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Led by commandos who splashed ashore in black dinghies, a contingent of Italian soldiers landed in southern Lebanon on Saturday in the first substantial strengthening of the U.N. force assigned to guarantee a fragile truce along the border between Israel and Lebanon. The Italian troops, numbering 880 with 150 trucks and other vehicles, represented a down payment on the 6,900 soldiers that Italy, France and several other European nations have promised to send to create a reinforced version of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, that repeatedly has been denounced by Israel as feckless in the 28...

In its second Lebanon war, Israel was surprised by Hezbollah's anti-tank weapons and the way they used them. The Israel Defense Forces was similarly surprised on the Egyptian front in the Yom Kippur War. At the time, we knew the Arab armies had Russian-made Sagger anti-tank guided missiles, but we did not understand the significance of the mass deployment of these missiles nor how it would affect the IDF's Armored Corps. On the first night of the war, the IDF lost 150 tanks. This is what happened in the war against Hezbollah. We knew the organization had advanced anti-tank rockets;...

A Lebanese general was ordered arrested Wednesday for appearing in a videotape drinking tea with Israeli soldiers who had occupied his south Lebanon barracks during their incursion of the country. Brig. Adnan Daoud was summoned and ordered held for questioning, Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat said in a statement. Daoud is commanding officer of the 1,000-strong joint police-army force that had positions in southern Lebanon and was based in Marjayoun. Israeli troops seized the barracks there last week and held him and 350 soldiers for a day before allowing them to leave the occupied zone. The Lebanese garrison, which is lightly...

At the outset of the Hezbollah War in Lebanon, someone posted a video on FR of an IDF recruiting video. I have been looking for it. Does anyone know where I can find it?

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will wait to see in which direction the diplomatic process is headed before giving the IDF a green light to implement the expanded ground operation the security cabinet approved at the end of a tense, six-hour meeting Wednesday, senior sources in the Prime Minister's Office said. According to these officials, the waiting period would be "very short." The security cabinet, by a vote of 9-0 with three abstentions, approved plans to expand the IDF ground operation to the Litani, which at some points is 30 kilometers from the border, in order to take out the Katyusha...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The head of an Arab League team was optimistic on Wednesday that a U.N. resolution would be approved this week, despite a clash between the United States and France over Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanon. But U.S. Ambassador John Bolton expressed caution, telling reporters late on Wednesday, "We are getting closer on the way to resolving some of this, but I don't want to underestimate the central and operational difficulties." "There are areas where we are still not in agreement," he said. "I don't want to appear to minimize that." As Israel decided to expand its...

Top News Story Stratfor An Iranian parliament member Aug. 5 called on Muslim states to impose political and economic sanctions on Saudi Arabia for Riyadh's policies on the Lebanese crisis, Iran's Fars News Agency reported. Rafat Bayat described the Israeli-Hezbollah war as a clash of opposing schools of thought. She called on Muslims not to go to on the pilgrimage this year, and to use the money to reconstruct Lebanon instead. A Daily Briefing of Major News Stories on Iran: Ebadi protests Interior Ministry ban Hezbollah equipped like the Syrian, Iranian army Russia warns Iran over deadeline Airbrushing Iran’s...

Top News Story Iranian leaders threaten to kill its political prisoners if UNSC acts against Iran. Iran Press News reported that the Islamic Republic has now specifically announced that should their nuclear dossier be voted for referral by the United Nations Security all political prisoners, whether on furlough or in prison, will be summarily executed.   Hezbollah executes Christians and Druze as spies. Iran Press News reported that Hezbollah executes 18 Lebanese Christians & Druze for exposing Hezbollah hideouts.   Iran sends bin Laden's son to Syria to create al Qaeda cells to fight with Hezbollah. Reuters reported that...

Seventy-seven-year-old Mona Muzaber lights a candle for Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah at the Orthodox Church of the Cross in the centre of Damascus. "I love him. I never felt Nasrallah was a religious zealot. He is a patriot who doesn't seek personal gain," she said. "I light a candle daily for him to remain under God's protection." Israel's offensive against Lebanon has brought Christians in neighbouring Syria closer to Nasrallah, a Shi'ite Muslim, reviving Arab nationalist feelings and blurring sectarian divisions. Bishops and priests say Syria's Christians, a devout community of around three million out of a population of...

Top News Story Ahmadinejad rejects UNSC resolution. Dow Jones Newswires reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution that would give his nation until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment.   Iranians think the West will give in on the nuclear issue. Rooz Online reported that the spokesman for the Majlis Leadership said: The West will yield on the nuclear issue.   Iranian Ayatollah pleads for Muslims to arm Hezbollah. Aljazeera.net reported that Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati called on Muslim countries to arm Hezbollah in its struggle against Israel.   Iran cuts another major deal with...

