Run away, Brave Jihadi Bitches!
KABUL, Afghanistan - Hundreds of Afghan and coalition soldiers reclaimed one southern town from the Taliban without incident Tuesday and were planning to recapture another, an Afghan official said.
The troops descended on Naway-i-Barakzayi, taking back the town after Taliban fighters fled, said Amir Mohammed Akhunzada, the deputy governor of Helmand province. Insurgents torched a police compound, a health clinic and a school before leaving, he said.
"The Afghan flag has been raised back over the compound," Akhunzada said.
The troops were planning to move onto Garmser, a town of several thousand that was captured by militants Sunday, Akhunzada said. He did not say when operations there would begin.
U.S.-led forces declared earlier Tuesday that the towns would be taken back in "decisive operations." They declined to comment on Akhunzada's report.
Afghan officials said a small group of police had holed up in a concrete compound in Garmser for 16 days before they were defeated by scores of Taliban fighters, including some who had apparently crossed from Pakistan. Yes, ummmmmmmmm...apparently???
Large numbers of militants chased police from the town of Naway-i-Barakzay after a brief clash the next day, officials said.
An official with the International Organization for Migration said about 4,000 Afghans have fled fighting between Taliban and coalition forces in southern Helmand province in recent days.
It was not clear how many, if any, were escaping the two towns taken by the Taliban.
Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Malik Sidiqi accused Pakistan-based Islamic groups Lashkar-e-Tayyaba an outlawed militant organization and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a pro-Taliban political party, of aiding the Garmser takeover.
"They burned the Afghan flag and raised the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam flag," Sidiqi told reporters, saying the government "technically and temporarily left Garmser ... to prevent casualties to civilian people."
In the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, Jamiat spokesman Riaz Durrani dismissed Afghan claims that his group's members were involved in the Helmand fighting.
"We are not helping any militant group in Afghanistan against (President) Hamid Karzai's government, but the fact is that he has failed to restore order," Durrani told The Associated Press. He just restored it in Naway-i-Barakzayi.
A Lashkar-e-Tayyaba spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. Must've dropped his cellphone running away.
#2
The only way to recapture a town like that is to encircle it, first, so that when the baddies come skipping out, you can hose them away from the civvies.
#3
During the conflict in Central America, Communist terrorists would occupy a non-defended village for a few hours, then proclaim a great military victory.
U.S.-led forces will launch 'decisive operations' to reclaim two southern towns captured in recent days by the Taliban, the military said Tuesday. Scores of Taliban militants chased police out of two southern Helmand districts near the Pakistani border.
'The Taliban extremists have taken control of the areas of Garmser and Naway-i-Barakzayi, however, coalition forces do have them under observation,' military spokesman Col. Tom Collins told reporters in Kabul. 'Decisive operations will begin soon,' he added without saying when.
That's the problem with 'taking control' of a town. You've just announced where you are located, putting a big "Kick Me" sign on your back.
Additional: KABUL, Afghanistan Afghan troops on Tuesday prepared to deploy to a town in southern Afghanistan that one official said had been overrun by Pakistani militants. Between 300 and 400 Afghan soldiers were heading to the southern town of Garmser, near the Pakistani border, said Amir Mohammed Akhunzada, the deputy governor of Helmand province. Our soldiers are going to Garmser with the support of the coalition to take it back from the Taliban, he said.
In Kabul, Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Malik Sidiqi accused Pakistan-based Islamic groups Lashkar-e-Tayyaba an outlawed militant organization and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam a pro-Taliban political party of taking over Garmser.
Sidiqi said a second Helmand town that had been overrun by militants Naway-i-Barakzayi was reclaimed by government forces late Monday. They burned the Afghan flag and raised the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam flag in the district, Sidiqi told reporters.
While Taliban militants have long operated freely in former southern stronghold provinces, their capture of a town highlights the weakness of Afghanistan's police forces in remote areas and the challenge ahead of U.S.-coalition troops to restore order in the country. Afghan officials have said scores of Taliban fighters, many crossing into Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan, fought Garmser's small contingent of policemen holed up in a concrete compound for 16 days before the police were forced to withdraw Sunday.
The government of Afghanistan has technically and temporarily left Garmser, Sidiqi said. We did so to prevent casualties to civilian people.
Helmand is one of Afghanistan's most volatile regions, where Taliban extremists and heavily armed opium farmers have long operated freely. But stepped up coalition-led military operations in the province since June have pitted foreign troops and Islamic extremists against each other in some of Afghanistan's deadliest fighting since the Taliban's 2001 ouster. About 4,000 NATO-led British soldiers are deploying to Helmand to take over security control from U.S. forces at the end of the month.
Sidiqi said a large group of Taliban that had stormed Naway-i-Barakzayi, to the north of Garmser, and briefly took control there Monday were turned back later in the day. Coalition military officials confirmed enemy activity in the areas but declined to comment further, saying only they were looking into the reports.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 10:37 ||
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Taleban militants vowed on Tuesday to intensify their insurgency with fresh attacks and suicide bombings, saying they would shortly take control of southern Afghanistan. During these operations which will begin today or tomorrow, well take most of the districts in southern and south-central Afghanistan, purported Taleban spokesman Mohammad Hanif told AFP.
Since we've been invited to attend, I think it's only polite to take them up on it.
The threat came as the Afghan government confirmed that the rebels had forced government forces out of at least one district in the troubled southern province of Helmand late Monday. The new offensive would include lots of suicide bombings, roadside explosions and hit-and-run attacks on government and coalition targets, Hanif said. We will increase our attacks. We will carry out lots of suicide attacks, we will carry out bombings and we will engage the infidel troops in guerrilla battles, the spokesman said by telephone from an unknown location.
Likely a safe house in Pakistan
Taleban spokesman often call the media to issue statements, often about clashes with security forces in which their versions can differ wildly from those issued by the security forces. The coalition would not immediately respond to the latest threat.
The Taleban has been waging a growing insurgency since being toppled from government in 2001 by a US-led coalition. This year the rebels -- believed to have support from other Islamic outfits like Al-Qaeda -- have been able to mount large-scale, organised attacks on security forces while maintaining a deadly guerrilla campaign of suicide and other attacks.
And getting themselves killed in large numbers
In response coalition and Afghan troops launched in mid-May their biggest operation yet against the rebels, confronting them in strongholds that previously saw little government authority.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 10:29 ||
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#1
Taleban threatens major offensive in Afghanistan
Good plan! Since the last one was such a smashing success.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
07/18/2006 14:33 Comments ||
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#6
We're getting closer and closer to where a Buff with a full load of conventional weapons would be an asset. Get one staged over Afghanistan, identify an infiltration route being used, and let 'er go. There is nothing quite as impressive as having about 55,000 pounds of high explosives go off in one continuing rumble. I'm especially sure it would "impress" those in the target zone.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/18/2006 15:21 Comments ||
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#7
Heh...one town already retaken.."without incident". The Tallies ran like school girls.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/18/2006 16:13 Comments ||
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#8
Get one whiff of those talipussies, that's offensive.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/18/2006 17:58 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- More than 60 people were killed Monday after tribal clashes erupted in Al Buhayrat state in southern Sudan. Sudan News Agency (SUNA) said fighting amongst Al-Denka tribe members began since last week. SUNA added that local forces stopped the violence between the tribe members and stated that the state's governor is dealing with the matter now.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Send Manute Bol as a mediator!
______________________________he couldn't shoot free throws but perhaps he can mediate!
A top criminal of the city was killed during a "shootout" between the members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his cohorts at C & B road early morning.
The deceased, Ratan Mridha, 40, was the second-in-command of notorious "Tera Shajahan" gang. He was wanted in nine cases including two for murder.
Another job opening for "Number 2", apply at Monster.com.
Rab sources said they arrested Ratan and two other criminals--Ripon and Dulal--at Hotel Metropolitan at Gulistan in the capital on Saturday and took them to Barisal the following day for quizzing.
"I'll take "Things that are Painful" for $500, Alex"
On the statements of the arrestees,
"Ratan did it!"
"Yeah, he's responsible, Dulal and me are just innocent bystanders"
a RAB team took Ratan to C & B road area of Barisal city at around 3:30am yesterday to arrest his accomplices and recover the hidden firearms.
Say goodbye, Rat
Sensing the presence of the Rab team, Ratan's cohorts opened fire, forcing the law enforcers to retaliate.
"Hark! I smell doughnuts, it's da law! Open fire or we're dun for!"
According to Rab, Ratan received bullets during the "shootout" and died on the spot.
"Ouch..ouch..rosebud.."
One gun and two cartridges were recovered from the spot.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 11:31 ||
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#1
Tera Shajahan's Number 3 is going to have to train a new supervisor again, poor man. And he did so badly with the last one, too.
Six Islamic militants were sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Bangladesh's eastern Feni district Monday for series bombings on Aug. 17 last year, which killed three people and wounding hundreds. The court also fined them 5,000 taka (about 71 U.S. dollars) each. The six militants belong to Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which was blamed for a series of bombings in 63 out of 64 districts of Bangladesh on Aug. 17 last year and suicide bomb attacks that killed 28 people and wounded several others.
The JMB chief Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his second-in-command Bangla Bhai were arrested on March 1 and March 6 this year by the security forces. The JMB chief launched the campaign to establish Islamic rule in this Muslim majority country about four years ago. Rahman, Bangla Bhai and other top leaders of JMB were sentenced to death by a court in southern Jhalokati district for killing two judges through suicide bomb attacks. If the death sentences are confirmed by higher courts, the JMB leaders will be executed.
The four-party alliance government is trying to quicken the confirmation of the death sentences by higher courts to earn a credit ahead of the national elections due in January next year. The government will hand over power to caretaker government in October this year, so the government is trying to execute the JMB leaders before ending its term.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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life in a Bangla prison can't be real long or pleasant
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 9:38 Comments ||
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#2
Unless, heaven forbid, the prison guards can be bribed.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 9:52 Comments ||
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#3
If their lives get to be too long, Frank, I'd expect that they'll "break out" and be followed in hot pursuit by the RAB. Look for the future episode of the Crossfire Gazette.
