LCCC ENGLISH
DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
July 18/07
Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus
Christ according to Saint Matthew 11,20-24. Then he began to reproach the towns
where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. Woe
to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your
midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in
sackcloth and ashes.But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon
on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: 'Will you be
exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.' For if the mighty deeds
done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this
day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day
of judgment than for you."
Openions
A Republic for the General!-By: Elias
Harfoush.Dar
Al-Hayat. July 18/07
Preventing the West from Understanding Jihad-American Thinker.
July 18/07
Hezbollah shadow over UN Lebanon troops
The Lebanese need more than vague, symbolic promises from their leaders-Daily
Star 18/07/07
Push for peace on the Golan Heights.By Stuart
Reigeluth and Pilar Sanchez-Bella. 18/07/07
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources
for July 18/07
PFLP-GC Fighters Surrender in Nahr al-Bared-Naharnet
Geagea Sets Dual Red
Line-Naharnet
4 Soldiers Killed in Lebanon Fighting-Washington Post
1st Visit by Sarkozy Administration Official to Damascus-Naharnet
Illegal Arab Immigrants Arrested in Tyre after Attack on
U.N.-Naharnet
Army Making 'Significant' Gains in Nahr al-Bared-Naharnet
Paris talks fail to break Lebanon deadlock-Focus News
Hizbullah Denies Telling Kouchner that Israeli Soldiers are Alive-Naharnet
Bush Doesn't Spare Hizbullah from Criticism in Peace
Conference Speech-Naharnet
UN's Ban offers to help start Israel-Syria peace
talks-Ha'aretz
Aoun
Accuses Government of 'Negligence' Over Nahr al-Bared Battle-Naharnet
Safadi's Presidential Vote Conditional on Two-Third Quorum-Naharnet
WHEN HEZBOLLAH TRUMPS OLD GLORY-New
York Post
Is it useful to classify Hezbollah as terrorist?Le
Figaro, France
Analyst Says Iran, Syria Pulling Al-Qaeda's Strings-AINA
Defense or offense?
Lebanon battle kills 100th soldier-NEWS.com.au
Army death toll tops 100 as battle at Nahr al-Bared intensifies-Daily
Star
Rival parties keen to pursue dialogue after Paris meeting-Daily
Star
Roadside bomb explodes near UNIFIL peacekeepers in South Lebanon-Daily
Star
Aoun stresses need to re-impose visa requirements for Arab nationals-Daily
Star
Sfeir insists presidential vote must abide by Constitution-Daily
Star
Judicial vacation to begin Monday-Daily
Star
Joseph Mansour Asmar to run for MP in Metn-Daily
Star
Hariri denies report that he may have met Olmert-Daily
Star
Hizbullah denies discussing captured soldiers in Paris-Daily
Star
Environmental group condemns government's handling of oil spill-Daily
Star
Two Israeli journalists scrap ethics for scoop-Daily
Star
Us Vs. Them -- But Who Are They?CBS News
Views of conflict through the lenses of
Palestinian and Israeli teenagers-Daily
Star
45% of jehadis in Iraq from S Arabia-Times
of India
Syria's President sworn in-Euronews.net
France's role-Le Figaro
1st
Visit by Sarkozy Administration Official to Damascus
French envoy Jean-Claude Cousseran will reportedly meet Syrian leaders in
Damascus on Tuesday in the first such contact between a high-ranking French
official from the Sarkozy administration and the Syrian regime.The daily As
Safir, citing diplomatic sources in Paris, said Cousseran's Damascus visit will
focus on the Lebanon situation. The sources said Cousseran, who will arrive in
Damascus on Tuesday, will meet in and Syrian Vice President Farouk Sharaa as
well as Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem. As Safir said Cousseran will head
to Beirut on Wednesday for meetings with Lebanese politicians in preparation for
the scheduled visit by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to the Lebanese
capital on July 28. The daily An Nahar, however, said Cousseran will not visit
Beirut on Wednesday as was announced by Kouchner at a Sunday press conference,
but a few days later. According to information obtained by An Nahar, it said
Cousseran will hold talks with "most" of the politicians who took part in the
weekend meeting at Saint-Cloud.
It said Kouchner telephoned Prime Minister Fouad Saniora Monday evening to
inform him of the outcome of the Lebanon dialogue and discussed the ideas
proposed regarding the follow-up meetings to be held by the rival parties in
Beirut. Meanwhile, Arab League Chief Amr Moussa said France was keen to a "great
extent" to coordinate with the Arab League in efforts aimed at easing eight
months of political deadlock since pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet.
