Those who are familiar with Lebanese politics know that Hizbollah's actions against the Druze today was a major turning point in Lebanese politics. Nasrallah is on a roll. xxxx you, Walid Jambulatt - you deserve your father's fate.
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Re: War in The Middle East
Those who are familiar with Lebanese politics know that Hizbollah's actions against the Druze today was a major turning point in Lebanese politics. Nasrallah is on a roll. xxxx you, Walid Jambulatt - you deserve your father's fate.
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Hezbollah rocks eastern villages
Control of several villages loyal to Lebanon's pro-government Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has been handed to the army after an attack by Hezbollah. The group's fighters used heavy weapons and small arms to attack the mountain settlements south-east of Beirut. A truce was called after the Druze capitulated to avoid bloodshed, a BBC correspondent reports. It follows four days of fighting in which Hezbollah stormed west Beirut, raising fears of a return to civil war. The clashes have pitched the Syrian-backed Shia Islamist movement Hezbollah and its allies against the governing Western-backed Sunni, Christian and Druze alliance. Beirut was quiet on Sunday, after control of areas seized by Hezbollah was handed to the Lebanese army, but clashes took place overnight in Lebanon's second city, Tripoli. Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo have urged an immediate halt to the fighting in Lebanon and agreed to send a ministerial delegation to Beirut to try to mediate an end to the crisis. Lebanon's problems are part of a much bigger struggle, which is why they are so dangerous for the Middle East, says BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen, who is in the country.
Druze appeal
The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut reports that Sunday's battle began in earnest after some skirmishing and provocations, with a string of Druze villages caught in a barrage of fire. Please turn on JavaScript. Mr Jumblatt knew Hezbollah, by far the strongest power in the land, could easily storm his entire mountain enclave, so he asked a Druze rival allied to Hezbollah to broker a deal to hand the whole area over to the Lebanese army, he adds. "I tell my supporters that civil peace, coexistence and stopping war and destruction are more important than any other consideration," Mr Jumblatt told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation. A ceasefire was arranged, and it seems to be generally holding, our correspondent says. The army is also filling the vacuum in west Beirut since Hezbollah's withdrawal on Saturday. Violence erupted in Beirut after the government moved to shut down Hezbollah's telecoms network and remove the chief of security at Beirut airport for alleged sympathies with Hezbollah. The group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, called the move a "declaration of war". But the army, which correspondents say remains trusted by most of Lebanon's competing political factions, overturned both measures after Hezbollah gunmen seized control of swathes of the city. On Sunday many roads in the capital remained blocked, including the airport road, as the Shia group continued a campaign of civil disobedience. In Tripoli, Sunni supporters of the government have reportedly been fighting members of an Alawite sect loyal to Hezbollah with machine-guns and rocket-propelled grenades. At least one person was killed over the weekend and thousands are believed to have fled their homes.
Stalemate
For the past 16 months, Lebanon has been locked in political stalemate between the ruling coalition and Hezbollah-led opposition over the make-up of the government. The country has been without a president since late 2007, although there is general consensus that the head of the army, Gen Michel Suleiman, would make the best compromise candidate. The Arab League delegation agreed on in Cairo will be led by the Qatari Foreign Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem. Ministers also decided to give what they describe as logistical support to the Lebanese army to help it maintain security. The delegation's mediation mission will not be easy, the BBC's Heba Saleh reports. An existing Arab League initiative aimed at facilitating the election of a Lebanese president has been deadlocked for months and Syria, a key Hezbollah ally, stayed away from Sunday's meeting. The fighting in Lebanon is seen as a disaster by pro-Western Arab countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which are concerned about the influence of Hezbollah's other ally Iran, our correspondent adds. Lebanon was plunged into civil war from 1975-90, drawing in Syria and Israel, the two regional powers.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7394853.stm
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Robert Fisk: Hizbollah rules west Beirut in Iran's proxy war with US
Another American humiliation. The Shia gunmen who drove past my apartment in west Beirut yesterday afternoon were hooting their horns, making V-signs, leaning out of the windows of SUVs with their rifles in the air, proving to the Muslims of the capital that the elected government of Lebanon has lost. And it has. The national army still patrols the streets, but solely to prevent sectarian killings or massacres. Far from dismantling the pro-Iranian Hizbollah's secret telecommunications system – and disarming the Hizbollah itself – the cabinet of Fouad Siniora sits in the old Turkish serail in Beirut, denouncing violence with the same authority as the Iraqi government in Baghdad's green zone. The Lebanese army watches the Hizbollah road-blocks. And does nothing.
