Defeating Hezbollah is a main objective in Lebanon

Israel's defense minister made the point now, though there's a certain point of contention to be found here:

Defense Minister Israel Katz says Israel remains committed to disarming Hezbollah “through military and political means.”

“Israel’s policy in Lebanon has been and remains clear: the top objective is the disarmament of Hezbollah through military and political means, regardless of the Iran issue,” Katz says following an assessment with military officials.

Katz says the IDF is completing its ground offensive in southern Lebanon up to the line from which Hezbollah can launch anti-tank missiles at Israeli communities.

Well I do hope they realize that allowing the Hezbollah to remain even in northern Lebanon is unacceptable, since it would give them a chance to rebuild one day, with or without Iran's backing. Something that might be called "hudna" in Islamic doctrine. And it's high time that something were done to ensure Lebanon can one day return to having a non-Muslim majority and/or government run the country again, which would make the region safer.

Walmart just proved again something's terribly wrong with their conduct

I once discovered Walmart was selling neo-Nazi t-shirts many years ago, and that was disgusting. Now, this year, it turns out they didn't change much over time, as they recently allowed sales of t-shirts glorifying Hamas and Hezbollah, and thankfully, those abominations were removed (via Jihad Watch):

US retail giant Walmart has apparently removed at least four shirts it offered for sale online that featured pictures of slain terror chiefs Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah, after the garments were slammed as “outrageous” by an antisemitism watchdog.

One of the shirts showed former Hamas leader Sinwar’s face and his name broken into “Sin” and “war,” while another featured a doctored caricature of the terror mastermind firing a weapon while in combat gear.

Killed by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip in October, Sinwar led the Palestinian terror group in Gaza from 2017 until his death. He masterminded the October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre in southern Israel, in which thousands of Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped 251, sparking the ongoing war in Gaza.

The shirts were flagged by US-based watchdog Stop Antisemitism, which wrote in a post on X early Tuesday that “Walmart shoppers were horrified to find shirts glorifying Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar while online shopping.”

“Walmart, are you aware you’re selling apparel celebrating terrorism and violence against Jews?” the post continued, calling for the items to be removed immediately.

A third Sinwar shirt which featured a graphic of Sinwar above the word “RESIST” in the style of former US president Barack Obama’s “HOPE” campaign, also appeared to have been taken down between Tuesday and Wednesday, though the image still appears in online searches.

A shirt featuring a low-resolution picture of Hezbollah leader Nasrallah, who was assassinated by Israel in a Beirut airstrike, had also been removed by Wednesday morning.

So again, Walmart's proven they're bottom of the barrel, morally or otherwise, for a commercial sales deparment store chain. Why must anyone continue to buy from them? They don't need any sensible person's money.

But this does also raise the question of whether t-shirts should be developed starring heroic figures from history. Perhaps that's something pro-Israel advocates should emphasize in reaction to this atrocity, and try to encourage admiration for more positive examples?

The Hezbollah in Lebanon is just as dangerous as Hamas

Rick Moran reminds everyone that Hezbollah's bound to willing and ready to attack Israel, just like the Hamas did this weekend:

The Hamas invasion of Israel is the most significant military action against the Jewish state ever carried out by a terrorist group. The planning for this attack must have begun months ago in Tehran where the bulk of the funds used to arm and train fighters for the attack originated.

Anyone who refers to Hamas as “freedom fighters” should have their head examined. The terrorists kidnapped dozens of civilians — infants, old people, women — and are holding them somewhere in Gaza. As the IDF looks to turn back the terrorists who have invaded seven different areas in the South of Israel, they must contend with the eventuality of a Hezbollah attack in the North.

Already, Israel has exchanged artillery fire with Hezbollah, and the terrorist’s masters in Tehran have given fulsome praise to Hamas for the attack.

Might Hezbollah join Hamas and hit Israel in the North while the IDF is occupied in the South?

Sarit Zehavi, the founder of the Alma Center, which is a research center in Israel dedicated to understanding their national security situation, told the Washington Examiner that there’s a chance Hezbollah could soon attack Israel with the country’s attention focused on the south.

“It’s just a matter of decision for Hezbollah, whether it wants to join in or not. I believe this decision was not made yet, and that’s why we’re not there yet, but maybe we’re not that far from this place,” she said.“Here in Israel, we are preparing for the scenario of war also from the north because we understand it was within the interest of Iran and Hezbollah to escalate the Israeli-Lebanese border. We see what is happening in the south as a part of a bigger plan to attack Israel and weaken the state of Israel from multiple fronts, and I guess this is what the Iranians now are trying to create.”

