November 29, 2011

Guess what? There's al Qaeda. In Lebanon:

A group linked to al-Qaeda on Tuesday claimed responsibility for an overnight rocket attack from southern Lebanon against Israel, a local website announced.

Elnashra website said it had received an email from the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam claiming responsibility for the attack.

“Early this Tuesday, rockets from the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam shelled the Zionist colonies in northern Palestine... and reached their aim,” the email message reads.

The same group claimed responsibility for the last rocket attack from southern Lebanon against Israel in 2009.

This is Hezbollah controlled territory. And when I say controlled I mean controlled. It's a virtual police state in Southern Lebanon, but with Hezbollah running the show and not the "government".

So, if an al Qaeda affiliate is firing rockets from Hezbollah's territory then the safe bet would be on them tacitly approving the attack.

And the Iranian backed shias of Hezbollah do not normally get along with the Salaafi Sunnis of al Qaeda. But we know Iran has worked with al Qaeda when their interests align. So I think what we are seeing here might be Iran ramping up the pressure on Israel in light of the string of recent "work related accidents" in the Islamic Republic. Having al Qaeda do your dirty work will leave more than a few New York Times reporters scratching their head because conventional wisdom is that Shias would never make strategic alliances with al Qaeda.

It gives Iran plausible deniability and allows them to attack Israel while being insulated from international criticism.

November 23, 2011

I will be more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

Silverstein claimed that "an authoritative Israeli source with considerable military experience" told him that the IDF used a "Trojan Horse" style trap. A few weeks ago it was reported that an Israeli drone disappeared over Lebanon. Silverstein now claims Israel "out foxed Hezbollah" as Hezbollah brought the downed drone to its arms cache. Once inside the arms cache it was detonated, causing a massive explosion.

September 07, 2011

Lebanon’s speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri to be exact:

WikiLeaks recently published a diplomatic cable from Lebanon describing Berri’s “pleasure” and “laughter” as Israeli military hardware pummeled his supposed ally from the skies.

Read the rest in Commentary Magazine.[Michael Totten]

August 13, 2011

Marvelous. Absolutely freaking marvelous:

"Five inmates have escaped from Ward D in the Roumieh prison," northeast of Beirut, the official said on condition of anonymity. "We believe at least three of them belong to Fatah al-Islam."

Lebanon's Internal Security Forces said a sixth inmate attempting to flee had been caught inside prison grounds and was under interrogation.

Two Syrians, a Lebanese, a Kuwaiti and two Mauritanians had sawed through a fence inside the prison, used sheets to rappel from their ward and then mingled with visitors in civilian clothing, it said in a statement.

August 12, 2011

Via BigPeace

These idiots really want to obliterate themselves, don't they?

July 31, 2011

Elder of Ziyon has the details with updates. Hopefully, one of his updates will be "Kuntar died from injuries sustained". I doubt it would be worded that way though.

Who is Kuntar?

Kuntar is Lebanese and a former member of the Palestine Liberation Front. On April 22, 1979, at the age of 16, he participated in the attempted kidnapping of an Israeli family in Nahariya that resulted in the deaths of four Israelis and two of his fellow kidnappers.

Obstacles to Peace:
Danny, Einat and Yael Haran
Haim Shahar holding Eliyahu's picture
Kuntar was convicted in an Israeli court for murder of policeman Eliyahu Shahar, Danny Haran, and Haran’s four-year-old daughter, Einat, smashing her head against a rock and then against his rifle. He was also convicted of indirectly causing the death of two-year-old Yael Haran by suffocation, as her mother, Smadar, tried to quiet her while hiding from Kuntar.[Emphasis mine..ed]

In 1980, Kuntar was sentenced to four life sentences. Released in a 2008 swap for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers, Kuntar remains a reviled figure in Israel, a reminder of one of the most brutal acts of terrorism in the country's history.

He was given a hero’s welcome by Hezbollah on his return to Lebanon, and in the years since has emerged as one of the movement’s most visible and popular spokesmen.

This is one of several reasons why it makes me want to puke when our media and leftist, including Hillary, praise Al Jazeera.

h/t Bubbe

July 12, 2011

119 soldiers & 45 civilians were killed 5 years ago today during the 2nd Lebanon War.

RIP

IDF

On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah terrorists killed three Israeli soldiers during an attack on an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) vehicle patrolling within Israeli territory alongside the Israel-Lebanon border. Two of the soldiers killed were taken into captivity by Hezbollah, whose attack instigated the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War—during which Israel significantly impaired Hezbollah’s military capabilities.

The war lasted 34 days and ended with the signing of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. Although a partner to the resolution, Hezbollah has directly violated UN Resolution 1701—rearming and strengthening itself with weapons and training from the Syrian and Iranian regimes. Five years later, Hezbollah has returned to full, routine militant activity in southern Lebanon.

Be sure to check it out.

June 30, 2011

Carl in Jerusalem

The [UN]Special Tribunal for Lebanon has issued indictments against four senior Hezbullah members in the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

“I will now examine the indictment and the warrants to take the appropriate measures,” [State Prosecutor Saeed] Mirza told reporters following a meeting with a three-member delegation from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).

A judicial source told The Daily Star that the indictment identified the suspects as Mustafa Badreddine[Badreddine is cousin and a brother-in-law of slain Hezbollah terrorist Imad Mughniyeh..ed], Salim al-Ayyash, Hasan Aineysseh and Asad Sabra.

JPost

Also Thursday, Lebanon's interior minister was quoted as saying that the indictments are "a big deal."

“Why the big deal? It’s just an indictment and not a final verdict. So why all this hubbub?” Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel asked during a Voice of Lebanon interview, according to The Daily Star.

