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Recent attention has focused primarily on the threat posed by the small rockets wielded by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Those weapons, however, pale in comparison to what Hezbollah has deployed in Southern Lebanon. The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Shi'ite terrorist group fired at least one such rocket into Israel on Tuesday night:
Four people were lightly wounded after a Kiryat Shmona home was hit by a Katyusha rocket fired by the Hizbullah late Tuesday evening.Two impacts were reported in different locations in the city - one on Rehov Yehuda Halevi and one in the Vradim neighborhood in east Kiryat Shmona. Initial reports said that one of the impact sites was close to a high-tension wire, Israel Radio reported.
On the same street in 1974, terrorists stormed an apartment building and 18 people were killed, eight of whom were children, when PFLP terrorists detonated their explosives during a failed rescue attempt by Israeli security forces.
Kiryat Shmona residents have been advised to enter shelters.
Explosions were also reported in Moshav Shlomi in the western Galilee and in Nahariya. Security forces were checking whether the explosions in Shlomi were mortar shells or Katyushas.
For additional info on Hezbollah's rocket arsenal, refer to my article on the subject, featured in the Winter 2006 edition of the Middle East Quarterly.
Posted by Patrick at December 27, 2005 5:55 PM
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...and there's this gem from http://debka.com/
December 27, 2005, 8:54 PM (GMT+02:00)
Tuesday, Dec. 27, Mossad director Meir Dagan joined the list of Israeli officials sounding the alarm on the imminence of Iran’s nuclear threat.
In his briefing to the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee, Dagan stressed Tehran will not be satisfied with a single nuclear weapon but plans a stockpile. This is Israel’s working assumption.
Anyone want to bet that there will be a full scale war starting around March 2006?
You don't need to be a rocket scientist (pardon the pun) to see that things are going down the toilet fairly quickly.
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at December 27, 2005 8:11 PM
...add to the previous:
http://answering-islam.org.uk/Authors/JR/Future/ch04_the_mahdi.htm
"The Army Of Black Flags
The Mahdi’s ascendancy to power is said to be preceded by an army from the east who will be carrying black flags or banners of war. Sheikh Kabbani states:
Hadith indicate that black flags coming from the area of Khorasan will signify the appearance of the Mahdi is nigh. Khorasan is in todays Iran, and some scholars have said that this hadith means when the black flags appear from Central Asia, i.e. in the direction of Khorasan, then the appearance of the Mahdi is imminent. 17
"
Well, if this is what they believe to be "true" according to this hadith -- then it is crazy to talk about peace.
The sooner that Isreal gets on the stick and takes care of business, the longer it will survive. Otherwise, the alternative is clearly spelled out I think, in the hadith.
Posted by: witness at December 27, 2005 8:22 PM
Black flags...how appropriate...like an army of orcs.
Maybe Tolkien was a bit of a prophet.
at December 27, 2005 11:08 PM
BREAKING NEWS:
ISRAELI JETS ALREADY ATTACKING SITES IN LEBANON.
Posted by: Mackie at December 27, 2005 11:44 PM
The Israeli military said the planes attacked a militant training base south of Beirut.
The military said the base belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which has been battling against Israel for decades.
at December 27, 2005 11:48 PM
Israel seems to no longer recognize the inane distinctions the muslim terrorists maintain among themselves. Case in point, hezbullah thugs fire two rockets and Israel takes out a plfp training base. Two weeks ago a similar thing happened, where some hamas cowards murdered Israelis then went into hiding. Israel responded by taking out a couple of 'islamic jihad' operatives. If indeed this is the new policy, I think it is a very good one. The muslims do not make distinctions between infidel groups, e.g., if the U.S. engages muslim terrorists in Iraq, the Spanish are held responsible. The "make no distinctions" policy should be the policy of all infidel nations. Any attack on a British subway train, an Israeli bus, a Russian elementary school, or a U.S. airplane should trigger attacks on any jihadi, on any part of the jihadi infrastructure, on any mosque or madrassa, anywhere on earth.
Posted by: Infidel33 at December 28, 2005 2:09 AM
Israel seems to no longer recognize the inane distinctions the muslim terrorists maintain among themselves. Case in point, hezbullah thugs fire two rockets and Israel takes out a plfp training base. [...]If indeed this is the new policy, I think it is a very good one.
- Infidel33
Infidel33
While I agree w/ this new policy, if it happens to be a policy, I'd vary it slightly in case of Lebanon. Right now, Lebanon is at loggerheads w/ Syria over the continued assassination of anti-Syrian public figures (politicians, journalists, et al), so from a tactical point, I think it's a mistake for Israel to retailiate on Lebanon (even though, in priciple, I support Israel going after terrorists anywhere - Gaza, Jenin, Ramallah, Beirut, Bekaa Valley, Damascus, et al) Instead, what Israel ought to have done here should have been to launch attacks on Syria, since everyone knows that Hizbullah gets its support from both Iran & Syria. That way, Hizbullah would be less able to divert the attention of the Lebanese from Syria to Israel (no doubt, they'd try doing that anyway). That would militarily weaken Syria even more and force them to withdraw intelligence officers from Lebanon - it's no point leaving them there if it looks like Damascus is going to fold under an Israeli assault.
