LCCC NEWS
BULLETIN
JULY 19/2006
Latest
News From Daily Star19/07/06
Senior Israeli commander expects offensive to end 'within a few weeks'
Diplomats leave Lebanese civilians to pay for a decision they didn't make
US: Truce is unacceptable while Hizbullah remains intact
Latest
targets of air blitz: milk and medicine
European
diplomacy fails to produce concrete results
Senior
Israeli commander expects offensive to end 'within a few weeks'
Israeli
attack on army base kills 11 troops as death toll hits 230
.
Evacuation
of foreigners finally begins in earnest on seventh day of conflict
Lawyers
lodge complaint against Israel for crimes against humanity
Babies
start lives as refugees from Israeli onslaught
Hizbullah
media man: Israel is trying to save face
Dreams must be forgotten if peace is to come -By
Jeremy Bowen
Latest
News From miscellaneous sources 19/07/06
Israel says Hizbollah smuggling weapons from Syria-Reuters
- USA
Escalation in the Middle East-Florida
Catholic - Orlando,FL,USA
Lebanese army seen as key to Mideast peace-Sky
Valley Journal
Syria, Iran press defiant-BBC News -
UK
SYRIA: More assistance given to besieged Lebanese-Reuters
Hezbollah must release soldiers, withdraw to get ceasefire: IsraelNational
Post
Analysis: Israel hopes to deal blow to Hezbollah before truceMonsters
and Critics.com
More than 100,000 people escape Lebanon through SyriaRadio
New Zealand
Latest
News From miscellaneous sources 18/07/06
MacKay defends Lebanon rescue plans-Toronto
Star - Ontario, Canada
PM's pledge on Lebanon evacuation-BBC
News - UK
Israel won't rule out Lebanon ground assault-ABC
Online - Australia
Canadian presence in Lebanon reveals deep ties-Globe
and Mail - Canada
US Rescue Bogs Down in Lebanon-Los
Angeles Times - CA,USA
UN supports Lebanese territorial sovereignty-Globe
and Mail - Canada
Israel continues air strikes on Lebanon-Independent
Online
Crisis May Put Syria Back in Political Mix-Los
Angeles Times
Olmert Blames Iran, Syria for Fighting as Europe Backs UN Force-Bloomberg
- USA
Israeli general says ground invasion of Lebanon a possibility-Canada.com
French PM urges immediate ceasefire between Israel, Lebanon-People's Daily
Online
Former UN Investigator Says Hezbollah Has Syria's Approval-Deutsche
Welle
Westerners flee Lebanon any way they can-CNN
- USA
French evacuees arrive in Cyprus from Lebanon-Reuters
- USA
Hezbollah must release soldiers, withdraw to get ceasefire: IsraelNational
Post
Analysis: Israel hopes to deal blow to Hezbollah before truceMonsters
and Critics.com
More than 100,000 people escape Lebanon through SyriaRadio
New Zealand
Jordan continues to evacuate citizens from Lebanon-People's
Daily Online
Lebanon: the world looks on-Mail &
Guardian Online
Lebanon army touted as solution to crisis-Houston
Chronicle
Belgians evacuated to Cyprus from Lebanon-Expatica
- Netherlands
Bush blames Syria, Iran for violence-San
Diego Union Tribune - United States
The Price of Ceasefire-Dar Al-Hayat - Lebanon
Confirmed: Hezbollah Terror Operatives, "Sleeper Cells" Poised in ...Canada
Free Press - Canada
US: Truce is unacceptable while Hizbullah remains
intact
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
The US secretary of state said Tuesday any cease-fire in Lebanon ought to be
based on fundamental changes, publicly disagreeing with her Egyptian
counterpart, who called for an immediate halt to fighting.
As part of international efforts to end the violence, UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan called for a bigger, better-armed and more robust international force to
stabilize Southern Lebanon and buy time for the government to disarm Hizbullah
guerrillas.
Rice, at a joint news conference in Washington with Egyptian Foreign Minister
Ahmad Abu al-Gheit, said she was primed to visit the region when it will be
"helpful and necessary."
