Assad Is Out Of Control

In 48 hours Bashar al-Assad, Iran and Hezbollah launched attacks at the Syrian Rebels (and civilians), Israel, and Lebanon as is being reported by Debka.com.

In the space of 48 hours, the Assad regime, Iran and Hezbollah launched a three-point offensive against foreign intervention, debkafile reports. Here are some facts: The sarin nerve gas atrocity of Wednesday, Aug. 21, alleged to have claimed more than 1,000 lives, was the work of the 155th Brigade of the Syrian army’s 4th Division, headed by President Bashar Assad’s younger brother Gen. Maher Assad.

The poison gas shells were fired from the big Mount Kalmun army base south of Damascus, one of the three repositories of Syria’s chemical weapons. In response to a demand from Moscow last December, Assad collected his chemical assets in three depots. The other two are Dummar, a suburb 5 kilometers outside Damascus, and the Al-Safira air base, west of Aleppo. Not a single shell or gram of poison gas is loaded for use at any of the three sites without an explicit directive from the president or his brother.

Therefore, the clamor raised by the US and French presidents, Western prime ministers and Russian leaders for an independent investigation to turn up evidence of the use of chemical weapons in Syria and identity of its perpetrator – the Assad regime, says the West, and a rebel provocation, according to Moscow – is nothing but playacting. The facts are known and the evidence is present. And the price for refusing to come down to earth and putting an immediate stop to this horrifying precedent may be unimaginably grim – not just for Israel and Jordan – but for the rest of the Middle East and beyond.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu commented Thursday, Aug. 22 that Iran is using Syria as its testing ground while closely monitoring international responses to its actions.

His remark followed the four Grad rockets fired on northern Israel the day after the chemical attack in East Damascus. His words were scarcely noticed, mainly because Israel’s own spokesmen were busy spreading a blanket of disinformation over the attack, attributing it vaguely to “Global Jihad” (whatever that is).

debkafile’s military sources affirm that, just as the Assad brothers orchestrated the chemical shell attack on Syrian civilians, so too did Hizballah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah set in motion the rocket attack on Israel.

By good fortune, the two which exploded in built-up areas caused damage but no casualties and a third was intercepted by Iron Dome.

Nasrallah had his disposal two Palestinian terrorist groups functioning in Lebanon and Syria under direct Iranian command. They are the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian – General Command (PFLP-GC) and Jihad Islami – both of them eager to attack Israel. Then, on Friday night, two car bombs blew up outside Sunni mosques in the northern Lebanese town of Tripoli, killing 42 people and injuring 500.

The triple coordinated outrages added up to a dire warning from Tehran and Damascus about what they have in store for the region, and especially Syria’s neighbors, as payback for foreign intervention in the Syrian civil war. On the subject of intervention, the French daily Le Figaro took the liberty last Thursday, Aug. 23, of lifting wholesale and publishing without credit the exclusive report carried Wednesday, Aug. 21, by debkafile. We were the first publication in the world to reveal on Saturday, Aug. 17 the entry from Jordan into southern Syria of a unit of US-trained Syrian rebel commandos, under the caption: Reported Syrian gas attack after first US-trained rebel incursion from Jordan. In that report, debkafile was also the first to expose Assad’s poison gas attack as a warning of the heavy price he would exact for intervention in the Syrian war by foreign forces or by rebels trained by foreign forces – in this case US instructors and officers based in Jordan.

CBS News reported Friday that US and Israel intelligence monitoring known chemical weapons sites detected activity there 20 minutes before the chemical shells were fired Wednesday. Those agencies were therefore on top of valuable advance information, but did nothing to stop - or even warn against – the coming poison gas attack.

Washington and other Western capitals as well as Israel continued to circle around reality Friday and Saturday, when Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel let it be known that US warships had been sent to the region for possible cruise missile attacks, in case the president decided on action against Syria.

The Secretary “forgot” to mention that, had the president really wanted to do something, all he had to do was keep the USS Truman aircraft carrier, which was present in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, the day of the chemical attack, from sailing out through the Suez Canal Thursday.

Furthermore, America doesn’t need to send more warships to the region for possible attacks on Syria. It holds plenty of assets at US air and missile bases crisscrossing the Middle East, southern and central Europe and the Persian Gulf. All are fully capable of conducting a variety of operations against Syria without bringing in extra warships.

Except that none of these assets has so far been ordered into action.

What could the Obama administration do if it was so minded?

debkafile’s exclusive military sources described three options available:

One: Striking the Syrian unit which perpetrated the poison gas last Wednesday east of Damascus.

Two: Destroying the Syrian army’s three chemical weapons depots.

Or Three: Coordinated attacks on the first two targets.

For Options Two and Three, the attack would have to destroy all the poison shells at once before they exploded and leaked contamination across wide regions of Syria and neighboring Turkey, Israel and Jordan. The Syrian ruler is capable of having the shells’ contents mixed and armed ready for use ahead of a US attack, thus maximizing the deadly impact of lethal gases across a broad Middle East region.

Notwithstanding the grave risks of action, the consequences of inaction by the US and Israel would be worse: It would give Damascus and Tehran a green light for escalating their viciousness – and not just against the Syrian people. If the barbarity is not stopped, they will get away with making nerve gas and other poison substances acceptable weapons for fighting their foes. Lebanon and Israel are in extreme jeopardy.

SOURCE

President Barack Hussein Obama talks a good talk, but that is all that he does.  A year ago he drew a line in the sand.  Bashar al-Assad has crossed it not once but twice.

Obama's Red Line



Click here if video fails to load.

It is a shame that it was said by a man with a yellow streak a mile wide down his back.

The civilians of Syria are caught in the middle.  On one side is Assad, backed by Hezbollah and Iran.  On the other side is al Qaeda and strict Islamic Law (They are already destroying the churches.)  Either side wins and they will lose.  Yet this is a civil war.  A war no one should get involved with.  This is a problem that the Syrians must solve on their own.

Surprise Military Drill

Today the IDF started a surprise military drill on the Syrian/Lebanese border Debka.com reported.  Add the call up notice for thousands of reservists and the intelligence community can see the nervousness that Israel feels.  The possibility that the violence that has infested Syria will spill over to Israel as the Islamic Extremists get it into their brains to try to "Liberate Palestine".

Israel’s armed forces launched a snap division-scale drill along the full length of the Syrian and Lebanese borders Tuesday, April 30, with call-up orders for thousands of reservists, debkafile’s military sources report.

It was taken into account that the unannounced exercise would send military tensions shooting up on the volatile Israeli, Jordanian, Syrian and Lebanese borders. Moscow, Tehran, Damascus and Hizballah headquarters would assume that Israel is massing troops in advance of US military intervention in Syria.

