Free Republic

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Hezbollah's leader said Saturday that the militant Islamic group's war last summer with Israel has left the U.S. vision of a "new Middle East" in shambles and claimed the guerrilla group was ready to strike Israel again at any time. During the 34-day war in southern Lebanon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for a new era of democracy and peace in the region, "a new Middle East." But Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, said the U.S. vision aimed at reinforcing Israel. "There is no new Middle East," Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah told a...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - A man has pleaded guilty to conspiring to funnel money, weapons and supplies to the Hezbollah terrorist group and will testify against other defendants, prosecutors said Monday. Said Mohamad Harb, 31, pleaded guilty to conspiracy Feb. 25 and a charge of providing material support to a known terrorist organization was dropped, U.S. Attorney Robert Conrad said. Harb's trial had been scheduled to begin in two weeks. Conrad said the plea was kept secret because Harb agreed to testify against other defendants in exchange for the removal of some of his relatives from Lebanon to the United...