June 16, 2011

JPost

The mufti of Lebanon, Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani, was quoted this week as saying that Palestinians are no longer welcome in his country.

He also condemned Palestinians as “trash” and said that he’s not afraid of their weapons.

Sheikh Qabbani’s remarks were made during a meeting he held in his office in Beirut with a Palestinian delegation representing refugees and various Palestinian factions in Lebanon.

The furious mufti later kicked the Palestinian representatives out of his office.

More than 400,000 Palestinians live in Lebanon, most of them in extremely harsh conditions in refugee camps.

The meeting was called to discuss Palestinian “assaults” on state-owned and Islamic Wakf lands in Lebanon.

“We’ve hosted you and no longer want you,” the mufti told stunned members of the Palestinian delegation[...]

The mufti lost his temper following complaints that Palestinians living in refuge camps in Lebanon had illegally seized lands belonging to the state and the Islamic Wakf Trust.

May 25, 2011

The Astute Bloggers

Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah yesterday pledged support for the Syrian government, saying that an end to the Assad regime would only serve American and Israeli interests.

Speaking on the 11th anniversary of Liberation Day - marking the day Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 - the head of the Lebanese Shiite group also called for the rejection of sanctions against Syria and claimed the regime was committed to reform

BTW, did you know Nasrallah fled Lebanon after hearing of Bin Laden's trip to the bottom of the Arabian sea, or, fish food for bottom feeders. He feared the US was after him next and he really didn't want to cure his Pediculosis pubis

Again, hellfire missile...please

h/t MuslimAlert

May 09, 2011

Of a potential US assassination, in the wake of the bin Laden raid in Pakistan on Sunday

Watch your six Nasrallah, watch your six..

lulz

In other news, Iran turns on Bushehr, quake hits

March 31, 2011

Via FNC

JERUSALEM – The Israeli military on Thursday released a map detailing what it says are nearly 1,000 underground bunkers, weapons storage facilities and monitoring sites built by the militant Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.

Many of the sites on the map are located south of the Litani River in Lebanon, the zone where Hezbollah is banned from keeping weapons under the U.N.-sponsored truce that ended Israel's summer 2006 war with the guerrilla group.[Emphasis mine..ed]

An article on the military spokesman's website says Hezbollah has set up some 550 bunkers, 300 monitoring sites and 100 weapons storage facilities. The facilities are located in 270 villages, and many are located near hospitals, private homes and schools, the military said in a statement published on its website.

These just-declassified IDF maps show the Israeli army's assessment of the locations of Hezbollah's bunkers, weapons facilities and surveillance posts in the village of El-Khiam, which is about two and a half miles north of the Israeli border. Hezbollah's installations in and under El-Khiam total about 950.

If you open the PDF and scroll down to the satellite photo of the village, you will see that weapons caches have been placed beside mosques and hospitals, underneath schools, and in residential areas. El-Khiam -- which was already the site of serious hostilities with the Israelis in 2006 -- has thus been wired as a village-sized suicide bomb. If Hezbollah launches attacks from El-Khiam and the IDF retaliates, civilian casualties are all but guaranteed.[Read the rest]

IDF's statement on Hezbollah's facilities

March 30, 2011

Unrepentant domestic terrorist just won't grow up: "Every country that has a US military base ought to have a right to vote in America's presidential elections"

"Civil disobedience"? Lebanon next?

Chicago's recent "civil disobedience":

March 14, 2011

Peaceful demonstrations against people uneager or unwilling to shed blood are one thing, but peaceful demonstrations demanding a bloodthirsty, theocratic, state sponsored terrorist organization give up its weapons? Now that's just wishful thinking.

It's a wish and a hope and a dream that I share with the Lebanese people, but the kind of wish I file under fantasy rather than goal which can be achieved.

It will take either the downfall of the Iranian regime or civil war to disarm Hezbollah. And no one in Lebanon is willing to go through that again.

Press release below from the Cedars Revolution.

Statement by WCCR on the Million Citizen March in Beirut

"Disarm Hezbollah, protect freedom, keep the Peace"

March 14th 2011

CR News, Washington DC

The World Council for the Cedars Revolution (WCCR) salutes the brave Lebanese people who has demonstrated today March 13, 2011 in downtown Beirut with one million men and women gathering in celebration of the sixth anniversary of the Cedars Revolution of 2005.

The WCCR considers the million men and women march today as evidence of the strength and determination of the Cedars Revolution and of civil society in Lebanon in their struggle to achieve freedom, justice and implement all relevant UN resolutions, particularly UNSCR 1559. The WCCR declares the following:

1) The Lebanese Diaspora hail the courageous participants in the March 2011 demonstration, particularly women, youth and children who sent us a clear message of hope and liberty.

2) It is now without any doubt that the popular majority in Lebanon, after two legislative elections and now with this one million citizens march, desires the disarming of Hezbollah's militias and keeping all military responsibilities under the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL. Hence we urge the United Nations, based on this exercise of popular expression to engage in the next steps to implement UNSCR 1559 and disarming Hezbollah.

3) We value the courage of Prime Minister Saad Hariri who addressed the people directly and asked them if they wish to see Hezbollah disarmed, allowing the entire world to hear the answer loud and clear.

4) We are thrilled to see that the people of Lebanon has responded en masse to the call for demonstration despite terror assassinations, explosions and intimidations practices by Hezbollah and its terror networks against unarmed civilians over the past six years

5) The WCCR however calls on the politicians who spoke at the rally to match the feelings and will of the people who responded to the call for demonstration, by raising the bar of the demands and declare clearly that they wish to see UNSCR 1559 implemented via the United Nations and not through a sterile concession to Hezbollah on what they call a table of negotiations. The people of Lebanon mandated its politicians to be clear in demanding an international help against the terror group and these politicians are obligated to execute the will of the people.

