LCCC NEWS
BULLETIN
JULY 21/2006
Latest
News From The Daily Star for 21/07/06
UN chief outlines plan to end fighting
Dahiyeh sports terrible scars from merciless bombardment
Israel talks tough, but doubts are starting to appear
Invaders test ground defenses in South
Peace movement gets off to hopeful start in Beirut
Sfeir comes home with message of US 'concern' about situation
Hariri tour reaches Italy, picks up support for cease-fire
Political organizations, volunteers pull together to help displaced
Nightmare in South grows worse
Conflict guts livelihood of Downtown Beirut
US Marines make partial return as evacuation picks up steam
Lebanon's mortal crisis is even more complicated than it seems
Siniora deserves full credit for wise leadership in Lebanon's darkest hour
Would-be refugees scramble to renew passports
Food firms assess dwindling supplies
Is Tehran emerging as regional winner?
By Iason Athanasiadis
Iran remains defiant on nuclear issue despite prospect of UN sanctions
Latest
News From miscellaneous sources 21/07/06
Israel’s
Lebanese Citizens Follow Events with Fear and Hope-Middle East On Line
Iran & Syria: Crush Israel trial run A Jihad by proxies-Canada
Free Press - Canada
Syria's Plan-National
Review Online
EU demands ceasefire in Lebanon-BBC
News - UK
UN Helps Evacuate 500 From Small Port City in Lebanon-New
York Times
Latest Lebanon-Israel Developments-San Francisco Chronicle
FACTBOX-Some details of aid to Lebanon-Reuters
Lebanon situation becoming 'catastrophic' humanitarian crisis say ...Unison.ie
- Bray,Ireland
Marines help Americans flee Israel's war in Lebanon-Reuters
- USA
From Lebanese Canadians, a thank you to Stephen
Harper-National Post, Canada
First boatload of Canadian evacuees from Lebanon waiting to dock ...
PM spends night on Cyprus runway-Canada.com, Canada
Israel resumes air strikes in Lebanon, doesn't rule out full-scale-Canada.com
Israel hits Hezbollah stronghold-Boston
Globe
Refugees find safe haven in Cyprus-Sydney
Morning Herald
Israeli Troops Push Into South Lebanon-ABC
News - USA
Israel hints at a full-scale invasion
AP
Israeli army clash with Hezbollah-BBC News - UK
Marines in Beirut to evacuate Americans-AP
Israel hints at a full-scale invasion-AP
Iran says it will deliver response Aug. 22
AP
Lebanese PM: Hezbollah -AP
Questions emerge in Israel over Lebanon war Reuters
No time for 'restraint'-Washington Times
Syria as responsible as Hezbollah: Bolton-NDTV.com
Israeli troops push into south Lebanon-AP
U.S. ramps up evacuations from Lebanon-AP
'Leader's bunker' blitzThe Sun - UK
Lebanese lost in shuffle of exodus-CNN International - USA
Israel pounds 'Hezbollah bunker' as Lebanon PM pleads for help-AFP
Lebanon 'has been torn to shreds
Israeli
troops push into south Lebanon-AP
Israeli force will backfire, warns Lebanese PM-Financial Times
Israel searches Hezbollah leader Nasrallah-Xinhua
Advertise
Lebanon evacuation plans, stranded priest tells Govt-CathNews
French PM calls for humanitarian cease-fire in the Middle-European Jewish Press
Lebanon battles raise Hezbollah
questions-AP
Dozens more die as air strikes continue-Guardian
Unlimited
Lebanon appeals for international help to end war-ReliefWeb
(press release)
South Lebanon 6 years later-me-ontarget.com
Analysis: Sending army south uneasy task-United
Press International
NGO concerned over civilians killing in Lebanon-African News Dimension
Surviving - and Leaving - Beirut-Time Canada -
Canada
Israel sent special forces into southern Lebanon to battle -Jewish
Telegraphic Agency
Israeli troops enter south Lebanon-CTV.ca
- Canada
Israel pounds Lebanon, civilians fear worse to come-Reuters
Hezbollah's rocket force-BBC News
Hezbollah arsenal growing in size and punch-Seattle
Times
Britain fears assault on Hezbollah will backfire-Times
Online
Syria to UN: 'Roed-Larsen not welcome'-Jerusalem
Post
Why are Syria and Iran such tight allies?-Slate
- USA
Iran and Syria Exploit Crisis
July 19, 2006
Prepared by: Esther Pan
As Lebanon suffers under continuing rounds of Israeli air strikes, attention is
turning to Iran and Syria and the role they are playing in the recent Mideast
conflict. Bill Samii of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty writes that Tehran and
Damascus have been involved in this crisis from its outset. The two countries,
whose relationship is examined in this Backgrounder, are exploiting the crisis
to try to increase their regional influence. Don Darling notes in the Weekly
Standard that Hezbollah's recent use of the Iranian-produced Raad-1 missile
threatens 2 million Israelis, and leaves no doubt about Tehran's involvement in
the violence. Iran's backing transformed Hezbollah from a ragtag group of
fighters into a formidable military movement, writes Georgetown University
professor Daniel Byman in his authoritative book, Deadly Connections: States
That Sponsor Terrorism. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah is given credit
for skillfully maneuvering the group into the Lebanese government.