Iran’s motives are clear. They want to disrupt the movement toward peace between Israel and their Arab neighbors, begun by Donald Trump. Tehran sees peace — quite rightly — as a massive loss of influence for Iran.

Obviously, they want to destroy chances of peace with Saudi Arabia (though lest we forget, even today, the House of Saud can still be very shady), along with quite possibly other such countries. But that's still nothing compared to the hostage crisis caused by the kidnappings of Israelis by Hamas that's now causing a serious issue. We must hope that won't deter the government from taking serious ground action in Gaza.

Update: Melanie Phillips addressed the crisis, and she makes some vital points:

How could this possibly have happened? Clearly, there has been a massive Israeli intelligence failure. It’s hard not to see a connection with the enormous anti-government protests over the past nine months, which saw Israelis trying to undermine the economy and even refusing to do army reservists’ duty.

Such a paralysing internal battle may have taken official eyes off the security ball. What’s undeniable is that the ferocity and length of these internal convulsions sent a signal that Israel was weakened. Many Israelis have been wondering over these past difficult months just when Israel’s mortal enemies would seize this opportunity to take advantage of this weakness. Now we have the dreadful answer.

And this barbarism has been paid for by the US and EU. What did they think all the money they were channelling into Gaza for “humanitarian” purposes would actually be used for? Now we have the answer.

What did the Biden administration think would be the result of appeasing, grovelling to and funding Iran, the paymasters of Hamas and Hezbollah? Now it has its answer.

America, the EU and Britain have consistently undermined Israel’s attempt to defend itself against attack. For the past century, the west has incentivised exterminatory Palestinian Arab terror against Israel by rewarding it with the promise of statehood — which the Palestinians always made plain they wanted only as a staging post towards Israel’s destruction — and punishing Israel for objecting to this existential threat.

The whole notion army reservists would refuse service over petty issues like judicial reform certainly damaged morale, and from a local perspective, also has to shoulder blame. Why, those would-be reservists should be fired by the army and not welcome to serve ever again, if that's their way of thinking.

Update 2: more news on the issue of kidnap victims.

Update 3: here's information on how the IDF smashed targets in Gaza. There's extra information here too.

Another Deafening Silence From the Enemedia

From the NY Post:

Politico published a jaw-dropping, meticulously sourced investigative piece this week detailing how the Obama administration had secretly undermined US law-enforcement agency efforts to shut down an international drug-trafficking ring run by the terror group Hezbollah. The effort was part of a wider push by the administration to placate Iran and ensure the signing of the nuclear deal.

[...]

Days after the news broke, in fact, neither NBC News, ABC News nor CBS News — whose shows can boast a collective 20 million viewers — had been able to find the time to relay the story to its sizeable audiences. Other than Fox News, cable news largely ignored the revelations, as well.

Most major newspapers, which have been sanctimoniously patting themselves on the back for the past year, couldn’t shoehorn into their pages a story about potential collusion between the former president and a terror-supporting state....

Read the rest HERE.

As long as this kind of media blackout is ongoing, Barack Hussein Obama will be "The One" to millions of Americans, and any criticism of the Obama Administration will fall on deaf ears. **sigh**

Belgium Terror Attack Could Be Linked to Hezbollah

“Belgian authorities are investigating whether the terrorist who murdered four people Saturday at the Brussels Jewish Museum is tied to the Lebanese Hezbollah terror organization.
Israel’s Channel 10 television news reported Tuesday that Belgian intelligence is looking at the date of the shooting – May 24 – and the official date of Israel’s military withdrawal from southern Lebanon: May 24, 2000.”

*****

‘Did a French Comedian Inspire the Killings at the Jewish Museum in Brussels?’

*****
via: Times Of Israel
Belgian Jewish activist says he received death threat

“Belgian Jewish activist Joel Rubinfeld said he received an online death threat for speaking about the Brussels Jewish museum killings. “…”We absolutely need to shut Joël Rubintrickmachine’s fat mouth,” read the text, which was posted on the LBCA Facebook page. “His defamations, his grotesque generalizations make me want to commit murder.”
Rubinfeld said he would file a formal police complaint about the posting, which appears to have been spurred by his many media appearances following the slaying of four Jews on Saturday at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in central Brussels. Rubinfeld has called on Belgian authorities to take a firmer stance against minor and major incidents of anti-Semitism, referring to the French government as a role model.”

*****
via: JTA.org

link

”…the museum attack’s victims — Emanuel and Miriam Riva, a married couple in their 50s from Tel Aviv; Alexandre Strens, an employee of the museum in his 20s; and Dominique Sabrier, a French volunteer at the museum. . .”

