Hezbollah

[AlphaPapa]

Re: Hezbollah

I will be the first to state Israeli atrocities and brutality and the overall nature of the State of Israel. I'll also go so far as to state that Palestinians have a right to self-determination and self-defense against naked Israeli aggression.

However, I draw a line with you folks in terms of honoring Hezbollah or any of these Muslim brotherhood type deals. Let's not forget that just as Judaism and the State of Israel is intolerant toward the other, so is Islam. And Islam is not a religion of peace but very much so a religion of hierarchy, subjugation and order. And lest we forget what Islam is about we need only look at our own Armenian history to see that we were a subject peoples under Islam and were discriminated upon and treated as a second class people.

Most if not all of these Islamic based groups or Islamic fundamentalist organizations seek an Islamic society or a caliphate or some type of deal where they will impose Islam on everyone else. Their mentality and backwardness of thought is against the idea of placing the highest emphasis on culture of a people but on the culture of the religion, because Islam is an all encompassing ideology of one-worldism that reduces people under one banner of sameness.

Let's fall into the trap where we can't see the forest for the trees.

Amen.

[KanadaHye]

Re: Hezbollah

Israelis 'seize Iran arms ship'

Israel's navy has intercepted a ship carrying hundreds of tonnes of Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Israeli military has said.

The Antiguan-flagged vessel, Francop, was boarded 160km (100 miles) off the Israeli coast, the military said, and has been towed to the port of Ashdod.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the arms were intended to strike Israeli cities.

In recent months Israel has stepped up efforts to combat the smuggling of arms to both Hezbollah and Hamas militants.

Hezbollah has not yet commented on the latest incident.

Iran and Syria have both rejected Israel's allegations.

'Disguised cargo'

The Israeli military said marines had boarded the 137m (450ft) Francop after its captain agreed to the search and no force was used.

The vessel was intercepted "near Cyprus", the Israeli military said, though it gave no further details on where this took place.

The country's deputy defence minister, Matan Vilnai, said the ship's crew were not thought to have been aware of the smuggling operation.

A spokesperson for the military said there were "dozens of shipping containers, carrying numerous weapons, disguised as civilian cargo among hundreds of other containers on board".

The spokesperson added: "The weapons originate from Iran and were intended to reach the Hezbollah terror organisation for use against the state of Israel and its citizens."

The Associated Press news agency reported the vessel was operated by Cyprus-based shipping company United Feeder Services and the company had said the cargo was picked up in Damietta in Egypt.

The exact route of the ship has not been confirmed but Israel's Haaretz newspaper said it originated in Iran and had docked in Yemen and Sudan before using the Suez Canal.

A United Feeder Services source told news agencies the ship was scheduled to dock in Lebanon.

The Israeli military said an Iranian document had been found on the ship.

A military spokesperson said: "All the cargo certificates are stamped at the ports of origin and this one was stamped at an Iranian port."

However, in a news conference in Tehran broadcast on Iran's state-run Press TV, visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the ship was not carrying Iranian-made weapons and that the cargo comprised Syrian exports to Iran.

Mr Netanyahu congratulated the army, navy and security forces on a successful action to prevent the supply of weapons.

Since Israel's offensive in Gaza last December and January, the Israeli navy and air force have been have conducting intense searches in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea for ships smuggling weapons either to Hezbollah or to Hamas in Gaza.

In February Israel said a vessel detained off Cyprus was carrying Iranian weapons to Hamas in Gaza. Iran denied the claim.

In 2002 the Israeli navy captured the Karin-A, which was carrying some 50 tonnes of arms thought to be destined for Gaza.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8341737.stm

[Federate]

Re: Hezbollah

In other words, Israel targeted civilians instead of taking on the freedom fighters much like they did to the Palestinians in Gaza.

Of course, the casualties number is carefully worded to not distinguish between the Lebanese civilians and the Hezbollah soldiers while the article clearly states how many Israeli soldiers and Israeli civilians were killed specifically.