In Damascus, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has faced multiple challenges since
taking over the presidency after his father's death in 2000. The Los Angeles
Times says the Lebanon crisis reflects Syria's desire to increase its political
clout by emulating Iran's model for greater independence through defiance of the
international community. Syria's decline in influence after the assassination of
Rafik Hariri in February 2005 is explained in this Backgrounder. Flynt Leverett,
senior fellow at the New American Foundation, illuminates Bashar's regime in his
book, Inheriting Syria.
And Iran is having internal power struggles of its own. Pepe Escobar writes in
the Asia Times that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leads one of four
factions vying for power in Tehran, and he is following his own agenda, which
may not necessarily be that of the country's theocratic leadership.
Other Arab countries are expressing sympathy for the Lebanese civilians
sustaining most of the casualties, and a measure of anger at Hezbollah (WashPost).
But this sentiment is not reflected in public opinion on the Arab street: Most
regular citizens in a range of Arab countries support Hezbollah's actions (CSMonitor).
The Middle East Media Research Institute details the disparate reactions in
Lebanon, Iran, and Syria to Israel's military offensive, finding both praise and
some criticism. Syrian political expert Sami Moubayed writes that some in the
Middle East are quietly wondering if Nasrallah is another Egyptian President
Gamal Abdul Nasser, who led his country to "unforgivable defeat" in 1967.
And the crisis reflects badly on the United States, which many in Lebanon see as
having abandoned the country after encouraging it to choose democracy and push
out Syria. By failing to rein in Israel's military campaign against Lebanon, the
United States is damaging its own interests and reputation in the region and
making Israel more insecure, writes Muqtedar Khan of the Brookings Institution.
Israel’s Lebanese Citizens Follow Events with Fear and Hope
Written by Rachelle Kliger (Yaniv Berman contributed)
Published Thursday, July 20, 2006
(ASLPI) -Pierre Diab sits comfortably in his living room and recalls his last days in
Lebanon, when he, his wife and their three children fled the country with
nothing but the clothes they were wearing. His account is rudely interrupted by
a series of thunderous booms, noises that have become all too familiar in
Nahariya, a town in Israel’s north, where he lives.
Diab stops in mid-sentence, leans forward and listens attentively.
“This is a welcoming,” he says, analyzing the sounds. “It must be a big rocket.
It’s here in Nahariya.”
As someone who first held a gun when he was 15, this former army officer is no
stranger to sounds of war, the jingles of his life.
In May 2000, when Israel withdrew from south Lebanon, Diab was a fighter in the
South Lebanon Army (SLA), a mostly Christian force of several thousand people
who allied with the Israeli forces in their fight against armed Palestinian
groups in Lebanon and later against Hizbullah.
When the unannounced withdrawal eventuated, they found themselves between a rock
and a hard place. In Lebanon, they would be persecuted as collaborators; in
Israel they would be aliens.
Most opted for the latter.
About 6,000 South Lebanese, mostly SLA fighters and their families, went to
Israel after the withdrawal. Of those, some left for other countries such as
Germany and Australia, and some returned to Lebanon.
Those who remain in Israel, about 700 families, are following the current
conflict unfolding between Israel and Hizbullah with fear and anticipation.
The vast majority of former SLA fighters are scattered across north Israel and
are all within range of Hizbullah’s lethal Katyusha rockets being fired from
south Lebanon.
