• Hezbollah,  Iran,  Israel,  Lebanon,  Syria

    Lebanon Watch: Hezbollah – Here We Go Again

    A family flees a neighorhood in west Beirut. Hezbollah fighters, their guns blazing, seized control of west Beirut on Friday after three days of deadly street battles with pro-government foes pushed Lebanon dangerously close to all-out civil war.

    Iran and Syria have aided Hezbollah RELOAD after the war with Israel in 2006 – so here we go again.

    Get ready for the resumption of Israeli, Hezbollah and Lebanese War. Like Flap said the first time.


  • North Korea,  Syria

    North Korea Watch: White House – Syria Must Come Clean About Illicit Nuclear Activities

    This undated image from video released Thursday April 24, 2008, by the Central Intelligence Agency shows a photo of a covert nuclear reactor being built in Syria’s eastern desert near Al Kibar, according to the narrated video.

    So, while the United States was negotiating with the North Koreans about shutting down their nuclear program they outsourced it to Syria.

    The White House said Thursday that North Korea’s secret work on a nuclear reactor with Syria was “a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the world,” raising doubts about Pyongyang’s intention to carry through with a promised disclosure of its nuclear activities.

    Seven months after Israel bombed the reactor, the White House broke its silence and said North Korea assisted Syria’s secret nuclear program and that the destroyed facility was not intended for “peaceful purposes.”

    Top U.S. intelligence officials who briefed reporters said they had high confidence in the judgment that North Korea had aided Syria with its nuclear program and the intention was to produce plutonium. But they claimed only low confidence for the conclusion that it was meant for weapons development, in part because there was no reprocessing facility at the site — something that would be needed to enrich nuclear material for use in a bomb.

    The Israeli strike on Sept. 6, 2007, ripped open the structure, known as the Al Kibar reactor, and revealed even more evidence to spy satellites: reinforced concrete walls that echoed the design of the Yongbyon reactor.

    After the attack, Syria tried to bury evidence of its existence and erected a new building to hide the site. The building is not believed to house a new reactor, the officials said.

    “This coverup only served to reinforce our confidence that this reactor was not intended for peaceful activities,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said. “The Syrian regime must come clean before the world regarding its illicit nuclear activities.”

    Syria will stonewall the issue and North Korea have proven to be liars, thieves and terrorists.

    The United States must trust but verify any further nuclear agreements with North Korea and make sure they include ALL proliferation activities.

    In the meantime, uranium enrichment centrifuges continue to spin at Natanz in Iran.

    Flap is not hopeful for a negotiated settlement with either North Korea and/or Iran. Moreover, the Bush Administration is punting the entire crisis into the next Presidency.

    Speaking about the next Presidency, John McCain today challenged Democrat Barack Obama’s approach to diplomacy on Thursday, saying U.S. charges that North Korea gave nuclear assistance to Syria showed the folly of unconditional talks with foreign adversaries.

    McCain said U.S. disclosures that North Korea helped Syria build a secret nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel last year cast a new light on Obama’s willingness to meet unconditionally with a leader like North Korea’s Kim Jong-il.

    Without naming Obama, McCain said those who would meet with a leader like Kim “should explain to the American people how talking unconditionally to dictators like Kim Jong-il in the aftermath of recent disclosures advances American interests.”

    And, we saw what giving an autographed Michael Jordan basketball to Kim Jong-Il accomplished for North Korean nuclear weapons development and proliferation, now didn’t we?

    Stay tuned……

    Previous:

    North Korea Nuclear Watch: Syrian Plutonium Reactor Close to Completion

    Iran and North Korea Targeted by American Nuclear Weapons

    North Korea Watch: The DPRK Agrees to Disable All Existing Nuclear Facilities


  • Israel,  North Korea,  Syria

    North Korea Nuclear Watch: Syrian Plutonium Reactor Close to Completion

    syria nuclear reactor

    These satellite images, taken August 5, 2007 (Top) and October 24, 2007 (Bottom), show a suspected nuclear facility in Syria.

    North Korea made a deal with the United States to disable their nuclear weapon facilities so they “OUTSOURCED” them.

    The Bush administration will tell Congress tomorrow that a nuclear facility in Syria built with North Korean help was nearly complete when Israel bombed it in September, and that Pyongyang has not provided any further nuclear assistance to the hard-line Arab nation, at least at that site, U.S. officials said.

