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Israel attacks Lebanon (2 Viewers)
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gerhard
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This is a good article
Is Damascus the Key? Beirut Waits
By ROBERT FISK
It's about Syria. That was the frightening message delivered by Damascus yesterday when it allowed its Hizbollah allies to cross the UN Blue Line in southern Lebanon, kill three Israeli soldiers, capture two others and demand the release of Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.
Within hours, a country that had begun to believe in peace--without a single Syrian soldier left on its soil--found itself once more at war.
Israel held the powerless Lebanese government responsible--as if the sectarian and divided cabinet in Beirut can control Hizbollah. That is Syria's message. Fouad Siniora, Lebanon's affable Prime Minister, may have thought he was running the country but it is President Bashar Assad in Damascus who can still bring life or death to a land that lost 150,000 lives in 15 years of civil conflict.
And there is one certain bet that Syria will rely on; that despite all Israel's threats of inflicting "pain" on Lebanon, this war will run out of control until--as has so often happened in the past--Israel itself calls for a ceasefire and releases prisoners. Then the international big-hitters will arrive and make their way to the real Lebanese capital Damascus, not Beirut--and appeal for help.
That is probably the plan. But will it work? Israel has threatened Lebanon's newly installed infrastructure and Hizbollah has threatened Israel with further conflict. And therein lies the problem; to get at Hizbollah, Israel must send its soldiers into Lebanon--and then it will lose more soldiers.
Indeed when a single Merkava tank crossed the border into Lebanon yesterday morning, it struck a Hizbollah mine, which killed three more Israelis.
Certainly Hizbollah's attack broke the United Nations rules in southern Lebanon--a "violent breach" of the Blue Line, it was called by Geir Pedersen, the senior UN official in the country--and was bound to unleash the air force, tanks and gunboats of Israel on to this frail, dangerous country. Many Lebanese in Beirut were outraged when gangs of Hizbollah supporters drove through the streets of the capital with party flags to "celebrate" the attack on the border.
Christian members of the Lebanese government were voicing increasing frustration at the Shia Muslim militia's actions--which only proved how powerless the Beirut administration is.
By nightfall, Israel's air raids had begun to spread across the country--the first civilians to die were killed when an aircraft bombed a small road bridge at Qasmiyeh--but would they go even further and include a target in Syria? This would be the gravest escalation so far and would have US as well as UN diplomats appealing for that familiar, tired quality--"restraint".
And prisoner swaps is probably all that will come of this. In January 2004, for example, Israel freed 436 Arab prisoners and released the bodies of 59 Lebanese for burial, in return for an Israeli spy and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers.
As long ago as 1985, three Israeli soldiers captured in 1982 were traded for 1,150 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners. So Hizbollah knows--and the Israelis know--how this cruel game is played. How many have to die before the swaps begin is a more important question.
What is also clear is that for the first time Israel is facing two Islamist enemies--in southern Lebanon and in Gaza--rather than nationalist guerrillas. The Palestinian Hamas movement's spokesmen in Lebanon yesterday denied that there was any co-ordination with Hizbollah. This may be literally true but Hizbollah timed its attack when Arab feelings are embittered by the international sanctions placed on the democratically elected Hamas government and then the war in Gaza. Hizbollah will ride the anger over Gaza in the hope of escaping condemnation for its capture and killing of Israelis yesterday.
And there is one more little, sinister question. In past violence of this kind, Syria's power was controlled by the Hafez Assad, one of the shrewdest Arabs in modern history. But there are those--including Lebanese politicians--who believe that Bashar, the son, lacks his late father's wisdom and understanding of power. This is a country, remember, whose own Minister of Interior allegedly committed suicide last year and whose soldiers had to leave Lebanon amid suspicion that Syria had set up the murder of Rafik Hariri, Lebanon's former prime minister, last year. All this may now seem academic. But Damascus remains, as always, the key
http://www.counterpunch.com/fisk07142006.html
Is Damascus the Key? Beirut Waits
By ROBERT FISK
It's about Syria. That was the frightening message delivered by Damascus yesterday when it allowed its Hizbollah allies to cross the UN Blue Line in southern Lebanon, kill three Israeli soldiers, capture two others and demand the release of Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.
