Hezbollah Is A Terrorist Group

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Hezbollah: Violence mixed with social mission

The group called Hezbollah is on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations, but also participates in the Lebanese government. A few facts on the organization:


Hezbollah is a Shiite militant group in Lebanon, regarded by the U.S. and Israel as a terrorist organization.


It opposes Israel and the West, and supports a fundamentalist Muslim government.


It is dedicated to eliminating Israel and has formally advocated ultimate establishment of Islamic rule in Lebanon, according to the U.S. State Department.


It garners popular support among Lebanese by setting up schools, hospitals and other social services.


It has become a social/political movement, holding 14 seats in the 128-member Lebanese parliament, according to the parliament's Web site.


The word "hezbollah" means "party of God" in Arabic.


Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is the head of Hezbollah.


Hezbollah fighters operate with almost total autonomy in southern Lebanon, and the government has no control over their actions, according to The Associated Press. But Lebanon has long resisted international pressure to disarm the group.


Hezbollah has often launched shells and fired rockets into northern Israel and into the disputed Shebaa Farms area.


Islamic Resistance is the name of Hezbollah's military wing.


Hezbollah is known or suspected to have been involved in numerous terror attacks against the U.S., Israel or other Western targets, including the 1983 suicide truck bombings in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. Marines at the Marine barracks and 58 at the French military barracks.


The United States and Israel say that Hezbollah is given financial and political assistance, as well as weapons and training, from Iran and Syria. Syria says it supports Hezbollah, but denies supplying it with weapons.


Hezbollah was founded in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.


It absorbed most of the 1980s umbrella coalition of terrorist groups known as Islamic Jihad, according to Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center.


In 2004, Hezbollah exchanged prisoners with Israel in a deal that took three years to negotiate. Israel released more than 400 prisoners and returned 59 bodies of Lebanese fighters. Hezbollah released a kidnapped Israeli businessman and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers.


The 1996 suicide bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, in which 19 are killed, was attributed to Hezbollah.


Hezbollah was blamed for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina, in which 85 were killed.


The State Department estimates Hezbollah has "several thousand supporters and a few hundred terrorist operatives."

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Hezbollah or Hizbullah(Arabic حزب الله, meaning Party of God) is a governmental and militant Lebanese Islamist group, with a military arm and a civilian arm, founded in 1982 to fight the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. This organization is headed by Hassan Nasrallah.

Along with the Amal movement, Hezbollah is the main militant organization representing the Shia community, Lebanon's largest religious bloc. Founded with the aid of Iran and funded by it, it follows the distinctly Shiite Islamist ideology developed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. It calls for the establishment of an Islamic state in Lebanon, on the principle of sovereignty of the jurisconsult, although recognizing that this could only come about with the consensus of the Lebanese people.

The civilian wing of Hezbollah runs hospitals, news services, and educational facilities and participates in the Lebanese Parliament. Its Reconstruction Campaign (Jihad al-Bina) is responsible for numerous economic and infrastructural development projects in Shia-populated areas of Lebanon.

Hezbollah is regarded by many inside and outside of the Arab and Muslim worlds, such as the Iranian and Syrian[citation needed] governments, as a legitimate resistance movement and is a recognized political party in Lebanon, where it has participated in government.

However, as it initiates attacks against civilians in Israel and ideologically supports such attacks by other organizations, such as Islamic Jihad and Hamas, many governments, including the United States, have designated it a terrorist organization.

On March 10, 2005, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution that stated `Parliament considers that clear evidence exists of terrorist activities on the part of Hezbollah and that the EU Council should take all necessary steps to curtail them.

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Origins
Scholars differ on when Hezbollah came to be a distinct entity. Some organizations list the official formation of the group as early as 1982, (GlobalSecurity.org, 2005) whereas Diaz and Newman maintain that Hezbollah remained an amalgamation of various violent Shi’a extremists until as late as 1985 (Diaz & Newman, 2005, p. 55). Regardless of when the name came into official use, a number of Shi’a groups were slowly assimilated into the organization, such as Islamic Jihad, Organization of the Oppressed on Earth and the Revolutionary Justice Organization.

One of the main objectives of Hezbollah at the time was to spread the Islamic Revolution. Since then, the party has publicly declared that it will suspend its attempts to create an Islamic state in Lebanon "because the conditions are not yet met" until there is no other viable alternative but to elect an Islamic government. It remained underground for a number of years and did not make a public announcement of its existence until 1985.

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Combat Operations
After emerging during the civil war of the early 1980s as an Iranian-sponsored second resistance movement (besides Amal) for Lebanon's Shia community, Hezbollah focused on expelling Israeli and Western forces from Lebanon. It is the principal suspect[citation needed] in several notable attacks on the American, French and Italian Multinational forces, whose stated purpose was the stabilization of Lebanon: the suicide bombings of the U.S. Embassy, which killed 63, including 17 Americans; of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut (see 1983 Beirut barracks bombing), which killed 241 American servicemen; and of the French multinational force headquarters which killed 58 French troops. Hezbollah has always denied having any involvement with these bombings, although regarding them as justified.

Elements of the group have been "linked" to involvement in kidnapping, detention and interrogation of American and other Western hostages in Lebanon by groups such as Islamic Jihad who claimed the hostage-takings were in retaliation to the detentions, hostage-taking and torture by the Israeli proxy army South Lebanon Army (SLA).

