidnappers during a routine stop at a checkpoint in eastern Baghdad. The police also confiscated four cars and large amounts of weapons.
A booby-trapped car exploded, Wednesday morning, killing one person and wounding four. The blast happened about 200 meters away from the Iraq Finance Ministry in Al-Waziriya junction, northern Baghdad. The explosion ripped the parked car and caused material damage in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Radio Polonia is reporting reporting that Polish Intelligence agents have captured an Iraqi terrorist wanted for a number of terrorist attacks, including the fatal attack on a Polish public televsion war correspondant and his assistant.
The background of that wanted terrorist, Salas Khabbas, is what is most interesting. Polish reports suggest that Khabbas, who has "a long record of killings and kidnappings" and is "a former member of the Baath party and closely linked with al-Qaeda, specialized in attacking convoys and kidnapping."
Khabbas may reveal his exact role in the former regime to his captors as well as how and when he became "closely linked" with al-Qaeda. In the meantime, his name has been added to the ever-growing list of former regime officials caught fighting as al Qaeda agents in Iraq.
#4
A meaningless statement at the current level of conflict. Hezbollah is a popular movement of Shiites who live in Lebanon. As long as these people are still there, and can maintain what amounts to an enclave outside of the control of the Lebanese army, Hezbollah will continue to exist.
#5
Maybe ... but there's a big difference between people with feelings and an organized, funded and armed group with state sponsorship and an extensive infrastructure.
Taking out the infrastructure - the camps, the tunnels, the storage bunkers in Bekaa, and the leaders and a good part of the followers, will go a long way to dismantling the attacks on Israel from that particular group. And it serves as a warning to any other groups looking to step in.
Of course, the real issue is Iran for Hizb'allah and Syria for Hamas.
#7
notice how the syrian talking heads on the news shows are saying syria has nothing to do with this... before they explain how they want an exchange of prisoners! why do we deal with these people. treat a snake like a person you are going to get bit
and a moderator.....now that's embarrassing, eh, Rich? Oops? heh heh ...been there as well :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:15 Comments ||
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lotp wouldn've typed "Hizb'allah" to be accurate, rich dear. In one of her incarnations she teaches some of our future leaders, so she understands the importance of accuracy.
Israeli aircraft struck the main highway linking Beirut to the Syrian capital Damascus early on Friday, a Lebanese security source said. It was not immediately clear how badly damaged the road was or if there were casualties.
As Lebanon's largest political party and most potent armed force, Hezbollah has long been described as a "state within a state" a Shiite Muslim minigovernment boasting close ties to Iran and Syria.
But Wednesday's move across the border to capture two Israeli soldiers went a step further: Hezbollah acted as the state itself, threatening to drag Lebanon into a war.
The country's elected government was still in meetings Wednesday, arguing over what to say in public, when Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah went before television cameras with a pointed threat for the ruling elite.
Running like bunny rabbits they are
"Today is a time for solidarity and cooperation, and we can have discussions later. I warn you against committing any error. This is a national responsibility," the cleric said, looking every inch the head of state.
More at link
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 16:20 ||
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#1
"This is a national responsibility," the cleric said, looking every inch the head of state.
If I can indulge in a fantasy for a minute:
Nasrallah, he's a dead man! Meshaal, dead! Haniyah, dead!
#3
Looks like Iran has decided to offer up Lebanon as a sacrifical goat to Baby Assad. If so, then as many have said earlier...all roads do lead to Damscus. Better now then when Iran goes nuclear. The mullahs may have done us all a favor.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/13/2006 16:44 Comments ||
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#4
The Hezbollah part of Lebanon should be mapped by now. No reason in the world for Israel to not change the political balance of the country by carpet bombing those Shiite areas.
#5
Yea, but next worry, mullahs unlease that puke Sadu in Iraq, and we really got a big, ole mess.
From Andrew Cochran at counterterrorismblog.org today:
I was a lunch with the Israeli Ambassador to the US when he announced that a Hezbollah rocket hit Haifa - the gasp from the crowd was an audible recognition of the major escalation that the attack represents, in part because it wasn't clear beforehand whether the rockets had sufficient range. I would draw a parallel to the 1914 Sarajevo shooting of Archduke Ferdinand, which ultimately led to World War I.
#9
Iran doesn't have much by way of oil refineries. That's why they import much of their gasoline. They have lots and lots of crude, though. Not real advanced, but it mostly pays the bills.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
07/13/2006 22:14 Comments ||
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#10
All the Israelis need to do is send over a sub with a team to take out a couple of refineries. On the way out, drop a gasoline tanker coming into an Iranian port, and that's the last delivery they'd see for a long time.
#11
Kharg Island exports 50% of Iran's oil. There is little there but oil storage tanks, a runway that may or may not be long enough for a Piper Cub, several loading terminals, and sand. If Israel really wants to put a hurt on Iran, hit that island, hard. Leave nothing but twisted pipelines and burning storage tanks. It would also be pretty easy, except for the necessity of several aerial refuelings: fly down the Red Sea at 50 feet, cross Saudi Arabia through the Empty Quarter, and hook up back into Kharg Island, then across the Saudi-Iraq border back to Israel. The last lap will require US air cover, but it would be worth it. Iran would go bankrupt in about three months.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 22:45 Comments ||
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#12
Capsu78 - that's pretty damn good - I might steal that :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:47 Comments ||
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#13
ixnay on the lanpay, OP
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:49 Comments ||
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Wonderful. This does not help Israel. let IDF do their jobs! You've got to suspect these guys want all-out violence as much as Ahmahdinajad, Hamas and Hizb'allah.
Gilad Shalhevet Brigades organization claims it kidnapped two Palestinians, residents of the Jerusalem area. Group says hostages will be released only in exchange for Israeli soldiers abducted in Gaza, Lebanon
Efrat Weiss
An extremist organization called the Gilad Shalhevet Brigades claimed it kidnapped two Palestinians, residents of the Jerusalem area. In a statement issued by the groups it was said that the hostages will be released only in exchange for the Israeli soldiers abducted in Gaza and Lebanon.
Jerusalem District Police said they are looking into the groups claim.
Thursday afternoon the Ynet news desk received a statement reading: For your information, a few minutes ago we kidnapped two Palestinian workers in the Jerusalem area. The two are being held in a hidden location and we will conduct negotiation for their release through the media.
We demand the immediate release of the kidnapped (Israeli) soldiers; if they will not be released within the next 48 hours, the lives of the Palestinians will be in danger.
The announcement has not been confirmed as of yet.
The Shalhevet Gilad Brigades is an extremist organization that has claimed responsibility for past shooting attacks in which Palestinians were murdered in the territories, but until now no proof has surfaced linking the group to the actual incidents, and no arrests have been made.
#2
The problem with this approach is that the Paleos and their fellow travelers don't give a sh*t about other Paleos. I imagine their collective response will be: So?
#3
They will eventually be caught by the israeli security forces and sentenced for that, after having achieved nothing, except making Israel loses a few more points in the PR war, by justifying the moral equivalence theory.
#4
Hamas want's to trade Gilad for bloodthirsty murderers, not honest workers. There isn't any work in the Palestinian Terr. anyway, what the hell would they do with more workers.
#6
Oh, shit. I think Wretchard used to talk about this. I think this is the second of the Three Conjectures. Does that mean that the third has now expired? In which case, we're all up the creek.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/13/2006 16:59 Comments ||
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Conjecture 1: Terrorism has lowered the nuclear threshold
It used to be that just having the nuclear capabiliy to destroy the US was not enough, the Soviet Union had to have the intent to do so as well. They did not have that intent for many reasons, one of which was they were rational actors and were fully aware of MAD. With Islamists, the intention is definitely there, they just don't have the capability, which leads onto...
Conjecture 2: Attaining WMDs will destroy Islam
If Islamists gain reliable and plentiful supplies of weapons, they will use them, and there will be a response.
President Bush's West Point address in 2002 contained deterrence -- the promise of massive retaliation against nations -- means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend.
