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LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
JULY 24/2006

News from the Daily Star for 24/07/06
Israeli bombardment leaves telecom infrastructure in tatters
Syria offers to play peacemaker as top diplomats meet in Israel
Olmert tells Cabinet he expects campaign to 'take a very long time'
Southern villagers run gauntlet in search of refuge
Hizbullah gives government negotiation power
Salloukh says captured Israeli soldiers are 'in good health'
Pope urges immediate cease-fire, delivery of aid
World media returns to Beirut - for the usual reason
Sidon overflows with desperate evacuees
50 years after Nasser's gambit, Suez Canal means more to Egypt than ever
'There are children dying' - UN humanitarian boss
Cyprus braces for 10,000 new arrivals as evacuation approaches completion
Beirut bands hold benefit for internally displaced
With supplies already low, evacuees settled outside Jbeil hope to wait it out
Car bombs kill 60 in Iraq ahead of PM's visits to America, Britain
Exhibition looks back on Beirut's violent past, now made cruelly present
News from miscellaneous sources for 24/07/06
Hezbollah rocket attacks not subsiding-AP
Israel Ready to Accept a NATO-Led International Force as Killing Rages On
US: We won't hold direct talks with Syria-Ynetnews
Peretz: Israel supports deployment of multi-national force-Ha'aretz
Saad Hariri: "We Will Rebuild Every Bridge"TIME - USA
Israel's Olmert says Lebanon crisis will last a long time-Life Style Extra
IDF: Syria Continues to Arm Hezbollah; Worries About Wider -Arutz Sheva
UN observer seriously wounded by Hizbullah gunfire in Lebanon-Jerusalem Post
2 key Americans see 1982 in Lebanon '06-Seattle Post Intelligencer
US pushes Syria for peace-The Australian
Israel says would accept NATO-led force-Ap
Syria says will urge Mideast cease-fire-AP
Captured Israeli soldiers safe: Lebanon’s foreign minister-Khaleej Times
Israeli military seizes Lebanese town-CNN International
Israel expands ground operation-NDTV.com
Next, war on Syria?Aljazeera.com - London,UK
US trying to sabotage alliance between Syria, Iran?Ynetnews
Israeli warplanes kill 3 fleeing Lebanese-AP
Israel and Lebanon under fire-Reuters.uk
Peretz OKs NATO Force in South Lebanon-Arutz Sheva
BOMBS CRASH THE PARTY: Tourists' exodus deprives Lebanon-Detroit Free Press
Thousands flee southern Lebanon as Israeli forces mass at border-Canada.com
UK and Israel in talks on Lebanon-BBC News - UK
ANALYSIS-Reluctant Bush may need Syria to end Lebanon war-Reuters
NY Times: US Sees Syria as Key in Hizbullah War-Arutz Sheva
Diplomatic flurry in Israel over Lebanon war-Washington Post
Israeli Soldiers Push Deeper Into Lebanon, Seize Village-Los Angeles Times
With the Spotlight on Lebanon, Gaza Feels Left in Dark-Los Angeles Times
Proportionality in the war in Lebanon-Ha'aretz
Fear, chaos precede US evacuations in Lebanon-Houston Chronicle
Lebanon: We'll sue Israel for damages-Ynetnews - Israel
Israel builds detention center for Lebanon captives-People's Daily Online
Israeli tanks cross border as Lebanon awaits invasion-Telegraph.co.uk
Latest News From miscellaneous sources 24/07/06
Israel strikes Lebanon religious building-Houston Chronicle
Israel Will Accept a Disarmed Hezbollah-Washington Post
Israel waits as Lebanon burns-Sunday Business Post
Israeli Troops Battling Hezbollah Gunmen in Lebanese Village-Bloomberg
Analysis / A road map for Lebanon studded with mines-Ha'aretz
Hezbollah rockets land in open areas in northern Israeli city-People's Daily Online
Bush slams Syria, Iran over Hezbollah-CNN
Jordanian king again calls for immediate ceasefire in Lebanon-People's Daily Online
MI5 fears Hezbollah terror attacks in Britain-Daily Mail
French FM condemns both Israel and Hezbollah-People's Daily Online
Israeli military base attacked by Hezbollah guerillas-People's Daily Online
Hezbollah base seized: Israel-Sydney Morning Herald
Whom Hezbollah, Israel battling for indeed?-People's Daily Online
Israel seizes a village from Hezbollah-AP
For Hezbollah, survival may mean victory-AP
Plots underway to deploy NATO troops in south Lebanon: analyst-MehrNews.com - Tehran,Iran
U.N. warns of 'disaster' as Lebanese flee-AP
Israel hastily musters its citizen-AP

Israeli bombardment leaves telecom infrastructure in tatters
By Osama Habib -Daily Star staff
Monday, July 24, 2006
BEIRUT: Lebanon's mobile networks and satellite antennas are being targeted by Israeli warplanes, causing at least $10 to $15 million in material damage and a drop in the revenues of the telecom sector, Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade said on Sunday. "We are still assessing the damages but we estimate the material losses are close to $15 million so far," Hamade told The Daily Star over the telephone.
Israeli warplanes have hit transmitters, relay stations and satellite stations in Beirut, the South, the North and the Bekaa Valley since the war started 12 days ago. Israeli warplanes bombarded a satellite and antenna station in Kesrouan on Saturday, killing an employee of the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation and destroying the television antenna. The strikes targeted transmission towers for a number of private television stations, including LBCI and Future, as well as a number of private radios in Fatqa and further up on mount Sannine, police said.
In Fatqa, television footage showed a cloud of thick black smoke billowing into the sky from the towers which were engulfed in flames. A truck was also seen burning. Transmission towers for television stations, including Hizbullah's Al-Manar and the privately run New TV, as well as mobile telephone networks were also destroyed in Terbol in Nor-thern Lebanon, police added.
Observers say that the Israeli forces want to cut all communication links between Lebanon and the outside world and to sever mobile communication lines among the Lebanese.
Hamade said teams from the ministry are repairing some of the damage in different areas. But the minister declined to give more details about the repairs in some areas, fearing that the Israeli forces may target these stations and satellites. "I don't want to identify the areas in which technical teams are working because the Israelis might bombard them," he said. Some Lebanese said the mobile lines in some parts of the North and South of the country were inoperative due to the intense bombardment. Hamade said that the Telecommunication Ministry has instructed the two mobile operators in Lebanon, MTC Touch and Alfa, to extend the duration of the pre-paid cards to ease the pressure on residents.
"This will of course affect the revenues from telecoms, which is the main source of income for the government."Total revenues from the telecom sector are more than $1.3 billion a year, including the mobile and land-line networks. But the minister said all the land-line services are still intact.
The government was hoping to privatize the telecom sector this year as part of efforts to reduce the $40 billion public debt.

Hundreds of Iranian Troops Fighting in Lebanon
BY IRA STOLL - Staff Reporter of the Sun
July 19, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/36326
Hundreds of Iranian Revolutionary Guard personnel are on the ground in Lebanon fighting Israel, security sources say.
"I have no doubt whatsoever that they are there and operating some of the equipment," an Arab diplomatic source told The New York Sun yesterday.
Another foreign source, based in Washington, said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps contingent in Lebanon is based in Beirut and in the Bekaa Valley. He said the troops usually number a few dozen, but that the size of the force increased in connection with the hostilities that have broken out between Israel and Iran's proxy, Hezbollah, over the past week.
The sources said the Iranians had directly operated a radar-guided C–802 missile that Iran acquired from Communist China and that hit an Israeli navy missile boat off the coast of Lebanon on Friday, killing four Israeli seamen.
"This was a direct message to the Israelis that we are fighting the Iranians here," the Arab diplomatic source said.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard's mission in Lebanon includes keeping custody of Zalzal missiles and drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles. A report by an Israel-based research group, the Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center, identifies the units of Iran's Revolutionary Guard "deployed and active in Lebanon" as the "Al-Quds Force." The Lebanon-based Iranian force "provides military guidance and support for terrorist attacks against Israel," the report says.
