[BurbankKarl]

U.S. prepares evacuation plan for Americans in Lebanon


Concerned about the fate of Americans in Israel's siege of Lebanon, the Pentagon and State Departments are developing plans in case a mass evacuation becomes necessary, officials said Saturday.
The U.S. government was not yet formally recommending evacuation, however.

"We're at a monitoring point," said a Pentagon spokesman, Army Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros. "We're prepared to respond and provide assistance if required."

The State Department said it was considering various ways of helping Americans who wished to leave Lebanon by finding ways to transport them to Cyprus. There, they could catch commercial airline flights.

However, options for traveling to the island nation were limited, considering Israel's naval blockade of Lebanon's ports and the attacks that have left the airport in Beirut unusable.

U.S. officials declined to speculate on whether U.S. forces would provide helicopters or ships to transport people in the event of an evacuation.

The department said it had received reports that Americans fleeing overland to Syria were being denied visas and had been refused entry to the country.

[sofaman]

Chirac: Forces threatening Lebanon`s security, sovereignty must be stopped (AP)

Someone needs to tell that weasel to go p*ss up a rope

[sofaman]

"An Iranian military source told the Arab daily Asharq Alawsat Sunday that between 1992 and 2005 Iran has transferred some 11,500 missiles and rockets to Hizbullah.

According to the report, Hizbullah has in its arsenal four types of advanced surface-to-surface missiles. He named the Fajaar missile, which has a range of 100 kilometers; the Iran 130, which has a 90-110 km. range; the Shahin, which has a range of up to 150 kms; and a 355 mm. Rocket with a range of up to 150 kms."

JPost