–updates below–
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Good morning, enjoy your coffee?
According to CNN, Israel has struck the Lebanese side of the Syria-Lebanese
border, with strikes continuing in Beirut.
Here, let me clean that up for you… Oh, why bother, because Israel is still
pushing
the obvious, without any facts to back it up. Again, we simply do not know.
There's also this: Aljazeera has just reported that Israeli jets attacked
4 Syrian military posts near the Lebanese Syrian border (on the Syrian side).
Both Israel and Syria deny
that report.
See, lots of misinformation right now.
The other topic of discussion is the disarming
of Hezbollah, which is drawn out by From Beirut to the Beltway. But if you
believe Hassan Nasrallah
will disarm I want what's in your coffee. Seriously, I really do. I've said it before,
it's not going to happen, though it's been called for since the “cedar
revolution,” when Syria withdrew from Lebanon. That's when the pressure
mounted for Hezbollah
to become a political organization and disown its violent militancy. That's
what 1559
was all about. The people, as far as I can tell, are split about Hezbollah.
They resent the current bloodshed, as they are a fledgling democracy, but they
will never forget Hezbollah chasing, so to speak, Israel from Lebanon in May
2000. That's the short version, believe me.
This post from Defense Tech is worth a look because it runs down Hezbollah's
rocket capabilities, in short. From 14 miles into Israel to hitting Haifa,
20 miles in.
Also, if you watched the story yesterday about the
Israeli ship being hit by an armed drone you likely have whiplash by now.
The crawlers across the cable networks went wacky about half way into late afternoon
on it. It went from armed drone to Lebanese missiles, now back to UAVs.
Get a dart board out and play the game; you'd be as accurate. Roggio
has more.
As for what the bombings have done to Lebanon's tourist season, one Lebanese
blogger is evacuating today and you can be certain he's not alone.
Another Lebanese blogger
screams: The Tripoli Port has been shelled by Israelis! OH MY GOD!!! THAT'S
MY HOME CITY. MY FAMILY IS IN THE CAR RIGHT NOW LEAVING THE CITY UP TO THE MOUNTAINS.
THEY WERE SCARED WHEN I LAST CALLED THEM. I SHOULD CALL THEM RIGHT NOW TO DOUBLE
CHECK ON THEM. YA ALLAH!!!!!
The following is offered as a report, but I'd feel more comfortable offering it as rumor. The wingnuts for war seem to be buying it, though. I'm a lot more cautious on this whole regional war thing, frankly. It is predicated, it seems to me, on the factor that Iran, Syria and Hezbollah are stupid. They're not. It's like the canard that Iran is going to hit Israel. Really? Then we can kiss their butts goodbye, because Israel would level them and if they didn't we would. As for Syria, it just makes me laugh. They're saving thousands of Christians and others right now. But the issue of the IDF troops is real, though Israel has got to know that Hamas and Hezbollah are very capable of acting on their own. Truth be told, Asad is a wimp. Hey, but this is the Middle East so I could be wrong on all counts; everybody else has been lately.
Report: Israel gives Syria ultimatum
London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat says Israel gave Syria 72 hours to stop Hezbollah’s activity, bring about release of kidnapped IDF troops. ‘Israel will not end military activity until new situation created that will prevent Syria, Iran from using terror organizations to threaten its security,’ newspaper quotes Pentagon official as saying
The London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat reported Saturday that “Washington has information according to which Israel gave Damascus 72 hours to stop Hezbollah’s activity along the Lebanon-Israel border and bring about the release the two kidnapped IDF soldiers or it would launch an offensive with disastrous consequences.”
The report said “a senior Pentagon source warned that should the Arab world and international community fail in the efforts to convince
Syria to pressure Hezbollah into releasing the soldiers and halt the current escalation Israel may attack targets in the country.”
Then there's the thing nobody
is covering. Read up. Got to go, Fouad Siniora is addressing the nation on CNN… Okay, he's done, very emotional address; the message is RESCUE Lebanon. It is a “disaster zone,” but we will survive. Cue the disco – drop the bombs.
UPDATE: Holy Allah, grab your burka, the Arab League lives! They're actually meeting today for “discussions,” in Cairo. Wonders never cease. The Middle East peace process is “dead” were the words from the Arab Leagues' Secretary General, according to CNN. U.N. is rumored to be their next stop, in order to get a solution to the, er… crisis. Hope they dress for the heat. The humidity is murder.
UPDATE II: See map, as well as comments, understanding that one of the main countries involved in all this, as you know, is Iran, though as I said above, I don't believe for a second they're involved in the current escalation.
UPDATE III (2:30 p.m. PST): It's official (or as official as anything is right now), Israeli ship hit by a missile (via Billmon).
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What Israel's over-reaction means to our efforts and troops in Iraq, not to mention the Iraqi people. As for the region itself, see here. |
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