President Bush has openly blamed Iran, along with Syria, for sponsoring Hezbollah, but he has stopped short of identifying the presence of Iranian troops in Lebanon. Tomorrow, a senior National Security aide to Mr. Bush, Elliott Abrams, and the undersecretary of state, Nicholas Burns, will chair a meeting at the White House for at least 10 Iranian opposition organizations. The White House has hinted to those invited that President Bush may stop by.
The Iranian government has cheered Hezbollah's actions while at the same time publicly denying the presence of Revolutionary Guards in Iran.
Clearing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from Lebanon has emerged as an unstated, but significant, Israeli war aim. Israelis also are hoping for tougher American and international sanctions on Iran and Syria as punishment for the Iranian and Syrian roles in Hezbollah's kidnapping of Israeli soldiers and raining of missiles on Israeli cities.
The Arab diplomatic source described the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, as "totally subservient" to Iran. "How more forceful can I put it?" he said.
In New York on Monday, Senator McCain, a Republican of Arizona who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said the Iranians had supplied Hezbollah with arms, equipment, training, and 10,000 rockets. He said he did not see how Hezbollah would have captured Israeli soldiers without "the tacit agreement and maybe support of the Iranians." And Mr. McCain said Iranians have "very heavily penetrated" southern Iraq, "including sending in terrorists" and equipment for the bombs known as improvised explosive devices.
The Hezbollah offensive against Israel followed a summit in Damascus. Reports vary on whether the meeting was attended by Sheik Nasrallah himself or by one of his top political aides, Sheik Hussein Khalil. Others said to be present include the head of Syrian military intelligence, Assef Shawkat, and the Iranian national security adviser, Ali Larijani, who is one of the many high-ranking Iranian officials who have been shuttling between Damascus and Tehran.
The president of the Reform Party of Syria, Farid Ghadry, who opposes the regime in Damascus, said there are indications that Hezbollah and the Iranians and Syrians recently attacked a Lebanese army base, signaling they are expanding their campaign beyond Israeli targets.

Israel seizes a village from Hezbollah
By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press Writer
ON THE ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER - Israeli tanks, bulldozers and armored personnel carriers knocked down a fence and barreled over the Lebanese border Saturday as forces seized a village from the Hezbollah guerrilla group.
The soldiers battled militants throughout the day and raided the large village of Maroun al-Ras in several waves before finally taking control, military officials said. Tens of thousands of Lebanese fleeing north packed into the port of Sidon to escape the fighting as the United Nations warned of a growing humanitarian "disaster."
Early Sunday, warplanes for the first time hit inside the port city of Sidon, currently swollen with refugees, destroying a religious complex that the Israeli military said was used by Hezbollah. Hospital officials said four people were wounded.
A series of large explosions reverberated through Beirut in the early hours Sunday as Israeli aircraft again pounded Hezbollah's stronghold in the south. Warplanes also hit targets in eastern Bekaa Valley, firing missiles in the cities of Hermel and Baalbek, witnesses said. There was no immediate word on casualties in either strike.
The growing use of ground forces, 11 days into the fighting, signaled Israeli recognition that airstrikes alone were not enough to force Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon. But a ground offensive carries greater risks to Israel, which already has lost 18 soldiers in the recent fighting. It also threatens to exacerbate already trying conditions for Lebanese civilians in the area.
Israeli military officials have said they want to push Hezbollah beyond the Litani River, about 20 miles north of the border, with the Lebanese army deploying in the border zone. An Israeli radio station that broadcasts to southern Lebanon warned residents of 13 villages to flee north by Saturday afternoon. The villages form a corridor about 4 miles wide and 11 miles deep.
With Lebanese fearing an escalation in the battle, international officials worked to end the conflict.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was set to arrive in the Middle East on Sunday, though she ruled out a quick cease-fire as a "false promise."
President Bush said his administration's diplomatic efforts would focus on finding a strategy for confronting Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian backers.
"Secretary Rice will make it clear that resolving the crisis demands confronting the terrorist group that launched the attacks and the nations that support it," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
Italy, which has been trying to mediate an end to the fighting, said it would hold a conference Wednesday to work out the basis for a truce agreement. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed a beefed-up U.N. force along the Lebanese border, but Israel has called for the Lebanese army to take control of the area.
Annan said the conflict had displaced at least 700,000 Lebanese so far, and Israel's destruction of bridges and roads has made access to them difficult.
"I'm afraid of a major humanitarian disaster," he told CNN.
U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said it would take more than $100 million to help the displaced. He said he would make an appeal "urging, begging" the international community for contributions.
As part of an effort to avert such a crisis, Israel eased its blockade of Lebanon's ports to allow the first shiploads of aid to arrive. It remained unclear how that aid would get to the isolated towns and villages where the fighting has been centered.
Israel has attacked mostly with airstrikes, but small units have crossed the border in recent days and fought with Hezbollah fighters.
A far larger force of about 2,000 troops entered the area Saturday trying to root out Hezbollah bunkers and destroy hidden rocket launchers.
The troops, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, raced past a U.N. outpost and headed into Maroun al-Ras. Gunfire could be heard coming from the village, and artillery batteries in Israel also fired into the area.
"The forces have completed, more or less, their control of the area of the village, Maroun al-Ras, and made lots of hits against terrorists," said Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz, chief of Israel's ground forces. "It was a difficult fight that continued for not a short time."
Dozens of Hezbollah fighters were injured or killed in the battle, Gantz said. Hezbollah said two of its fighters were killed Saturday, bringing the total number of acknowledged Hezbollah fighters killed to eight. Israel accuses the group of vastly underreporting its casualties.
The village was strategically important because it overlooked an area where Hezbollah had command posts, Gantz said. The forces seized a cache of weapons and rockets in a village mosque, he added. The village is believed to be a launching point for the rocket attacks on northern Israel.
At one point, a half-ton bomb was dropped on a Hezbollah outpost, about 500 yards from the border and near the village. Other positions were bombarded by Israeli gunboats off the coast.
About 32 residents took refuge at the U.N. observers post. Nearly the entire remaining population of the village — which numbered about 2,300 before the crisis broke out — were believed to have fled, Lebanese security officials said.
Some of the invading forces returned to Israel during the day. U.N. peacekeepers and witnesses said Israel also briefly held the nearby village of Marwaheen before pulling back.
About 35,000 fleeing Lebanese filled Sidon as they searched for a place to stay or a way to get farther north.
"I'm afraid a disaster is going to happen with all these refugees. There's no aid, not from other nations, not from Lebanon," Mayor Abdul-Rahman al-Bizri said.
More than 200,000 Lebanese fled to Syria, according to the Syrian Red Crescent.
A steady stream of foreign nationals boarded ships and planes Saturday to take them away. U.S. officials said more than 7,500 Americans had been evacuated from Lebanon by Saturday night.
"Everybody's crying and kissing and wishing you well, and you have to turn and leave. We have the chance to get out, but they don't," said Susan Abu Hamdan, 44, of Northville, Mich., who was visiting her siblings in Beirut.
The Israeli army said it wanted to completely destroy all Hezbollah infrastructure in an area between a half-mile and two miles from the border, but it had no intention of going deeper into Lebanon.
"We really want to knock out Hezbollah in this area," said Capt. Jacob Dallal, an army spokesman. "We want to wipe them out, and we don't intend for them to ever be there again."
A senior Israeli military official confirmed that Israel did not plan to reoccupy southern Lebanon as it did in 1982-2000 to create a buffer zone to protect northern Israel.
Israel's current offensive began July 12 when Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed three others in a cross-border raid.
Israeli airstrikes on Saturday blasted communications and television transmission towers in the central and northern Lebanese mountains, knocking the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. off the air and killing one person at the station.
The death toll in Lebanon rose to at least 372, Lebanese authorities said.
Over the past 11 days, Hezbollah has launched nearly 1,000 rockets into Israel, killing 15 civilians and sending hundreds of thousands of others fleeing into bunkers. At least 132 rockets landed in Israel on Saturday, wounding 20 people, three seriously, rescue officials said.