Some of these families receive an allowance from the Israeli government. But
according to the Association of South Lebanese People in Israel (ASLPI) there
are many families who have been deprived of rights to which they are entitled
through decisions of the Israeli government. They feel Israel is not
acknowledging their contribution to Israel’s battles and is treating them
unfairly.
Most of the south Lebanese people in Israel have a status of permanent
residency. Applying for Israeli citizenship would grant them more rights, but it
would also entail the impossible sacrifice of giving up their Lebanese
citizenship.
“Of course I want to go back to Lebanon,” Diab says. “My problem is Hizbullah.
If Israel finishes them off, nothing will stop me from going back.”
“Those who went back to Lebanon face many problems,” says Marlin Abo Rad, a
resident of Ma’alot who founded the ASLPI in 2002.
Some have not been allowed back to their villages by court order, some receive
threats on their lives from Hizbullah, some are barred from certain jobs, and
others are serving time in jail.
Diab says he has one friend from the SLA who returned to Lebanon and now no one
will sell him a cellular phone, because they fear he will use it to call his
Zionist friends.
Daher Nahra, another former SLA fighter who lives in Qiryat Shmonah, near the
Israeli-Lebanese border, says if he returns to Lebanon he will be imprisoned. He
cannot see himself going back as long as there is no peace agreement.
Abo Rad, like other SLA people, levels much of her anger at the Lebanese
government which has been incapable of controlling armed groups in Lebanon.
“If a government doesn’t take care of its citizens, then what can you do?” she
says.
Nahra agrees with Israel’s current course of action because he sees it as the
only way the situation can be controlled, provided the Lebanese government also
pulls its weight.
“I don’t agree with what’s happening with the Lebanese people, but I think there
must be peace. Instead of paying money for guns, money should be going into
tourism, into hotels and restaurants,” Nahra says.
“This is not the time to talk about feelings,” Abo Rad says. “Hizbullah are
terrorists and they have to be eradicated. They won’t be stopped without a big
war.”
Although Israel’s operation in Lebanon is aimed at crippling Hizbullah, the
SLA’s age-old enemy, its consequences bring Abu Rad no joy.
“Do you think a person who sees his country being ruined like that can be happy?
Of course not,” she says.
Diab, for example, is witnessing his friends and family in Lebanon getting hurt,
while their villages in southern Lebanon are being bombed by the Israeli Air
Force. And yet, he still thinks this is the right thing to do.
“It’s bad,” Diab says, in agreement with Abo Rad, “but I think it will be okay.
Civilians are suffering everywhere but the important thing is the outcome. This
war will bring peace between Lebanon and Israel. Once Hizbullah is weak,
Siniora’s government will sit down with the Israeli government and they will
talk about peace.”
Abo Rad, who describes Israel as her second country, believes that even if the
situation gets better and the army is capable of cracking down on Hizbullah, SLA
people will not be quick to return to Lebanon.
“At least not until our issue in Lebanon is clarified,” she says. “We’ve been
here six years already. Only peace will allow us to return to Lebanon.”
Copyright © 2006 The Media Line. All Rights Reserved.
Have comments? Email editor@themedialine.org.
Marines in Beirut to evacuate Americans
By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon - U.S. Marines landed in Beirut Thursday to help evacuate
Americans onto a Navy ship bound for Cyprus in the second mass U.S exodus from
the battle-torn country. About 40 U.S. Marines arrived at a beach just north of
Beirut in a landing craft and picked up 300 Americans who they ferried to the
amphibious assault ship USS Nashville just off the coast. The Nashville is
supposed to sail for Cyprus with about 1,000 Americans.
Some evacuees were Lebanese-Americans who had taken their children to their
homeland for the first time, only to be surprised by the fighting that erupted
after Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers.
Hundreds of people, some with shirts draped over their heads to protect
themselves from the sun, gathered on the beach. A U.S. Embassy official,
speaking through a megaphone, pleaded for patience, reassuring the crowd that
all those who registered to be evacuated would be assisted.
"We are frustrated and disappointed, but we are O.K.," said Bob Elazon, an
Illinois resident who complained the U.S. evacuation was badly organized.
Elazon, who left his native Lebanon 34 years ago, was with his 20-year-old
daughter, Anna, who was visiting the country for the first time. His wife
departed just before the fighting erupted. The first plane carrying U.S.
evacuees landed outside Baltimore early Thursday, and eager family members
waited to greet the 145 Americans aboard the charter flight from Cyprus.
