Israeli Military Intelligence Chief: Syria Has Become Hezbollah De Facto Arsenal

Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin told the cabinet on Sunday that Syria was continuing to arm Hezbollah, and had in fact become the Lebanese resistance group's arsenal.

"(President Bachar) Assad is continuing to throw open the doors of Syria's warehouses for Hezbollah, and has become 'Hezbollah's arsenal.' Assad trusts Hezbollah more than his own army and Hezbollah operatives act in Syria as if it's their own country," said Yadlin.

A key Israeli demand in indirect peace negotiations with Syria is that it cut its ties with Hezbollah, and in particular, cease supplying the resistance group with weapons.

Yadlin did actually say he believed Assad was interested in a peace deal with Israel "on his conditions," but was waiting for the establishment of a new administration in the United States.

Yadlin added that, "The Syrians have removed almost every restraint; in their irresponsible behavior they are giving Hezbollah possession of almost every strategic capability they own."

Yadlin also said that Hezbollah is still seeking to avenge the death of its former military commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in a bombing in February that shook a residential neighborhood of Damascus. Hezbollah says it was orchestrated by Israel.

http://jnoubiyeh.blogspot.com/2008/10/mi-chief-syria-has-become-hezbollah-de.html
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http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=61410&language=en

Report: UN to demand Israel pay Lebanon $1 billion

Lebanese media say Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to instruct Israel to take responsibility for environmental damages caused by 2006 war, including oil spill following bombing of Beirut power plant

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will demand that Israel pay Lebanon $1 billion in compensation over damages caused during the Jewish state's 2006 war against Hizbullah, Lebanese media reported Saturday.


According to the report, the sum, based on World Bank appraisals, is aimed at covering the environmental and material damages caused by the Second Lebanon War, to neighboring countries as well.

The fundamental part of the compensation demanded is for the damage caused to the Lebanese coast due to an oil spill following an Israeli bombing of a southern Beirut power plant, which the Lebanese said had caused "an ecological disaster."

According to the report, Ban plans to submit a report to the United Nations General Assembly at the end of the month, stating that damage Israel caused to the oil reservoir polluted Lebanon's coast, and that the pollution spread to neighboring countries, especially Syria.

Ban further notes that the UN rehabilitation plan managed to clean some of the oil spill in several areas in northern Lebanon seashores.

The oil spill, which was defined the greatest natural disaster in Lebanon's history, took place after Israel Air Force planes hit a power plant and caused some 110,000 oil barrels to leak into the Mediterranean Sea.


The report said that the UN wants Israel to compensate the countries harmed by the oil spill and restore the environmental situation along the Lebanon coast. The Jewish state has yet to respond to the demand, despite messages conveyed in August 2007.

About half a year ago, new agencies reported that the German government granted Lebanon 4.5 million euros (about $6.4 million) to help finance environmental projects and damage restoration activities following the war.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3592764,00.html

The facts behind the fiction of the Lebanon war of 2006

By Daan de Wit
Today two dead Israeli soldiers have been returned to Israel by Hezbollah who kidnapped them before the Lebanon war. Their kidnapping was the official reason for the war, but was it also the factual reason?
On July 12th 2006, Israel invaded Lebanon. The official casus belli were the killings of three members of the Israeli Army by Hezbollah in Israel and the capture of two others. In actuality Israel prepared for the war in advance and waited for the opportunity to present itself in order to justify an attack. Motives such as these keep coming up for both sides in the border area between the two countries. Critic Noam Chomsky recounts a few of the incidents: 'IDF kidnapping of civilians on June 24, Hamas capture of a soldier the next day, then the huge U.S.-Israeli escalation of attacks on Gaza... then the kidnapping of soldiers by Hezbollah, then the U.S.-Israeli destruction of most of Lebanon, justified by the pretense of outrage over kidnapping, which – to repeat – is demonstrated, conclusively, to be cynical fraud'. While the war was still going on, Israel changed the code name by which military operations were being carried out from Operation Just Cause to Operation Change of Direction.

In March of 2007 Israeli Prime Minister Olmert admitted to the Winograd Commission that approximately three months before the Lebanon War he gave his permission for the operation by accepting a plan from his then-chief of staff Dan Halutz. Shortly after the kidnapping and in the midst of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Halutz sold off his shares, and in so doing avoided the losses that occurred when the market fell by ten percent as a result of the war that followed. Olmert made his admission to the commission in order to demonstrate that the dramatic loss of the war was not due to ill preparedness .