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Allegations of Hezbollah involvement in terrorism
Using names like the Organization of the Oppressed on Earth and the Revolutionary Justice Organization, Hezbollah is also believed by the United States and some other countries' intelligence agencies to have kidnapped and tortured to death with no clear evidence [7] U.S. Marine Colonel William R. Higgins and the CIA Station Chief in Beirut, William Francis Buckley, and to have kidnapped around 30 other Westerners between 1982 and 1992, including the American journalist Terry Anderson, British journalist John McCarthy, the Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy Terry Waite and Irish citizen Brian Keenan.[2] Hezbollah was accused by the US government of being responsible for the April 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that killed 63; of being behind the suicide truck bombings that killed 241 U.S. Marines in their barracks in Beirut in October 1983; of bombing the replacement U.S. Embassy in East Beirut on September 20, 1984, killing 20 Lebanese and two American soldiers; and of carrying out the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome.

The South Lebanon period (1990-2000)
The continued existence of Hezbollah's military wing after 1990 violates the Taif Agreement that ended the Lebanese civil war, which requires the "disbanding of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias" and requires the government to "deploy the Lebanese army in the border area adjacent to Israel." The Lebanese government did not try to disarm the Hezbollah during the 1990-2000 period, justifying its position by the fact that Hezbollah was a legitimate national resistance force, fighting for the liberation of the south, then occupied by Israel.

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Conflict in South Lebanon
South Lebanon was occupied by Israel between 1982 and 2000. Hezbollah, along with the mainly leftist and secular groups in the Lebanese National Resistance Front, fought a guerilla war against Israel and the Israeli proxy South Lebanon Army. The National Resistance Front militias disarmed in accordance with the Taif Accords, but Hezbollah remained defiant, claiming until all Lebanese soil is liberated and Israel expelled, resistance against occupation will continue. They had become by far the largest and most powerful and effective of the resistance organizations. The fighting culminated during Operation Grapes of Wrath in April 1996 when Israel launched an assault and air-campaign against Hezbollah. The campaign failed and resulted in the Israelis killing more than 150 civilians and refugees in an aerial bombardment of a United Nations base at Qana.

In January 2000, Hezbollah assassinated the commander of the South Lebanon Army's Western Brigade, Colonel Aql Hashem, at his home in the security zone. Hashem had been responsible for day to day operations of the SLA.

In May 2000, Israel withdrew its army from south Lebanon. This was widely considered a victory for Hezbollah and boosted its popularity hugely in Lebanon.

Continued aggression against Israel after 2000
There are several reasons for Hezbollah's continued conflict with Israel. Hezbollah is still contesting Israel's control of the Shebaa farms region. While Lebanon and Syria support Hezbollah's claim, Israel do not and regularly enters its troops and plane in Lebanese territory. And also there is only cease fire between Lebanon and Israel and Israel can invade Lebonan again.

but this is a claim of merely propaganda value, used to counter arguments that Hezbollah should denounce aggressive violence against its Israel .[citation needed]

Hezbollah has indicated solidarity with Gholan Heights, West Bank and Gaza residents who are opposed to Israeli's occupation of those lands. Hezbollah also considers the Israeli attitude toward border defense to be consistently overly aggressive.


Hezbollah's role in the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon gained the organization much respect in Lebanon and the wider Arab and Islamic world, particularly among the country's large Shi'a community. The Shi'a are the single largest religious group in Lebanon, probably comprising at least 48% of the three million citizens (see Demographics of Lebanon). The President of Lebanon, Emile Lahoud, said: "For us Lebanese, and I can tell you the majority of Lebanese, Hezbollah is a national resistance movement. If it wasn't for them, we couldn't have liberated our land. And because of that, we have big esteem for the Hezbollah movement."
Since Israel left Southern Lebanon, Hezbollah has been the military defense of the area and has acted as the areas army. Despite no official declaration, the stated policy of the Lebanese Government has considered the Hezbollah the army of South Lebanon. The Lebanese goverment has recently stated it has considered revoking this status but has not yet acted to do so, and hence Hezbollah could actually be considered an army not a terrorist organisation.

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On May 25, 2000, Israel withdrew from Lebanon to the UN-agreed Israeli border, and their pullout was certified by the UN as complete.[10]. However, Hezbollah claims the Shebaa Farms, a 35 km² area, which is still occupied by Israel, to be Lebanese territory, and on that basis has continued to engage Israeli forces in that area. The UN recognizes the Shebaa farms as part of the Golan Heights, and thus occupied Syrian (and not Lebanese) territory.

Israeli aircraft continue to fly over Lebanese territory, eliciting condemnation from the ranking UN representative in Lebanon. Hezbollah's retaliatory anti-aircraft fire, doubling as small caliber artillery, has on some occasions landed within Israel's northern border towns, inciting condemnation from the UN Secretary-General . On November 7, 2004, Hezbollah responded to what it described as repeated Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace by flying an Iranian-built unmanned drone aircraft over northern Israel.
Hezbollah abducted three Israel Defense Forces soldiers during an October 2000 attack in Shebaa Farms, and sought to obtain the release of 14 Lebanese prisoners, some of whom had been held since 1978. On January 25, 2004, Hezbollah successfully negotiated through German mediators Israel agreed on an exchange of prisoners. The prisoner swap was carried out on January 29: 30 Lebanese and Arab prisoners, the remains of 60 Lebanese militants and civilians, 420 Palestinian prisoners, and maps showing Israeli mines in South Lebanon were exchanged for an Israeli businessman and army reserve colonel Elchanan Tenenbaum kidnapped in 2001 and the remains of the three IDF soldiers mentioned above, who were killed either during the Hezbollah operation, or in its immediate aftermath.