Its timing is also connected to the speech Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to deliver Tuesday night in case he announces military steps against Israel.

Our Washington sources report that President Barack Obama is poised for a momentous decision on whether to pursue military action against Syrian military targets, including Bashar Assad’s chemical weapons facilities.

These appear to be his three primary options:

1. An American aerial bombardment of the Syrian military bases and facilities which are the mainstay which keep Bashar Assad in power;
2. A missile strike on his chemical weapons from the sea and from ground bases in Europe and the Middle East;
3. The deployment of 20,000 American troops to the Jordanian-Syrian frontier.

Alternatively, Obama may choose to combine elements of all three options and activate them simultaneously.

The surprise Israeli military exercise and concentration of reserve units along the borders of Syria and Lebanon place the IDF including its air and naval branches on the ready for a role in a potential American military operation against Syria.

The Israeli military also stands prepared to repel possible reprisals by Iran, Syria or Hizballah against US, Jordanian or Israeli troops.

Today President Barack Hussein Obama's White House has backtracked on his pledge to stop Syria from using chemical weapons.  And today Israel is calling up reservists.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Obama's word is worth nothing and he will willingly allow any dictator to murder his own people with any means at his disposal.

Tensions Are Spinning Out Of Control!

Today an US drone was shot at in International Air Space by Iranian Forces.  It was repelled by US fighter Jets which are now flying escort for US drones.

The Syrian High Command issued an ultimatum to the Lebanese government to stop supporting the rebels or they will send their Air Force to strike the convoys and bases.

The Russian Navy decided not to have 3 warships dock at Tartus but diverted them to Beirut.

From Debka:

Middle East tensions are spiraling sharply six days before US President Barack Obama lands in the Middle East. Thursday night, March 14, an Iranian fighter jet tried to bring down a US Predator drone flying over Oman, i.e. the Straits of Hormuz - only to be warned off by flares from its US fighter escort.

This was not the first time a US drone was threatened by Iranian aircraft over the Persian Gulf, but in reporting the incident, the Pentagon revealed that the drones flying in the neighborhood of Iranian shores are now escorted by US jet fighters. A couple of hours earlier that evening, debkafile received an exclusive report from its military sources that the Syrian high command had just issued an ultimatum, on the orders of Bashar Assad, demanding that the Lebanese government put an immediate stop to the passage of armed Sunni fighters from Lebanon into Syria, else the Syrian Air Force would strike the Lebanese intruders’ convoys and also their home bases. Damascus claimed they were coming to fight the government alongside the al Qaeda-linked Jabrat al-Nusra.

Their incursion threatened to engender a major spillover of the Syrian conflict into Lebanon.

The danger of hostilities inching close to the Syrian port of Tartus, where Moscow maintains a naval base, decided the Russian Navy to instruct three warships carrying 700 marines to Tartus to change course and put in at Beirut instead.

The Iranians are openly supporting and fighting for Assad.  Al Qaeda is striving to take the Golan Heights, itching for a fight with Israel.  The Russians don't know which way to turn.  Support Assad or flee from the violence.  The UN peacekeepers on the Syrian-Israeli border have fled to Israel.  A patrol was kidnapped by al Qaeda.

All this on the eve of President Barack Hussein Obama's visit to the region.  A good example of his foreign policy in action.

Drone Over Israel UPDATED

The War For The Extermination Of The Jews has just entered a new phase, DRONES.  Entering Israeli Air Space from the Mediterranean Sea, the drone was intercepted over Southern Israel.

The Israeli air force shot down an unidentified drone on Saturday morning, around 10:00 am after it entered the country's airspace from the Mediterranean Sea, an army spokesman and army radio reported.

According to AFP, soldiers are currently searching the area where the drone was downed, in open areas in the northern Negev, to locate and identify it, the spokesman added.

IDF Spokesperson Yoav Mordechai said that the aircraft was monitored and accompanied by fighter planes throughout its flight and that it was possible to shoot it down at any stage, "however, it was decided to intercept the aircraft near southern Mount Hebron for safety reasons."

Source

On 4 December 2011, an American Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was captured by Iranian forces near the city of Kashmar in northeastern Iran. The Iranian government announced that the UAV was brought down by its Cyber warfare unit which commandeered the aircraft and safely landed it, after initial reports from Western news sources inaccurately claimed that it had been "shot down". The US government claims that the UAV malfunctioned and crashed, although the aircraft was later shown on Iranian TV with no apparent damage.

U.S. officials anonymously admitted that the drone was on a CIA spying mission over Iran when it was captured.

Is it any coincidence that Hezbollah or Hamas can launch drones and Iran getting the plans for our drones from Barack Hussein Obama?

Coincidence?  I think not!  It was a deliberate payment to the Iranian government.  And that is treason.

UPDATE:

The IDF suspects that the small UAV intercepted Saturday morning by IAF jets over the northern Sinai was launched by Iranian proxy militia Hizbullah. The drone may have been searching for targets for Iranian attacks.

The defense establishment has been looking at the fragments of the UAV, which fell in the area of southern Mount Hevron. Israel is looking into the possibility that it was launched from Sinai, but by Saturday evening, military sources said the military investigation showed the UAV had flown southward along Israel's Mediterranean coast before turning east over Gaza and heading into Israeli airspace.

If this becomes the final conclusion of the investigation, the apparent culprit behind the launch would be Hizbullah. The drone could have been collecting and transmitting information on possible targets for a missile hit by Hizbullah, Iran, or both.

The IAF's Aerial Monitoring Unit identified the UAV, which was not armed and probably served only for intelligence purposes – collecting data about IDF bases and the IAF's operational abilities.

The UAV is believed to have been equipped with cameras that transmitted the images they captured onward to receivers located outside of Israel.

Source

What Was This?

Last seem over the skies of Israel.  Hundreds of phone calls to Police Hotlines reporting the UFO, no planes were scramble, Iron Dome and other anti-missile defenses did not fire, and no sirens were sounded.  What could it be?

A  Comet
B  Meteor
C  Rocket
D  Hassan Nasrallah
E  Aliens from another Planet.  (Don't worry, they are Jewish and only want to make Aliyah.)
F  A Russian Missile Test.

If you answered F-A Russian Missile Test.  You win the prize.

The glowing light reported in Israel's skies around 8:45 pm Thursday apparently resulted from of a failed intercontinental ballistic missile test by the Russian military, according to estimates.

Hundreds of Israelis nationwide flooded police hotlines Thursday evening with reports of an unidentified flying object in the nation's skies.


Glowing light in Israel's skies (Video: Hitham Abu Saada)

Later Thursday, Russian news agency Novosti quoted the Defense Ministry in Moscow, which confirmed that a missile was test-fired from the Astrakhan region in central Russia. The trail of light seen in Israel was also reported in Armenia, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Jordan and other countries in the region.