As a Tehran versus Washington conflict, Iran has won, at least for now. Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader and MP and a pro-American supporter of Mr Siniora's government, is isolated in his home in west Beirut, but has not been harmed. The same applies to Saad Hariri, one of the most prominent government MPs and the son of the murdered former prime minister Rafik Hariri. He remains in his west Beirut palace in Koreitem, guarded by police and soldiers but unable to move without Hizbollah's approval. The symbolism is everything. When Hamas became part of the Palestinian government, the West rejected it. So Hamas took over Gaza. When the Hizbollah became part of the Lebanese government, the Americans rejected it. Now Hizbollah has taken over west Beirut. The parallels are not exact, of course. Hamas won a convincing electoral victory. Hizbollah was a minority in the Lebanese government; its withdrawal from cabinet seats with other Shias was occasioned by Mr Siniora's American-defined policies and by their own electoral inability to change these. The Lebanese don't want an Islamic republic any more than the Palestinians. But when Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah chairman, told a press conference that this was a "new era" for Lebanon, he meant what he said.
Mr Hariri's Future Television offices were invested by the army after Hizbollah surrounded it on Thursday night, its staff evacuated and the station switched off. When I turned up there yesterday morning, I joined a queue for manouche – Lebanon's hot cheese breakfast sandwiches – at Eyman's bakery in Watwat Street. I patiently waited behind four black-hooded gunmen from Hizbollah's allied (but highly venal) Amal movement only to find uniformed Lebanese soldiers representing the government patiently queuing at the next window. Law and disorder, it seems, both have to eat. But I found far more powerful symbolism in Hamra Street, one of west Beirut's two main commercial thoroughfares. More than 100 Hizbollah men were standing or patrolling the highway, clad in new camouflage fatigues, wearing new black flak jackets and new black, peaked, American-style baseball caps and – more to the point – what appeared to be equally new American sniper rifles..
No, this is not a revolution. No, this is not a "hijacking" of west Beirut or the airport, which remains cut off by burning tyres on roads guarded by Hizbollah militiamen. But the government's supporters deserve some space. Several pointed out that the Israelis closed Beirut airport in 2006. So what right did Hizbollah have to do the same to the Lebanese now? And, according to Saad Hariri, Mr Nasrallah – when he called Mr Jumblatt "a thief and a killer" – was "authorising his murder and clearly stating that, 'I am the state and the state is me'." No wonder, then, that Mr Jumblatt fears for his life and that Mr Hariri claims the Hizbollah's coup de folie is a form of fitna, the Arabic for chaos. "I invite you, Sayed Nasrallah, to take back your fighters from the streets and to lift the siege of Beirut to protect the unity of Muslims," he said. "Israel will be rejoicing at the blockade of the country and the collapse of its economy."
Marwan Hamade, Mr Siniora's Telecommunications Minister – and victim of an attempted assassination in 2004 – admitted he had turned a blind eye to Hizbollah's underground phone system but could no longer when he realised that Hizbollah now maintains 99,000 numbered lines. Mr Nasrallah also insisted on the reinstallation of Brigadier General Wafiq Chucair as head of security at Beirut airport, since he was not a member of Hizbollah. General Chucair was suspended after Mr Jumblatt claimed he worked for Mr Nasrallah's outfit, a demand which prompted Mr Jumblatt to say he did not know General Chucair was so important to Mr Nasrallah that it was worth closing the international airport.
And so it goes on. There was an unusually good editorial in the French-language daily L'Orient Le Jour, which asked how the Hizbollah – literally "the party of God" in Arabic – could have war as its raison d'etre yet be a factor of stability and security in Lebanese domestic affairs. "And this party, can it really call itself the 'Party of God' without creating, in the long term, the distrust of all those other children who count themselves to be from the same unique and one God?" No, this is not a civil war. Nor is it a coup d'etat, though it meets some of the criteria. It is part of the war against America in the Middle East. The Hizbollah "must stop sowing trouble," the White House said rather meekly. Yes, like the Taliban. And al-Qa'ida. And the Iraqi insurgents. And Hamas. And who else?