    CIA Director Michael V. Hayden and other intelligence officials are expected to brief several congressional committees in closed-door sessions, breaking the administration’s silence on the issue.

    The Syrian facility has become a key issue in six-nation negotiations to end the North’s nuclear programs.

    “The belief is that the reactor was nearing completion,” said one official familiar with the content of the briefings. “It would have been able to produce plutonium.”

    Another official said that the facility in Syria was similar to North Korea’s main nuclear complex at Yongbyon, which has been almost disabled by U.S. experts.

    Both programs were based on technology to produce plutonium, a man-made element that is the most common ingredient used to make the fissile core of atomic bombs.

    Thank God, Israel bombed the facility. How did Israel and the United States know?

    They had the North Koreans on tape.

    A video taken inside a secret Syrian facility last summer convinced the Israeli government and the Bush administration that North Korea was helping to construct a reactor similar to one that produces plutonium for North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, according to senior U.S. officials who said it would be shared with lawmakers today.

    The officials said the video of the remote site, code-named Al Kibar by the Syrians, shows North Koreans inside. It played a pivotal role in Israel’s decision to bomb the facility late at night last Sept. 6, a move that was publicly denounced by Damascus but not by Washington.

    Sources familiar with the video say it also shows that the Syrian reactor core’s design is the same as that of the North Korean reactor at Yongbyon, including a virtually identical configuration and number of holes for fuel rods. It shows “remarkable resemblances inside and out to Yongbyon,” a U.S. intelligence official said. A nuclear weapons specialist called the video “very, very damning.”

    But, one has to wonder about negotiating with the North Koreans, now don’t we?

    Remember former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright from the Bill Clinton Administration? See what appeasement buys one?

    Northkoreajuly4lKim_Jong_Il_and_Madeleine_Albright

    North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-Il and Secretary of State Albright

    Trust but verify.

    Now, what about the Iranians? Sanctions REALLY persuaded the North Koreans, right?

    Previous:

    Iran and North Korea Targeted by American Nuclear Weapons

    North Korea Watch: The DPRK Agrees to Disable All Existing Nuclear Facilities


  • Nancy Pelosi,  Patrick Fitzgerald,  Syria

    Nancy Pelosi Watch: House Speaker Pelosi Violates Logan Act with Syria al-Assad Visit

    ****Update****

    Pelosi: Mideast Trip Strengthened Ties

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, deflecting White House criticism of her trip to Syria, said Friday she thinks the mission helped President Bush because it showed the United States is unified against terrorism despite being divided over the Iraq war.

    Pelosi, D-Calif., met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus earlier this week, against the president’s wishes.

    “Our message was President Bush’s message,” Pelosi said in a phone interview with The Associated Press from Portugal, where she stopped briefly en route back to the United States.

    “The funny thing is, I think we may have even had a more powerful impact with our message because of the attention that was called to our trip,” the California Democrat said. “It became clear to President Assad that even though we have our differences in the United States, there is no division between the president and the Congress and the Democrats on the message we wanted him to receive.”

    Sounds like excuses to Flap.

    And it is just BULL.

    When the Speaker returns to the United States, the Department of Justice should prosecute Pelosi for violating the Logan Act.

    In the meantime, the House of Representatives should repudiate her and pass a resolution condemning her activities.

    pelosiapril6aweb

    US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (L) meets with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on 04 April 2007. Pelosi has defended her controversial meeting with Assad.

    WSJ: Illegal Diplomacy

    Did Nancy Pelosi commit a felony when she went to Syria?

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may well have committed a felony in traveling to Damascus this week, against the wishes of the president, to communicate on foreign-policy issues with Syrian President Bashar Assad. The administration isn’t going to want to touch this political hot potato, nor should it become a partisan issue. Maybe special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, whose aggressive prosecution of Lewis Libby establishes his independence from White House influence, should be called back.

    The Logan Act makes it a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to three years for any American, “without authority of the United States,” to communicate with a foreign government in an effort to influence that government’s behavior on any “disputes or controversies with the United States.”

    In the Speaker’s quest for power, she has undermined the President of the United States and the American people.

    When Pelosi returns to the United States, the Attorney General should prosecute her for violating the Logan Act. Her actions are clear and let her explain them to a judge.

    End of story.

    pelosiapril6bweb

    WSJ: Democrats at War

    Prime Minister Pelosi and Secretary of State Lantos undermine U.S. foreign policy–and maybe their own party.

