Sigh...well Coopy is LIVE on CNN from the ME..so there's always that...
Israeli DM: We'll break Hizb'allah
Peretz says terrorist broke rules, now will be broken
By Ryan Jones
July 14, 2006
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz Thursday said the Lebanese terror group Hizb'allah had broken the rules of the game by striking a major Israeli population center, and would now pay a price it had not expected.
Following a Hizb'allah missile attack on the coastal city of Haifa, Peretz told reporters:
"We expected Hizb'allah to break the rules and now we are going to break them."
Peretz hinted that Israel would also take action against those regimes that harbor and support Hizb'allah and its terrorist allies.
"All sovereign regimes in the region must know that they too bear responsibility, and we have no intention of letting any element responsible for this crisis off the hook."
The defense minister called on his countrymen to prepare for some difficult days as Israel fights to ensure the future security of the state.
"I say to Israel’s citizens: We may be in for a number of difficult days, but we must remain strong so that after this period is over we will not be in a position in which Israeli children and citizens are threatened by any element in the Middle East."
Earlier in the day, Peretz got to experience the Hizb'allah threat up close when a meeting he was attending at IDF Northern Command Headquarters was interrupted by a Katyusha barrage in the area. Peretz was whisked away to a safe room under the base.
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/963
Logged on at post 200 and somethng, and just now caught up.
This thread is moving.
I'm on dial-up, willing to D/L maps and useful graphics, megabyte humor is somewhat counter-productive though.
I'd like to see any updates sourced and linked if possible, and also to remind everyone that early reports are often wrong. Three unconnected point sources (you have to trace reports back to make sure) are what I need before I will srtate something un-equivacobly, otherwise it gets either a disclaimer or an attribution, as in "Joe Blow says..." So far, no issues with the posts in this thread, it's working well as a clearinghouse for information.
Like a Hurricane thread, this will go on for days, so plan accordingly. Best guess sees limited troop movements as soon as Israel can get warm bodies into the rocket launch zones, with a major offensive in 24 to 48 hours.
Syria commits suicide if they move militarily, air or ground before the IDF is fully occupied, and even then Syrian military success is a longshot without significant external intervention (Iran). Same goes for Iran. If those two planned this, they will play us along until their predetermined conditions for a general attack are met.
If Hezb and Hamas went off the reservation on their own with all this, then Syria will react to unacceptable Israeli activity before committing militarily, Iran 2 to 24 hours later.
Jordan and SA should stay out, excerpt verbally, for internal consumption mostly. Turkey? Unlikely.
More on options open to Iran later, as time permits.