Some 900 Americans arrived in Cyprus early Thursday aboard a luxury cruise ship
— the first mass U.S. evacuation from Lebanon since the Israeli airstrikes
started more than a week ago. It was among dozens of cruise ships evacuating
thousands of foreigners from Lebanon. Some 8,000 of 25,000 U.S. citizens in
Lebanon have asked to leave. So many people were leaving Lebanon that boats were
forced to line up outside Beirut harbor and had to wait before docking in nearby
Cyprus. Exhausted and shaken, the Americans stood in line at the harbor in
Larnaca, dragging their luggage and their children as they waited to be told
where they would sleep and when they might leave. Many worried about relatives
left behind in Lebanon.
"This war is unfair. It's unfair if you see buildings fall and there are people
inside," said Mona Kharbouche, a mother of two who said she had left behind her
mother, two sisters and a brother. Elderly people in wheelchairs, a young woman
on a stretcher and her right arm in a cast, and women with toddlers were the
first to disembark from the Orient Queen nearly two hours after it tied
up.Catherine Haidar said she had been visiting her husband's native Lebanon with
their four daughters, ages 9-17, for the first time in 13 years. They were
staying at house that shook from the bombings.
"I didn't want to leave because I thought that if there were 25,000 Americans in
Lebanon, maybe the Israelis would think twice about what they were hitting,"
said Haidar, of Orange County, Calif. Ann Shebbo, a U.S. citizen who lives in
the United Arab Emirates, said she and her husband left relatives behind in the
Shouf Mountains. "There is a guilt feeling about leaving. I wanted to leave
because of my children," said Shebbo. "The Lebanese people should not suffer
this way."The Americans departed two days after the first Europeans left on
ships. An estimated 13,000 foreign nationals have been evacuated from the
war-torn country. Brig. Gen. Carl Jensen, who is coordinating the U.S.
evacuation, said more than 6,000 Americans will have been taken out of Lebanon
by the weekend. The Nashville is one of several Navy ships assisting with the
evacuations. Military helicopters have flown some 200 Americans to Cyprus.
Amid complaints the U.S. effort had lagged, American officials made clear that
fears about Americans traveling on roads in Beirut, especially at night, and on
roads to Syria had led to some of the delays.
Most evacuees are leaving by sea as officials from several countries deemed the
overland route to Syria too dangerous and Israel knocked Beirut's airport out of
service last week by bombing its runways. Shebbo, now in Cyprus, said she and
her husband had struggled to get information from the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon,
and had found out about the boat from people in the United States. For four
days, they inhaled the fumes from a bombed power plant two miles from where they
had been staying. Others echoed her complaints about the U.S. Embassy.
"The guard was so rude and said there was no evacuation plan, " Michael Russo,
23, of Tucson, Ariz, of his visit to the embassy. "On Wednesday and Thursday I
asked them if there was a plan and they looked at me like I was crazy.
Lebanese PM: Hezbollah must be disarmed
ROME - Hezbollah has created a "state within a state" in Lebanon and must be
disarmed, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said in an interview published
Thursday in an Italian daily.
Saniora told Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera that the Shiite militia
has been doing the bidding of Syria and Iran, and that it can only be disarmed
with the help of the international community and once a cease-fire has been
achieved in the current Middle East fighting.
"Hezbollah has become a state within a state. We know it well," said Saniora,
leveling for the first time such an accusation against the Syria- and
Iran-backed guerillas that effectively control southern Lebanon.
"It's not a mystery that Hezbollah answers to the political agendas of Tehran
and Damascus," Saniora was quoted as saying by Corriere. "The entire world must
help us disarm Hezbollah. But first we need to reach a cease-fire."
Saniora's office said the prime minister had been misquoted and that his words
had been translated from English into Italian. His office also said Corriere's
journalist had strung together sentences that weren't actually connected and
didn't report the literal meaning of what he had said.
According to the statement, the premier had said that international help was
needed to persuade Israel to withdraw from the Chebaa Farms, a disputed
territory that Lebanon claims and Hezbollah uses as a pretext to keep attacking
Israeli forces.