On July 19, 2004, a senior Hezbollah official, Ghaleb Awwali, was assassinated in a car bombing in Beirut. Hezbollah blamed Israel; credit was claimed, and then retracted, by a previously unheard of Sunni group called Jund Ash Sham, while Israel denied involvement. According to Al-Arabiya, unidentified Lebanese police also identified the group as a cover for Israel. Israel alleges that Hezbollah had been increasingly involved in training and arming Hamas (see section in this article: Hezbollah activities in the al-Aqsa Intifada.) This claim has been strengthened by Nasrallah's own words. In 2001 Jordan arrested three Hezbollah members attempting to smuggle Katyusha rockets into the West Bank. Nasrallah responded that "it is a duty to send arms to Palestinians from any possible place."After Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Hezbollah attacked the IDF along the Blue Line. Most recently, during Awwali's funeral, Nasrallah proclaimed that Awwali was "among the team that dedicated their lives in the last few years to help their brothers in occupied Palestine", which some take to refer to aiding Hamas. On February 9, 2005 Palestinian Authority officials blamed Hezbollah of attempting to derail the recent truce between Israel and Palestine by offering increased funding and bonuses to the militant cells it operates in Israel for any attack they carry out

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On September 2, 2004, the UN Security Council adopted UN Security Council Resolution 1559, coauthored by France and the United States. Echoing the Taif Agreement, the resolution "calls upon all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon" and "for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias." Lebanon is currently in violation of Resolution 1559 over its refusal to disband the military wing of Hezbollah. Syria was also in violation of the resolution until recently because of their military presence in Lebanon.

On October 7, 2004 the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reported to the Security Council regarding the lack of compliance with Resolution 1559. Mr. Annan concluded his report by saying: "It is time, 14 years after the end of hostilities and four years after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, for all parties concerned to set aside the remaining vestiges of the past. The withdrawal of foreign forces and the disbandment and disarmament of militias would, with finality, end that sad chapter of Lebanese history."

The January 20, 2005 UN Secretary-General's report on Lebanon stated that "The continually asserted position of the Government of Lebanon that the Blue Line is not valid in the Shab'a farms area is not compatible with Security Council resolutions. The Council has recognized the Blue Line as valid for purposes of confirming Israel’s withdrawal pursuant to resolution 425 (1978 . The Government of Lebanon should heed the Council’s repeated calls for the parties to respect the Blue Line in its entirety."

On January 28, 2005 UN Security Council Resolution 1583 called upon the Government of Lebanon to fully extend and exercise its sole and effective authority throughout the south, including through the deployment of sufficient numbers of Lebanese armed and security forces, to ensure a calm environment throughout the area, including along the Blue Line, and to exert control over the use of force on its territory and from it.

On January 23, 2006 the UN Security Council called on the Government of Lebanon to make more progress in controlling its territory and disbanding militias, while also calling on Syria to cooperate with those efforts. In a statement read out by its January President, Augustine Mahiga of Tanzania, the Council also called on Syria to take measures to stop movements of arms and personnel into Lebanon

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In December 2001 three Hezbollah operatives were caught in Jordan while attempting to bring BM-13 Katyusha rockets into the West Bank. Syed Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah, responded that "It is every freedom loving peoples right and duty against occupation to send arms to Palestinians from any possible place."

During 2002, 2003 and 2004, the Israeli Security Forces thwarted numerous suicide bombing attacks, some of which Israel claims were planned and funded by Hezbollah and were to have been carried out by Tanzim (Fatah's armed wing) activists. Israeli officials accused Hezbollah of aiding Palestinian terrorism and participating in weapon smuggling .

On June 16, 2004, two Palestinian girls — aged 14 and 15 — were arrested by the Israeli Defense Forces for plotting a suicide bombing. [26] According to an IDF statement, the two minors were recruited by Tanzim activists.On June 23, 2004, another allegedly Hezbollah-funded suicide bombing attack was foiled by the Israeli security forces.

In February 2005 the Palestinian Authority accused Hezbollah of attempting to derail the truce signed with Israel. Palestinian officials and former militants described how Hezbollah promised an increase in funding for any occupation resistance group able to carry out an attack on Israeli military targets .

Since the May 2000 Israeli withdrawal, Hezbollah has continued fighting the IDF around the disputed 35 km² Shebaa Farms area on the Lebanese-Syrian border.


Some argue that Hezbollah is being used by Syria and Iran as a proxy against Israel.

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God's assassins

The Lebanese Hezbollah and the fundamentalist regime ruling Iran!!!

The Lebanese Hezbollah is intimately linked with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and their personnel have been stationed in joint camps and headquarters in the Bekka Valley in Lebanon and in Iran. In 1983 the Lebanese Hezbollah suicide bombers attacked the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people including 17 Americans. Six month later, Lebanese Hezbollah suicide bombers attacked U.S. Marine barracks killing 241 U.S. Marines.

Moreover, Lebanese Hezbollah kidnaped numerous journalists, scholars, and other non-combatants in Lebanon in the 1980s, with the support of the fundamentalist regime. In the 1980s the Lebanese Hezbollah kidnaped 18 Americans; three of the of kidnaped were killed and the rest released after the Iranian regime told them to release them after making secret negotiations with the U.S. in what became known as the Iran-Contra affair.[1]

Lebanese Hezbollah was also responsible for hijacking of a Kuwaiti civilian airliner. The fundamentalist regime in Iran has also given harbor to Imad Mugniyah, a leader of Lebanese Hezbollah and the mastermind of several terrorist actions including the hijacking of the TWA jetliner in 1985, and the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut.[2]

The fundamentalist regime does not deny its financial and strategic support and alliance with the Lebanese Hezbollah, but it regards it to be a guerrilla organization and not a terrorist organization. Imad Mugniyah, however, who had been residing in Iran, reportedly quietly left Iran after 9/11.