According to a statement issued by Russia's Defense Ministry, crews belonging to the army's strategic missile division successfully test-fired a ballistic missile at 9:39 pm, Moscow time. A video shot in the area the missile was fired from showed parts of the missile falling. However, the clip was removed a few minutes after being posted.

Missile as seen in Russia

Israeli Astronomical Association Chairman Dr. Yigal Pat-El said that it is quite possible that the unidentified flying object reported by residents nationwide was a ballistic missile test.

"It most likely spun out of control and its remnants and the fuel was what people saw. It reached a height of 200-300 kilometers and that's why it was seen from so many locations," he told Ynet.

"We saw a large trail of light traveling from a distant spot in the sky," Dorit from northern Israel reported earlier. "We could not see the source of the light. The trail was massive. It was an unusual sight. Moments later we saw swirling movement where the light was coming from."

Concerned citizens in Armenia and Lebanon also called their local police stations after seeing the unusual glowing light. One Lebanese citizen reported seeing the light in the sky and in response an American web-surfer said it might be a military test. The Lebanese woman laughingly responded with: "A military test? Here?"

Notably, similar reports were received in Norway in 2009, following a failed Russian missile test. At the time, residents offered various explanations, ranging from a meteor to a UFO.

Source

This missile was seen not only in Russia, but Turkey, Armenia and Lebanon.  And the Lebanese are very lucky that the Israelis didn't believe that this was a actual attack.  What a shame.  It would have been nice to discover that this was Hassan Nasrallah finally emerging from his bunker after hiding there for the last 6 years.

Do You Remember?

These events are actually historical.

1. In 1968, Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by a Muslim male.

2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by Muslim males.

3. In 1972 a Pan Am 747 was hijacked and eventually diverted to an Arab country where a fuse was lit on final approach and it was blown up shortly after landing by Muslim males.

4. In 1973 a Pan Am 707 was destroyed in Rome, with 33 people killed, when it was attacked with grenades by Muslim males.

5. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by Muslim males.

6. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by Muslim males.

Leon Klinghoffer

7. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by Muslim males.

8. In 1985, the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by Muslim males.

9. In 1985, TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by Muslim males. 10. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by Muslim males.

11. In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by Muslim males.

12. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by Muslim males.

13. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take down the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by Muslim males.

14. In 2002, the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against Muslim males.

15. In 2002, reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded by--you guessed it Muslim males

No, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you? So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people.Absolutely No Profiling!

They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the President's security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winner and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim Males alone lest they be guilty of profiling.

IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG HERE OR AM I JUST NOT GETTING WHO HAS ATTACKED AMERICA??

War Game: Israeli Air Strike Deals Severe Blow to Iran Nukes

Recently a war game was held amongst senior military personal in Israel.  The following is the scenario that takes into account both Israeli and American reaction.

In a simulation war game featuring Israelis in senior positions, Israel loses 10 fighter jets in a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities and manages to set back the Iranian nuclear program by seven years. An angry President Barack Obama takes no steps against Israel but also refuses to intervene on its side.

In the war game, conducted by Makor Rishon newspaper, the strike takes place on October 16, 2012, just three weeks before the U.S. election.

The simulation was carried out with the participation of former Government Secretary Yisrael Maimon as a member of the "Octet" of trusted ministers and Home Front Minister; Iran expert Dr. Eldad Pardo as the Iranian regime; Maj. Gen. (ret.) Eitan Ben Eliyahu as a senior member of the Octet; Begin-Sadat Center Chairman Prof. Efraim Inbar as the Prime Minister; Dr. Mordechai Kedar as "the Palestinians," Hizbullah and the Arab countries; journalist Amit Segal as Israeli and world press; journalist Ofer Shelach as Preient Barack Obama and Makor Rishon journalist Amnon Lord as game administrator.

According to the game's premise, on October 14 and 15, four independent and reliable Mossad intelligence sources indicate that Iran has begun transferring its strategic nuclear equipment to underground sites in Qom. Military Intelligence, meanwhile, determines that Iran was ready to enrich weapons-grade uranium.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu lulls the press into complacency by maintaining a seemingly regular schedule in Jerusalem. In the pre-dawn hours of October 16, the IDF launches Operation Yahalom ("Diamond"). The nuclear sites at Natanz and Arak are bombed, as are several other nuclear plants and research centers. Ten IAF jets are shot down.

President Obama receives word of the strike when he is speaking to 350 rabbis in Florida. He convenes a consultation and says that Israel's "excuse" for bombing is "irrelevant" because while Iran's nuclear facilities may become immune to an Israeli attack by moving underground, they will not become immune to a U.S. attack.

The timing of the strike "basically amounts to an intervention in the elections," Obama adds. "The attack will have immediate repercussions influencing the election considerations of voters here, such as the expected rise in the price of oil. Israel could have waited until after the elecions."

In the simulation, the formal White House announcement calls on Israel to cease hostilities but does not place sanctions on it or threaten it. On the other hand, it offers no assistance. "Israel is responsible for its own fate," it says. "It went against our wishes, and therefore we do not offer it a military umbrella of protection against military responses by Iran or its proxies."

Iran sends 1,500 tanks toward the border with Iraq and instructs Hizbullah to fire missiles at Israel. It also launches a series of large scale terror actions and fires missiles from Lebanon and from its own territory at hi-tech targets in Herzliya, suceeding in destroying Intel's headquarters. A suicide bomber kills a large number of cadets in the IDF's hi-tech Talpiyot program. Low-level radiation is released in Tel Aviv by a "dirty bomb."

In the war game, Israeli media shows surprising solidarity and unity on the day of the attack, initially sparing the government from criticism. Republican candidate Mitt Romney calls upon Obama to give Israel his backing "immediately." Obama, meanwhile, threatens an Israeli minister who speaks with him on the phone: "I may still be president on November 7. This will have a price, as far as you are concerned. I will not elaborate right now, but you should take this into consideration."

Iran decides to try and drive a wedge between Israel and the U.S.. It therefore tells the U.S. it will supply it with as much oil as it needs, in the hope of helping Obama get reelected. In late October, its agents blow up a car bomb in Tel Aviv and fire a missile at an El Al jet from a ship in the Mediterranean, killing 300 people.

Meanwhile, intelligence indicates that Iran's nuclear program has been set back 7 years by the Israeli strikes. With U.S. elections days away, Obama decides that "enough is enough" and begins to threaten Iran with a U.S. attack if it does not cease its hostilities against Israel.

Whether real life will be anything like the simulation by Makor Rishon remains to be seen.