    Democrats took Congress last fall in part by opposing the war in Iraq, but it is becoming clear that they view their election as a mandate for something far more ambitious–to wit, promoting and executing their own foreign policy, albeit without the detail of a Presidential election.

    Their intentions were made plain this week with two remarkable acts by their House and Senate leaders. Majority Leader Harry Reid endorsed Senator Russ Feingold’s proposal to withdraw from Iraq immediately, cutting off funds entirely within a year. He promised a vote soon, as part of what the Washington Post reported would also be a Democratic offensive to close Guantanamo, reinstate legal rights for terror suspects, and improve relations with Cuba.

    Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi made her now famous sojourn to Syria, donning a head scarf and advertising that she was conducting shuttle diplomacy between Jerusalem and Damascus. If there was any doubt that her trip was intended as far more than a routine Congressional “fact-finding” trip, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Tom Lantos put it to rest by declaring that, “We have an alternative Democratic foreign policy. I view my job as beginning with restoring overseas credibility and respect for the United States.”

    Speaker Pelosi should re-read the United States Constitution. She is NOT the President of the United States. If she desires the office, then there is another Presidential election in 2008.

    The Democrats have crossed the line. But, if they have policy differences with the present administration, Flap welcomes their proposals to defund the President’s foreign policy initiatives and rescind the two Congressional approved war resolutions.

    If they have the intestinal fortitude.

    pelosiapril3web

    Previous:

    Michael Ramirez on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Trip to Syria

    ramireztoon040907web


    Technorati Tags:

  • Iran,  Iran Nuclear Watch,  Iraq,  Iraq War,  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,  Syria

    Iran Nuclear Watch: United States Has No Plan to Strike Iran?

    Readers: Please Vote in Flap’s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

    irannukejan12aweb

    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (R) and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Damascus January 19, 2006. The United States denied on Friday it was preparing for military action against Iran and Syria , after President George W. Bush issued a stern warning to them, raising concerns of a spillover from the Iraq war.

    AP: Administration: No plan to strike Iran

    Their comments came after President Bush vowed in a prime-time address to the nation to go after Iranian terrorist networks feeding the insurgency in Iraq.

    The U.S. and Iran have been involved in a bitter standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program, a clash that has intensified because the United States says Iran helped provide roadside bombs that have killed American troops in Iraq. Tensions inched upward another notch this week after five Iranians were detained by U.S.-led forces after a raid on an Iranian government liaison office in northern Iraq.

    Bush’s remarks Wednesday in a speech announcing his plan to boost U.S. forces in Iraq prompted questions from members of Congress about whether the U.S. is considering attacks on Iranian territory. Bush administration officials have long refused to rule out any options against Iran but said military action would be a last resort.

    But, President Bush did authorize Iranian’s arrest in Iraq.

    A recent series of American raids against Iranians in Iraq was authorized under an order that President Bush decided to issue several months ago to undertake a broad military offensive against Iranian operatives in the country, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday.

    “There has been a decision to go after these networks,” Ms. Rice said in an interview with The New York Times in her office on Friday afternoon, before leaving on a trip to the Middle East.

    Ms. Rice said Mr. Bush had acted “after a period of time in which we saw increasing activity” among Iranians in Iraq, “and increasing lethality in what they were producing.” She was referring to what American military officials say is evidence that many of the most sophisticated improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.’s, being used against American troops were made in Iran.

    Ms. Rice was vague on the question of when Mr. Bush issued the order, but said his decision grew out of questions that the president and members of his National Security Council raised in the fall.

    The administration has long accused Iran of meddling in Iraq, providing weapons and training to Shiite forces with the idea of keeping the United States bogged down in the war. Ms. Rice’s willingness to discuss the issue seemed to reflect a new hostility to Iran that was first evident in Mr. Bush’s speech to the nation on Wednesday night, in which he accused Tehran of providing material support for attacks on American troops and vowed to respond.

    No United States plan to strike at Iran?

    But, what about Israel?

    The United States WILL go after Syria and Iran in Iraq. We may never hear of the operations. But, if the Qods Forces are in Iraq and aiding the insurgents – they are FAIR GAME.

    Hugh Hewitt suggests a few unpublicized bombs in Iranian IED manufacturing facilities might be in order to gain some Iranian RESPECT and FEAR.

    Meanwhile, more American military assets are making their way to the Persian Gulf.