Beirut, 17 Jul 07, 07:31
Hizbullah Denies Telling
Kouchner that Israeli Soldiers are Alive
France raised the issue of two Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbullah but was
not given any information on their fate during the inter-party talks between
Lebanese parties in Paris, a senior Hizbullah official said Tuesday. Mohammed
Fneish, one of six pro-Syrian cabinet ministers who resigned last November and
who led the Shiite militant group's team to Paris for the weekend talks, said:
"The fate of the two prisoners was not raised, neither from near nor far...
"On the sidelines of the last session …(French Foreign Minister Bernard)
Kouchner said to me: 'I promised the families to raise the question with you',"
Fneish told Agence France Presse. "I replied that there are negotiations on this
issue with the United Nations. There are problems with the Israelis but the
negotiations continue. If France wants to play a role to facilitate the
exchange, we do not have any objections." Hizbullah, demanding the release
of Arab prisoners held by Israel, captured Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in a
cross-border raid in which eight other soldiers were killed on July 12, 2006,
sparking a devastating 34-day war.
Kouchner said on Sunday that he was told by Hizbullah officials attending the
Paris talks on Lebanon's political crisis that the soldiers were alive, after
being asked about their condition at a closing news conference. "I really
understood yes," said the French foreign minister, whose country was condemned
by Jewish groups for hosting Hizbullah, which is branded a terrorist
organization in the United States.(AFP) Beirut, 17 Jul 07, 15:58
Illegal
Arab Immigrants Arrested in Tyre after Attack on U.N.
Ten illegal Arab immigrants have been arrested in the southern port city of
Tyre, police announced on Tuesday, a day after a roadside bombing targeted a
U.N. peacekeeping vehicle in Qassmiyeh. A police spokesman said eight Sudanese
and two Iraqis were detained in a raid by the army's intelligence service Monday
night as they slept in an apartment building under construction on the outskirts
of Tyre. He declined to link the arrests to the bombing in which a vehicle of
the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was damaged at Qassmiyeh
bridge north of Tyre, without causing casualties.
The blast came less than a month after a car bomb killed three Spanish and three
Colombian peacekeepers on June 24. The attack was linked to the deadly fighting
in northern Lebanon between the Lebanese army and al-Qaida-inspired Fatah
al-Islam militants from a number of Arab states.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 17 Jul
07, 10:59
Lebanese Army Inching In
Across Nahr al-Bared
The Lebanese Army advanced towards Fatah al-Islam's enclave in the northern camp
of Nahr al-Bared Monday and lost three soldiers in the fire fight.
That brought to 100 the regular force's overall death toll in the eight-week
confrontation. The state-run National News Agency said army troops have advanced
across half of the camp's main street, closing in on outposts held by Fatah
al-Islam terrorists. Heavy clashes were underway after sunset as the army tried
to push in to complete its control over the camp's main street, NNA added. An
army spokesman told Agence France Presse three soldiers were killed in the
ongoing battle for control of the camp, 12 kilometers north of the town of
Tripoli. That brought to 189 the overall reported death toll since the clashes
broke out on May 20. Scores of Fatah al-Islam terrorists have been killed but
their bodies could not be evacuated from the camp due to intensity of the
clashes.
Soldiers and Fatah al-Islam militants dueled with machinegun fire as army
gunners pounded enemy positions with howitzers and tank cannons.
"We are continuing to make advances on the ground, and we continue to tighten
the noose on the gunmen," said the army spokesman, who was not identified.
The Islamists, who are now believed to number a few dozen, have responded by
firing back rockets, five of which crashed into fields north of the camp without
causing any casualties, according to police. The army has reported significant
progress in its battle against the gunmen since Saturday, raising Lebanese flags
on buildings seized from the Islamists in the battered camp on the Mediterranean
coast. An army spokesman said the militiamen now controlled an area only 300
meters (yards) by 600 meters on a small hill inside the camp, left in ruins by
the bloodiest internal clashes since the 15-year civil war came to an end in
1990.
The fighting erupted when the Islamist militants launched a string of attacks on
soldiers, killing 27 of them around the Palestinian refugee camp and in the
nearby northern port city of Tripoli, the army says. The government has vowed to
eradicate Fatah al-Islam, a shadowy band which first surfaced in the camp late
last year and which includes extremists from various Arab countries. Beirut, 16
Jul 07, 18:46
Safadi's Presidential Vote
Conditional on Two-Third Quorum
Public Works Minister and member of the Tripoli Gathering Mohammed Safadi said
Monday the group would not participate in presidential elections if a two-third
quorum was not available. In an interview with the daily As Safir, Safadi said
his stance "does not mean breaking away" from the stand allegedly adopted by the
March 14 Forces. Safadi, however, insisted that there was a distinction between
the presidential elections' issue and that of the national unity government.