6) The WCCR disagree with calls emanating from some politicians that Hezbollah weapons must be directed to the southern borders to trigger another regional war. The Lebanese Diaspora and Lebanon's popular majority doesn't want war, any war. Hezbollah's weapons must be collected by the UN and the Lebanese Army and Lebanon's southern borders must be regulated at this point by UNSCR 1701

President Secretary General

Joe Baini Tom Harb

February 07, 2011

...The Road to Fatima Gate: The Beirut Spring, the Rise of Hezbollah, and the Iranian War Against Israel.

January 26, 2011

I've long argued that Lebanon was a terrorist state. It's true that the Cedar Revolution also opposed Hezbollah. But what is overlooked is the fact that they chose peace over confronting the terrorists. Given the choice of a return to the bloody civil war I'm not sure I would not make the same choice if I were Lebanese. But we must recognize that choice for what it was: a concession to terrorists that they would be given free reign in much of the country in return for some amount of internal stability.

Now it seems that this deal with the devil is coming back to haunt them as Hezbollah is poised to take over the reigns of government.

Which will mean war. If not a civil war, then yet another war with Israel. So much for peace with terrorists.

How's that deal looking now, Lebanon?

January 22, 2011

PFLP-GC (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - Central Command) is designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by U.S., EU, Canada & Israel

Interesting development with these assmaggots:

YALIBNAN

In a sign of what the Lebanese should expect if Iranian and Syrian backed Hezbollah assumes power in Lebanon, the Syrian backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command ( PFLP-GC ) carried out Saturday a military exercise at their Qosaya base in the Bekaa, in eastern Lebanon near the Syrian borders according to Central news Agency.

The report added that residents of nearby villages could hear the echoes of gunfire and explosions coming from the base.

JVL

.....The organization carried out dozens of attacks in Europe and the Middle East during the 1970s and 1980s and is known for cross-border terrorist attacks into Israel using unusual means, such as hot air balloons and motorized hang gliders. The group's primary focus now is on guerrilla operations in southern Lebanon. Its attacks usually come from over the Lebanese border and its presence in the PA-administered territories is minimal. Its attacks against Israel include:

* Blowing up a Swissair plane (February 21, 1970); 47 murdered.
* An attack on a bus of children from Avivim , a moshav near the Lebanese border (May 21, 1970); 12 Israeli children murdered.
* An attack in Kiriyat Shmonah in the far north of Israel (April 11, 1974); 18 Israeli civilians murdered.
* The kidnapping of 3 Israeli soldiers in 1982 who were exchanged on May 20, 1985, for 1150 Palestinian prisoners.
* “The night of the hang-gliders” (November 25, 1987); 6 Israeli soldiers murdered.

December 31, 2010

Caroline Glick reports:

On January 15 the UN's Special Tribunal for Lebanon is scheduled to issue indictments against a number of Hizbullah operatives for the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. All of Lebanon and much of the region is waiting in suspense that grows with each passing day. The news that Hizbullah would be fingered by the prosecutors was first made public in July. Since then, Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah has threatened repeatedly to set fire to Lebanon and perhaps Israel if Daniel Bellemare, the chief prosecutor dares to go forward. Given Hizbullah's track record of war, murder and intimidation, no one doubts that the Iranian-proxy force will keep its promise if it comes to that.

Almost immediately after Hizbullah was named as the central suspect in Hariri's assassination, Hizbullah's ally Syria began negotiating a deal with Saudi Arabia, which serves as the patron of Lebanon's Sunni community. The goal of these talks is to get Hizbullah off the hook, "in order to preserve stability."

Bellemare made clear this week that he will not be influenced by politics in dispatching his duties to the law. If he is true to his word, then Hizbullah members will certainly be indicted for assassinating Hariri next month.

What this means is that the most attractive option for Hizbullah and its allies right now is to discredit the tribunal. To this end, Hizbullah has repeatedly characterized the UN tribunal as an Israeli and American plot. Syria has insisted that the Lebanese who testified before the tribunal gave false testimony.

While these allegations may have convinced their supporters, both Syria and Hizbullah know that the only effective way to discredit the tribunal is to coerce Hariri's son, Prime Minister Saad Hariri to disavow the tribunal and withdraw Lebanese governmental support for its proceedings.

Although such a move would probably have little impact on the tribunal's ultimate judgment, it might reduce the political impact of the indictments for Hizbullah in Lebanon.

And so according to Ha'aretz, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and Saudi King Abdullah reached a deal in which Hariri Jr. will disavow the tribunal. In exchange, Hizbullah will agree not to murder him.

More here.

But hey, don't forget that Hezbollah are "freedom fighters".

Appeasement is feeding the alligator hoping it will eat you last - Winston Churchill

December 25, 2010

Personally I would root for both of the terrorist/Islamists groups to lose.

A day after the radical "Salafist" Sunni preacher Sheikh Omar Bakri was arrested last month, having been sentenced in absentia by a Lebanese court to life imprisonment on terrorism charges, he received an unexpected visitor in his holding cell at Beirut's police headquarters. Nawar Sahili, an MP from Lebanon's militant Shi'ite Hizballah movement — the Salafists' most powerful local enemy — and a lawyer by training, offered Bakri his legal services. See photographs from inside Hizballah

"I have been delegated by [Hizballah leader Sheikh Hassan] Nasrallah to represent you. He has heard your voice," Bakri recalls Sahili telling him. Hizballah's decision to help Bakri may seem odd given that the Salafist cleric has in the past criticized the Shi'ite organization. In 2007, he told a Lebanese newspaper that he rejected Hizballah's "armed cantons" in Lebanon, and questioned why the "resistance" against Israel should be monopolized by the Shi'ite sect. (Watch video of Hizballah's war theme park.)