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fi...us-825430.html
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Originally posted by Armenian View PostThat was an excellent speech by Nasrallah, as expected. Seems like the Hizbollah has another great victory on their hands.
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Re: War in The Middle East
Originally posted by Azad View PostSmart move by Iran. Shift the israeli/US focus away from Iran. It seams that Hezbullah has full control of Lebanon ... what could israel do next? how could this effect the elections in the US. I believe this is all calculated with the election timing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrfxn...-from-lebanon/
Breaking News: Lebanon army moves to end crisis
Lebanon's army has overturned two key government measures in an attempt to defuse tensions between the pro-western government and Shia group Hezbollah. The army said the Hezbollah-allied head of security at Beirut airport should remain in his post and the group's phone network be maintained. A row over these two issues sparked this weeks's violence in which at least 24 people have died. The army also called on all groups to withdraw gunmen from Beirut's streets. Earlier, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had called on the army to restore law and order, saying the country would not fall to Hezbollah after four days of street battles which saw the Shia movement push supporters of the government from western Beirut. "Your state will not fall under the control of the coup implementers," he said. In his first response to Hezbollah's de facto takeover of the west of the capital, Mr Siniora said his government would never declare war against the Shia group. At least two people were killed after gunfire broke out during a funeral in a Sunni area of Beirut, and clashes in northern Lebanon killed 10 more. The unrest has sparked memories of Lebanon's bitter, 15-year civil war.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7393982.stm
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Re: War in The Middle East
Smart move by Iran. Shift the israeli/US focus away from Iran.
It seams that Hezbullah has full control of Lebanon ... what could israel do next? how could this effect the elections in the US. I believe this is all calculated with the election timing.
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Re: War in The Middle East
Shiite-Sunni Clashes Intensify in Beirut
Fierce clashes escalated in Beirut on Thursday between Sunni supporters of the government and loyalists of Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group, after Hezbollah’s leader said the government had declared war by threatening to shut down the group’s private telephone network. The television station of the Sunni parliamentary majority leader's party went off the air on Friday, The Associated Press reported. Opposition forces also set the party's newspaper offices on fire. At least four people died and seven others were wounded, according to security officials. The comments by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, were the strongest since Lebanon’s political crisis began 17 months ago. The developments could signal a new level of confrontation between Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran and Syria, and the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, which is backed by the West and Saudi Arabia. The standoff has left the country without a president since November.
Mr. Nasrallah left open the door for negotiations by saying that Hezbollah would back down if the Sunni forces left the streets of Beirut and the government reversed its decision to try to shut down the telephone network. After Mr. Nasrallah’s speech, the leader of the largest bloc in Parliament, Saad Hariri, a Sunni, proposed a deal to end the fighting and called the government’s decision on the telephone network a misunderstanding. Mr. Hariri said the decision should be left up to the army command, effectively taking it out of the government’s hands. He also urged the immediate election of the army commander, Gen. Michel Suleiman, as president and the convening of a national dialogue among the rival factions. Later on Thursday night, Al Manar television, which is run by Hezbollah, said the group had rejected Mr. Hariri’s proposal. The station cited a pro-Hezbollah official, who said the group and its allies would reject any ideas for ending the conflict that were not proposed by Mr. Nasrallah.
Hezbollah has previously rejected proposals for electing a president before there is an agreement on a new cabinet and a new election law. “The government’s proposal did not offer anything new on how to solve the political crisis,” said Talal Atrissi, a political sociology professor at the Lebanese University. “So one of the scenarios would be to continue fighting until either the government publicly backs off or the opposition agrees to hold dialogue.” Mr. Hariri, the parliamentary leader, also urged Hezbollah to lift what he called its siege of Beirut, withdrawing militants from the streets and reopening roads, including those leading to the airport. “My appeal to you and to myself as well, the appeal of all Lebanon, is to stop the slide toward civil war, to stop the language of arms and lawlessness,” Mr. Hariri said in a televised speech.
Mr. Nasrallah, speaking at a news conference via a video link, said the telephone network, which connects Hezbollah’s officials, military commanders and emplacements, was a vital part of the group’s military infrastructure. “We have said before that we will cut the hands that will target the weapons of the resistance,” he said. “Today is the day to fulfill this promise.” The government’s decision, he added, “is first of all a declaration of war and the launching of war by the government against the resistance and its weapons for the benefit of America and Israel.” Minutes after Mr. Nasrallah’s speech, armed men in mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhoods on the west side of Beirut engaged in heavy fighting using automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The army raced in armored personal carriers from one neighborhood to another, with soldiers shooting in the air to try to stop the fighting.