Asked if there was any "disagreement" with March 14 that led the Gathering to
take such a decision, Safadi said: "We've always had differences with the
others, but no one ever recognized us as an independent group." Beirut, 16 Jul
07, 13:24
Army Making 'Significant'
Gains in Nahr al-Bared
The Lebanese army is making "significant" gains in its battle against diehard
Fatah al-Islam militants holding out inside the northern Palestinian refugee
camp of Nahr al-Bared, security officials said Tuesday. But a senior military
official said four soldiers were killed in fighting Monday. The body of a
missing soldier also has been found, he said. Lebanese army commandos traded
small arms with Fatah al-Islam militants on Tuesday as they closed in on their
hideouts inside
Nahr al-Bared. The Lebanese flag was hoisted over a small strategic hill
captured on Monday, apparently leaving only the Hay Saasaa area deep inside the
camp still in the hands of Fatah al-Islam fighters. Troops also destroyed a
number of rocket launchers and hideouts used by Fatah al-Islam to attack
soldiers, the state-run National News Agency said. It added that three snipers
were reported killed overnight.NNA said Tuesday's confrontations focused around
Hay Saasaa.
The latest deaths raise to 101 the army's death toll since the fighting broke
out May 20. Dozens of militants have been killed, but the exact number is
unknown as the group can not be contacted. The security officials reported
"significant progress" by the Lebanese troops, saying that Fatah al-Islam
militants were now encircled in an area thought to be no bigger than 500 square
meters.They did not elaborate.
Witnesses said the army was using armored bulldozers to push its way into the
area where militants are thought to be still holed up. But gunfire and the
impact of rocket-propelled grenades could still be heard from inside the camp
Tuesday, suggesting that the militants continued to resist the army's advance.
The military reported that two Fatah al-Islam militants and two fighters of the
Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC)
surrendered on Monday. Among them was Abu Nabil, PFLP-GC's Nahr al-Bared
commander. NNA said Abu Hureira, Fatah al-Islam second in command, was killed
during the battles with the army, according to Abu Nabil. The fighting
erupted when the militants launched a string of attacks on soldiers, killing 27
troops around the Palestinian camp and in the nearby northern port city of
Tripoli. The Islamists, now believed to number a few dozen, on Monday fired off
Katyusha-type rockets, five of which struck fields north of the camp without
causing any casualties, police said.
Fatah al-Islam has been firing rockets since last week's evacuation from the
camp of militants of the mainstream Palestinian group, Fatah, after having
apparently seized their abandoned arsenal. Fatah and local officials have
condemned the action as acts of desperation.(Naharnet-AP-AFP) eirut, 17 Jul 07,
10:43
Bush Doesn't Spare Hizbullah
from Criticism in Peace Conference Speech
U.S. President George Bush did not spare Hizbullah and its main backers Syria
and Iran from criticism in a speech Monday during which he called for an
international conference to revive stalled Middle East peace talks. "The
conflict in Gaza and the West Bank today is a struggle between extremists and
moderates. And these are not the only places where the forces of radicalism and
violence threaten freedom and peace," Bush said. "The struggle between
extremists and moderates is also playing out in Lebanon -- where Hizbullah and
Syria and Iran are trying to destabilize the popularly elected government," he
added. Bush also warned Palestinians that backing Hamas would "crush" their
hopes for their own state.
He said support for the Islamist movement would be a victory for the group's
"foreign sponsors" in Syria and Iran. The main aim of his speech at the White
House was to call Israel, the Palestinians and others in the region to a peace
conference. Bush said the conference, open to countries in the region that
support a two-state solution to the long Israeli-Palestinian standoff, would be
headed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Beirut, 17 Jul 07, 08:01
Aoun Accuses Government of 'Negligence' Over Nahr al-Bared Battle
Gen. Michel Aoun has accused Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's government of
"negligence" in the handling of the Nahr al-Bared battle, urging authorities to
impose entry visa requirements on Arab nationals. Aoun also accused the
government of conspiring along with Israel against Lebanon in last summer's war
between the Jewish state and Hizbullah. He hinted that the July-Aug 2006
confrontation has left the impression that there had been an "understanding and
coordination between the Lebanese government and Israel," urging to eliminate
this thought through the formation of a national unity cabinet.
His remarks were made after a weekly meeting of the Reform and Change
parliamentary bloc on Monday.
Addressing the government, Aoun, who is part of the Hibullah-led opposition,
said there was "negligence and collusion" in the fighting at the northern
Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared between the Lebanese army and
militants of the Fatah al-Islam group.
Aoun demanded that the Lebanese foreign ministry tighten up visa requirements on
Arab citizens, given that a number of Fatah al-Islam fighters killed in the Nahr
al-Bared clashes were of Arab origin and that other Fatah al-Islam members who
took part in recent terrorist attacks in and around Beirut were non-Lebanese,
too.