. . .

”Security camera footage from the museum showed the killer approaching the entrance to the museum quickly but calmly while carrying two bags and wearing a baseball cap that obscured his eyes from the lens. Placing one bag on the ground, he produced an automatic rifle and entered the museum for approximately one minute. Inside, he opened fire, hitting his victims in their heads and necks, before making his escape. Counterterrorism experts said the man’s apparent calm, quick getaway and selection of target — the museum is one of the few Jewish institutions in Brussels that is not under permanent police protection — suggest meticulous preparations and perhaps some training.

Jihad Jet-Lag? Venuzuelan Airline's Shaheed Shuttle Busted By FOX

FOX News has posted this exclusive report on a Venezuelan airline's "mystery flight" that appears to have been shuttling spies, jihadists, and arms between that country, Iran, and Syria.


EXCLUSIVE: Venezuela Cancels Round-Trip 'Terror Flight' to Syria and Iran
By Ed Barnes
Published September 14, 2010
FoxNews.com

A Venezuelan airline's “mystery” flight that shuttled among the capitals of three of the world’s most terror-friendly nations — Venezuela, Syria and Iran — has abruptly canceled its regularly scheduled departures amid accusations that it was used primarily to transport spies, terrorists and lethal cargo among the pariah counties.

“I am sorry, but we are no longer flying to Tehran and I do not know when the flights will resume. It was a flight that left Caracas on Tuesdays, but it no longer does,” Jenny Gil Romero, who handles international departures for Conviasa, the national airline that operates the flight, said in a message to FOX News.

Messages to the airline seeking further information went unanswered.

Romero's comments came in response to FOXNews.com's efforts to buy tickets on the regularly scheduled, 48-hour round trip from Caracas to Damascus to Tehran, then back again.

Intelligence analysts with both the CIA and Israel said that, despite the listing of the flight as a regular commercial route and a code share with Iran air -- Flight IR744 is also Flight VO3744 -- there was no way that anyone could buy a ticket and travel without being vetted by the Venezuelan or Iranian government.And without passport controls, flight manifests and other documents, it meant some of the world's most dangerous men could travel without fear of being uncovered.

Curiously, unlike most other bookings on the national airline, calls for reservations on this particular flight were routed to a cell phone in Argentina, rather than to Conviasa's regular service in Caracas.

The Venezuelan ambassador to the United States had defended the flights as recently as two weeks ago in response to criticism in a State Department report that cited the flight’s questionable route and procedures. (Click here to read the report.) Messages left at the Venezuelan embassy's press office and the ambassador's office were not returned, and a list of questions submitted to the embassy's press office was not answered.

For the past three years, every other Tuesday, Flight VO3744 would roll out to a secluded loading platform at Simon Bolivar Airport in Caracas. Shrouded from public view and unencumbered by the normal exit procedures, a select passenger list would board the flight.

Over the next 48 hours, according to Western intelligence agencies, Venezuelan opposition figures and a former Iran-based spy for the CIA, the flight would carry illicit, lethal cargoes -- such as explosives and possibly radioactive materials -- and provide safe passage to terrorists, spies, weapons experts, senior Iranian intelligence operatives and members of both Hezbollah and Hamas.

Reza Kahlili, the pseudonym for an Iranian who the CIA has confirmed once spied for the United States as a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, told FoxNews.com these "special flights" have been "instrumental in creating an Iranian dominated worldwide terror network that now reaches the United States." He said the flights were used to expand Iran’s efforts to create a base of operations in the Western Hemisphere.

Peter Brookes, a former Defense Department analyst and CIA employee now with the Heritage Foundation, said there was a steady stream of elite Al Quds officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard who were transported to Venezuela aboard the flight and took up positions in the Latin American country’s intelligence service.

“We can’t say for sure what is going on, but it is clandestine and secretive,” he said.

Intelligence agencies are known to suspect the flight may be part of Iran’s program to build nuclear weapons. Venezuela has large deposits of uranium, and -- while raw uranium transport is unlikely by plane -- an Internet page in Caracas used by airline employees stated that the flights carried “radioactive materials.” The page was quickly shut down after the allegation was made, according to El Pais, a newspaper in Madrid, Spain.