Asked about calls for an immediate cease-fire in the region, Abu al-Gheit said:
"A cease-fire is imperative, and we have to keep working to reach that
objective. It is impera-tive. We have to bring it to an end as soon as possible
... We should do it now."
Rice immediately stated the US position, that a cease-fire was only advisable
once the root cause of the fighting - including, in the US view, Hizbullah's
attacks - was addressed.
"We all agree it should happen as soon as possible, when conditions are
conducive to do so," Rice said.
That, she said, would involve implementation of a standing UN Security Council
resolution and the deployment of the Lebanese Army to the borders, as well as
the introduction of a strong peacekeeping operation.
"We all want a cessation of violence. We all want the protection of civilians.
We have to make certain that anything that we do is going to be of lasting
value," Rice said.
The US renewed calls for Syria and Iran to use their influence to force
Hizbullah to halt the conflict, said White House spokesman Tony Snow.
Snow again voiced reluctance to back an immediate cease-fire, saying that "a
cease-fire that would leave intact a terrorist infrastructure would be
unacceptable."
Shrugging off US and Israeli reluctance, Annan said he expected European nations
to contribute troops to the proposed force in a bid to end the violence and
prevent a wider Middle East conflagration.
"It is urgent that the international community acts to make a difference on the
ground,"
Annan said.
He told reporters after meeting European Commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso that the proposed UN force would have to be more effective than the
current UN Interim Force in Lebanon which has been unable to keep peace on the
Israeli-Lebanese border.
"The force will be larger, the way I see it, much larger than the 2,000-man
force we have there," Annan said. "I would expect a force that will have a
modified and different concept of operation and with diffe-
rent capabilities.
"I would expect contributions from European countries and countries from other
regions," he added.
Both Barroso and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said they supported the
idea and a number of EU countries were ready to contribute.
Solana, who visited Lebanon on Sunday, left for the region late Tuesday for
talks in Israel, Egypt and the Occupied Palestinian Territories after conferring
on crisis-management efforts with Rice by telephone. Russia's government also
dispatched Alexander Saltanov, a legislator and special Middle East envoy.
Both Solana and Annan called Lebanese Premier Fouad Siniora Tuesday to discuss
efforts to end the violence.
Annan said it was the Lebanese government, not the proposed force, which would
eventually have to disarm Hizbullah, after a breathing period.
The stabilization force would "give the government of Lebanon time to ...
organize and prepare to eventually extend its authority throughout the territory
including the South, and then give also time for them to sort out the question
of the disarmament of the militia," Annan said. - Agencies
Senior Israeli commander expects offensive to end
'within a few weeks'
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
BEIRUT: Israel's deputy army chief said Tuesday that the offensive against
Lebanon would end within a few weeks, as the Jewish state needed more time to
complete "very clear goals." Israel also agreed to arrangements with several
Western governments for a major evacuation of foreign nationals from Lebanon
Wednesday, a senior army commander told Agence France Presse.
"Twenty boats are going to be able to leave Lebanon Wednesday against seven on
Tuesday and just two on Monday," the commander said, asking not to be
identified.
Major General Moshe Kaplinsky told Israel's Army Radio that "the fighting in
Lebanon will end within a few weeks. We will not take months."
"We need more time to complete our very clear goals. When we fight terror it is
a war that needs to be very accurate, very schematic and it takes time," he
said.
Israel has been demanding Hizbullah's disarmament and the deployment of the
Lebanese Army along the border.
Israel first launched the offensive one week ago after Hizbullah captured two
Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border clash.
Israel's army said Tuesday that Hizbullah was smuggling weapons from Syria but
added it did not regard Syria as a target for attack.
"In the last few days, the smuggling of weapons from Syria to Lebanon has
continued," Major General Gadi Eisenkot of the Israeli Army Command told a news
conference. "We don't see Syria or the Lebanese Army as a target but at the same
time we see the smuggling of weapons from Syria to Lebanon to be used in attacks
against Israeli civilians," he said.The Israeli military has said it was a
Syrian-made rocket that killed eight Israelis in the northern city of Haifa on
Sunday. Hizbullah claimed responsibility for that attack."The [army] is using
enormous force against Hizbullah and we have hurt it ... but the organization
has many more rockets," Eisenkot said. "They are still capable of firing rockets
at Israel."