Aoun said that the latest report issued by Chief U.N. investigator Serge
Brammertz has hinted at the possibility of having "terrorist groups involved in
the assassination" of former Premier Rafik Hariri. The government was quick to
retort to Aoun, describing his statement as "shameful," according to the daily
An Nahar on Tuesday.
It quoted a government source as expressing astonishment, particularly since
Aoun is a former army general. "Are statements about collusion rewarding to the
(Lebanese) army?" the source asked. On the issue of fighters entering Lebanon,
the source said "only a little number" came into the country through legal
crossing, while the rest infiltrated into Lebanon across the Syria border.
Beirut, 17 Jul 07, 11:41
Hezbollah shadow over UN Lebanon troops
Unifil troops are meant to prevent Hezbollah bearing arms
Martin Asser has been reporting from Lebanon, a year after he covered the war
between Hezbollah and Israel for the BBC News website. Here he examines the
performance of the beefed-up UN peacekeeping operation.
Touring southern Lebanon these days, it is not long before you come across a
convoy of white-painted vehicles from the UN peacekeeping force Unifil.
There may be just two or three soft-skinned vehicles, or it could be a long
column including heavy armour, container trucks, ambulances and trucks full of
peacekeepers in blue helmets, berets or turbans.
They trundle over the steep mountain passes and rolling plains between Israel
and the Litani river, a visible sign of international determination to avoid
another bloody conflict.
[Hezbollah are] everywhere, even here. If they wanted Unifil out, they'd be gone
in two days
Christian resident of Ayn Ebl
In pictures: On patrol with Unifil
Unifil was established in Lebanon 30 years ago, after Israel's first invasion,
but had little impact on events - having no mandate to prevent attacks on Israel
from Lebanon, or vice versa.
After the July 2006 war, the force received new orders and thousands of
reinforcements under the ceasefire resolution 1701, which also stipulated the
deployment of the Lebanese army in the area.
Previously the area had become the fiefdom of Hezbollah, the Shia Islamist and
militant movement whose cross-border raid on 12 July - snatching two Israeli
soldiers - was the catalyst for the 34-day conflict.
The post-conflict objective was for Unifil to help the Lebanese government
extend its sovereignty to the southern frontier, so Hezbollah's armed wing would
no longer be free to menace nearby Israeli towns or troops patrolling the
border.
Ambush
Since last year, Unifil has been transformed from an observational force of just
2,000 soldiers to the current 13,600 battle-ready force, including a
2,000-strong naval component.
French peacekeepers are ready for trouble with their battle tanks
To Unifil's great satisfaction, under the new mandate, southern Lebanon has
enjoyed its most stable and peaceful period in many years.
The most serious violation of the ceasefire has been against Unifil itself, when
a roadside bomb killed three Spaniards and three Colombians from the Spanish
peacekeeping force.
The perpetrators remain unidentified, but suspicion has fallen on
al-Qaeda-linked Jihadists who have been causing mayhem in a Palestinian refugee
camp in northern Lebanon.
Three weeks later, Lebanese troops still seal off the long straight road at
Dardara, between Khiyam and Marjayoun, where the attack happened, but from the
roadblock you can still see the damage to the tarmac and surrounding trees and
undergrowth.
South Lebanon is full of places like this, where the natural environment
provides ample cover for ambushes, as the Israeli army discovered to its cost
during its long occupation that ended in 2000.
Political links
Troops from the al-Tiri base near Bint Jbeil, headquarters of the French
battalion, Unifil's third strongest after Italy and Spain, now always wear
helmets and body armour when they go out on the road.
Peacekeepers receive a warm welcome from the Lebanese
Protective gear is only removed when they alight from their vehicles for village
foot patrols.
"We were deeply affected by what happened to the Spanish battalion, but our
mission is unaffected," says Capt Arnaud Rudelle. "We are soldiers and we will
do whatever we must to fulfil it."
Like much of the south, most of the French operational area is strongly
pro-Hezbollah.
Its yellow flags, martyr's posters and pictures of leader Hassan Nasrallah are
everywhere - the exception being in the handful of Christian villages.
Capt Rudelle explains under the resolution 1701 it is not Unifil's
responsibility to confront Hezbollah when the latter is performing its role a
legitimate political party in Lebanon.
"Our job is to support the Lebanese army and see that there is no other armed
activity in our area."
They are happy to establish links with community leaders, whether they are
Hezbollah or not. The fact that the movement should hand over its weapons (under
another UN resolution, 1559) is not Unifil's concern.
Popular sympathy
Unifil's popularity has not been harmed, with it becoming a major employer in
this economically depressed area, with 1,000 local staff at its Naqqoura HQ
alone, and supporting regeneration projects.
They were just babies, those young men who died. Shame... they didn't come here
to be killed, they came to help us keep the peace
Resident of Khiyam on the recent killing of six Unifil soldiers
Ordinary civilians I spoke to in Hezbollah's heartlands say initial doubts about
the new mandate have proved unfounded.
