Propaganda Alert! Iranians said among Hizbollah combat dead Reuters By Dan Williams 10/08/06 JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard have been found among Hizbollah guerrillas slain by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, Israel's Channel 10 television reported on Wednesday citing diplomatic sources (who made up the claim). It said the Iranians were identified by documents found on their bodies, but gave no further details on how many were discovered or when. Neither the Israeli military nor Hizbollah representatives in Beirut had immediate comment on the report. Iran, like fellow Hizbollah patron Syria, insists its support for the Shi'ite guerrilla group is purely moral. Israel says many of the rockets being fired against its civilian and military targets are Iranian made, and that Hizbollah fighters taking on its forces trained in Iran. Washington also accuses Tehran of actively funding Hizbollah. Iran's Revolutionary Guards are traditionally very close to fellow Shi'ite Muslims in Hizbollah and were deployed in south Lebanon in the 1980s.

Nasrallah vows to continue fight Wednesday 09 August 2006, 22:56 Makka Time, 19:56 GMT Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, says his movement backs the Lebanese army's deployment to the south but that Washington is trying to impose Israeli demands on Lebanon through a draft UN resolution. In a televised speech on Wednesday, Nasrallah said that a seven-point plan presented by the Lebanese government was the least the country should accept as part of a draft resolution to end the fighting. He also gave a deeply negative assessment of the plan, saying "the least we can describe this [draft resolution] is as unfair and unjust. "It has given Israel more than it wanted and more than it was looking for." Nasrallah said Israeli attacks had not weakened its rocket capabilities and its fighters would turn south Lebanon into a "graveyard" for invading Israeli troops. "The enemy has failed to weaken our rocket-launching capacity and our guerrillas are still fighting on the frontlines," he said. Nasrallah further called on the Arab residents of Haifa to quit the Israeli city so as to avoid being hurt by Hezbollah rocket fire. "I have a special message to the Arabs of Haifa, to your martyrs and to your wounded. I call you to leave this city. I hope you do this. ... Please leave so we don't shed your blood, which is our blood."

Nasrallah urges Arabs to leave Haifa By JOSEPH PANOSSIAN Associated Press Wed Aug 9, 2006 BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday warned all Israeli Arabs to leave the port city of Haifa so the militant group could step up attacks without fear of shedding the blood of fellow Muslims. Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, has been the frequent target of Hezbollah's rocket attacks. "I have a special message to the Arabs of Haifa, to your martyrs and to your wounded. I call on you to leave this city. I hope you do this. ... Please leave so we don't shed your blood, which is our blood," Nasrallah said. The Shiite cleric also gave a deeply negative assessment of the proposal to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon in his first comments on a draft U.N. cease-fire resolution. "The least we can describe this (draft resolution) is as unfair and unjust. It has given Israel more than it wanted and more than it was looking for," he said in a televised speech. But in a policy shift, Nasrallah said the guerrilla organization was solidly behind a Lebanese government plan to deploy 15,000 soldiers in south Lebanon if a cease-fire is reached and Israel pulls out its forces. "In the past we used to oppose or not agree on deployment of the army at the borders," the Hezbollah leader said. Now, he said, "we agree on deployment of the army." Lebanon has been pushing to amend the U.S.-French proposal to require that Israeli withdraw its troops from the south immediately after a cease-fire is agreed. But U.S. envoy David Welch told Prime Minister Fuad Saniora that Israel had rejected the demand. Nasrallah heaped criticism on the assistant U.S. secretary of state for visiting Beirut Wednesday as the Israel's Security Cabinet decided to expand the ground offensive in southern Lebanon. "We will be waiting for you at every village, at every valley. Thousands of courageous holy warriors are waiting for you," he warned the Israelis. Welch's visit to the Lebanese capital, he said, was designed "to terrify the government and the Lebanese to pressure them to accept old-new conditions." He said the Americans were trying to undermine any attempt at a solution that takes into consideration Lebanese demands and he urged Beirut not to buckle under U.S. pressure. "I call for political will and steadfastness," he said. He also said the guerrillas would not falter, promising "We'll keep fighting to the last shot." Nasrallah said his fighters already had won the conflict by putting up such a fierce fight through the monthlong Israeli onslaught that began after guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers July 12 in a cross-border mission. "On the battlefield, we remain steadfast and that in itself is a victory for the resistance, and defeat for the enemy," he said.