Experts and Venezuelan opposition figures also say the influx of Iranians, as well as Hezbollah and Hamas operatives, into Venezuela on the flight was to prepare for a retaliatory strike against the U.S. if there was an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

According to Kahlili, the flight was used to transport Imad Mughniyeh, one of the most wanted men in the world, between Damascus and Tehran before he was assassinated in Lebanon in 2008. Mughniyeh, a top Hezbollah operative, was believed responsible for the 1983 bombings of the U.S. Embassy as well as the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed over 350 people. He was also accused of planning the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1992.

More recently it was the flight to which Abdul Kadir, the Guyanese member of Parliament who was convicted in the attempted bombing of fuel pipelines at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, was headed when he was arrested. Kadir was accused at his trial of being an Iranian spy.

Alex Vros contributed to this article.

North Korea arms plane ‘bound for Hezbollah’

Times Online:

James Hider, Jerusalem

An aircraft full of weapons seized in Bangkok last year was heading from North Korea to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia, and Hamas, the Palestinian group, Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli Foreign Minister, said yesterday.

The Thai authorities said that the aircraft was carrying 35 tonnes of weapons, including rockets and rocket-propelled grenades. The Thai Government informed the UN that the haul had been bound for Iran, which is believed to ship weapons to its ally Syria, which distributes them to Hezbollah or Hamas.

North Korea had the “intention to smuggle these weapons to Hamas and to Hezbollah”, Mr Lieberman said in Japan, where he was on an official visit. “This co-operation between North Korea and Syria [does not] improve the economic situation in their countries,” he added.

Tensions on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon increased after Israel said that Syria had transferred new Scud missiles to Hezbollah, which has an estimated 42,000 rockets pointed at the Jewish state, with whom it fought a bitter summer war in 2006. The new rockets are believed capable of accuratelyhitting any target inside Israel, although Israel has developed its own missile system capable of bringing down incoming projectiles.

Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad has focused much of its attention on preventing weapons from Iran and Syria reaching their proxies on Israel’s borders, launching a long-range airstrike on a weapons convoy in Sudan in early 2009, and blowing up what was thought to be a nuclear facility under construction in Syria in 2007. That facility was believed to have been based on North Korean technology.

In January, Israel was widely believed to be behind the Dubai assassination of a senior Hamas militant overseeing the transfer of weapons from Iran to Gaza.

Hugo Chavez and Hezbollah

From this source, dated April 26, 2010:

“Today, Venezuela airports are being freely used by drug cartels to export drugs to Europe and the United States,” said Luis Fleischman, senior adviser for the center’s Menges Hemispheric Security Project. “Chavez has helped the FARC fight against Colombia, [while] Hezbollah cells have increased their fund-raising and other activities in the area.”

What’s more, Fleischman said, “Young Venezuelans are being trained in Hezbollah camps in Lebanon . . . and Venezuela has reportedly produced uranium for Iran.”

Because of the close ties between Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, “there is a real possibility” that Chavez could get a nuclear weapon from Iran after Iran acquires that capability itself, he said.

Obama’s “friendly interaction” with Chavez at last year’s Summit of the Americas has only emboldened the Venezuelan strongman in thinking that the United States will do nothing to oppose his regime or his anti-American activities, Fleischman said....

The responsibility for a lot of dead Americans - and others - is going to be laid at BHO's feet if he's allowed to continue to undermine our national sovereignty and national security.

And BHO will point his finger at us and blame Bush. He will never accept responsibility or accountability.

Al Qaeda Egyptian Plot Uncovered, Israel Threatens Response

IsraelNN.com:

Egyptian officials have uncovered a plot by three Al-Qaeda linked terrorists to assassinate Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Shalom Cohen and to bomb Muslim and Christian sites, the Arabic-language Cairo-based Almasry Alyaom newspaper reported. However, it is not known if the terrorists’ confessions were voluntary or were made as a result of torture.

The cell’s Al-Qaeda connection was a terrorist using the name of Abu Hamdan al-Libi, who apparently is in Iraq after having left Egypt. Other members of the cell also fled Egypt.

The Egyptian State Security Prosecution said that its personnel have been tracking potential terrorist targets. It said the terrorists were unable to break through the tight security around Ambassador Cohen’s home and the embassy.

Relations between Israel and Egypt have been chilly despite the diplomatic ties that were established three decades ago. The United States government reportedly intervened to make sure that Egypt invited Cohen to U.S. President Barack Obama’s “reaching out to Muslims” speech at Cairo University in early June. Cohen attended despite threats by university lecturers that they would block him from entering the campus.

Egypt also recently delivered a strong message to Cohen over the eviction of illegal Arab residents at the Sheikh Jarreh property that is owned by Jews. The envoy’s explanation that the homes in question have been owned by Jews for more than 80 years did not satisfy the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, which insisted that Israel was “dispossessing Arabs of their property."