Still, with a bleak future ahead of him, Bakri accepted Hizballah's offer and has since been released on bail pending a retrial scheduled for March.

"Now I'm working to bring Sunnis and Shi'ites together on certain issues, such as confronting Israel," Bakri said in his home in Tripoli, Lebanon's religiously conservative second largest city. (Watch video of Lebanon's land-mine soccer team.)

With Sunni-Shi'ite tensions on the rise in Lebanon, Hizballah has been seeking allies within the small but potentially dangerous Salafist community — a sect that generally does not even recognize the Shi'ite branch of Islam. Salafists practice an austere version of Sunni Islam that emulates the seventh century ideals of the Prophet Mohammed and his followers. While a majority of Salafist scholars reject terrorism, many al-Qaeda leaders claim to be inspired by the sect.

November 24, 2010

Haaretz:

A senior Hezbollah official on Wednesday hinted at the militant group's involvement in the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the first indication of the sort expressed by a member of the organization.

"Even if the organization did murder Hariri, that's no reason to destroy Lebanon," the London-based daily A-Sharq al-Awsat quoted Lebanese MP Walid Sakaria as saying.

Basically Ahmadinejad has already made the threat credible during his visit. Allow Iran and Hizballah to get away with murder and surrender the rule of law or they will start a civil war.

Its basically a bloodless coup attempt by Hizballah.

November 14, 2010

Revolution Muslims friends keep dropping like flies.

SMH

Lebanese police have arrested radical Islamic preacher Omar Bakri, just days after the formerly British-based cleric boasted he would "not spend one day" of a life sentence behind bars.

He now faces a retrial because his first trial was held in absentia.

"He was arrested by a patrol of intelligence agents from the Internal Security Force in his home in Tripoli," a security official told AFP.

Police said Bakri tried to flee in a car as the patrol closed in on his house in the main northern city on Sunday, prompting an officer to open fire to prevent him from escaping.

"As the patrol went to arrest him... he tried to flee. A member of the security forces opened fire and two bullets hit the back tyres" of Bakri's getaway vehicle, a police statement said.

He was duly arrested and transferred to Beirut, police said

A judicial source told AFP that Bakri must be retried before a military court in line with Lebanese law because he was sentenced in absentia.

Bakri, a fundamentalist Sunni Muslim who has praised the September 11, 2001 attacks and hailed the hijackers as the "magnificent 19", was sentenced to life by a military court on Thursday.

The 50-year-old, who lived in Britain for 20 years, was found guilty, along with more than 40 other Lebanese, Palestinians, Syrians and Saudis, of "incitement to murder, theft and the possession of arms and explosives".

The day after the sentence was handed down he vowed he would "not spend one day in prison".

Omar's pole dancing daughter, Yasmin Fastok

Jawas goat humper archives

October 27, 2010

Suddenly Ahmadinejad's visit and Hezbollah's strong show of support makes a lot more sense.

Financial Times: Protestors in Beirut attacked international officials investigating the murder of former prime pinister Rafiq al Hariri on Wednesday, highlighting the tension caused by the investigation’s work in the volatile political climate of Lebanon.

Two representatives of a UN-backed tribunal investigating the assassination were interviewing a doctor in the Southern suburbs of Beirut, controlled by the fiercely anti-Israel group Hizbollah, when a crowd gathered outside the clinic.

According to a statement from the tribunal’s media relations unit, the investigators and their translator were then “violently attacked”, and had some of their possessions stolen before they were rescued by Lebanese security forces.

A certain unnamed public network carried quite a lengthy report on this this morning. And yeah I listened without contributing. Screw it.

Anyway HizbAllah's statements have been like this.

“I think this [incident] sends a clear message that Hizbullah will not cooperate with the international tribunal,” political science professor Sami Haddad at Notre Dame University, told The Daily Star. However, he urged the international community to question “whether it can enforce cooperation on organizations in Lebanon.” “I don’t think that it can,” he added.

Same effect.

I had a lot worse analogy on that last part and thought better of it.

October 23, 2010

27 years ago today:

The Beirut barracks bombing (October 23, 1983 in Beirut, Lebanon) occurred during the Lebanese Civil War, two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing United States and French military forces—members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon—killing 299 American and French servicemen. The organization Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing, but that organization is thought to have been a nom de guerre for Hezbollah—or a group that would later become part of Hezbollah[1]—receiving help from the Islamic Republic of Iran.[2]

Suicide bombers detonated each of the truck bombs. In the attack on the American Marines barracks, the death toll was 241 American servicemen: 220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel and three Army soldiers, along with sixty Americans injured, representing the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima of World War II, the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States military since the first day of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War, and the deadliest single attack on Americans overseas since World War II.[3] In addition, the elderly Lebanese custodian of the Marines' building was killed in the first blast.[4] The explosives used were equivalent to 5,400 kg (12,000 pounds) of TNT.

In the attack on the French barracks, the eight-story 'Drakkar' building, two minutes after the Marine attack, 58 paratroopers from the 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment were killed and 15 injured, in the single worst military loss for France since the end of the Algerian War.[5]

The blasts led to the withdrawal of the international peacekeeping force from Lebanon, where they had been stationed since the withdrawal of the Palestine Liberation Organization following the Israeli 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Families and loved ones affected by this are still in our thoughts and prayers.

RIP Heroes, RIP

October 14, 2010

Good Luck!