Posted by: BA ||
07/18/2006 10:52 Comments ||
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BISHKEK: Police have stepped up security in southern Kyrgyzstan amid fears of retaliation by Islamic radicals for the deaths of five alleged religious extremists, officials said on Monday. The alleged extremists, killed in a shootout with law enforcement authorities on Friday, had been suspected of fatally shooting a police officer and wounding three other people in the southern city of Jalal-Abad. Police have been on heightened alert and border control has been tightened in the Central Asian nation's south to guard against possible attacks by supporters of the alleged extremists, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Aida Bakirova said.
Authorities said the five, two citizens of Uzbekistan and three of Kyrgyzstan, were also suspects in terror attacks over the past few years in both countries and were allegedly planning attacks and other actions aimed at igniting ethnic conflict in the volatile Fergana Valley, which Kyrgyzstan shares with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. All three are former Soviet republics.
Over the past week, Kyrgyz police arrested 20 alleged members of the Al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and another banned Islamic group, Hizbut Tahrir, as part of their search for the assailants. Meanwhile, Tajik Interior Minister Khomiddin Sharifov said that 10 men, including three Uzbek citizens, had been arrested in Tajikistan over the past month for trying to recruit new terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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Can somebody please get these folks some vowels?
(KUNA) -- A Turkish policeman was killed Monday by the Kurdistan Working Party (PKK) in the eastern Turkish governorate of Van. Turkish Ihlas News Agency cited security sources as saying that the attack took place in Ozlap town near the Turkish-Iranian border, noting that clash with PKK members was ongoing. The source added that another policeman was wounded in an attack by PKK members in the Bingol governorate. At least 23 Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes with PKK this month in different parts of Turkey.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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The man said to be responsible for killing and mutilating two U-S soldiers in Iraq last month has been killed. Iraq's national security adviser today announced the death of Jordanian Diyar Ismail Mahmoud in a clash with Iraqi security forces. He's not commenting on the clash or the evidence that Mahmoud was involved in killing the Americans. The Iraqi official does says Mahmoud was a top lieutenant of al-Qaida-in-Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by a U-S airstrike in early June. The national security adviser also says Iraqi security forces have detained the leaders of the Omar Brigade group. That's a wing of al-Qaida-in-Iraq that had claimed to have carried out many deadly attacks in Iraq.
Dantewada, July 18: The survivors of yesterdays Maoist massacre in Chhattisgarh turned violent, lynching three alleged Maoist sympathisers, stoning the state home ministers helicopter and insulting the leader of the Opposition.
The three people, from a neighbouring village, had come to the Errabore relief camp to place kafans (white cloth) on the 26 dead last evening when they were beaten to death in front of police officers and political leaders.
Yesterday, Maoists had attacked the state-sponsored safe camp of some 4,000 villagers opposed to them, killing 26 and kidnapping 50.
Inmates of the camp alleged that Maoist sympathisers from nearby villages also took part in the carnage. The three lynched persons were victims of this suspicion.
Bodies of six of the 50 abducted people were found in the nearby forest this morning, taking the toll in the camp raid to 32. The rest of the hostages were freed.
At Errabore, the camp inmates fury didnt spare leader of the Opposition Mahendra Karma when he leant over to place a kafan on a body.
You just look at the bodies. Well cover them with the kafan, a villager told the Congress leader who heads the Salwa Judum, a state-managed peoples campaign against the Maoists.
When home minister Ramvichar Netam arrived, he was surrounded by the inmates who lost their temper when he suggested they could leave the camp and return home.
As Netams chopper took off, a hail of stones forced it to land again. The minister climbed out only to face another round of outburst till the police broke up the mob.
The government had set up the relief camps after thousands of villagers began fleeing their homes from a Maoist backlash against suspected Salwa Judum participants. The 27 camps now shelter about 50,000 people.
It was one such camp in Errabore in Dantewada district, about 500 km south of capital Raipur, that the Maoists had attacked in the small hours of Monday.
Posted by: john ||
07/18/2006 19:48 ||
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I got a real bad feeling that India and China both are going to blow up, and that it will resolve itself by their going to war with each other. A bloody, infantry and artillery war.
Indian troops on Monday shot dead two suspected Islamist militants during an ongoing battle in Indian-held Kashmir, while a policeman died in a separate attack, the army said. "Our troops have shot dead two militants in the Arin village," army spokesman Vijay Batra said.
Arin is part of northern Bandipora district and is considered a hotbed of Islamist insurgency. "The fighting is continuing," Batra said, adding that the gunbattle erupted after troops raided a militant hideout. The identity of the killed militants was not immediately known. Jammu and Kashmir army chief, General SS Dhillon, last week said that Indian troops were conducting operations in Bandipora after having received reports that militants had increased their presence in the mountainous district.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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The Balochistan government claimed on Monday that another commander of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, along with several other tribal militants, had decided to surrender before the government and support the government in its campaign against the Nawab. "Wadera Ghulam Mohammad Jujrani, a commander of Nawab Bugti's militia, has given up arms and decided to support the government along with twenty of his armed men," Abdul Samad Lasi, district coordination officer (DCO) of Dera Bugti, told reporters.
He said Nawab Bugti's supporters of Bugti were gradually changing sides because they realised that the present government was striving for their welfare and the Nawab had been exploiting them.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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A land mine exploded on Monday at a roadside, killing a soldier as he fetched water to take to his mountainside base, police said. The blast happened in the Dera Bugti district. The mine detonated as Frontier Corps soldier Nazim Shah collected a drum of water to carry back to his mountainside base, said Raja Shabbir Ahmed, the district police superintendent.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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RAIPUR, India - Hundreds of Maoist rebels stormed a government relief camp in central India on Monday and killed at least 25 people, including members of a state-backed, anti-Maoist group, police said. More than 50 were wounded, and at least 100 people living at the camp housing the Salwa Judum (Campaign For Peace) were missing after the rebels, many armed with automatic weapons, launched the raid in the insurgency hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh state.
They also set at least 20 houses on fire. The death toll has reached 25 with the recovery of eight charred bodies from debris of burnt houses, Dantewada police chief Om Prakash Pal told Reuters by phone. He said three children and three women were among the dead.
Any reason to let a Maosist with a weapon live?
Another police officer said the rebels first attacked armed police guarding the camp and then stormed the camp itself, mostly inhabited by tribals.
The camp is at Arabore village in Dantewada, around 510 km (320 miles) south of Raipur, the state capital. Many of the seriously wounded have been taken by road to the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh for treatment. Police said the majority of those killed belonged to the Salwa Judum group, an anti-Maoist movement set up by the state government and often the target of the rebels. It draws members from local tribes, and activists are usually armed only with bows and arrows.
Hundreds of extra state and federal police have been sent to the heavily forested area to search for the rebels and those missing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#3
For the love of God, if you are going to setup CIDGs to fight the commies, at least give them bolt-action Mausers and some Brens in the same caliber. CIDGs (Civilian Irregular Defense Groups) and VDGs (Village Defense Groups) are just sitting ducks without firearms. Heck, if the Brens are too scary an idea, how about issuing like 3 semi-auto shotguns per 8 rifles?
Taliban commanders have warned the South Waziristan administration against collecting import tax. "Taliban commanders visited the Jandola office of the political administration a few days ago, stopping them from collecting import tax from the tribesmen," a senior administration official, asking not to be named, told Daily Times. He said the Taliban considered the tax collection "un-Islamic" and told the tax collectors that they would face "serious consequences" if they did not stop immediately.
Authorities collect thousands of rupees in taxes on goods imported into and exported from South Waziristan at more than 20 check posts every day and the money goes to the political agent's 'Agency Development Fund' for meeting the administration's expenses. The official said that senior administration officials had called senior "jihadi commanders," a reference to the Taliban commanders in South Waziristan, to a meeting in Wana to discuss the issue. "The jihadi commanders met South Waziristan Chief Administrator Munir Azam to sort out the differences over the collection of import and export tax," the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Pakistani security forces have arrested a wanted former Taliban commander from Southwestern Baluchistan province, bordering Afghanistan, said security officials Monday. Taliban commander, Maulavi Hamdullah, was arrested in a raid in Nawann Kuli area of Quetta few days back, the provincial capital, officials told KUNA. They added that he has been shifted to undisclosed location and is under interrogation. During Taliban regime Maulavi Hamdullah had served as the Repatriation Attache at the Taliban Consulate General in Quetta.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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Is he arrested because of the 'former' part of his description, or the 'Taliban' part? In Pakiland one never knows.
An Iraqi top security official said Tuesday that four key al-Qaida leaders, who are responsible for major bombings and sectarian bloodshed in the country, have been captured in Baghdad. Iraq's National Security Advisor Muwafaq al-Rubaie made the government announcement in a televised news conference. Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops captured the four al-Qaida leaders and killed the fifth, a Jordanian who slaughtered last month two U.S. soldiers in Yousifiyah town, about 20 km south of Baghdad, al-Rubaie told the reporters. Rubaie identified the detained four as Abu Uthman, Abu Aisha, Abu Eyhab and Mahmoud Abu Islam, all are leaders of al-Qaida's Omer Brigade.
Abu Aisha, with real name of Sabah Ali Badran Kahdum, is a key leader responsible for financing the brigade and head of about thousand fighters in Baghdad.
Abu Eyhab, with real name of Zamil, is a military leader responsible for recruiting and arming the brigade.
Mahmoud Abu Islam, leader of several cells in south of Baghdad, is responsible for religious verdicts that usually lead to execution or assassination of rivals, Rubaie elaborated.
They snagged the Mastermind, a money man, an ops guy and the holy head honcho. Huzzah!
Rubaie revealed that another al-Qaida leader known as Abu al-Afghani, a Jordanian with real name of Diyar Esmail Mahmoud, was wounded in the arrest operation and died hours later.