"At first we were unhappy, we thought it was just for Israel's protection, but
now we see that is not so," said one resident in Khiyam.
The Dardara bombing had made people more sympathetic, she said.
"They were just babies, those young men who died. Ya haram (shame), they didn't
come here to be killed, they came to help us keep the peace."
But the popular perception is clearly that the peacekeepers only remain with the
tacit permission of Hezbollah's military wing.
Hezbollah fighters are masters of concealment and guerrilla warfare - their
weapons were never on show before the war, so they are unlikely to be caught
red-handed by Unifil or Lebanese troops now.
I spoke to a seasoned resident of the Christian village of Ayn Ebl - no friend
of Hezbollah - who told me:
"They're everywhere, even here. If they wanted Unifil out, they'd be gone in two
days," he said, snapping his fingers.
A
Republic for the General!
Elias Harfoush - Al-Hayat - 17/07/07//
How can one enter a democratic process, such as electing a president of the
Republic, in the absence of democrats? How can the growth of sectarian and
religious politics be confronted with sectarian and religious politicians? How
can we arrive at what has come to be called consensus, in the absence of
anything that can be agreed upon among Lebanese?
Among the benefits and conditions of democracy is that those who take part in
the "game" either already respect its conditions and outcomes, and do so on the
basis of their convictions that they are equal in standing and value with those
who compete against them, and that the options of people, or their
representatives in the case of the president of the Republic, are what decide
between the competitors. But when this conviction is absent and one of the
parties is above accountability, in a better position than others ("more
honorable and cleaner"), the hidden intentions of this participation in
democracy become something that invites doubt.
Thus it is correct to inquire about the justifications that prompt some parties
in the Lebanese opposition to merely accept this democratic participation, while
its leaders believe that their people and their options are the best to lead the
country, and that anyone else, should he take power, will lead them to
destruction. Sharing this conviction are General Michel Aoun and his allies in
Hizbullah, who don't only doubt the right of the majority to hold power, based
on their belief that this group's political choices are bad, but also go as far
as to consider their "guardianship" of the public is the only way to bring about
salvation and a bright future. Parallel to the speeches in which Hizbullah
leaders affirm their support for the peaceful option, which the country must
head for, they do not hesitate, when things head toward escalation, to call the
other side's leaders traitors and accuse them of bowing to what they term
foreign tutelage. Their ally General Aoun has not continued to consider himself
the only candidate who should become president of the Republic. If not, let the
Republic go to blazes!
In a recent interview, Aoun said that "I cannot guarantee any other person. I
know my country and I know our politicians, and I don't want a mistake to be
made." In his estimation, of course, the MPs will commit a mistake if they
choose someone other than him as president. As for the characteristics that the
general sees in himself as the "key to the solution," as he modestly described
it himself, they are: independence and a love of Lebanon as a free man, one
without a foreign capital behind him.
In addition, Aoun directly attacked the team with which he signed a document of
understanding, namely Hizbullah, which does not deny that a "foreign capital"
stands behind it, or in front of it. Aoun challenges the competence of other
presidential candidates, whom he dispossesses in a single statement all
possibility of independence or freedom, not to speak of love of Lebanon, and
monopolizes himself!
The general does not only deny that other candidates are "patriotically
competent" but also opposes the principle of consensus on the president. This is
a principle that his allies in Hizbullah do not oppose, at least openly, as they
consider it a reasonable exit from the current predicament. Aoun believes that
any consensus candidate that is the result of a settlement between the majority
and the opposition will be a "weak president," whose election will lead "the
destruction of the country."
It's not surprising to hear this kind of rhetoric from the general, who invented
the trait of "elimination" when he launched it during the civil war of the past,
a campaign that ended the way it did. However, what is also recorded in his
history, despite is supposed patriotic slogans, is that the base he currently
relies upon to request the status of za'im (leader) among Christians and his
attacks on other Christian leaders have only a purely religious basis. His
criticism of other Christian leaders is that they won their seats with the votes
of Muslims. Thus, instead of such a choice representing a peaceful road to
national fusion, in Aoun's eyes it is a defect for which MPs should be punished.
Meanwhile, he is proud that the votes he won with members of his parliamentary
bloc were primarily Christian, and unblemished!
A purely sectarian flavor with a deep inclination toward self-centeredness, and
deriding democratic action, are thus present in Aoun's rhetoric. In both cases,
he does not stray far from his allies in Hizbullah; perhaps what attracts him to
them are these common traits, which are deeper than the other "understandings"
that one assumes are to be in effect between the two sides
From Now Lebanon
Blue helmet blues
Is UNIFIL's mission being compromised by efforts to protect its troops?