The fundamentalist regime has denied that its agents have engaged in terrorism, although in many Western European courts, its agents have been arrested and convicted and imprisoned for assassination of Iranian dissidents. The regime has also used its proxy, the Lebanese Hezbollah, in assassinations in Europe.

One infamous case is the Mykonos assassinations in Berlin where a German court convicted officials of the fundamentalist regime for the murder of four Iranian dissidents. According to Parviz Dastmalchi, who survived the assassination attempt and is regarded as one of the foremost scholars on the event:

"In the weeks following the assassinations, several persons were arrested, among them one Iranian and four Lebanese citizens. The arrested person who was the main organizer of the terror is Kazem Darabi Kazerouni who was sentenced to life in prison and in currently in a prison in Berlin. Kazem Darabi Kazerouni is a member of VEVAK [the Ministry of Intelligence and Security of the Country] and a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. ...The liaison between Kazem Darabi Kazerouni and the VEVAK in the country [Germany] was a person in Bonn named Hassan Javadi who was a diplomat. He [Hassan Javadi] left the country in October 1989 and was replaced with Morteza Gholami.

Also Kazem Darabi Kazerouni was in contact with Mr. Amani Farahani, the Consul-General in Berlin whose main duty was to gather intelligence on Iranian opposition and other related intelligence work. Mr. Darabi was a member of the Muslim Student Association in Europe, in the Berlin branch. The Muslim Student Association was one of Hezbollah organizations in Europe that the intelligence organizations of the regime hired its agents from among them.

Other colleagues of Darabi in this group were Farhad Diyanat Sabet Gilani and Bahman Berenjian, both of whom were also members of VEVAK. Mr. Darabi in 1982 along with 85 members of Hezbollah of Iran and Lebanon attacked a dormitory occupied by Iranian students in West of Mainz, which resulted in the death of one person and injury of several others. Darabi was arrested then and convicted and sentenced to 8 months imprisonment and expulsion from Germany. But with the intervention of Iran’s Ambassador in Bonn, he was released.

The terror team stayed in Darabi’s house for two days and then stayed in a second house belonging to Bahman Berenjian....

Another person who was arrested is Mr. Abbas Rayel who is Lebanese. This is the person who shot the last bullets to finish off the murder victims. In the years 1985 and 1986 in a camp belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards close to Rasht, he was given terrorist training for six months and he was a member of Lebanese Hezbollah. He was convicted in the court and sentenced to life and is currently in prison.

Another person who was arrested is Youssef Amin who was guarding the entrance door of the restaurant (the terrorist who closed the door and stood in front of the door). This person, like Abbas Rayel, is also a member of Lebanese Hezbollah and received terrorist training close to Rasht. He was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment.

Two other persons were also arrested. One is Mr. Mohammad “Idris” and the other one is Mr. Ataollah Ayad, the first one a member of Lebanese Hezbollah and the other one a member of Shia Amal of Lebanon. These two were in the organizing section of the operations. There was one other person who is a member of Lebanese Hezbollah whose name is Ali Sabra who was responsible for buying a car. Sabra was able to escape Germany and go back to Lebanon and currently is one of the personal security guards of Sheikh Fazlollah, the leader of Hezbollah of Lebanon.

Another person is Abu Jafar also known as Abu Heydar who was also a member of Lebanese Hezbollah, which was created in 1982 with budget and training of its cadres by the Islamic Republic. He was the driver of the get-away car of the terrorist who carried out the operations at Mykonos restaurant. After the operations, he escaped to Lebanon and then to Iran and is currently employed in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

But the most important of them all was the person who was not arrested was a person with the name Abdol-Raham Bani-Hashemi who was also know as Abu Sharif. He was the main person with machine gun who was leading the operational team. He is a highly trained terrorist who works directly under Fallahian [then Minister of Intelligence]. On August 18, 1987, he had assassinated an officer of Iranian air force pilot named Talebi in Geneva. After the assassination in Berlin, Abu Sharif goes to Iran through Turkey and was awarded a Mercedes Benz. In addition, he is given shares of several factories belonging to VEVAK and other bonyads....

At the court it was brought out that none of the assassins knew the murder victims and did not have any personal animosities. Therefore, they were given a mission from someone or some ones. In the court proceedings, and after the witness accounts of Mr. Abol-Qassem Mesbahi, who was one of the senior officials of VEVAK and the Director of Terror Network in Western Europe, it’s become clear (he provided testimony) that these terrors both inside and outside Iran were ordered directly by Ayatollah Khomeini as long as he was alive, and after his death, a committee was established called Special Committee. This Special Committee would make decisions on who should be eliminated in the opposition inside Iran and outside Iran.