By late Thursday masked gunmen were roaming the streets with walkie-talkies. Some were seen shooting out streetlights to keep rooftop snipers from directing their fire at targets. Many residents along Corniche Mazraa, a major highway that has become a demarcation line between the factions, were seen leaving their houses for safer areas. Others lined up in supermarkets, stocking up on food supplies. Several parts of the city were shut down, and roads were blocked by burning tires and garbage cans set on fire. Fighting also broke out in the Bekaa Valley, to the east, where government and Hezbollah supporters blocked roads and exchanged gunfire. The clashes started Wednesday after the government’s decision on Tuesday to take steps against Hezbollah’s telephone network, which government officials considered a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/wo...ebanon.html?hp
Lebanon in turmoil as Hezbollah takes west Beirut
Hezbollah fighters, their guns blazing, seized control of west Beirut on Friday after three days of street battles with pro-government foes pushed Lebanon dangerously close to all-out civil war. The sectarian fighting had eased by early afternoon and the army and police moved across areas now in the hands of Iranian-backed Shiite opposition forces who routed Sunni militants loyal to the Western-backed government. "There are no clashes anymore because no one is standing in the way of the opposition forces," a security official said as convoys of gunmen firing celebratory shots into the air and flashing the victory sign took to the streets. But as foreigners scrambled to leave the troubled nation, it was unclear what the immediate future would hold, amid fears the protracted political feud could plunge Lebanon back to the dark days of the 1975-1990 civil war.
"All those who believe in democracy and pluralism are under siege in Beirut," said Social Affairs Minister Nayla Moawad. Terrified residents cowered inside early Friday as the rattle of gunfire and the thump of exploding rocket-propelled grenades rang out across mainly Muslim west Beirut. Sunni government loyalists fought running battles with Shiite gunmen, routing them from their strongholds and forcing the closure of the media outlets run by the family of parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri. At least 11 people have been killed and dozens wounded in three days of fighting that dramatically escalated on Thursday after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said a government crackdown on his powerful militant group was a declaration of war.
Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, hailed Friday's events in the besieged capital as a "victory for Lebanon." The unrest triggered urgent international appeals for calm, while Arab nations led by regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia are pushing for a special session of foreign ministers to tackle the crisis. Lebanon's feud is is widely seen as an extension of the confrontation pitting the United States and its Arab allies and Israel against Syria and Iran, which back Hezbollah -- regarded as a terrorist group by the West.
In Beirut, most shops and businesses remained shuttered while tanks rolled through the streets and hundreds of riot police and troops patrolled the city but with orders not to intervene in the conflict. In scenes reminiscent of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah , Lebanon was largely cut off from the outside world, with the international airport and Beirut port shut and several key highways blockaded. But hundreds of people were able to flood to border crossings with Syria to escape the violence and foreign governments began putting in place plans to pull out their nationals. An airport official said all flights had been cancelled on Friday with the main road from Beirut barricaded by Hezbollah fighters. "As soon as they open the road, the flights will resume."
Hezbollah, the most powerful armed group in Lebanon and a growing political force, was the only Lebanese faction allowed to keep its weapons after the civil war to fight Israel forces occupying the south. "Hezbollah has used its weapons to carry out a coup. They said their weapons were for the resistance but they've made clear that they are for a coup," said former president Amin Gemayel, a member of the majority, speaking from Paris. Witnesses recounted the chaos and fear that reigned in Beirut overnight as people rushed to stores that remained open to stock up, while others were trapped in their homes. "It was a hellish night. The armed militants were everywhere shooting all over the place," said west Beirut resident Rima.
Although west Beirut was virtually under siege, in the predominantly Christian eastern sector of the city, life was going on as usual, with shops and other businesses open. Israeli President Shimon Peres claimed the violence was fomented by archfoe Iran to further what he said was Tehran's goal to control all of the Middle East. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad -- whose country is Iran's closest regional ally -- said the unrest was a purely "internal affair" but called for dialogue. Nasrallah delivered his defiant speech on Thursday after the government launched a probe into a private communications network run by Hezbollah, which critics say has become a "state within a state." "The decisions are tantamount to a declaration of war and the start of a war... on behalf of the United States and Israel," Nasrallah charged. "The hand that touches the weapons of the resistance will be cut off."