A total of 19 Israeli troops have been killed in the fighting so far.
Hezbollah also fired at the army base of Nurit in Israel, wounding one soldier, the army said.
Israel's call for Lebanese to leave much of the area south of the Litani River caused many to fear that a far deeper Israeli ground incursion was being planned, an offensive that would almost certainly lead to far higher casualties.
More than 400,000 people live south of the Litani. Though tens of thousands have left, many are believed still there, trapped by the damaged roads or by fear of being caught in an airstrike.

Survival may equal victory for Hezbollah
By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah acknowledges that Israeli troops can sweep across south Lebanon. But if he and his militants can survive and keep fighting, he will cement his image as the unlikely new hero of Arab nationalism.
Israeli troops backed by tanks fought their way into southern Lebanon Saturday at the start of a ground assault to drive the Islamic guerrilla group away from the border and put Israeli cities beyond the reach of its rockets.
"I don't want to raise expectations. I never said that the Israelis cannot reach any place in southern Lebanon," says Nasrallah, a black-turbaned Shiite cleric whom Israel has tried repeatedly to kill.
"Our dogma and strategy is when the Israelis come, they must pay a high price. This is what we promise and this is what we will achieve, God willing."
The fighting was sparked by Hezbollah's July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers and the killing of eight others in a cross-border raid. A massive Israeli offensive followed and Hezbollah responded by firing hundreds of rockets at Israel.
More than 370 people have been killed in Lebanon over the past 11 days, authorities said. In Israel, 34 have died.
Anticipating the ground assault, Nasrallah sought to ensure his group's survival and safeguard its widening base of support in Lebanon and abroad by lowering the bar for what would constitute victory.
In a television interview broadcast Friday, he defined victory as a successful defense.
And he acknowledges the gravity of defeat.
"A defeat in Lebanon will end the region's resistance movements, the Palestinian cause and impose Israel's conditions for a settlement," he warned.
His previous warnings were even more dire.
"If Israel is able to defeat the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, God forbid, then the Arab world, governments and peoples will drown in eternal humiliation from which they will have no way out."
Hezbollah's chances of victory lie as much in its guerrilla capability as in Nasrallah's leadership. He has led the group since 1992, taking over after his predecessor was killed in an Israeli helicopter attack.
A fiery orator who deftly mixes threats with lighthearted comments, Nasrallah lost his 18-year-old son, Hadi, during a fight with Israeli troops in 1997. He refused to receive mourners, praised God's "ultimate grace and kindness" for choosing a family member as a martyr and allowed another son, Jawad, to join the guerrillas.
"We love martyrdom," he said on Friday. "But we take precautions to deny the enemy an easy victory."
On paper, Hezbollah's chances of surviving a military setback and regrouping to fight again are good. Most of its estimated 5,000-6,000 fighters are hardened by years of combat against Israel during its 18-year control of a border strip in southern Lebanon.
The Iranian- and Syrian-backed organization, listed as a terrorist group by the United States, has a typical guerrilla arsenal that includes assault rifles, mines, light artillery, mortars and — most importantly — missiles with ranges of up to 45 miles.
It enjoys popular support in southern and eastern Lebanon.
Victory or defeat, Nasrallah already has a place in the hearts of millions of Arabs angered and ashamed by their governments' perceived acquiescence to Israeli and U.S. policies.
A defeat on the battlefield is unlikely to change that so long as Hezbollah is seen to have put up a good fight. In fact, it could give the 46-year-old, mid-ranking cleric hero status.
Nasrallah's rise to Arab stardom, said Ibrahim Bayram of Beirut's respected An-Nahar daily, was owed in part to his tireless attempts to rise above the Shiite-Sunni divide by forging close ties with Sunni Muslims — who are the overwhelming majority of the world's Arabs.
"He has ambitions to become a leader of the Muslim world," said Bayram.
Charismatic, sharp and media savvy, Nasrallah seems aware of respect and admiration he and his organization enjoy. He speaks with a confidence that sometimes borders on arrogance.
He also taunts his critics in the Arab world, led by key U.S. allies Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
"I say to Arab leaders: I don't want your swords and I don't want your hearts ... Leave us alone."
Such undiplomatic talk resonates with many Arabs. His fiery rhetoric harkens back to Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Egypt's late president who led his nation to disastrous military defeat by Israel in 1967. But Nasser's political resilience and charisma made him a respected Arab nationalist leader until his death in 1970.
"Nasrallah is doing what Arab governments are unwilling or incapable of doing — fighting Israel. He is embarrassing them," said Vali Nasr, an expert on Shiites who lectures on national security affairs at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, Calif.
"Many people in the Middle East reward courage, not wisdom," said Nasr.

Israel strikes Lebanon religious building 2 hours, 22 minutes ago
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli warplanes struck Sidon early Sunday, targeting a religious building run by a Shiite Muslim cleric close to Hezbollah in their first hit inside the southern port city, currently swollen with refugees from fighting further south.
Also early Sunday, a huge explosion reverberated across Beirut, apparently caused by an Israeli air raid on the capital's southern suburbs.
At least four people were wounded in the airstrike that targeted Sidon for the first time since Israel launched its massive military offensive against Lebanon and Hezbollah guerrillas July 12, hospital officials said.
Strikes early in Israel's campaign hit bridges outside the city of 100,000, where 35,000 refugees are also now residing.
Witnesses said the Israeli jets fired two missiles that directly hit the four-story Sayyed al-Zahraa compound in Sidon. The compound, which contains a mosque, a religious library and a seminary, was entirely destroyed but was believed to be empty at the time of the strike, they said.
A man and his wife in a nearby house were lightly wounded from broken glass, while two other people strolling near the compound were also hit by shrapnel, hospital officials said.
The compound is run by Sheik Afif Naboulsi, a Shiite Muslim cleric close to Iran and the militant Hezbollah group.
Minutes earlier, two other blasts also shook Beirut also caused by an Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs where Hezbollah headquarters, including the residence of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah have been flattened by repeated Israeli bombing.
Israeli warplanes also hit targets in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley firing missiles in the cities of Hermel and Baalbek at around 11 p.m. Saturday, witnesses said. There was no immediate word on casualties in either strike.

From : Joseph Gebeily <jgebeily@licus.org>
Sent : July 22, 2006 11:56:07 PM
To : "Joseph Gebeily" <jgebeily@licus.org>
Subject : The Hezbollah myth
Friends,
Allow me to share with you some of what I said about Hezbollah yesterday on Voice Of America-On The Line with Host Eric Felten . Below it, you will find the full transcript of the show.
Host: Joseph Gebeily, these Hezbollah rockets and missiles are not held in depots or military installations but are rather held in Southern Lebanon and in homes and in civilian areas. How does rooting out Hezbollah -- whether it's Israel or the international community coming up with some kind of U-N force -– how does this happen without causing so much death and destruction in Lebanon that seems to part of what Hezbollah wants to have happened?
Gebeily: First, I want to challenge the idea of the “resistance movement” that Hezbollah has gotten over the years. Hezbollah is a militia that formed in the late seventies-early eighties, and it was formed after the Iranian revolutionary guard moved into Lebanon through Syria. It had nothing to do originally with the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The Hezbollah agenda is to transform Lebanon into a radical Shiite regime modeled after the Iranian theocracy. And over the years, although the Israeli invasion of Lebanon had extended to Beirut, Hezbollah never attacked the Israelis. They never resisted or hurt the invaders in any way, shape or form. Then,at the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1989, there was an agreement for all militias to disarm including Hezbollah. And the only reason they kept their weapons is because the Syrians wanted that. So then they came up with this excuse that they are fighting the Israelis and they remembered that the Israelis were still in a small security zone in Southern Lebanon, and they needed to chase them out. Later and after the Israeli withdrawal in 2000, they remembered the Shebaa farm which was never mentioned before.And now they are talking about the lebanese prisoners in Israel. They were always finding an excuse, a "raison d'etre" if you want to call it, to present it to the Lebanese to keep their militia and their areas of control. And at some point Hassan Nasrallah, in his last statement said: “we are fighting the war of the ummah, and we're fighting the war of the whole Muslim world.” So here is another Bin Laden. The idea of Hezbollah being a Lebanese resistance movement is totally wrong.