The head of the committee is the Supreme Leader Ali Khamanehi and includes President, Minister of Intelligence, Foreign Minister, Head of Council of Guardians, and Head of IRGC. The decision to assassinate is made by the Special Committee and then can be carried out with the consent of the Supreme Leader. For implementation, the order is forwarded to another committee called Qasr Firooz Committee. The Qasr Firooz Committee draws up a plan for the implementation of the murders and a copy is sent to Supreme Leader for his approval and another to the President for his approval. [3]

The use of Lebanese assassins to kill Iranian opposition members was not new. In 1981, the regime has used Anis Naghash, a Lebanese, to assassinate Dr. Shapour Bakhtiar. The would-be assassin failed in his attempt to kill Bakhtiar, but in the process killed a French policewoman and a French bystander. Ali Akbar Velayati, the IRI’s Foreign Minister, heavily lobbied the French government, which agreed to extradite the convinced killer to Iran.

The fundamentalist regime death squad, however, succeeded in their second serous attempt ten years later. On August 6, 1991, three members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ death squad killed Dr. Bakhtiar and his assistant, Mr. Soroush Katibeh in their Paris residence. One of the assassins was arrested, convicted and imprisoned in France; two other members of the assassination team, Fereydoun Boyerahmadi and Mohammad Azadi, succeeded in escaping to Iran.

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Hezbollah conscience and Hamas's political pragmatism should take lessons from 1948, 1967 and 1973. All wars have only helped in making Israel a bigger and stronger nation and left them to live in squalid conditions. Palestinians and Lebanese do not deserve it. And what does Iran have to do with it? Iran is only using the Palestinians and the Shiites in Southern Lebanon for harboring their own agenda in the Persian Gulf.

If Iran thinks it can get away with this kind of irresponsible attitude just across the border in the South of Lebanon, then it is wrong. This kind of aggression has not paid before and it will not pay now. These are the kinds of self-defeating aims that Arab warriors, like Saddam, claimed as a great victory, which is nothing but opiate-induced slogans.

In every Middle Eastern war the so-called triumph is achieved through tremendous loss of life with a ratio of 1 to 1000 against the Arabs and 1 to 1 billion in terms of economic losses, what kind of success is this, what breed of loser mentality is this? Lets not spill innocent blood in Palestine and Lebanon in name of Jihad! Enough is enough; this lunacy has to stop somewhere.

The politics of decreasing returns is a part and parcel of the Middle Eastern politics. The return to 1967 borders has now become a legitimate call, whereas in 1967, these very people in search of total victory had helped grow Israel by four times through a war imposed to wipe out Israel. When are they going to understand that taking on an enemy that has far greater firepower than them is stupid? Much as the spirit of the sacrifice in the name of Allah can be longed-for, how much more blood needs to be shed to realize that one who has more power and more authority shall prevail in this outlandish battle of lopsided wills.

Today the same bigots who thought that they could wipe clean Israel in 1967 or in 1973 are taking on a war they can never win; the same bigots, if they had nuclear weapons, will use them to wipe out their archenemy. Knowing all this background of Iranian- Syrian involvement in the crisis, it is definitely beyond abduction of few soldiers; it is about captivating the attention away from the main crisis of enrichment. Israelis have been given a golden chance on a platter to clean the irritants that can threaten their security.

The idea that Israelis will overlook these attacks as something to worry about later is nothing but the imaginings of idealists. Hezbollah, given a chance, will use nuclear tipped missiles to bomb the cities they are now bombing with some silly toy missiles. This shall open the eyes of the peace lobby, the greatest friends of withdrawal from occupied territories, by being belligerent to the last extent; new battle lines that are 'we' or 'them' have been drawn.

And finally we have an explosion on our hands! Hezbollah are a proxy of Iranian intentions in ME. Iranians have a clear message, 'You stop our enrichment we will instigate trouble in southern Lebanon.' By letting Iran become a nuclear power and giving into Hezbollah 'Haifa' threats now, Israel thinks that they shall unbolt an access that compromises its future security. That scenario would not come to pass; Haifa bombing achieved what Saddam 'scuds' could not in 1990.

No sovereign nation can exist with unsafe boundaries and missiles in the hands of uncontrolled militia 20 miles south of Haifa. If anyone has any doubt that Haifa bombing will go unnoticed, they are simply underestimating Israeli zeal. Israelis are sons of Isaac and like sons of Ishmael shall go by the book, an eye for an eye, and this time Hezbollah may have to be routed out of southern Lebanon much more drastically than 1993 and 1996 operation grapes of wrath. Iran and Hezbollah have totally misjudged and underestimated Israeli resolve. This is self-defeatism at its peak.

In the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Nasrullah explained that "death to America is not a slogan. Death to America is a policy, a strategy and a vision."

Despite all this, Washington has wisely decided not to press its "zero tolerance" terrorism policy in Lebanon...yet. The problem with the policy is, of course, the implication that zero terrorism will be tolerated. While an admirable notion, the practical application of zero tolerance is a decidedly tricky thing, especially in the ever-ready-to-explode environment of the Middle East.

Heroic fighters to some, dangerous militia to others. The bloody fight that Hezbollah* picked with Israel has deepened a longtime divide in Lebanon. While Hezbollah supporters celebrated in the streets, other Lebanese were furious at being dragged into a costly confrontation with the Jewish state.

Throughout the 1980s, the nation of Lebanon had a number of deeply complex and storied problems worthy of a 400,000-word explanatory thesis, condensable to four words: There was no government.

Lebanon had hosted thousands of Palestinian refugees in the 1970s. At the end of the decade, Israel invaded Lebanon to get at Palestinian terrorists. They decimated the country before withdrawing under heavy U.N. pressure. In the ensuing power vacuum, virtually every religious and ethnic group in the country formed its own gang, clique or terrorist cabal.