If Hezbollah did attack Israel, Israel would consider it an attack on the country from Lebanon and attack Lebanon in return.  In doing so, President Barack Hussein Obama would be powerless to stop Israel or risk losing the 2012 Elections.  The UN would condemn Israel, impose sanctions, etc...  And there would be an new President on January 20th, 2013.  President Mitt Romney.

The Water Turns To Blood

Stolen From The Elder of Ziyon

For those people looking to signs from Heaven pointing to an upcoming Apocalypse, this might point the way.

Beirut River Mysteriously Runs Blood Red

BEIRUT: The Beirut River mysteriously turned blood red Wednesday after a stream of unidentified red liquid began pouring from the southern bank of the river in Furn al-Shubbak. The source of the liquid had yet to be determined Wednesday evening, as the river continued to empty the red-colored water into the Mediterranean Sea.

Government and local officials rushed to the scene at the Chevrolet crossing of Furn al-Shubbak Wednesday morning in an attempt to locate the sewage canal that was dumping the red-colored water but they were unable to locate the source. Accusations were traded among officials from the municipalities of Hadath, Hazmieh, Sin al-Fil, Furn al-Shubbak and Shiyah.

Eyewitnesses working in the area told The Daily Star this was not the first time the river had turned a different color. Several business owners around the Chevrolet crossing said that colored water pours into the river roughly every two months but no one pays attention to it.It was the quantity and brightness of the red liquid that grabbed the attention of many passersby and commuters on different bridges in the city Wednesday.

Environment Minister Nazem Khoury said the source of the water was likely from Hazmieh or Baabda.

“I call on the municipalities of Hazmieh and Baabda to cooperate swiftly to find the source of the pollution and its type,” Khoury said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Khoury sent an environmental team to the area to examine the water. The team, headed by ministry official Bassam Sabbagh, took a sample of the water to determine its composition and whether it contained dangerous pollutants.

The samples will be examined Thursday because state laboratories were already closed by the time the sample was taken. “The sample we took will be examined tomorrow [Thursday] morning ... and we will know whether it is blood being mixed with water or if it is some sort of a color dumped in it,” said Sabbagh.

A similar incident took place in the Chinese Jian River last December after a factory illegally dumped red dye into the river, which is located in the northern Chinese province of Henan.

Some cities use non-toxic dyes to color rivers on special occasions. In Chicago, the river is dyed green every year in the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.

According to Sabbagh, test results will help the ministry determine whether the substance is a chemical pollutant or blood from a nearby slaughterhouse.

“First we thought it was blood, but it seems like it is a kind of coloring dumped by a factory,” said Sabbagh, who also said that the test to determine the type of the chemical would take a week.

Sabbagh said the municipality and other ministries should help the Environment Ministry in its investigation. “We need the help of the local officials to have a clear idea of the sewage network in the region,” he said.

According to Sabbagh, who heads the ministry’s Environmental Pollution Control Office, maps of the sewage network would help officials locate the source of the red-colored water.

“After finding the source, it would be a matter of hours to get to the factory and the area where the [colored] water is originating,” said Sabbagh adding that swift action would be taken against those responsible for it.

Saad Elias, an adviser to the environment minister, did not rule out the possibility that a slaughterhouse could be behind the red color.

“After going through several phases of butchering at the slaughterhouses, they store huge amounts of blood and animal parts in containers ... they might have dumped them into a sewage canal,” said Elias.

“The ministry will definitely investigate this matter because our role is to prevent pollution,” he added.

Meanwhile, local officials in the area suggested that a paint factory could be responsible for the incident. “There are several paint factories in Hadath,” said an official from the Shiyah municipality.

As officials tried to determine the source and the nature of the substance in the river, the Beirut prosecutor assigned the Internal Security Forces to launch an investigation into the matter.

Source

The Lebanese should prepare for the next 2 plagues:  Frogs and Lice.  And they should discover fast what the Jews want from them.  And then give it to them.

Arab Spring Will Become The Arab Winter War

What will the Arab Spring bring?  An Arab Winter of Radical Islam, War and hardship for the Arab world.  Thus is the assessment of IDF Home Front Command chief Major General Eyal Eisenberg.

'Arab Spring' revolutions have destabilized the region and raised the likelihood of war, top general says.

"It looks like the Arab Spring, but it can also be a radical Islamic winter," IDF Home Front Command chief Major General Eyal Eisenberg said during a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv on Monday.

"This leads us to the conclusion that through a long-term process, the likelihood of an all-out war is increasingly growing," Eisenberg said.

"Iran has not abandoned its nuclear program. The opposite it true; it continues full steam ahead," he said.

"In Egypt, the army is collapsing under the burden of regular security operations, and this is reflected in the loss of control in the Sinai and the turning of the border with Israel into a terror border, with the possibility that Sinai will fall under the control of an Islamic entity."

"In Lebanon, Hezbollah is growing stronger within government arms, but it has not lost its desire to harm Israel, and the ties with Turkey aren't at their best," He added.

Referring to what he characterized as the possibility of a "radical Islamic winter," Eisenberg warned "This raises the likelihood of an all-out, total war, with the possibility of weapons of mass destruction being used."

During his address, Eisenberg admitted new, more lethal arms surfaced in the hands of Gaza terror groups during the latest round of fighting in the area. As result of the disturbing development, Israeli civilians were instructed to adopt greater precautions, he said.

"We discovered a new weapon, and as result of this we instructed the public to hide under two roofs, rather than only one," he said.

Source

Since the start of the Arab Spring many of us, myself included, have stated that this will lead to radical Islamists usurping the governments that have collapsed.  We have already seen in Egypt that the 30 year old peace treaty is being slowly revoked.  Iran is closer to acquiring a nuclear weapon, Hezbollah has control of Lebanon, and Assad needs to relieve the pressure on his government.  It is just a matter of time before the PA and its cohorts start a war with Israel.  (In the hope that they can destroy the country.)

War is coming, and with Obama in the White House it only means one thing.  Israel will have to stand alone to fight this one.

UNIFIL Renewed

Hizbullah needs allies. Not many nations want to openly support Hizbullah and it goal of ruling Lebanon for the Iranians. So the world created the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

These brave boys gangsters in the blue beret are suppose to enforce UN Resolultion 1701. For those of you who don't know or remember what 1701 does, I'll refresh your memories.

1701 was to suppose to stop all hostilities between Israel and Hizbullah after the 2006 war. It was to stop the rearming of Hizbullah. And keep the peace.