The military also said its air force had destroyed four trucks traveling from
Syria Tuesday with weapons and munitions destined for Hizbullah fighters in the
Bekaa Valley. An Israeli military source confirmed that it was not the first
attack of this nature, describing the latest raid as "nothing out of the
ordinary," pointing out that it was conducted on Lebanese territory. "We do not
consider Syria and the Lebanese Army as targets [but] we do consider weapons
smuggling between Syria and Lebanon with the utmost seriousness," General Gadi
Eisenkot said.
Since Israel started its offensive in Lebanon last Wednesday, all of the main
roads connecting Syria and Lebanon have been attacked.
Eisenkot said that since the start of the operation Israel had attacked "more
than 1,000 terrorist targets," including 180 places he said were used to fire
rockets into the Jewish state. "We will continue our systematic destruction of
all Hizbullah positions within a
1-kilometer band the length of the border," he said, vowing that operations
would go on "without time limit."
Lebanese security reported Tuesday that two convoys had been destroyed by air
strikes in Byblos and the Bekaa.
The trucks destroyed in the Bekaa were delivering medications donated by the
United Arab Emirates, while those in Byblos were tour buses.
In an early morning attack, 11 Lebanese Army soldiers were killed and 40 wounded
Tuesday as Israeli fighter jets raided an army base in the town of Jamhour,
overlooking Beirut's southern suburbs.
At least 12 army personnel were killed and several others wounded late Sunday
during Israeli air strikes on army bases in the North Lebanon towns of Tripoli
and Al-Abdeh. Over 230 Lebanese civilians have been killed and more than 300
wounded in the Israeli offensive against Lebanon, according to security reports
and relief organizations. About five Hizbullah fighters have been killed in
clashes with Israeli forces along the southern border since the crisis broke out
last week, including a guerrilla killed Tuesday and identified by Hizbullah as
Hussein Khalil Hotait, 25.
An Israeli government source has said Israel may step up attacks in the coming
days, mindful that its main ally, the US, may not resist international pressure
for a cease-fire indefinitely.
The seventh day of the mounting crisis saw Israeli attacks against factories,
dams and more civilians with internationally banned weapons.
The Israeli attacks were mainly concentrated on the Bekaa district, as Israeli
warplanes launched missiles at the towns of Zahle, Baalbek, Rachaya al-Fokhar
and others. The St. Gregorius Church in Rachaya al-Fokhar suffered a direct hit,
as did the Lake Qaraoun Dam and the ambulance donated by the Emirates in Dahr
al-Baydar. Dozens of civilians were killed and wounded in the attacks. Over 30
civilians were killed in Israeli air strikes against Lebanon on Tuesday.
Ten civilians who had taken refuge inside the Greek Orthodox Church in Rachaya
al-Fokhar were wounded in an attack. Lebanese security sources said Israel had
used phosphorous missiles in the attack, an internationally banned weapon.
Meanwhile, Hizbullah continued to launch rockets at Israel Tuesday, targeting
Safad, Tiberius and Haifa with Raad I and III missiles and other Israeli
settlements with Katyusha rockets, according to a statement released by the
party.
Hizbullah shells killed one person and wounded at least 12 others. -With
agencies
Israeli attack on army base kills 11 troops as death
toll hits 230
Warplanes even hit pair of ambulances evacuating wounded soldiers
By Nada Bakri -Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
BEIRUT: Israeli warplanes on Tuesday struck an army base in Jamhour, east of
Beirut, killing 11 soldiers and wounding at least 40 others. The death toll in
Lebanon for the past week's violence had, by the time The Daily Star went to
press, risen to at least 208 civilians and 22 soldiers.
Jamhour's army base is responsible for managing and executing developmental
projects such as paving roads and building and refurbishing bridges.
"The unit carries out development projects in rural areas. It is not a combat
unit but rather a developmental support unit," an army spokesperson told The
Daily Star.