Hezbollah was one of those cabals. Backed by Iran and Syria, Hezbollah's original goals were to end the Israeli occupation of Lebanon and to institute a Shi'ite Islamic theocracy. The group later expanded these goals to include liberating the Palestinian territories and dropped its theocratic aspirations in favor of participating in a parliamentary government.

Hezbollah used terrorist tactics to push its political agenda, which slowly but surely drove Israel out of Lebanon, inch by bloody inch. It became famous as an innovator in suicide bombing, as well as kidnapping Westerners, hijacking aircrafts, and other terrorist activity. A 1983 terrorist bombing in Beirut that killed 241 Marines has been tied to Hezbollah and Iran (although it's also been tied to half a dozen other groups as well). This attack is widely considered to mark the dawn of the modern age of terrorism. After a similar attack in 1984, the tough-talking Reagan Administration got the hell out of Lebanon, an embarrassing retreat that most Americans don't like to talk about or even remember.

We worry about the disproportionate response of the Israelis, but it is clear they will not give up. They continue to protect their own and act to ensure their safety. They respect the dead bodies of their soldiers even if they were selling hashish. With the hindsight of history, if the body politic does not realize Israel's resolve, then it is wrong. Crying about civilians and the destruction of their own infrastructures only is nothing but denial of ground realities. T

his has to be a wake up call. Religious bigotry is killing the nations, both the Palestinian and the Lebanese. Who will wake them up? Bombs have destroyed electrical power supplies in this summer heat of 100ºF. Do they realize how it feels to be without basic necessities in scorching conditions and having to make do with contaminated water? It is a shame. It is like a current carrying children to the killing fields.

Far reaching brunt of attack on Haifa will be soon felt all across the Middle East. The story of 'war of dogs' being unleashed does not begin with the abduction of two soldiers who were selling hashish to the Lebanese; there is definite history of injustice. On that count Syrians and Lebanese officials are right. It dates back to 40 years of 'illegal occupation.' However the most surprising part of the language is the final admission of only 40 years of illegal occupation, not decimation of an illegitimate entity. The war of 1967 was imposed to free Arab land from the occupation by an illegitimate entity since 1948. Finally the legitimate entity is recognised, albeit diplomatically, but after what a colossal loss!

Hamas and Hezbollah's self-destructive policies have not helped the Middle East. Their inability to threaten or annihilate Israel's existence only succeeds in making Israel's cause and action more justifiable. It is a well-known established norm of society to not take up fights against someone stronger and more powerful than themselves; it is a sheer exercise in futility.

In the wake of 9/11, one should take care of their self-interest. How is any self-interest served by getting the infrastructure and electricity of Gaza and South Lebanon knocked out? To embark on such an aggressive self-destructive course every few years cannot and is not helpful to the Palestinians. This exercise does not help in this modern day and age. The Iranian armoury of Akatusha-122 or Fajr-5 or C802 will not tip the balance of power in the Middle East; it will only ensure total destruction of the Hezbollah and along with it the innocent civilian populations.

Attacks on Haifa have taken the crisis to a new level; a crisis that threatens nuclear blackmail down the line in Middle East. To avoid that scenario, the stage has been set to wipe out Hezbollah. The Hezbollites with their absurd and futile decisions have signed their death warrants in South of Lebanon. It is either going to be 'them' or 'Israel' who will be triumphant and any pragmatic strategist would recognise that. It is going to be most probably the former and not the latter that will pay a very heavy price for this adventure.

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The international community will not be a fool to intervene, nor will Israelis allow these toy missiles to play havoc with their citizens' safety. Israelis will not be a fool to let these snakes prevail in their vicinity. All this shall be forgotten soon. The story of missed opportunities is the story of Middle Eastern political saga but the massive price that poor Lebanese civilians and Palestinians pay for the outrageous and pointless politics of Hamas and Hezbollah are too precipitous.

Take a lesson from Qaddafi. After Lockerbie, see how he conducts himself. He paid a price and donned on a not-seen-not-heard cloak. Take lessons from 1990 or the occupation of Golan Heights or Gaza or the West Bank. The way to get back occupied lands is through love and peace, and diplomatic negotiations. The Lebanese South is embracing the era of diminishing political returns with renewed enthusiasm under Hezbollahs.

Palestinian or Lebanese nations cannot be made hostage to whims and sloganism of extremist ideological leadership. One should not forget that the Palestinian liberation is a secular cause; same is the case with Lebanon, a secular constitution. Not everyone has an ideological war with Israel. Iranian-backed Hezbollites have hijacked and taken part of nations, who don't agree with them, as hostage, and this is the kind of agenda that has to be rejected.

Look at the banality of arguments. They say the whole story of the crisis does not start from the kidnap of Israeli soldiers; it has history. According to their convoluted logic, the soldiers would not have been kidnapped had they not jailed thousands of Palestinians and Lebanese. So, let's work it this way. The "logical" line of action would be that Israelis should unilaterally release all prisoners, then they should withdraw to 1973 borders. When that happens, ask Israelis to go back to 1967 borders. When that is agreed, go back to 1948 borders. Demands since the last 58 years of Israel's existence has been to annihilate Israel, and then that changed to some kind of acceptance to 1967 positioning.

But, had they accepted the 1948 borders, the '67 war would not have happened, nor the 1973 war. By rejecting the state of Israel, they have lost more areas, more territory and become subservient to Israel as a nation. And today, it is Israel that has nuclear armoury in its possession. And today, Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollites proved once again, as they have demonstrated to the world time and time again, that Arabs are incapable of being a responsible nation and thus not to be trusted with any nuclear prowess.