Wretchard's logic is that because there is no one to negotiate with (or even to surrender to), 'tit-for-tat' nuclear strikes will not stop the carnage, so the West (or Russia or China) decides that with the first nuclear attack that the rational response is all-out massive retaliation, and the Islamic world just ceases to be.
Something else Wretchard says; Even if Islam killed every non-Muslim on earth they would almost certainly continue to kill each other with their new-found weaponry. We have seen several years of Shia and Sunni killing each other in every vaster numbers (and today I found out that the Druze are thought of as heretics by both Shia and Sunni).
Conjecture 3: The War on Terror is the 'Golden Hour' -- the final chance
The third conjecture is simply that the survival of the Islamic world depends on the success of the War on Terror.
Whether you agree with all Wretchard's conclusions, there is a horrible inevitability with how these events are unfolding...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/13/2006 17:32 Comments ||
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#9
Darn, where is the 12th imam when you need him? Oh, he is hiding in the well reading a note from the mullas asking him to save their ass. Or was that Osama?
#10
I think this will be seen as a PR victory if Israel can nab these guys and return the hostages unharmed. The contrast in handling will be undeniable.
#11
Well I think it's worth noting that the Jewish extremists are criminals, the Palestinian and Lebanese abductors are agents of their respective governments.
#12
I think #7 may be a speck of moonbat droppings left by someone out to discredit the 'burg.
Newsflash, hotshot- the problem most people around here have with Palestinians is their degenerate political culture which glorifies random pointless violence for its own sake. No way is this sort of stupidity going to get applause because its directed the other way. I think we know better than to sink to such a level.
I just wouldn't want a casual observer to get the wrong idea. The point is to get the other guy to fix his moral compass, not to bust up your own.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
07/13/2006 22:27 Comments ||
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For the first time ever, a rocket launched from Lebanon landed in Haifa. The launch represented the farthest a rocket had ever reached into Israel.
Five Katyusha rockets struck an apartment building in Nahariya on Thursday evening. Fortunately, there were no people in the apartment at the time, but a cul-de-sac in the road below caught fire as shrapnel and debris hit a nearby electrical pole. Five people were reportedly wounded, Channel 2 reported.
At the same time another rocket hit the old city in Safed. Two women were killed in both Safed and Nahariya earlier in the day. Katyusha rockets landed in the northern Israeli towns of Karmiel, Hatzor, and Majd el-Kurum, as well as several other communities, throughout the north on Thursday afternoon.
At least 28 people were wounded in Majd el-Kurum - two moderately and seven from shrapnel. Others were lightly wounded and suffering from shock. At least 90 Israelis have been wounded since the onset of Operation Just Reward Wednesday afternoon. Residents of Safed, Rosh Pina Hatzor and Karmiel were ordered to enter bomb shelters and fortified rooms on Thursday afternoon, as other residents of the north were ordered to do earlier.
The calls came after Katyushas fell in Safed's immigration center, old marketplace, Safed College and the Amit Center. Some 21 Safed residents were wounded. At least two people were wounded at the immigration center. Two people were seriously wounded from shrapnel, while some were lightly wounded, and many more were in shock.
MDA teams were treating the wounded at the scene and evacuating in ambulances to the city's Ziv Hospital. Hospitals throughout the North were ordered to raise their readiness level to Level Three, the second highest possible. Medical teams were being ordered to remain at their posts in expectation of continued Katyusha strikes.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006 13:19 ||
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#1
Seems hezbollah wants war. Or should I say, iran and syria want war by proxy.
#10
crosspatch - She was on John Gibson's Big Story - a show I usually skip - it will probably be released by Fox as a video on the show's page, but today's show segments haven't been put up, yet - they're still showing links for yesterday's videos.
#11
The truly interesting part of the Haifa attack is that Hezbollah denied they were responsible, LOL. Think about that for a minute...
What it unintentionally reveals is the truth - they didn't fire the missile, the Iranians who accompanied the al-Fajer missile did, because the dumb gunnies of Hezb wouldn't know how.
You can bet that if the Hezb Lions (LOL) had done it, they'd be crowing, not denying.
I sure hope the interview with Harmon is the vid they choose to put up from today's show...
#12
You can also watch for a link confirming it at the MyWay aggregator page. Currently, all of the MSM outlets offered there are going out of their way to mention it, one quoting the Israelis that it is a major escalation, and say it was Hezb a rocket. One story even claims it was two rockets.
Believe me, I pray for many confirmation sources. It would blow the whole Iranian game wide open. I don't know if Harmon "goofed" by spilling this, which just might be the case when you think about it, but I have no doubt it will put the Donks on the defensive and blow away the farce that Iran isn't pulling all the strings. They deserve to be center-stage and for the US take them down - all the way to Hell.
#13
"Flight pattern and refueling from Diego Garcia to Qom, Tehran, Isfahan, et al, plotted?"
"plotted"
"weapons secure?"
"secure"
"this is for the '79 hostages and Beirut Marines"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 20:29 Comments ||
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#14
BTW, the al-Fajer (al-fajr) missiles are also referenced as "Katyusha rockets".
In early 2001 it was reported that Hizbullah had set up a belt of mobile multi-barreled rocket launchers and truck-mounted missiles along Israels northern flank ready to go off the moment Israel launched a large-scale military offensive against Lebanon. The Japanese-made Isuzo truck launchers carry Fajr-3 (Arabic for dawn-3) projectiles, a third generation of Katyusha rockets with a 60-kilometer range manufactured by Iran's air force industry.
#15
thanks flyover. It would be REAL nice to capture an IRG unit....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 21:27 Comments ||
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#16
Now 2 confirmed dead (both women), 90 injured. Israel is not going to play games: they're going to put some serious hurt on those responsible. I'd love to see them capture a half-dozen Iranians, and send them back on the tops of nuke warheads.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 22:52 Comments ||
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(IHC News, 13 July 2006) The terrorist group, Hizbullah fired Katyusha rockets at Israel Thursday morning, hitting Jewish communities across the north. Initial reports said one woman was killed and at least 29 others wounded when a rocket slammed into a home in downtown Naharia.
We immediately understood we were hit by a Katyusha, the husband of City Council member, Elle Merkin-Spector said. The house trembled, and although the blinds were shut, windows shattered due to the shockwave. This is the first time we experienced a Katyusha so close to home. The most frightening part was the baby's unstoppable crying and the fear that another missile is expected to arrive following the first hit, he said.
Katyushas also hit Kfar Nasi, Kibbutz Mahanayim, Rosh Pina, Kibbutz Mishmar Hayarden, Gadot, Kfar Nasi, Beit Hillel, Kibbutz Mahanayim, Kibbutz Kabri, Mount Hermon, Netiv Haasarah, Mount Meron, Shlomi, Zar'it and Kibbutz Hagoshrim.
Also, for the first time several rockets were able to reach 20-25 kilometers south of the Lebanese border. Intelligence sources say the rockets are aimed at Haifa and may even have the ability to reach as far as Netanya.
Breaking news on DRUDGE, Haifa was just hit. Confirmed by Israeli press
Meanwhile, Israeli government Minister, Issac Herzog stressed that a new situation has arisen and the people of Israel need to know that we are going into a period that will require resilience. Hospitals have been put on alert and residents of the north have been ordered to stay close to home and enter shelters immediately after hearing a siren or explosion.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006 13:14 ||
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See blog for updates on coverage.
The two soldiers who were kidnapped in Lebanon yesterday have been named by the IDF. Contrary to a post I linked yesterday, neither of them is Druze - they are both apparently Jewish. According to the IDF, the soldiers are Ehud Goldwasser, 31, from Nahariya, and Eldad Regev, 26, from Kiryat Motzkin. I guess you all know now where Nahariya is and I think I mentioned Kiryat Motzkin - just north of Haifa - yesterday as well.
Update 4:46 PM
Al-Jazeera reports that the soldiers were alive at the time of the kidnapping, according to a Hizbullah source.
They were moved to a nearby mosque immediately after the abduction, and were then forced to change clothes and were taken by taxi to another location. Btw, from I've read, 80's french hostages in Lebanon were mostly hidden in a network of mosques. Mosques = more than religious buildings like churches, but centers for the (male) muslim community to socialize and organize, including Jihad(Tm).