Once that is achieved, it would be more difficult for Hizbullah to survive on its own. Also, I've heard that in Iran, the way the regime there stays in power is w/ the support of Hizbullah stormtroopers. If that is the case, weakening Hizbullah in Lebanon could even go so far as have a salutory effect in Iran.
On a separate note, while the UN keeps investigating the assassination of Rafiq al Hariri, the US should increase the pressure on Dimashq by moving that the investigation scope be widened into looking into the killings of all subsequent anti-Syrian Lebanese, as well as look into Syria's involvement in the 1982 assassination of president elect Bashir Gemayel. Do this for now, and decide the consequences later. If France insists on blocking sanctions on Syria, we could achieve the goal of withdrawing US troops from Iraq by moving them into Syria, and starting a new de-baathification process there (w/o however the experiment of flowering a new democracy in Damascus.) No terrorist could then claim that we are leaving tail between legs.
Posted by: Infidel Pride at December 28, 2005 4:22 AM
The only reason that an international investigation of Hariri's murder was organized is because France cooperated with the USA on this matter. And France cooperated because Hariri knew how to make friends among politicians, Western and otherwise. He is reputed to have given Jacques Supermenteur, le President de la France, beaucoup d'argent et d'autres cadeaux. Furthermore, Hariri was a billionaire. Maybe the message of all the international interest in his murder is that there is an unutterable rule that it is forbidden to kill billionaires. Because as Infidel Pride knows, many others were murdered in Lebanon before and since Hariri, but none of these other murders got as much international attention or condemnation. Anyhow, Infidel Pride, keep on fighting for what you propose.
Posted by: Eliyahu at December 28, 2005 5:03 AM
Eliyahu
I think that France co-operated not due just due to Hariri, but also because unlike in Iraq (the Oil for Weapons & Palace program), France does not have a stake in Syria. In case of Lebanon, France created it, and was willing to keep it alive - there was no country called Lebanon under the Ottoman empire. Right now, Syria is making things difficult for the Mechlis (sp?) investigation, so they aren't exactly in the good books of the investigators. That's what makes this the right opportunity for the US to put pressure to increase the scope of the investigation.
Back on topic, from the Jerusalem Post
The spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in Lebanon announced that two of its operatives were lightly wounded Wednesday morning in an IAF strike against their bases in Lebanon. The strike came hours after the northern town of Kiryat Shmona was hit by Katyusha rocket fire.
Why can't Israel at least kill those bastards, instead of simply "lightly wounding" them? What was it - a paper cut?
Posted by: Infidel Pride at December 28, 2005 5:35 AM
two of its operatives were lightly wounded
The Monty Python Crunchy Frog sketch now appears as a work of prophetic genius.
http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/crunchy.htm
We use only the finest baby frogs, dew picked and flown from Iraq, cleansed in finest quality spring water, lightly killed, and then sealed in a succulent Swiss quintuple smooth treble cream milk chocolate envelope and lovingly frosted with glucose.
at December 28, 2005 6:02 AM
I would like first of all to thank Arik and Ehud for facilitating the Hizbullah's doing its thing.
Granny,
cute story
Infidel,
I think another reason why Hariri's murder was the only one to attract real condemnation and interest by the "international community" was that he was a Sunni Arab quite close to the insiders and top dogs in Riyadh. Remember that a few weeks ago, after Tweini was killed, some called for the investigation into the Hariri murder to be broadened to cover the Tweini murder? What came out of those calls? Not a word about Tweini anymore. No broadening of the investigation. Yet Tweini was rich, but apparently neither a billionaire [as far as I know], nor a Sunni Arab, nor close to Riyadh, nor a close friend of Jacques Supermenteur.
Yes, this is a good time to increase pressure on Damascus, if anybody cares. What does official France care about? Do they care about an independent Lebanon anymore? Does Washington care about an independent Lebanon?
As to Lebanon's status under the Ottoman empire, I believe that before the end of the 19th century, Mount Lebanon had a separate governmental status, perhaps with a Maronite governor.
at December 28, 2005 7:59 AM
"Why can't Israel at least kill those bastards, instead of simply "lightly wounding" them? What was it - a paper cut?" .. posted by Infidel Pride
I tend to take such reports from the arab "press" with a grain of salt. The Israeli response was directed against an underground complex. I suspect Israeli intelligence is trying to assess the effectiveness as we write.
Posted by: Infidel33 at December 28, 2005 11:52 AM
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