Ahmadinejad is visiting southern Lebanon today. Since Israel seems to be keeping their heads low as not to touch off any skirmish while tensions are high, maybe the Sunni Abdullah Azzam Brigades or the Christian militias will get a bit jumpy about having this asshat in their country.

May the force be with you....but just for today and tomorrow.

September 07, 2010

Don't know but glad Hizballah lost some hardware.

Jpost:

Explosions ripped through a building Friday in southern Lebanon that might have been used to store weapons by the militant group Hizbullah, Lebanese security officials said.

The area is patrolled by UN troops and Lebanese soldiers and has been largely peaceful since the war, but there have been a number of mysterious explosions in the past year at buildings suspected of housing Hizbullah arms caches.

It was not clear what caused Friday's blasts, but one of the officials said it might have been triggered by an electrical short circuit setting off secret Hizbullah munitions.

How could a weapons cache be moved into a residential unit with the eagle eyes of UNIFIL patrolling the area? Maybe the UN will pitch in some funds to re-build the damaged structure.

September 03, 2010

It appears there was an unexplained explosion at a Hezbollah weapons storage facility.

Awww shucks...

Hat Tip: Zionist Overlords.

August 14, 2010

Terror Free Somalia

BEIRUT — Lebanese troops on Saturday killed two Islamist militants including a head of an Al-Qaeda-inspired group which fought a battle with the army in 2007 that cost hundreds of lives, a military spokesman said.
"Abdel Rahman Awad, one of the key leaders of Fatah al-Islam," was killed along with another militant known as Abu Bakr during clashes in the eastern Bekaa Valley region, the spokesman told AFP.A judicial source said Abu Bakr was Awad's key deputy who provided military training to members of Fatah al-Islam, a shadowy group said to be inspired by Al-Qaeda.
In 2007, Fatah al-Islam fought a fierce battle against the army at Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon that raged for more than three months and cost 400 lives, with 168 soldiers among the dead.Judicial authorities accuse Awad of having "incited" militants to carry out attacks two years ago in the port city of Tripoli, near the Palestinian camp, that killed 21 people, including 13 soldiers.

August 11, 2010

Haaretz:

Iran has offered support to Lebanon's army, a week after a deadly cross-border clash between Lebanon and Israel which prompted U.S. lawmakers to block funding to the Lebanese military.

Two U.S. Democrat lawmakers said they were holding up $100 million that was approved for Lebanon's army but not yet spent. A senior House Republican, Eric Cantor, said future funding should be stopped too, pending an inquiry into the clash.

US aid dollars are being used directly against Israel. The UN Peacekeepers are worthless. Let Iran spend additional resources.

What does our over experienced military guru think about his fellow party member's suggestion? Not much.

But U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said U.S. President Barack Obama was not planning to re-evaluate its military cooperation with Lebanon.

August 04, 2010

I don't know why this surprised me, but it does. Lebanon is one of the worst terrorist supporting states in the world. Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, is in the ruling Cabinet. Regardless of the official position that Hezbollah should give up its arms, it hasn't.

The Lebanese policy -- as it actually is -- is to allow Hezbollah free reign in the south. Sure, there is "peace" in Lebanon. But that peace was bought at the price of allowing terrorists space to operate freely. I'm not sure what they call that in the bizarro world of the US State Department, but the jargon of diplomatic-speak just doesn't mesh with the reality of Lebanon as it is.

I understand that this is a hard choice. If the Lebanese want peace with Israel, then they will have civil war. Apparently they are more worried about a renewed civil war then they are about Israel. So be it. The answer to the problem would be for Israel to make a conflict with them more costly then an intrastate conflict with Hezbollah.

And, to be honest, I don't really care either way. I support Israel, but I'm an American. If the Israelis and the Lebanese are fine with an on again off again cease fire, that's their concern, not ours.

But what I'm not fine with is American taxpayers money being sent to arm the terrorist state that is Lebanon:

Israel plans to urge the U.S. and other countries arming the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to stop doing so, following a deadly border skirmish Tuesday.

Government officials cited by Israeli media organizations Wednesday said Israel would launch a diplomatic offensive, arguing that weapons intended to be used against terrorists were instead being used against Israelis....

Four months ago, a shipment of U.S. equipment provided to the LAF included “1,000 M16A4 rifles, 10 missile launchers, 1,583 grenade launchers, and 538 sets of day/night binoculars and night-vision devices,” according to the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.

Let me also mention I'm not fine with our tax dollars going to Israel, either. Not because I put Israel in the same category as Lebanon, but because we just don't have the money to give.

If the Israelis want to buy our weapons, I'm cool with that. But the Lebanese? Not so much.

Thanks to G. Fox.

August 03, 2010

Update to my prior post, Escalation: Lebanese Armed Force Fires On IDF (Updated) , which I put below the fold. This is the VI update (troll guest from prior post - 6th). Decided to start anew, sometimes updates get buried.

Aerial photograph of Israel/Lebanon border where incident took place:

Amazing, when Israel defends themselves, Reuters, etc. are on board to bring a different view with videos, cropped photos, etc. It has happened to us (the US) with WikiLeaks Collateral Damage [Reuters photog collaborating with the terrorist] video that Jawa Report quickly debunked, but still believed by the hard left/lame stream media and radical Islamist. Unfortunately, any incident that happens with the IDF..........buzzards are waiting in the rafters for eating time.

We must stand up for Israel, our ally in the ME.

Nuff said...

....................Start original post............................

IDF Spokesperson

Earlier today during the mid-day hours, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) fired at an IDF position along the Lebanese border in northern Israel. The force was in Israeli territory, carrying out routine maintenance and was pre-coordinated with UNIFIL. The border area is east of the Israeli town Metula.