Israeli response:

Israel will hold Iranian proxy militia Hizbullah and the state of Lebanon responsible for any attempt to assassinate Israelis abroad, and it will retaliate, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Sunday.

But Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said that Hizbulah was "certainly" the group behind the plot. Speaking on Voice of Israel government radio, Ayalon warned: "I have one message here: If, God forbid, one hair falls off the head of any Israeli representative abroad, or of even an Israeli who is not an official representative, tourists, etc., we will consider Hizbullah responsible. "The outcome, for Hizbullah, will, I think, be of the utmost gravity," Ayalon said. "For Lebanon too.""It is important ... to relay this warning to Lebanon, which is responsible for Hizbullah -- that they will suffer the consequences if they carry out assassinations of Israelis," the minister from the Israel Our Home party added.

Also:

One Jerusalem is asking supporters to contact the White House here, over the outrage of bestowing upon an odious anti-Semite like former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson our highest civilian honor...

HAMAS AND HEZBOLLAH UNITE TO CRUSH IRANIAN DISSIDENTS

by

Paul L. Williams, Ph.D.

thelastcrusade.org

Ahmedinidjad & Nasrallah

Encountering Hamas in Teheran is tantamount to meeting an African American at a KKK gathering.

And yet, the Sunni terrorist group from the Palestinian Authority is now joining hands with the Shi’ite mullahs of Iran to crush street protests in favor of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and to solidify the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

This development was reported by the Jerusalem Post and other international news outlets as rioting on a scale unseen in Iran for nearly a decade continued in the wake of the elections and the allegations that the results were falsified.

The protests have now spread from Teheran to other major cities.

HAMAS; Teach your children well

Hamas formally welcomed incumbent the re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last Saturday.

Despite the blackout of media coverage, thousands of protesters rallied again in Teheran on Tuesday and Wednesday in support of Mousavi. Israeli sources maintain that scores of people have been killed by security forces at rallies that have erupted throughout Iran in the wake of last week’s presidential elections.

An Iranian student passed out flyers to Jerusalem Post reporters that listed the names of Fatima Brahati, Kasra Sharafi, Kambiz Shahi, Mohsen Emani, and Mina Ahtrami. He claimed that these individuals were Teheran University students who had been murdered yesterday by pro-government gunmen. “The most important thing that I believe people outside of Iran should be aware of,” the student said, “is the participation of Palestinian forces in these riots.”

Other Iranian protesters - - including a young man who carried a kitchen knife in one hand and a stone in the other, also testified to the presence of Hamas in Teheran. A young man who carried a butcher knife in one hand and a rock in the other said, “My brother had his ribs beaten in by those Palestinian animals. Taking our people’s money is not enough - - they are thirsty for our blood too.”

It’s ironic, the knife wielding man added, the victorious Ahmadinejad “tells us to pray for the young Palestinians, suffering at the hands of Israel.” He expressed his hope that Israel would “come to its senses” and ruthlessly deal with the Palestinians.

When asked if these militia fighters could have been mistaken for Lebanese Shi’ites, sent by Hezbollah, he rejected the idea. “Ask anyone, they will tell you the same thing. They [Palestinian extremists] are out beating Iranians in the streets… The more we gave this arrogant race, the more they want… [But] we will not let them push us around in our own country.”

Official government radio reports refuse such claims by stating that the victims were trying to loot weapons and to vandalize public property, and had been shot by unidentified gunmen.

This raises a larger question.

Why would Hamas, a Sunni terrorist organization, be involved in supporting the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Shiite mullahs?

The union between the two terrorist groups was brought about not by a charismatic caliph or an ecumenical imam but rather by former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

In December 1992, Mr. Rabin ordered the deportation of 415 members of Hamas to southern Lebanon.

In Lebanon, the Sunni terrorists of Hamas were granted shelter and protection by the Shi’ite terrorists of Hezbollah in accordance with the Muslim code of milmastia (hospitality).

The exiled Sunnis responded to this gesture of goodwill by assisting the efforts of their Shi’ite hosts to gain a foothold within Israel - - something that Hezbollah had been unable to achieve, since the Islamic population of Israel remained almost entirely Sunni and actively antagonistic to the presence of a Shi’ite party within the waaf (“the land of Palestine”).

HAMAS ghouls displaying Israeli body parts

Other developments followed. Hezbollah began to train Hamas in advanced bomb-making techniques along with the fine art of suicide bombing, a tactic that previously had been shunned by the Sunnis because of the Koran’s injunctions against suicide. The first Hamas suicide bombing took place within a bus station in Hadera on April 13, 1994. The attack left five people dead and a score wounded.

