Posted on 07/14/2006 4:31:28 PM PDT by SJackson
ISRAELI fighter jets have destroyed the main road linking Lebanon to Syria and pounded the Hezbollah heartland in the south of Beirut in a bid to stop militants smuggling two captured soldiers to Iran. The Lebanese capital is now isolated, with Israeli planes and ships controlling the sky and waterways two days after the soldiers were seized by Hezbollah militants in a cross-border raid that has sparked the most serious violence in Lebanon since the height of its civil war.
Claiming he had "sealed his own fate", Israel yesterday threatened to assassinate Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, who trumpeted the soldiers' kidnappings on Wednesday.
Israeli intelligence chiefs had earlier received information that Hezbollah may try to use the land border with Syria to smuggle their captives into the hands of arch-enemy Iran.
The Australian Government said last night there were 2800 Australian citizens registered in Beirut. The Australian-Lebanese community in the city is estimated at up to 25,000.
Australia has reopened its embassy in Beirut to provide passports and emergency assistance to its nationals, but could offer no guarantees land routes out of the country were safe.
"People are best served by staying indoors, and we're attempting to determine the extent to which land crossings from Lebanon into Syria are safe to use," a Foreign Affairs Department spokesman said.
Rockets continued to barrage Israel's northern towns and cities from Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, with two reaching the port city of Haifa, more than 30km from where they were launched.
Hezbollah, which launched 85 rockets on Thursday, claimed it had developed rockets that could reach all corners of Israel.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday warned Israel not to attack Syria in a bid to punish Hezbollah, claiming such a strike would lead to a "fierce response".
"If the Zionist regime commits another stupid move and attacks Syria, this will be considered likeattacking the whole Islamic world and this regime will receive a very fierce response," he said in a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that was later recounted by statemedia. World leaders have urged restraint, fearing the conflict could spark a regional war. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "profoundly worried" by developments and condemned attacks against civilians. As many as 61 Lebanese have been killed in three days of raids.
John Howard said he feared the siege of Beirut could topple the fragile Lebanese Government. "I don't think Lebanon is in a strong enough position," he said. "One of the worries in all of what is happening is that the present Lebanese Government, weak though it may be, could fall and be replaced by a government even more heavily under the influence of Syria."
A UN Security Council delegation is heading to the region in a bid to limit the crisis.
Israel last night bombed the main road to Beirut International Airport and, for the first time, a terminal. Israel dropped six bombs on the airport's three runways on Thursday. Bombs also fell on a power transformer in Beirut's south and bridges.
Jet fighters dropped leaflets over central Beirut warning Lebanese civilians that Hezbollah was leading them to ruin.
I think the last time the IDF has executed so many missions in this short a time was 1973 and look what happened to all the attackers then. Iran is kicking at a hornet's nest.
He must have the bomb to be speaking so belligerently, which is the part that worries me the most.
This is exactly what is worrying me ... I hope it is not true, but his behavior all year up to the present suggests that it might be true.
Ahmadinejad definitely has an ace up his sleeve. Probably a nuke warhead sold to him by Russia or China. I think he started this war.
I pray Israel has the fortitude to take this war all the way to Iran .....
My understanding is that all of these, even the 75km models, are single tube, served by a 2 or 3 man crew. Difficult to track and react in the 30 to 60 seconds necessary before the site is clear. I understand Israel has have developed counterbattery capability that can deal with these launches. But they're typically launched from within the civilian population, and Israel's unwilling to fire without some visual confirmation of who's in the immediate vicinity, which rules out the counterbattery measures. Unless there's a lucky drone overhead, there's not much you can do. Other than destroy the stockpiles on the ground before they're launched, along with the terrorists.
Barring a major miscalculation by Iran or Syria, I doubt that happens now. Other than destroying their nuclear sites, there's not much Israel can do to Iran.
Russia is "in it". They have sold arms to Iran. You can bet your ass Russia has a hand in Iran's audacity.
The Russians aren't crazy. They know if they back Israel into a corner where its survival is at stake they run the risk of "the Motherland" being nuked (by Israel). Do you really think Russia would risk their own destruction because of some ridiculous "promise" they made to a bunch of lunatic Islamists? Not a chance. They'll stay out of it.
There's not a doubt in my mind that this war was started by Iran. Their President Ahmadenijad wants to stir up as much violence as possible to pave the way for the 12th Imam. However, there are only two reasons he started it:
1) His nuclear case was referred to the Security Council, and Ahmadenijad is stalling for more time to acquire the nuke.
2) He already has the nuke, and the time(in his mind) has come for the final battle between "the Islamic World" and Israel. This is the more frightening possibility of the two.
Iran or Syria would be fools to become directly involved. Which isn't to say it couldn't happen, wars don't proceed according to plan. As I noted on another thread, it's fair to say Jordan became involved in three wars, 48-67-73, not so much for stratigic reasons as to mollify an enraged population.
If that's the case then Russia needs to become involved as well. If that happens, look out because then we'd probably be drawn into the war as well.
Methinks that miscalculations have lead to war many times in our history. This could get ugly...
"Damascus will cease being a city. A ruinous heap."
5.56mm
Not a thing Israel can do to Iran??? I think you have it backwards...
Sheesh.
5.56mm
The leverage Iran, Syria, and the Arab world have is leveraging opinion in the west. Strike fast and hard, and expect the US to call Israel off. And so far, it hasn't worked.
I've been wondering why Israel has been letting Hezbollah continue to launch their missiles too. They must have drones in the air. They must be able to calculate the trajectory of where they're launched from. Why do they allow this rain of fire to continue?
Should have been will. But even in the can department, Israel can destroy the nuclear sites. I think this has to be done, now might be a good time, but I doubt it will happen. Israel isn't going to nuke Iran. What else can they do?
Iran and Syria to Israel, they can mobilize Hizbollah and Hamas, which they've done. They can whine to the UN, which they've done. That's about it. WMDs if they have them in sufficient quanity, I don't think it's likely, but obviously that's a different situation, and Israel can destroy both nations. Should that happen, I'm interested to see if my van runs on radioactive fuel.
I tend to agree. I don't discount the potential for instability that this fruitcake poses. But when a recent article stated that 70% of the Iranian population is under 30 years old and wants a democratic revolution of their own, Achmed-towelhead is possibly shooting his mouth off as a distraction from the country's own internal problems. So, it's possible he's trying to reassure the crotchety old mullahcracy that he's got a big political p*nis.
But all in all, he's Saddam v2.0, an insecure little boy surrounded by such delusions of grandeur that he'll go out not with a bang, but a whimper (hopefully a painful one at that)...
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