In terrible great pain, and after singing like an effing canary...
#5
A month or so ago, a Shiite terrorist group kidnapped and murdered a large group of Sunnis, all of who had a first name of Omar.
It may have been in revenge for the work of the Omar Brigade (at the time I assumed that it was in revenge for the work of a long ago Omar who became a sunni caliph)
In an incident in Rusafa, after having dropped off two passengers, a taxi driver found a plastic bag in the back seat of his taxi. Inside the bag, the driver found an anti-armor mine with wires attached. He then cut the wires and called the Iraqi police. Just how did he know which wires to cut, and why was he carrying wire cutters, and is he stupid, courageous or what? I think I'd like to ask him a few questions.
Iraqi police disarmed the bomb and removed it from the area.
There were no injuries or damages.
#1
glenmore: Just how did he know which wires to cut, and why was he carrying wire cutters, and is he stupid, courageous or what? I think I'd like to ask him a few questions.
If that was his taxi, I can see why he cut the wires. It's a big risk, but in Iraq, a car is several years' salary. Terrorism insurance for cars, if it exists, is probably prohibitively expensive.* Maybe he did not want the Iraqi police blowing it up.
* I can't even imagine it exists. Think about the possibility for fraud, by both terrorists and non-terrorists.
#2
Our family Marine says that almost every driver carries an assortment of tools (including wire cutters) to fix their vehicles. Not many repair shops, I guess.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/18/2006 8:45 Comments ||
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Zhang, actually I think I read somewhere that insurance had become available in Iraq about a year ago. Can't remember where I saw it; I think it covered kidnapping. I read it as a positive sign, that the market at least read probabilities to be lower than the MSM does.
#9
Doesn't everyone carry a basic toolkit in their car for emergencies, along with a first aid kit? Even I do, and I never so much as held a screwdriver until I went to college.
On the night of 10 November 2004 Third Platoon, A Company, Task Force 2-2 IN near OBJ Wolf in Fallujah, Iraq, was ordered to attack to destroy six to eight Anti Iraqi Forces (AIF). 1LT Edward Iwan, the A Company Executive Officer, had identified six to eight AIF who had entered a block of twelve buildings. These AIF had engaged A55 and tanks from Team Tank with automatic weapons and rocket fire. Having a 25 mm cannon malfunction, 1LT Edward Iwan cordoned off the area and called Third Platoon to enter and clear all buildings until the AIF were killed or captured. . . .
When they came to the tenth home, SSG Colin Fitts, 1st Squad Leader, led his squad of soldiers into the house, with four soldiers from SSG Bellavias 2nd Squad. SGT Hugh Hall, 1st Squad, B Team Leader and SGT Warren Misa 1st Squad, A Team Leader, established a quick foothold in the interior of the house. When SGT Misa attempted to clear the second room he encountered heavy enemy fire. Two AIF were under a stairwell, well covered behind a three-foot barrier, engaging SGT Misa and SPC Lance Ohle as they attempted to move into the room. At that point, multiple bursts of automatic and semi-automatic gunfire were exchanged from extremely close quarters. As rounds impacted near the entry point of the house, nine Third Platoon soldiers became fixed inside the house. At that moment, fire erupted from a kitchen ground floor window onto the inner cordon in th e carport of the house. At one point, gun fire was being exchanged inside and outside of the house, as a total of three dismounted squads from Third Platoon were in contact.
SSG Bellavia quickly requested a M240B machine gun and a M249 SAW to suppress the AIF under the stairs in an effort to break contact and consolidate the platoon. Rounds from the insurgent side of the wall began impacting through the poorly made plaster. Multiple soldiers were bleeding from the face from flying debris. Two soldiers had glass and metal shards in their face, one soldier had been grazed on the side of his stomach underneath his vest and at least six others were bleeding from some cut or scrape from the point blank fire they were receiving. As two soldiers answered the request for support, it became apparent that the entrance to the building was extremely dangerous from ricocheting rounds.
Rather than place his soldier at risk, SSG Bellavia moved quickly to come to the aid of the squad. . . .
Go read it all. No further coment is really necessary.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/18/2006 07:27 ||
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Thank you Sargeant Bellavfias. I suspect there's been a lot more of this going on than even we at the burg realize. The word needs to get out and the thanks of the nation needs to be made clear to all.
#4
Definitely a great story. I am also impressed with the considerable stones on Michael Ware. He's a bit of a negative nancy, but you can't accuse him of hiding out in the Green Zone.
Posted by: Tibor ||
07/18/2006 11:11 Comments ||
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#5
Unless there's a heck of a coincidence in names, here's Sergeant Bellavia leveling an M240 keyboard at Congressman Murtha to lethal effect.
Posted by: Matt ||
07/18/2006 13:12 Comments ||
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#6
Great story. Swat work in Hell, only this time the bad guys are not hicks in meth labs, but heavily armed Krazed Killers ready to lay down their lives for allan. This Bellavia guy is real-life Sergant Rock material.
#7
From the FrontPage link: David Bellavia is a former Army Staff Sergeant who served in the First Infantry Division for six years. He has been recommended for the Medal of Honor by his leadership, and has been nominated for the Distinguished Service Cross. He has received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Cross (New York states highest combat valor award) and was recently inducted into the New York State Veterans Hall of Fame. His Task Force 2-2 Infantry has fought on such battlefields as Al Muqdadiyah, An Najaf, Al Fallujah, Mosul, and Baqubah. His actions in Fallujah, Iraq were documented in the November 22, 2004 cover story Into the Hot Zone by award winning journalist Michael Ware. He is 30 years old.
Posted by: ed ||
07/18/2006 13:32 Comments ||
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"We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by."
#10
He and others have set up an organization http://www.vetsforfreedom.org/blog/
Just returned from a trip to Iraq with another soldier (on their own). Great writeups on the blog about their trip.
I'm not sure whether it was David or his buddy I saw on Fox, but he was an extremely articulate guy, full of words about "we are winning" and praise for the Iraqi Army.
And this article about the embed with the Iraqi Army in Weekly Standard. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/443zhpmy.asp
Good reads, if you haven't been following them.
I've been following them but had no idea of this!
(Mods, sorry about the long linky thing, the Link button never works for me)
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber detonated explosives in a crowd of laborers gathered across the street from a major Shiite shrine in southern Iraq Tuesday, killing at least 53 people and wounding 105, officials and witnesses said.
The attacker drove a minivan to where Shiite laborers gather daily to look for work in Kufa, 100 miles south of Baghdad. He offered them jobs, loaded the minivan with volunteers and then detonated the vehicle, Najaf Gov. Asaad Abu Kalal told a Shiite television station.
The blast occurred about 7:30 a.m. across the street from Kufa's gold-domed mosque, police Capt. Nafie Mohammed said. The shrine, located in a congested area of the city, marks the place where Imam Ali, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, was mortally wounded.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, condemned the attack and promised to track down and punish those who planned it.
Kufa is a stronghold of radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose movement controls the mosque. It appeared the blast was aimed at undermining al-Sadr's position in Iraq's sectarian struggle, much of which has been blamed on al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia.
Now for the doom and gloom. In the first 17 days of July, at least 617 Iraqis have been killed in war-related violence, at least 527 civilians and 90 police and security forces, according to an AP count. In the nearly two months since the unity government took office on May 20, more than 1,850 Iraqis have been killed, including at least 1,585 civilians and 267 security forces. The figures do not include insurgents.
The July figure represents a marked increase over the same period last year when an AP count showed at least 450 Iraqis killed, at least 306 civilians and 144 police and security forces. The 617 killed so far this July, not including Tuesday's suicide attack, is already near the total killed in all July last year: 714.
The Shiite television station Al-Forat broadcast strident quotes from Shiites who blamed the attack on Sunni religious extremists. They expressed outrage that Sunni politicians could not rein in the militants.
The main Sunni bloc in parliament said the attack may have been retaliation for the kidnapping of seven Sunnis whose bodies were found Sunday in Mahmoudiya. The bloc accused Shiite-dominated Iraqi security forces of failing to control the situation.
The events also raised doubts about the effectiveness of the U.S. strategy of handing over large areas of the country to Iraqi control, while keeping U.S. troops in reserve. Of course it does! Everything does!
U.S. troops of the 101st Airborne Division reported hearing detonations and gunfire, the U.S. command said. But Iraqi troops are responsible for security in Mahmoudiya, and American soldiers do not intervene unless asked by the Iraqis.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/18/2006 06:37 ||
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Up to eight militants were arrested by the US army in two separate incidents in northern Baghdad. A statement for the US army said Monday that an Al-Qaeda member and four of his aides were arrested during a raid in Al-Yousifiyah town in southern Baghdad. The statement added that the US soldiers also arrested three militants at a US army checkpoint in Al-Doura area in south Baghdad, where different kinds of ammunition was found in their vehicle.
Meanwhile, a statement for the Iraqi Defense Ministry said that 25 militants were killed and 151 others were arrested by Iraqi soldiers during the last 24 hours. It added that an Iraqi army force killed 21 gunmen and arrested 25 others in Baghdad within the framework of a security plan. Another two militants were killed and 47 others were arrested, and an explosive device was defused in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Three terrorists were also arrested and a booby-trapped vehicle was defused in Al-Khaldiya area in the western Iraqi Anbar province.
In northern Baghdad, 35 militants were arrested and an explosive device was defused, whereas 31 militants were also arrested in the Iraqi city of Basra, and another four were arrested with the participation of the Multi-National Forces. The related statement indicated that two militants were killed and six others were wounded during a series of attacks against terorrist hideouts in Al-Azamiyah area, where six motorbikes loaded with light weapons were confiscated.
In other developments, an Iraqi police source said five persons were killed, including three women, and 10 others were wounded yesterday in a car explosion targeting a joint Iraqi army and US forces patrol in Mosul. The Iraqi police said that unidentified gunmen kidnapped director of the North Oil Company near the Oil Ministry in the northern district of Baghdad. The Multi National Forces declared in a statement that one of its soldiers was killed in an explosion that occurred near his patrol in southern Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
This sounds like progress. What happens to arrestees ? I hope they're not on the catch & release program.