An onslaught of other suicide bombings followed throughout Israel in such rapid succession that it became difficult to discern if the attacks were being perpetuated by Hamas or Hezbollah.

The new spirit of cooperation between Sunni and Shi’ite terrorists resulted in a monumental meeting between Imad Mugniyah, the head of Hezbollah, and Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda in 1995 at the headquarters of ali Numeini, a Sudanese sheikh, in Khartoum.

The meeting resulted in joint operations, including the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998 - - bombings, according to US military sources, that bore the distinct signatures of bin Laden and Mugniyah.

The same signatures could be discerned on the attack on the USS Cole on October 12, 2000. The blast had been caused by a “cone-shaped charge” that contained “moldable high explosives such as SEMTEX H.” It represented a device that had been developed by Mugniyah for terror attacks in Lebanon, Israel, and South America.

In recent years, Iran has given shelter to leading Sunni terrorists, including Saad bin Laden, Osama’s eldest son; Yaaz bin Safat, a top-ranking al Qaeda planner; Mohammed Islam Haani, the mayor of Kabul during the reign of the Taliban; Saif al-Adel, the military commander of al Qaeda; Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al Qaeda operative in charge of the expulsion of US troops from Iraq; and Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden’s second in command.

HAMAS fighters in the service of the Iranian Mullahs

And so, for many observers of events in the Middle East, the presence of Hamas on the streets of Iran to support Ahmadinejad and the ruling mullahs comes as small surprise.

“We have been screaming at them [White House officials] for years that these guys all work together,” am overseas operative told the Washington Post. “When we hear back that it can’t be because they [the terrorists] don’t work that way. That is bullshit. . . These guys all work together as long as they are Muslims. There is no other division that matters.”

The union of Sunni and Shi’ite radicals on the streets of Teheran broods ill for Israel. An attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities could trigger a backlash that would reverberate throughout the Muslim world.

Lebanon Rejects Islamo-Fascism

Lebanese supporters of the Christian Phalangist and Lebanese Forces parties celebrate their victory in the central Lebanese city of Zahleh in the Bekaa valley on June 8, 2009. Lebanon was anxiously awaiting the results of a hotly-contested election on Sunday that could see an alliance led by the Hezbollah militant group unseat the pro-Western majority in parliament. (Sky News-AFP/Getty Images)

Lebanese voters reject Iran, Syria and Hezbollah:

Lebanon's Western-backed coalition has claimed a surprise victory in the country's parliamentary elections.

There was widespread speculation that the hard line Shi'ite group Hezbollah could upstage the vote.

But Hezbollah's leaders have so far accepted the results, making conciliatory comments and urging stability in the region.

Interior Minister Ziad Baroud announced the results from all 26 districts, which showed the coalition won 68 seats in the 128-member assembly.

Supporters of the coalition celebrated for hours after voters renewed their majority in parliament four years after the "Cedar Revolution" that helped drive Syria's army out of Lebanon.

The outcome was a blow to Syria and Iran, which support Hezbollah.

But it was welcome news for the US, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which back the "March 14" group, named after the date of a huge rally against Syria's military presence in 2005.Hezbollah and its allies swept the vote in mainly Shi'ite areas, but defeat of their Christian ally, Michel Aoun, in two key districts deprived the alliance of the majority many had predicted.

Saad al-Hariri, the Sunni Muslim leader of "March 14", emerged from the poll as front-runner to lead the new government and follow in the footsteps of his assassinated father Rafik al-Hariri."Congratulations to Lebanon, congratulations to democracy, congratulations to freedom," the billionaire politician said in a victory speech at his mansion in Beirut.

"There are no winners and losers in this election, the only winner is democracy and the biggest winner is Lebanon."

The United States, which lists Hezbollah as a terrorist group, has linked future aid to Lebanon to the shape and policies of the next government.

Party on hot Lebanese girls and have a drink on behalf of the Infidel Bloggers Alliance and myself, personally!!!

Lebanon Fate Hangs in the Balance

A Lebanese woman shows her ink-stained finger after casting her ballot at a polling station in Beirut's Christian sector of Ashrafieh, Lebanon, Sunday, June 7, 2009. Lebanese streamed to their hometowns on the Mediterranean coast and high up in the mountains Sunday to vote in crucial elections that could unseat a pro-Western government and install one dominated by the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Voting under way in Lebanon:

(AP) - Lebanese streamed to their hometowns on the Mediterranean coast and high in the mountains Sunday to vote in a crucial election that could unseat a pro-Western government and install one dominated by Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

The race for the 128-member parliament will have repercussions beyond this tiny Arab country's borders. A win for the alliance headed by Shiite militant Hezbollah, which the United States considers a terrorist organization, could bring international isolation and possibly a new conflict with Israel. It could also set back U.S. Mideast policy and boost the influence of Hezbollah's backers, Syria and Iran.