Now, back to the rockets; it is very hard to be able to get rid of the Hezbollah armament without a ground troop operation. Let's face it, bombings and air strikes etc, could hit here and there. But Hezbollah doesn't care, they don't care about loss of civilian life. They are going to hide, all their rockets, ammunitions, etc. among the Lebanese population. It's the Lebanese who are suffering, the Lebanese who are being killed, the Lebanese civilians. Hezbollah has lost only eight members so far and that's nothing. And the Lebanese losses are in the hundreds but Hezbollah don't care. They are still so outrageous in saying: we are going to continue the war and we are not going to stop -- the Hezbollah leaders.
Full Transcript:
On The Line: Iran And Syria's Proxy War
http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/ontheline/
21 July 2006
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Transcript
Host: Israel's assault on the radical Islamic Hezbollah has been viewed by many as a legitimate act of self-defense. Based in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah has the declared goal of destroying Israel. The terrorist group has launched missile attacks on Israeli towns and cities. Hezbollah created the latest crisis when it sent fighters across the border to attack and kidnap Israeli soldiers. Officials of Lebanon's democratically elected government have blamed Syria for orchestrating Hezbollah's attacks. Lebanese communications minister Marwan Hamada said, "Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara gives the commands, Hezbollah carries them out, and Lebanon is the hostage." President George W. Bush had this comment:
President Bush: "The root cause of that current instability is terrorism and terrorist attacks on a democratic country. And part of those terrorist attacks are inspired by nation states, like Syria and Iran. And in order to be able to deal with this crisis, the world must deal with Hezbollah, with Syria and to continue to work to isolate Iran."
Host: Mr. Bush said that "Sometimes it requires tragic situations to help bring clarity in the international community":
President Bush: "It is now clear for all to see that there are terrorist elements who want to destroy our democratic friends and allies, and the world must work to prevent them from doing so."
Host: The Group of Eight industrial nations issued a statement saying, "The immediate crisis results from efforts by extremist forces to destabilize the region and to frustrate the aspirations of the Palestinian, Israeli and Lebanese people for democracy and peace." The G-8 statement continued: "These extremist elements and those that support them cannot be allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos and provoke a wider conflict." Officials of Arab governments have also criticized Hezbollah. Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faisal denounced Hezbollah's "irresponsible acts."
What are Iran and Syria up to in Lebanon? And is U.S. policy in the region working? I'll ask my guests: Farid Ghadry, President of the Reform Party of Syria; Dr. Joseph Gebeily, President of the American Lebanese Coalition and Mark Dubowitz, Chief Operating Officer of The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Welcome and thanks for joining us today.
Farid Ghadry, what role does Syria and Iran have in this current crisis?
Ghadry: It's a very important role. We know for a fact that about three weeks ago there was a secret meeting inside Damascus, where an envoy from Hezbollah -- we believe [Iran’s Ali] Larijani was there as well as Assef Shawkat, the head of the [Syrian] military intelligence. In that meeting the plot was hatched to actually do what Hezbollah has done in Southern Lebanon, which is encroach into Israeli territories and the killing of Israeli soldiers. Syria has a lot to do with what is happening. In fact it is leading the effort in bringing about Hezbollah to do what it is doing. It is funding Hezbollah -- it is helping the funding of Hezbelloh, and also helping arm Hezbelloh. And Iran as well has a very important role in all of this. When the [U-S] president says Syria and Iran are involved in all of this they know exactly what they are talking about. And I think Syria and Iran are not trying to hide it out. They are trying to show they are doing what they are doing, in fact, because they've lobbed threats in the past on Israel and on the Lebanese as well. Especially when Bashar al-Assad said, I'm going to break Lebanon apart if I'm forced to leave, which is exactly what he's doing today.
Host: Joseph Gebeily, is Syria trying to break Lebanon apart?
Gebeily: Absolutely. This is not new. It has been going on this way, for many, many years. Syria never considered Lebanon as being a sovereign and independent country. There's no diplomatic relations, there's no recognition of Lebanon, and there are these slogans sometimes from Syrian officials that, "We’re one people, and it's the imperialistic nations which divided us, so we should go back to being one.” And over the years, Syrian officials or Syrian governments, have sent troops into Lebanon, weapons, fighters, stirred trouble, and done assassinations. Over the years, definitely Syria is after trouble in Lebanon.
Host: Mark Dubowitz, what is Syria trying to accomplish here?
Dubowitz: It's clear that both Lebanon and Gaza for that matter are both Syrian and Iranian occupied territory today. Both Syria and Iran have a very complex agenda. It's essential to undermine American power in the area. It is for the destruction of the State of Israel and it is to destroy the embers of democratic reform, that were taking place in Lebanon after the Cedar Revolution. And we are starting to see a rise [of democracy] throughout the Middle East that is a direct threat to the Syrian and Iranian regimes. And they will do everything they can to destroy that.
Host: Farid Ghadry --
Ghadry: More than that Eric, I think Mark is very right about this. Iran and Syria have seen success in the theater in Iraq, whereby they disturbed the process of democratization in Iraq. And now they are so bold they are saying, not only did they disturb that process, but we're going to try and destroy any democracy in the Middle East. And the first one is Israel. Their goal is not only to stop democracy, but now their goal is so bold they are going to try and destroy any democracy in the Middle East. They look like the policy of the U-S is not for the good of the Middle East, and they look like the winners after all in their battles against U-S interests in the Middle East.
Host: Joseph Gebeily, how powerful are Iran and Syria together at this point in the region?
Gebeily: We have to realize that the main power today is Iran. The Syrian regime has been weakened from its exit out of Lebanon and its isolation from the international community. U-N Security Council resolutions, one after the other, are asking Syria to leave Lebanon and condemning Syrian support for the militias. Arab isolation even [affects Syria] because the Syrian government does not have a lot of friends even among the Arab community and it's relying a lot on Iran. That's why [there was] the defense agreement recently; that's why there's financial support from Iran. A lot of people feel these days, and Farid can correct me if I'm wrong, that it's Iran making the decisions. Syria now is a minor player in the hands of Iran.
Host: Mark Dubowitz, is Syria a minor player, and to what extent does the territory that Syria occupies relate to what Iran is able to do in the region?
Dubowitz: That's exactly right: Iran is the major player. It's the major threat. Iran clearly has, both regional and I would say, worldwide ambitions to spread radical Khomeini Shiism. There's an opportunity to do that first in Lebanon, certainly in Iraq, and to use Syria as a proxy. Syria is, in fact, a strange country, because it's brittle [and] it's weak. It has a very weak military; it has a very complex political structure where the younger al-Assad today is not like the old man al-Assad. He doesn't have the power and he certainly doesn't have the savvy. But he is isolated. He's been isolated by his Arab brethren; he's been isolated by the international community. And certainly, the international community has made it very, very clear under Fifteen-Fifty-Nine, the [U-N] Security Council resolution, Syria must get out of Lebanon. Syria today is not out of Lebanon. Syrian intelligence agents are all over Lebanon. The Syrian President is backed by -- the Lebanese is backed by Syria. It's critical that first and foremost, Syria must be removed from the region. And secondly, we must understand this is Iranian regional ambitions. And we have to target those.
Host: Farid Ghadry, a lot of commentators have noted that given the weakness that Mark Dubowitz describes of Syria, that Israel is making a mistake by targeting Lebanon here, which is being held hostage by Syria, rather than attacking the Syrian regime which is controlling Hezbollah. Do you think that Israel should be looking at Syria rather than at Lebanon?