What do you say to a man whose family is buried under the rubble? By Robert Fisk 08/09/06 The Independent There were bulldozers turning over the tons of rubble, a cloud of dust and smoke a mile high over the smashed slums of Beirut's southern suburbs and a tall man in a grey T-shirt - a Brooklyn taxi driver, no less - standing on the verge of tears, staring at what may well be the grave of his grandfather, his uncle and aunt. Half the family home had been torn away and the entire block of civilian apartments next door had been smashed to the ground a few hours earlier by the two missiles that exploded in Asaad al-Assad Street. What do you say to a man whose family is buried under the rubble? The last corpse had been a man whose face appeared etched in dust before the muck was removed and he turned out to be paper-thin - so perfectly had the falling concrete crushed him. Mohamed al-Husseini had left New York for a holiday with his young wife and infant child - they were safe in the centre of Beirut - because he wanted to see his family home and talk to the relatives he grew up with. "Just look what the Israelis have done," he said, not taking his eyes off the floors of the apartments, now scarcely an inch between them. "I am confused. You know? I don't know what to do. I could go back to my wife and kid but the rest of my family is in there. They used to live in the south and they survived there. Then they come to Beirut and die here." Mohamed al-Husseini's grandfather, Mohamed Yassin, is - let us not say "was" yet - 75. His uncle is Hussein Yassin, his aunt is called Hila. By last night, nothing had been found of them. And of those in the building next door? At least 17 civilians were killed, many of them children. A 12-year-old boy called Hussein Ahmed Mohsen lay dead in the mortuary of the Mount Lebanon Hospital, along with a woman who died just after being rescued when the missiles collapsed her home just after 7.30 on Monday night. Almost all the occupants of this doomed building were members of the Rmeiti family - again, they were from the dangerous south - and 15 of the dead were from the same village. It was a scene to provoke fury. One Hizbollah "watcher" demanded my press card and lost interest when he read it. But a Lebanese youth in a yellow shirt at the scene was grabbed by the same man, hauled away by his collar and handed over to a clutch of beefy, tall individuals who forced him into a car. Everyone now searches for spies, for the men - and women - who are reputed to "paint" the apartment blocks of Beirut for Israel's missile technology to lock on to their targets. A sad, grim meeting in the same Mount Lebanon Hospital suggested that the house had not been "fingered" by anyone. I found Ali Rmeiti, an employee at Beirut airport, covered in bloody wounds, his face distorted, shaking his head in disbelief. "I was on the balcony with my wife, Huda, and three of our children ... I heard nothing - nothing. I didn't realise what happened. It was black. Then came the second blast and we were all blown into the street with the balcony." Huda Rmeiti is lying next to her husband on a drip-feed, covered with even more bloody wounds than Ali. I know - and they do not - that three of their four children were killed. And why was the building struck? The Israelis have slaughtered hundreds of civilians, attacking convoys of refugees they themselves ordered to leave. But Saadieh, Ali Rmeiti's sister-in-law, has a story which matches those of two other survivors. Before the missiles exploded, she said, an Israeli drone flew over the Shiyyah district, a pilotless reconnaissance aircraft which sends live pictures back to Tel Aviv. "Um Kamel", as the Lebanese call them, whined around for a time and then, without warning, someone drove down Assaad al-Assad street on a motorcycle and fired into the sky with a rifle opposite the Rmeiti home. Then he left, some youth who wanted to prove his foolish manhood. You can't destroy drones with a rifle, as any Hizbollah member knows. But not long afterwards, the two missiles came streaking down on the homes of the innocent.