"What the prime minister said was that the international community has not given
the Lebanese government the chance to deal with the problem of Hezbollah
weapons, since the continued presence of Israeli occupation of Lebanese lands in
the Chebaa Farms region is what contributes to the presence of Hezbollah
weapons," the statement said. "The international community must help us in
(getting) an Israeli withdrawal from Chebaa Farms so we can solve the problem of
Hezbollah's arms."
No one was immediately available at the newspaper to respond.
In the interview, Saniora said that Lebanon is still too weak to attack
Hezbollah's stranglehold in the south of the country on its own.
"The important thing now is to restore full Lebanese sovereignty in the south,
dismantling any armed militia parallel to the national army," he said. "The
Syrians are inside our home and we are still too weak to defend ourselves. The
terrible memories of the civil war are still too alive and no one is ready to
take up arms."The prime minister has said in the past that disarmament is
impossible while some Lebanese territory is still under Israeli occupation, but
he has never accused Hezbollah of following Iran's and Syria's agenda and of
acting like a state within a state.
In the interview, Saniora reiterated his harsh criticism of Israel's air and sea
attacks against Lebanon, saying that "Israel's criminal bombardments must be
stopped immediately."
"They are bombing civilians and creating sympathies for Hezbollah where
otherwise there wouldn't be any," Corriere quoted him as saying.
Israel says it is acting in self-defense in response to Hezbollah's July 12
cross-border attack on a military patrol and capture of two soldiers, as well as
the subsequent launch of hundreds of missiles on northern Israeli cities and
communities.It has vowed to press on with the offensive until the soldiers are
freed and until it destroys Hezbollah's vast arsenal of missiles and drives the
group far from its northern border.
No time for 'restraint'
TODAY'S EDITORIAL-Washington Times
July 20, 2006
As Israel continues its military campaign to destroy Hezbollah's arsenal sites
in Lebanon, it is coming under mounting international pressure to use
"restraint" -- to bring its military campaign to an early conclusion in order to
give diplomats a chance to negotiate a settlement to the conflict. It sounds
enlightened to talk about dispatching the American secretary of state to the
region right now, but doing so would only achieve a stalemate that permits
Hezbollah to project military power and remain an armed militia that dominates
Lebanese politics. That would be a disaster for the war on terror -- and U.S.
foreign policy interests generally. If Hezbollah is not strategically degraded
to ineffectiveness, it will emerge strengthened and much more dangerous.
The current fighting in Lebanon is one of the most important battles in the
larger war against the virulent strain of Islamofascism that burst onto the
scene in the 1979 Iranian Revolution. If Israel ultimately prevails over
Hezbollah (as we expect it will), this would be seriously damaging for Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- reducing the ability of Iran's No. 1 terrorist
proxy to target U.S. soldiers and interests in the event of a future conflict
between Washington and Tehran. But an inconclusive outcome that permits
Hezbollah to re-arm and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah to emerge
from hiding and declare victory would be a disaster for America.
While the Israeli military campaign must continue, it's true that the war could
undermine the Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, a moderate
Sunni Muslim who is locked in a struggle for power with his bitter rival,
President Emile Lahoud, a Maronite Christian and longtime Syrian puppet who
backs Hezbollah in its war with Israel. But any outcome that permits Hezbollah
to survive as a functioning militia/terrorist organization would be immeasurably
worse for Mr. Siniora and for the majority of Lebanese who against their will
are plunged into war to serve the interests of Tehran and Damascus. The best way
to ensure a positive outcome for the Lebanese people, as well as for the
interests both of Israel and the United States, is to make sure that Hezbollah
is destroyed.
Hezbollah further damages Lebanese interests with its criminal practice of
maximizing civilian casualties by storing Katyusha rockets and other weapons in
private homes, turning them into legitimate military targets. Hezbollah chooses
to fight by hiding behind women and children.
Israel, which is fighting for its survival, must win the war with Hezbollah by
destroying the weapons with which Hezbollah targets Israeli women and children.
The blood of the Lebanese civilians is on the hands of Sheikh Nasrallah and his
backers in Tehran and Damascus.
These pitiable deaths are on CNN and BBC, around the clock. Each tactical
Hezbollah military defeat on the battlefield becomes, with a public that isn't
paying attention, a strategic Hezbollah public relations victory.
To defeat this grim and cynical Hezbollah military/public relations strategy,
the public must suppress its natural sympathy for innocent civilian suffering
for the higher moral purpose of saving the greatest number of lives, of both
Arab and Jew.