Ghadry: As a Syrian native, as a Syrian-American, I'm opposed to any military activity against Syria, because eventually that will bear onto the people of Syria. And that's not something we all want. Plus we know that the government is pretty savvy about these issues. They will use that to bring support on the street against Israel. Not only against Israel, but against the opposition who’s working very hard to bring the regime down. However, we're not opposing, we do not oppose the issue of regime change. Because we believe the regime has been weakened so much that if the United States decides they want to -– that this is time for a regime change in Syria -- in and by itself that act will bring about the coalition, the coalescing of the opposition, the weakening of the regime from within. The people will be empowered inside Syria and realize that this is the last few days of that regime. And that, in and by itself should bring about, the coalescing of forces to break down that regime peacefully from within. I'm more supportive of the regime being broken down from within than actual military theater, or military operations against Syria today. With one exception, that if Israel decides it wants to take out the military headquarters of the Syrian military intelligence, or pinpoint targets, one, two, or three: I don’t think it would be such a bad idea to do that. But overall a blanket operation against Syria today is not in the best interest of the Syrians nor is it in the best interests of the opposition. I just want to bring up the other issue. Syria is very important. It is weak militarily, but it's not weak, when it comes to as a chess player in the Middle East. And the reason being, Syria has been able to gain the confidence of Hamas, which is a Muslim Sunni entity and gain confidence of Hezbollah, which is a Shia entity. And both of them, Syria controls both of them in a very, very clever way. Something has not been done in the Middle East, so while Iran plays the big ogre in the Middle East, Syria has a very important role as an Arab entity. Bringing other Arab entities together under the same wing and under the specter of Iran.
Host: Joseph Gebeily, Shimon Peres who’s currently the Vice Premier of Israel, has said that, "We [Israel] will leave Iran to the world community and Syria as well [and] it's very important to understand that we are not instilling world order." What is there for the world community to do here, if this is being directed by Syria and Iran?
Gebeily: As everybody agrees here, the main player is Iran, and then there are proxies. The Syrian regime being one, and then the local players: the non-state actors in Lebanon, Hezbollah, the Palestinian militia supported by Syria, and some very minor Lebanese groups. All these have been working with the Syrian regime for years. They're well armed. They've committed acts of assassinations, terrorism, etc., within Lebanon. And short of hitting the Iranian regime, of getting rid of the Iranian evil in the Middle East, there's of course the Syrian regime, and if not, their proxies within Lebanon. The international community has the plan for that. They have the road map. There are now several United Nations Security Council resolutions, starting with Fifteen-Fifty-Nine that is the main one. Which said basically Syria should be out, militias should be disarmed. But what's happening now is that though the Syrians are theoretically out, there's still the intelligence [agents]. But again, weapons, ammunitions, and fighters, are still getting into Lebanon. If you look back at the history, that's how the Lebanese civil war started in the seventies. Syria -- the Syrian army- was not within Lebanon at the time, but they were arming all these militias -- Palestinians and others -- within Lebanon. Then, the war started and then they found an excuse to come in. We should control the border. It is extremely important that the borders of Lebanon will be controlled. South and eastern borders. [In the] South, the government should take with the help of the United Nations, should take control of the Southern border, so Hezbollah cannot play a role in there and the Eastern border should be extremely well controlled, so the Syrians cannot keep sending fighters and weapons and ammunition, and bombs into Lebanon.
Host: Mark Dubowitz, what would it take for a secure border in Lebanon?
Dubowitz: Both Joseph and Farid have put it very well. Which is, I think, the destruction of Hezbollah. Let's remember, we talk a lot about Iran and Syria as these grandmasters and Hezbollah as a proxy. But Hezbollah is a global terrorist organization, which is very sophisticated and very deadly. It has killed more Americans than any terrorist organization with the exception of al-Qaida. It has worldwide reach. It has terrorist cells in America, South America, in Australia, and in East Asia. It is a deadly terrorist organization and in the global war on terror it is incumbent on the United States and its allies to deal a deadly blow to these terrorist organizations with global reach. We should acknowledge that Hezbollah is a dangerous player on its own. In terms of securing the border, it's clear that Hezbollah as been there for now twenty-three years. Since 2000, since the Israelis actually left southern Lebanon there have been one hundred and fifty-one missile attacks against Israeli towns. There have seventeen Israelis who've have been killed. There have been fifty-two that have been injured. We forget the crisis didn't begin three days ago or three weeks ago. It began fifty-eight years ago, certainly. But it began in 2000 when the Israelis pulled out of Southern Lebanon and were met with missile attacks, deadly attacks, against their citizens and their civilians. It began a year ago when the Israelis pulled out of Gaza, and over a thousand rockets have been lobbed in by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups, into Israeli towns, killing and maiming Israeli citizens. So, the response has to be clear and it has to be direct. Ultimately Israel needs to have the time in the next couple weeks to do as much damage to Hezbollah's military capability [as possible] and to go after the ten to thirteen thousand rockets that are currently sitting on the Lebanese border. By the way, rockets which have been primarily provided, financed, and are currently being run out of southern Lebanon by Iranian and Syrian intelligence agents and troops.
Host: Farid Ghadry, let's talk about those missiles. People seem to have been surprised by the sophistication of the missiles that are now at Hezbollah's disposal, not only ones that can reach as far as Haifa, but then the use of a variation on the Chinese silk worm missile that had gone to Iran, used to hit an Israeli warship off of Lebanon. What does this tell us about the current state of missile technology proliferation in the region?
Ghadry: Politically, it tells us that Hezbollah has been planning for this day for a long time. Because when Israel got out of Lebanon in May of 2000, that should have closed the issue of Israel being on Lebanese territories and that should have given reason to Hezbollah to exit to the scene as a struggling or as a resistance movement. But the fact that they have those missiles tells us that Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria have been planning for this day and they have been instigating, and they have been prodding Israel for a fight, and they've been eager to get a fight. Now, in terms of the technology, this is very worrisome. In fact these are exactly the kind of things we do not want in the Middle East. Simple reason: the Middle East, the whole area, is very backward. We need to pay attention to our people, we need democracies, we need to give them freedom. We need to lift ourselves from the darkness, from the dark ages that we've been living in for the last one-hundred years. And in order for us to do that, we need to become peaceful people. We need to bring about peaceful change to our societies and allow the people to grow and allow the people to prosper from within. Spending money on missiles rather than spending money on schools is counterproductive to any Arab thought and to our development as a people. And that, in and by itself, is a crime. And I believe that the Iranians and the Syrians, and everybody that supports this kind of activity or missile technology or offensive technology in the Middle East is simply calling for more destruction and more havoc. In the Middle East, countries have been or are living in the dark ages. We should fight this as Arabs. We should fight it with all our hearts, and try and conquer that issue with every ounce of our energy. It's not in the best interest of the Arab countries.
Host: Joseph Gebeily, these rockets and missiles are not held in depots or military installations but are rather held in Southern Lebanon and in homes and in civilian areas. How does rooting out Hezbollah -- whether it's Israel or the international community coming up with some kind of U-N force -– how does this happen without causing so much death and destruction in Lebanon that seems to part of what Hezbollah wants to have happened?
Gebeily: I want to challenge the idea of the “resistance movement” that Hezbollah has gotten over the years. Hezbollah is a militia that formed in the late seventies-early eighties, and it was formed after the Iranian revolutionary guard moved into Lebanon through Syria. It had nothing to do originally with the invasion of Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
The Hezbollah agenda is transforming Lebanon into a radical Shiite regime modeled after Iranian theocracy. And over the years, although the Israeli invasion of Lebanon had extended to Beirut, Hezbollah never attacked the Israelis. They were always finding an excuse, if you want to call it, to present it to the Lebanese. And in the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1999, there was an agreement for all militias to disarm including Hezbollah. And the only reason they kept their weapons is because the Syrians wanted them to. And then they come up with this excuse that they are fighting the Israelis and they remembered that the Israelis were still in a small security zone in Southern Lebanon, and after that, after the Israeli withdrawal in 2000. Remember the Sheba farm that was never mentioned before and now they are talking about the prisoners. And at some point Hassan Nasrallah, in his last statement said: “we are fighting the war of the ummah, and we're fighting the war of the whole Muslim world.” We're hearing now another Bin Laden. The idea of localized Lebanese resistance movement is totally wrong. Now, back to the rockets; it is very hard to be able to get rid of the Hezbollah armament without a ground troop operation. Let's face it, bombings and air strikes etc, could hit here and there.
