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After the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces reported new attacks being launched against the country from Syria in the wake of a handful of attacks launched from Lebanon against northern cities. Advertisement The incoming fire from Syria — officially unidentified projectiles but reported by some to be mortars — did not hit any kibbutzim or populated areas in the Golan Heights where Israel is bordered by Syria, according to posts from the IDF on X, formerly Twitter, and Israeli forces have already responded with counter launches targeting the projectiles' point of origin....

"OPERATION CAST LEAD The IDF's Fight Against Terror in Gaza" # A blessed New Year to everyone here and abroad. Today's thread beginning January 1, 2009 (U.S.A. Time)

Fears grow in Lebanon as 10,000 Syrian troops arrive on the border Syrian troops deploy on the northern side of the Syrian-Lebanese borders Syrian troops deploy on the northern side of the Syrian-Lebanese borders Nicholas Blanford in Hekr Janin Syria has massed thousands of troops along its border with northern Lebanon in what officials in Beirut fear is a prelude to the first incursion since Syrian forces pulled out three years ago. Although Damascus insists that its forces are conducting an antismuggling operation, the Lebanese Government is eyeing the moves with unease, believing that the unusual scale of the deployment...

CAIRO - The assassination of Lebanese politician Pierre Gemayel has sent tremors through the Middle East, with the Arab League today warning of turmoil and Israel fearing regional destabilisation. While governments across the region yesterday scrambled to condemn the murder in Beirut of the anti-Syrian industry minister, and Damascus expressed outrage that fingers were swiftly pointed in its direction, the full impact of the killing was still being assessed in Middle Eastern capitals. Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa described the killing as a "terrorist assassination". "This operation is condemned in the strongest way, as it could lead to turmoil...

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Islamic Jihad fired rockets similar to Hizballah's katyushas at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Monday just as the cease-fire between Israel and the Hizballah terrorist organization was beginning to take hold. But even before the cease-fire, a Hamas columnist said that Palestinians would be the greatest beneficiaries of what he called the Hizballah victory. He said it paved the way for a third Palestinian uprising. Writing in the Hamas paper Al-Risala, columnist Ibrahim Abu Heija said that the "Palestinian resistance" [a euphemism for terrorism] would be the "greatest beneficiary" of what he called Hizballah's victory....

Serbias Foreighn Ministery oficialy strongly supported UN resolution on sending 15,000 peacekeepers to south Lebannon expressing hope that UN securiti councile will be as much as firm regarding future status of Kosovo and Serbias legal claims as souvereign nation. Serbias foreighn ministery said "Hezbollah millitants are eaqualy danger in their beligrance and unacceptance of existing state of Israel as are Kosovo (Muslim) Albanians in their belligrance and millitantism and unacceptance of souvereign borders of Serbia." This i sthe first time that Serbia is officialy eaqulising its own problems with problems of Israel.

“The United Nations General Assembly must immediately establish an International Criminal Tribunal for Israel (ICTI) as a ‘subsidiary organ’ under U.N. Charter Article 22. The ICTI would be organized along the lines of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was established by the Security Council. “The purpose of the ICTI would be to investigate and prosecute Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Peoples of Lebanon and Palestine--just as the ICTY did for the victims of international crimes committed by Serbia and the Milosevic Regime throughout the Balkans. ... http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20060808&articleId=2925

QANA, Lebanon (CNN) -- Israel has agreed to suspend airstrikes on southern Lebanon for 48 hours to investigate a Sunday airstrike that killed more than 60 people in Qana, Lebanon, a U.S. State Department spokesman said. Spokesman Adam Ereli said the Israelis reserve the right to take action against targets preparing attacks against it during the 48-hour period, but the bombing halt should "significantly speed and improve the flow of humanitarian aid." Israeli officials also agreed to allow safe passage for 24 hours for residents of southern Lebanon to leave the region. Israel earlier said it mistakenly destroyed a four-story...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah politicians, while expressing reservations, have joined their critics in the government in agreeing to a peace package that includes strengthening an international force in south Lebanon and disarming the guerrillas, the government said. The agreement — reached after a heated six-hour Cabinet meeting — was the first time that Hezbollah has signed onto a proposal for ending the crisis that includes the deploying of international forces. The package falls short of American and Israeli demands in that it calls for an immediate cease-fire before working out details of a force and includes other conditions. But European...