An extremist organization called the Gilad Shalhevet Brigades claimed it kidnapped two Palestinians, residents of the Jerusalem area. In a statement issued by the groups it was said that the hostages will be released only in exchange for the Israeli soldiers abducted in Gaza and Lebanon.
#4
CNN: "Israel also said it has information that the guerrillas who captured the soldiers are trying to transfer them to Iran, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, according to The Associated Press."
(KUNA) -- Amidst the ongoing Israeli military assault on Palestinian lands, a number of Palestinian factions retaliated Wednesday by launching rockets on Israeli targets. The military wings of Fatah, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said today in a joint statement that they launched two rockets at an Israeli military camp in Nahel Al-Ouz. The joint statement said that the Palestinian factions heard the rockets' explosions, after which the Israeli army abandoned the camp.
The statement said that "the operation was in retaliation to Zionist terrorism," stressing that they insist on resistance as a strategic option. The military wing of Islamic Jihad Movement said in a statement today that they launched a "Quds 3" missile at Migdal city. The statement cited Israeli military sources saying that the missile hit an Israeli military base in the city without resulting in any casualties.
Hamas military wing also announced responsibility of a Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG) that hit an Israeli tank north of Khan Yunus city. They said that the operation was in retaliation to Israel's aggression against Palestinian people in Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Twenty-three Palestinians were killed, among them seven children from the same family, in multiple Israeli attacks in Gaza Wednesday in which a top Hamas militant leader was reportedly wounded.
Brave, brave Lion of Islam hiding amongst the kiddies again ...
The latest deaths came as Israel pushed a new offensive in the impoverished territory aimed at securing the release of a soldier captured more than two weeks ago and ending rocket attacks on the Jewish state.
They're "impoverished" becausee they spend all their money on arms and ammunition. Most of the able-bodied workforce seems to belong to their confusing gaggle of militias, splitting their time between blowing off rockets and going to funerals.
A total of 75 Palestinians have now been killed since Israel stepped up its massive ground assault into Gaza last Wednesday in a bid to secure the release of the missing teenage soldier and to halt rocket fire.
[Tap! Tap!] Still something wrong with this sympathy meter...
Nine Palestinians, including seven children from the same family, were killed and a Hamas militant leader was reportedly wounded in an air strike that destroyed the Gaza home of a political leader in the Islamist movement.
"Honey! Look who's here!"
"Why, if it isn't Mohammad Deif, the most wanted man in Paleostine! Come on in! Kids, come over here and meet Abu Deif!"
"Mom! Look at that air [KABOOM!] plane..."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Paleos dish it out but can't take it. With any luck, Deif will die on the table
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:30 Comments ||
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#2
This foolishness of splitting the "armed wing" from the "political wing" is a TRANZI invention that does not exist in reality. Hamas is Hamas armed or unarmed. They are all terrorists and clients of Iran and Shyria. IF the "aemed wing attacks" it's the same as the "political wing" attacking they are all fair game.
#5
Hey Paleos - with the exception of Joel Stein and Cindy Sheehan - nobody cares about your "plight" anymore. In fact the world is sick of you. You all got what you voted for: war against Israel.
Since you all seem hell bent on dying in your quest to wipe Israel off the map - go ahead and live out your fantasy....so to speak.
#6
[Tap! Tap!] Still something wrong with this sympathy meter...
No, it's fine. I had mine checked out just last week, and it's actually reading negative for the Palestinians.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/13/2006 7:47 Comments ||
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#7
The Paleos have allowed Iran and Syria to be their biggest supporters. This has really ticked off Egypt and even the Saudi govt is keeping a distance (although a lot of individual skeihks are still donating).
#10
The Lions of Lebanon are getting whacked even as we type.
Unexpectedly (well for me anyway) they are now being bombed as well as the Paleos.
Let me just remember... Lions of Lebanon were the SAME ONES who rioted for 5 days after the Aussie Cronulla Riot. Australia has a healthy Hezbollah subset living in Lakemba-punchbowl (and surrounds) and who like Lakemba mosque a helluva lot.
So it's personal for me. Bomb the bejeebers out of the Hezbollah and then, just for good measure, carpet bomb the paleostonians.
Round them up, take their kalashnikovs away, give them all an identity card without which they travel nowhere and get no benefits.
then kick them out of Gaza - land for peace didn't work, so take the land back and give that nice beachside suburb (now complete with paleo landmines) back to the Israeli settlers.
What are your predictions Rantburgers, for how this will play out?
#11
Burn the Hizb'allah towns and bulldoze the remains. Put up warning signs that, thanks to Hizb'allah, any rebuilding will be destroyed.
Posted by: ed ||
07/13/2006 10:45 Comments ||
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#12
Preceding comment was for the Lebanon thread, but worth applying in Gaza too.
Posted by: ed ||
07/13/2006 10:46 Comments ||
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#13
Yup, terminal stupidity on the part of islamos. You thought you wanted this, now you got it. Sometimes the genie can't be put back in the bottle. Be careful what you wish for.
Very long, but good backgrounder. RTWT, if you have the time...
Two Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers were kidnapped and seven others were killed Wednesday in attacks on Israel's northern border by Hezbollah. Hezbollah's Al Manar TV station reported that the abduction occurred just after 9 a.m. and the soldiers were transferred to a safe location.
Just two days before the Hezbollah attacks, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, while speaking about Israel on Iran News Network TV, It will not be long before this intense fury will lead to a huge explosion. Ahmadinejad has also said Israel should be wiped off the map and that the Holocaust was a myth.
The two soldiers were patrolling Israel's northern border Wednesday morning in armored jeeps when Hezbollah terrorists fired on the vehicles and detonated explosives nearby. Three other soldiers riding in the jeeps were killed in the attack. A senior Hezbollah official said that at least one of the kidnapped soldiers is still alive.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
This is all contrived. There's a reason AhMad wanted to delay responding to the Condi and the gang on the proposed "carrots and sticks".
Look for big festivities across region by late-August.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:32 Comments ||
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#2
CA - I don't think Israel will wait until late August. I think they intend to punish Hezbollah (possibly Syria and Iran as well) NOW, and keep pounding them until they're all dead, or they agree to peace with Israel. Israel will NOT tolerate anyone kidnapping their citizens or their soldiers. Expect some heavy wet-works in Damascus, and even Asshat isn't immune. I don't think either the US or Israel will wait until August to get a response from Ahmadinnerjacket. We might see some Tomahawks flying by the end of this month, if Russia and China keep playing games in the UN. Bush has a nasty temper he keeps well in check, but his patience is not inexhaustable.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 17:35 Comments ||
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#3
IIRC a senior Israeli leader said back in
Feb. that we had 6 months to stop the Iranian nuclear program.
Feb = month 2. Add 6 = August
And that's not counting the mystical day 8/22 when the Mahdi reappears with a little help from what's-his-face ....
#4
If the IRG are launching missiles from Lebanon, The NKors are trying to hit Hawaii, all of this while the UNSC is talking about Iran and the G8 is meeting in Germany.
This will not wait until August. War is afoot.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 20:31 Comments ||
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#6
Is it confirmed that the IRG has launched missiles from Lebanon? I read flyover quoting Jane Harmon to that effect, but I have seen nothing else. Is this true? Why is there nothing on it anywhere? Seems like a big deal to me.
I wasn't very explicit in my earlier post. The Hamas/Hezbol have been planned for months. AhMad has a timeline that will suck Israel into Syria. He has just today set the marker, saying an Israeli intrusion into Syria will be construed as an invasion of Irant.