But they don't care, Hezbollah doesn't care, about loss of civilian life. They are going to hide, all their rockets, ammunitions, etc. among the Lebanese population. It's the Lebanese who are suffering, the Lebanese who are being killed, the Lebanese civilians. Hezbollah has lost only eight members so far and that's nothing. And the Lebanese losses are in the hundreds but they don't care. They are still so outrageous in saying; we are going to continue the war and we are not going to stop -- the Hezbollah leaders.
Host: I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today, but I'd like to thank my guests: Farid Ghadry of the Reform Party of Syria; Dr. Joseph Gebeily of the American Lebanese Coalition and Mark Dubowitz of The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Before we go, I'd like to invite you to send us your questions or comments. You can reach us through our web site at w-w-w-dot-v-o-a-news-dot-com-slash-ontheline. For On the Line, I'm Eric Felten.

Israeli warplanes kill 3 fleeing Lebanese
By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli warplanes struck a minibus carrying people fleeing the fighting Sunday in southern Lebanon, killing three people, Lebanese security officials said, and Israel said it would accept a NATO-led international force to keep the peace along the border.
Hezbollah rockets killed two civilians in northern Israel, and a member of the U.N. observer team in south Lebanon was seriously wounded by guerrilla fire.
The top U.N. humanitarian official, touring Beirut, said billions of dollars will be needed to repair damage from 12 days of warfare.
Israeli troops continued to hold a Lebanese border village that they battled their way into the day before, but did not appear to be advancing, Lebanese security officials said. Its warplanes and artillery, meanwhile, were battering areas across the south.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told the Cabinet that the current offensive is not an invasion of Lebanon, but rather a series of limited raids into the area.
Peretz also said that Israel would accept a temporary international force, preferably headed by NATO, deployed along the Lebanese border to keep Hezbollah guerrillas away from Israel, according to officials in Peretz's office.
Israel also hit the southern port of Sidon for the first time in its campaign, destroying a religious complex linked to Hezbollah and wounding four people. More than 35,000 people streaming north from the heart of the war zone had swamped the city, which is teetering under the weight of refugees.
Israel also bombed a textile factory in the border town of al-Manara, killing one person and wounding two, Mayor Ali Rahal told The Associated Press.
The stricken minibus was carrying 16 people fleeing the village of Tairi, working their way through the mountains for the southern port city of Tyre. A missile hit the bus near the village of Yaatar, killing three and wounding the rest, security officials said. The wounded were taken to hospitals in Tyre.
On Saturday, the Israeli military told residents of Taire and 12 other nearby villages to evacuate by 4 p.m.
At least four other people were killed by strikes in the south, Lebanese television said, but the deaths were not confirmed by security officials. About 45 people were wounded in Israeli air raids that targeted villages and towns around Tyre, security and hospital officials said.
The three deaths in the minibus brought to at least 375 the official death toll provided by Lebanese authorities. Israel's death toll stands at 36, with 17 people killed by Hezbollah rockets and 19 soldiers killed in fighting.
A U.N. observer was seriously wounded by Hezbollah gunfire during fighting with Israeli troops in south Lebanon, said U.N. spokesman Milos Strugar. The Italian chiefs of staff office identified the wounded U.N. official as Italian Capt. Roberto Punzo, saying he was flown by helicopter to an civilian hospital in Haifa.
He was the second member of the U.N. monitoring team injured in 12 days of fighting. Several U.N. positions on the border have taken hits from Israeli shells, and Israel said earlier this week that a U.N. post on its side was hit by a Hezbollah missile — although the observer team said it was a stray Israeli shell.
Israeli warplanes and helicopters bombed Nabi Sheet, near the eastern Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek, wounding five people, witnesses said. In Baalbek, strikes leveled an agricultural compound belonging to Hezbollah. Raids also targeted a factory producing prefabricated houses near the main highway linking Beirut to the Syrian capital of Damascus, witnesses said.
Two civilians died in early morning air raids on border villages, witnesses said. A 15-year-old boy was killed at Meis al-Jabal, and a man was killed at Blida.
Hezbollah rockets badly damaged a house and slammed into a major road in Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, killing two people, and at least 13 others were wounded across northern Israel.
Peretz said the 12-day-old offensive in Lebanon would continue as Israel tries to push Hezbollah guerrillas away from the border.
"The army's ground operation in Lebanon is focused on limited entrances, and we are not talking about an invasion of Lebanon. We are beginning to see the army's successes opposite Hezbollah," he told the Cabinet, according to a participant in the meeting.
Peretz also met with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, one of a series of diplomatic meetings aimed at ending the fighting. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy was also scheduled to meet with Israeli officials, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was headed to the region as well.
"The goal is to create a situation in which we have as broad a space for diplomatic movement as possible," Peretz said after meeting Steinmeier. "The goals we set for ourselves will be achieved. We certainly see a combination of a military operation that is fulfilling its role plus broad international activity to complete the process."
In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel had "pushed the button of its own destruction" by attacking Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
Ahmadinejad didn't elaborate, but suggested Islamic nations and others could somehow isolate Israel and its main backers led by the United States. On Saturday, the chairman of Iran's armed forced joint chiefs, Maj. Gen. Sayyed Hassan Firuzabadi, said Iran would never join the current Middle East fighting.
U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland, meanwhile, inspected the destruction wrought by Israeli air raids on south Beirut as he began a relief mission to Lebanon.
Making his way around piles of rubble, he stressed the need for a halt to the hostilities.
"If it continues like this, there will be more and more civilian casualties," he told reporters.
Egeland also planned to travel to Israel for further coordination on opening aid corridors. The number of displaced people has grown to 600,000, according to the World Health Organization.
Egeland said Saturday it would take more than $100 million to help the displaced. He said he would make an appeal "urging, begging" the international community for aid.
Evacuees in Sidon were stretching supplies of fuel, food and some medicines that already were tight for its own population of 100,000 and nearly impossible to replenish.
"There are no supplies reaching us, not from other nations, nor from the Lebanese government," said Mayor Abdul-Rahman al-Bizri, whose city was so packed that Palestinian refugees were taking in Lebanese refugees.
Sidon was only one face of the mounting humanitarian crisis across Lebanon amid an Israeli blockade and bombardment that has made roads unusable or too dangerous to distribute supplies to the south.
The Israeli military has announced that humanitarian aid could enter through Beirut's port and determined a coastal to Tripoli as a land corridor for aid. But it did not define a safe passage route to the south — where the bombardment is heaviest.
Aid supplies arrived Friday and Saturday on ships carrying Europeans fleeing the country. The exodus of foreigners continues, with tens of thousands — including 7,500 Americans — taken out by sea the past week.

Rallies across Canada denounce Middle East conflict
Published: Sunday, July 23, 2006
Shannon Proudfoot, CanWest News Service
Published: Sunday, July 23, 2006
OTTAWA -- Thousands of Canadians took to the streets Saturday in cities across the country to protest against the continuing conflict in Lebanon and Israel, which has resulted in the deaths of numerous civilians, and against Canada's response to the situation.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was the major target of criticism in Ottawa and elsewhere. Thousands of protesters gathered on Parliament Hill to denounce the government's response to the burgeoning violence in Lebanon.
The Ottawa demonstration, organized by the Coalition of Arab Canadian Professionals and Community Associations (CAPCA), attracted about 2,500 members of the Lebanese community, labour unions and other supporters. Many waved Canadian, Lebanese or Palestinian flags, while others carried placards reading "We need a Prime Minister, not a puppet" and "Mr. Harper ... we hold you responsible for Israeli murder of Canadians."
Bahija Reghao, president of CAPCA, said the demonstration was a show of solidarity among all those who disagree with Harper's recent statements calling Israel's attacks on Lebanon a "measured response." Reghao hoped the protest would move the prime minister to "read the real facts" and alter his position.
"It's not an Arab issue, it's not a Muslim issue it's a Canadian issue. We're talking about Canadian values," she said.