The numbers are 1,191 Lebanese civilians killed and 4,409 injured. In addition, 250 Hezbollah soldiers were killed.

[KanadaHye]

Re: Hezbollah

More than 1,125 Lebanese died during the conflict, as well as 119 Israeli soldiers and 40 Israeli civilians.

Israel made little headway in ground operations and the war ended inconclusively with Hezbollah's military wing largely intact.

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1701 (2006) calling for the end of hostilities, the demilitarisation of the south of Lebanon and a mandate for a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to oversee the implementation of the resolution.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8314352.stm

In other words, Israel targeted civilians instead of taking on the freedom fighters much like they did to the Palestinians in Gaza.

[Federate]

Re: Hezbollah

Israel spying devices found by UN


Israeli spying devices that were planted during the 2006 war with Hezbollah have been discovered in southern Lebanon, the UN has said.

UN peacekeepers discovered the buried devices when they were blown up by remote control by Israel on Sunday.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora accused Israel of blatantly violating the UN Security Council resolution that led to the end of fighting.

Israel has declined to comment directly on the matter.

Mr Siniora said an Israeli plane flying above peacekeepers and Lebanese troops investigating the blasts constituted further violation of the resolution.

The incident comes at a time of increased tension between the Lebanese authorities and Israel.

Earlier in October the Israeli army released a video which it said showed Hezbollah removing munitions from the scene of an explosion near the city of Tyre.

Under the same UN Security Council resolution, there should be no weapons south of the Litani river except in the hands of regular Lebanese forces and peacekeepers.

Hezbollah subsequently broadcast its own video which it said disproved the claims.

It also says overflights by Israeli spy-planes violate the resolution.

The war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 lasted 33-days during which time Hezbollah fired a hail of rockets into Israel and the Israelis bombed carried out a huge bombing campaign across Lebanon and a large ground incursion.

More than 1,125 Lebanese died during the conflict, as well as 119 Israeli soldiers and 40 Israeli civilians.

Israel made little headway in ground operations and the war ended inconclusively with Hezbollah's military wing largely intact.

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1701 (2006) calling for the end of hostilities, the demilitarisation of the south of Lebanon and a mandate for a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to oversee the implementation of the resolution.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8314352.stm

[KanadaHye]

Re: Hezbollah

Lebanon accountable for Hezbollah: Netanyahu

The Lebanese government is responsible and will be held accountable for any attacks launched on Israel by Hezbollah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.

Speaking to Israel Radio on Monday, Netanyahu said the militant group is an official part of the Lebanese government.

"It should be clear that the Lebanese government, as far as we are concerned, is responsible for every attack … launched from its territory against Israel," Netanyahu said. "It cannot hide and say 'Well, that's Hezbollah and we don't control them.'"

In Lebanon’s June election, the Hezbollah-led alliance claimed 57 seats.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said recently that his group has replenished its weapons stock since its 2006 war with Israel and now has more than 30,000 rockets. Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets at Israel during the 2006 conflict.

The fighting in July and August 2006 lasted 34 days and killed around 1,000 people, the majority of which were civilians in Lebanon.

Netanyahu's comments come a day after he said Israel's 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza strip was a mistake that did not bring Israel peace or security.

"To my regret, the opposite occurred, and we know that Gaza became a Hamas base under Iranian control from which thousands of missiles have been fired, including in the last campaign," Netanyahu said. "In short, this did not bring peace."

The prime minister was speaking to his cabinet, commenting on the four years since the government dismantled its settlements in the area.


http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/0...llah-gaza.html

[hipeter924]

Re: Hezbollah

Zionists being executed, i want front row seats. Pass the popcorn!

I doubt they would kill them, as I am sure they could use them for political leverage or a prisoner exchange.

[KanadaHye]

Re: Hezbollah

Zionists being executed, i want front row seats. Pass the popcorn!

I wanna see heads rolling....

[Haykakan]

Re: Hezbollah

Zionists being executed, i want front row seats. Pass the popcorn!