The United States delivered a blunt warning to Hezbollah to stop its "disruptive activities" while UN Security Council members said they were "deeply concerned" over the crisis, a view reflected by other Arab and European leaders. The crisis will be the focus of talks between President George W. Bush and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora in Egypt next week during the US leader's tour of the Middle East. Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, which backs the Siniora government, called for an urgent meeting of Arab foreign ministers, which an Egyptian official said could be held in two days. The long-running political standoff, which first erupted in November 2006 when six pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet, has left the country without a head of state since November, when Damascus protege Emile Lahoud stepped down.
Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...Q4PlxFDp1tdEJA
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US warship sails towards Lebanon
The United States has ordered a warship to take up position off the coast of Lebanon in a show of support for the country's embattled government. The deployment of the USS Cole is being seen as a warning to Syria which - along with Iran - backs the opposition. The Western-backed government and the opposition have repeatedly failed to agree a deal to end political impasse. A US official quoted by news agencies said the move was "a show of support for regional stability". "We are very concerned about the situation in Lebanon. It has dragged on very long," the unnamed senior US official told Reuters news agency. A US defence official quoted by Reuters said the USS Cole, a guided-missile destroyer, had left Malta on Tuesday and was heading toward Lebanon. He stressed that once in position, it would not be within visible range of Lebanon but "well over the horizon". The news agency said the official had indicated that the destroyer could be replaced by the USS Nassau, an amphibious assault ship, which is currently heading towards the Mediterranean. The USS Cole was attacked in the port of Aden, Yemen, in October 2000 by water-borne al-Qaeda suicide bombers. Seventeen US sailors were killed and the ship was badly damaged.
Postponed 15 times
Lebanon has not had a president since 24 November, when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud left office. Parliament has repeatedly failed to elect a successor amid an ongoing row over candidates. The election was postponed once again this week, and is now due to take place on 11 March. It was the 15th such delay. There are fears that the political deadlock could lead to escalating sectarian violence. Recent clashes between supporters of rival factions have further raised tensions and prompted several countries to advise their citizens against travelling to Lebanon. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal warned earlier this month that the country was "on the verge of civil war". The setting up of an international tribunal to try the assassins of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri is another source of tension. Syria is widely blamed for the February 2005 car bomb attack that killed Hariri, but Damascus has denied any involvement. Two months after the assassination, amid US-led international pressure, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year occupation.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7270102.stm
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Before bin Laden, One of World’s Most Feared Men
Long before Osama bin Laden founded Al Qaeda and initiated the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States, Imad Mugniyah was perhaps the world’s most feared terrorist. Implicated in the hijacking of planes and in other devastating attacks against Americans, Israelis and others in the 1980s and ’90s, Mr. Mugniyah left a long trail of blood, and the list of those who might seek justice or revenge against him was a lengthy one. Mr. Mugniyah, who was killed Tuesday in a car bombing in Damascus, Syria, was the leader of the Islamic Jihad Organization. He was at the violent center of the Shiite group Hezbollah, acting under the auspices of radical Iranian sponsors, according to Western authorities and terrorism experts.
He is thought to have moved frequently between Beirut, Lebanon, Damascus and Tehran. His expertise and his protection by the leaders of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Revolutionary Guards Corps in Iran made him hard to capture or to kill, according to intelligence experts. He was considered an agent of a wing of the Revolutionary Guards, which the United States says has sponsored terrorist attacks around the world since the Iranian revolution. He eluded capture, with other nations in the region showing little interest in joining the hunt for such a dangerous man. For example, American officials discovered in 1995 that Mr. Mugniyah was on a commercial flight that was supposed to stop in Saudi Arabia, but Saudi officials refused to allow the plane to land, frustrating the attempt to arrest him.
In recent years, American officials sometimes received information on his whereabouts in Beirut. But according to several former American officials, the United States did not act on such tips, apparently out of caution about conducting a dangerous operation to capture Mr. Mugniyah in Beirut. On Wednesday, Syrian and Iranian officials sought to blame Israel for the strike on Mr. Mugniyah, but Israel denied any involvement. A State Department spokesman said he did not know who was responsible for his death. The Bush administration reacted largely with restraint to the news of Mr. Mugniyah’s death, in contrast to the way it might be expected to respond if Mr. bin Laden were captured or killed. The Central Intelligence Agency long considered Mr. Mugniyah’s organization more dangerous than Al Qaeda, largely because his group was backed by Iran, even as Al Qaeda began to attack American targets in the late 1990s.