"I voted for reform and change," said Laure Khoury, a 32-year-old school teacher, after voting in the district of Byblos north of Beirut for Hezbollah's Christian allies. "We tried the others for four years and we got nothing but promises and corruption. Enough is enough," she said.

Lebanon has long been a main front in what many see as a power struggle between two main camps in the Mideast—the U.S. and its moderate Arab allies Saudi Arabia and Egypt on one side, and Iran and Syria and militant groups such as Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas on the other.

The vote is the latest chapter in four tumultuous years that began with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 in a car bombing. The pro-Western factions swept into power in elections the same year on a sympathy vote. But the government has been virtually paralyzed since by a power struggle with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah's coalition includes the Shiite movement Amal and a major Christian faction led by former army chief Michel Aoun. Opposing it are the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim supporters of current majority leader Saad Hariri—Rafik Hariri's son—allied with several Christian and Druse factions.

Going into the election, the race for a majority appears too close to call. In the outgoing parliament, the pro-Western bloc had 70 seats and Hezbollah's alliance had 58.

Hezbollah's opponents say if the heavily armed group wins, it would drive Lebanon into the arms of Iran, which could use it as a front in the Islamic republic's confrontation with Israel. (Read entire article)

H/T Pat Dollard

Okay, since I am a devotee of Rule 5 Sunday, I did primarily post this for the gratuitous pic of the hot Lebanese girl!

Hizbollah Leader Says, We Are Close To "Eradicating Israel"

From the LA Times Blogs:

Hezbollah is "closer than any time before to eradicating the Zionist regime and establishing a Palestinian state," the party's International Relations chief Nawaf Moussawi told Al Manar today, just weeks before Lebanon's hotly contested elections.

And, here's more news on Israel as one of the fronts in the Great Jihad against the Western way of life.

Why are British MPs courting cowardly Hamas?
WHY? Please! Tony Blair himself was the go between for Hamas and Gerry Adams!

Melanie Phillips: The Final Solution

From the Palestinian ambassador to LebanonAbbas Zaki, a member of Fatah which, as we all know, unlike Hamas is the ‘moderate’ party which will deliver a two-state solution and peace with Israel:

Therefore, it is high time that we found a final, comprehensive solution...

With the two-state solution, in my opinion, Israel will collapse, because if they get out of Jerusalem, what will become of all the talk about the Promised Land and the Chosen People? What will become of all the sacrifices they made – just to be told to leave? They consider Jerusalem to have a spiritual status. 

The Jews consider Judea and Samaria to be their historic dream. If the Jews leave those places, the Zionist idea will begin to collapse. It will regress of its own accord. Then we will move forward.

... The use of weapons alone will not bring results, and the use of politics without weapons will not bring results. We act on the basis of our extensive experience. We analyze our situation carefully. We know what climate leads to victory and what climate leads to suicide. 

We talk politics, but our principles are clear. It was our pioneering leader, Yasser Arafat, who persevered with this revolution, when empires collapsed. Our armed struggle has been going on for 43 years, and the political struggle, on all levels, has been going on for 50 years. We harvest U.N. resolutions, and we shame the world so that it doesn't gang up on us, because the world is led by people who have given their brains a vacation – the American administration and the neocons.

The P.L.O. is the sole legitimate representative [of the Palestinian people], and it has not changed its platform even one iota. In light of the weakness of the Arab nation and the lack of values, and in light of the American control over the world, the P.L.O. proceeds through phases, without changing its strategy. Let me tell you, when the ideology of Israel collapses, and we take, at least, Jerusalem, the Israeli ideology will collapse in its entirety, and we will begin to progress with our own ideology, Allah willing, and drive them out of all of Palestine.

This is what the American, British and EU governments are attempting to force Israel to accept. As the man says, it’s not a two-state solution -- it's a final solution.

Iran and Venezuela, sitting in a tree.....

Iraq Better, Pakistan Worse, Iran the Most Active Terror Sponsor, Report Says
Friday, May 01, 2009
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor

(CNSNews.com) - Along with a drop in terror attacks worldwide – significantly so in the case of Iraq – 2008 saw a dramatic rise in attacks in Pakistan and deterioration in Afghanistan, while Iran continued to facilitate terror. India was among countries hardest hit, and the situation in Yemen and Venezuela remained worrisome, according to a new State Department report.