The base was struck three times by Israeli warplanes, which also hit two
ambulances transporting soldiers wounded in the initial attacks.
"They killed them even though they did not fire one bullet," said a relative of
an officer killed early Tuesday. "Now, when I think about it, I tell myself I
wish they did. At least then their deaths would be reasonable."President Emile
Lahoud said Israel wanted to "destroy Lebanon," adding: "This massacre [at
Jamhour] committed by the Israeli enemy shows Israel is determined to implement
its plan to destroy Lebanon and paralyze its security forces."
Lahoud said such acts only made the Lebanese more determined "to defend the
sovereignty, independence and dignity of Lebanon."
Since the offensive began one week ago after two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped
during a Hizbullah raid, the Lebanese Army has been more of a victim than
defender. The international community continues to call on the Lebanese
government to deploy its soldiers along its Southern border and push back
Hizbullah's guerrillas as pre-conditions to any cease-fire.
However, analysts say such a move is problematic due to ethnic and religious
divisions. "I strongly support Hizbullah's operation. I am all for the
resistance and its heroic mission," said Ali, a Lebanese soldier who preferred
not to give his family name. Many of his fellow soldiers, as well as Ali, would
be "eager to join the resistance" should circumstances allow, he added. However,
the only action Lebanon's army has taken during seven days of Israeli strikes
has been to fire anti-aircraft guns at Israeli warplanes attacking
infrastructure targets.
Israel destroyed most of Lebanon's radar stations last week because they were
used to target a warship Friday, according to Israel's military.
That claim could not be confirmed but some level of coordination is widely
believed to exist between Lebanon's military and Hizbullah.
However, Israel and the US continue to demand that Lebanon deploy its army along
the Southern border and wrest control from the Shiite movement.
Syria, which virtually controlled Lebanon for 29 years before withdrawing its
troops last year, and its allies in Lebanon have resisted such a deployment for
years.
Hizbullah, strongly backed by Damascus and Tehran, is opposed to any army
deployment in the South.
"The decision to deploy the army is a political decision with regional
dimensions," Elias Hanna, a political analyst and retired army general, told The
Associated Press. "It is also a decision that cannot be executed without
internal consensus."
"As long as there are divisions in society, there will always be fear of the
army splintering into several factions," he added. "This is why consensus is
very important."
Lebanese Premier Fouad Siniora has said his government wants to work with the UN
to re-assert state authority over all Lebanese territory.
The Lebanese Army has grown from 35,000 to 70,000 since the end of the Civil War
in 1990, far outnumbering Hizbullah's estimated 6,000 fighters.
But the army has no fixed-wing aircraft and its helicopters are equipped only
with mounted machine guns.
The army could also fragment along sectarian lines, as was the case during the
Civil War.
The effectiveness of the army "has been severely hampered by the ethnic and
religious divisions in Lebanon and the role Syria played while its forces
occupied the country," security analyst Anthony Cordesman said in a report for
the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"It will be years before the Lebanese Army can emerge as an independent fighting
force that could engage Israeli or Syrian forces in anything other than
well-positioned defensive combat," he added. Still, many believe the army could
be trusted to act as a protective force in the South.
"In the past, what was the army's problem? A divided political decision," said
Samir Geagea, the Lebanese Forces leader who led the party's militia during the
Civil War. "The important thing is to agree this is the institution that will
bear this responsibility. Not Hizbullah." - With AP
Diplomats leave Lebanese civilians to pay for a decision
they didn't make
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Editorial-Daily Star
Seven days into Israel's war on Lebanon, there is no hint of effective
international diplomacy on the horizon. The Lebanese are being forced to accept
that they are alone in the world, without a friend who can defend them against
an undeserved onslaught. The Syrians, who many have argued share a healthy
portion of blame for the current crisis in Lebanon, are too busy saving their
own skins, threatening fierce reprisals if their nation comes under attack. The
Iranians, also fingered in this latest wave of hostilities, are cozily sitting
back and enjoying the luxury of sacrificing Lebanon and Hizbullah in their quest
to sweeten a deal with the West over their nuclear program.