    Could it be there is more to the SURGE than Iraq?

    You betcha

    The “NUCLEAR POINT OF NO RETURN” is imminent.

    Stay tuned……..

    israelaugust24njpgweb

    Previous:

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Arrests a Nuclear Spy

    Iran Nuclear Watch: United States Submarine Collides With Japanese Ship

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – Iran Will NEVER Abandon Development of Nuclear Technology

    Cox & Forkum: Saber Rattling

    Iran Nuclear Watch: Israel Planning Nuclear Strike on Iran’s Nuclear Facilities?

    The Iran Nuclear Files

    irannukejuly15aweb

    The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.


    Technorati Tags: , , ,

  • Iran,  Israel,  Syria

    Iraq War Watch: Iraq Study Group Recommends Engagement with Syria and Iran

    iraqdecember6aweb

    A man looks at a burning minibus after a suicide bomb attack in Baghdad’s Sadr city, December 6, 2006.

    Reuters: Iraq group recommends engagement with Syria, Iran

    A bipartisan panel recommended to President George W. Bush on Wednesday that the United States directly engage with Syria and Iran to help resolve the Iraq conflict, the White House said.

    White House spokesman Tony Snow said the report also recommended that the U.S. military launch a rapid effort to train Iraqi forces to defend their country. It recommends no specific timetable for U.S. troop reductions, he said.

    Reading from the report, Snow said the document encourages the United States to “engage directly with Iran, Syria in order to try to obtain their commitment to constructive policies toward Iraq and other regional issues.”

    “In engaging Syria and Iran, the United States should consider incentives as well as disincentives in seeking constructive results,” the report said.

    What a JOKE.

    Syria is attempting to stage a coup in Lebanon and arming Iraqi insurgents/terrorists.

    Does the Iraq Study Group propose we help these miscreants?

    The United States has been negotiating with Iran for months on the Iran nuclear program.

    Where have those negotiations gone?

    NOWHERE

    What makes anyone think that talking to Iran will be anything more than another ploy to allow Iran to go nuclear.

    Israel is already fearful and consideration of further Iranian engagement may push them into military action sooner rather than later. Israel will not sit still while Ahmadinejad boasts that he will wipe Israel off the map.

    Flap remembers Senator Joe Lieberman saying engagement with Iran and Syria over Iraq is like having arsonists negotiate with the fire department in order to put out a fire.

    On first take, the President is not accepting this argument:

    Snow offered his own description of this section: “This is not talk for talk’s sake. This would be, according to the Iraq Study Group, diplomatic engagement but there would be a requirement on the part of the Syrian and the Iranians that they act, that they demonstrate good will … In other words this is not a desire for empty diplomacy.”

    But, after Secretary of Defense nominee Robert Gates testimony yesterday who the hell knows what W is thinking?

    Stay tuned…….

    Previous:

    Michael Ramirez on President George W. Bush and the Iraq War

    Iraq War Watch: Iranian Weapons Arming Iraqi Shia Militias

    Michael Ramirez on Iran Helping Iraq


    Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

  • France,  General,  Germany,  Lebanon,  Syria

    Lebanon Watch: France and Germany Call on Syria to Stop Destabilizing Lebanon

    lebanondecember5aweb

    Lebanon’s Prime Minister Fuad Saniora holds a press conference in front of hundreds from a Beirut delegation who visited the Government House to show support, Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday Dec. 5, 2006. Shiites on Tuesday buried a young man killed in street clashes in a Sunni Muslim neighborhood as the country’s army commander warns the military may not be able to contain any further protests linked to Lebanon’s tense political standoff.

    AFP: Germany, France urge Syria to ‘stop destabilising Lebanon’

    Germany and France have issued a joint call to Syria to “stop supporting forces that seek to destabilise Lebanon and the region”.

    “France and Germany call for an end to all interference in the affairs of Lebanon,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Jacques Chirac said Tuesday in a joint statement after meeting in Mettlach in western Germany.

    “As far as Syria is concerned, we want that country to stop supporting forces that seek to destabilise Lebanon and the region,” the statement said.

    They said that in exchange for heeding the call, Syria could hope to “resume normal conduct with the international community and in particular with the countries of the
    European Union”.

    Merkel and Chirac expressed their full support for the embattled Western-backed government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, who is facing mass protests and calls for his government to resign.

    Oh Please…….

    And when Israel was at war against Syria and Iran client state within a state, Hezbollah, where were the Europeans?