Lebanon 'has been torn to shreds'
Thousands of Lebanese have fled but many remain trapped
The Lebanese prime minister has called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel
and Hezbollah militants, saying his country "has been torn to shreds".
Fouad Siniora said more than 300 people had been killed and 500,000 others
displaced in a week of Israeli attacks.
More than 60 civilians in Lebanon and two children in Israel were killed on
Wednesday as violence continued.
Hezbollah denied Israeli claims that a bunker housing its leaders in south
Beirut had been bombed overnight.
Israel said a wave of aircraft dropped 23 tonnes of explosives on a bunker in
south Beirut where Hezbollah leaders, possibly including senior leader Sheikh
Hassan Nasrallah, where believed to hiding.
But Hezbollah issued a statement saying the building targeted was a mosque under
construction and "no Hezbollah leaders or personnel were killed in the strike".
Twenty-nine Israelis have died - including 15 civilians killed by rocket attacks
- since the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah militants began eight days ago.
Stranded in the war zone
Wednesday's air strikes from Israel killed more than 60 Lebanese civilians, as
two Israeli soldiers and a Hezbollah militant died in clashes.
Barrages of Hezbollah rockets were fired into northern Israel, where two
children were killed in Nazareth.
Israel launched attacks on Lebanon after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers
in a cross-border raid.
Many thousands continue to flee Lebanon, and several countries have sent ships
and helicopters to move their nationals.
But thousands of others remain trapped, with major roads cut by Israeli bombing,
and no supplies reaching many areas.
In other developments:
Relief agencies say there is a growing need for water, sanitation and medical
facilities for those displaced within Lebanon
French President Jacques Chirac called for humanitarian corridors in Lebanon to
protect civilians from Israeli air raids as they flee the fighting
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are
to discuss the crisis on Thursday.
'Callous retribution'
In an emotional televised appeal, the Lebanese prime minister urged the
international community to intervene.
"I call upon you all to respond immediately... and provide urgent international
humanitarian assistance to our war-stricken country," Mr Siniora said.
"Can the international community stand by while such callous retribution by the
state of Israel is inflicted on us?"
He vowed to make Israel pay compensation to Lebanon for the "barbaric
destruction".
The Israelis say they are fighting to end the control of Hezbollah over the
lives of ordinary people on both sides of the border.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the campaign against the militants would
continue "as long as necessary" to free its captured soldiers and ensure
Hezbollah is not a threat.
HAVE YOUR SAY
It isn't easy watching the pictures from the bombarded areas in Lebanon
Yonatan, Israel
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told the BBC that Israel wanted
peace, but could not sit back while Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel.
Wednesday saw further Israeli strikes in the east, south and Beirut, where a
Christian district came under fire for the first time.
At least 12 people were killed in a southern village near the city of Tyre and
civilian deaths were also reported in other parts of the south and near Baalbek
in the east.
The strikes came as Israeli ground troops continued what they call "restricted
pinpoint attacks" into southern Lebanon.
Heavy exchanges of fire erupted after Israeli tanks and infantry crossed the
border in search of Hezbollah weapons and facilities.
For their part, Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at Israeli cities including
Haifa and Tiberias.
Alexander Panetta, Canadian Press
Published: Thursday, July 20, 2006
Font: * * * * (CP) - The first boatload of Canadians evacuating Lebanon sailed
slowly toward Larnaca, Cyprus Thursday as thousands of Canadians stranded in
Lebanon waited for their turn to leave.
Early Thursday morning, the 62-metre Blue Dawn carrying 261 people closed in on
the port, but its arrival was delayed because of a line-up of ships carrying
evacuees waiting to dock. Most of those on the Blue Dawn will fly back to Canada
on chartered jets paid for by the Canadian government. However, about 100 will
fly home on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plane.
Harper abandoned plans to return home from Europe on Wednesday and diverted his
aircraft to Cyprus to help in the evacuation.
Harper, who slept on the aircraft and expected to wait more than 20 hours for
the Blue Dawn to arrive, shrugged off suggestions his last-minute stop in Cyprus
was a mere photo opportunity.
"It's more than a symbolic trip," he said in response to questions in Paris,
where he was supposed to have concluded a week-long foreign trip before
Wednesday's detour.
"There's a need for air support in Cyprus. Freeing up seats, we will have a
significant number of seats to help the situation."