The sad irony is that when things go out of hand, who do they run to? The "Great Satan." What kind of politics or intelligence is this? After getting their entire infrastructure and electricity knocked out, they are going back to square one. Do they realize that this costly gamble and "gainsmanship" only helps the so-called "great satan" companies who supply the turbine and economic facilities?

This nonsensical struggle is nothing but self-destruction feeding their own suicidal streak; sacrificing an entire nation and using them as "suicide bombers." This cannot be overlooked. Every sensible and reasonable person should condemn it. Be realistic. Don't do things that force one to beg the "Great Satan's" help. Let's not multiply the conflicts to a level where the infrastructure in Damascus or Tehran is taken out which is possible within thirty minutes.

By continuing their policies, they are ensuring a comprehensive destruction. By taking out a few people in Haifa or Tel Aviv will not weaken Israeli resolve, but only strengthen them to take these future threats out of the equation. This is the death of pragmatism within the bird-brained megalomaniacs ruling Iran and the Hezbollites.

The victory that Hezbollah seems to strive on is through death warrant strapped around the neck of a entire nation, this is collective 'suicide bombing' of an unwilling nation of Lebanon is achieved through Lebanon being taken as a hostage. This lunacy, idiocy and imprudence should be strongly condemned and resisted. Lebanon needs to be freed form the suicide belt strapped around their necks!

[Rasputin]

The asymmetrical warfare between a US-backed regional superpower and an Islamist resistance movement ill-equipped to reciprocate in kind the deadly, punishing blows by its adversary is now entering its second week with no sign of abating.

Both militarily, politically and diplomatically, both sides in this "widening war" have mirror-imaged each other by targeting cities and towns and villages rather indiscriminately, even though the



death and destruction wrought by Israel's state-of-the-art weaponry dwarfs by a vast margin the damages exacted by Hezbollah's rather primitive rockets.

Irrespective, Hezbollah can boast about both its steadfastness in the face of relentless bombardment reminiscent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's bombardment of Serbia in the summer 1999. It can also take heart from its unprecedented ability to shower northern Israel with rocket attacks, bringing normal life for a full one third of the state of Israel to a virtual standstill.

The key question is, of course, how long Hezbollah can withstand the Israeli air and (increasingly) ground onslaught without running out of ammunition, logistic support and sheer will power. A war of attrition, when Israel's arsenal is fully and quickly replenished by the US, according to press reports, while Hezbollah's supply routes are choked off, is not in Hezbollah's strategic interests.

But, that may be inevitable since Israel has publicly devoted itself to dismantling Hezbollah's military infrastructure "once and for all" and, yet, the air campaign will in all likelihood fall dreadfully short of this objective. Crippling Hezbollah, albeit temporarily, may be the maximum achievable by the Israeli air campaign.

Israel's incremental ground invasion
As of this writing, Israel's army has penetrated some three miles inside Lebanon, capturing some villages, while massing troops at the border in anticipation of a potential full-scale invasion. This has the dual objective of eliminating Hezbollah's strongholds near the border and creating a "deep buffer".

Mindful of history, when Hezbollah's guerrillas waged an ultimately successful counter-strategy that forced Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Israel is fully aware of the "war trap" and is seeking a working formula whereby it can accomplish its ultimate war objectives short of re-occupying parts of Lebanon.

The war's pattern of escalation may, on the other hand, create its own momentum toward large-scale invasion, in which case, all roads will lead to Beirut. This is the main reason that Hezbollah's hot pursuit by Israeli forces will culminate in urban warfare in Beirut's vicinity and, indeed, the entire length of the capital city presently under siege.

Thus, Israel's military conundrum: settling fpr less than full victory against the determined Hezbollah will scar Israel's military prestige and, yet, the price of total victory may prove too high, in terms of destruction of Lebanon and the level of tolerance of international public opinion. Worse, there is no guarantee that Israel's quest for total destruction of Hezbollah will succeed. In fact, Beirut may prove to be the Arabs' Stalingrad, delivering a stunning blow to the invading Israeli army at the end of a bloody campaign.

With the war beginning to galvanize the Arab street, a protracted conflict will bring al-Qaeda to Lebanon in hordes, thus exponentially widening the net of Arab terrorism. A timely unifying development potentially putting to the backburner the present Sunni-Shi'ite schism turning violent in Iraq and Pakistan, the war in Lebanon is also proving a critical antidote to Lebanese factionalism, in light of the announcement by various Lebanese leaders that Lebanon will stand united against an Israeli invasion.

Western military analysts have readily dismissed the Lebanese Army as "no match" for Israel, which is true, but the 60,000 standing army can quickly double in size through a general mobilization, as well as by accepting recruits from other Arab and Muslim nations.

Besides, Lebanon's premier has already alluded to turning his army into a guerrilla-type army, which has the advantage of familiarity with the terrain, fighting a war of independence and self-determination against what is perceived as a ruthless enemy which has not spared even Beirut's hospitals. Lebanon may be physically devastated now, but politically it has demonstrated an admirable new maturity bound to be praised by future historians.

The war on the diplomatic front
"There is no diplomacy," decried the Lebanon's man at the UN after a week of bloodshed passively observed by the United Nations, despite a formal complaint lodged by Lebanon at the Security Council.

Ignoring repeated pleas by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for an immediate ceasefire, backed by certain European governments, such as France and practically the entire bloc of developing nations known as the Non-Aligned Movement, the US has singlehandedly brought the Security Council to a state of paralysis. The feeble argument of its envoy John Bolton is that we "must wait and see what the military outcome will be" and that to do otherwise is "putting the cart before the horse".