From the text of 1701:

11. Decides, in order to supplement and enhance the force in numbers, equipment, mandate and scope of operations, to authorize an increase in the force strength of Unifil to a maximum of 15,000 troops, and that the force shall, in addition to carrying out its mandate under resolutions 425 and 426 (1978):

a. Monitor the cessation of hostilities;

15. Decides further that all states shall take the necessary measures to prevent, by their nationals or from their territories or using their flag vessels or aircraft;

a. the sale or supply to any entity or individual in Lebanon of arms and related materiel of all types, including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment, and spare parts for the aforementioned, whether or not originating in their territories, and;

b. the provision to any entity or individual in Lebanon of any technical training or assistance related to the provision, manufacture, maintenance or use of the items listed in subparagraph (a) above, except that these prohibitions shall not apply to arms, related material, training or assistance authorized by the government of Lebanon or by Unifil as authorised in paragraph 11;

Let us just say that UNIFIL hasn't done a good job. Corruption, scandal and the usual mismanagement that just accompanies any UN project. UNIFIL troops know to run when Hizbullah fighters thugs come into an area. Or to ignore the occasional explosions when the homes storing explosives and arms mysteriously go boom.

They are more concerned with cows from Israel wandering into Lebanon.

Yet the UN doesn't ever address these problems. Instead it pats UNIFIL on the back and renews its charter.

The United Nation's Security Council voted Thursday to renew the mandate of UN troops in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL). The normally routine vote became the background for controversy this year as allegations surfaced regarding UNIFIL's enforcement – or lack thereof – of UN resolution 1701.

Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War, forbids the presence of Hizbullah or other non-governmental armed forces between the Israel-Lebanon border and the Litani River.

According to the Lebanese Daily Star, the draft mentions “deep concern over violations relating to Resolution 1701, especially the latest dangerous violations,” but does not explicitly cite incidents such as the arms cache blast in July in southern Lebanon. The explosion was seen as a sign of Hizbullah activity in the area.

Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, made it clear during Thursday's vote that Israel sees UNIFIL as responsible for enforcing the resolution. The renewed mandate will allow UNIFIL troops to make “increased efforts” to clear the region they patrol as required by 1701, she said. Her remarks were not incorporated into the resolution.

Recent events in southern Lebanon, including the blasts heard in July, show that non-governmental forces remain active in the area, Shalev warned. “A terrorist organization, Hizbullah, continues to deploy its assets and operates actively both north and south of the Litani river,” she told the council.

In addition to voting to extend the UN mandate, council members voted to review the UNIFIL structure. The UN may decide to increase UNIFIL's naval capabilities. UNIFIL was created in 1978. It's numbers were brought to 12,000 following the 2006 war.

Ever wonder who is funding this horse and pony show? You guess it! The American Taxpayer! Feel cheated yet? Just wait. President Obama wants to increase funding to the UN. Feel sickened?

UNIFIL spending your tax dollars wisely as they round up Israeli cows instead of stopping the flow of arms to Hizbullah.

Syria, Israel Letterbox Operation

by Maggie at Maggie’s Notebook

On July 5, 2005 I posted on the U.S. and Syria closing ranks to neutralize Israel. That report indicated that the U.S. and Saudia Arabia were pressing Syrian President Bashar Assad to demarcate Syria’s borders with Lebanon. It’s a conundrum but it can be explained. At the time, I predicted that the demarcation and the hoped-for result would not happen. Here’s some more of the story:

Syria, Israel

The DEBKAfile says that President Assad traveled to Baku, Azerbaijan and received communications from Israel president, Shimon Peres and prime minister Benjaman Netanyahu. Baku is considered a “new channel of communications,” and a “hub of a complicated new negotiating track between Damascus and Jerusalem,” and is being referred to as the “Azeri diplomatic postbox,” or the Israel-Syrian letterbox.

Also in this mix with the U.S. is Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon. Middle East Envoy George Mitchell is standing in for Barack Obama.

President Assad’s reply will be sent to Jerusalem on Thursday or Friday. The problem is we don’t know what Assad is replying to, other than the words “peace process” appearing in the DEBKAfile post.

So if the bottom-line of the letterbox operation is a “peace process,” how might that come about?
My post of July 5th might answer that question and I’m reposting it below. Let me know what you think. As I said, earlier this month I predicted that it was a fantasy - not going to happen. Now, it seems we have Israel contacting Syria.

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U.S Syria Relations Cozy: Neutralizing Israel
Maggie’s Notebook - July 5, 2009

Syrian president Bashar Assad has invited President Obama to visit Damascus, in the wake of a U.S.-Saudi press for Syria to “demarcate” its border with Lebanon. By marking the Syrian border and giving up its claims to Shaba Farms, also known as Mount Dov, and placing Mount Dov inside Lebanon’s borders, the reasoning is that Israel will have no rationale to claim the militarily strategic Mount Dov, and so Hizbullah will also have no reason to attack Israel. The move is on to neutralize Israel.

Syria, Israel - Shebaa Farms - Mount Dove (photo)

It’s a fantasy - it’s not going to happen.

For those who have forgotten, Israel liberated Mount Dov from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. Lebanon claims that Mount Dov belongs to it, and Hezbullah uses Israel’s ‘occupation’ of Mount Dov as proof that Israel is ‘occupying’ ‘Lebanese territory’ thereby justifying its existence in Lebanon. The US claims that if Syria demarcates its border with Lebanon, and puts Mount Dov on the Lebanese side of the border, it will take away Hezbullah’s raison d’etre (see map below).

It’s a bit shocking to know that in 2009, there are countries without official borders.

Israel took over the area in 1967 and sees it as part of the Golan Heights. The UN accepted this position following the IDF’s pullout from Lebanon in May 2000 but Hezbollah and Lebanon claim that this is Lebanese territory still under Israeli occupation.

From Israel’s long-time point-of-view, Shaba (Shebaa) Farms (Mount Dov) has been off the table for discussion.

What are the issues?

In the 1923 Anglo-French Demarcation Agreement, which set the borders between the British and French mandates in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, the area was included in Syria. The maps of the 1949 Israeli-Syrian Armistice Agreements similarly designated the area as Syrian.

In the 1967 Six Day War, the farms were occupied by the IDF as part of its conquest of the Golan Heights. Lebanon was not involved in that war, and Israel did not engage in any fighting against it.

At that time, no one - neither Syria nor Lebanon - claimed that the area was Lebanese.

IN THE negotiations leading to the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Lebanon for the first time raised its claim to the farms, but based on all previous historical documents and maps, the UN sided with the Israeli version, i.e. that this was Syrian territory and subject to future Israeli-Syrian negotiations. The Lebanese claim was used by Hizbullah to continue its resistance to “Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory.

At the time of the 2000 Israeli withdrawal the UN asked Syria about its position on the issue. Damascus was in a quandary: On the one hand, this was obviously Syrian territory; on the other, if Syria conceded that the farms belong to Lebanon, there might be a chance of getting one more sliver of Arab territory out of Israeli hands.

