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Two years after the Israeli-Hezbollah war which left much of south Lebanon's infrastructure in shambles, military analyst W. Thomas Smith, Jr. offers new insight into recent developments surrounding Hezbollah's quest for power in that country. Lending a trained eye to the strength and activities of Hezbollah, challenges faced by Lebanese Army and police forces, as well as sharing a portion of a personal conversation with President Michel Sleiman, Smith unveils the truth behind Hezbollah: He describes the extremist state within the legitimate state, and expounds on the regional dangers of the Shiia terrorist organization and its newly acquired political powers.

BEIRUT: Former President Amine Gemayel said in remarks published Thursday that Lebanon was being held hostage by Iran, adding that Hizbullah's authority stretched beyond that of the Lebanese state. "Lebanon is the captive of an Iranian strategy that is being implemented by Hizbullah," Gemayel told the Arabic daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat. Gemayel added that Hizbullah's arms were not aimed at liberating the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms. "These weapons are part of a broader regional strategy ... Hizbullah is part of Iran's strategy and nothing else ... the entire situation will change if Iran reconciles with the West." The Phalange Party leader said...

The political and military group's senior commander in southern Lebanon said in a rare interview that Hizbollah was far stronger now than when it fought the Israeli army in a conflict in 2006. Sheikh Nabil Kaouk, who leads Hizbollah's forces on Lebanon's border with Israel - the crucial battlefront of any future war, was speaking in the port city of Tyre. "The resistance is now stronger than before and this keeps the option of war awake. If we were weak, Israel would not hesitate to start another war," he said. "We are stronger than before and when Hizbollah is strong,...

srael’s Military Intelligence chief said Tuesday that the Lebanon-based terrorist army Hizballah has constructed a massive underground military infrastructure under the noses of U.N. observers, The Jerusalem Post reported. "The only thing that is different from the situation before the war is that Hizballah flags aren't being flown," said Brig.-Gen. Yossi Baidatz, head of Military Intelligence's Research Division. In the nearly two years since Hizballah's war with Israel, which was ended by a U.N. Security Council Resolution calling for the terrorist army's disarmament, Hizballah has doubled the size and scope of its rocket arsenal with weapons smuggled from Iran and...

DEBKAfile’s military sources report: Hizballah’s advance on two key Lebanese locations Saturday, May 10 had immediate effect on the strategic balance between the Iran-backed Shiite group and Israel. Sidon in the south, Lebanon’s second largest city, which provides Hizballah with control of a continuous coastal strip from its southern Beirut district all the way to Tyre. The second point is on the northern slopes of the Hermon range. After Hizballah seizes control of this enclave and the Syrian 10th and 14th armored divisions step over the border into Lebanon, the two forces can join to form a strong military line...

Two men on the "national terrorist watch list" have been turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) following a routine traffic stop, according to Patagonia Police Chief Ed Dobbertin. Dobbertin said that on Feb. 12, between 9-9:30 a.m., he was patrolling State Route 82 near milepost 28 when he pulled over a car for a traffic violation. "There were just indicators that something wasn't right with the vehicle," said Dobbertin. "We searched. My dog indicated that there was the presence of narcotic odor in the vehicle," he added. Dobbertin said he then called Border Patrol to assist. "They...

Barack Obama's real thinking about Israel and the Middle East continues to be an enigma. The words he chose in an address to AIPAC create a different impression than the composition of his foreign policy advisory team. Several advisors have evidenced a history of suspicion and worse toward Israel. One of his advisors in particular, Robert Malley, clearly warrants attention, as does the reasoning that led him to being chosen by Barack Obama. A little family history may be in order to understand the genesis of Robert Malley's views. Normally, one should be reluctant in exploring a person's family background...

Senator Barack Obama went on the record about the never-ending political meltdown in Lebanon, and for a moment there I thought he might have it just right. “The ongoing political crisis is resulting in the destabilization of Lebanon,” he said, “which is an important country in the Middle East. The US cannot watch while Lebanon’s fresh democracy is about to collapse.” So far so good. “We must keep supporting the democratically-elected government of PM Fouad Siniora, strengthening the Lebanese army and insisting on the disarmament of Hezbollah before it leads Lebanon into another unnecessary war.” This is all excellent, so...

Several ministers called for the assassination of Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, one day after the guerilla leader claimed to possess the body parts of IDF soldiers who fought during the Second Lebanon War. "We shouldn't be afraid of Nasrallah, we should eliminate him," Internal Affairs Minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) said. Before the meeting, newly appointed Minister of Religious Affairs Yitzhak Cohen said Nasrallah was a lunatic that must be eliminated. Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim (Kadima) referred to Nasrallah as a "sewer rat" and said that he should never see the light of...

Imad Mughniyeh was killed in Damascus. I'm wondering whether Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) or Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) still believe that their private consultations with Syrian President Bashar al-Asad were successful, especially given that the Syrian president had, apparently, continued to give one of the world's most notorious terrorists free passage and haven inside Syria. 02/13 11:16 AM

The German weekly Der Spiegel reported Saturday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to declare the two soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah, Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser, dead. Olmert was in Germany last week, and the Germans are the chief mediators between Israel and Hezbollah on this issue. The likelihood that they are dead increases with every day that goes by with no sign of life from them. Israeli security sources confirmed last night that the intelligence community is reassessing the kidnapped soldiers' situation and is likely to make "difficult decisions" on the matter in the coming weeks. But Israel is...

As a young reporter working in Beirut 25 years ago, when my daily routine consisted of dodging car bombs and the attentions of Shia kidnappers, one name guaranteed to spread terror throughout the beleaguered community of foreign nationals was that of Imad Mughniyeh. The 1980s were the heyday of the celebrity terrorist. There was Carlos the Jackal, the Venezuelan-born Marxist who led the team that took 42 Opec ministers hostage during a conference in Vienna in 1975; he was then living under the protection of Syria in Damascus. And there was Abu Nidal, the radical Palestinian terrorist, who thought nothing...

This is the website for "Hizbollah in Iraq": http://www.alasaeb.com/ = 67.228.114.198 Hezbollah in Iraq's website is hosted by SoftLayer Technologies in Dallas, Texas: abuse@softlayer.com The website features many videos of American and Iraqis being killed. Guess who hosts all of Hizbollah in Iraq's videos? YouTube. YouTube user "qasimhaider2007" has 21 videos. Most of them are embedded on Hizbillah in Iraq's website. User "habebalmurshid" has 24 videos, most of which are also embedded on the Hezbollah Iraq website. [...] Call me "old fashioned", but am I the only one in the room who has a problem with two American companies helping...

Iran builds a new road to aid Lebanese allies By Tim Butcher in Jezzine Last Updated: 2:53am GMT 07/12/2007 Under the cover of an aid project, Iran is consolidating Shia control over southern Lebanon by building a large mountain road that critics believe is a supply route for Hizbollah. The Iranian flag is displayed on the road building equipment While Iran claims the road is nothing but a reconstruction project after the 2006 war with Israel, some observers believe it is a key component of the militant group's rearmament programme. Iranian money is also creating two new Shia villages to...

WASHINGTON - A suspected Hezbollah mole who penetrated who penetrated the ranks of the FBI and CIA pleaded guilty Tuesday to falsely getting U.S. citizenship and snooping in FBI terrorism files. Former waitress Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, of Vienna, Va., admitted arranging a sham marriage with an American in Michigan to win U.S. citizenship. She parlayed that into sensitive jobs as an FBI special agent and a CIA operations officer, sources said. Sources told The News that Prouty is believed to be a double-agent planted in the agencies by Hezbollah or its supporters, though government officials downplayed her ties to...

A high-ranking official with the Detroit office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (“ICE”), formerly known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and four other metro-Detroit men were indicted by a federal Grand Jury with multiple counts of bribery, conspiracy and extortion, United States Attorney Stephen J. Murphy announced today. U.S. Attorney Murphy was joined in the announcement by Thomas M. Frost, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago, Illinois office of the Department of Homeland Security - Office of Inspector General, and Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit, Michigan, office of the Federal...

A former FBI agent who pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship and then improperly accessing sensitive computer information about Hizbollah was working until about a year ago as a CIA spy assigned to Middle East operations, Newsweek has learned. The stunning case of Nada Nadim Prouty, a 37-year-old Lebanese native who is related to a suspected Hizbollah money launderer, appears to raise a nightmarish question for U.S. intelligence agencies: Could one of the world's most notorious terrorist groups have infiltrated the U.S. government ...

Nasrallah terms Iran's stance on Palestine as progressive Beirut, Oct 6, 2007 IRNA Lebanese Hizbollah Chief Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah here on Friday evening termed Iran's stance on Palestinian issue and liberation of the holy Qods as courageous and progressive. Addressing a gathering held on the occasion of International Qods Day in southern Beirut, he said the late Founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, had attached special importance to the issue of Palestine from the very beginning. Changing the embassy of the Zionist regime in Tehran to the Palestinian embassy was one of Imam's first revolutionary measures following the victory...

Jewish and Christian Lebanese community leaders in the Canadian city of Windsor united in calling for the removal of a billboard depicting Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah that was erected over the weekend by one of the city's advertising companies. One of the men responsible for the sign told the Windsor Star newspaper that the billboard was removed on Monday because Shiite Lebanese community members had paid to have it up over the weekend, rejecting allegations that they were caving in to fierce public backlash. "What ever we believe, we'll speak about it anytime," Hussein Dabaja told the Windsor Star. "We...

Hizbollah is buying up large tracts of land owned by Christians and other non-Shias in southern Lebanon as the militant group rebuilds its defences in preparation for a new war with Israel, The Sunday Telegraph has been told. The land grab is thought to be driven by the Iranian-backed guerrillas' efforts to rearm themselves and fortify the strategically important ravines north of the Litani River, just north of the front line in last year's 34-day conflict with its Jewish neighbour. Here, Hizbollah has been free to press forward without harassment from the 13,000 United Nations peacekeepers and 20,000 Lebanese army...

The Party of God continues to receive weapons and ammunition, it is strengthening its positions and even moving into areas patrolled by the Lebanese army and blue berets. On the other side, some experts maintain, that the Jewish states army needs to reinforce its military superiority, undermined in last summers war.

In a significant diplomatic shift, French President Nicolas Sarkozy will invite Hizbullah to take part in a conference on Lebanon scheduled for later this month in Paris, and begin "engaging" Syria, The Jerusalem Post has learned. New French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has invited delegates from across Lebanon's political and religious divide to the conference aimed at quelling Lebanon's violence and political strife. In another sign that France has decided to step up its involvement in the Middle East, Sarkozy is to meet Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Paris on Tuesday.

Why Hezbollah LOST the War in Lebanon! On July 12, 2006 Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers that led to Israel's war with them and, by extension, Lebanon itself. Hezbollah has been on Israel's fence since the latter's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. Israel always requested from the international community and from the Lebanese government to deploy its Lebanese Army there instead of Hezbollah's terror troops. Hezbollah, quite naturally, refused! Hezbollah vowed to NEVER allow any other force other than itself to occupy southern Lebanon. Even during the conflict, Hezbollah said it would never agree to allow either the Lebanese army...

All of Hizbullah's policies and activities are coordinated with the leadership of Iran, including the firing of rockets into Israeli population centers for which direct Iranian approval is required, said a senior Hizbullah official in a rare admission. "Even when it comes to firing rockets on Israeli civilians, when they (Israel) bombed the civilians on our side, even that decision requires an in-principle permission from (the ruling jurisprudent)," said Sheikh Naim Kassem, the deputy chief of Hizbullah, in an Arabic language interview translated Sunday by the Information and Terrorism Center at Israel's Center for Special Studies. Organization's deputy leader stresses...

US 'in covert war against Hizbullah' Clancy Chassay in Beirut Tuesday April 10, 2007 Guardian Unlimited (UK) The Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. His deputy accuses the US of waging a covert war against their organisation. Photograph: Getty Images Washington is waging a covert war against Hizbullah, according to the militant group, which accuses the US administration of arming anti-Hizbullah militias and seeking to undermine the Lebanese army in moves that could plunge the country back into civil war. "[The US vice president] Dick Cheney has given orders for a covert war against Hizbullah... there is now an American programme...

The current debate in Israel, over military strategy used against Hizbollah last year, brought out an old, and ongoing, debate between armies and air forces. For thousands of years, it was the army that called the shots when it came to military strategy. Even nations with large navies, let the generals have the final say. There have been a few exceptions, mainly powerful island nations like Great Britain. But for the vast majority of nations, it was generals, not admirals, who had the last say. When air forces appeared 90 years ago, they were seen as a support service for...

Husham Al-Husainy With heads bowed reverently, Democrats were led in prayer yesterday by a Muslim imam who essentially asked Allah to assist in converting the party members to Islam, according to a scholar and author. Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch and author of "The Truth about Muhammad," took note of the invocation given at the Democratic National Committee winter meeting by Husham Al-Husainy, imam of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center, a shiite mosque in Dearborn, Mich. According to a transcript of the prayer, which can be seen on a video clip provided by HotAir.com, the imam said: In...

New Fears: The Return of a Superterrorist Feb. 5, 2007 issue - Before Osama bin Laden, there was Imad Mughniyeh. The Lebanese terrorist from Hizbullah was considered the most dangerous in the world. Now the White House worries that he's back, after years of lying low. Four serving U.S. intel and counterterrorism officials, anonymous when discussing sensitive material, said Mughniyeh is prominent in recent reporting from the field about Hizbullah activity. Bruce Riedel, a veteran Mideast expert recently retired from the CIA, told NEWSWEEK there is "no question he is heavily involved in [formulating] terrorist contingency plans in case of...

Hezbollah America Latina: Strange Group or Real Threat? Dr. Ely KarmonDownload as pdfNovember14, 2006 The October 23, 2006 failed explosive operation in CaracasOn October 23, 2006, the Baruta Municipality police found two explosive devices near the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. One of the bombs was found in a box containing leaflets making reference to the Lebanese radical Islamic group Hezbollah. The local television news network, Globovision, reported one of the devices found in a flowerpot near the Embassy, while the other device found outside a school, near the diplomatic premises.Wilfredo Porras, acting director of the Baruta police, said they arrested...

CIA gets the go-ahead to take on Hizbollah By Toby Harnden, US Editor Last Updated: 1:47am GMT 10/01/2007 The Central Intelligence Agency has been authorised to take covert action against Hizbollah as part of a secret plan by President George W. Bush to help the Lebanese government prevent the spread of Iranian influence. Senators and congressmen have been briefed on the classified "non-lethal presidential finding" that allows the CIA to provide financial and logistical support to the prime minister, Fouad Siniora. The finding was signed by Mr Bush before Christmas after discussions between his aides and Saudi Arabian officials. Details...

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a speech aired Sunday urged his supporters and anti-Syrian allies to be "psychologically" ready for street protests to demand for a national unity government. But Nasrallah, who did not set a date for the demonstrations, warned that the protests should be peaceful and avoid riots. "We have to be psychologically prepared to take to the streets because we may send for you 24 hours ahead or 12 hours or even 6 hours (in advance)," Nasrallah threatened. "There has to be a patriotic opposition in the street … our action is peaceful and civilized,"...

LONDON (AFP) - Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens before he became a Muslim in the 1970s, has released his first commercial album for nearly three decades -- but reviewers seemed unimpressed. "An Other Cup" went on sale in along with a single, "Heaven/Where True Love Goes", while the album was to be released in the United States on Tuesday. With his telegenic, part-Greek good looks, Stevens scored international hits in the 1960 and 1970s with songs like "Wild World", "Moonshadow" and "My Lady d'Arbanville". But in 1977 he decided to hang up his guitar -- changing...

Lebanon in crisis as Hizbollah demands more power By Michael Hirst in Beirut Last Updated: 1:15am GMT 13/11/2006 Lebanon's government was plunged into crisis last night after five cabinet members resigned in what appeared to be an attempt by Hizbollah, the Shia militant group, to cause its collapse. Fouad Siniora, the prime minister, attempted to hold his government together by refusing to accept the resignations. Lebanon's prime minister Fouad Siniora But Hizbollah piled on pressure by announcing street demonstrations this week to force the government to accede to the group's demands for greater cabinet representation. Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hizbollah's deputy...

Hizbollah has stepped up the rebuilding of its military infrastructure in southern Lebanon despite the deployment in recent weeks of thousands of Lebanese troops and international peacekeepers to limit the Islamic militant group's activities.Standing firm against international pressure to disarm, the Shia group is rearming and rebuilding tunnels and trenches destroyed by the Israeli army during this summer's 34-day war. Locals in Bint Jbeil, a town which saw fierce fighting, told yesterday how Hizbollah was using the major reconstruction efforts to rebuild their security infrastructure. "They are working extremely fast," said one, who did not want to be named. "Militants...

TEL AVIV — Israeli military sources said Hizbullah operatives have been allowed by the Lebanese Army to return to the Israeli border. The sources said operatives have established safe houses and organized unrest against the Israeli military. "The situation could rapidly return to that of before July 12," a military source, referring to the start of the Israeli-Hizbullah war, said. [On Tuesday, at least three Israelis were injured in Palestinian missile fire from the Gaza Strip. Two missiles landed in and around the Israeli city of Sderot and several people were injured by shrapnel or shock. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility...

By stigmatising organisations such as Hizbullah, Hamas, there is no longer necessity to respect their constituencies, democratic mandates Lee Marsden Published: 09.21.06, 16:59 Today, the United States’ campaign to reshape the Middle East is an unmitigated disaster. The ambitious project to create a democratic region has resulted in the deaths of over seventy thousand people, mainly civilians, in the Middle East and beyond. Recent democratic elections in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories and Israel have resulted in more rather than less violence. For Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this may be the acceptable “birth pangs of democracy” but for...

A panel set up by the Israeli government to look into incompetence in the recent war with Hezbollah may and should draw on American testimony to determine the truth. It is now official: On Sunday, September 17, 2006, the Israel Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon announced that the government of Israel convened an official judicial panel to examine the Israeli government's “ill preparedness” in the wake of the war in Lebanon during Summer 2006. This falls short of an official government commission of investigation that some Israeli reserve officers and families of fallen soldiers have demanded. However, the Israel Cabinet Secretary...

LONDON (Reuters) - Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah committed war crimes in its conflict with Israel by targeting civilians with rockets packed with metal ball bearings, rights group Amnesty International said on Thursday. It said around a quarter of the nearly 4,000 rockets that Hizbollah launched into Israel during the 34-day war were fired directly into urban areas. "The scale of Hizbollah's attacks on Israeli cities, towns and villages, the indiscriminate nature of the weapons used and statements from the leadership confirming their intent to target civilians make it all too clear that Hizbollah violated the laws of war," Amnesty's Secretary-General...

DUBAI (Reuters) - Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in remarks aired on Tuesday his group would only release the two Israeli soldiers it kidnapped if Israel freed Samir al-Qantar, the Lebanese prisoner held for the longest time by the Jewish state. "After all that happened and this ends without Samir?" Nasrallah told Al Jazeera television in an interview. Nasrallah stopped short of saying the group would not set the release of other prisoners as part of its conditions. "There are other prisoners," the interviewer said. "You ask me, will there be a deal without Samir, I say no ......

From Jihad Watch: Robert Spencer has a guest piece today at Michelle Malkin's video blog, Hot Air. He points out that "because of the religious derivation of the ideology that confronts us, analysts are generally reluctant to identify it properly or fully. They think that to speak of its roots would be bigotry or racism. But the jihadists themselves are doing their best to make sure we don’t forget the religious roots of their actions."

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States used Israel's attack on the Hizbollah militia in Lebanon as a prelude to "settling accounts" with Iran, Interfax news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying on Wednesday. Vladimir Trofimov, deputy head of the foreign ministry's Middle East department, was quoted making the comments the day before Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov begins a visit to the Middle East that will include Israel. "If we look at Israeli and U.S. plans, they aim at removing the Hizbollah factor ahead of the forthcoming U.S. settling of accounts with Iran," Interfax quoted Trofimov as saying....

Technically, the Lebanon war against Hizbullah is over. In fact, however, Israel remains starkly vulnerable to further rocket attacks, and even more ominously to a still-nuclearizing Iran. Making matters worse, Prime Minister Olmert has yet to openly change course from his indisputably catastrophic plan for realignment and convergence. Why has there been absolutely no learning from lessons of the past? The answer is plain. Israel now marches headlong toward disappearance because its current leaders still fail to understand several essential and interrelated truths. One is that the Jewish State has a distinct and fixed obligation to hold on to its...

A French United Nations vehicle drives past a poster of Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Tyre, in southern Lebanon, August 26, 2006. French troops have begun arriving in Lebanon to join an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force tasked with maintaining a truce between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (LEBANON)

Head of the Hizbullah faction in the Lebanese parliament, Muhammad Raad, denied a report in the Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram that negotiations on the release of the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers are expected to be completed within three weeks. "We have no information on the issue, other than what we are hearing from the Israelis," he stated. (Roee Nahmias)

MP George Galloway has congratulated Hizbollah on its "victory" in Israel. At a news conference in a Beirut hotel, the controversial politician said: "I came here to extend my congratulations to the Lebanese people on a great and historic victory against this aggression. "I want to congratulate the Lebanese resistance and their leading edge, Hizbollah, whose martyrs and her s have achieved this great victory. "And in particular to their leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whose name now rings in joy around the world." Galloway is in Beirut to present a phone-in radio show for a British radio station. He also...

Italy Weighs the Risks of Leading UN Mission Tony Barber in Rome Updated: 10:41 p.m. ET Aug. 24, 2006 With 8,600 soldiers deployed in 28 security and peacekeeping operations around the world, Italy will have a wealth of experience to call upon, should it be asked to lead a United Nations mission in Lebanon.But the closer that Italy's centre-left government gets to committing itself in Lebanon, the more opposition politicians – and some army generals, too – are warning that it may be a step fraught with dangerous consequences. The concerns centre on whether Italian troops will find themselves caught...

Proposed rules of engagement for an expanded U.N. force in southern Lebanon would allow troops to open fire in self-defense, protect civilians and back up the Lebanese army in preventing foreign forces or arms from crossing the border, according to a U.N. document obtained Tuesday. The 20-page draft was circulated to potential troop-contributing countries last week by the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations, which is trying to get an additional 3,500 troops on the ground by the end of next week to strengthen the 2,000 overstretched U.N. peacekeepers already there. The rules of engagement for the expanded force —...

Sharbel Mansour, a Christian in a Christian district of Beirut, sees a convoy of cars pass by, yellow Hizbollah flags waving in celebration of the Shi'ite Muslim guerrilla group's declaration of victory over Israel. He says he feels enraged and worried. Enraged because in Lebanon, a country still scarred by the sectarian civil war of 1975 to 1990, crossing another community's neighborhood for a political statement is a provocation. And worried alongside many Christians, Sunni Muslims and Druze Lebanese who think Hizbollah gained strength in withstanding 34 days of Israeli attacks. "They will not give up their weapons. They...

Hizbollah mourners on a funeral parade shoved aside anti-tank barriers at a United Nations base in Lebanon yesterday in a demonstration of their new political strength. The party had been told it would be allowed to bury three "martyrs" at the Naqoura town cemetery inside the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) compound, but only if there was no flag-waving or political sloganising. When the chanting procession, several hundred strong, reached the gates, it found the way barred by cruci-form steel tank traps. Mourners argued with the French guards, but failed to gain entry. A mob of young men then...

The widespread destruction of a defenseless Lebanon-its civilians, its life-sustaining public services, its environment - is a grim and indelible testament to your consummate cruelty and ignorance. Nearly two weeks ago when your tardy Secretary of State met with the Israeli Prime Minister, the message she carried was summarized in a large headline across page one of an Israeli newspaper, "TAKE YOUR TIME." Yes, take your time, says George W. Bush, pulverizing fleeing refugees in cars full of families, bombing apartment buildings, hospitals and the poor huddled in large South Beirut slums. Take your time, says George W. Bush, in...