This even though the UN Charter and the council's mandate is to prevent armed conflicts and to institute peace in inter-state conflicts. Such mockery of the UN's role simply adds another fresh log to the burning furnace of anti-Americanism running rampant in the Middle East and, indeed, the entire Muslim World.

The US's justification that "Israel has the right to defend herself" is not once extended to the oppressed Palestinian people, who have been enduring the most horrific series of air and ground assaults. According to the Palestinian envoy to the UN, who reported to the Security Council on Friday, Israel has conducted over 100 air strikes and shelled Gaza more than 1,100 times.

The US Congress has self-limited itself to uncritical support for Israel, passing a resolution condemning Syria and Iran, without even bothering with the previous niceties of keeping a facade of fairness.

A new resolution by the House of Representative calls for the release of kidnapped Israeli soldiers, without mentioning the fact, cited by the London Observer, that a day prior to the kidnapping of a soldier by Hamas, Israeli commandos violated Gaza's territorial sovereignty by "abducting" two Hamas members. In fairness, respected US lawmakers should similarly ask for Israel's release of detained Arabs.

Few US politicians dare to criticize Israel's destruction of much of the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority, imprisonment of dozens of Palestinian lawmakers and half its cabinet ministers.

A just reaction by Congress would be to openly entertain reprisals against Israel if it refused to halt its deadly campaign. A range of options must be explored: reducing military exchanges, freezing the delivery of weapons purchased by Israel and scaling down military-to-military cooperation.

Also, Washington can threaten to withdraw economic assistance, delay investments, freeze preferential trade agreements and dissolve joint economic projects, and, in the worst-case scenario, freeze economic assets.

Short of the US heavily weighing in on Israel, the threat of escalation potentially harming the US's strategic interests in the region for a long time looms on the horizon.

As US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice begins her journey to "the region", which reportedly does not include any Arab capital, in spite of Syria's declared willingness to engage in dialogue with the US, it is abundantly clear that this is mainly diplomatic window dressing for Israel's war efforts.

Rice's bravado about a "new Middle East" is vacuous, in light of the Bush administration's lop-sided pro-Israel stance and the previous absence of any initiative whatsoever toward resolving the Palestinian "issue". And, if the US and Israel are warming to the notion of an international buffer force at the Israel-Lebanese border, it is less because of the US's concern for peace and more due to the failure of Israel to break the back of Lebanon and its fears of a war trap mentioned above.

Hezbollah's option: Unilateral ceasefire
Hezbollah is the sole Arab entity that has delivered a stunning blow to Israel by forcing it to depart from Lebanon after 18 years of combat, one main reason for its immense popularity in Lebanon and the wider region.

Far from a "terror group pure and simple" as repeatedly labeled by US government leaders, Hezbollah is a well-entrenched politico-military movement participating in the national life of Lebanon while, simultaneously, acting as a welfare arm of the Lebanese system by providing basic welfare services to its largely underclass mass constituency.

Clearly, Hezbollah is not a foreign army, like the Palestinian Liberation Organization, that would be forced to flee the country. Rather, it is a home-grown phenomenon deeply immersed in the fabric of Lebanese society and its collective identity.

At the same time, that is not to say that Hezbollah is beyond critical reproach. For one thing, by targeting civilians in Israel, Hezbollah has put itself on the same (im)moral equation as the state of Israel presently terrorizing the entire Lebanese nation. But, a more prudent strategy by Hezbollah may be to unilaterally declare a ceasefire and avoid any more rocket attacks on northern Israel, focusing on the Israeli ground forces making incursions into Lebanon.

Second, Israel would be hard-pressed by the international community to continue with its aerial assault on Lebanon in the aftermath of Hezbollah's unilateral ceasefire, and the more Israel sustains this the more isolated it will find itself internationally, given the tide of world opinion already horrified by the colossal damages to Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

مجله اشترن، چاپ آلمان، درشماره جديد خود، به همراه يك گزارش تصويری از جنگ لبنان، اين نقشه را نيز منتشر كرد. در سمت راست اين نقشه، سلاح های ساخت ايران كه دراختيار حزب الله لبنان است، با مشخصات كامل معرفی شده است. 1- موشك های كاتيوشا با كاليبر 122 ميليمتر و قدرت حمل 18كيلو مواد انفجاری و 20 كيلومتر بُرد.2- فجر 3 و فجر 5 با 45 تا 75 كيلومتر بُرد و كلاهك حمل 45 تا 90 كيلو مواد انفجاری. 3- موشك كوتاه بُرد زلزال 2 كه 100 تا 200 كيلومتر بُرد دارد و كلاهك انفجاری آن 600 كيلوست.4- C– 802- مارش فلوكب (كلاهك برنده) كه از روی مدل چينی تقليد شده است با بُرد 120 كيلومتر و كلاهك انفجاری 165 كيلوئی.
در سمت چپ عكس، آريش نظامی كشتی های جنگی اسرائيل ديده می شود كه توپخانه آن ها لبنان را می كوبد. در وسط عكس جبهه جنگ است. لكه های قرمز نقاطی است كه اسرائيل بمباران كرده و لكه های زرد نقاطی در داخل اسرائيل است كه حزب الله بطرف آنها موشك پرانی كرده است. يك موشك نيز به يكی از كشتی های اسرائيل اصابت كرده كه درعكس و بصورت لكه زرد مشخص است.