Nicholas Blanford, July 16, 2007
When Master Corporal Fabio Corleone patrols the narrow dusty roads of South
Lebanon in his lightly armored Puma troop carrier, he cannot help but dwell on
the fate of six peacekeeping colleagues killed in a car bomb last month.
"Yes, I think about it, we all do," the Italian soldier said, moments before
leading an armored patrol of eight soldiers along the Lebanon-Israel border.
Like every rock was a potential bomb to Israeli troops occupying South Lebanon
in the 1990s, so every parked car on the side of the road now spells potential
death for the troops serving with the 13,500-strong United Nations peacekeeping
force known as UNIFIL. These fears were once again justified on Monday, when a
small bomb targeted a UNIFIL military police vehicle at Qasimiyeh, 10 kilometers
north of Tyre.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
When UNIFIL's strength was boosted nearly a year ago from a caretaker force of
2,000 armed observers, the main concern was the reaction of Hezbollah, which
emerged from the month-long war with Israel claiming a "divine victory."
The UN gave assurances that the new UNIFIL would be a "robust" force with
several leading European countries dispatching crack troops and armor to give it
teeth and credibility. Still, it was principally for show – the last thing the
governments of the troop-contributing states desired was for their soldiers to
take on Hezbollah or Israel.
It became evident early on that Hezbollah was choosing not to confront UNIFIL
and would grudgingly accept UN Resolution 1701 which helped end the fighting.
Instead, Hezbollah abandoned its positions and bunkers in the UNIFIL area and
regrouped to a new line of defense north of the Litani river.
Certainly, Hezbollah men remain in the villages where they live and keep a close
eye on UNIFIL, especially the European contingents with their reconnaissance
drones and heavy armored vehicles.
UNIFIL sources say that patrols are occasionally followed by civilians in cars
or on foot. Sometimes, these individuals take photographs of the soldiers,
although there have been no incidents of violence between them.
As Lebanon's political crisis began to worsen after the war, worrying signals
emerge that UNIFIL could be a tempting target for al-Qaeda or groups inspired by
Osama bin Laden. Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number two, referred to UNIFIL
twice in speeches, claiming that the "international crusader forces" were
blocking the "mujahadeen" from reaching the border to fight Israel.
The emergence of Fatah al-Islam and its two-month confrontation with the
Lebanese army also heightened the fear of attack on UNIFIL.
The expected attack finally came on June 24, when a Spanish BMR armored vehicle
was hit by a bomb packed inside a Renault Rapide parked on the side of the road.
A military source familiar with the investigation into the bombing said that the
attack was very carefully planned and the perpetrators would have spent weeks,
possibly months, in preparation. The location of the bomb ambush – on a
north-south road running just west of Khiam – was selected for its numerous
line-of-sight opportunities. From the high ground flanking the valley on both
sides, the triggerman would have had a clear view of the targeted vehicle as it
approached the car bomb. Furthermore, it is a religiously mixed area of
Christian, Druze and Shia towns where Hezbollah’s pervasive grip is weaker
than in purely Shia districts where the arrival of strangers is quickly noted.
Investigators believe that the bomb, which was configured to direct the blast
laterally against the target, weighed as much as 60 kilograms of military grade
explosive (one source thinks it was closer to 100 kilograms) packed with
aluminum powder to augment the fireball effect. The blast spun the 14 ton,
six-wheeler BMR armored vehicle 180 degrees and knocked it off the road,
igniting ammunition inside the vehicle and fuel canisters tied to the outside.
Six soldiers were killed in the explosion, although two others, who had been
standing through the rear turrets, were thrown clear by the blast and
miraculously survived.
According to the military source, the bomb ambush was a "real accomplishment"
similar to some car bombs used recently in Afghanistan. It was the work of
experienced and technically proficient bomb makers, the source said.
Still, the first attack came as no surprise given the mounting intelligence of
threats against the force. Just two days before the deadly bombing, UNIFIL
received a warning of a possible suicide bomber targeting its headquarters in
Naqoura.
Although al-Qaeda did not take responsibility for the attack – no one has yet
– Zawahiri did praise the bombing in a taped statement released last week.
The only good news, perhaps, for UNIFIL in all this is that the sophistication
of the bomb and planning that went into the operation suggests that attacks of
this magnitude won't be a common occurrence. However, Monday's explosion, though
much smaller, indicates that a sustained bombing campaign against the
peacekeepers is underway.
A troubling consequence of this heightened threat to UNIFIL by radical jihadi
groups is that some of the troop-contributing countries have begun turning to
Hezbollah, hoping to enlist the cooperation of the Shia group in protecting
their soldiers. UNIFIL contingents are not supposed to have any direct contact
with Hezbollah – or any other Lebanese political groups as their official
channel of communication is through the Lebanese army.