The incident occurred west of the internationally recognized “Blue Line” (the border between Israel and Lebanon) and east of the security fence, thus lying in Israeli territory.

The IDF force immediately returned fire with light arms at a force of the LAF, and the IDF also made use of artillery fire. Several minutes later an Israel Air Force (IAF) helicopter fired at the LAF Battalion Command Center in Al-Taybeh, damaging several LAF armored combat vehicles.

Update: IDF Spokesperson correction

Correction on Location of Incident: The border area is West of the Israeli town Misgav Am. The incident occurred east of the internationally recognized “Blue Line” (the border between Israel and Lebanon) and west of the security fence, thus lying in Israeli territory.

Israel Radio reports (6:00 pm) that Northern sector commander Gadi Eizencott has partially confirmed my report here. Eizencott said that two senior officers were seriously wounded. He did not provide any more details.

Israel Radio now reports (a few minutes later in the same broadcast) that a battalion commander with the rank of Lt. Col., Dov Harari (45) was killed today in Lebanon and another commander was seriously wounded and is in Rambam Hospital in Haifa.

Prayers for quick recovery of IDF wounded.

Update III: Via IDF Spokesperson:

In addition to the IDF officer that was killed today by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) along the Israel-Lebanon border, an IDF platoon commander, Captain Ezra Lakia from Kfar Ha’Rif was critically wounded. His family was notified of the incident.

Update IV: (troll guest in comments, Roman Numerals I used indicates #4).

Joe Settler, thanks for link to Muqata, who is live blogging this along with others. Apparently entire attack was caught on tape? Will update when he/they have it.

Update V: UNIFIL rep purportedly said - IDF soldiers did not cross Lebanese border before clash.

What I find interesting is all the images put out there. I saw one that showed the LAF or UNIFIL (none wearing a beret so dunno which one) helping a civilian down a hill? Another, images of LAF ready to fire on IDF. Another, UNIFIL with LAF yet another of same UNIFIL with LAF appeared cropped to only show the UNIFIL. Lots of cropping going on. Apparently the Lebanese journalist didn't die right away or others were with him snapping pics.

Set up anyone? Elder of Ziyon has lots more on the reporter/journalist. Must read.

Ah, Carl in Jerusalem has the video tape of the clash. Watched it and I tend to agree with Carl:

If anyone has any idea how Reuters knows that what the Lebanese Army fired was warning shots, please let me know. The last I heard, once the Temple was destroyed, prophecy was only given to fools and children.

Update VI: Started anew here, showing IDF was within their border. Ummm, troll, guest, VI means #6, case you are confused. Anyway, comment away at new post here

IDF Spokesperson

Earlier today during the mid-day hours, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) fired at an IDF position along the Lebanese border in northern Israel. The force was in Israeli territory, carrying out routine maintenance and was pre-coordinated with UNIFIL. The border area is east of the Israeli town Metula.

The incident occurred west of the internationally recognized “Blue Line” (the border between Israel and Lebanon) and east of the security fence, thus lying in Israeli territory.

The IDF force immediately returned fire with light arms at a force of the LAF, and the IDF also made use of artillery fire. Several minutes later an Israel Air Force (IAF) helicopter fired at the LAF Battalion Command Center in Al-Taybeh, damaging several LAF armored combat vehicles.

Update: IDF Spokesperson correction

Correction on Location of Incident: The border area is West of the Israeli town Misgav Am. The incident occurred east of the internationally recognized “Blue Line” (the border between Israel and Lebanon) and west of the security fence, thus lying in Israeli territory.

Israel Radio reports (6:00 pm) that Northern sector commander Gadi Eizencott has partially confirmed my report here. Eizencott said that two senior officers were seriously wounded. He did not provide any more details.

Israel Radio now reports (a few minutes later in the same broadcast) that a battalion commander with the rank of Lt. Col., Dov Harari (45) was killed today in Lebanon and another commander was seriously wounded and is in Rambam Hospital in Haifa.

Prayers for quick recovery of IDF wounded.

Update III: Via IDF Spokesperson:

In addition to the IDF officer that was killed today by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) along the Israel-Lebanon border, an IDF platoon commander, Captain Ezra Lakia from Kfar Ha’Rif was critically wounded. His family was notified of the incident.

Update IV: (troll guest in comments, Roman Numerals I used indicates #4).

Joe Settler, thanks for link to Muqata, who is live blogging this along with others. Apparently entire attack was caught on tape? Will update when he/they have it.

Update V: UNIFIL rep purportedly said - IDF soldiers did not cross Lebanese border before clash.

What I find interesting is all the images put out there. I saw one that showed the LAF or UNIFIL (none wearing a beret so dunno which one) helping a civilian down a hill? Another, images of LAF ready to fire on IDF. Another, UNIFIL with LAF yet another of same UNIFIL with LAF appeared cropped to only show the UNIFIL. Lots of cropping going on. Apparently the Lebanese journalist didn't die right away or others were with him snapping pics.

Set up anyone? Elder of Ziyon has lots more on the reporter/journalist. Must read.

Ah, Carl in Jerusalem has the video tape of the clash. Watched it and I tend to agree with Carl:

If anyone has any idea how Reuters knows that what the Lebanese Army fired was warning shots, please let me know. The last I heard, once the Temple was destroyed, prophecy was only given to fools and children.

July 05, 2010

June 25, 2010

Via WeaselZippers

Congresswoman Raises Red Flag on Hezbollah-Cartel Nexus on U.S. Border
…
In her letter to Napolitano, Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., called on Homeland Security to find out and report more on the extent of the problem. She cited several troubling developments that would point to Hezbollah creeping closer to and inside the United States, with the help of Mexican drug gangs.