In reality, the Lebanon War was even better planned than Prime Minister Olmert would admit to the commission. In January of 2006, four days after succeeding a comatose Ariel Sharon, Olmert held an initial conversation on a war against Lebanon. But it might be correct to look back even further. The war was 'in a sense' already being planned back in 2000, right after Israel withdrew troops from Lebanon after being there for 18 years, says Professor Gerald Steinberg of Israel's Bar-Ilan University. According to Steinberg, a war of about three weeks had been devised by 2004, after which it was simulated and rehearsed. The actual Lebanon War ended up lasting 34 days, resulting in 159 deaths on the Israeli side and 1125 deaths on the Lebanese side, of which hundreds were children. America was made aware of Israeli plans to attack Lebanon. American and other diplomats, journalists and thinktanks were notified approximately one year prior to the war with the help of a PowerPoint presentation, given by a senior Israeli army officer, writes the San Fransisco Chronicle. The meetings in which the plans for war were discussed in detail were held off the record and on the condition that the identity of the officer be kept secret.

After the war questions arise whether British Prime Minister Tony Blair was aware of Israeli plans and whether he might not have attempted more in order to avoid bloodshed. Journalist John Kampfner writes under the headline Blood on his hands: 'I am told that the Israelis informed George W. Bush in advance of their plans to 'destroy' Hezbollah by bombing villages in southern Lebanon. The Americans duly informed the British. So Blair knew'.
Kampfner's information is confirmed by an anonymous source from the English Daily Mail which was quoted in August of 2006 and said that Tony Blair was informed of developments concerning Lebanon by the U.S. At the same time the newspaper quotes another source, this one by first and last name - John Pike, director of Global Security: 'Has the U.S. given Israel a green light to attack Hezbollah and push its troops into southern Lebanon? Yes, of course it has'. According to Pike there is an agreement between Israel and the U.S. that Iranian nuclear plants would eventually have to be bombed - 'probably next year' - to stop the development of a nuclear weapon. Pike feels that once that happens, Iran will order Hezbollah to attack Israel. To him this explains the attack on Lebanon in July of 2006. Pike believes that there was a secret agreement between the U.S. and Israel that at some point before the attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities, Hezbollah had to be disarmed and that as soon as a pretext became available, Israel should use force. Just as in the case of Iran, Israeli interests run parallel to those of the United States.
This also appears to be the case in a 2003 report from the reputable Jane's Intelligence Digest that the U.S. was weighing an attack on Hezbollah. And in 2008 a plan was revealed that was not only considered, but was also approved and carried out. Approved by President Bush and realized by his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - a plan to arm the Palestinian party Fatah. The goal was to provoke a Palestinian civil war in which the democratically elected Hamas would be toppled. The result was the complete control of Hamas over the Gaza Strip.

The armies of both Israel and Hezbollah were criticized in a report by Human Rights Watch for intentionally killing civilians. During the fighting, Israel dropped up to a million cluster bombs, probably acquired from the world's biggest producer of this type of explosive, as well as the one that provides Israel with billions of dollars in military aid - the United States. 'We already had a major landmine problem from previous Israeli invasions, but this is far worse', says Chris Clark of the UN Mine Action Coordination Center, standing before a map filled with flags indicating bomb sites. Cluster bombs were first used by the Nazis and are permitted under international law. In January of 2008 the United States resists proposals for stricter laws relating to cluster bombs and said that the explosives aren't bad as long as they are used responsibly. In June Defense Secretary Robert Gates states that by 2018 the military will no longer use cluster weapons with a failure rate greater than 1 percent. In the interim period the US will deplete its existing stockpiles of cluster munitions with a greater than 1 percent dud rate by exporting them to foreign governments that agree not to use them starting in 2018.
In the bombing of Lebanon, Israel may have made use - as it has done for decades - of American intelligence. In the area of psychological warfare, upwards of 700,000 automated voice mails were delivered to Lebanese citizens in and around the time of the war, and 17 million leaflets were dropped above Lebanon during 47 missions, some of which for example depicted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a snake or a scorpion. Israel also interrupted a Hezbollah TV channel in order to show a dead Hezbollah fighter, accompanied by the message that there will be many more such bodies to come. After the war was over, the Beirut advertising agency Idea Creation launched a $100,000 ad campaign at Hezbollah's behest called Divine Victory, delivering the message of a military victory over Israel .