"It's highly forbidden," said Major General Claudio Graziano, UNIFIL's
commander. "I have a relationship with the [Lebanese] government through the
Lebanese army. I have no relations with Hezbollah in terms of security."
Still, three months ago, intelligence agents from France, Italy and Spain met
with Hezbollah representatives in Saida. As a result of that meeting, some
Spanish UNIFIL patrols are now "escorted" by Hezbollah militants in cars.
Following last month's bombing, Spanish UNIFIL officers met with local Hezbollah
officials, according to a South Lebanon-based party official.
But in fact, there is nothing new about UNIFIL's liaison channels with
Hezbollah. When the Shia group began to consolidate its presence in South
Lebanon in the late 1980s and clashed several times with UNIFIL discreet
contacts were made between the peacekeepers and Hezbollah to reduce
misunderstandings and hostility. That arrangement continued and strengthened
during the 1990s. Hezbollah liaison officers were regularly invited to attend
UNIFIL medal parades.
Timur Goksel, who served with UNIFIL from 1979-2003, said in an interview
published in the current edition of the Journal of Palestine Studies, that "one
of the inherent weakness of any multi-national command which is always worse in
a UN command is that the contingents make local deals with the forces on the
ground, without telling headquarters.
A year on from their arrival, it seems that the new contributors to UNIFIL are
learning that peacekeeping in Lebanon is as much about nuance, compromise and
dialogue as displaying a "robust" military presence with tanks and armored
vehicles.
However, they would do well to keep in mind a final piece of advice from Goksel:
These [deals] always come back to haunt you.
****Nicholas Blanford is a Beirut-based journalist and author of "Killing Mr.
Lebanon “ The Assassination of Rafik Hariri and its Impact on the Middle East."
July 17, 2007
Preventing the West from nderstanding Jihad
By Walid Phares
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/07/preventing_the_west_from_under.html
In the years that followed 9/11, two phenomena characterized the Western
public's understanding of the terrorists' ideology. The first characteristic
stemmed from the statements made by the jihadists themselves. More than ever,
Islamist militants and jihadi cadres didn't waste any opportunity to declare,
clarify, explain, and detail the meaning of their aqida (doctrine) and their
intentions to apply Jihadism by all means possible. Unfortunately for them,
though, those extremely violent means changed the international public opinion:
the public now was convinced that there was an ideology of Jihadism, and that
its adherents meant business worldwide.
From Ayman al Zawahiri in Arabic to Azzam al Amriki in American English, via all
of the videotapes made by "martyrs" in Britain, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the
public obtained all the evidence necessary. Against all the faulty academic
literature of the 1990's, the statements by the jihadists themselves were very
convincing.
The second phenomenon of help to the public was the surfacing of a new
literature produced by alternative scholars, analysts, journalists, experts, and
researchers who, from different backgrounds and countries, filled in some of the
gaps is "jihadi studies." Producing books, articles, and blogs from Europe,
India, the Middle East, and North America, a combination of Third World-born and
Western-issued scholarship began to provide the "missing link" as to what
Jihadism is all about. These factors came together to shift the debate from
"Jihad is spiritual yoga" to "Why didn't we know it was something else as well?"
And this triggered in response one of the last attempts to prevent jihad from
being understood.
In the 1990's, apologist literature attempted to convince readers and audiences
in the West that jihad was a "spiritual experience only, and not a menace." [1]
That explanation has now been shattered by Bin Laden and Ahmedinijad. So in the
post-9/11 age, a second strategy to delay public understanding of Jihadism and
thereby gain time for its adherents to achieve their goals has evolved. It might
be called the "good cop, bad cop" strategy. Over the past few years, a new story
began to make inroads in Washington and the rest of the national defense
apparatus. A group of academics and interest groups are circulating the idea
that in reality jihad can develop in two forms: good jihad and bad jihad.
The practice of not using "Jihad" and "Jihadism" was lately defended by two
academics at the National Defense University [2] who based their arguments on a
study published by a Washington lobbyist, Jim Guirard.[3] On June 22, 2006, Jim
Garamone, writing for the American Forces Press Service, published the study of
Douglas Streusand and Harry Tunnel under the title "Loosly Interpreted Arabic
terms can promote enemy ideology." Streusand told CNN that "Jihad is a term of
great and positive import in Islam. It is commonly defined as striving or
struggle, and can mean an internal or external struggle for faith." [4]
The article was posted under the title "Cultural Ignorance Leads to Misuse of
Islamic Terms" by the US-based Islamist organization CAIR. [5] Since then the
"concept" of deflecting attention away from the study of Jihadism has penetrated
large segments of the defense newsletters and is omnipresent in Academia. More
troubling though, is the fact that scholars who have seen the strategic threat
of al Qaeda and Hezbollah have unfortunately fallen for the fallacy of the
Hiraba. Professor Michael Waller of the Institute of World Politics in
Washington wrote recently that "Jihad has been hijacked" as he bases his
argument on Jim Guirard's lobbying pieces.[6] Satisfied with this trend taking
root in the Defense intelligentsia of America, Islamist intellectuals and
activists are hurrying to support this new tactic.