Hezbollah's main site entry
Hezbollahs (English): Islamic Resistance in Lebanon
Al--Manor TV (Arabic):(Lebanon) Hizbollah's Beirut-based television station

February 19, 2010

Not that I condone killing Hamas, Hezbollah, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine types ... oh wait.

Via JP

A retired Lebanese police officer was sentenced to death Thursday for working with Israeli intelligence on a 2006 car bombing that killed two members of a Palestinian terror group.

Mahmoud Rafeh, who is in his 60s, showed no reaction as a judge read the sentence. Death sentences are not uncommon in Lebanon, but they are rarely carried out. Rafeh has two months to appeal.

h/t Bubbe

February 10, 2010

Last night we were sent an email to a story which reported that witnesses saw an explosion on the Ethiopian airline which crashed after taking off from Beirut. Even though at the time the plane went down my thoughts immediately turned to al Qaeda's Somali affiliate the al Shabaab, there was little discussion of this being an al Qaeda operation.

This was, after all, an Ethiopian airliner. Flying out of the Middle East. Two hallmarks of a plausible case for human or mechanical error.

But today DEBKA reports that the plane was in fact taken down by an al Qaeda operation. And, again, this is an Ethiopian airliner. Flying out of the Middle East. Also two hallmarks of a plausible case that this was an act of terror.

Why Ethiopia and why this airline? Well, the al Qaeda affiliated al Shabaab see Ethiopia as the number one regional threat to their cause. It was Ethiopia that invaded Somalia in order to oust the former Islamist government, and with the Ethiopian invasion came al Shabaab's rise to prominence.

Even if al Shabaab lacked the resources to carry out such an attack, clearly their sister organization of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has such a capacity. The group has expressed solidarity with al Shabaab over and over again and has been instrumental in ferrying Arab fighters across the Red Sea from Yemen to Somalia.

See, for instance, this statement from Anwar al-Awlaki in support and solildarity with al Shabaab. And it was al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula that was behind the Christmas Day underwear bombing attempt. With al-Awlaki's blessings if not at his behest.

Al Qaeda has the motive and the means to have orchestrated this.

The angle DEBKA plays is that al Qaeda operatives were tipped off that the French ambassador's wife and top Hizbollah leaders would be on the flight. Only the ambassador's wife was on the plane.

That's plausible, but I think it's a stretch that they have that level of sophistication. Blowing up an Ethiopian plane is reason enough that we don't have to look any deeper for motivation.

If the failed underwear bombing is any indication of how these operations are planned, the suicide bomber was simply instructed to get on a plane -- any plane -- headed for the US.

Again, this is DEBKA which has a track record of sensationalism and occasionally being dead wrong. We'll have to file this under plausible but needs further investigation

DEBKA:

Evidence has reached debkafile's counter-terror sources that the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 which crashed after takeoff from Beirut on January 25, killing all 92 aboard, was blown up in mid-air.

This was an al-Qaeda operation timed for one month to the day after its failed attempt to destroy an American Northwest airliner bound for Detroit.

It is becoming clear that either a bomb was planted on the Ethiopian flight with a timer or a passenger acted as suicide bomber....

Eye-witnesses at the time heard a loud explosion and saw the plane enveloped in a ball of fire as it gained altitude after takeoff from Beirut international airport.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention another angle I think is worth exploring. The Lebanese and French government both denied that this had anything to do with terrorism before the investigation even started. Which isn't evidence either way, but does it bug the rest of you as much as it bugs me when governments really don't know what happened that they do know that it wasn't terror?

Also, to get to Reliapundit's and others point in the comments: yes, I had seen some eyewitness reports of an explosion, but to be honest eyewitness reports are notoriously unreliable -- especially in, um, this area of the world. I only ran with the story after making inquiries as to whether or not there was some other evidence besides the initial reports.

Another UPDATE: IOL:

"Ethiopian Airlines does not rule out all possible causes including the possibility of sabotage until the final outcome of the investigation is known," the company said in a statement.

November 26, 2009

I was going to say something really snarky about this. I don't support prostitution, but I do support its legalization. So when I was forwarded this article about "temporary marriages" arranged by Hezbollah for their supporters I had a funny kind of image in my mind of Dolly Parton in The Best Little Whore House in Texas wearing a burka.

But reading intot the specifics here, it's worse:

"After the 2006 war, Iranian money came to Lebanon in abundance, and money opened the door to sexual luxury that could not be ignored or controlled," noted Slim. "Therefore, Hezbollah decided it is easier to allow sex under certain religious titles in order to keep the control over the community." ....

It is, of course, not only men who take advantage of mutaa. Zahra, a fully veiled 25 year-old Shiite woman who is completing her master's degree in English literature, comes from a family of Hezbollah supporters and party members, and has been a lifelong Hezbollah member herself. She explained that she practices temporary marriage because it is a religious duty.

"I take good care of myself, and make sure I look perfect every time I go into a mutaa marriage because I should please my husband, temporary or not," she said. "It is my religious duty to do so. God allowed this kind of marriage for a reason, and I never question God's wishes."

It is, of course, not only men who take advantage of mutaa. Zahra, a fully veiled 25 year-old Shiite woman who is completing her master's degree in English literature, comes from a family of Hezbollah supporters and party members, and has been a lifelong Hezbollah member herself. She explained that she practices temporary marriage because it is a religious duty.

"I take good care of myself, and make sure I look perfect every time I go into a mutaa marriage because I should please my husband, temporary or not," she said. "It is my religious duty to do so. God allowed this kind of marriage for a reason, and I never question God's wishes."