Flashback: Thirty-one Gaza children killed in Israeli offensive in thirty-one days Relief Web 31/07/2006 As Israel's siege on the Gaza Strip passes the one month milestone, Defence for Children International - Palestine Section (DCI/PS) would like to draw attention to the 31 Palestinian children whose deaths expose anew the degradation of the principles of international humanitarian law. The death of these children implicates both the parties to the conflict as well as those States not directly involved, but who, as third parties, are legally bound to enforce these principles. Recalling that the Gaza Strip has been under belligerent occupation by Israel since 1967, and that it remains under occupation despite the 12 September 2005 'disengagement' of Israeli troops, the attacks by both the Israeli army and Palestinian armed groups in the past month have been characterized by their lack of respect for the customary international law principle of distinction. This principle requires combatants at all times to distinguish between civilians and civilian objects, and military objectives. The Israeli tactics in Gaza have also been condemned as disproportionate by the EU and the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator in that the incidental loss of Palestinian lives, injury of Palestinians and damage to Palestinian civilian infrastructure has been excessive in relation to the military advantage understood to be gained by Israel . Israeli air, sea and ground troops have opened fire in civilian areas in the dense population centers of Gaza cities and refugee camps, including near hospitals, schools, and in crowded residential housing complexes on numerous occasions. The following children have been killed by Israeli military actions in Gaza since 26 June 2006: 1. Anwar Isma'el Atallah, 12 years old 2. Saleh Sleman Al Jemasi, 16 years old 3. Ruwan Fareed Hajjaj, 5 years old 4. Khalid Nidal Abed Al Karim Wahbeh, 1 year old 5. Mahfouth Farid Nasseer, 15 years old 6. Ahmad Ghaleb Abu Amshah, 16 years old 7. Ahmed Fathi Odah Shabat, 16 years old 8. Waleed Mahmoud Al Zinati, 12 years old 9. Salah Adeen Hammad Abu Maktuma, 17 years old 10. Ibrahim Ali Khatoush, 15 years old 11. Mahmoud Muhammad Al Asar, 15 years old 12. Ibrahim Ali Al Nabaheen, 15 years old 13. Ahmad Abdil Mina'm Abu Hajaj, 16 years old 14. Nasrallah Nabil Abu Selmieh, 5 years old 15. Aya Nabil Abu Selmieh, 7 years old 16. Iman Nabil Abu Selmieh, 11 years old 17. Yahya Nabil Abu Selmieh, 9 years old 18. Huda Nabil Abu Selmieh, 13 years old 19. Basma Nabil Abu Selmieh, 15 years old 20. Sumaia Nabil Abu Selmieh, 16 years old 21. Raji Omar Deif Alla, 16 years old 22. Muhanna Sa'ed Mesleh, 16 years old 23. Ahmad Rawhee Abdo, 13 years old 24. Ali Kamil Al Najar, 13 years old 25. Fadwa Faisel al 'Urouqi, 13 years old 26. Mohammad Awad Muhra, 17 years old 27. Khitam Muhammad Tayeh, 11 years old 28. Nadee Habib Al Ataar, 11 years old 29. Saleh Ibrahim Nasser, 13 years old 30. Ashraf Abdullah Awad Abu Thaher, 14 years old 31. Bara' Naser Habib, 2 years old DCI/PS recalls that one of the predominant reasons for restrictions enshrined in the ius in bello (the law governing the conduct of warfare, or international humanitarian law) is to regulate combatant behavior such that acts will not be taken which are so grave as to prevent the return to peace. At a time when international political actors are calling for a return to the logic of 'durable solutions' to stop the current escalation in violence, DCI/PS asserts that nations at war remember no injuries as acutely as they remember the death of their children. Thus, DCI/PS believes that any effective solutions to the current crisis and the crisis of the future must include a reiterated commitment to the principles of international humanitarian law, and particularly those principles relating to the protection of the civilian population and civilian infrastructure.