Rather than the "limited" response by Israel into Leb, this will eventually evolve into a region wide conflict by mid-August. The US will be compelled to act against Iran due to (1) an escalation of their involvement in Iraq and (2) Iran coming to the aid of Syria.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 21:46 Comments ||
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#9
Jeeze Louise! This is Mordor on the march. And I'm not joking. The US and Israel need to pull from our inner strength. Maybe Australia, too. It is time to confront the aptly named Axis of Evil and bring it down. First stop Hizb'Allah in Lebanon. Then Syria. If they are neutralized, Iran is isolated, and Kimmie, in turn gets on shaky ground.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/13/2006 21:57 Comments ||
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#10
"inner strength" being = to superior firepower and support from the overwhelming true patriots at home
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:12 Comments ||
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An Israeli air strike destroyed the office of Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar on Thursday in an attack that signaled Israel would pursue its Gaza offensive while fighting along a second front in Lebanon. No one was hurt in the night-time raid on the Foreign Ministry building in Gaza City, Palestinian security officials said. Israel killed at least 24 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including nine members of one family in an air strike that destroyed a house where the army said senior Hamas commanders were meeting.
"This is state terrorism against the Palestinian people," Foreign Ministry spokesman Taher al-Nunu said about the latest attack. An Israeli military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv confirmed the air strike and said the ministry was used by the governing Hamas group to further the movement's activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blamed Lebanon for a Hezbollah attack on Israel he said was ``war-like'' and called for a ``painful and far-reaching'' response. Israeli troops entered Lebanon, the daily Haaretz reported, as an army spokeswoman said a call-up of reservists was on the agenda. The military action came after the armed Hezbollah group said on its Web site it captured two Israeli soldiers. The army said there was a ``heavy suspicion'' that two soldiers were abducted. Olmert called an emergency cabinet meeting for later today to decide on further military action in Lebanon. ``The murderous attack this morning was not a terrorist act, it was a war-like act by the state of Lebanon against Israel in its sovereign territory,'' he said at a press conference in Jerusalem.
The escalation in the north threatened wider Mideast military confrontation 15 days into Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip to win the release of an Israeli soldier abducted on June 25 and to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. Olmert said that the Hezbollah attack would be responded to in ``an unequivocal manner that will be very painful and far- reaching against those who initiated it.''
Israeli aircraft fired missiles into Lebanon after Hezbollah launched rockets that hit northern towns, wounding several soldiers and civilians, the army said. Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Israel was holding Lebanon responsible for the fate of the missing soldiers Hezbollah claimed to hold. ``The Lebanese government must take determined and immediate action to find the soldiers, prevent their being hurt, and ensure their return to Israel,'' he said in a statement issued by phone from his office.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Might as well chase this dog through Lebanon and into Syria
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:35 Comments ||
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#5
Olmert is making a much better response than I expected. I hope he carries on. If these dupes reinforce from Syria, et al., I think we ought to jump in with materiel or whatever to make certain they can stand their ground.
#6
We have a score or our own to settle with Hizb'allah. 242 Marines killed in Beiruit. The leadership needs to be taken out. It is also time for Syria to feel hurt. They are the ones enabling this madness against Israel.
People like Adminadejad, Pencil Neck, and Kimmie need to be dealt with decisively, otherwise we get in a mess like what is happening to us and Israel now.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/13/2006 11:55 Comments ||
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#7
I don't think withdrawing from Gaza was a mistake. It was an object lesson to Europe and the rest of the whining world that nothing Israel does will ever be enough, and the Palestinians will always miss any opportunity they're given. Now is the time to totally crush them, push them into Egypt or Syria, and say that any further actions against the united state of Israel (from central Lebanon to the Sinai [maybe further, if Egypt starts playing games]and Eilat, from the Jordan to the Med.) will result in a capital or two glowing for a thousand years.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 17:39 Comments ||
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#8
OP---This Gaza thing was a strategic withdrawl. You are right. The Paleos failed the Final Exam. If Egypt has it's sh!t together, they better stay the hell out of the conflict, and let the losers lose. The Egyptians have some scores to settle with Al Q, too. The terrorists are determined to wreck the tourist industry in Egypt, one of the few real industries that Egypt has.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/13/2006 22:12 Comments ||
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#9
Gaza was not a mistake. Sharon's stroke was devastating. Olmert flunked his test in responding to Gaza. Now he's overreacting. Hezbollah flunked by misinterpreting Gaza and getting greedy. I wonder how long it will be before the Guns of August II comes out.
A bomb has exploded at a busy market in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, killing a soldier. Police say three other troops and three civilians have been taken to hospital with injuries.
The remote-controlled device was hidden in a motorcycle parked near the market in Narathiwat province, one of three southern Thai provinces hit by more than two years of violence. While Muslim militants are blamed, it is believed criminals and corrupt officials may be using the insurgency as a cover to settle disputes.
Tehran, Iran, Jul. 12 Four men were hanged in public in the south-eastern city of Zabol, Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province, on Wednesday, the official news agency IRNA reported. The four were identified as Mehdi Zori, Houshang Kiani, Jamaloddin Jamali, and Abdol-Rahman Safar-Zehi were accused of instigating trouble and drug-related offences.
Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on the bogus charge of drug smuggling.
Any charge will do ...
Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province is home to Baluchis, a predominantly Sunni Muslim ethnic minority. Iran has witnessed escalating unrest since 2006 in areas populated by Baluchis, who complain of discriminatory and repressive policies by the theocratic regime. In recent months, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the restive province in what many Baluchis believe is a response to a spate of attacks by dissidents on government and security officials.
A Baluchi group opposed to the government of Iran calling itself Jondollah has claimed responsibility for a string of armed attacks on government officials including an ambush in March on a government convoy, which left twenty-two security and provincial officials dead and at least seven, including the governor of the city of Zahedan, critically wounded.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2006 23:53 ||
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The Israeli air force has dropped leaflets above Beirut, Nabatiye and other areas in Lebanon calling on Lebanese civilians to stay away and evacuate areas that are considered Hizbullah strongholds.
"Following the continued Hizbullah terror acts the IDF is operating in Lebanon. For your safety, in order to prevent hurting civilians, you must not be present in areas where the Hizbullah is operating," said the leaflet. (Roee Nahmias)
#5
Hopefully Hiz-ebola won't be tempted to unearth any of the Wmd's possibly buried in the Bekaa Valley. That could get really nasty and tempt Israel to nuke the idiots. I shudder to think where things would go from there.
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
07/13/2006 18:19 Comments ||
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#6
Good PR move. Clearly indicates that the IDF is at war with Hizbullah and not with Lebanon in general.
Hopefully indicates that IDF will be going after the Hiz strongholds in a *big* way. Isn't Saddam's WMD's supposed to be in some underground bunkers? (Oh but thats in Syria right?) And Israel has a bunch of bunker-busters.....
#7
More of a reader than a poster, but isn't the IDF running this campaign the way we (the US) should be running our campaign on the WOT. Warn, strike, rinse, repeat.
#8
kilowattkid - good comment - please feel free to continue - exactly so - warn the sheep "there's wolves hiding among them and the hunt's on. Stay at your own peril, cuz the hunt's on and shrapnel doesn't discriminate"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 21:38 Comments ||
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#9
Flyer says, "Duck"
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 21:53 Comments ||
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#10
"Lebanese in the south might wanna check into AFLAC as well"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:10 Comments ||
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The IDF struck on Thursday the Beirut-Damascus road. The road served as the main access between Lebanon and Syria, along which people and weapons were transferred into Lebanon. Security officials said that contributed to the siege that the IDF was laying on Lebanon by air, sea and ground, Army Radio reported.
Earlier, Israeli warplanes blasted runways at the two main army air bases in eastern and northern Lebanon near Syria's border on Thursday, police said, attacks that could draw the Lebanese army into Israel's war with Hizbullah guerrillas. Israeli jets dropped two bombs on the runway at the Rayak air base in the eastern Beka'a Valley, damaging it, police said. There were no reports of casualties or damage to aircraft.
Being careful to hold down Lebanese military casualties, while ending a message
Rayak, 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Beirut and about 7 kilometers (4 miles) west of the Syrian border, is home to the country's main military air base and is the military headquarters in eastern Lebanon.
Planes later attacked the Qoleiat air base near the Syrian border in the north with four missiles, police said. The strikes on the country's two air bases virtually neutralize Lebanon's air force.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006 13:26 ||
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#1
Is it just me, or are these strikes slowly rolling towards Syria?
