“After one month of war against Lebanon's resistance, Israelis are the absolute losers and Hizbullah is the absolute winner of the war,” Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamida-Reza Asefi said Sunday. “The occupiers of Jerusalem failed, despite their military, economic, intelligence and diplomatic backings.”
The Iranian official said the Islamic Republic of Iran is “very pleased” with the ceasefire, according to state-run Iranian news agency IRNA. He warned, though, that attacks on Israel would continue as long as “occupation lingers.” He declined to outline whether occupation included retaining sovereignty in regions such as the Galilee – which Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah has termed “settlements” in his wartime addresses. "Let us not forget that as long as there is occupation there is resistance," he added.
Hizbullah central council member Ahmed Barakat told Qatari newspaper al-Watan Sunday, "Today Arab and Muslim society is reasonably certain that the defeat of Israel is possible, and that countdown to the disappearance of the Zionist entity in the region has begun… If a mere organization succeeded in defeating Israel, why would Arab nations not succeed in doing so if they allied? Many Arabs and Muslims viewed Israel in a fictional way and the resistance has succeeded in changing this."
Barakat boasted that none of Hizbullah’s leadership were injured, and that the group still possesses thousands of rockets and other “surprises” for use in the days following the implementation of the UN ceasefire. He added that the remaining missiles and weapons allow Hizbullah to strike Israel from afar and do not require the group to be near Israel’s border.
Photos of Hizbullah-leader Hassan Nasrallah “hang everywhere in Ramallah,” according to Al-Jazeera, “covering the walls and shop fronts and plastered across T-shirts and demonstration banners.” The number-one song in Ramallah this summer, “blaring [repeatedly] out of shops and streets stalls,” is "The Eagle of Lebanon," referring to the Hizbullah chief.
“Secularists, Christians and Muslims alike refer to the Hizbullah leader as Palestine's newest and truest hero,” the Al-Jazeera report states. “Back at Manara square in Ramallah, Waleed Ayyoub is still selling the Nasrallah images to ‘all people of all ages - even little children.’ He is especially proud of a sale made to an Arab-Israeli woman from Haifa, fleeing the Katyusha attacks on her city.”
No shiite sherlock.
Who'da thunk it?
My hunch is, the Israelis have a full-time spy-ops with the sole purpose of killing Nasrallah. The cease-fire won't put a stop to that operation.
Isn't H'aaretz a fairly left wing paper? Sounds bad for Olmert.
Is Israel toast now?
And the picture (Not FAUXTOGRAPHY) is beginning to emerge as to why the US and ISRAEL took this CF deal. If the Hezbo's continue to attack Israel during this supposed CF, Israel has a right to defend herself, and there will be no more pussyfooting around. One would hope.
Olmert, did not let the Israel commander's suprize the Hezbo's at the start of this conflict, so he's only gonna have one more chance to get it right, or he is gone!
Olmert should not only be deposed, but thrown in prison as an enemy of the state.
I really hope we don't find out later, as some DC friends have suggested to me, that Israel was put under major pressure from Rice and the White House to accept the cease fire, given that anti-Hizbollah forces had "lost the P.R. battle". Not that this excuses Olmert for betraying his nation, but we should really know better. Qana was a fraud. The "UN post" Israel bombed was a Hizbollah base. Hizbollah is not a state but a terrorist organization, yet were addressed as a sovereign entity in the resolution. SO many horrible precedents were permitted by the U.S. and Israel in this conflict, that will surely come back to haunt us all in the very near future.
Do Muslims watch Star Trek?