(KUNA) -- Up to 60 Iraqis were killed and 45 others injured after coming under fire in the town of Mahmoudieh, which is some 20 kilometers south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said Monday. The victims included a large number of women and children, a source in the ministry told the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). "The attack was preceded by a car bomb explosion as well as a mortar attack. When the town's people came to the scene to take a look, armed gunmen opened fire on them killing 60 and injuring 45 including first aid people who came to provide assistance to the initial victims," the source said.
The gunmen had roamed the streets of the town and opened fire at random against passers-by before they finally came to the scene of the massacre, the source said. MPs loyal to Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr had walked out of proceedings at the National Assembly in protest at Monday's massacre in Mahmoudieh.
Meanwhile, the multi-national force in Iraq said two of the Mahmoudieh attackers had been apprehended and a quantity of arms and ammunition confiscated with them. In a related development, a member of the multi-national force died from injuries he sustained in an attack west of the capital. The injuries took place in a place west of the capital, the multi-national force said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I guess Zarquawi was one of the moderates, and helped restrain the more extreme elements of the 'insurgency.'
#2
I'm for putting a Roman Coliseum near the (former) Saddam square, and inviting these assclowns to do mortal combat in the ring till the last one drops.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/18/2006 18:19 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- An insurgent leader was killed and 12 were injured after two military operations conducted by the Iraqi army, said a US army source Monday. The source told KUNA that the Iraqi army managed to kill a leader of an insurgent cell and to arrest four of his henchmen in southeast of Talafar in northern Iraq.
A different statement by the US army said that the Iraqi forces also managed to arrest another cell leader and six gunmen in Al-Rashid area mosque in southern Baghdad. The source added that the force managed to confiscate the militants weapons and ammunitions after the arrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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A senior Israel Defense Forces officer told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday that IDF troops had leveled land inside Lebanese territory extending up to one kilometer from Israel's northern frontier.
The objective is to prevent the reestablishment of Hezbollah guerilla posts along Israel's border.
Earlier Monday, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that Israel intends to create an unmanned buffer zone in south Lebanon, from where Hezbollah has been pounding Israel with rockets for the past six days.
"One of the aims of the [military] operation is to establish a security area in Lebanon, without the presence of IDF soldiers," Peretz said.
IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz told the committee that Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has been in an underground bunker since the start of Israeli air strikes targeting the group's stronghold in Beirut.
"Sheikh Nasrallah is hiding in a bunker in Beirut beneath the ruins of the of the Shi'ite neighborhood. He and his aides have not seen sunlight since the start of Israel Air Force strikes last Thursday," he said.
Halutz added that since Sunday, "the IDF has been operating in a far more aggressive manner and is firing intensively in response to all of the rockets that are being launched at Israel."
It will take time before the military will be able to assess the effectiveness of operations in Lebanon, Halutz said, as "we have only been operating for about 100 hours."
The IDF chief reiterated that the IDF has no plans to send ground troops into Lebanon, and expressed the hope that this would not change.
"The Home Front must be patient," he said.
A Military Intelligence official who also addressed the committee said that the Palestinians had smuggled suicide bombers through the Philadelphi Route on the Gaza-Egypt border in order to send them into Israel to carry out attacks.
Committee Chairman Tzachi Hanegbi said at the start of the meeting that the IDF is "facing a challenge we haven't known for many years.
"The operation in Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip is becoming more complicated in light of the fact that there are abducted soldiers on two fronts. We must display sophistication, creativity and patience."
#1
About an hour and a half ago, Israel just dropped two ordinances that rusulted in larger than "normal" explosion, in Beruit. According Nic at CNN, he's is pretty sure they were bunker busters because of delayed secondary explosions for each of the ordinances. Nic is reporting that the explosions are close to the Beruit Intl Airport.
Here is the question, why would Israel drop bunker busters at or very close to an airport? Maybe Israeli AWACS found Nasarallah. I don't think Nasarallah can avoid using electronic communication, if he is in a bunker. If I was a betting man, I believe he is in a bunker under the airport. There is still power at the airport. I think we can pretty much assume that he is watching television because he is able to react via speeches, from the television coverage. Israel already suspects that Nasrallah is getting intelligence information from the television coverage.
I didn't mean that he was sitting on explosives. Secondary explosions meaning, the time delay on the bunker buster. Timers are adjustable on bunker busters depending penetration material such as, runway quality conctrete. Personally, I think a bunker under the passenger terminal is the perfect place for him to hide.
#6
ya know, buried in a concrete box under 40' of concrete rubble - might be kinda claustrophobic...especially if the electricity, air and water to it are shut off....
heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 21:56 Comments ||
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#7
In the dark, how will they know which way is Mecca?
HEADLINE:
"THE IDF RESTRICTS HEZBOLLAH LEADER'S ABILITY TO PRAY!!"
Oh, the Humanity....
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/18/2006 22:28 Comments ||
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#8
I don't about Nasrallah, but here are some Muslim Nazis praying in 1943.
From the blog In From the Cold. Interesting information unlikely to be made available elsewhere for a while.
Like your humble correspondent, the Israeli source is now retired (he spent more than twenty years in the IAF), but has a large number of contacts in Israel's military and intelligence establishment.
"We screwed up," is his blunt assessment of the attack on the Israeli vessel. He tells me that Hizballah operated the surveillance radar associated with the C802 for more than 24 hours before the missile was launched. The radar's signal was detected by Israeli SIGINT platforms, but somehow, the information was never relayed to the ships enforcing the blockade off the Lebanese coast. The corvette's anti-missile defenses were active as it patrolled off Beirut, but my source questioned whether the crew was fully prepared for the missile strike. "They weren't in the proper frame of mind for an attack," he complained. You can draw your own inferences about the ship's readiness posture from his statement.
A retired U.S. naval intel specialist believes the corvette had "up to 15 seconds of warning" between the time the missile was fired, and the moment it impacted the ship. That may not sound like much, but in an era of automated missile defenses, the crew still had a shot. Officially, the Israelis haven't revealed if the ship launched chaff, maneuvered, or attempted to engage the missile with its CIWS. From what I'm told, the missile struck a glancing blow to the large "helicopter" barn on the ship's stern, and bounced off, detonating in water nearby. The barn area was thoroughly scorched by a subsequent fire, and this is the area of the ship where the four crew members died. As we've noted previously, the ship was lucky that it didn't take a direct hit from the C802; the missile is more than capable of sinking much larger vessels.
The impact in the ship's helicopter "barn" is also signficant, since its rectangular shape provides the largest (and best) return for the missile's targeting radar.
and that raises another question: did the Hizballah gunners time their launch carefully, to coincide with a turn (when the barn would be most visible), or was the ship's captain attempting to maneuver after his missile warning system sounded, and inadvertently exposed the helicopter hangar, faciliting missile lock-on. If the terrorist gunners timed their launch for a predicted turn, then the corvette was probably being too predictable in its maneuvers. Additionally, there is also the possibility that the ship's position may have masked its Close-In Weapons System (CIWS), which can engage anti-ship missiles at ranges out to one mile. One more lesson learned the hard way.
#1
the missile struck a glancing blow to the large "helicopter" barn on the ship's stern, and bounced off, detonating in water nearby
Interesting... I had been thinking that C-802's missile's warhead had failed to detonate (otherwise such a small ship would have been blown out of the water). I believe the Exocet that hit the USS Stark failed to go off as well as the one that hit the UK's Sheffield in the Falkland War. (If somebody knows better feel free to correct me).
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
07/18/2006 17:43 Comments ||
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#2
Lets keep the Iwo Jima out of range, I was impressed by the plan to use landing craft instead of bringing the ship in close. The boobs AKA hizballah will try and strike. We can no longer afford complacency......
"is his blunt assessment of the attack on the Israeli vessel. He tells me that Hizballah operated the surveillance radar associated with the C802 for more than 24 hours before the missile was launched. The radar's signal was detected by Israeli SIGINT platforms, but somehow, the information was never relayed to the ships enforcing the blockade off the Lebanese coast"
That's crap. Any israeli combat ship has an ESM to detect radars.
"The corvette's anti-missile defenses were active as it patrolled off Beirut, but my source questioned whether the crew was fully prepared for the missile strike"
More crap, the system can work fully automated.
Laurence. The Stark took 2 one exploded the other didnt. I think the sheffield one exploded but i am not sure.
#5
looks like it didn't detonate. The CSS-N-8 is fast and though old has anti spoofing measures the one that was fired which hit that Egyption hulk didn't explode either
#7
True, Israeli surface vessels have ESM; but the systems do little good if you ignore the signals--and it does happen. There are scores of emitters that will trigger a radar warning system; for example, some types of microwave towers emit signals that are in the same bands as certain SAM radars, and will produce the same type of RWR indication. I'm guessing the Israelis ignored the surveillance radar signal because their spooks had no indication that Hizballah had the C802 surveillance radar, and dismissed it as some sort of spurious signal--until the missile struck the corvette.
Also, as you indicate, the system can work in a full automatic mode. But if the system is masked by the ship's maneuvers (or the presence of another vessel), it won't operate. As I recall, the CIWS on a Saar-5 is atop the forward superstructure; the missile impacted from dead astern, into the helo barn. With the rear superstructure between the CIWS and the missile azimuth, its possible the defensive system was obscured by the rear superstructure, and unable to engage.
#9
did the Hizballah gunners time their launch carefully, to coincide with a turn (when the barn would be most visible), or was the ship's captain attempting to maneuver after his missile warning system sounded, and inadvertently exposed the helicopter hangar, faciliting missile lock-on.
Entire sumrise is ludicrous, tho the second is more likely (standard USN tactic is to put the ship's stern to the missile, presenting a much smaller target). Presenting the hangar isn't 'inadvertent'; the whole ship turns together.