#5
Syria's got to be running their AD radars all over the place looking to see if Israel is going to hit them. The longer this goes on the better the target map Israel gets to draw up on the Syria AAD network.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
07/13/2006 14:02 Comments ||
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#6
I wonder if Syria has a variation of "Baghdad Bob" (whom I always I kinda liked!)
[scene]
Damascus Dave: "Our brave Syrian airforce has swept the Zionist pigs from the air."
[on cue Israeli jets streak overhead and destroy Assad's palace]
p.s. ALL TIME great video is Baghdad Bob saying "The Americans are not within 100 miles of Baghdad" as an M1 tank rolls by in the background! Priceless.
#11
ALL TIME great video is Baghdad Bob saying "The Americans are not within 100 miles of Baghdad" as an M1 tank rolls by in the background! Priceless.
I loved that moment...the tanks were chasing Iraqi troops down the riverbank if I recall correctly....priceless moment.
#13
The only way the video with the tank in the background could have been better would have been if a couple marines were in the shot waving at the camera doin' the Hi Mom! thing.
#14
This is a link to some of his famous quotes..and the photo is a screen grab from that scene...over his right shoulder and out of camera range.... are the American tanks..
#15
Is there a video of the US armored column cutting the main Baghdad-Basra highgway ?
Reports at the time mentioned amazed Iraqis getting out of their cars to watch the tank force heading to Baghdad. Iraqi radio was still claiming that no US forces were present in the country.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 15:31 Comments ||
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Israel has information that Hizbullah guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers are trying to transfer them to Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.
"Hot Potato, here, catch!"
Either that or, "Neener, neener, you can't get them."
Regev did not disclose the source of his information.
The IDF released the names of the two soldiers on Thursday. According to the IDF Spokesperson, the two reserve are Ehud Goldwasser, 31, from Nahariya, and Eldad Regev, 26, from Kiryat Motzkin. Hizbullah guerrillas, who are backed by Iran, seized the soldiers Wednesday in a cross-border raid.
OC Northern Command Lt.-Gen. Udi Adam said Thursday evening that the army has hit hundreds of targets in Lebanon since Wednesday night. Adam added that Israel has not ruled out sending ground forces into Lebanon. He told reporters that even Northern Command had come under Katyusha fire during the day. "I imagine over time that we will be able to rid ourselves of this threat entirely," he said.
Not a problem, boss. You want 'em bombed into oblivion today or tomorrow? If we have to leave a few houses standing, it might take another day or so.
Earlier in the day, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz confirmed Thursday that the soldiers who had been kidnapped by Hizbullah a day before were still alive. "We know the soldiers are alive and we hold the Lebanese government completey responsible," he said during a tour of the North. Israel was not at war with Lebanon but at a "high volume crisis," he added. He said that a new reality has been created on the northern border that started yesterday with the deaths of eight soldiers.
The focus of the operation in Lebanon would be to restore Israel's deterrent capability against those in Lebanon, referring to Hizbullah, who thought the IDF was irrelevant, he explained. "The goal is to create a new reality in the north," Halutz told reporters, "Such attacks will not be tolerated."
Advanced Cause/Effect - 201
Halutz said the north was well protected by shelters but he could not guarantee that Israeli civilians would not be harmed during the current campaign in Lebanon. He also revealed that OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam had set up an investigative committee into Wednesday's kidnapping, which would be headed by a major general.
Iran's foreign ministry on Thursday denied any involvement in an alleged plan to transfer into Iran two Israeli soldiers who were captured by Lebanese Hezbollah militants. "We categorically deny" Israeli information on an alleged plan to transfer into Iran the two soldiers who were snatched on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokeman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
"We may be nuts, but we ain't that crazy"
Asefi was responding to a statement made hours earlier by the Israeli foreign ministry accusing the Shiite militia, which is backed by Iran and Syria, of aiming to move the soldiers into Iran. "Israel is locked in a crisis it has itself created," Asefi told AFP.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006 13:06 ||
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#1
If they end up in Iran it will be seen as an act of war as far as Isreal is concerned. Iran will have entered the fray nad will give Isreal the right to take out Iran. Or at least the nucs.
#2
This recalls a discussion I was having with a liberal about 2 years ago. He insisted that Hezballah was an indigenous Lebanese Shi'ite movement with no ties to Iran.
#4
Israel should immediately counter-kidnap several high ranking buddies of the Iranian president, and also several top mullahs from their mullah bloc.
They should deny any knowledge of the kidnappings, and even if their soldiers are released, don't release all of the Iranians.
If they hold them more than 72 hours, their intel guys should reprogram them.
#6
F**khead in Iran thought stirring shit all around Israel would be a great diversion and take heat off for his refusal to do anything. But , if he's stupid enough (I have great confidence in his judgement) to move these Israeli soldiers to Iran, this really opens the door wide for us. Who's to say whose munitions just fell out of the sky and blew the living shit out of Iran ? I would say it was merely an act by Allan, who was responding to extreme stupidity in conduct of war.
Israel is imposing an air and sea blockade on Lebanon as part of a major offensive over two soldiers captured by the militant group Hezbollah.
Israeli ships have entered Lebanese water to block ports, and the country's only international airport is closed after Israeli air strikes on Thursday. Intelligent move.
#3
The jihadis light off big cherry bombs and convince women to strap on explosives. The Israeli army is putting themselves into place for another event that will be recorded in history books for years to come.
ISRAELI warplanes today bombed runways at Beirut's Rafiq Hariri International Airport, which was then closed to traffic, a Lebanese aeronautic source said.
Witnesses said there were at least two raids on an eastern runway while Lebanese anti-aircraft batteries frantically fired at the invading planes.
The bombing of the airport, recently named after former premier Hariri who was assassinated in February 2005, came after nearly 24 hours of Israeli bombardments, up to then concentrated on bridges linking south Lebanon with the rest of the country.
The military action started after the capture of two Israeli soldiers by the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement in a border operation.
The Hezbollah raid on an army patrol on the volatile border was branded an "act of war" by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who moved quickly to authorise an "aggressive and harsh" Israeli response.
At least eight Israeli soldiers, along with a Hezbollah fighter, two Lebanese civilians and a Lebanese soldier have been killed in the deadliest 24 hours of fighting since Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon six years ago.
Israeli helicopters carried out three successive dawn raids north of the port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, police said, without immediately mentioning whether there were victims.
A Lebanese soldier was killed overnight when Israeli war planes took out a bridge south of Beirut.
The White House held Syria and Iran responsible for the flare-up, as world powers urgently appealed for restraint.
Hezbollah, or the Party of God, whose militia was instrumental in forcing Israeli troops out of Lebanon in May 2000, said it was demanding the release of Arab prisoners in return for the soldiers.
"They will only return home through indirect negotiations and an exchange of prisoners," Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said, saying the abduction was aimed at drawing international attention to the plight of "thousands of Lebanese, Palestinian and Arab detainees."
But Mr Olmert insisted there would be no negotiations.
"This was an act of war without any provocation on the sovereign territory... of the state of Israel," said Mr Olmert, facing the most serious test of his leadership since his government took office in May.
Israeli fighter jets, gunboats and artillery pounded Lebanon, hitting Hezbollah targets and about 10 bridges, cutting off the highway linking Beirut to the south.
After an emergency meeting, the Israeli cabinet gave the green light to unspecified retaliatory action against Lebanon, which has been mired in its own political crisis since the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri in 2005 and is still rebuilding after the devastating 1975-1990 civil war.
"Israel must respond with the necessary severity to this act of aggression... Israel will respond aggressively and harshly to those who carried out, and are responsible for, today's action," a cabinet statement said.
Army chief Dan Halutz vowed on Israeli television to "take Lebanon back 20 years."
Israel has already called up a rapid-reaction force of 6000 troops headed for the northern border, where many residents were heading for bunkers to escape mortars and Katyusha rockets fired by Hezbollah at the Jewish state.
The Lebanese government - which includes a Hezbollah minister - denied any involvement in the Hezbollah action and demanded an urgent UN Security Council meeting.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora also called up a host of world leaders "to ask them to help Lebanon in the face of the aggression and in order to contain the situation."