Omar Diab sat with his wife, Hoda, and their sons, Hassan, 8, and Abdul, 3, alongside dozens of other young families in Ottawa. Diab was there because he felt it was time to "take a stand" and demand an end to the violence, and he was hopeful the government would take heed of the protesters.
"We're Lebanese-Canadians. Our country is being bombed, we have lots of family there. We have to show solidarity with them, that we feel what they feel," he said.
In Montreal, home to Canada's largest community of Lebanese descent, roughly 1,000 protesters made their way through downtown streets as part of the International Day of Action against Israeli Aggression. They, too, expressed anger at Canada's prime minister, calling out "Harper, you are an accomplice."
"A `measured response' would have been to take out Hezbollah," Tarek El-Onsi said in reference to Harper's remark, while hoisting a giant Canadian flag over his head.
"Don't go after Lebanese civilians and infrastructure," added his brother, Ghassan El-Onsi, who was born in Lebanon but has lived most his life in Saudi Arabia and Canada.
Ghassan bemoaned the destruction of a country he says was just starting to thrive after years of civil war.
"We rebuilt it all in 15 years, and in 10 to 15 days half of the city is destroyed."
While some protesters could be seen wearing T-shirts bearing the likeness of Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, the overwhelming number of Montreal protesters were not concerned with questions of a political nature, but rather the human toll of this conflict.
"The whole focus is on innocent civilians," said Danielle Frank who was marching behind a banner that read "Israeli terrorism is not Jewish Value."
Frank was one of many Jews marching with protesters against escalating Israeli aggression in Lebanon.
Further west, about 150 people gathered in the main courtyard at Winnipeg's city hall.
They called for an immediate ceasefire to the hostilities and vented their anger at Harper.
Israel began its attacks on Lebanon after Hezbollah crossed into Israel and captured the two soldiers on July 12.
Many demonstrators carried placards, including some which read ``End Israeli Terror.''
About 30 pro-Israel demonstrators also turned up at the Winnipeg rally.
Some argued that agreeing to a ceasefire would be supporting terrorism. Others, like Ken McGhie, waved Israeli flags.
"We need to stand with Israel," said McGhie. "Israel has a right to defend itself."
There were a couple of heated conversations between the opposing groups, but for the most part it was a peaceful rally.
Ottawa Citizen, with files from Montreal Gazette, Winnipeg Free Press
© CanWest News Service 2006

Civilian deaths mount in Mideast violence
By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writers
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli warplanes struck a minibus carrying people fleeing the fighting Sunday in southern Lebanon, killing three people, Lebanese security officials said, and Hezbollah rockets killed two civilians in northern Israel.
Syria, one of Hezbollah's main backers, said it will press for a cease-fire to end the fighting — but only in the framework of a broader Middle East peace initiative that would include the return of the Golan Heights. Israel was unlikely to accept such terms but the remarks were the first indication of Syria's willingness to be involved in international efforts to defuse the Lebanese crisis.
Israel said it would accept a NATO-led international force to keep the peace along the border.
The top U.N. humanitarian official, touring Beirut, said billions of dollars will be needed to repair damage from the 12-day offensive, which began July 12 when Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed three others in a cross-border raid.
A member of the U.N. observer team in south Lebanon was wounded by guerrilla fire and a Lebanese photographer became the first journalist to die in the fighting when an Israeli missile hit near her taxi in southern Lebanon.
Israeli troops continued to hold a Lebanese border village that they battled into on Saturday, but did not appear to be advancing, Lebanese security officials said. Its warplanes and artillery, meanwhile, battered areas across the south.
In talking about a cease-fire, Damascus warned that it will not stand by if the Israelis step up their offensive in Lebanon.
"Syria and Spain are working to achieve a cease-fire, a prisoners' swap and to start a peace process as one package," Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal was quoted as saying by the Spanish daily newspaper ABC.
Bilal said Damascus would cooperate only within a broader peace initiative that would include a return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967.
Asked about the comments from Syria, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said, "It's hard to see."
"Syria doesn't need dialogue to know what they need to do," Bolton told "Fox News Sunday." "They need to lean on Hezbollah to get them to release the two captured Israeli soldiers and stop the launch of rockets against innocent Israeli civilians.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told the Cabinet that the current offensive is not an invasion of Lebanon, but rather a series of limited raids into the area.
Peretz also said that Israel would accept a temporary international force, preferably headed by NATO, deployed along the Lebanese border to keep Hezbollah guerrillas away from Israel, according to officials in his office.
Israel hit the southern port of Sidon for the first time, destroying a religious complex linked to Hezbollah and wounding four people. More than 35,000 people streaming north from the heart of the war zone had swamped the city, which is teetering under the weight of refugees.
Israel also bombed a textile factory in the border town of al-Manara, killing one person and wounding two, Mayor Ali Rahal told The Associated Press.
The stricken minibus was carrying 16 people fleeing the village of Tairi, heading through the mountains for the southern port city of Tyre. A missile hit the bus near the village of Yaatar, killing three and wounding the rest, security officials said.
On Saturday, the Israeli military told residents of Taire and 12 other nearby villages to evacuate by 4 p.m.
In other violence, an 8-year-old boy was killed in a strike on a village in the mountains above Tyre, and another missile hit a vehicle right outside the Najem hospital, wounding eight, a hospital official said.
Hezbollah said three of its guerrillas were killed in fighting.
At least four other people were killed by strikes in the south, Lebanese television said, but the deaths were not confirmed by security officials. About 45 people were wounded in Israeli air raids that targeted villages and towns around Tyre, security and hospital officials said.
The deaths brought to at least 380 the official death toll provided by Lebanese authorities. Israel's death toll stands at 36, with 17 people killed by Hezbollah rockets and 19 soldiers killed in fighting.
A photographer working for a Lebanese magazine was killed when an Israeli missile exploded near her taxi, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Layal Nejim, 23, worked for the Lebanese magazine Al-Jaras, the officials said. Her driver survived.
A U.N. observer was wounded by Hezbollah gunfire during fighting with Israeli troops in south Lebanon, said U.N. spokesman Milos Strugar. The Italian chiefs of staff office identified the wounded U.N. official as Italian Capt. Roberto Punzo, adding he was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Haifa and that his life was not in danger.
He was the second member of the U.N. monitoring team injured in 12 days of fighting.
Israeli warplanes and helicopters bombed Nabi Sheet, near the eastern Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek, wounding five people, witnesses said. In Baalbek, strikes leveled an agricultural compound belonging to Hezbollah. Raids also targeted a factory producing prefabricated houses near the main highway linking Beirut to the Syrian capital of Damascus, witnesses said.
Two civilians died in early morning air raids on border villages, witnesses said. A 15-year-old boy was killed at Meis al-Jabal, and a man was killed at Blida.
Hezbollah rockets badly damaged a house and slammed into a major road in Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, killing two people and wounding five. Across northern Israel, the militants' rockets wounded at least 13 others.
Peretz said the 12-day-old offensive in Lebanon would continue as Israel tries to push Hezbollah guerrillas away from the border.
"The army's ground operation in Lebanon is focused on limited entrances, and we are not talking about an invasion of Lebanon. We are beginning to see the army's successes opposite Hezbollah," he told the Cabinet, according to a participant in the meeting.
Peretz also met with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, one of a series of diplomatic meetings aimed at ending the fighting. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy was also on the schedule, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was headed to the region as well.
"The goal is to create a situation in which we have as broad a space for diplomatic movement as possible," Peretz said after meeting Steinmeier. "The goals we set for ourselves will be achieved. We certainly see a combination of a military operation that is fulfilling its role plus broad international activity to complete the process." In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel had "pushed the button of its own destruction" by attacking Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
He didn't elaborate, but suggested Islamic nations and others could somehow isolate Israel and its main backers led by the United States.
U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland, meanwhile, inspected the destruction from Israeli air raids on south Beirut and he stressed need for a halt to the hostilities. "It's terrible, I see a lot of children wounded, homeless, suffering. This is a war where civilians pay a disproportionate price in Lebanon and northern Israel. I hadn't believed it would be block by block leveled to the ground," he said.