Additionally, there is also the possibility that the ship's position may have masked its Close-In Weapons System (CIWS), which can engage anti-ship missiles at ranges out to one mile.
That's a problem when one mounts the CIWS forward.
Masking will happen when one attempts to turn away from a missile. Sheer folly to turn into it.
#10
From what I'm told, the missile struck a glancing blow to the large "helicopter" barn on the ship's stern, and bounced off, detonating in water nearby. The barn area was thoroughly scorched by a subsequent fire, and this is the area of the ship where the four crew members died.
If true, the maneuver to present the stern appeared to have worked.
The C-802 is an Exocet derivative. They don't kill a ship solely by detonation. Excess fuel is deliberately included in the missile; kinetic energy and the warhead are only part of it. The excess fuel does the rest.
Guess the story will come out in the investigation.
Israeli officials said Tuesday their offensive in Lebanon could last several more weeks and involve large numbers of ground forces, casting doubt on diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a visiting U.N. delegation that "Israel will continue to combat Hezbollah and will continue to strike targets of the group" until captured Israeli soldiers are released and Israeli citizens are safe from attacks.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said diplomatic efforts were under way, but a cease-fire would be impossible unless the captured soldiers are returned unharmed and Lebanese troops are deployed along the countries' border, with a guarantee that the Hezbollah militia would be disarmed.
Maj. Gen. Udi Adam, the head of the Israeli army's northern command, said the offensive against Hezbollah, which has mostly been limited to Israel's air force and navy, would continue.
"I think that we should assume that it will take a few more weeks," he told Israel's Army Radio.
The army's deputy chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinski, told Israel Radio that Israel has not ruled out deploying "massive ground forces into Lebanon."
"We certainly won't reach months and I hope it also won't be many more weeks, but we still need time to complete the operation's very clear objectives," Kaplinsky said.
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said Israel may consider a prisoner swap with Lebanon to win the release of two soldiers captured by Hezbollah, but only after its military operation is complete.
"If one of the ways to bring home the soldiers will be negotiations on the possibility of releasing Lebanese prisoners, I think the day will come when we will also have to consider this," Dichter told Army Radio.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon raised the death toll in that country to at least 226.
Israelis strongly support the military operation against Hezbollah, according a to poll in the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot. It said 86 percent of Israelis believe the operation is justified, 81 percent want it to continue and 58 percent say it should last until Hezbollah is destroyed. The poll had a margin of error of 4.2 percentage points.
Nevertheless, Livni said, "We are beginning a diplomatic process alongside the military operation that will continue."
"The diplomatic process is not meant to shorten the window of time of the army's operation, but rather is meant to be an extension of it and to prevent a need for future military operations," she told reporters.
Clarifying the JPost article from this morning. Thank goodness.
#2
They know the kidnapped soldiers won't be freed till after the fighting stops. So it's a safe offer for now. Palliates the MSM but doesn't interrupt operations.
#3
he's also demanded Hezb disarm and withdraw from the border in favor of Leb Army units, something Hezb will never allow - it takes away their entire excuse for existence as a militia. This is a political posturing proposal to disarm critics.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 16:47 Comments ||
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#4
When you've got the pimp hand, ask for the moon.
It's not like the Hizb boyos can comply, and it looks nice to the chattering classes.
#8
Sure, Darrell. But there's no demand for vegetable patient technology like in the States.
Posted by: the Levant ||
07/18/2006 17:37 Comments ||
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#9
Words and a few WMD are all Syria has.
It's truly tragic - and pathetic - that with so many billions of dollars from oil all the Arab world has achieved is terrorism and boasts.
Levant - people die. But no matter who dies, the reality won't change. Israel is a thriving democracy that has contributed advanced medicine, engineering and other achievements to the whole world.
The Arab world has exported oil - including to your little country - along with seething, cowardly terror violence and some weaponry, mostly copied from the West by people who studied among us. Pathetic.
Y'all might do a little better if you focused your energy on education, representative government, economic development and getting your shit together.
#10
But there's no demand for vegetable patient technology like in the States.
People don't live that long. Nor it would appear does your world value lives enough to go to that much trouble, although the previous head of the Sauds was an exception.
#11
It is telling that in an election year, during a decade of tumultuous politics, the US Senate has passed a resolution condemning Hezb'Allah.
Democrat as well as Republican senators are on TV saying Syria and Iran will be held accountable for this violence.
If you want a sign as to which way the winds are blowing in the US, that's one worth paying attention to. Ahmadinajad may think he wants chaos to hasten the coming of the Mahdi. Let Syria be warned -- if Hezb'Allah or its own army use the aging WMD they were given by others, or their own chemical weapons, 'chaos' is not the word for what will result.
The patience of moderate Americans is wearing thin. When this country swings towards reprisals, it may be hard indeed to keep from destroying both Iran and Syria. If millions of people die in those countries, the responsibility will lie squarely with their leaders.
#12
Very true, lotp. None of the players now have an interest in seeing this go much further relative to the potential downsides. Nor do they have sufficient interest in seeing it end prematurely. So Iran and Syria will very wisely leave Hisb' Allan to twist slowly, slowly in the wind.
#14
It's up to Assad Jr. whether he wsnts to put his pencilneck in the noose. Somehow I doubt it. Israel should be happy to eliminate Hisb' Allan and there it ends. It had potential to spiral out of control but I think too many saw this and pulled back from their normal anti-Israel stance.
But Israel's reprieve won't last long. It needs to focus its devastation on the iniverally condemned Hisb' Allan and wait till next time for the rest.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz approved Monday night the draft of three reserve battalions infantry and engineers. The forces will be drafted starting Tuesday morning and will replace regular forces in Judea and Samaria. The regular forces will help in the northern array.
As of today, infantry and engineer corps are operating to destroy Hizbullah outposts in the line of fire. Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, revealed, in a Monday press conference at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, that in recent days, forces were operating in a ground offensive against Hizbullah outposts in Rajar village. More at link in the general news variety
WASHINGTON - Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday Hezbollahs attacks on Israel with imprecise rockets in civilian areas violated international humanitarian law and most likely constituted war crimes. The attacks Sunday and Monday were at best indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, at worst the deliberate targeting of civilians, the New York-based group said in a statement. Either way, they were serious violations of international humanitarian law and probable war crimes, it said.
Ok, my surprise meter is working after all.
Some of the rockets launched against Haifa contain hundreds of metal ball bearings and were of little military use but could cause serious harm to civilians, the group wrote. Attacking civilian areas indiscriminately is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and can constitute a war crime, said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the groups Middle East and North Africa division. Hezbollahs use of warheads that have limited military use and cause grievous suffering to the victims only makes the crime worse.
International humanitarian law prohibits warring parties using weapons in civilian areas that are so inaccurate that they cannot be directed at military targets without a substantial risk of causing harm to civilians, Human Rights Watch said. The group has urged both Hezbollah and Israel to respect the prohibition against targeting civilians or conducting indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas. Human Rights Watch on Monday called on the Israeli government to divulge details about a bombing over the weekend that reportedly killed 16 civilians in a convoy near the village of Marwahin.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 09:34 ||
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#1
Hezbollah: "We didn't fire any rockets, the Jooooos shoot them straight up in the air and they come down on their own cities so they can blame us".
#4
It's not like it's the first time ball bearings have been used. Is that getting big negative media play? It's almost as though a bit flipped for a lot of folks with this last set of attacks, even the Saudis. I can believe the Saudis see the hand of Iranian Shiites and want to stop them. But what moved HRW?
#8
A serious violation of human rights, ya say? I'm gonna report you to the govamint. What a bunch of delusional loons the HRW are. Hizb'Allah is a serious human rights violation themselves. HRW, wacha gonna do, wacha gonna do when they come for you? Who ya gonna call, the ACLU?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/18/2006 12:07 Comments ||
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#9
Dr. Seuss's ABC We read that to trailing daughter#1 from Frankfurt to Prague and back again in 1991. My still-unmarried girlfriend who accompanied us on that trip can recite the whole thing from memory even yet. ;-)
#12
How come I never heard this said about explosive vests packed with nails?
Dipped in rat poison, to slow coagulation and intensify bleeding, a practice common enough for israeli ER to deal with that on a regular basis... IIRC, there was also an attempt at blowing bags of aids-tainted blood along with shrapnels... didn't work, but the intent was there. Of course, Lotp is right. Freedom fighters(Tm).
#14
You recall correctly, a5089. Brer Rabbit, the formerly great New York Times and CNN never bother to mention such little trifles, however much the perpetrators boast about it... and it doesn't change the raw casualty numbers, just the quality of life of the wounded. Rat poison on the nails and ball bearings packed in the boom vests has been standing operating procedure for years and years and years.
#15
International humanitarian law prohibits warring parties using weapons in civilian areas that are so inaccurate that they cannot be directed at military targets without a substantial risk of causing harm to civilians.
So much for that ARCLIGHT strike, I guess. Unless we fill the 40 BUFF's up with 500-lb JDAMs?
#18
You weren't born yesterday planetdan, were you? Rockets, bombs, nails etc. hitting OCCUPIERS are not considered war crimes by the civilized world. But rockets hitting the OCCUPIED are!
Posted by: the Levant ||
07/18/2006 17:14 Comments ||
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#19
hee hee.... a Paleo Joe M
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 17:15 Comments ||
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#20
And how many years (and subsequent deaths) have this Hezy bombs been going?
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/18/2006 18:23 Comments ||
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#21
JOE is coherent and funny, not like levintine.
#22
Poor Mr. Levant is behind the times. Human Rights Watch just denounced Hizb'Allah's actions as war crimes, and I misdoubt Hamas will be far behind. The tides of History have passed your people by, Mr. Levant, and the world has no sympathy for losers, no matter what pride Mr. Levant may take in such barbaric behaviour.