Within hours, a country that had begun to believe in peace--without a single Syrian soldier left on its soil--found itself once more at war.
Israel held the powerless Lebanese government responsible--as if the sectarian and divided cabinet in Beirut can control Hizbollah. That is Syria's message. Fouad Siniora, Lebanon's affable Prime Minister, may have thought he was running the country but it is President Bashar Assad in Damascus who can still bring life or death to a land that lost 150,000 lives in 15 years of civil conflict.
And there is one certain bet that Syria will rely on; that despite all Israel's threats of inflicting "pain" on Lebanon, this war will run out of control until--as has so often happened in the past--Israel itself calls for a ceasefire and releases prisoners. Then the international big-hitters will arrive and make their way to the real Lebanese capital Damascus, not Beirut--and appeal for help.
That is probably the plan. But will it work? Israel has threatened Lebanon's newly installed infrastructure and Hizbollah has threatened Israel with further conflict. And therein lies the problem; to get at Hizbollah, Israel must send its soldiers into Lebanon--and then it will lose more soldiers.
Indeed when a single Merkava tank crossed the border into Lebanon yesterday morning, it struck a Hizbollah mine, which killed three more Israelis.
Certainly Hizbollah's attack broke the United Nations rules in southern Lebanon--a "violent breach" of the Blue Line, it was called by Geir Pedersen, the senior UN official in the country--and was bound to unleash the air force, tanks and gunboats of Israel on to this frail, dangerous country. Many Lebanese in Beirut were outraged when gangs of Hizbollah supporters drove through the streets of the capital with party flags to "celebrate" the attack on the border.
Christian members of the Lebanese government were voicing increasing frustration at the Shia Muslim militia's actions--which only proved how powerless the Beirut administration is.
By nightfall, Israel's air raids had begun to spread across the country--the first civilians to die were killed when an aircraft bombed a small road bridge at Qasmiyeh--but would they go even further and include a target in Syria? This would be the gravest escalation so far and would have US as well as UN diplomats appealing for that familiar, tired quality--"restraint".
And prisoner swaps is probably all that will come of this. In January 2004, for example, Israel freed 436 Arab prisoners and released the bodies of 59 Lebanese for burial, in return for an Israeli spy and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers.
As long ago as 1985, three Israeli soldiers captured in 1982 were traded for 1,150 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners. So Hizbollah knows--and the Israelis know--how this cruel game is played. How many have to die before the swaps begin is a more important question.
What is also clear is that for the first time Israel is facing two Islamist enemies--in southern Lebanon and in Gaza--rather than nationalist guerrillas. The Palestinian Hamas movement's spokesmen in Lebanon yesterday denied that there was any co-ordination with Hizbollah. This may be literally true but Hizbollah timed its attack when Arab feelings are embittered by the international sanctions placed on the democratically elected Hamas government and then the war in Gaza. Hizbollah will ride the anger over Gaza in the hope of escaping condemnation for its capture and killing of Israelis yesterday.
And there is one more little, sinister question. In past violence of this kind, Syria's power was controlled by the Hafez Assad, one of the shrewdest Arabs in modern history. But there are those--including Lebanese politicians--who believe that Bashar, the son, lacks his late father's wisdom and understanding of power. This is a country, remember, whose own Minister of Interior allegedly committed suicide last year and whose soldiers had to leave Lebanon amid suspicion that Syria had set up the murder of Rafik Hariri, Lebanon's former prime minister, last year. All this may now seem academic. But Damascus remains, as always, the key
http://www.counterpunch.com/fisk07142006.html
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by hezbollah being totally disarmed and, as israel says, hurt enough that they will not be able to rebuild themselves, they will not hav the money to fund an election cmapaign nor the capabilites to organise anyhting of the sortgerhard said:
How can the Israeli's compromise with the Muslims if they don't value life. They do not value their personal lives, they do not value their enemies lives and sadly enough they don't value their own adhearents lives (the sunni and shiite even bomb eachother).