About 1,800 Canadians had hoped to leave the Lebanese capital Thursday, but
faced another tense night amid continuing Israeli air strikes. They were
supposed to board six other ships chartered by the Canadian government.
An estimated 50,000 Canadians are in Lebanon.
Throngs of weary travellers of myriad nationalities disembarked from boats at
the Larnaca port in a scene reminiscent of New York's Ellis Island in the early
1900s.
In the scorching heat, evacuees made their way toward a customs centre
containing rows of flag-decorated tables. The Canadian table, the smallest and
spangled with red and yellow paper maple leafs, sat in the corner of the room.
A washroom line stretched for 50 metres and the pallid, unsmiling faces of about
a dozen sick evacuees peered out from a makeshift infirmary. A refrigerator
stocked with soft drinks served as a small respite for the passengers who had
been travelling for the better part of a day.
Harper, whose government has been criticized for what some consider a slow
response to the crisis, took a surprising hands-on approach to evacuation
efforts by announcing that his Canadian Forces jet would fly from France, where
he ended a visit Wednesday, to help pick up evacuees from Cyprus.
The scores of Canadians who were turned away at the port Wednesday were taken to
an air-conditioned facility to be accommodated until morning, said Foreign
Affairs spokeswoman Ambra Dickie.
Canadian government officials told The Canadian Press the first ship's departure
was delayed in part because Lebanese authorities were slow to process those
trying to get aboard.
Canadians jammed Beirut's harbour for hours Wednesday - jostling, weeping and
pleading for passage out of the country. They pushed up against a chain-link
fence blocking their access to the port, yelling at officials who attempted to
maintain order with megaphones.
Canada has one of the largest groups of nationals in Lebanon of any country in
the world, and has already seen eight citizens killed in an Israeli air
strike.The regional conflict, which has killed about 300 Lebanese and 29
Israelis, continued unabated Wednesday as Israeli warplanes flattened houses in
south Lebanon.
© The Canadian Press 2006
Who is Hassan Nasrallah?
Author: Eben Kaplan, Assistant Editor
July 20, 2006
Introduction
Who is Hassan Nasrallah?
What has Nasrallah achieved as Hezbollah’s leader?
What is Nasrallah’s role in the Lebanese government?
How far does Nasrallah’s popularity extend?
Is Israel trying to assassinate Nasrallah?
How does Nasrallah view other terrorist movements?
Introduction
Since 1992, Hassan Nasrallah has been the leader of the Lebanese terrorist group
Hezbollah. A popular political figure in Lebanon, Nasrallah is a driving force
behind Hezbollah's ongoing military operations as well as the group's foray into
politics. On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah fighters abducted two Israeli soldiers
from a border post near Lebanon, prompting a massive Israeli military campaign
and thrusting Nasrallah and his organization into the international spotlight.
Who is Hassan Nasrallah?
As the secretary general of Hezbollah, Nasrallah is the group's highest-ranking
official. He rose to that position in 1992, when an Israeli helicopter gunned
down his predecessor and mentor, Sayyad Abbas Musawi. Viewed as an extremist by
Israel and the West, Nasrallah is a prominent figure in Lebanese politics.
Charismatic, highly intelligent, and deeply religious, his face appears on
billboards, key chains, and screensavers; excerpts of his speeches are even used
as cell phone ring tones.
Born in 1960 in East Beirut's Bourji Hammoud neighborhood, Nasrallah, the oldest
of nine children, aspired to religious leadership from a young age. In 1975,
when a civil war broke out in Lebanon, Nasrallah's family moved to its ancestral
home in the southern Lebanese village of Bassouriyeh. While attending services
in the nearby city of Tyre, Nasrallah caught the attention of one of the
clerics, who encouraged him to pursue his theological education abroad. The
following year, upon finishing secondary school, Nasrallah went to study in a
seminary in Najaf, Iraq. It was there he first met Musawi.