"We will get them all in the end," Capt. A, one of the pilots who bombed Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's underground bunker Sunday night, declared on Monday, minutes before boarding an F-16I fighter jet on his way to another sortie over Lebanon.
On Saturday night, the IAF bombed and destroyed Nasrallah's home and office in the neighborhood of Dahiya in southern Beirut. Dahiya, a high-ranking IDF officer told The Jerusalem Post on Monday, was a Hizbullah stronghold and only terrorists affiliated with Hizbullah were allowed in and out. On Monday, the IAF continued to strike an underground bunker in Dahiya which was believed to be Nasrallah's current hideout.
"It is a closed-in terror capital," the officer said of Dahiya. "Only card-carrying Hizbullah operatives are allowed inside after passing through an armed checkpoint."
Nasrallah, the officer said, had been holed up in the bunker ever since the IAF began bombing Beirut last week. "He has not seen the light of day," a senior Military Intelligence officer told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday.
IAF fighter jets from Squadron 101 have been running daily bomb raids on the bunker, the main Hizbullah nerve center. Since two soldiers were kidnapped in a Hizbullah attack along the northern border last Wednesday, the squadron has bombed hundreds of targets from the Hizbullah bunker to bridges, Katyusha rocket launchers and weapons warehouses. The IAF has been using bunker-busting missiles in its air raids on the Hizbullah bunker.
"The public should know that the air force is working hard and achieving the goals it has set for itself even though Katyusha rockets are falling in Israel," Capt. A. said. "The public should be calm... we will get them all [Hizbullah leaders] in the end, wherever they may be, since no terrorist has immunity
#2
seal em up.... some day in the far future, archeologists will wonder why a turd in a turban was entombed and decide we worshipped feces
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 9:24 Comments ||
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#3
Don't know anything about Tuaus. It's a somewhat curious comment - with it's implication of flying monkeys. I bet that's really popular with all of the anti-semites that seem to be ozzing up from all the world's dark and gooey places lately. Funny though. I'll give it that.
#8
You are sweet, Nimble Spemble. But Daddy did cancer research for 25 years, and Mr. Wife for 4 years before realizing he was meant by nature to be a chemical engineer, and we didn't have a television when I was growing up. The loci of my ignorance of the common culture are humungeous, independent of my age. Why, I don't even know why she was called Miss Kitty!
By Rowan Scarborough
Israel is in the best position militarily in its history to mount air strikes against Iran, after a decade of buying U.S.-produced long-range aircraft, penetrating bombs and aerial refueling tankers.
Tel Aviv has ratcheted up the volume in attacking the hard-line Islamic regime as it fights the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. In the past, Israeli politicians have talked openly of attacking Iranian nuclear sites to prevent the U.S.-designated terror state from building atomic warheads.
Israel has purchased 25 $84 million F-15I (I for Israel) Ra'am, a special version of the U.S. F-15E long-range interdiction bomber. It also is buying 102 of another long-range tactical jet, the $45 million F-16I Sufa. About 60 have been delivered.
The Jewish state also is buying 500 U.S. BLU-109 "bunker buster" bombs that could penetrate the concrete protection around some of Iran's underground facilities, such as the uranium enrichment site at Natanz. The final piece of the enterprise is a fleet of B-707 air-to-air refuelers that could nurse strike aircraft as they made the 900-mile-plus trip inside Iran, dropped their bombs and returned to Israel.
"They have the capability to strike Iran," said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney, a former fighter pilot who has trained with Israelis. "It would be limited, though. They could do 30 to 40 'aim points' in the array. I'm not worried about them hitting the targets. They will suffer losses, but they are capable of doing it." He said Israeli fighter pilots are "the best in the world. I've flown against them. They train better. They get more flying time."
Perhaps just as important as weapon systems is airspace.
The most direct route would be through Jordanian and Iraqi airspace. Two Israeli pilots showed that they could navigate both without being shot down in 1981, when they flew the 600 miles to the Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad, dropped their bombs and returned over Jordan to an air base in southern Israel.
Today, the United States, not Saddam Hussein, controls Iraq's vast airspace. Military analysts suggest the United States might approve the mission passively by letting the jets fly both ways unencumbered.
Gen. McInerney said the United States must grant airspace rights. "They really can't do this without us," he said. "I wouldn't have them do it. We can do it much more aggressively and more decisively. We shouldn't force the Israelis to do it when we should do it." The retired pilot called Iran's air defenses "1960s vintage" and not as good as the Iraqi defenses that Israeli pilots avoided in 1981.
Vice President Dick Cheney last year revealed Bush administration suspicions that Israel may take pre-emptive action. "One of the concerns people have is that Israel might do it without being asked, that if, in fact, the Israelis became convinced the Iranians had significant nuclear capability, given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of Israel, the Israelis might well decide to act first, and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards," he said on the "Imus in the Morning" radio show.
In the Osirak strike, both F-16s made the round trip without aerial refueling, but targets in Iran are at least 300 miles farther away. Although the F-15Is and F-16Is have a combat radius of more than 1,000 miles, the numbers would indicate that the mission might require aerial refueling, thus complicating an already daunting operation.
However, the Web site GlobalSecurity.org says the F-15Is and F-16Is "extended flight range reportedly allows Israeli forces to attack targets well within Iran without having to refuel."
[link to above]
Israeli political leaders have pressed the Bush administration to halt Iran's nuclear weapons program. At the same time, some have publicly stated that Israel will take unilateral action to destroy Iranian facilities if Washington fails to stop it.
#2
buying up those "barely used" Russian GPS jammers from Baathists?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 10:31 Comments ||
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#3
Russia's selling Iran about thirty phased array radars. Once those are in place and active only the US' stealthed missiles and aircraft could get in unseen/safely.
Of course, there are also HARM's for taking out those phased array radars.
Personally, this stuff about getting in without being seen seems silly. Let 'em see the armada coming. They'll light up their stuff, and see it all get flattened before the MMs have time to get away with the loot.
HARMs for the radars and AA sites, JDAMs and bunker busters, cruise missiles and tacnukes for everything else.
#4
Iranian AD sucks. The only medium/long range AA missiles are the ancient I-Hawks and SA-5s (60's and 70's tech). The SA-15s they are receiving from Russia are short range (20,000 ft). Israel or the US will come in at high altitude and the Iranians won't be able to do much but watch.
Posted by: ed ||
07/18/2006 13:18 Comments ||
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#5
One thing we're seeing now in Lebanon (and seen in Serbia), you don't have to hit specific sites. Just wipe out the infrastructure.
#8
Agreed. This is reserved for US flyboys, many of whom are salivating of the possibility.
Where is the US in terms of EMP?
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/18/2006 18:29 Comments ||
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#9
That's classified. But it's commonly known that DOD has been working on hardened systems since the 80s.
I would venture to say that our civilian infrastructure is quite vulnerable but our military capabilities rather less so. How MUCH less so is unknown, to me at least.
#11
"But it's commonly known that DOD has been working on hardened systems since the 80s."
One of those rather obscure reasons that some of the military's gear, compared to off the shelf stuff, is so damned expensive.
Anginens Threreng8133 - I believe Bush when he says he's not telling Israel what to do militarily, but that doesn't mean he's not making clear what actions he'll back or not. Given today's Senate vote, I believe many of the questions about the political costs he'd face have been answered - and given him very public ammunition to support Israel.
I believe we have a green light for almost everything short of nukes regarding Syria and Iran, for very heavily supporting any resistance within Iran that's showing promise, for pushing the obvious conclusion that this will never end without decisive actions. Stop-gap and half measures lead to more "cycles of violence" (an LGF joke, LOL) - it's got to stop... and the only solution is to go after the sources.
I hope I'm reading the political tea leaves correctly, anyway.
BTW, I have really enjoyed your posts, please keep it up!
Israel's army has refused to rule out a massive ground invasion of Lebanon as part of an offensive to force Hezbollah guerrillas to free two Israeli soldiers and stop firing rockets at the Jewish state.
"The army has many possibilities for action," Moshe Kaplinsky, Israel's deputy army chief, told Israel Radio when asked if the military would rule out a massive land incursion.
"At this stage we do not think we have to activate massive ground forces into Lebanon but if we have to do this, we will. We are not ruling it out."
His statement coincides with an opinion poll suggesting a huge majority of Israelis support the air offensive against Hezbollah.
Israel has been massing troops, tanks and artillery pieces near its northern border with Lebanon. It has also called up thousands of reserve soldiers.
Three Israeli tanks briefly crossed a few hundred metres into southern Lebanon on Monday afternoon, a UN source said, following a similar earlier incursion in which Israel said Hezbollah positions were destroyed.
The Israeli bombardment has killed 215 people, all but 14 of them civilians, and inflicted the heaviest destruction in Lebanon for two decades, with attacks targeting ports, roads, bridges, factories and petrol stations.
Hezbollah has attacked a naval vessel off Beirut and fired hundreds of rockets at northern Israel, killing 24 people, 12 of them civilians.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday his country would pursue its offensive until the two soldiers were returned and the Lebanese army controlled all of south Lebanon.
An Israeli Government source has said Israel may step up attacks in coming days, mindful that its chief ally, the United States, might not resist indefinitely international pressure for a cease-fire. Washington has backed Israel's right to self-defence.
Poll
A vast majority of Israelis support the country's offensive in Lebanon aimed at crippling Hezbollah and many also believe the militant group's leader should be assassinated, a poll has suggested.
The survey in the mass circulation Yedioth Ahronoth daily showed 86 per cent of Israelis believed the army's attacks on Lebanon were justified.
It said 8 per cent of Israelis believed the offensive should continue until the army killed Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Only 17 per cent said Israel should stop fighting and start negotiations.
The survey gave Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert high marks for his leadership, saying 78 per cent believed his handling of the crisis was good or very good.
Even Defence Minister Amir Peretz, a former trade union chief with little government experience who had previously been under heavy criticism for his performance, was praised. Some 72 per cent said his handling of the campaign was good or very good.