    Well, they were carping at Israel and then by the end of the war reluctantly offered men and material to the United Nations in order to preserve the peace and prevent the rearming of Hezbollah.

    And what has been the result?

    Hezbollah is rearming with impunity and attempting with Syria’s help to bring down the democratically elected Saniora government.

    lebanondecember5bweb

    Lebanon’s Muslim Shi’ite Amal movement members carry the coffin of Ahmad Mahmoud in the suburbs of Beirut December 5, 2006. Mahmoud was killed on Sunday during clashes between Sunni residents and Shi’ite protesters in the Qasqas neighbourhood in Beirut.

    In the meantime, Fouad Siniora vows to stay on despite mounting pressure.

    Lebanese Premier Fouad Siniora vowed Sunday to remain in office despite opposition supporters camped outside his offices for the third day calling on him to resign. As nationalist songs were blaring from the nearby tents of the opposition in Downtown Beirut, a Mass was held at the Grand Serail to commemorate the assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel.

    Gemayel died in a shooting ambush in a Christian suburb of Beirut last month.

    The service was led by Beirut Maronite Bishop Boulos Matar and attended by Siniora, his anti-Syrian ministers, Gemayel’s family, and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, as well as other politicians from the March 14 Forces.

    Siniora said the protests would not achieve the opposition’s goal, hinting that they might take counter-action if the Hizbullah-led sit-in drags on.

    “A solution to any problem does not come through the street because this means might trigger a counter-means and we will not reach any result,” Siniora told reporters after the Mass.

    “I will not leave; I am going to stay here for as I enjoy Parliament’s confidence. I am here by the confidence of the Lebanese and the constitutional institutions,” he said.

    Siniora and his supporters describe Hizbullah’s campaign as a coup attempt led by Syria and its ally, Iran. “We are used to coups d’etat in Lebanon and the Arab world and we know its results and there was one attempt in 1961 and it failed,” he said, “so why try something that is already known to fail?”

    Stay tuned……

    lebanondecember5cweb

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) gestures as she chats with French president Jacques Chirac upon their arrival in Mettlach in western Germany. France and Germany have turned up the pressure on Syria, telling Damascus to stop destabilising Lebanon as mass protests against Prime Minister Fuad Siniora entered a fifth day.

    Previous:

    Lebanon Watch: Siniora defiant as Pro-Syria Hezbollah Calls Mass Protest to Force Out the Government

    Lebanon Watch: Hezbollah Plans to Bring Down Lebanese Government Within A Month

    Lebanon Watch: Hundreds of Thousands of Lebanese Mourn Pierre Gemayel – Attend Funeral

    Lebanon Watch: Assassinated Lebanese Minister Pierre Gemayel to Be Buried Thursday

    Global War on Terror Watch: Hezbollah and Syria Make a MOVE in Lebanon


    Technorati Tags: , , , ,

  • Hezbollah,  Israel,  Lebanon,  Syria

    Lebanon Watch: Siniora defiant as Pro-Syria Hezbollah Calls Mass Protest to Force Out the Government

    lebanonnovember30cweb

    Lebanese residents watch Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during a speech on al-Manar television in a coffee shop in Beirut suburbs Novemebr 30, 2006. Nasrallah called for a peaceful protest and open-ended sit-in in downtown Beirut on Friday to demand a new government in a fresh challenge to U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

    Reuters: Siniora defiant as Lebanon opposition calls protest

    A defiant Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said he would not stand down after Pro-Syrian Hezbollah and its allies called for a mass protest in Beirut on Friday to try to force out the government.

    Siniora told the nation the opposition wanted to stage a coup against the democratic system in Lebanon and vowed his anti-Syrian cabinet would not fall.

    “Fellow Lebanese we have ahead of us decisive days for Lebanon and its future…,” Siniora said in a live broadcast on Thursday. “We will not allow the coup against the democratic system, its rules and institutions.

    “There is no way to topple the government except through parliament which has given it its vote of confidence,” he said.

    So, Hezbollah as a client of Iran and Syria now wishes to control the Lebanese government.

    Will they attempt to win majority control in free elections?

    No way – Hezbollah will foster violence in the streets, sectarian violence and attempt a coup.

    If this happens, Flap wants to know what will prevent Israel and the United States from coming to the aid of the Sinora government?

    UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army?