Robert Fisk: Israel's promise of humanitarian corridors is exposed as a sham 08/09/06 The Independent So much for Ehud Olmert's "humanitarian corridors". Two weeks after the Israeli Prime Minister's comforting assertion - which no one in Lebanon believed - the Israeli air force has blown up the last bridge across the Litani river, in effect ending all humanitarian convoys between Beirut and southern Lebanon. Requests from humanitarian organisations for clearance from the Israelis are now being refused. Even the Red Cross admits there is now, in effect, a blockade on a vast area along the Lebanese border where thousands of civilians are still cowering in their homes. David Shearer, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator in Lebanon, has pleaded with the Israelis to end their attacks against the country's infrastructure and end all activities which threaten the transport of humanitarian aid to the displaced. But convoys since have been cancelled or forced to make long detours across the country and along the edge of the Lebanese-Syrian border. Truck drivers are frightened to risk their lives under Israeli air attack. I myself was on a Red Cross field trip from Qlaya to Jezzine when, close to the village of Arab Selim, an Israeli jet dropped a bomb on the road 80 metres in front of us. On the Litani river, north of Tyre, the main road bridge had been blasted away but the Lebanese army had constructed a temporary bridge over the water to the west. Now that, too, has been ripped to pieces by Israeli bombs. Mr Shearer warned of a "serious humanitarian crisis" if convoys were not allowed to move south. A Red Cross spokesman, Richard Huguenin, said his organisation had been denied permission by the Israelis to move humanitarian aid to the border. Without guarantees of safe passage, the organisation cannot leave Tyre for dozens of villages whose inhabitants are trapped. "At night, we ask for permission and in the morning we get either a red light or a green light, and for the past 48 hours it has been red," he said. A Greek ship carrying Red Cross supplies was supposed to have docked in Tyre on Monday, but was refused permission to land and diverted to Sidon, north of the Litani. The French are still bringing boatloads of supplies into Beirut, accompanied - wisely, it has to be said - by a French warship equipped with anti-aircraft missiles.

Derry Anti War Protesters Send Signal To Raytheon, US, Israel BBC News 09/08/2006 Nine anti-war protesters who have been occupying the Derry (N. Ireland) offices of the defence company, Raytheon have been arrested by police. They have been taken to police stations in the city and in Coleraine. The Derry Anti-War Coalition had been throwing computer equipment and documents out of first floor windows. The protesters claimed "weapons manufactured by Raytheon were being used by Israel to bomb Lebanon". The company is a leading weapons manufacturer, although it has said its Derry operation is involved in software for air traffic control systems. The facility was previously occupied by people demonstrating against the use of Raytheon weapons in Iraq. Raytheon, a US firm, makes the Patriot, Tomahawk, Cruise and Sidewinder missiles. Nine people occupied the offices on Wednesday morning, with about 20 protesting outside with placards.

Chavez likely to cut Venezuela ties with Israel Reuters 08/09/06 CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday Venezuela would likely sever relations with Israel in protest over Israel's military campaign against Lebanon. Chavez, a harsh critic of the United States who frequently expresses sympathy for the Palestine people, announced last week he had ordered the withdrawal of Venezuela's ambassador in Israel. Israel withdrew its chief diplomat in Caracas in response. "We have withdrawn our diplomatic representation from the state of Israel and they have also withdrawn their ambassador," Chavez said during an evening speech. "The most likely next step will be for us to break diplomatic relations, because I have no interest in maintaining diplomatic relations, or offices, or businesses, or anything with a state like Israel." Chavez has openly criticized Israeli incursions into Gaza and Lebanon, and has blamed the Middle East conflict on an "Israeli elite" and U.S. influence in the region.