An Israeli air strike flattened the 8-storey Palestinian foreign ministry building in Gaza City today, part of a campaign against the Hamas militant group and the government it controls. The foreign ministry building, which was badly damaged in a previous Israeli air strike, was completely destroyed by the early morning blast, which tore into nearby homes, shops and offices, witnesses said. At least nine Palestinians were injured, most of them children. No deaths were reported.
Ummm... Why store the kiddies in the bombed-out foreign ministry?
A separate air strike gutted the offices of a Hamas-led security force in the Islamist stronghold of Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip, witnesses said.
How many fluffy bunnies were killed in that one?
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after militants, some from Hamas, captured an Israeli soldier - Corporal Gilad Shalit - in a cross-border raid on June 25. The Israeli military has since killed more than 85 Palestinians in Gaza, about half of them militants. A gunman shot by troops in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun on Sunday died of his wounds, medics said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I think of the most mean, hateful people that I have ever met in my entire life and I can't imagine anyone who would place cute, curly headed children in a place where they know they will be bombed. Are these Islamists really human? Has anyone checked to be sure?
#2
They were forewarned several days ago that further urban renewal operations would be occurring there. Can't take a hint ? Too dumb to move ? Or simply matyrs ?
#3
The kiddies are useful tools to the propaganda machine of the Paleos. It is a tool of war that is available to them. I hope that Israel is flattening all phone exchanges, cell towers, tin can telephone lines, satellite earth stations, fiber optic links, radio and TV transmitters, and last but not least, Al Jazeera news crews. They should have taken out the AJ crew in Haifa when the IDF found them doing a live feed when they were told not to do it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/18/2006 1:52 Comments ||
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#4
Human shields.
I can't think of any other explanation but Human shields.
Its dispicable enough to use hostages or strangers as human shields. How much worse is it to use your own children?
#5
Remember this, the "Palestinians" ancestors used to burn their children alive as sacrifices for Moloch. Different name for the same god and practices, it seems.
#8
Ok, not defending the Palis, but maybe the kids were in the adjoining "homes, shops & businesses"? It doesn't say they were in the Foreign Ministry, guys, just that they were in the area. It's a bit too soon to call them human shields.
A programmed from birth with Muzzie Death Cult propaganda, and destined to be the next wave of terrorists. Save your pity for those that deserve it.
prop a gan da n. 1.The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.
#11
Swamp,
Chances are you're right, but it really doesn't change the story. You have to be either cruel or have incredibly poor judgement to keep your children that close to an announced target after a week of intense bombing. And that description pretty much sums up the whole subject population, doesn't it.
#12
Swamp, Ok, that might explain their presence. But as glenmore mentioned - you have to be either pretty damn stupid or uncaring to have your kids close to a desinated target.
OR the kids were planted there after the strike a-la Pallywood.
#14
In the latest Mark Steyn column Steyn notes in passing that the medium age of Gaza residents is just under 16 yrs. old. Per Steyn they're unemployed, uneducated, and inculcated since birth in the muslim death cult. The future is not very bright on so many levels. Depressing.
#15
Doesn't anyone realize that this is the children destiny. They house them close to the targets, let the Israelis bomb the target, call AL-JIZ, report the innocents have died, stir up the supporters, then have funerals for the martyers. Cildren are born, educated, and used for "suicide" missions.
#16
glenmore & CF, the bleeding heart lib in me (getting more disgusted by the day, ok, but she's still there) would like to think that maybe their parents had nowhere else to go. We don't know all the circumstances. Maybe those psychopaths running their government threatened them and made them stay? I wouldn't put it past them. We sure wouldn't hear about it from the MSM, not with their romanticization of terrorists as "militants" or "freedom fighters". Hamas would sink to any level of depravity you can imagine. That's not too extreme for them at all.
I'm sure they were thinking that little Abdul and Fatima would be good Jr. Shahids/propaganda fodder if it came down to it. Knowing how the Palis act, that's a definite, sick possibility. I don't understand their mentality at all.
I put the blame for these childrens' injuries on Hamas more than on the parents, until we get more info on this.
(But yeah, if I was living there, I'd get my kids out of the area somehow if I thought the Israelis were going to blow it up. Fark anyone who would try to make my kids stay. I'm crazy, not stupid.)
#18
A Cynic? No, just excellent pattern recognition.
With Sab Erekat or any other Paleo mouthpiece, I think it's probably a safe bet that every word out of their mouths is a lie, including "and" and "the".
When I need an easy giggle, I imagine Sab Erekat as a used car salesman....
#19
Allan and Darwin are camped out in the outer reaches. Allan complains that these cavemen are doing all this killing in his name. Darwin suggests that Allan give the cavemen the idea to hide behind their children. That way, Darwin explains, the killing will stop within one generation. They laugh and gather virgins about them. All's well that ends well.
(KUNA) -- Ezzideen Al-Qassam brigades, Military wing of Hamas, bombarded Kfar Saad settlement in eastern Gaza and an electricity power station in occupied Asqalan with two Qassam rockets on Monday. "The shelling came coinciding with a Zionist incursion into Beit Hanoun which aims at halting launch of rockets at Israeli targets," the brigade's statement said. The bombardment came in retaliation of the Israeli crimes against Palestinians and a way to fight back, the brigades said.
Palestinian eyewitnesses said Israeli incursion into Beit Hanoun have become wide in scale. A number of Israeli tanks and machinery have entered the northern and the western outskirts of Beit Hanoun. Israeli troops controlled several buildings and snipers stationed themselves on the rooftops to shoot Palestinian citizens, eyewitnesses added. Israeli bulldozers also entered areas in Beit Hanoun the Israeli army claims are used for launching missiles on Israel.
An Israeli army spokesman said a Palestinian missile struck Monday morning a ranch in Nahl Oz settlement eastern Gaza. Another missile hit a house in the same settlement. The house was damaged and a number of its residents were in state of shock. A mortar shell blew up in a parking lot and several vehicles were damaged. The spokesman admitted a Palestinian missile struck a location near a strategic facility in Asqalan city southern Israel. However, there was no direct hit and the spokesman did not report whether it was a military target.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
This writer for the Kuwait News Service openly considers Askalon, which is well on the Israeli side of the green line to be 'occupied'and has created an entity called 'east Gaza' which is also well on the Israeli side of the Green line.
(KUNA) -- An Israeli army spokesman said Monday that three Israeli soldiers were injured by Palestinian gunfire in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza Strip. The spokesman told the Radio that the soldiers were participating in a military operation in Beit Hanoun when Palestinian activists launched a rocket towards them. Izzuddine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, claimed responsibility for the attack in Beit Hanoun. Meanwhile, a local radio station said that an Israeli fighter Jet fired missiles on Palestinian activists responsible for the rocket attacks on the Sderot settlement.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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Palestinians fired at IDF troops near Beit Furik, near Nablus, in the West Bank on Monday night. No one was wounded in the attack. In a separate incident, a Molotov Cocktail was thrown at an Israeli car traveling near Pisgat Ze'ev. No one was wounded in that attack, either.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
yup. sounds like the paleos are asking for a ceasefire.
#3
Nobody is taking any notice of them; they begin to realise that they have been and continue to be a convenience for a succession of cynical Arab governments, used to distract murmuring populations from their own civil rights, they are a sop for Western sensitivities and restrained guilt-complexes for the perceived ill-treatment of the Oriental. They look into a mirror and see nothing but death, or the promise of death-they have no future.
Their only goal is to live their tawdry lives in the hope of killing as many as they can in an orgasmic convulsion of destruction.
Pathetic.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/18/2006 18:18 Comments ||
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#4
Spot on, Tony. Well said. Their only claim to fame is perfecting the Nazi Hate Machine.
Thai caretaker Cabinet on Tuesday approved the extension of state of emergency imposed on the three southern border provinces for another three months. Chitchai Wannasathit, the caretaker deputy prime minister, said on Tuesday that since the security situation in the south is still tense, the government has to extend the emergency state.
The state of emergency on three Thai southernmost provinces -- Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani -- was first imposed in July last year and must be renewed every three months. Emergency rule allows the government to impose curfews, prohibit public gatherings, censor and ban publications, detain suspects without charge, confiscate property and tap telephones. It also affords officials legal immunity for acts carried out under its provisions.
Suspected Muslim guerrillas Tuesday opened fire on police on a southern Philippine island, killing one officer, wounding three and leaving two others missing, police said.
Police officer Ali Akmad, who was slightly wounded, said the attackers stopped him and his colleagues on a road to a village outside Maimbung town on Jolo island, about 940 kilometers (580 miles) south of Manila. He said he had thought the attackers were soldiers manning a checkpoint. One officer was killed, two others, in addition to Akmad, were hurt and two were missing in the attack, Akmad told reporters from a hospital.
The island is a stronghold of the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group, notorious for ransom kidnappings, beheadings and bombings, including a February 2004 attack that gutted a ferry ship and killed 116 people in one of Southeast Asia's worst terrorist attacks. US troops maintain a presence on Jolo island as part of counterterrorism training, focusing on humanitarian missions including building schools, fixing roads and improving water supply.
Elusive Abu Sayyaf leader Khaddafy Janjalani and a number of Indonesian militants belonging to Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesian-based group also linked to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, have been sighted on Jolo in recent months, military officials said. Janjalani's presence has raised concerns that Abu Sayyaf may be plotting attacks against Philippine and US troops, officials said.
The US Senate expressed its support of Israel by adopting a resolution condemning Hizbullah, Hamas, Syria and Iran.
"The Senate has spoken loud and clear: Israel has the right to defend itself against aggression. While I urge the Israeli government to act carefully, there should be no doubt as to where we stand in this conflict," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. (AFP)
#2
The Senate also supports amnesty and open border. It doesn't make any sense to support open border, foreign port sales and come against Hizbullah, Hamas, Syria, and Iran. The definition of hypocrite comes to mind. The Senate, as usual, is testing the intelligence of the American people and talking out of the both sides of their mouth.
