Core of the Word War: Israel:Iran, Syria, Hamasian Palestaine & Hizbullahland Lebanon > hostilities continue

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A survey of the last week's developments in the core of the world war being waged by Islamofascism and its sponsors, the "rogue states" of Iran and Syria (as Condoleezza Rice calls them).

"War defeats diplomacy," here's another one by the pretentious leftwiing know-it-all Paul Rogers, in the pretntious leftwing know-it-all OpenDemocracy (Jul 18,2k6). Nevertheless, the mag and the article are must reads, even tho the brunt is blame-Israel-for-defending=itself.

In the final analysis there is no alternative to a peace settlement encompassing the creation of a viable Palestinian state.

There is little chance of that even beginning to be recognised in the current insecure environment within Israel. It is made even less likely by the solid support from the Bush administration, due in no small measure to the political significance of Christian Zionism in the United States (see David Brog's new book, Standing with Israel: Why Christians Support the Jewish State, Front Line Books, 2006).

Almost a week into the war, a weak and disunited Europe concentrates on evacuating its citizens from Lebanon, and the United States displays a special sense of irony by chartering a cruise ship to do the same. At present, the prospects for peace are minimal.

First, let me state that I am no Christian zionist. Second, historically, since George Washington's letter to the synogogue in New England, the USA has been a friend of Jews, and by extension since 1948, a friend of israel. This national legacy of friendship is stronger than some American Christains anti-semitism, some American Christian's doctrinalistic "zionism" (a heresy to be sure), and some efforts toward inter-state friendships between America and a number of Islamic states. Loyalty to a very longterm friend outweighs efforts to widen the circle of friendship that simply don't count as much. That's a secular valuation that isn't secularistic but a part of a Christian political ethos, a blibical secularity (as Henk hart used to put the matter).

"South Lebanon bears war's brunt," Nicholas Blandford

The bombing of roads and bridges linking the south to the rest of Lebanon has created a zone, UN peacekeepers here say, for the Israeli military to pursue its campaign against Lebanon's Hizbullah guerrillas. But it is civilians who are bearing the brunt of the conflict between the two old foes.

"They are only hitting civilians, not members of the party," Jaafar charges, referring to Hizbullah fighters. "They take out one house, and with it a whole family dies."

According to eyewitness accounts from survivors interviewed by the Monitor, Israel is striking homes, schools, town centers, using bombs that obliterate entire buildings. Israel is targeting the region because it is a Hizbullah stronghold and the base for rocket attacks on northern Israel.

Vehicles, including ambulances, according to hospital workers, have been shelled by gunboats and have been hit by helicopter gunfire. Even the Jabel Amel Hospital in Tyre has been hit, struck early Sunday morning by a missile, demolishing an entire wing and killing a family of nine.

A detail on the UN presence in Lebanon, which has done nothing to stop Hizbullah's assaults on Israel all along:

Even the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL) has found itself unable to dispatch urgently needed relief convoys into the beleaguered villages of the border area to evacuate terrified residents or supply drinking water and basic staples.

A convoy of Chinese UNIFIL engineers dispatched to recover the bodies of the Qudsi family outside Tyre was forced to turn back when the road it was traveling along came under fire from artillery and Israeli navy gunboats.

UNIFIL's civilian staff have been evacuated from its headquarters in the coastal village of Naqoura, one mile north of the border, and have taken refuge in the Rest House hotel on the Tyre sea front.

Although UNIFIL is pressing the Israelis to allow it freedom of movement in the south, the peacekeepers estimate that its supply of fuel for trucks and armored personnel carriers will run out by the weekend which will completely paralyze the force until it can be resupplied from Beirut.

"Haifa residents quietly persevere," Josua Mitnick, CSM (Jul 19,2k6)

At least 50 Hizbullah rockets struck northern Israel Tuesday and at least four hit Haifa. At least one Israeli was killed in Tuesday's attacks. So far the militant Lebanese Shiites have fired some 750 rockets into northern Israel since the Israeli offensive began July 12.

But with a naval base, a shipping port, and oil refineries, the vulnerability of Israel's third-largest city to Hizbullah rocket attacks has taken residents and the country off guard.

After nearly a week of Katyusha strikes that claimed eight fatalities, Haifa locals are staying home, shuttering businesses, and resigning themselves to ducking into shelters or stairwells at a moment's notice.

That's good news for Israel, because with civilians in the line of fire in this war, home-front morale will directly impact Israel's ability to prolong its effort to weaken Hizbullah.