Yemen also called for an emergency meeting of the 22-member Arab League.
The White House, which considers Hezbollah a terrorist outfit, condemned the capture of the soldiers and pointed the finger at Israel's two main foes, Iran and Syria, which both bankroll the fundamentalist Shiite movement.
"We call for the immediate and unconditional release of the two soldiers. We also hold Syria and Iran, which directly support Hezbollah, responsible for this attack and for the ensuing violence," said national security spokesman Frederick Jones.
Washington also defended Israel's ground incursion into Lebanon -- the first since the 2000 pullout, saying its chief Middle East ally was entitled to defend itself against "terrorist" attacks.
UN chief Kofi Annan urged all sides to show restraint and to protect civilians.
Lebanese police said two civilians and a soldier were killed and 26 people wounded in Israeli reprisal attacks.
#1
The islamic hive mind must absolutely be devoid of the concept of cause and effect. Attacks on Isreal are like poking a nest of killer bees but the Arabs and tribalist peoples who are islamic almost to exclusion do not understand this or ever learn it.
If Isreal says it will set Lebanon back 20 years count on it being 40.
Count on the US of A pulling a China in the UNSC as well. It's totally justified.
Baby Asswad better take to sleeping in a different bunker every night too.
- inflict major losses to Hizbullah, and clear -- completely -- a 20km area North of the Lebanese border; bomb anything moving in that area over the next 20 years
- inflict major infrastructure losses to Lebanon -- weekly until they kick Hizbullah out of government and disarm its militia
- topple the Syrian government, because of their support for Hamas and Hizbullah
The USA should actively participate in the 3rd aspect, and veto all UN upcoming pro-Islamist resolutions.
#6
I have been trying to get details of the Hizbollah attack/kidnapping. A Hizbollah supporter from Iraq, posted the following on a forum.
"This morning, Wednesday 12.07.06, Hezbullah ambushed an Israeli military convoy on the Lebanese border killing three Israelis and taken two others as prisoners. When the Israelis rushed with their tanks, huge road-side bombs exploded destroying two tanks and killing an additional four Israeli soldiers. This attack was preceded by at least 30 missiles fired at Israel command and control posts. Hezbullah seems to launch its operation in support of the besieged Palestinians in Gaza whom are being killed, point blank, by Israeli Tank fires. In his news conference this afternoon, Sheikh Nassurallah hinted of the need to exchange prisoners and announced his readiness to confront Israel if Olmert choses to escalate. Many believe that the consequences of Hezbullah attacks may be the fuse to cause the Islamic explosion promised by Ahmedinejad, if the Israelis do not stop their massacres against Palestinians.
Let Condoleeza play her fiddle (Piano) while the Middle East (Rome) is burning. Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Palestine and now Lebanon are united in fighting the USraeli crusaders. Let the USraeli agressors be victims for a change."
-----------------------
I don't like using enemy sources, but this sounds credible. The IDF did lose a tank, and a powerful planted bomb (not an IED) could do it. A co-ordinated attack by overwhelming forces, could halt a convoy and enable attackers to kill or capture soldiers. And use of diversion by the terrorists could have delayed counter-attack concentration.
Folks, stop talking about beating this enemy, piecemeal, and start talking about annihilating them wholesale. Without mullah leadership and jihad ideology, Muslims would abandon Islam when they learn of its utter worthlessness in advancing humanity. It is us v them; now or never. Diplomacy can't trump sharia; total war can remove the Muslims ability to make terror.
#7
Many believe that the consequences of Hezbullah attacks may be the fuse to cause the Islamic explosion promised by Ahmedinejad, if the Israelis do not stop their massacres against Palestinians.
blah, blah - we all know he planned to light the fuse anyway.
#8
I look forward to the eventual dismantlement of Lebanon's infrastructure. Like I said earlier, I had no idea Olmert had it in him. I figured he was a sheep in sheep's clothing.
#9
Not to justify arab actions, but Olmert invited this by acting like such a milquetoast in Gaza. He should have smacked them down harder and then Hezhbollah might not have been so brazen.
#14
Daniel:
Iranian leaders have spoken about "400 critical points" where US global security is vulnerable. You may not know this, but Iranians were caught photographing the Panama Canal, last week. The White House would have a huge database on this Homeland threat. Bush didn't have a Homeland pretext for liberating Iraq. Iran's genocidal tyrants have furnished him with one. He also has the fact of Persian brutalization of Azeris, Kurds, Balochis, Arabs and religious minorities. Now he has Hizbollah (read: Iran) subversion of his Road Map, on which to hang a pretext. After G8, Ahmadinejad will start sending some of his "40,000" registered "martyr" terrorists against Israel. Then, something decisive and of long term effect will happen. As for oil prices, they are set in Dallas and there will be little more than a short spike even if Iranians sabotage their own fields. And if they do that, they can forget about Iranian sovereignty over them
Did you think that the "pre-emptive" war doctrine was just rhetoric?
#15
along with a Hezbollah fighter, two Lebanese civilians and a Lebanese soldier
Oh come now, with the amount of damage Isreal is doing the casualties of Hezbollah HAS to be higher. I think they're just hiding the dead before anyone can add them to the corpse count.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/13/2006 11:40 Comments ||
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#16
AT8133 you are on to an important point. Iran's only hope of victory, and stated goal, is to provoke a global conflagration while they try to destroy Israel.
It's a tenuous hope, but it's their only one given their pathetic ideology (apart from seeing the American people elect traitors to rule both the executive and legislative branches).
I'd say watch Southern Iraq in the next few days. Then watch terrorist attacks on infrastructure points across the world. If they think they can keep the US military busy elsewhere, they'll have an opportunity to go after israel with WMDs. Once they unleash Hamas and Hizbullah, what other levers do they have? a Syrian return to Lebanon, Sadrists in Iraq, and global terrorist attacks. Then all they have left are nukes, if they have them.
Since they've pushed Hizbullah into action, there's no stepping back for Iran. My estimate is that however insane the mullahs are, they do make plans and do love death, the mass-murder kind of death.
Given all of the above, I hope coalition forces are ready and willing. To utterly crush Iran and Syria. We've been in Iraq for 3 years. Time for the next major campaign in WW IV.
#17
From CNN: "Israel also said it has information that the guerrillas who captured the soldiers are trying to transfer them to Iran, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, according to The Associated Press."
If true, another act of war by the State of Iran. We may well see a nuclear war this year. Islamofascists will be on the receiving end, along with millions of innocents. Guess who will be blamed?
from what info I have the Israeli tank (singular) that was hit when crossed the border about two hours after the initial attack; the land mines were only about 100m from the border
basically, the first few hours Hizb benefitted aided by some pretty careless work by IDF reservists
#19
As for oil prices, they are set in Dallas and there will be little more than a short spike even if Iranians sabotage their own fields. And if they do that, they can forget about Iranian sovereignty over them.
If you believe the bit about oil prices, you're even more into fantasy about Energy Policy than the average American is. We currently import 60% of our oil, and are in no position to set prices in the producing companies, many of which have their oil production facilities run by state-owned oil companies.
Posted by: Phil ||
07/13/2006 14:33 Comments ||
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There's a pretty complicated genesis to Hezbollah's jump into Israel's fight with Hamas in Gaza, but I think I agree in outline with Eyal Zisser's analysis in the Jerusalem Post.
Attacks against Israel, in particular kidnappings of Israelis that could lead to prisoner exchanges, boost Hizbullah's popularity in the Middle East, especially at a time that the militia group is under regional and international pressure to disarm, said Eyal Zisser of Tel Aviv University's Dayan Center.
But in the eyes of many groups, some within Lebanon, who call the group a "danger to stability," Wednesday's activities may just prove them right, Zisser said.
"It's good for their prestige," Zisser said, referring to Hizbullah. Based on previous incidents, the militia group was gambling that Israel's response to Wednesday's attack would be restrained, he said...
But a wide-scale outbreak of violence could backfire for the group, especially if Lebanese citizens feel Hizbullah is to blame.
"These operations reinforce [Nasrallah's] position. It's an matter of image," Zisser said. Nasrallah "is a gambler. He is hoping he will benefit from these actions."