Al-Qaeda and related networks, while losing ground, continued to pose “the greatest terrorist threat to the United States and its partners in 2008,” the annual report on terrorism said.

Overall, the number of terror attacks recorded around the world declined during 2008 by 20 percent, with 30 percent fewer fatalities, Russell Travers of the National Counterterrorism Center told a press briefing on the report’s release Thursday.

As it has for well over a decade, Iran continues to top the list of state sponsors of terrorism, where it has been since 1984.

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“Iran has long employed terrorism to advance its key national security and foreign policy interests, which include regime survival, regional dominance, opposition to Arab-Israeli peace, and countering western influence, particularly in the Middle East,” the report said.

It cited Tehran’s support for the Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah in Lebanon, militant Shia groups in Iraq, and select Taliban members in Afghanistan. Iran’s main tool for cultivating and sponsoring terrorism abroad, it said, was the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Qods Force.

The Qods Force’s involvement in Iraq included the provision of “lethal support, including weapons, training, funding, and guidance, to Iraqi militant groups that targeted coalition and Iraqi forces and killed innocent Iraqi civilians.”

Among other things, Iran supplied insurgents with especially lethal improvised explosive devices (IEDs), designed to overcome armored vehicle protection. The Qods Force, along with Hezbollah in Lebanon, also provided weapons training inside and outside Iraq for insurgents, the report said.

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Pakistan brought less promising news, however. Travers reported 1,839 incidents, which killed 2,293 people in Pakistan in 2008, a jump from 890 incidents in 2007 that cost 1,340 lives.

Pakistan was both a major target of terrorism last year and a terrorist safe haven. The report said al-Qaeda and allies had moved into “the remote areas of the Pakistani frontier, where they have used this terrain as a safe haven to hide, train terrorists, communicate with the followers, plot attacks and send fighters to support the insurgency in Afghanistan.”

The report said the Pakistan government’s authority in the areas near the border with Afghanistan continued to be challenged.

It identified the Taliban umbrella group, Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP), active in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas, as “the most public signal of broad local militant coordination aimed at attacking Pakistani security forces.”

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Another government identified as uncooperative in counter-terror efforts was that of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The report noted Chavez’ “ideological sympathy” for Colombia’s FARC rebels and said his government had not systematically policed its border with Colombia to prevent the movement of armed terrorists or to interdict weapons or narcotics.

It also highlighted concerns about Hezbollah activity in Venezuela, noting the U.S. Treasury Department’s designation in June of a Venezuelan diplomat and a travel agency owner as Venezuelan Hezbollah supporters.

The report said passengers on weekly flights connecting Caracas with Tehran and Damascus “were reportedly subject to only cursory immigration and customs controls” on arrival in Venezuela.

“Venezuelan citizenship, identity, and travel documents remained easy to obtain, making Venezuela a potentially attractive way station for terrorists.”

In May 2008, Venezuela was re-certified as a country “not cooperating fully” with American antiterrorism efforts under U.S. arms export legislation


On the topic of Venezuela,

Does any of that come to the mind of Obama's administration? Apparently not, according to Hillary Clinton,

"We buy a lot of their oil,"
"Let's see if we can begin to turn that relationship."

After witnessing Obama's obviously entertaining (to them) powwow, Venezuela's escalating domestic repression, harboring of Hezbollah and building relationship with Iran, was not a deal breaker either.

And now, Iran and Venezuela have brokered a deal to make Venezuela even more dangerous:

Iran Stresses Aid to Venezuelan Army

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar Thursday underlined Tehran's all-out efforts to help Venezuela promote its defense capabilities and bolster its power of deterrence through bilateral Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) on military cooperation.

Speaking in a meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during his three-day visit to Caracas, Najjar presented a report on the process of defense cooperation between the two countries.

He also conveyed the best regards of the Iranian nation and government to the president and people of Venezuela.

Chavez, for his part, referred to the goals and ideals of the Bolivarian Revolution, and said, "The Bolivarian and the Islamic Revolutions have a lot in common and these commonalities have consolidated the two countries' bonds."

Stressing that Iran has a special place in Venezuela's foreign policy, Chavez referred to the two countries' armies, and underlined that armed forces of the two countries should be reinforced in a bid to help strengthen sustainable security.

The Iranian defense minister, heading a high-ranking military delegation, arrived in Caracas on Monday to promote ties between Iran and Venezuela.

Guess Obama will file that one away too.