OTTAWA - The words of a Canadian United Nations observer written just days before he was killed in an Israeli bombing of a UN post in Lebanon are evidence Hezbollah was using the post as a ''shield'' to fire rockets into Israel, says a former UN commander in Bosnia. ''What that means is, in plain English, 'We've got Hezbollah fighters running around in our positions, taking our positions here and then using us for shields and then engaging the (Israeli Defence Forces),'' he said. It's a tactic MacKenzie, who was the first UN commander in Sarajevo during the Bosnia civil...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has brokered a deal with Israeli officials, to evacuate thousands of Canadians from Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon, CTV News has learned. "This 'safe passage' deal was negotiated at the highest levels, involving the prime minister, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, and their Israeli counterparts," reported CTV's Robert Fife on Wednesday night. However, Israeli officials said Canadians must go through strict security searches. Their passports will be checked, and anyone with connections to Hezbollah will not be helped. It's unclear how the Canadians will be taken out of the area. Israeli troops entered southern Lebanon Wednesday, and air...

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." The acidulous wisdom of Mark Twain speaks to us across the ages, and never more than this week during the great congressional mobilization to save America's ports from the dreaded hand of Dubai. The furor over Dubai is misplaced on so many levels, but let's start with the supposed terrorist threat. Military and CIA officials will tell you privately that the United Arab Emirates is among the most effective intelligence partners the United States has today in the Arab world. Their operatives are...

GEORGE W. Bush is calling on Europe to join the US in increasing pressure on Syria and Iran to reform, as the two Middle Eastern nations tout a new strategic Islamic alliance against US and Israeli "plots". With Tehran's alleged nuclear ambitions the new flashpoint in the volatile region, Mr Bush also warned that the US would support Israel in any military action against Iran. At a press conference ahead of his visit to Europe next week, the US President promised to work with European leaders to produce a strategy to prevent Tehran developing a nuclear bomb. But he gave...

U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is considering a plan for multi-pronged attacks on insurgency strongholds in such countries as Lebanon and Somalia. U.S. defense sources said the proposal is part of a plan for an expanded offensive against Al Qaida and affiliated terrorist organizations. Over the last six months, the Pentagon has increased the U.S. military presence along the Iraqi-Syrian border to halt the flow of Islamic insurgents into Iraq. U.S. officials said American troops and helicopters have fought the insurgents along the Syrian border and in several cases entered Syrian air space and territory. Next week, U.S. troops are scheduled...

<p>BEIRUT -- A top Lebanese politician enraged the American Embassy in Beirut yesterday by saying that he hoped the next attack on Paul Wolfowitz, the No. 2 official in the Defense Department, would prove fatal.</p> <p>Druze leader Walid Jumblatt described the deputy defense secretary as a "virus" who needed to be destroyed, a day after the American emerged unscathed from a guerrilla rocket attack on the fortified Baghdad hotel where he was staying.</p>

U.S. intelligence agencies are weighing numerous reports that Iraq diverted weapons of mass destruction to Syria and Lebanon to hide them from United Nations weapons inspectors and American forces in Iraq. In testimony Sept. 16, John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control, referred to reports that Iraqi WMD had been transferred to Syria. "We have seen these reports, reviewed them carefully, and see them as cause for concern," he said. "Thus far we have been unable to confirm that such transfers occurred," he said in congressional testimony. "We are continuing with the full breadth of resources at our command...

Homeland security chief Tom Ridge said the potential for terrorism is still very, very real. Picture / Reuters From Beirut to London, new terror alerts ring out 16.05.2003 11.45am LONDON - Lebanon said today it had smashed a plot to attack the US embassy and Britain banned flights to Kenya as fresh terror alerts rang out across the world after the bloody suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia. Fingers were pointed mainly at Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network as Pakistan reported bombings of Shell and Caltex petrol stations and Algerian troops hunted in the Sahara desert for 15 European...

Security forces battle angry mob as anti-war demonstration turns violent A demonstration against the war on Iraq Tuesday saw violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces protecting the British Embassy in downtown Beirut. More than a dozen demonstrators were detained for hurling stones and for attacking security forces at the embassy. The demonstration included members and supporters of Hizbullah, Amal Movement, Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Syrian Social Nationalist Party, and Palestinian factions. The demonstration began at the National Museum and headed to UN House in downtown Beirut, but some 500 of the 7,000 demonstrators broke off and went to the...

<p>BEIRUT, Lebanon--Jewelry glitters in the shop windows, street cafes do a brisk business in fancy coffees and cakes, and just down the road from a lineup of fine new restaurants, an acquaintance shows off her exquisitely refurbished apartment, complete with hand-decorated tiles on the floor. Since the civil war ended in 1991, the Lebanese have largely restored the trappings of their shattered capital.</p>

KIRYAT SHMONA, Israel, April 10 (AFP) - Mortar shells fired from southern Lebanon fell on northern Israel early Wednesday but no casualties were reported, military sources said. The mortars fell in a region called the Galilee Panhandle near the town of Kiryat Shmona, they said.