Syria thus responded that whatever its former claims to the Shaba Farms, it now agreed to cede them to Lebanon.

But when the UN asked Damascus for a formal document stating that the area had indeed been legally transferred to Lebanon, Syria balked - and it has still not supplied such a document.

The short story is that Syria has refused to recognize Lebanon as a sovereign state. Not until this year did Syria appoint it’s first ever ambassador to Beirut. At the same time, Lebanon sent its first ambassador to Syria.

Damascus still has powerful allies in Lebanon, including Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shi’ite party with a powerful guerrilla army.

The U.S. has pressured Israel to withdraw from Mount Dov for years.

The area is a 100 square mile parcel of land located at the foot of Mount Hermon where the Syrian, Lebanese and Israeli borders meet. Israel took control of the area after the Six Day War in 1967, and since then has built up a number of military outposts on the strategic hills.

Israel’s indefensible borders on all sides have led to the necessary land-grabs gained in the 1967 war. How can you defend your people when your enemies refuse to respect your border towns? This 2006 report describes the importance of not letting your enemy bite at your heels:

The drive up to the top of Mt. Dov on Wednesday is done along a narrow and winding road, accessible only in armored vehicles, a memory of Hizbullah’s incessant shelling of IDF outposts there not so long ago.

The Gladiola outpost is situated just over the Lebanese village of Shuba with a clear view of Ghajar, as well. Soldiers man heavily-fortified positions along the ridge, keeping an eye on the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) patrols below.

Strangely enough, during the war this summer, the Mt. Dov area was quiet, and saw nearly no fighting. According to the officer, the explanation is simple - Hizbullah does not attack military bases, since they know that in such a situation they will lose.

The importance of the area to Israel is clear:

Since the war in Lebanon, the IDF has invested millions of shekels in fixing the infrastructure along the mountain - from repaving the winding road to installing new antennas and surveillance equipment.

The officer said the soldiers stationed in the series of outposts along the mountain play a key role in assisting the IDF to form accurate assessments of Hizbullah’s plans.

The purpose of the powerful Hizbullah in Lebanon is to protest the Mount Dov possession by Israel, claiming that the land belongs to Lebanon.

Hizbullah’s attempt to claim sovereignty of Mt. Dov is because the group needs an excuse for its existence,” he said. “Otherwise, they are worthless.”

Israel Matzav questions any notion of Syria’s abandonment of Hizbullah and says this:

Engagement’ is one thing and giving up real assets (even if the asset is only a claim) is something else. Mount Dov is a very strategic point that is used for military purposes by Israel.

Why would the Syrians want to let Lebanon have it?

What is Lebanon giving them in return?

…even if Israel were to hand Mount Dov over to Lebanon tomorrow, Hezbullah would continue to exist and would continue to charge Israel with ‘occupying Lebanese territory.’

So what is the U.S. doing? Should Syria mark their border and place Mount Dov in Lebanon’s hands, and Israel acknowledge that border and abandon the area, how can Israel be rightly convinced that the position would not once again be used against the people of Israel? Could a treaty between Israel and Syria be achieved? Would such a treaty mean safety for Israel? There is no way for Israel to be rightly convinced. This has been a U.S. endeavor through the Bush years. The U.S. should not ask Israel to enter into such an agreement. Afterall, had Israel’s neighbors respected their sovereignty, the 1967 War would not have happened.

I believe that if the U.S. and the free world would wholeheartedly and very publicly back Israel, Hamas and Hizbullah would be defeated by the very notion that the west would assist Israel’s defense of its own borders. It’s very simple. Actively support the right of the Israeli people to exist…but rather than follow such a justifiable position, we quake at the wrath of the Muslim world. The thing we seem to ignore is that living inside that Muslim world is a sovereign non-Muslim nation. Where is the justification for the Muslim rejection of these people?

So what do you think? Can these two stories possibly connected?

Well Duh!

Cross posted at Reject the UN

For 2 years Israel has been screaming to the world that Hizbollah with Syria's help has been smuggling weapons into Lebanon instead of disarming. And the world has ignored it. UNIFIL commander Maj.-Gen. Claudio Graziano of Italy has accused Israel of violating Security Council Resolution 1701. You remember 1701, the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hizbollah. Gen. Graziano has even said:

In contrast, he said that the UN enjoyed excellent cooperation with Hizbullah and with the local Lebanese people.

"Hizbullah is one of parties that agrees with 1701," he stressed.

I'm sure your bank account General is bigger now than when you left Italy. But somehow Israel got the UN to form a task force to look into the problem (and people say there is no G-d). Low and behold they come up with a different result.

A United Nations task force assigned to report on weapons smuggling in Lebanon said Monday that Hizbullah has been bringing arms across the Syrian-Lebanese border. This confirms Israeli allegations that the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group has been steadily rearming with Syrian assistance and Lebanese collusion.

Last month, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney that "the number of missiles in the hands of Hizbullah has doubled, if not tripled, and that the range of the missiles has been extended. And this has been accomplished with the close assistance of the Syrians." In March, an anonymous source told the Associated Press that Hizbullah held new Iranian rockets capable of striking as far south as Dimona, Israel's nuclear facility in the Negev.

According to the task force report, submitted to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday, neither Lebanese nor Syrian officials have done anything to end weapons transfers to Hizbullah. The task force, which has seen no improvement in the situation since it started its work in 2007, noted that weapons flow easily across the Syrian-Lebanese frontier due to lax or non-existent inspections. Even the air and sea ports into Lebanon, the report says, have been used for weapons smuggling.

Earlier this month, Lebanon's cabinet voted to allow Hizbullah to maintain its weapons arsenal. The government decision specifically approves Hizbullah activities aimed at Israel.

This is in clear violation of Security Council Resolution 1701.

Now the terms of 1701 state:

full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of 27 July 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese State;

Which leads me to wonder if anyone at the UN ever talks to anyone else. Somebody should have talked to General Graziano so the 2 groups would have gotten their stories straight. And I do believe someone's head will roll. But not General Graziano's. He was dutifully bought and paid for by his Muslim masters and his job is secure.

Just another bit of corruption at the Tower of Babel.

An Open Letter to the Lebanese People

This has been a week of mourning for the People of Israel and for those who support Israel in the world. The return of Regev and Goldwasser to Israel dead, but also mutilated has spurred anger in the majority of Israelis. It has also given Israelis a new sense of resolve to never give in again to terrorists. To demand proof that their POWs/MIAs are alive and unharmed. To never again have to give up a murderer for their soldiers. This letter is just one of the voices of the week.

Israel has no disagreement over borders with you, the Lebanese people, yet we certainly have a big dispute when it comes to your moral boundaries. We identified the bodies of our Udi and Eldad within a few hours. And how about you? For 30 years now you have failed to identify who your Samir Kuntar is.