The good holy war is when the right religious and political authorities declare
it against the correct enemy and at the right time. The bad jihad, called also
Hiraba, is the wrong war, declared by bad (and irresponsible) people against the
wrong enemy (for the moment), and without an appropriate authorization by the
"real" Muslim leadership. According to this thesis, those Muslims who wage a
Hiraba, a wrong war, are called Mufsidoon, from the Arabic word for "spoilers."
The advocates of this ruse recommend that the United States and its allies stop
calling the jihadists by that name and identifying the concept of Jihadism as
the problem. In short, they argue that "jihad is good, but the Mufsidoon, the
bad guys and the terrorists, spoiled the original legitimate sense."[7]
When researched, it turns out that this theory was produced by clerics of the
Wahabi regime in Saudi Arabia and the Muslim Brotherhood, as a plan to prevent
jihad and Jihadism from being depicted by the West and the international
community as an illegal and therefore sanctioned activity. It was then forwarded
to American- and Western-based interest groups to be spread within the Untied
States, particularly within the defense and security apparatus. Such a deception
further confuses U.S. national security perception of the enemy and plunges
democracies back into the "black hole" of the 1990's. This last attempt to blur
the vision of democracies can be exposed with knowledge of the jihadi terror
strategies and tactics, one of which is known as Taqiya, the doctrine on
deception and deflection. [8]
First, the argument of "good jihad" raises the question of how there can be a
legitimate concept of religious war in the twenty-first century to start with.
Jihad historically was as "good" as any other religious war over the last 2,000
years. If a "good jihad" is the one authorized by a caliph and directed under
his auspices, then other world leaders also can wage a "good crusade" at will,
as long as it is licensed by the proper authority. But in fact, all religious
wars are proscribed by international law, period.
Second, the authors of this lobbyist-concocted theory claim that a wrong jihad
is called a Hiraba. But in Arab Muslim history, a Hiraba (unauthorized warring)
was when a group of warriors launched itself against the enemy without orders
from the real commander. Obviously, this implies that a "genuine" war against a
real enemy does exist and that these hotheaded soldiers have simply acted
without orders. Hence this cunning explanation puts "spin" on jihad but leaves
the core idea of jihadism completely intact. The "spoilers" depart from the
plan, attack prematurely, and cause damage to the caliphate's long-terms plans.
These Mufsidoon "fail" their commanders by unleashing a war of their own,
instead of waiting for orders.
This scenario fits the relations of the global jihadists, who are the regimes
and international groups slowly planning to gain power against the infidels and
the "hotheaded" Osama bin Laden. Thus the promoters of this theory of Hiraba and
Mufsidoon are representing the views of classical Wahabis and the Muslim
Brotherhood in their criticism of the "great leap forward" made by bin Laden.
But by convincing Westerners that al Qaeda and its allies are not the real
jihadists but some renegades, the advocates of this school would be causing the
vision of Western defense to become blurred again so that more time could be
gained by a larger, more powerful wave of Jihadism that is biding its time to
strike when it chooses, under a coherent international leadership.
**/Dr Walid Phares is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies
and a visiting scholar at the European Foundation for Democracy. This piece was
adapted from his recently published book The War of Ideas: Jihadism against
Democracy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] See John Esposito, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? 3rd edition. (New
York: Oxford University Press) 1999.
[2] May 23, 2006
[3] "Hiraba Versus Jihad," the American Muslim. August 2003.
[4] See Henry Shuster, "Words in War," CNN, October 19, 2006.
[5] Quoting the American Forces Press Service on June 29, 2006.
[6] Michael Waller. "Making Jihad Work for America." The Journal for
International Security Affairs. Spring 2006
[7] (7) See James Fallows, "Declaring Victory," Atlantic Monthly (September
2006).
[8] (8) According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Taqiya: "spelled Taqiyah,
Arabic Taqiyah ("self-protection"), in Islam, [is] the practice of concealing
one's belief and foregoing ordinary religious duties when under threat of death
or injury to oneself or one's fellow Muslims. The Qu'ran allows Muslims to
profess friendship with the unbelievers (3:28) and even outwardly to deny their
faith (16:106), if doing so would save them from imminent danger," on the
condition that their hearts remain attached to faith. Also see Larry Stirling,
"On Taqiya' and ‘Fatwas,'" San Diego Source, September 25, 2006; also Walid
Phares, "al-Taqiyah: The Muslim Method of Conquest," Freeman Center for
Strategic Studies, December 1997.