He said the "disproportionate response by Israel is a violation of international humanitarian law."
On Monday, the United Nations will release and international appeal for "more than $100 million" in aid for Lebanon, Egeland said.
He told AP the long-term cost of rebuilding the infrastructure would be "in the billions."
Egeland also planned to travel to Israel for further coordination on opening aid corridors. The number of displaced people has grown to 600,000, according to the World Health Organization. Hours after he left, three heavy blasts were heard and smoke rose over Dahiyah, the southern Beirut neighborhood that has been hit heavily. Some 35,000 refugees have swamped Sidon, which says it has yet to receive any aid shipments. The refugees were stretching supplies of fuel, food and medicines that already were tight for Sidon's own population of 100,000.
The Israeli military has said humanitarian aid could enter Lebanon through Beirut's port and determined a coastal route to Tripoli as a land corridor. But it did not define a safe passage route to the south — where the bombardment is heaviest.
Aid supplies arrived Friday and Saturday on ships carrying Europeans fleeing the country. The exodus of foreigners continues, with tens of thousands — including 7,500 Americans — taken out by sea the past week.

Civilian deaths mount in Mideast violence
By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writers
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli warplanes struck a minibus carrying people fleeing the fighting Sunday in southern Lebanon, killing three people, Lebanese security officials said, and Hezbollah rockets killed two civilians in northern Israel.
Syria, one of Hezbollah's main backers, said it will press for a cease-fire to end the fighting — but only in the framework of a broader Middle East peace initiative that would include the return of the Golan Heights. Israel was unlikely to accept such terms but the remarks were the first indication of Syria's willingness to be involved in international efforts to defuse the Lebanese crisis.
Israel said it would accept a NATO-led international force to keep the peace along the border.
The top U.N. humanitarian official, touring Beirut, said billions of dollars will be needed to repair damage from the 12-day offensive, which began July 12 when Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed three others in a cross-border raid.
A member of the U.N. observer team in south Lebanon was wounded by guerrilla fire and a Lebanese photographer became the first journalist to die in the fighting when an Israeli missile hit near her taxi in southern Lebanon.
Israeli troops continued to hold a Lebanese border village that they battled into on Saturday, but did not appear to be advancing, Lebanese security officials said. Its warplanes and artillery, meanwhile, battered areas across the south.
In talking about a cease-fire, Damascus warned that it will not stand by if the Israelis step up their offensive in Lebanon.
"Syria and Spain are working to achieve a cease-fire, a prisoners' swap and to start a peace process as one package," Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal was quoted as saying by the Spanish daily newspaper ABC.
Bilal said Damascus would cooperate only within a broader peace initiative that would include a return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967.
Asked about the comments from Syria, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said, "It's hard to see."
"Syria doesn't need dialogue to know what they need to do," Bolton told "Fox News Sunday." "They need to lean on Hezbollah to get them to release the two captured Israeli soldiers and stop the launch of rockets against innocent Israeli civilians.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told the Cabinet that the current offensive is not an invasion of Lebanon, but rather a series of limited raids into the area.
Peretz also said that Israel would accept a temporary international force, preferably headed by NATO, deployed along the Lebanese border to keep Hezbollah guerrillas away from Israel, according to officials in his office.
Israel hit the southern port of Sidon for the first time, destroying a religious complex linked to Hezbollah and wounding four people. More than 35,000 people streaming north from the heart of the war zone had swamped the city, which is teetering under the weight of refugees.
Israel also bombed a textile factory in the border town of al-Manara, killing one person and wounding two, Mayor Ali Rahal told The Associated Press.
The stricken minibus was carrying 16 people fleeing the village of Tairi, heading through the mountains for the southern port city of Tyre. A missile hit the bus near the village of Yaatar, killing three and wounding the rest, security officials said.
On Saturday, the Israeli military told residents of Taire and 12 other nearby villages to evacuate by 4 p.m.
In other violence, an 8-year-old boy was killed in a strike on a village in the mountains above Tyre, and another missile hit a vehicle right outside the Najem hospital, wounding eight, a hospital official said.
Hezbollah said three of its guerrillas were killed in fighting.
At least four other people were killed by strikes in the south, Lebanese television said, but the deaths were not confirmed by security officials. About 45 people were wounded in Israeli air raids that targeted villages and towns around Tyre, security and hospital officials said.
The deaths brought to at least 380 the official death toll provided by Lebanese authorities. Israel's death toll stands at 36, with 17 people killed by Hezbollah rockets and 19 soldiers killed in fighting.
A photographer working for a Lebanese magazine was killed when an Israeli missile exploded near her taxi, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Layal Nejim, 23, worked for the Lebanese magazine Al-Jaras, the officials said. Her driver survived.
A U.N. observer was wounded by Hezbollah gunfire during fighting with Israeli troops in south Lebanon, said U.N. spokesman Milos Strugar. The Italian chiefs of staff office identified the wounded U.N. official as Italian Capt. Roberto Punzo, adding he was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Haifa and that his life was not in danger.
He was the second member of the U.N. monitoring team injured in 12 days of fighting.
Israeli warplanes and helicopters bombed Nabi Sheet, near the eastern Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek, wounding five people, witnesses said. In Baalbek, strikes leveled an agricultural compound belonging to Hezbollah. Raids also targeted a factory producing prefabricated houses near the main highway linking Beirut to the Syrian capital of Damascus, witnesses said.
Two civilians died in early morning air raids on border villages, witnesses said. A 15-year-old boy was killed at Meis al-Jabal, and a man was killed at Blida.
Hezbollah rockets badly damaged a house and slammed into a major road in Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, killing two people and wounding five. Across northern Israel, the militants' rockets wounded at least 13 others.
Peretz said the 12-day-old offensive in Lebanon would continue as Israel tries to push Hezbollah guerrillas away from the border.
"The army's ground operation in Lebanon is focused on limited entrances, and we are not talking about an invasion of Lebanon. We are beginning to see the army's successes opposite Hezbollah," he told the Cabinet, according to a participant in the meeting.
Peretz also met with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, one of a series of diplomatic meetings aimed at ending the fighting. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy was also on the schedule, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was headed to the region as well.
"The goal is to create a situation in which we have as broad a space for diplomatic movement as possible," Peretz said after meeting Steinmeier. "The goals we set for ourselves will be achieved. We certainly see a combination of a military operation that is fulfilling its role plus broad international activity to complete the process."
In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel had "pushed the button of its own destruction" by attacking Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
He didn't elaborate, but suggested Islamic nations and others could somehow isolate Israel and its main backers led by the United States.
U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland, meanwhile, inspected the destruction from Israeli air raids on south Beirut and he stressed need for a halt to the hostilities.
"It's terrible, I see a lot of children wounded, homeless, suffering. This is a war where civilians pay a disproportionate price in Lebanon and northern Israel. I hadn't believed it would be block by block leveled to the ground," he said.
He said the "disproportionate response by Israel is a violation of international humanitarian law."
On Monday, the United Nations will release and international appeal for "more than $100 million" in aid for Lebanon, Egeland said.
He told AP the long-term cost of rebuilding the infrastructure would be "in the billions."
Egeland also planned to travel to Israel for further coordination on opening aid corridors. The number of displaced people has grown to 600,000, according to the World Health Organization.
Hours after he left, three heavy blasts were heard and smoke rose over Dahiyah, the southern Beirut neighborhood that has been hit heavily.
Some 35,000 refugees have swamped Sidon, which says it has yet to receive any aid shipments. The refugees were stretching supplies of fuel, food and medicines that already were tight for Sidon's own population of 100,000.
The Israeli military has said humanitarian aid could enter Lebanon through Beirut's port and determined a coastal route to Tripoli as a land corridor. But it did not define a safe passage route to the south — where the bombardment is heaviest.
Aid supplies arrived Friday and Saturday on ships carrying Europeans fleeing the country. The exodus of foreigners continues, with tens of thousands — including 7,500 Americans — taken out by sea the past week.