It has been 30 years yet you still cannot distinguish between a national hero and a-child killer. For you, it’s enough that someone killed a Jew, even if it happens to be a young girl from Nahariya, in order for you to welcome him with great honor.

You are celebrating your “victory” and show contempt to our pain. One more triumph like this and you shall be lost. While going from one victory to the next, you are stuck with your misery and fanaticism.

With every proud display and rally for your heroes, you are being taken over the by Hizbullah gang, headed by the cannibal of bodies, Sheikh Nasrallah. The fire coming out of this bramble has been eating up Lebanon’s cedars for years now.

Nasrallah is a man who reveals his true face even when in hiding; he is the man who also exposes your true face.

This is a sad day in Israel, but it holds pain and restraint and pride over what we are: A fortified Jewish wall in the face of the spearhead of the Iranian madness, which is there through your silence and encouragement. The sons have returned to our borders, while the child-killer returned to your borders.

We received the bodies with great sorrow, while you joyfully received a villain. Just look at the difference between us.

Uri Orbach

Regev and Goldwasser have returned to Israel

Unfortunately it is not a day of rejoicing for their families or for the nation. For they have been returned in coffins.

After two years of holding out hope the worst had happened: Cries of horror sounded at the Regev and Goldwasser homes Wednesday, as family members witnessed the TV broadcast of the prisoners exchange, in which the coffins of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were shown being turned over to the Red Cross.

The government-approved exchange of Hizbullah terrorists for two abducted soldiers, who have been presumed dead, is underway. Arch-murderer Samir Kuntar of Lebanon and four Hizbullah terrorists are on their way to becoming free men as they await transfer to Lebanon at Israel's northern border at Rosh HaNikra. The families of abducted soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser prepare to mourn as they await for the final identification of the remains of their sons.

The nation of Israel mourns the deaths of these men. Nasrallah is planning a huge celebration to welcome the murderer Samir Kuntar. This creature smashed the head of a 4-year old girl with a rock. Such a big man. Such courage. And he has vowed to resume his terrorist activities upon his return to Lebanon.

Good! The next time the Israelis capture him (and they will) they can shoot the Sweet Old Boy in the head.

This is what happens when you have a weak, ineffective government in place, such as the one lead by Ehud Olmert.

Let us hope that the next time Israel is attacked by Hizbollah that they bomb the whole place back to the Stone Age and be damned about the "civilians" or what the world thinksI For no matter what Israel does, the world will condemn them anyway!

MEMRI: The Iranian Roots of Hizbollah

From the desks of MEMRI

"Iran is the only country that does not interfere in Lebanon." Mahmoud Ahamdinejad(1)


Introduction

Ahmadinejad's absurd statement coincided ironically with the publication in the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat of an extensive interview with Mohammad Hassan Akhteri, who has recently completed a total of 14 years as Iran's ambassador to Syria. By his own admission, Akhteri was the most senior Iranian liaison official with Hizbullah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, and the architect of the special relationship between Iran and Syria. Akhteri was also the founder in Damascus of the Palestinian-Iranian Friendship Society.

In the interview, published in two parts on May 14 and May 15, 2008, Akhteri distinguishes between the spiritual father (al-ab al-rouhi) of Hizbullah, the one who initiated the idea, and the "field father" (al-ab al-midani). Akhteri considers himself the latter, while his predecessor in Damascus, Ali Muhtashemi, was the former.(2)

Akhteri's Background and Proselytizing Activity

Akhteri was born in Qom in 1928, and came to diplomacy from his position as Friday preacher at the Samnan mosque, north of Tehran. He studied religious jurisprudence at a hawza (a Shi'ite religious center) in Qom. Concurrently with his role as ambassador to Damascus, Akhteri has served for the last four years as the head of the International Society of aal-al-beit, the Prophet Mohammad's descendents, who are viewed by the Shi'ite branch of Islam as the legitimate rulers of Islam. The Aal-al-beit Society is also engaged in spreading "Shi'ite Islamic consciousness," essentially a proselytizing organization which seeks converts to Shi'ite Islam.

Akhteri served two terms as ambassador to Damascus: the first, longer term from 1986 to 1997, and the second from 2005 to January 2008. But before serving as ambassador, he had accumulated a record as a proselytizer: He spent some time in Homs, Syria in 1969, and from there he went to Lebanon for two and a half years, through 1972, to carry out religious activities and tabligh (spreading of Islam).

Facing the First Crisis

Akhteri arrived in Syria in 1986, at a time of conflict between the Palestinians and the Shi'ite Movement – Amal – that was created by Imam Moussa al-Sadr in the 1960s as a social-service organization intended to improve the living conditions of the Shi'ite community in southern Lebanon, one of the poorest communities in the country. Al-Sadr, born in Iran and educated in Qom, also established the Shi'ite Supreme Islamic Council in 1969. Al-Sadr flew to Tripoli, Libya on August 25, 1978 and there he disappeared. His disappearance, six months prior to the success of the Iranian revolution, was a key factor in the marginalization of the Amal Movement, and the birth of Hizbullah.

The Splintering of Amal and the Creation of Hizbullah

The Islamic regime of Iran after the revolution regarded the Amal Movement with suspicion because it seemed insufficiently religious, and lacking the suitability or will to be an instrument of spreading the Iranian revolution. In addition, it was led by politicians, many of them were secular, rather than by clerics. In fact, the very name Amal (Hope) lacked religious ring. On its part, Amal was disenchanted with Iran because during its conflict with the Palestinians Iran supported the latter.

As a result, Iran encouraged elements from the Amal Movement to splinter and establish a religious party that would be more in tune with the concept of wilayat al-faqih, [the Rule of the Jurisprudent] introduced by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the spiritual and political leader of the Islamic Republic. Once that party, Hizbullah, was established, Khomeini ordered elements of the Revolutionary Guards to go to Lebanon to train its young cadres.

The Iranian ambassador to Damascus from 1982-85, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi, was quoted by Al-Sharq Al-Awsat as telling an Iranian newspaper that Hizbullah gained part of its battle experience through its participation in the war against Iraq. According to Mohtashemi, more than 100,000 young Lebanese received military training both in Lebanon and in Iran in groups of 300 fighters. Akhteri has also conceded that elements of Hizbullah fought in the war with Iraq "either within our ranks or by themselves."

Akhteri recalls that five planeloads of Revolutionary Guards and Basij (youth militia) landed in Damascus to stand with Hizbullah during the 1982 Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, but Khomeini stopped any further dispatch of Iranian forces to Lebanon because of logistical problems. According to Akhteri, supplying a military contingency in Lebanon would have been difficult with the war raging between Iran and Iraq. The only other alternative would have been to go through Turkey, but Turkey was a member of NATO. Hence, the real alternative was to train Hizbullah's cadres in Lebanon itself.