    Hardly………

    lebanonnovember30bweb

    The leader of Lebanon’s anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, Saad Hariri, son of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his house in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday Nov. 30, 2006. Hariri warned Thursday that Syria was behind the planned protests to bring down the government, saying its ally Hezbollah would not be able force Prime Minister Fuad Saniora to step down. Hariri also accused Syria of being behind the planned demonstrations to try to stop the international tribunal that will try the suspects in the killing of his father in Feb. 2005.

    Stay tuned……

    lebanonnovember30aweb

    A poster showing Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah along the highway towards Beirut airport, November 19,2006.

    Previous:

    Lebanon Watch: Hezbollah Plans to Bring Down Lebanese Government Within A Month

    Lebanon Watch: Hundreds of Thousands of Lebanese Mourn Pierre Gemayel – Attend Funeral

    Lebanon Watch: Assassinated Lebanese Minister Pierre Gemayel to Be Buried Thursday

    Global War on Terror Watch: Hezbollah and Syria Make a MOVE in Lebanon


    Technorati Tags: , , , ,

  • Hezbollah,  Israel,  Lebanon,  Syria

    Lebanon Watch: Hezbollah Plans to Bring Down Lebanese Government Within A Month

    lebanonnovember24bweb

    Lebanese Shi’ite Muslims protest in the street in Beirut suburbs November 23, 2006. Hezbollah will take to the streets next week to try to topple the government, political sources said on Friday, in a move that would stoke tension in a country already reeling after the assassination of a minister.

    Telegraph: Hizbollah plans to bring Lebanese government down ‘within a month’

    A senior member of Hizbollah has said it will push ahead with plans to bring down the Lebanese government, despite the mass outpouring of grief at yesterday’s funeral.

    The militant Shia party, which is backed by Syria and Iran, said it had delayed street protests planned for this week because of the public reaction to Pierre Gemayel’s murder.

    Ghalib Abu Zaynab, a Hizbollah politburo member, speaking in the group’s southern Beirut stronghold, said: “As far as street protests are concerned, we have postponed these as we are waiting to see what will happen in the coming days. But the protests will go ahead, and we hope they will achieve our political aims within a month.”

    And why not?

    Hezbollah has appeared to have already re-stocked its supply of weapons expended in the summer 33-day war with Israel. With Hezbollah in charge of the government or the country in a Civil War, Hezbollah can complete their rearming and ready themselves for the coming resumption of war with Israel.

    lebanonnovember24ajpgweb

    Lebanese soldiers secure an area in the town of Bikfaya, northeast of Beirut, the hometown of assassinted Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel. Lebanon’s cabinet is to meet for the next step towards approving a UN plan for an international court to try those accused of murdering ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, in a move set to trigger a showdown with the pro-Syrian opposition.

    He said tactics would include mass street demonstrations, strikes, and “other legal and peaceful means of achieving our goals. We gave blood for independence but we want true independence, not influenced by outside parties, and this government is a puppet of the United States, run by Jeffrey Feltman [the American ambassador to Lebanon].”

    Hizbollah had weakened the government even before Tuesday’s assassination of the anti-Syrian Christian leader. Earlier this month, six ministers either belonging or allied to Hizbollah resigned from the cabinet. Mr Gemayel’s murder means the death or resignation of two more would render the cabinet inquorate.

    The militia’s leadership has denied any involvement in Mr Gemayel’s murder, suggesting it was the work of American or Israeli intelligence as part of a campaign to discredit both Syria and Hizbollah.

    “The killing of Gemayel was neither good for Hizbollah, nor for Syria,” said Mr Zaynab. “In the end, the people who benefit most are the United States and Israel. There are American fingerprints on all the bloodshed in the Middle East, in Iraq, in Palestine, and now also in Lebanon.”

    So, Hezbollah is Lebanon’s friend and it is the Great Satan and the Zionists creating unrest and assassinating Lebanon’s political leaders.

    Right……..

    But, Hezbollah will be ready to fight Israel, now won’t they?

    Time (Via Hot Air): Iran and Syria Helping Hizballah Rearm

    As Lebanon’s government tries to maintain its shaky grip on power, sources tell TIME that Tehran and Damascus are shipping weapons to the militant Shi’ite group

    Iran is smuggling weapons through Syria to re-arm Lebanese allies Hizballah, despite renewed efforts by United Nations peacekeepers and the Lebanese army to seal off the mountain borders with Syria in the wake of last summer’s war between the Shi’ite militia and Israel, according to reports by Saudi and Israeli intelligence sources that have been confirmed by western diplomats in Beirut.