[Federate]

Re: Hezbollah

Capture of 'spies' hits Israel

BEIRUT, Lebanon, June 25 (UPI) -- The roundup of around 40 alleged Israeli agents in Lebanon in recent weeks has in all probability been a serious blow for Israeli intelligence at a time when its longtime adversary, Hezbollah, is bracing for another onslaught by the Jewish state.

Both sides are nervous -- Israel because valuable eyes and ears inside Lebanon have been lost, Hezbollah because the existence of these cells, some of them set up 25 years ago, was an immense security failure on its part and will mean it will have to do a lot of housecleaning and reorganizing.

All this means is that two of the Middle East's most ferocious adversaries, whose intelligence war over the years has been one of the most heated in the region, have both been badly damaged and want to hit back.

The turmoil in Iran and the emergence of a hard-line, right-wing government in Israel under hawkish Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fuel this unease and sense of vulnerability on both sides. And in the volatile Middle East, those are usually portents of trouble.

With one cell after another being rolled up, the Israelis will no doubt have told whatever other intelligence assets they may have in Lebanon to lie low. And it seems clear, given the rank of some of the Lebanese arrested in the crackdown, that the Israelis had penetrated Lebanese society and its military widely and deeply.

The alleged agents included a former general in Lebanon's premier security service, two army colonels and a former mayor. Lebanese authorities say most of those arrested, including those just listed, have all confessed that they had been spying in Lebanon for years.

Some said they were recruited by Israel's various intelligence services -- Mossad, which operates outside Israel; the Shin Bet internal security service, which operated in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories; and Aman, military intelligence -- as far back as 1982 when Israel invaded Lebanon.

In Lebanon, given Hezbollah's nationwide military structure and the danger it poses for the xxxish state, the Israelis will have to rebuild the networks smashed by Lebanese intelligence and Hezbollah's security branch to regain the intelligence flow that is vital to military operations.

This means that to an extent that can only be guessed at, the Israelis are more vulnerable regarding Hezbollah than they have been for many years.

When Hezbollah abducted Israeli soldiers on the border on July 12, 2006, Israel responded with wave after wave of airstrikes in what became a 34-day war. The Israelis were able to destroy bunkers containing most of Hezbollah's long-range rockets capable of striking deep into Israel, almost to Tel Aviv, in under an hour.

Their intelligence was that good, and some of that must have come from agents they had on the ground. Those assets may no longer be available, and the Israeli air force may not be able to strike with such devastating accuracy next time around.

Hezbollah, too, is jumpy, and with some reason. From what information is available about the alleged spies' activities, they were focused primarily on tracking Hezbollah leaders and key operatives, identifying command centers and safe houses.

Several senior Hezbollah officials who were assassinated were probably targeted by intelligence provided by the Israeli agents. At least one of these agents had secured a commercial contract with Hezbollah's administrative branch to maintain its vehicles and had planted tracking devices in them that went undetected for years.

It does not take a great stretch of the imagination to surmise how many secret facilities and key Hezbollah operatives were uncovered in what must stand as one of the most successful espionage operations mounted in many years.

It seems that the assassination of several senior Hezbollah figures likely resulted from the activities of the Israeli spy rings. Among those killed was the Shiite movement's fabled and shadowy operational chief, Imad Mughniyeh, the most wanted fugitive in the world until Osama bin Laden struck on Sept. 11, 2001.

Mughniyeh, indicted in the United States for the June 1985 hijack of a TWA jetliner in which a U.S. Navy diver was murdered, was assassinated in one of the most secure districts of Damascus, the Syrian capital, after a meeting with Syrian intelligence chiefs.

A bomb placed in the headrest of his SUV was detonated by remote control when he got into the vehicle. It was one of the most spectacular assassinations in the Middle East for years. It hit Hezbollah hard, and it has carried out no operation of any significance against Israel since then.

http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/06/25/Capture-of-spies-hits-Israel/UPI-66891245950455/