Thanks to Esther.

October 13, 2009

Via this UPI link, Hizballah reports that Abdel Nasser Issa was not killed in a blast that resulted from handling an old rocket. In other news, global warming is created by magma deucing aliens using the Earth's atmosphere as their toilet.

In all seriousness, this is the second such explosion of an arms dump near the Israeli border. Expect this area to flare up soon in order to take the "pressure" off Iran. I expect Israel already anticipates this.

August 18, 2009

I know Totten is always going on about how great Lebanon is, but I just don't share that view. To me, Lebanon will always be that country which has settled on peace at the cost of letting the terrorists in their midst get away with nearly anything they want.

Perhaps too much influence from their former French Colonial masters?

Middle East News:

Taha al-Hajj Suleiman, a Syrian national and a member of the al Qaeda-linked Fatah al-Islam group, managed Tuesday to escape from prison in eastern Beirut, police said....

The eight Fatah al-Islam members sawed the window bars and used blankets as ropes to descend from the second floor of the jail.

According to police Suleiman managed to successfully escape because he was the first to jump.

Lebanese media said Suleiman stopped a car next to the Forum de Beirut at the outskirts of the capital and pointed a gun at the female driver and ordered her to keep driving.

I wonder how much it took to bribe the guard? Or were Salafist sympathies enough?

UPDATE: This isn't to say that Lebanese aren't nice people. They are. I have a brother-in-law who's a Lebanese Christian. If Lebanese living in America are any indication of what Lebanon proper is like, I imagine a country full of hospitality coupled with generous portions of food.

Mmmmm, Lebanese food.

But being nice and hospitable is only a virtue on the individual level, not at the social level. I recall an episode of No Reservations where Anthony Bourdaine spends some time in Saudi Arabia. Every one seemed so nice.

Which I don't think is a misleading view of Saudi Arabia at all. Saudis are generally very nice people. At least this view meshes with my own experience with the Saudis I've known.

Going SCUBA diving in Saudi Arabia seems fun. Trying to give a Saudi family a Bible in public? Not so much.

In any event being nice and/or hospitable is the last thing I want from a people who have actual terrorists living openly in their society. It's one thing to nicely ask Hizbollah to disarm, but talk is cheap and tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.

While in this particular instance we are talking about Sunni extremists and not Shia extremists, it just reminded me of the problem some have of separating personal level interaction from social or political interaction.

It's why, over the years, I've stressed that I have no problem with Islam as a religious construct or of Muslims in general. I give no more thought to Muslims who think I'm a kuffar than I do to traditional Christians who think I'm going to hell.

What I have a problem with is political Islam (Islamism) and those who wish to impose it (Islamists).

Islamists in my mind are no different than Communists. Which brings us full circle: have you ever known a Communist? A real live card-carrying Communist? I have. Good people, for the most part. I'd let them watch my kids, no problem.

The problem isn't with Communists on the individual level, it's with Communists once they have political power.

A Communist will try to convince you that your love of Capitalism only shows that you are a victim of false consciousness.

A Communist government will do the same, but will send you to a reeducation camp to learn the lesson.

Only one of these two scenarios is truly evil.

So, too, with Islamists.

By all counts, Daniel Boyd was the perfect neighbor. A perfect neighbor, who also thought it was the individual duty of Muslims to engage in violent jihad in furtherance of political Islam.

On one level, a great guy. On another level, an enemy of Western Civilization.

June 11, 2009

UPDATE 6/11/2009 10:24 AM: Confirmed, Jimmay did in fact meet with the leader of the terrorist group which has killed more Americans than any other next to al Qaeda.

Despicable.

--- Begin original 6/10/2009 post ---

That's what Debbie Schlussel is reporting. Here's the gist of it:

U.S. President Jimmy Carter--who previously met with and feted top HAMAS officials--just met with Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the spiritual leader of Hezbollah. Carter's son, James, accompanied him, and the meeting took place in Beirut.

Now, is the report to be believed? I don't see it in the MSM, but maybe Carter was trying to keep this one quiet? Perhaps yet another case in point where Carter is under the impression that his charisma could somehow bring peace to a conflict started over a thousand years ago by Muhammad on the Arabian Peninsula?

Her source, though, is Arab. And while it is anti-Hizbollah .... did I mention it's Arab? If you've ever been to the Middle East or paid attention to the Arab media, you know what I'm talking about.

So, it sounds like it could be true. If it is, it's yet one more despicable act in a lifetime filled with despicable acts by Jimmy Carter [always in the name of peace and the greater good, of course].

Let me know if you see anything else that would confirm it.

Thanks to Shy Guy.

March 13, 2009

BEIRUT, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah on Friday rejected the U.S. condition to start talks with Hezbollah if it acknowledges the state of Israel, the party's TV station Al-Manar reported.

"The U.S. condition of acknowledging Israel to open dialogue with us is rejected," Nasrallah told crowds of Shiite Moslems gathered in the southern suburbs of Beirut this evening to mark the birthday of Prophet Mohammed.

"As long as Hezbollah exists, the generations of our people could never acknowledge the state of Israel which is a hostile terrorist entity," Nasrallah vowed.

He said that the U.S. set two conditions to start talks with Hezbollah, "acknowledging Israel and abandoning violence," and what they meant by abandoning violence is giving up the resistance.

Related:
Actual Good News: Ibrahim Moussawi NOT Coming To Britain After All!

One of These Things is Not Like the Other: Hizbollah Spokesman Gets Thumbs Up for UK Visit
Out: admitting European politicians into Britain. In: admitting terrorist spokesperson into Britain