A Middle East expert familiar with the mindset of both the Israeli and American governments says in August of 2006 to journalist Seymour Hersh that the White House had several reasons for supporting the Israeli attack. The most important was Iran. Another source, the neoconservative Middle East expert Meyrav Wurmser, confims this by saying that the main argument by the White House for supporting Israel was that the war 'would damage and weaken Hezbollah so that it would pose less of a threat to Israel in the event of an attack on Iran'. Wurmser is employed by the conservative thinktank Hudson Institute and is the wife of David Wurmser, who up until mid-2007 was the Middle East advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney. According to Meyrav Wurmser some of her colleagues are unhappy over what Israel did: 'The thought in America was that Israel should fight against the real enemy, the one backing Hizbullah. It was obvious that it is impossible to fight directly against Iran , but the thought was that its strategic and important ally Syria should be hit. ... The neocons are responsible for the fact that Israel got a lot of time and space for the execution of the war'. Wurmser feels that an attack on Syria would have been a harsh blow to Iran. The great dissatisfaction in the White House - Wurmser even calls it 'anger' at Israel - over the loss of the war is focused on the fact that Israel didn't take the fight to Syria. On 6 September 2007 Israël attacked Syria: Operation Orchard.

Hezbollah fighters could target Britain

By Jason Groves
IRAN is poised to launch terror attacks in Britain if the West presses ahead with military strikes against its nuclear facilities, intelligence experts warned last night.

As tensions in the Middle East continued to grow, they warned that the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah had already established sleeper cells in Britain and mainland Europe tasked with carrying out bloody reprisals.

Likely UK targets include nuclear power stations, military bases, Government buildings and high-profile politicians and members of the Jewish community.

Richard Kemp, former adviser on terrorism to Tony Blair, said the difficulty of attacking Western and Israeli military targets directly meant Iran was likely to use its terror network to retaliate. Hezbollah, formed in Lebanon in the 1980s, has grown to become a major force in the Middle East.

He said: “In my view Iran’s only realistic method of retaliation is through Hezbollah.

“Hezbollah undoubtedly have the capability to carry out attacks against Western targets outside the region. They have people here in the UK and they would aim to carry out attacks if they saw us as being in any way supportive of an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.”

Claude Moniquet, director of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Centre, said: “Intelli-gence services across Europe believe Hezbollah pose a serious threat. They have already put in place a network of operatives and there is some evidence that reconnaisance has been carried out on potential targets.

“They are in wait-and-see mode at the moment and no-one knows exactly what they will do, but there is little doubt they will retaliate if Iran is attacked.”

The warnings come amid mounting speculation that either Israel or the United States may attack Iran’s nuclear facilities from the air. And tension mounted last week when, in a show of strength, Iran test-fired nine long-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting targets in Israel and coalition bases in Iraq.

In America Republican hawks suggest there is a “window of opportunity” for an attack after the US elections in November, before a new President is sworn in on 20 January next year.

But Sir Richard Dalton, British ambassador to Iran until 2006, insists there are still huge political, legal and military barriers to any attack.

Sir Richard, now an adviser to the think tank Chatham House, said the prospects had not changed, despite Iran’s missile launches and despite the major Israeli exercise last month which was widely seen as a rehearsal for air strikes on Iran.

Tomorrow the Government will ask MPs to approve adding Hezbollah – which attacked Israel with rockets in 2006 provoking an Israeli invasion of Lebanon – to a list of terrorist groups banned in the UK.

Yesterday Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said he viewed the impending ban as a “badge of honour”.

He added: “I consider it a natural decision to be issued by a founding bloc of the Zionist entity.”

"Al-Qaeda" declares war on Hezbollah

Al-Qaeda has reportedly called on its operatives to go to Lebanon and defend what it called the Sunni community of the country.

The report came while some Arab media outlets described the current clashes in Lebanon as a fight between Sunni and Shia communities.

In an interviews with Sunni clerics with links to Saad Hariri's pro-government bloc, Al-Arabiya TV network described the ongoing clashes as a sectarian strife.

Sheikh Ali al-Jozo, Mufti of the Jebel region, who is well known for his harsh stance against Hezbollah told the TV network that the clashes are a battle between Lebanon's Shia and Sunni communities and called on Arab leaders to prevent "Iran's influence in the country."

The TV network reported that al-Qaeda on all of its websites urged its operatives to defend the Sunni community of Lebanon.

The reports came while in interviews with NBN and al-Manar TV stations on Thursday, a number of Sunni clerics said that the clashes are not a sectarian strife and many Sunni Muslims in Lebanon support Hezbollah.

Lebanese army: 12 IAF jets fly over Beirut, Lebanese areas

By The Associated Press
BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Lebanese army said Monday that Israel Air Force warplanes have violated their airspace by flying missions over Beirut and elsewhere in the country.

The Lebanese army said in a statement that "12 enemy Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace before noon Monday, four flew over the Mediterranean off the coastal city of Byblos in the north and headed toward the eastern province of Hermel."