The United States considered Mr. Mugniyah so fearsome that a $25 million bounty was placed on his head. American intelligence officials believe that Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad Organization, working with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, had a list of American facilities around the world they were prepared to strike whenever they received orders from Tehran. But those attacks never materialized, and many American officials became perplexed in recent years over whether Iran had decided not to use terrorism as a weapon against the United States, at least outside the war zone in Iraq. As a result, it is unclear how big a threat Mr. Mugniyah posed, at least directly to the United States. Mr. Mugniyah emerged as a formidable terrorist leader out of the rubble of Lebanon’s prolonged civil war in the early 1980s. He studied engineering briefly at the American University of Beirut, but as a teenager joined Fatah, Yasir Arafat’s organization, and served in Force 17, Mr. Arafat’s personal security unit. After the Palestine Liberation Organization was forced out of Lebanon when Israel invaded in 1982, Mr. Mugniyah, then in his 20s, joined a series of radical Shiite-based groups in Lebanon.
He became an early leader in the formation of the Islamic Jihad Organization, the terrorist wing of Hezbollah, and was assigned to anti-American operations. Mr. Mugniyah, a Shiite allied with Iran, and Mr. bin Laden, a Sunni from Saudi Arabia, would not seem to have been natural allies, yet there is evidence of contacts between them. They held at least one meeting in the 1990s, possibly to discuss a terrorist relationship, according to statements made in federal court by a former close aide to Mr. bin Laden. Although Iran and Hezbollah are now thought by American intelligence experts to be active inside Iraq, the experts on Wednesday played down suggestions from the Bush administration that Mr. Mugniyah was recently involved in anti-American attacks there. He was so notorious and would have made such a prized catch that the Iranians would have been unlikely to risk his going into Iraq, said one former American intelligence official familiar with Mr. Mugniyah’s career.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/wo...4mugniyah.html
Hezbollah Leader Issues Threat to Israel
Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, told 10,000 mourners on Thursday at the funeral of a senior commander killed in Syria that Hezbollah was ready to retaliate “anywhere” against Israel, which it blames for the death. No one has claimed responsibility for killing the commander, Imad Mugniyah, one of the most wanted and elusive terrorists in the world, and Israel has distanced itself from any involvement. On Thursday, Israel ordered its military and embassies to heighten security. In one of his most belligerent speeches in several months, shown on a television screen in the hall where the mourners had gathered around the coffin of Mr. Mugniyah, Sheik Nasrallah said Israel had taken the war with Hezbollah outside of Lebanon, and Hezbollah was now prepared to pursue it outside as well. “Today Hezbollah and the Islamic Resistance are ready to confront any possible Israeli aggression on Lebanon,” he said. “You killed Imad outside the battleground. Our battle was inside the Lebanese territory. You crossed the borders. Zionists, if you wanted open war, let it be an open war anywhere.”
At the funeral, in southern Beirut, mourners packed the hall and waited outside in the rain. Inside, four Hezbollah guards in black stood beside the coffin, which was wrapped in their militant Shiite group’s yellow colors. Mr. Mugniyah was killed in Damascus on Tuesday night when a bomb detonated under the vehicle he was in. His remains were brought by car to Beirut on Wednesday, drawing people to the hall, where hundreds paraded past the coffin, many taking photographs with mobile phones. The funeral coincided with a separate rally attended by thousands in central Beirut to mark the third anniversary of the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The Western-backed March 14 coalition, led by Mr. Hariri’s son Saad, had called for huge demonstrations, which many Lebanese feared could lead to confrontations with Hezbollah. Lebanon has been in a political deadlock because of a longstanding dispute between the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition, supported by Iran and Syria. Many people at the rally for Mr. Hariri said they would not be intimidated by Hezbollah. “The crisis could be solved through politics,” said Kamil Haydar, 26, who was at the pro-Hariri rally in Martyrs’ Square. “But if it is not, we are going to do what we have to do even if it is going to war, and if this is what our leaders want us to do, then we are ready to go to war.”
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/wo...html?ref=world
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