The Koran clearly states IV.92: And it does not behoove a believer to kill a believer except by mistake...
IV.89 Kill non-believers
III.181 Torture of and disdain for Jews
IV.161 * Jew usurers deserve torment
Is Islam's central pillar violence?
Islam is clearly not a religion of peace. Those quotes are a tiny minority of the "sacred and true" words of Allah given to Mohammed through "divine intervention".
The Koran clearly states IV.92: And it does not behoove a believer to kill a believer except by mistake...
IV.89 Kill non-believers
III.181 Torture of and disdain for Jews
IV.161 * Jew usurers deserve torment
Is Islam's central pillar violence?
Islam is clearly not a religion of peace. Those quotes are a tiny minority of the "sacred and true" words of Allah given to Mohammed through "divine intervention".
Mc_Meaney
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It's a war against Hizbollah
The Brucemaster
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No Islam's central pillar is not violence, before you begin quoting the Qu'uran in such an ad hoc fashion i suggest you at least gain an understanding of its principles.deegee said:
Im going to assume that those numbers refer to the chapters of the Qu'uran and for the benefit of everyone here i will quote them slightly more accurately than what you have done:
Chapter 4, Verse 89 - "They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper."
Chapter 3, Verse 181 - "Allah hath heard the taunt of those who say: "Truly, Allah is indigent and we are rich!"- We shall certainly record their word and (their act) of slaying the prophets in defiance of right, and We shall say: "Taste ye the penalty of the Scorching Fire!
No mention of Jews it would appear....
Chapter 4, Verse 161 - "That they took usury, though they were forbidden; and that they devoured men's substance wrongfully;- we have prepared for those among them who reject faith a grievous punishment."
Far less ominous when placed in context. This is hardly any worse then some of the things we see in the Old Testament, indeed none of the above sections are. If you are using this to say Islam is based on violence then according to that logic so is Judaism and by virtue of that, Christianity.
veterandoggy
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heh, you pop out of nowhere, quote not even a sentence of the verse, then tell someone who is rebutting you to do YOUR work?deegee said:
fair enough, you didnt quote the whole thing... so why dont you?
A lot of the evidence seems to suggest that Arabs are too backward for democracy. They get the vote in algeria and who do they vote in? religious nutcases. Same in the palestinian elections. In lebanon the government is so weak that it doesn't even deserve to be called a government. Meanwhile in Iraq we have seen the emergence of the Iraqi equivalent of jefferson, gladstone, Adams as democracy blooms. Oh wait instead we've seen the emergence of death squads, religious fanatics, facsist neo-bathhists etc. Allah Akbar!!gerhard said:
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HotShot
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BS.. HAMAS a terrorist organisation u nuts.... they were a terrorist organisation, its difficult to call them one now.natwix said:
Just because you hear the Israelis complaining, does meant they are terrorists. They are defending their nation, trying to build proper foundation and israel is restricting them for no reason.
The war between lebanon and israel is evidence of this. There is no reason for Israel to blow u pLebanon they will not gain security, this way definetly especially if the main threat is coming from Syria.
You explain to me, what Lebanon did to Israel? why is Israel blasting the crap out of them? Basically every single nation is against ISrael actions except for USA.
If you dont know about Syria's stance about the Sheba farms, then you really dont know much about the situation.jenzipoo said:
Its common knowledge that Syria has stated that the Sheba farms belong to Lebanon.
Sheba farms even gets its name from a Lebanese village called Sheba
stop smoking the weed in your pictureHotShot said:
Hamas Charter:
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it."
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. "
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."
"After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."
Its not just usa that supports israel there are many countries and if you would like me to site them i would...but instead of throwing around your stupid comments do the research!! and if you would like to know why israel is doing this then read this entire thread..then come and question me because i am ehre waiting