BREAKING NEWS: Olmert sends message to Lebanon via PM Prodi offering a truce: on condition of the return of two IDF soldiers and withdrawal of Hezbollah militia south of the Litani river, 30 km from Israeli border.
Hezbollah Rockets Hit Haifa – Killing 8
HAIFA, Israel (AP) 20 minutes ago — Lebanese guerillas fired a relentless barrage of rockets into the northern Israeli city of Haifa, killing eight people at a train station and wounding seven others in a dramatic escalation of a five-day-old conflict that has shattered Mideast peace.
A destroyed bridge after it was struck by an Israeli warplane missile on the outskirts of the southern Lebanon city of Tyre. Israel has bombarded Lebanon's airport and main roads in the most intensive offensive against the country in 24 years, while Hezbollah has fired an almost nonstop barrage of rockets at northern Israeli towns and cities. AP Photo/Nasser Nasser
Soon after the Haifa attack, Israeli warplanes hit the south Beirut stronghold of Hezbollah with at least six airstrikes, shaking the Lebanese capital and sending a cloud of thick smoke rising over the neighborhood.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed that there would be “far-reaching consequences” for the rocket attack the worst since Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon in 2000 after an 18-year occupation. Smoke rose over Haifa and air raid sirens wailed as the dead and wounded were evacuated. Other rockets hit the city’s major oil refinery, gas storage tanks and a major street during the busy morning rush hour.
Israeli officials blamed Syria and Iran for providing the weaponry that hit Haifa raising the specter of a wider regional confrontation.
The airstrikes in Beirut reduced an entire apartment building to rubble and knocked out electricity in swaths of the capital. Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station briefly went off the air
The Israeli air force dropped leaflets over south Lebanon telling residents to leave immediately before an imminent attack. “In two or three hours we are going to attack the south of Lebanon heavily,” said Maj. Gen. Udi Adam, the head of Israel’s northern command.
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) July 16 — Eight people were killed and at least 20 injured today when Hezbollah rockets struck Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, and its suburbs, the police and emergency services said. Most of the casualties occurred when one of the rockets hit a garage adjacent to the city’s main train station at about 9:20 a.m. local time.
That brought the number of Israeli casualties to 21 as the conflict in Lebanon moved into its fifth day. At least 110 Lebanese civilians have been killed as well as three soldiers and two Hezbollah fighters, according to Lebanese police.
It was the most serious Israeli military action in Lebanon since May 2000, when Israel pulled out of a swath of southern Lebanon it had held for 18 years.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in a shift to the country’s traditional even-handed approach to the subject, said three days ago that “Israel has the right to defend itself.”
ROME (Sana) July 15 — Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi talked with President Bashar al-Assad over the phone to discuss Israel’s attack on Lebanon and Syria’s ally Hizbollah, the state news agency SANA said.
It was the first such high-level contact between the Syrian leader and a Western official since last year’s assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, which worsened Damascus’s relations with Europe.
The European Union has expressed concern that the confrontation between Hizbollah and Israel could spread to Syria, a main backer of the Lebanese group.
Italy, along with the rest of the European Union, has scaled down contacts with Syria’s Baathist government following the killing of Hariri. The EU also froze talks on a major economic deal.
BREAKING NEWS:
Olmert sends message to Lebanon via PM Prodi offering a truce: on condition of the return of two IDF soldiers and withdrawal of Hezbollah militia south of the Litani river, 30 km from Israeli border.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
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PARIS/MOSCOW (Mosnews) July 13 — French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy called Israel’s bombardment of Beirut’s international airport “a disproportionate act of war,” adding the risk of a regional war “absolutely” existed.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mikhail Kamynin denounced both Israel’s attack on Lebanon and its on-going operations against the Palestinian territories. “The continuing destruction by Israel of civilian infrastructure in Lebanon and in Palestinian territory and the disproportionate use of force from which civilian populations suffer cannot be understood and justified.”
The Moron
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George: “I talked about my desire to promote institutional change in parts of the world like Iraq where there’s a free press and free religion, and I told him that a lot of people in our country would hope that Russia would do the same thing.
Vladimir: We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly. (laughter)
Press Conference in Moscow
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You have been tracking this more than I have.