In 1978, Iraq expelled hundreds of Lebanese religious students, and Nasrallah
and Musawi were forced to return to Lebanon. There Musawi established a
religious school where Nasrallah taught and studied. His passionate sermons won
him a number of Shiite followers, many of whom joined Nasrallah in organizing an
armed resistance to the Israeli invasion in 1982. These fighting groups soon
evolved into Hezbollah, and Nasrallah distinguished himself as an adept guerilla
commander. In 1987, during a lull in the violence, Nasrallah resumed his
religious studies at a seminary in Qom, Iran, but when hostilities resumed in
1989, he returned to Lebanon. By that time, a rift was emerging among
Hezbollah's leadership between those—led by Musawi—advocating broader Syrian
influence in Lebanon and those—led by Nasrallah—who opposed Syrian involvement
and pushed for a harder line against Israel and the United States. Nasrallah
found himself in the minority, and later that year he was sent back to Iran to
serve as Hezbollah's representative in Tehran, though experts say this was
likely an effort to sideline him.
In 1991, Musawi became secretary general of Hezbollah and Nasrallah returned to
Lebanon, apparently having softened his views on Syria. Nasrallah replaced
Musawi as Hezbollah's leader after his mentor's assassination by Israeli forces.
What has Nasrallah achieved as Hezbollah’s leader?
When he became secretary general of Hezbollah, Nasrallah lacked the credentials
of his predecessors, who had spent many more years in religious seminaries, and
his appointment to that post reportedly ruffled a few feathers within the
organization. He won broad grassroots support by cultivating a social welfare
network that provided schools, clinics, and housing in the predominantly Shiite
parts of Lebanon.
Nasrallah also presided over Hezbollah at the time of Israel's withdrawal from
Lebanon. Though he cannot claim full credit for the military operations that
Hezbollah waged, he was largely responsible for the propaganda campaign that won
Hezbollah broad Shiite support and helped sour Israeli public opinion toward the
occupation of Lebanon.
Israel's withdrawal caused Nasrallah's popularity to surge both within Lebanon
and throughout the Arab world. Though Hezbollah had held seats in Lebanon's
parliament since the early 1990s, this new esteem granted Nasrallah greater
political capital. In the 2005 parliamentary elections, the first polls to take
place after Syria ended its twenty-nine-year occupation of Lebanon, Hezbollah
made substantial gains, and even won two cabinet seats. As Syria and Israel have
withdrawn from Lebanon, Hezbollah began to "position themselves as a Lebanese
nationalist organization," says Hussein Ibish, communications director for the
American-Arab Anti-discrimination Committee (ADC). In a speech earlier this
year, Nasrallah boasted, "As long as there are fighters who are ready for
martyrdom, this country will remain safe."
What is Nasrallah’s role in the Lebanese government?
Although he is the leader of Hezbollah, Nasrallah does not hold official office
in Lebanon. "He's seen as a messianic figure, much higher than any official in
Lebanon" says Walid Phares, a Lebanese-born terrorism expert and associate
professor at Florida Atlantic University. Nevertheless, Nasrallah presides over
Hezbollah as it is becoming increasingly politically active with representation
in both the Lebanese parliament and cabinet. Hezbollah's goal is to establish an
independent Islamic state in Lebanon with Nasrallah as its leader, Phares says.
How far does Nasrallah’s popularity extend?
Among the general public—both in Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world—Nasrallah
has broad appeal, which experts say has persisted even after Hezbollah abducted
two Israeli soldiers on July 12. But Nasrallah's popularity has its limits.
Leaders of Middle Eastern nations, who usually remain quiet on Hezbollah, have
expressed misgivings about the group's recent actions, which prompted severe
retaliation from Israel.
Is Israel trying to assassinate Nasrallah?
Yes. On July 14, Israeli war planes destroyed Nasrallah's home and offices.
According to Phares, "He and a number of Hezbollah officials are marked [for
death] by Israel." But life on the run is not new to Nasrallah, who has grown
accustomed to dodging threats since his expulsion from Iraq. Phares says
Nasrallah was deeply affected by Musawi's death and has studied the life of
Yassir Arafat in hopes of mimicking the late Palestinian leader's ability to
withstand Israeli attacks.
How does Nasrallah view other terrorist movements?
Nasrallah has criticized the other Islamic movements. He told Washington Post
reporter Robin Wright that the Taliban was "the worst, the most dangerous thing
that this Islamic revival has encountered," and he condemned the beheading of
American contractor Nicholas Berg by al-Qaeda in Iraq, saying "It is
unacceptable, it is forbidden, to harm the innocent." But when Wright asked
Nasrallah about suicide bombings in Israel, he explained, "There [are] no other
means for the Palestinians to defend themselves."