    Israeli military officials in Tel Aviv say that Hizballah replenished nearly half of its pre-war stockpiles of short-range missiles and small arms. But western diplomats in Beirut say these calculations under-estimate the weapons flow and that Hizballah has now filled its war chest with over 20,000 short-range missiles — a similar amount fo what they had at the start of the conflict, during which the group is believed to have fired over 3,000 rockets at Israel. “The Iranian pipeline through Syria was already working during the war,” despite constant Israeli bombing raids on the roads into Lebanon from Syria, this Beirut source said. Officially, Syria and Iran deny that they’re supplying weapons to Hizballah. As for the Shi’ite group itself, when asked about receiving a new shipment of arms from Syria and Iran, a spokesman told TIME, without elaborating, “We have more than enough weapons if Israel tries to attack us again.”

    Read it all……

    Get ready for the resumption of Israeli, Hezbollah and Lebanese War. Like Flap said the first time.

    Watch for the UNIFIL contingent to suddenly leave and the hostilities begin anew. This time Israel will fight to the finish.

    And watch for a joint Israeli operation with the United States against Iran and Syria.

    Stay tuned…….

    israelATWARweb

    Previous:

    Lebanon Watch: Hundreds of Thousands of Lebanese Mourn Pierre Gemayel – Attend Funeral

    Lebanon Watch: Assassinated Lebanese Minister Pierre Gemayel to Be Buried Thursday

    Global War on Terror Watch: Hezbollah and Syria Make a MOVE in Lebanon


    Technorati Tags: , , , ,

  • Global War on Terror,  Lebanon,  Syria

    Lebanon Watch: Hundreds of Thousands of Lebanese Mourn Pierre Gemayel – Attend Funeral

    lebanonnovember23bweb

    Mourners attend the funeral of assassinated Lebanese minister Pierre Gemayel in Beirut. Beirut was a sea of red and white flags as Lebanon turned out in a show of force for the funeral of the anti-Syrian minister, whose murder threatens to plunge the country deeper into political turmoil.

    AP: Throngs mourn slain Lebanese official

    Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese turned the funeral Thursday for a slain Christian government minister into a massive demonstration of anger against Syria and its allies.

    The sprawling funeral for Pierre Gemayel reinvigorated suporters of the U.S.-backed government in a power struggle with Syrian-backed Hezbollah and its allies threatening to split this small Mideast nations along sectarian lines. Police estimated some 800,000 people participated in the rally and funeral.

    “The second independence uprising was launched today for change and it will not stop,” Gemayel’s father, former President Amin Gemayel, told the crowd in downtown Beirut, speaking from behind a panel of bulletproof glass. “I pledge to you that we will soon take steps so that your efforts will not go in vain.”

    The throng applauded as the coffin, wrapped in the flag of Gemayel’s Phalange Party — white with a green cedar emblem — was carried past the square to nearby St. George’s Cathedral, where the packed congregation sang hymns. The 34-year-old Gemayel’s wife wept in the church, leaning on his mother’s shoulder.

    lebanonnovember23aweb

    A Mulsim woman holds up a picture of assassinated Lebanese minister Pierre Gemayel during his funeral procession in Beirut. Beirut was a sea of red and white flags.

    lebanonnovember23cweb

    Lebanese mourners carry the coffin of Lebanon’s Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel during his funeral in Beirut November 23, 2006.

    But in the wake of Gemayel’s slaying, Lebanon is polarized to a degree not seen since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, sharply divided between anti-Syrian Christians and Sunni Muslims and pro-Syrian Shiites. Many fear Thursday’s funeral could be the first round of demonstrations that could bring the political crisis into the volatile streets.

    In Martyrs’ Square, men, women and children waved red, white and green Lebanese flags and posters of Gemayel with the slogans: “We want to live” and “Awaiting justice.”

    Stay tuned as turmoil and unrest ferments in the streets of Beirut.

    Michael Totten has Shove Your Civil War.

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    Nicole (L) and Patricia, the sister and wife respectively of Lebanon’s Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, cry during his funeral in Beirut.

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    Posters of Syrian President Bashar Assad are burned by anti-Syrian protesters during the funeral of assassinated Christian politician Pierre Gemayel, at the Martyrs square, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday Nov. 23, 2006

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