Saudi Arabia is abandoning its role as a regional peacemaker, placing all of the
blame squarely upon Hizbullah and Iran, and expressing no hint of outrage over
the collective punishment and destruction in Lebanon. They apparently have
adopted the belief that the more than 220 innocent civilians killed are among
the "elements" in Lebanon who are responsible for the current crisis.
Egypt, the home of an ineffective Arab League, which cannot even muster the
diplomatic will to hold a summit, is busy scolding Hizbullah for its misdeeds.
As Lebanon burns for a seventh straight day, we see no sense of urgency on the
part of Egyptian leaders to convene emergency talks among regional heads of
state.
Even in Israel, there is no sign of diplomatic efforts on the part of leading
politicians. The rookie Israeli government - which has achieved record
destruction at a scale and pace rarely seen, even in this part of the world -
has stepped aside and let Israeli generals take the lead. They fail to see the
irony in the fact that their commanders have been pounding the very army that
they expect to impose order over Lebanese territory.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
And the Europeans and the Americans are blindly following as the Israelis lead
us all down a treacherous path. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, formerly
an advocate for the Lebanese people, is still lingering in Washington,
apparently reluctant to even try to come and resolve this conflict.
In these darkest of hours, with the skies of Lebanon and the brains of
international leaders clouded by the haze of war, the Lebanese are desperately
searching for an outstretched hand of diplomacy. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora
has pleaded with the world to stop Israel's "barbaric" attacks on the country.
But the world has effectively abandoned the Lebanese people to their misery and
turned a blind eye as they suffer the consequences of a decision that they
themselves did not make. Instead of sending us their diplomats, the world is
sending us its boats and buses for the refugees who hold foreign nationalities.
The Lebanese who don't hold dual citizenship have no choice but to hunker down
in their basements and shelters and watch the return of an international war
that has been played out again and again on their territory. This time, their
beloved homeland has been chosen as a battleground in which the Israelis will
brutalize the Lebanese in order to teach the Iranians a lesson on behalf of the
West. The war-weary Lebanese have no choice but to pay the ultimate price and
once again bear the brunt of the consequences of world diplomats' failure to
resolve a crisis peacefully.
Evacuation of foreigners finally begins in earnest on
seventh day of conflict
By Ian Lye -Special to The Daily Star
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
BEIRUT: Days after hundreds of Europeans started leaving Lebanon, the mass
evacuation of Americans finally got under way Tuesday, as about 200 Americans,
mostly students, boarded a chartered Swedish ship for Cyprus. The mood at the
American University of Beirut's women's dormitory, a designated meeting point
for those waiting to be evacuated, was one of restlessness and tension Tuesday
morning. A girl in a white tank top punched the buttons of her mobile phone
furiously, while in the corner of the room, a group of students crowded around a
television set watching a DVD. Others lounged around, finding ways to occupy
themselves while waiting. "I'm really glad to be getting out safely, but I think
we all feel a little guilty about leaving the Lebanese behind, and that this is
happening to the country now," said Sonia Hijab, a high-school student from
Pennsylvania who was leaving just two weeks after she arrived in Lebanon to
study Arabic.
While many of those leaving expressed relief at finally being able to do so,
seven days after the Israeli-Lebanese crisis broke out, anger and frustration
were also widespread sentiments among those The Daily Star talked to. "I just
feel pure unadulterated rage," said Effie Walker, a full-time AUB student from
Arizona. "Hizbullah is not Lebanon, and Israel has no right to do this to this
beautiful country."
Walker and a friend both said they were not going back to the US from Cyprus,
but intended to go to Jordan instead and start a canned-food drive to help the
people in Lebanon.
Tourist Mark Kaba, 19, said he felt "anger at what's going on and frustration
that no one's speaking up."
Others, like the Charara family from California who were here on vacation to
visit relatives, felt torn.
"I've lost everything, even the house I had here," said a visibly distraught Tom
Charara, with tears in his eyes. "I have relatives that can't leave, and there
are all these people dying, being burned alive. I regret leaving, but I have two
kids, and they are very scared."
"What hurts most is that the whole world is standing by and doing nothing," he
added.
"It's unlike anything I've been through before," said his wife Rola, who lived
in Lebanon during the Civil War. "I feel there is no place in Lebanon that is
safe."
"I wish the leaders would know how many lives they've destroyed, not just the
ones killed, but this also may have been my last chance to see my parents, who
were very sick," she said, before breaking down into uncontrollable sobs.
Those American citizens who were leaving were taken in buses to Beirut Port
Tuesday afternoon, where they boarded the Hual Transporter, which was also
loading up to 1,000 Scandinavians and other Europeans, in addition to the 200
Americans.
"We've coordinated with various parties to ensure that those Americans who want
to leave can do so safely," US Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman said at Beirut Port,
where the first batch of Americans to evacuate by sea were gathered. "Starting
tomorrow, we will have larger volumes of Americans being evacuated, and we will
be here to help them leave as long as we need to." Feltman said 1,000 more
Americans would leave on Wednesday, going by sea.
According to wire reports, Americans must sign a note pledging to reimburse the
US government before getting on the ships to be evacuated.
They will be charged the price of a single commercial flight from Beirut to
Cyprus, usually about $150 or $200, although officials refused to specify.
If they have no way to fly onward, they also will be asked to reimburse the
price of an airline ticket from Cyprus to the US.
The Pentagon has also ordered five military ships and thousands of Marines and
sailors to help transport US citizens out of Lebanon, a move that could sharply
speed up the evacuation as fighting continues. Helicopters from a Marine
expeditionary force have evacuated 68 Americans over the past two days. Those
flights continued on Tuesday, ferrying 120 Americans to Cyprus, the US Navy
said.
Overnight some 800 evacuees by sea arrived at Larnaca onboard a Greek ferry
chartered by the French government. The Iera Patra was awaiting authorization to
make a return trip as the evacuees were flown on to Paris.
France also announced that it is sending a navy support ship, the Mistral -
capable of taking on board 4,000 evacuees - in addition to two other vessels
expected to arrive off Beirut Wednesday or Thursday. Meanwhile, Britain hopes to
evacuate some 5,000 of its nationals from Lebanon by the end of the week, Prime
Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday. He said one ship would arrive Tuesday and a
second Wednesday. A Greek frigate was expected in Larnaca Tuesday with a couple
of hundred Europeans while the Canadian government said it has arranged for
ships to evacuate Canadians starting Wednesday. - With agencies.
Ahmadinejad shows no sign of backing down
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated on Tuesday that his country had
every right to produce atomic fuel, showing no sign of backing down on nuclear
work before a UN Security Council meeting. Diplomats have said the world body
will meet this week to draft a resolution demanding that Iran end sensitive
nuclear work which the West fears could be used to make bombs.
"Having a nuclear fuel cycle is the Iranian nation's obvious right," Ahmadinejad
was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency, repeating
Tehran only sought a fuel cycle to build power stations. The UN Security
Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, will decide what action to
take after Iran took too long to respond to a package of incentives from six
world powers that wanted it to stop enriching uranium.
The Group of Eight leaders were told Iran was seriously considering the package,
South African President Thabo Mbeki said Monday.
Mbeki, whose Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma visited Iran last week,
said he passed on that message during his meetings with G-8 leaders in Russia.
An Iranian Foreign Ministry official had made similar comments Sunday, but
Mbeki's briefing took the communications to a higher level.
"We have ... communicated the essential message from the Iranians," Mbeki told
foreign reporters. "It is that they believe this proposal is important, it
constitutes an important starting point with regard to the negotiating process
which everybody agrees needs to take place, and therefore that they are
considering the matter seriously."Meanwhile, Iran's Parliament may push though a
law on suspending membership of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the
Security Council pressures Tehran to freeze enrichment, a top MP warned Tuesday.
"If the Security Council wants to pass a resolution obliging a halt of uranium
enrichment, Parliament will undoubtedly bring up the issue of suspending Iran's
NPT membership," Alaeddine Borujerdi told the Iranian Students News Agency. "We
hope the Security Council does not make an unreasonable decision that changes
Iran's current attitude," said the MP, who heads Parliament's National Security
and Foreign Policy Commitee. - Agencies