We certainly would not want to have the same kind of democracy as they have in Iraq, I will tell you quite honestly. (laughter)
Good grief–Vladimir publicly and to shrub’s face, called him on his shit. That’s gotta hurt.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt as this bloodthirsty rush to WWIII w/ Iran, our real intended target in all this.
how many of the Hezbollah militia have their family homes south of the river?
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In a reaction to this Haaretz news article at the start of the unrest on Israel’s northern border.
TEL AVIV (Haaretz) July 12 — Reserve IDF division called up in wake of attack. Nasrallah: Prisoner swap only way to free soldiers
Hezbollah said its guerrillas destroyed two Israeli tanks that attempted to cross the border into Lebanon on two different occasions Wednesday.
The IDF had sent troops across the border to search for the missing soldiers, marking the first incursion into Lebanon since the withdrawal in May 2000. Army Radio reported large numbers of troops, as well as aircraft, were taking part in searches on the Lebanese side of the border. According to Channel 10 television, the IDF later said that it had lost all hope of retrieving the abducted soldiers with ground forces.
The IDF also ordered troops deployed on the Lebanon and Gaza borders on high alert in the event that armed groups may attempt to fire Katyusha and Qassam rockets into Israel.
GOC Northern Command Udi Adam told reporters that Israel plans to “push back” Hezbollah guerrillas controlling southern Lebanon, adding that the IDF has “no intention at the moment of involving Syria,” which has great influence over Hezbollah. “We think at the moment the debate is beween us and the government of Lebanon.”
A Letter sent to Haaretz forum
Compare to this letter send by a reader from the U.S., who apparently thinks Sharon is still Israel’s PM :: I wonder who The Terrorist is?
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TEL AVIV (Radio Netherlands) — … Furthermore, Prime Minister Olmert’s popularity has been dipping of late, and his main aim – a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank – has been put on the back burner by events in Gaza. It could, therefore, be to the long-term advantage of the prime minister to do what his cabinet has so far steadfastly refused to contemplate:
“In the history of the conflict between the Israelis and the Arabs and the Palestinians, leaders who felt they are politically strong and had the stamina and the political authority did negotiate and did conduct exchanges of prisoners.”
In the 1980s, for example, then prime minister Yitzak Rabin controversially exchanged six Israeli soldiers 1,500 Palestinian prisoners. Later, ‘hardliner’ Ariel Sharon swapped 400 prisoners with Hizbollah for the release of one Israeli citizen. Mr Ben-Ami comments:
“He [Sharon] did it because he felt he was politically strong and had sufficient authority to sustain criticism.”
‘Friendly advice’
Ehud Olmert and Ariel SharonDespite Mr Ben-Ami’s belief that Ehud Olmert (photo) needs to show such strength and realise that military means alone will not resolve the current crisis, he also thinks that such a change in attitude,
“will have to be assisted by some ‘friendly advice’ from the United States and third parties.”
The question then is whether such ‘friendly advice’ will be enough to sway the Israeli government. Shlomo Ben-Ami believes, in any event, that Washington will not apply serious pressure on Mr Olmert:
“You see, the Americans are not pressuring, because they have confused the issues in a way. Because of that ‘War on Terror’ of President Bush, to him what is happening in Gaza is an extension of that same war, and he doesn’t feel he should put pressure on Israel because Israel is doing – presumably – in Gaza what he is doing in Iraq. I think that his advisors need to explain to him that, yes, indeed, there is a problem of terrorism, but the political context is entirely different.”
Exclusive interview with opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu
“Israel is subject to restraint, we are a moral country facing immoral savages, having no moral boundaries”.
The Levant is now a joint US-Israeli sphere of Influence. Egypt and Jordan both have peace treaties with Israel and are non-NATO allies of the US. So they won’t do more than politely disagree that Israel’s wholesale destruction of Lebanon’s infrastructure is useful. The Gulf monarchies have more or less acquiesced in the situation as well.
Syria and Iran are the only two significant dissenters. Syria is weak and isolated, having been expelled from Lebanon and having lost its Soviet patron a decade and a half ago. Iran is distant from the scene and although it might give some rockets and training to a group like Hizbullah, it does not have a history of direct military intervention in other countries anyway.
Sorry BooMan, I think you better leave this analysis to a ME Expert.
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For interview, you need to start the VIDEO in the article –
look for this button
The interview will be in English.
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You need to start the VIDEO in the article – look for this button
The interview will be in English.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY