Free Republic

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri will announce a new national unity government to include Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah in the next few days, politicians said on Saturday. Lebanon has been without a functioning government since Hariri led his coalition, backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia, to victory in a June parliamentary election against Hezbollah and its allies. Politicians from both sides said Hariri had now clinched a deal with the opposition on the new government's make-up. A government acceptable to all main parties is seen as key to maintaining stability in a country facing sectarian...

Mideast: Iran tests an advanced warhead design as it gets caught shipping weapons to Hezbollah. Syria is reported to give the group operational control over Scud missiles. It's five minutes to midnight. Tyranny abhors a vacuum. While the U.S. and the West dither in Hamlet-like fashion over whatever we shall do in places such as Afghanistan and Iran, the Axis of Evil is in full swing in its plans to destroy Israel and threaten Europe and America. Israel last week seized what it said was the largest arms cache ever intercepted in the region. Israeli navy commandos boarded the Francop,...

The Queen forced to wear a burkha and Buckingham Palace turned into a mosque - that was the vision of Britain under Sharia law proposed by a Muslim firebrand today. Preacher of hate Anjem Choudary even showed mocked-up photographs of the palace sporting a golden dome and Nelson's Column as a minaret. He was speaking ahead of a demonstration calling for Sharia law planned for Central London tomorrow, which it is feared could descend into violence. Police are working to avoid a clash between moderate Muslim groups and far-right mobs who have organised rival demonstrations.

Note: The following text is a quote: Queens Man and Accomplice Charged with Attempting to Provide Material Support to Hizballah Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Joseph M. Demarest, Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the FBI, announced the filing of an indictment yesterday charging Patrick Nayyar and Conrad Stanisclaus Mulholland with attempting to provide material support to Hizballah, a designated foreign terrorist organization. The indictment also charges Nayyar with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. On Sept. 24, 2009, Nayyar, a 46-year-old citizen of India who had...

At 6:20 on the morning of Oct. 23, 1983, a massive truck bomb plowed through the gates of the barracks of a U.S. Marines Corps peacekeeping force stationed in Beirut, Lebanon. The detonation, the most powerful non-nuclear explosion on record, would kill 241 of the 271 servicemen inside — the largest single-day death toll for the Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. At the time, Mark Wolcott of Tioga County was a lance corporal in the Marine Corps, assigned as a repairman for amphibious troop carriers, or “Amtraks.” On the night of Oct. 22,...

The community remembers the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit of 1983 as brave troops who suffered great losses in Beirut in one of the most devastating non-nuclear bombings of all time. Retired Marine Col. Timothy Geraghty remembers them as “my men.” Geraghty will be in Jacksonville today to commemorate the anniversary of the bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed nearly 300 peacekeeping troops, 241 of whom were Marines and sailors under his command. Twenty-six years after the event, he has told the story of Beirut in his own words.

I have been a resident of the Hamra district for two years now, where there is anything but routine. As a Chicagoan as well, I compare Hamra to Wicker Park, Chicago. Concentrated with hipsters, artists, intellectuals, old money, and yuppies, it is a neighborhood consistently updating its face with new chains and cozy pubs and demolition of old relic buildings and businesses. It comprises one of the most mixed populations in Lebanon and caters to that with anything from a brothel to a Dunkin Donuts coffee. I entered Hamra as a stranger, meeting individuals at this party or that pub....

Arab media in the Persian Gulf have been reporting that Syria, apparently on the orders of Iran, has turned over about 300 long range ballistic missiles to Hezbollah control. The missiles have apparently not left Syria (they would be hard to miss, being driven around southern Lebanon). The reports add that Hezbollah personnel are being trained to operate the missiles. Syria has underground storage and launch facilities for its arsenal of over a thousand SCUD missiles. Armed with half ton high explosive and cluster bomb warheads, the missiles have ranges of 500-700 kilometers. Syria also has some 90 older Russian...

Iran's proxy army in Lebanon will think twice before launching another round of missile attacks. On Monday, a secret Hezbollah munitions bunker in South Lebanon blew up under mysterious circumstances, injuring a senior official in the organization. This is the second such incident in recent months. The first occurred on July 14, when an explosion destroyed a major Hezbollah munitions dump in the South Lebanese village of Hirbet Salim. Hezbollah immediately pointed fingers at the Mossad. Whether or not Israel was to blame, the explosion caused Hezbollah considerable discomfort by proving that it was in flagrant violation of U.N. Security...

(IsraelNN.com) The IDF Intelligence video released this week showing Hizbullah terrorists stockpiling long-range missiles is the proof that Israel needs to “take off its gloves” in the next round of warfare. So says long-time military analyst Yisrael Katzover, speaking with Arutz-7’s Hebrew newsmagazine. The video footage, released on Tuesday of this week, shows the terrorists taking missiles and other weaponry out of a southern Lebanon warehouse, where an explosion had occurred the day before, and loading them onto trucks. United Nations ceasefire resolution 1701 that ended the Second Lebanon War of 2006 clearly bans such activity...

by Hana Levi Julian and INN TV Follow Israel news on and . (IsraelNN.com) The IDF on Tuesday released video footage of Hizbullah terrorists smuggling missiles and other weaponry out of a warehouse where an explosion occurred Monday in the southern Lebanese town of Tayir Filsay. Lebanese Army soldiers and troops from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) traveled to the scene, but terrorists had emptied the warehouse by the time they arrived - a secret activity caught on camera by IDF military intelligence.

Tire, Lebanon (Reuters) – A protest by Muslim clerics torpedoed a Brazilian samba show in the Lebanese city of Tire on Thursday, local officials said. A statement by the clerics condemned plans for the open-air display by a dance troupe that has been touring Lebanon. "We support tourism but are against obscenity," said Sheikh Ali Yassin, who heads a group of clerics in the predominantly Shi'ite Muslim city. The local council responded by cancelling the show after consulting politicians and security officials, officials said.

This is graffiti on wall in University of Tehran social science dept: It says: No gaza, No lebanon, I sacrifice myself for Iran

Russia and Islam are not Separate: Why Russia backs Al-Qaeda By Konstantin Preobrazhensky Konstantin Preobrazhensky, a former Lt. Colonel in the KGB who defected to the United States in 1993, is an intelligence expert and specialist on Japan, about which he has written six books. His newest book Russian-American, A New KGB Asset will be published in late 2007. This article was first published by Gerard Group International, Intel Analyses, 31 August 2007.Americans generally believe that Russia is afraid of Islamic terrorism as much as the U.S.A. They are reminded of the war in Chechnya, the hostage crisis at the...

Those who know wealthy Lebanese Shi'ite financier Salah Ezz el-Din say he is a deeply pious, humble man whose close links to Hezbollah made his credentials impeccable as he allegedly embezzled their savings. Many Shi'ite Lebanese investors find it hard to believe the philanthropist could have defrauded them to the tune of at least $500 million -- small change compared with the $65 billion in the U.S. fraudster Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, but made more painful by the connection with Hezbollah, which its followers regard as incorruptible."Whoever says he's a thief, that is an incorrect assessment," said Fouad Ajami, a...

TEL AVIV -- Israel's military surveillance has detected Hizbullah movements that point to an expanded presence along Lebanon's border with the Jewish state. Military sources said reconnaissance units have been detecting Hizbullah positions in Lebanese villages near the Israeli border. The sources said the operatives, dressed in civilian clothes, have been renting houses or stores for the storage of equipment and housing of fighters. "Hizbullah has intensified its deployment along the Israeli border," a military source said. "What was secret a year ago is a lot less secret today." The Hizbullah effort was deemed a violation of the United Nations...

The hidden Hizbullah arms cache in southern Lebanon that exploded in July contained chemical weapons, and three Hizbullah terrorists died as a result of the toxins, in addition to eight other terrorists killed by the blast, the Kuwaiti newspaper Alseyassah Kuwait said on Thursday.

Nouri Kamal Al-Maliki, who became prime minister of Iraq in May 2006, was a compromise candidate. He was seen at the time as the weakest of the available candidates - a virtually unknown representative of the Islamic Al-Da'wa Party, at the time a junior partner in the predominantly Shi'ite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA). The occupying power, the United States, favored him because of his reputation as "independent of Iran," as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalman Khalilzad put it.(1)  To the surprise - and perhaps consternation - of both his critics and his allies, Al-Maliki not only won the elections, but...

The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) has accepted an offer by Iran to provide it with weapons produced by the Iranian defense industries, a newspaper in Lebanon reported on Wednesday. According to Al-Akhbar, the proposal was sent from the Iranian Embassy in Beirut. In their response, LAF officers said the army was in need of anti-aircraft weaponry. Israeli officials have expressed concern that the existence of such weapons in Lebanon, whether in the hands of Hizbullah or the army, would constitute a change in the strategic balance between Israel and Lebanon.

According to Lebanese media sources, Lebanese businessman and Hizbullah publishing executive Hajj Salah Ezzedine has declared bankruptcy. Ezzedine, from the town of Maaroub near the southern port city of Tyre, is the director of the Hizbullah-owned Dar Al-Hadi Publishing House, named in honor of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s son Hadi, who was killed by Israeli soldiers in a gun battle in 1997. Dar Al-Hadi has played a critical role in Hizbullah’s media campaign. In this capacity it has functioned as the organization’s primary publishing source printing anti-Israeli and “resistance books” that include publications by Hizbullah’s second in command Sheikh Naim...

Rochester, N.Y.) - Prosecutors say 44 tapes, secretly recorded by a government informant, prove three Rochester convenience store owners were willing to support terrorists. On April 7, 2005 a man entered the Durnan Mini Mart on Hudson Avenue looking to send $10,000 to $12,000 to Lebanon without creating any record of the transaction.

Israeli President Shimon Peres claims that Lebanon's Hezbollah now has an arsenal of 80,000 rockets to bombard Israel -- double the previous estimate by Israeli intelligence and almost four times the number the Iranian-backed militants possessed during their 2006 war with the Jewish state. Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh has dismissed as "lies" the claim made by Peres in an interview with the Kuwait daily Al-Rai published Sunday. "I don't know how he counted these rockets." But the Israeli leader's claim has fuelled regional fears that a new conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is brewing. There has been no independent...

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Reports that Israel has ordered 100 "bunker buster" bombs from the United States has caused tremors of concern in Lebanon that the weapons are for use against Hezbollah in the event of war between Iran and the Jewish state. The Jerusalem Post reported Aug. 3 that the Israeli Defense Ministry ordered the laser-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition kits earlier this summer. The kits are fitted onto conventional bombs to transform them into precision-guided weapons that are highly accurate and capable of destroying bunkers built deep underground. Since Hezbollah's 2006 war with Israel, the Iranian-backed...

A large Lebanese army force which raided the Lebanese Internet network center on Mt. Barukh east of the Lebanese town of Jezzine Saturday, Aug. 8 was dismayed to discover the exchange center which carries all of Lebanon's Internet links using equipment made in Israel. An intelligence sweep found the servers were routed to an exchange center in Haifa. The soldiers impounded piles of equipment and rounded up several detainees at the mountain center and several Lebanese Internet companies. Upon learning of the discovery, Hizballah demanded an immediate and thorough investigation of how all of Israeli intelligence acquired free access to...

On Al-Jazeera TV: Lebanese Islamists Favor 'Offensive Jihad' to Conquer the World, Impose Islam Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by members of the Islamist group Hizb Al-Tahrir in Lebanon. The address aired on Al-Jazeera TV on July 21, 2009. To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2190.htm. "The Jihad of a Nation Over 1.5 Billion Strong Has Been Reduced to the Killing of an American in Iraq, a Briton in Afghanistan, a Jew in Palestine, or a Russian in Chechnya" Salah Al-Din 'Adhadhda, member of the press bureau of Hizb Al-Tahrir in Lebanon: "We have come...

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) fired back Tuesday at a raucous town hall audience that booed and jeered him for more than an hour. Specter immediately tried to temper the rough crowd, which started booing him before the question-and-answer session even began, with the blunt warning: “If you want to stay in here, we’re not going to tolerate any demonstrations or booing. So, it’s up to you." But minutes later during the senator’s response to a question on whether Americans would be able to maintain their private insurance under the Democratic health care proposal, a protester who was not selected to...

<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Monday that his country would hold the Lebanese government responsible for any attacks on Israeli targets by the country's Hezbollah militia.</p> <p>It was the latest shot in a war of words that has been escalating since a July 14 explosion at a suspected Hezbollah arms depot near the Israeli border.</p>

BEIRUT: “The stereotype that AIDS is a ‘gay disease’ is a stereotype of the West,” says Georges Azzi, president of HELEM, a Beirut-based rights organization. “I didn’t have this idea that AIDS was a gay disease until I went to France,” Azzi said. He argued that because Lebanese society has been historically closed to discussing sex-related topics, there was insufficient public discussion to even arrive at the misconception that most people diagnosed with HIV are gay. However, with increasing HIV and AIDS awareness, the stereotype is now on the rise. Azzi said that he has noticed in recent months that...

BOOK REVIEW The Mother of Mohammed by Sally Neighbour Reviewed by David Wilson What drives a blonde Australian beach bunny to go on jihad? That extraordinary question serves as the premise for one of the most absorbing non-fiction titles to surface this year. The Mother of Mohammed (MUP) by Australian journalist Sally Neighbour, 48, digs into the background of the beach bunny in question, Rabiah - born Robyn - Hutchinson, with flair, wit and candor. This book pulls no punches. "She was a scrawny, pale-skinned runt, with a shock of frizzy white-blonde hair and an eye-patch she wore from the...

The current stability in the North is "in danger," Deputy OC Northern Command Brig.-Gen. Alon Friedman was quoted by the Times as saying Tuesday, adding that the peace could "explode at any minute." Meanwhile, surveillance footage obtained by the British newspaper shows Hizbullah fighters trying to salvage rockets and other munitions from the suspected arms cache that exploded last month in southern Lebanon.

Three years after Israel fought a bloody war in Lebanon against Hezbollah, there are fears that hostilities could erupt again - this time with the militant group better armed than ever. According to Israeli, United Nations and Hezbollah officials, the Shia Muslim militia is stronger than it was in 2006 when it took on the Israeli army in a war that killed 1,191 Lebanese and 43 Israeli civilians. Hezbollah has up to 40,000 rockets and is training its forces to use ground-to-ground missiles that could challenge Israel's dominance of the skies over Lebanon. Brigadier-General Alon Friedman, the deputy head of...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri has taken a holiday to "think and reflect" after a once close ally quit his anti-Syria coalition in a move expected to delay the formation of a new government. Druze leader Walid Jumblatt's departure from Hariri's "March 14" alliance this week has redrawn Lebanon's political map and undermined the coalition's June parliamentary election victory over rivals including the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Hariri, a Saudi- and U.S.-backed billionaire businessman, had been expected to conclude talks this week on the formation of a coalition government grouping his alliance with parties allied to Syria,...

Hundreds of police swooped on suspected terrorists in Melbourne early today amid fears suicide attacks were about to be launched on army bases in Australia. Police from around the country were quietly moved to Melbourne before launching their raids on homes in at least seven suburbs. Several men of Somali and Lebanese backgrounds were arrested and were expected to appear in court later on terrorism-related charges. Plot uncovered: A hooded terror suspect is driven to Melbourne police headquarters this morning Police sources said it would be claimed the men were planning to attack a barracks in western Sydney and other...

Italian newspaper says plane crash north of Tehran which left 168 people dead was caused by explosion of fuses slated to be delivered to Lebanese organization. According to report, members of Revolutionary Guards among casualties 08.02.09 / Israel News An Iranian plane crash two weeks ago – which left 168 people dead – was caused by the explosion of sophisticated fuses slated to be delivered to Hezbollah, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Saturday, quoting sources in the Middle East. According to the report, the pilot of the Tupolev plane, which was making its way from Tehran to Armenia, sent...

Hizbullah has enjoyed an enviable run of political and military "achievements" including its "divine victory" over Israel in 2006, the "glorious day" in May 2008 when it occupied Beirut, and securing diplomatic recognition by Britain in April 2009. More recently the Lebanese Shiite militia has been dealt a series of setbacks including defeat in the Lebanese elections, the arrest of an Egypt-based Hizbullah cell, reports of the group's involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, the apprehension of a Hizbullah cell plotting to bomb the Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan, and the post-election protests in Iran that...

I found out about this place because of a news item about the "New 7 Wonders" of the world. It's a nominee. Now, I don't expect that I'll have any travel plans that take me to Beirut, but if for some strange reason I ended up there, I would have to see this place. I think one of the amazing things about the Internet is that it allows us to see places that we'll probably never have a chance to visit. I've posted a lot of those as these Geology Pictures of the Week. I hope I'll get to see...

Lebanese defense officials believe there is a secret pact between Hizbullah and top officers in the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the Kuwaiti paper Asiyassa reported on Monday. According to the account, a LAF battalion will operate within the Hizbullah framework and have independence and access to the group's arsenal. The paper said Israel gave the United States and European governments which have UNIFIL contingencies (France, Germany, Spain and Italy) information which proves Hizbullah was training dozens of LAF soldiers to prepare them to fight alongside Hizbullah guerrillas in case the IDF attacks Lebanon. Israel conveyed the information on July 1,...

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry has sent a letter to the United Nations accusing Israel for the explosion in a weapons cache in a southern Lebanon village earlier this month, a Lebanese newspaper reported on Monday. The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat also said that contrary to previous reports, the blast apparently claimed the lives of several people and injured several others. Lebanon now claims that the explosion took place at an uncompleted structure in the village that stored "arms left behind by the Israelis" during the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in 2006. The United Nations, which...

BEIRUT: Terrorist group Al-Qaeda adopted a new organizational approach by granting its cells in Lebanon and the region “full independence” in decision-making and setting targets, according to a report published by As-Safir newspaper on Thursday. The new approach has also given the Al-Qaeda cells sufficient financing independence and freedom of decision with no need to be connected to other arms of the organization.

Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Speaker At Hizb Al-Tahrir Conference In Lebanon Calls For Jihad In Cyprus, Balkans, Caucasus At the annual conference of the Islamist organization Hizb Al-Tahrir in Lebanon, on the subject of jihad, organization member Sheikh Adnan Mizyan said yesterday that in light of the fact that many countries of Muslims are today under occupation, including Palestine, Iraq, Cyprus, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, and Kashmir, the Islamic ummah must take jihad measures in order to free them. Source: Al-Safir, Lebanon, July 20, 2009 Posted at: 2009-07-20

The Lebanese Army helped Hezbollah militants destroy evidence of its continued military activity in the south of the country after a hidden arms cache exploded there earlier this week, Israel's envoy to the United Nations has charged in an official complaint. In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Gabriela Shalev described the abandoned building in which the explosion took place as "an arms cache that consisted of Hezbollah arms, including rockets, mortars, artillery shells, grenades, and additional ammunition which had been brought to the area following the Second Lebanon War." According to Shalev, the incident proves that Hezbollah...

Former Ptech Officer Arrested for SBA Loan Fraud Indictment Unsealed Charges Former Ptech President with Dealing in Assets of Specially Designated Global Terrorist BOSTON—A former resident of Somerville, Mass. who has been living in South Korea was arrested today after arriving at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. An indictment, originally returned on March 1, 2007, was unsealed today charging Buford George Peterson and Oussama Abdul Ziade, both former officers of Ptech, Inc., a computer software company that was principally located in Quincy, Mass., with making false statements to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in connection with a...

A day after an explosion uncovered a hidden Hizbullah arms cache in southern Lebanon, the IDF's Northern Command estimated that the group had turned hundreds of homes in the area into warehouses to store short- and medium-range Katyusha rockets. The IDF released video footage taken from an Israeli aircraft, showing a home that had exploded on Tuesday in the village of Hirbet Selm - located some 20 kilometers north of the Lebanese border. The roof is seen in the footage with dozens of holes, which IDF ballistic experts said were the size of 122-mm. Katyusha rockets.

A day after an explosion uncovered a hidden Hizbullah arms cache in southern Lebanon, the IDF's Northern Command estimated that the group had turned hundreds of homes in the area into warehouses to store short- and medium-range Katyusha rockets.

A day after Israel cried foul over an explosion that uncovered a hidden Hizbullah arms cache in southern Lebanon, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said Wednesday that ammunition which had exploded in a southern Lebanon village was a "serious violation" of the UN-brokered ceasefire that ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006. The blast occurred inside the village of Hirbet Selm on Tuesday, some 20 kilometers north of the Israel-Lebanon border, south of the Litani River and within the area which falls under the mandate of the UNIFIL multi-national force. The explosion caused no casualties but highlighted the long-held...

Israel accused Lebanon of violating United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 on Tuesday after a Hizbullah arms cache hidden inside a southern Lebanese town accidentally exploded. The blast occurred inside the village of Hirbet Selm, some 20 kilometers north of the Israel-Lebanon border, south of the Litani River and within the area which falls under the mandate of the UNIFIL multi-national force. According to Israeli defense officials, the cache was hidden in a storehouse inside the village and contained dozens of 122mm Katyusha rockets as well as high-powered machine guns. Some of the rockets reportedly flew into the sky. Contrary...

According to Lebanese security officials, a blast went off in a weapons depot in the southern Lebanon village of Tibnin. The depot was housed in an abandoned building and used in the 2006 war with Israel. According to the Voice of Lebanon radio, the explosions were heard shortly after 7 am south of the Litani River. There were mixed reports from Lebanese medias regarding the explosion. One report said the arms cache belonged to Hizbullah, while another said the blast was the result of leftover bombs from the Lebanon-Israel war three years ago this summer.

Azerbaijan media publish segments from hearing of 2 Lebanese, 4 locals accused of planning terror attack on Israeli embassy in capital city, Baku. According to indictment, suspects admit to being sent by Hezbollah, Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and al-Qaeda Ynet Published: 07.09.09, 00:20 / Israel News

BEIRUT: Days after officials in Washington announced that a US ambassador would soon be sent to Syria, reports have emerged of an upcoming Syrian-Saudi Arabian summit to be held in Damascus that could include Lebanon. Conventional wisdom holds that any improvement in Syrian-Saudi ties generally contributes to increased stability in Lebanon, and according to experts on Levantine politics, Lebanon may already be benefiting from those nations' thawing ties and a revamped US policy in the region. "Any relief or stabilization in the Syrian-Saudi relationship will be positively reflected in the Lebanese political life," Chafik Masri, an international law professor at...

The military intelligence officer was sitting in his office in northern Lebanon when the call came from his colleagues in Beqaa Valley. They were asking for his help in negotiating a truce between the Lebanese army and a loose alliance of families in Beqaa who dominate Lebanon’s multibillion dollar hashish trade after a crackdown on drug trafficking and carjacking had turned violent, with casualties on both sides. But the officer had no intention of getting involved. “I know these families, now that they have had martyrs, there is no talking to them,” he growled down the phone. “There is only...