Top News Story Iranian student leader dies of torture while on hunger strike in prison. Iran Press News reported that a beloved student leader, Akbar Mohammadi, died as a result of brutal torture by Islamic regimes' judiciary at the infamous Evin Prison. Mohammadi had just been returned to his cell in ward 350 after a brutal torture session. He was on his 9th day of a hunger strike. He gave his life for freedom. Photos.   UNSC passes a resolution giving Iran until the end of the month. The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.N. Security Council passed...

Iran has freed a son of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from house arrest, a German newspaper reported on Wednesday. Die Welt said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard released Saad bin Laden on July 28 with the aim of sending him to the Syria-Lebanon border. It linked the reported move to the outbreak of war between Israel and Lebanese-based Hizbollah. "From the Lebanese border, he has the task of building Islamist terror cells and preparing them to fight together with Hizbollah," Die Welt said, quoting intelligence information. "Apparently Tehran is counting on recruiting Lebanese refugees in Syria for the fight...

Top News Story Iran is preparing operation "Judgment Day?" Yehudit Barsky, InfoIsrael.net reported that little attention has been paid to Tehran's preparations for a possible showdown with America and its allies for a confrontation code-named "Al-Qiyamah," which is Arabic for "Judgment Day."   The head of the IRGC tells forces to “prepare to take revenge” on Israel and the U.S. Or did he speak to soon? Reuters reported that the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said hard-line forces should get ready to take revenge on Israel and the United States for the offensive on Lebanon. The regime later retracted...

Top News Story Iran preparing its people for war with Israel. Ottawa Citizen reported that a former Canadian Secret Intelligence Service informant says the Iranian regime is "mentally and spiritually" preparing its people for war against Israel.Yahoo News reported that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei feted Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah as the "people's favorite person all over the world."   Iranian state radio: Iran will reject UN resolution. FOX News reported that Iranian state radio said Saturday that the government would reject a proposed U.N. resolution that would give it until Aug. 31 to suspend uranium enrichment or...

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Syrian military on Monday to raise its readiness, pledging not to abandon support for Lebanese resistance against Israel. "We are facing international circumstances and regional challenges that require caution, alert, readiness and preparedness," Assad said. "The barbaric war of annihilation the Israeli aggression is waging on our people in Lebanon and Palestine is increasing in ferocity," Assad said in a written address on the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the foundation of the Syria Arab Army.

EDITORIAL: Is Ottawa losing its global voice? Jul. 27, 2006. 09:17 AM Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative party urged voters to Stand up for Canada in last January's federal election. His platform promised "to ensure that Canada's foreign policy reflects true Canadian values and advocates Canada's national interests." Yet six months later, Harper and the Conservatives appear to be more interested in currying favour with U.S. President George Bush's Republican administration, which is deeply unpopular on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, than with carving out a truly meaningful and independent role for Canada on the international scene....

It is all too easy to forget the past. As Israel, a multi-cultural, and diverse democratic nation engages in war with murderers from Hezbalah and Hamas, it is important to remember the 241 Marines who gave their lives on a peacekeeping mission in Beirut, Lebanon. These brave soldiers were rewarded for their sacrifice with a suicide bombing that used 15-20 tons of explosives by the same Hezbalah that Israel today battles. They say that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it. The bombing was done by Hezbalah with the backing of Iran. Sound familiar? We honor...

WASHINGTON -- To the grizzled and disheveled stalwarts of Hezbollah and Hamas, may I say you did it to yourselves. Kapow! As another Israeli bomb lands nearby, as a shell whizzes overhead, may I remind you that you are hunkering down either on Gaza or on Lebanese soil that was evacuated by the Israelis so that you could live in peace. And what did you donkeys do? You tunneled under the Israeli borders to infiltrate Israel and kill innocent civilians. You established an infrastructure of missiles to rain down destruction on Israeli cities that were at peace, providing security and...

GENEVA (Reuters) - The scale of killing and maiming of civilians in Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territory of Gaza could constitute war crimes, the United Nations human rights chief said on Wednesday. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said international humanitarian law was clear on the need to protect non-combatants in any conflict. "This obligation is also expressed in international criminal law, which defines war crimes and crimes against humanity," she said. "The scale of the killings in the region, and their predictability, could engage the personal criminal responsibility of those involved, particularly those in a position...

BEIRUT — Thousands of Americans whose vacations and business trips to Lebanon have degenerated with sickening speed into stints in a battle zone remained stranded here under Israeli bombardment Monday, their frustration and anger mounting because the U.S. government hasn't gotten them out faster. Waiting around Beirut with bags packed and fingers crossed, U.S. citizens derided the embassy for busy phone lines, a lack of information and gnawing uncertainty over when and whether they will get out. Hundreds were expected to be shipped to Cyprus today, but how long the full evacuation will take remains uncertain.