It added that eight other Israeli warplanes flew over the southern town of Rmeish, then headed north to Beirut, the Chouf mountains, southeast of the capital, and Hermel before flying back.
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The Israeli overflights lasted about an hour, the statement said.

The Israel Defense Forces when asked about the alleged flyover said "it is our policy not to comment on our operations."

IAF warplanes frequently fly over Lebanese airspace in what Israel says are reconnaissance missions.

Israeli overflights have been a constant source of tension between the Israel and Lebanon. Before the 2006 Second Lebanon War between Israel and the Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based guerilla group habitually opened fire on Israeli planes, with shrapnel from the anti-aircraft fire falling on Israeli communities across the border, causing some casualties.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/978711.html

Iran predicts ‘destruction’ of Israel by Hezbollah

TEHRAN, Feb 18: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Monday predicted that Israel would be destroyed by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in the “near future”, the Fars news agency reported.

“In the near future, we will witness the destruction of Israel, the aggressor, this cancerous microbe Israel, at the able hands of the soldiers of the community of Hezbollah,” said the head of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari.

The comments by the head of Iran’s elite ideological force came in a condolence message to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah after the murder last week in Damascus of a top commander of the group, Imad Mughnieh, the news agency said.

“With the martyrdom of this true Muslim, the intentions of all revolutionary and combatant Muslims, especially the comrades of this dear martyr, will without doubt become firmer against the Zionist regime,” Jafari said.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has already hailed Mughnieh as a “great” man and predicted his death will serve to increase resistance against Israel.

In a sign of Iran’s respect for Mughnieh, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki attended his funeral in the Shiite suburbs of Beirut on Thursday and gave an oration.

The Islamic republic has a longstanding policy of non-recognition of Israel but its rhetoric against the Jewish state has sharpened during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iran insists its position is in no way anti-Semitic but anti-Zionist, pointing to the continued existence in the country of the largest Jewish community in the Middle East after Israel.

Mughnieh, who was killed in a car bombing in Damascus on Tuesday, was suspected of masterminding the abduction of western hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s and the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people.

The United States accuses Iran, along with its regional ally Syria, of arming and financing Hezbollah, as well as working to destabilise Lebanon in its current political crisis.—AFP
http://www.dawn.com/2008/02/19/int6.htm

Hezbollah ready for war with Israel

RIYADH, February 14 (RIA Novosti) - Hezbollah is ready for open war with Israel, the Lebanese radical group's leader said Thursday, following the assassination of a top Hezbollah commander.

Hezbollah has blamed Israel's secret service for the death on Wednesday of Imad Mughniyeh, implicated in several attacks on U.S. and Israeli targets. Mughniyeh, 45, was killed by a car bomb in Damascus. The group said Israeli intelligence agency Mossad orchestrated the killing.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the organization's secretary general, said up until now Hezbollah has been fighting the Zionist enemy on Lebanese soil, but the fact that Mughniyeh was killed in Syria means that Israel has started an open war against Hezbollah.

"Zionists, if you want this type of open war then let the whole world hear: let it be an open war," he said at Mughniyeh's funeral.

Tel Aviv has denied a role in the killing.

In the early 1980s Mughniyeh, who was believed to have led Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah's armed wing, was linked to suicide bomb attacks at the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 43 diplomatic staff and 312 U.S. and French servicemen.

He was also implicated in an explosion at the Jewish center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people in 1994, and the Israeli Embassy in the city in 1992, when 29 were killed and about 300 injured.

Israeli media reported earlier that Mughniyeh was behind the capture of two Israeli soldiers in July 2006 in the border raid that led to Israel's military operation in Lebanon which took the lives of around 1,000 civilians and crippled the country's infrastructure. Mughniyeh was also reported to have been a top Hezbollah commander in the month-long war.

Lebanon is caught up in an ongoing political crisis as its parliament has been unable to elect a president since November 23 over disputes between the ruling majority and the opposition led by Hezbollah, believed to enjoy the backing of Syria and Iran.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20080214/99232767.html

Israel 'planning another Lebanon war'

The Lebanese Premier says the Winograd Report on the 2006 war against Lebanon confirms that Israel plans to attack his country again.

In an official statement released by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora on Thursday, he said that the report calls for Israel to prepare for the next war, which shows that it 'had not learned from its defeat.'

Siniora added the report 'ignores Israel's crimes' against Lebanon.

The Winograd Report on the 33-day war against Lebanon revealed on Wednesday that the war was a failure for the Zionist regime.

Lebanese army Chief, General Michel Suleiman had earlier said the report proved that Israel was the party who started the war without any justification.

Hours after the report's publication, Hezbollah said that the Winograd Report proved that Israel suffered a humiliating defeat in its military campaign.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=41157&sectionid=351020203