Hizbullah gained much recognition in the Arab world in 2004 when it won the release of hundreds of prisoners from Israeli prisons in exchange for an Israeli businessman and the bodies of three IDF soldiers. It is also widely seen as responsible for Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon after an 18-year presence.
Zisser said that from Hizbullah's perspective, its actions Wednesday did not constitute an escalation, because it had both attempted and carried out similar operations in the past.
Hezbollah's under pressure within Leb due to Resolution 1559. They have to "prove" that they're protecting Leb against Israeli aggression. The way to do that's to keep the pot stirred on the border, get a little aggression going now and then, but to keep it at a level they can handle, thus enhancing their heroic Arab warrior image. As long as Hamas is kidnapping Israeli troops, Hassan figures he might as well join in the fun. The 2004 negotiations and exchange tell him that there's not going to be much of a penalty and it'll make Hezbollah look tough.
I don't think anyone's under any illusions that was a spontaneous decision by Hezbollah. Larijani arrived in Damascus the day before the kidnappings so he could be close at hand for the festivities. We can guess that Teheran has been pressuring Nasrallah even as Ahmadinejad's been howling for the destruction of Israel. Damascus needs a fight so Assad can "prove" that Leb needs Syrian occupation just to stave off civil war. Beirut's been steering a dangerously independent course since the Hariri assassination and the overt Syrian puppets within the country have been looking increasingly shabby.
Nasrallah and possibly the puppeteers in Teheran miscalculated the effect of the kidnappings. Certainly they mistimed them. Leb's getting a thorough thumping -- Beirut airport is under attack as of this morning, expensive and painfully reconstructed infrastructure's being reduced to rubble, and Hezb is blowing off hundreds of Katyushas. There are the usual noises in the International Community about Israeli "overreaction," but the Lebs are left with the distinct problem of an act of war having been committed by an organization that's part of the government but which they don't control.
Siniora's cabinet's stated that the government's not responsible, but the Leb ambassador to Washington said, stupidly, that the government stands behind The Resistance. Parties in Beirut are looking frantically to see which way to jump. Hassan's taken away all the middle ground: the government's either got to condone the actions and enter a state of war with Israel, thereby putting them firmly back in the Syrian/Iranian camp and on the road to another occupation and possibly civil war, or they've got to condemn the actions and shut down Hezbollah, which they aren't able to do.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006 12:02 ||
Comments ||
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#1
Michael Totten is based in Beirut. I hope he's ok, and I would be interested to read his thoughts, if he's able and willing to write.
#2
I would love a veteran Rantburger to explain to me why any of these goverments are "unable to shut down Hezbollah". What exactly is the civil war argument-that the populace supports Hezbollah? Is the basic idea that the populace of Lebanon would be resistant to outside help in drowning the rats? Are they being bribed to either support Hezbollah or else lose their lives? Or is the loss of charity services on the part of Hezbollah enough to keep them on that side?
#3
Hezbollah is swimming in arms and money funded by "charitable groups" and cobelligerent governments throughout the Arab world. I don't think any of the other factions in Lebanese society enjoy any such support from anyone.
Posted by: Phil ||
07/13/2006 13:26 Comments ||
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#4
Some other thoughts...
Hezbol has an active drug trade in several countries.
Resolution 1559 is not worth the paper its printed on if Syria and Iran continue to ignore it. Yet another toothless resolution.
The most prevalent political party today in Leb is Hezbollah.
Israeli's strategic protection requires moving through Leb to Damascus. All roads lead to Damascus and Teheran, the rest is just tactical.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 13:48 Comments ||
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#5
Oh, and despite President Bush's best hope, the Cedar Revolution of 2004 is null and void.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 13:50 Comments ||
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#6
insightful comments all. But I do question this thought, " but the Leb ambassador to Washington said, stupidly, that the government stands behind The Resistance.
I especially agree with Jules while acknowleging Phils comment. But it's time to stop rolling our eyes and pondering if this is all just political grandstanding when they are committing overt acts of war. I don't think so. The fact that they suddenly have better rockets is an indicator that the comment made by the ambassador wasn't stupid but telling. I think what he said was what it was. We are entering a major war. The fact that Arabs(TM) won't win doesn't mean that they aren't deluded into believing that they can.
#7
What if Iran meant Hizbollah to just continue the gradual increase in pressure on Israel? This may have been just a step towards triggering a crisis down the road (gaining the last few months needed for working nuclear weapons) and Israel refused to play by their book and has now jumped several steps ahead?
Iran is now (assuming this theory is correct) with letting Hizbollah get crushed and looking like wimps, or fighting Israel now without having things (nuclear weapons) ready.
The attempt to take these kidnapped men to Iran may be an on-the-fly rush job to slow this down and turn it into another "hostage crisis" in order to gain the time they were expecting. It seems dumb to even try, might make sense if it's an off the cuff ploy.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
07/13/2006 14:13 Comments ||
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#8
I know it would never happen, but Lebanon could invite outside forces, including Israel, to come in and get rid of Hezballah for them. Aside from the fact that it wouldn't be the muslim thing to do, why wouldn't they?
#9
Laurence - good point about the hostages to Iran seeing since Ahammadinjihad got his start in life by using that as his opening play in the Carter years. Like a card or chess player, it's clearly one of his favorite moves and it makes sense that he might believe it would work again.
Nobody is playing this time. This one is for keeps.
#10
I read today that the Israeli soldiers that were grabbed were actually Druze. If so what is that likely to do to the Druze population in Lebanon. Muslims will often back shit against the Jews, or even other Arab groups, that they would never tolerate against their own ethnic group.
#11
One point about the Druze angle #10 : most Shia and Sunnis do NOT consider Druze Muslims, but apostates that need beheading. The Druze believe that the Maahdi came in the 11th century as the Caliphe of Cairo, and they also incorporate reincarnation in their beliefs. Muslims killing Druzes has been almost as popular an activity as Muslim killing Jews, for the past several hundred years.
#12
Druze are notoriously "unaligned". They fight for whoever is in charge. If tomorrow Lebanon were in charge, they would fight for the Lebanese just as well. Probably a survival tendency!
#15
I think I came off as a bit snarky, like I had all the answers, but it was a genuinely posed question. I don't know the answer-I just love poking at every idea to see if it holds up.
Captain America, I didn't realize that was the extent of their political clout.
#16
2b, what Fred might have meant by 'stupidly' is that the rest of the Lebanese government was promulgating the position that the entry into Israel, attacks on IDF and capture of the Israeli soldiers was the work of a private group that has no government support.
By openly aligning his government with Hizb'allah, he gives credence to the Israeli position that the attack was an act of war by Lebanon on Israel, thereby justifying a full-up response.
#18
I'm curious about Gangea's and Jumblatt's position on this. I know Jumblatt is very anti-Syrian but Phalangist Christians were anti-Palestinian aka Sahbra and Shatilla but also were Pro-Syrian, I assume from the stability angle.
#20
Heh, didn't notice Fred wrote it, but I should have realized it was Fred or Strategy Page or someother clear headed thinker cause it made sense! Had I known it was Fred, I would have caught that lopt. But too many others (not rantburgers) think that it's all just poltical grandstanding that will go away in a day or two. Besides, it was stupid for the Ambassador to say that.
#21
The Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbollah were originally said to be Druze, but in a summary article further down this page they are named, and the names are Euro-Jewish. So much for that, although there are Druze and Beduins in the Israeli army -- volunteers, as they aren't drafted like the Jews.
About Lebanon, remember that the society fractures along religious (Muslim-various, Christian, Druze), tribal, class and political lines, and that pretty much all the factions are well armed and live in enclaves for mutual protection against the rest. Hizbollah controls the patch of territory along the Israeli border, are exceedingly well-armed, and like many other groups controls the drugs trade in its area. Presumably the Lebanese ambassador either belonged to a faction that does support Hizbollah's move, was projecting his own belief upon his nation, or hadn't caught up with events and was still parroting the United Ummah v. Israel line. Which is as much as I am capable of understanding the Byzantine maze the Lebanese have created for themselves.