"It's the first times time since the 1948 [Arab-Israeli] war that the Israeli home front has been so exposed to attack and by an outside party," says Sami Michael, an Israeli author who lives in Haifa. "The population is showing maturity in dealing with the situation."

"Q & A: Behind the Israel-Hisbullah crisis, Dan Murphy

, CSM (Jul 19,2k6). This article is a must read, if for new other reason than its explanation of the attacks on Israel to which it is now responding, and the role of Hisbullah in compromising the govt of Lebanon, which latter has given Hizbullah a licence to bombard Israel with a huge cache of "10,000 short-range rockets from Iran and has received training from Iran and Syria." Then, too, are Hizbullah's long-range missiles, regarding which the origin is not to difficult to guess.

Another detail of note:

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Tuesday for a bigger, better-armed and more robust international force to stabilize southern Lebanon and buy time for the Lebanese government to disarm Hizbullah.

Shrugging off US and Israeli reluctance, Mr. Annan said he expected European nations to contribute troops to the proposed force in a bid to end fighting between Israel and Hizbullah and prevent a wider Middle East conflagration.

"It is urgent that the international community acts to make a difference on the ground," Annan said.

"Beyond the war in Lebanon," Bahman Baktiari and Augustus Richard Norton , CSM (Jul 19,2k6)

To suggest that Hizbullah kidnapped the Israeli soldiers on the orders of Tehran and Damascus is to grossly oversimplify a strong strategic relationship between Hizbullah, Syria, and Iran. While there is certainly a shared geopolitical framework among the three, operational decisions are typically made by Hizbullah. In fact, the group has become increasingly autonomous since its triumph in 2000, when it basically forced Israel to withdraw from Lebanon.

The latest Hizbullah operation - in which eight Israeli soldiers were killed and two wounded - profoundly embarrassed the vaunted Israeli army. While it may have been tactically brilliant, it was clearly a strategic miscalculation. The action even surprised the Iranian leadership whose anti-Israel rhetoric often obscures a nuanced relationship with the group. Pragmatism, not ideology, has been the secret to Iranian success in Lebanon.

While Shiite supporters of Hizbullah celebrated the nabbing of Israeli soldiers, many others, including some Shiites, are angry that Hizbullah provided Israel an excuse to wreak havoc in their country, where more than 200 civilians have already been killed. Iran is now seeing decades of constructive engagement with various political parties in Lebanon endangered by this miscalculation.

Hizbullah is a major foreign policy success for the clerics in Iran. For more than 20 years, with Iran's aid, Hizbullah built an infrastructure of hospitals, aid organizations, media, and construction companies. This has been key to Hizbullah's evolving success as a political party and is the furthest reach of Iranian influence within an Arab Shiite group.

Since the triumph of 2000, Hasan Nasrallah, Hizbullah's secretary general, has enjoyed superstar status in the Arab world - mainly for leading the first Arab party to retrieve occupied Arab territories through armed resistance against Israel. He is articulate, analytically rigorous, and he usually delivers on his promises. He no doubt saw the July 12 operation that provided casus belli to Israel as an opportunity to stiffen the backs of the Palestinians, and to further bolster Hizbullah as an exemplar for resistance.

But strong criticism from Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia underlines that it behaved recklessly, and in doing so provided an excuse for Israel to launch a war that it has long prepared to fight. If Israeli generals delight in the prospect of cutting Hizbullah down to size, the more important dimension of Israel's new war is preparing the battlefield vis-à-vis Iran. Israeli generals have already asserted an Iranian role in the firing of a missile that disabled an Israeli naval ship, killing four sailors. If Hizbullah's capacity to bombard Israel is even significantly reduced, then it will be easier for Israel to attack Iran's nuclear sites later. Israel has obviously been preparing for such an attack for several years, and if the US and the other players in the so-called "Five plus One" fail in their efforts to temper Iran's nuclear programs, Israel will most likely move against Iran.

"Israeli Warplanes Target Suspected Hezbollah Bunker in Beirut," , Associated Press via FoxNews (Jul 19,2k6)

JERUSALEM — Israeli warplanes dropped bombs late Wednesday on a bunker in south Beirut where senior Hezbollah leaders were thought to be, the military said.

Military officials said a wave of aircraft dropped 23 tons of explosives on the bunker. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters, said top Hezbollah figures were thought to be there, possibly including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The officials said the bunker was in the Bourj al-Barajneh section of southern Beirut.

That's all I have for you today, dear refWrite readers.

-- Owlb