Syria Allowed the Passage of Military Aid to Hizbullah

The arming of Hizbullah could not have been possible without the support of Syria. When Hizbullah was established, Syria was in control of Lebanon, and no one could come and go without the approval of the Syrian regime. In fact, Akhteri admits that throughout his "diplomatic" mission to Syria he coordinated his activities in Lebanon with Ghazi Kan'an, who was chief of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon from 1982-2001, and who became minister of interior in October 2003 and who in 2005 allegedly committed suicide. (Kan'an may have been involved in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri. As the international investigation of the assassination was beginning to implicate the Syrian regime, Kan'an may have been silenced by a staged – unexplainable – suicide.)

In his interview with Al-Asharq Al-Awsat , Ambassador Akhteri stated with evident pride that Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas are the "legitimate children of the Iranian revolution," and that Iran has supported them financially, politically, and morally. There was coordination between Iran and each of these organizations, but Akhteri argues that any final decisions were taken by these groups themselves.

The Establishment of Al-Manar TV

To solidify its control over its supporters and to spread Shi'ite Islamic fervor, Hizbullah needed its own television station, but Lebanon was reluctant to approve an independent station for Hizbullah. According to former Syrian vice president Abdul Halim Khaddam, now living in exile in France, the Iranian president at the time, Hashemi Rafsanjani, called Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad to obtain a license for Al-Manar TV. Assad told then-Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri to grant the permit, and the permit was granted. The establishment of Al-Manar was one of the steps that, Akhteri stresses, "strengthened the independence of Hizbullah on the Lebanese political scene."(3)

Hizbullah's Social Institutions – Identical To Iran's

In addition to Al-Manar TV, Hizbullah was able, with Iran's financing, to establish a wide range of social, financial, and economic institutions that strengthened the loyalty of the Shi'ites in Lebanon to Iran. One of the significant financial arms of Hizbullah is the Shahid Foundation (Martyrs Foundation), an Iran-based organization established in 1982 in Iran to assist victims of the Iran-Iraq war. In 2007, the U.S. Treasury targeted "Iran-based Martyrs Foundation," including its U.S. branch, and the finance firm Al-Qardh al-Hassan (Good Deed Loan) as front organizations for Hizbullah. According to the Treasury, the Martyrs Foundation branches in Lebanon provided financial support to the families of killed or imprisoned Hizbullah and Islamic Jihad members, including suicide bombers in the Palestinian territories. Al-Qardh al-Hassan created the Goodwill Charitable Organization (munathamat al-niyya al-hasana al-khairiya) in Dearborn, Michigan as a fundraising office for the Martyrs Foundation.

According to the U.S. Treasury, Hizbullah used the Al-Qardh al-Hassan's financial arms as cover to manage its financial activity. Al-Qardh al-Hassan is run by Hussein al-Shami, a senior Hizbullah leader who has also served as a member of Hizbullah's Shura Council and as head of several Hizbullah-controlled organizations.(4)

Hussein Raslan, in charge of the social functions in the Martyrs Foundation, told Islamonline on August 13, 2006, that the idea for the Foundation originated with Khomeini, who provided the financing from zakat (alms contributed by Muslims). Raslan said that the first Hizbullah school was established in Beirut in 1988, but that eventually the school was incorporated into the Imam al-Mahdi Foundation in 2002. The flow of funds [from Iran], Raslan said, enabled Hizbullah to establish a series of enterprises including those dealing with food supply, gasoline and printing houses. Hizbullah schools in Lebanon, either under Khomeini or al-Mahdi Foundations, follow the Iranian curriculum.

Hizbullah has also established a network of hospitals (dispensing Iranian-made medicines), banks, and cultural organizations. Finally, there are the Hizbullah police, who are responsible for maintaining "good manners" on the street – meaning, among other things, that women are always veiled in public. Money from Iran keeps this massive apparatus running.

Refusal to Pay for Electricity

One of the least-known facts about the dominance of Hizbullah in parts of Lebanon is the refusal of its members to pay their electric bills. Without the means to force them to do so, the Lebanese government is left with one of its largest budgetary problems – the growing subsidy the government has to pay to the national power company, Electricite du Liban.

The Shi'ization of Syria

The International Aal-Al-Beit Society, which operates under Iran's supreme leader, currently Ali Khamenei, and whose primary function is to spread Shi'ism (tashayu') in the rest of the Muslim world, took advantage of Iran's special relations with Syria in order to establish Shi'ite religious seminaries in Damascus. In fact, Damascus has now at least three hawzas (religious centers,) and is considered the third largest Shi'ite center in the world after Najaf and Qom. While Akhteri minimizes the proselytizing functions of the Aal Al-Beit society in Syria, there are concerns sounded in both Syria and the Arab world about the tashayu' effort – not only in Syria but in other countries, such as Egypt and Sudan.

Conclusion

This paper highlights two significant facts: first, Hizbullah was created and sustained by Iran. Iranian financial support has made it possible for this political organization to build a network of schools, hospitals, social welfare organizations and above all, military prowess. It now serves as an extension of Iran's strategic expansion into the Mediterranean.

Second, it is absolutely evident that Iran's extended arm into Lebanon would not have been possible without the collusion or approval of the Syrian regime. Syria is also the main conduit of arms from Iran to Hizbullah.

*Dr. Nimrod Raphaeli is the Editor of The MEMRI Economic Blog, www.memrieconomicblog.org. This dispatch is based on a presentation made by the author at a panel on "The Iranization of Lebanon?" at the Potomac Institute on May 23, 2008.

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Notes

(1) Press conference in Tehran, May 13, 2008.
(2) Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), May 14 and May 15, 2008.
(3) Manal Lutfi, "The Limits of the State of Hizbullah," Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), May 20, 2009
(4) Twin Treasury Actions Take Aim at Hizballah’s Support Network, July 24, 2007.


Note from Monkey in the Middle:

Make no mistake. Hizbollah is controlled by Iran. From financial support to health care, Iran is pulling the strings.

What struck me is that they refuse to pay their electric bills. If this was the the United States, their electricity would have been disconnected long ago. And the Lebanese government should do just that, while explaining to the world that if you don't pay your electric bill, you don't get electricity.

Remember the name Goodwill Charitable Organization. It is a front for the Martyrs Foundation. And is centered in Dearborn, MI. A hotbed of Hizbollah and terrorist activity in the United States.

The time has come for a full financial and congressional inquiry into the activities of all mosques, institutions and charities in Dearborn, MI. Too many times illegal and seditious activities are being covered up and hidden in these places. We must act now before they strike us with another 9/11 attack or worse.