#23
I remember that Lebanon had always (before the arrival of the Arafish during Black September)worked out horsetrading agremments for power sharing. Once things went to sh!t in Lebanon, the delicate balance was forever lost. Now the cancer that is Hizb'Allah is firmly entreched in Lebanon, and Syria has mucked about there, too, there is no stability.
We owe Hizb'Allah a goodly wack for killing 242 marines in Lebanon, if anyone else recalls.
Both the US and Israel got a big problem now because the dirty business of rooting out and killing off Hizb'Allah and the nasties in Syria was not done.
Therefore, it is my belief that Hizb'Allah, especially the leadership needs to be removed by whatever military means are appropriate. Also, Syria is due for some serious hurting. They have been actively supporting terrorism in Iraq, and in Israel, being a client of Iran.
The US and Isreal are perceived to be weak in the eyes of our enemies, and they are 100% right. We both have some catching up to do, or the terrorists will become further emboldened. If these enemies are not dealt with now, in the future, it will go nuclear and then we are talking about serious casualties.
Also, some things have to be quietly done to put the hurt on the MMs in Iran. And the financiers in Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/13/2006 17:38 Comments ||
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#24
"The US and Israel are perceived to be weak in the eyes of our enemies, and they are 100% right. We both have some catching up to do, or the terrorists will become further emboldened."
Islamic terrorists aren't the only ones who'll become further emboldened: the whole world has been watching the sad, miserable show of cowardice our Left has been putting on for the last couple of years, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if the Islamists, China, North Korea and even Russia have already concluded that all they have to do is bide their time until Bush leaves office, and they will then have a green light to proceed with their plans with complete impunity.
I see hard times ahead.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/13/2006 18:19 Comments ||
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#25
Cluster bombing will help eradicate the pests - the leafletting allows it since "innocents" will flee
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 19:02 Comments ||
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#26
Time to set up Druzistan in south Lebanon and southwest Syria.
#28
I've been wondering for a while why Jumblatt turned so Anti-Syrian. A first I thought it was just fear the Syrians were going to whack him, but there may be more to it. Perhaps he has been talking to the Israelis and there may be a deal leaving him in charge of south Lebanon = Druzistan.
#29
While Walid Jumblatt isn't exactly the kind of guy you want to meet in a dark alley, the BBC has called him the countrys [Lebanons] political weathervane. Jumblatt has always had a knack for changing allegiance at just the right moment - not that he has much choice. If he screws up the Druze will undoubtably get massacred by some faction or the other. There really arent that many Druze compared to nearly any other Middle Eastern ethnic group.
Anyhow, I like the smell of Druzistan in the morning. It smell like victory... for the West
#8
In the 60's Batman, Batgirl was a college graduate with a degree in Library Science. Never saw the third batman movie. IMHO "Batman Returns" is the best batman movie, while the 60's batman show takes the Oscar for Contemporary Campiness...
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
dominated Mexico for six years.
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.
POLICE in Afghanistan's capital Kabul today arrested a man they said was planting a 10-kilogram bomb outside the Information Ministry.
Six people including two militants were killed in violence in Afghanistan on Wednesday. A market bombing in a southern border town killed two men while a suicide attack on a US military convoy in the east claimed the life of a child in the latest violence to sweep Afghanistan, officials said. Afghan officials also reported heavy fighting on Tuesday after militants attacked a patrol by provincial security forces in eastern Khost province, near the Pakistan border, and that a large number of militants died.
Bandits shot hundreds of rounds of automatic gun fire at Hidalgo County Sheriffs deputies and Border Patrol agents Wednesday from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.
(KUNA) -- The Mumbai police Wednesday night said they have found a credible Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) link in Tuesday's serial blasts that killed 190 people and injured 625 in the city. "Evidence suggests the LeT has a strong link with the blasts," city police told reporters Wednesday evening, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. "In January the police had unearthed Lashker's efforts to rebuild its terror network in Mumbai. The matter came to light with the arrest of three Kashmiri men with LeT links and a cleric," the police added.
Six tourists were wounded on Wednesday in a fresh grenade attack in Indian Kashmir, a day after militants killed nine tourists in the insurgency-racked region. "Three tourists from New Delhi and three others (from Indian Kashmir) have been wounded in a grenade attack" in the resort town of Gulmarg, a police spokesman said.
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A suspected pro-Taliban militant was killed when a grenade he was handling went off at a religious school, a security official said on Wednesday. 
Four top commanders of Brahamdagh Bugti, the second-in-command of armed Bugti tribesmen, surrendered to the government on Wednesday along with 40 armed men, government sources claimed. "Those who surrendered include the top commanders Jumma Khan, Wadera Ali Gul, Rahim Khan and Ali Murad, and some 40 other tribesmen," the government official said, adding that their weapons had been seized.
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United States vetoed a UN draft resolution that would have called for an end to Israeli attacks and "disproportionate use of force" in the Gaza Strip as well as for the release of a kidnapped Israeli soldier. The Security Council resolution received 10 votes, one against from the United States with four abstentions, French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, the council president for July, announced.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces said they had found the bodies of 20 bus drivers who had been kidnapped north of Baghdad earlier on Wednesday. Police had put the number of bus drivers kidnapped in Miqdadiya, 100 km (60 miles) northeast of the capital at 12, but Major General Ahmed al-Awad said 20 bodies had been found after gunmen snatched a group of drivers from a station.
(KUNA) -- A number of Iraqi civilians were killed on Wednesday in violent acts in Mosul, northern Iraq. An Iraqi Police source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that unknown gunmen killed three Shiite Kurds in Ansar neighborhood. The source added that insurgents also gunned down a medical worker, noting that the gunmen showered the victim with bullets in Zahra neighborhood, killing him and another civilian instantly.
Radio Polonia is reporting reporting that Polish Intelligence agents have captured an Iraqi terrorist wanted for a number of terrorist attacks, including the fatal attack on a Polish public televsion war correspondant and his assistant.
(KUNA) -- Amidst the ongoing Israeli military assault on Palestinian lands, a number of Palestinian factions retaliated Wednesday by launching rockets on Israeli targets. The military wings of Fatah, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said today in a joint statement that they launched two rockets at an Israeli military camp in Nahel Al-Ouz. The joint statement said that the Palestinian factions heard the rockets' explosions, after which the Israeli army abandoned the camp.
Twenty-three Palestinians were killed, among them seven children from the same family, in multiple Israeli attacks in Gaza Wednesday in which a top Hamas militant leader was reportedly wounded. 
Two Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers were kidnapped and seven others were killed Wednesday in attacks on Israel's northern border by Hezbollah. Hezbollah's 
An Israeli air strike destroyed the office of Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar on Thursday in an attack that signaled Israel would pursue its Gaza offensive while fighting along a second front in Lebanon. No one was hurt in the night-time raid on the Foreign Ministry building in Gaza City, Palestinian security officials said. Israel killed at least 24 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including nine members of one family in an air strike that destroyed a house where the army said senior Hamas commanders were meeting. 
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blamed Lebanon for a Hezbollah attack on Israel he said was ``war-like'' and called for a ``painful and far-reaching'' response. Israeli troops entered Lebanon, the daily Haaretz reported, as an army spokeswoman said a call-up of reservists was on the agenda. The military action came after the armed Hezbollah group said on its Web site it captured two Israeli soldiers. The army said there was a ``heavy suspicion'' that two soldiers were abducted. Olmert called an emergency cabinet meeting for later today to decide on further military action in Lebanon. ``The murderous attack this morning was not a terrorist act, it was a war-like act by the state of Lebanon against Israel in its sovereign territory,'' he said at a press conference in Jerusalem. 
A bomb has exploded at a busy market in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, killing a soldier. Police say three other troops and three civilians have been taken to hospital with injuries.
Tehran, Iran, Jul. 12 Four men were hanged in public in the south-eastern city of Zabol, Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province, on Wednesday, the official news agency IRNA reported. The four were identified as Mehdi Zori, Houshang Kiani, Jamaloddin Jamali, and Abdol-Rahman Safar-Zehi were accused of instigating trouble and drug-related offences. 