The IDF has found that Hizbullah is preventing civilians from leaving villages in southern Lebanon. Roadblocks have been set up outside some of the villages to prevent residents from leaving, while in other villages Hizbullah is preventing UN representatives from entering, who are trying to help residents leave. In two villages, exchanges of fire between residents and Hizbullah have broken out.
#6
The Lions of Islam TM are desparately trying to retain the women and children to hide behind. They know they will get the living sh** kicked out of them by the Joooooooooooooos. Bunch of pussies.
Iran's Hizbollah, which claims links to the Lebanese group of the same name, said on Tuesday it stood ready to attack Israeli and U.S. interests worldwide.
"We have 2,000 volunteers who have registered since last year," said Iranian Hizbollah's spokesman Mojtaba Bigdeli, speaking by telephone from the central seminary city of Qom.
"They have been trained and they can become fully armed. We are ready to dispatch them to every corner of the world to jeopardise Israel and America's interests. We are only waiting for the Supreme Leader's green light to take action. If America wants to ignite World War Three ... we welcome it," he said.
Iranian religious organisations have made great public show of recruiting volunteers for "martyrdom-seeking operations" in recent years, usually threatening U.S. interests in case of any attack against the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme.
But there is no record of an Iranian volunteer from these recruitment campaigns taking part in an attack.
Iran's Hizbollah (Party of God) says it is spiritually bound to Shi'ite Muslim guerrillas in Lebanon but its command structure and funding are unclear.
Despite Iranian Hizbollah's insistence that it takes orders from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, government ministries say Hizbollah does not implement official policy. Iran's government has said it hopes for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli offensive in Lebanon.
While Iran did fund and support Lebanese Hizbollah during the 1980s, Tehran says it has not contributed troops or weapons in the latest violence. Israel says Iranian armaments have been fired against it.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 16:04 ||
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#4
How many B2s do we possess? The inhibition to use nukes may subside soon, especially if we're hit really hard by the Persians.
Iran and HeadsforAllan are playing with fire. And it is really stupid on their part. Why? Because if they're careful and patient, they would let the American Left undermine this country, await the victory of the Dems in November (a scarey possibility) and then, whalla! The USA is de-balled and primed for the killing! Put the libs and Hildebeast in power and its all over.
#5
2,000 volunteers, most of whom don't speak English, have never been outside Tehran, and fall into the Idiot or Moron IQ range. Yeah, they'll be landing at JFK International wearing their suicide belts any day now.
#6
#5 2,000 volunteers, most of whom don't speak English, have never been outside Tehran, and fall into the Idiot or Moron IQ range. Yeah, they'll be landing at JFK International wearing their suicide belts any day now.
Yup. Except see what these "morons" did in Argentina a few years back. Plenty of US targets outside of JFK. These Persian pigs can make a mess of things. Tis why the sooner we ... well, I'll wait till they make their first and hopefully, fatal mistake.
#7
All of you have it all wrong. We have to try to win the hearts and minds of them. They don't want to fight, they are just culturally different. Rathern than kill them as our enemies, I say try to truly understand and love them as our friends.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
07/18/2006 16:56 Comments ||
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#8
ROFL, #7 Yosemite.
Good one. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/18/2006 17:18 Comments ||
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#9
Personally, Yosemite Sam, I like them like brothers.
#10
Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week - be sure to try the veal and be sure to tip your waitress!
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
07/18/2006 17:21 Comments ||
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#11
BTW, Fred - another killer graphic! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/18/2006 17:25 Comments ||
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#12
"We are only waiting for the Supreme Leader's green light to take action. If America wants to ignite World War Three ... we welcome it," he said.
Ok, its official. Mullah sez: This is World War III not World War IV.
I hope Supereme Leader gives the green light during the Bush Admin. If the green light is given, then Rep. Murtha have to keep his mouth shut because Bush will do what Murtha wanted, asset re-deployment, on top of Iran.
#15
This is another data point proving (to me) that the Islamofascists are an aberration, a fluke of history. It's black comedy, in fact. A Perfect Storm of competing Darwinian paradigms.
Makes me feel like summarizing, more or less, what I've read and learned here at Rantburg. Pardon me while I steal, liberally LOL, from many here... I plagiarize .com in particular. I dare him to drop in and eviscerate me. The big pussy. Or is that pussy-chaser? C'mon big boy, come and get some, LOL.
We have an ancient ideology of hate and subjugation, sharing most of the traits of a virulent disease, masquerading as a religion, which succeeded and prospered through violence, rapid and rabid reproduction, threatening death to apostates, enshrining misogyny, taking by force what they could not create, sucking subjected hosts dry, surviving by parasitism. They are conquerors not inventors, despoilers not producers, barbarians and reprobates not liberals, dogmatic and dictatorial not tolerant, the ultimate hive mind of humanity's worst traits. They are brutality and xenophobia and aggression institutionalized. They occupy, for the most part, the desolate wastelands of the world. A festering cluster of boils on Gaia's ass.
We have an open liberal and prosperous technological West which has based much of its industrial base on hydrocarbons. Domestic sources are plundered. Industry flourishes. Demand rises exponentially. The ever-growing search for fuel sources eventually takes us to the (otherwise) worthless stretches of sand and wasteland. Eureka!
Convergence.
Thus an ideology that was once relegated to the planet's shitholes and cesspools finds itself sitting on an economic bonanza, thanks to the West. And the West has the wealth, thanks to that same industrial base, to make this ancient ideology fabulously wealthy. For hydrocarbons we kow-tow and grovel and cater and flatter and enrich beyond Ali Baba's wildest imagining those who hate us beyond our own wildest imagining. We save that which does not deserve saving. We relieve them of Darwin's death sentence of obscurity and well-earned demise.
Thus that which would have ever remained the most despicable backwater of humanity imaginable now has new life and begins its campaign to resume its spread and subjugation, to destroy and despoil precisely those who empower it.
And the liberal West, living in its PC-saturated self-replicating circle-jerk cocoon of liberalism, has emasculated itself to the point that it now demurs and shrinks from acting to save itself. It has become pussified. It has embraced nihilism. The simple and obvious answer, slap the ancient bitch down so hard it fears its own shadow and take what is needed, is anti-liberal, anti-PC, antithetical, and thus unthinkable.
While it dithers and pontificates, while its elites and intellectuals finger-wag and invent absurd nobility for the long-ignored remaining savages, while its pundits debate and revise history to create legitimacy and grievances, the ancient ideology learns to use the West's own institutions against it, swallows whole all of the technology the West has produced, particularly weaponry, with the clear and obvious intent to kill it from within and without.
Now that's black comedy worthy of Twain or O'Rourke.
YJCMTSU. Fry them up. Fry US up. Let's get it ON. Let's ROLL, already.
I know my education is incomplete, though. I've spent so much time here lately that I'm seriously neglecting the other sites I used to visit everyday. LOL. Nothing compares to Rantburg and I echo comments I've seen about RB University. Amazing, in fact. But I'm just summarizing you fine people.
All that I read here builds up within me, in a way that no other site generates, and I occasionally can't stop the urge to summarize - and nothing solidifies the mental picture like writing it down and reading it to see if it's coherent and is backed up by the facts. I readily admit it might seem a bit narcissistic to post it, but I don't mean for it to come out that way.
Please point out what I'm missing, LOL. I apologize for the bandwidth and for the blatant plagiarizing - and teasing .com. Please, please, consider it a compliment to all of you, as that is my true intent.
This place is addictive - and yes, Nimble, I'm hooked, LOL.
I'll be MIA for awhile, maybe longer, as I have to let the medicos have their way with me starting tomorrow. If everything goes well, I'll be back to burn more bandwidth telling you what you already know, LOL. I assure you I'll miss reading RB as much as the midnight raids for my beloved Kinbgburgers - especially since the end-game seems to have begun. :)
#19
flyover, this place calls for the occasional summation. I've done more than my fair share, in fact. ;-) (I'd point them out to you if I had the slightest idea how to find things in the archives, but I don't.) If you feel guilty enough, feel free to put a little something in Fred's tipjar.
#20
Re: tip jar -- I have, tw, but more is called for, LOL.
As for searching, I discovered that when you are within an article page (You'll see 'poparticle,php' in the URL) at the bottom is a Google search link - that searches solely within the Rantburg.com domain. That's where I've discovered the old posts by Dave D, Frank G, Alaska Paul, 11A5S, Zenster, Lex, .com, True German Ally, Atomic Conspiracy, and (forgive me for naming everyone) so many others I can't begin to name them all. Even the complete idiots such as Not Mike Moore - and the slapdowns that made .com a favorite search target, LOL. His "You suck so much that sucking objects orbit you." post to NMM was the loudest LOL I've ever had! Every successful search thread reveals more posters who gave quite brilliant insights. I don't use Google, anymore, for anything else - but their search engine seems to be much better for this purpose. Try it and you'll agree, I think.
Thanks, NS. They call it "experimental". That's classic CYA, isn't it? The rich pricks. LOL. We'll see. :)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 22:55 Comments ||
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#26
Flyover,
Praise from TW is high praise indeed. You've contributed a good deal to RB in your short time here. Good luck with the "experimental" process and come back ASAP. Good adjunct profs are hard to find, even at Rantburg U.
Posted by: mac ||
07/18/2006 23:09 Comments ||
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#27
The fact that Israel is saving its anti-missile system for strategic rather than tactical use, suggests that only a major attack on Tel Aviv, from north Lebanon will be defended by both missile defenses and disabling counter-attack. As Hizbollah is using mobile missiles, the only effective counter would be by area destruction. Now what could do that? And, if Iranian rhetoric is matchable by deeds, that could happen soon.
Does anyone here care if this conflict escalates? The US has both petroleum reserves and domestic and close neighbor producers who are producing under capacity. Assuming - and this is unlikely - that all Iranian wells were destroyed, if these areas were seized by Anglo-American forces (with others) deep wells could be tapped within days and the crude could pump quickly. (Quicker if we didn't do x-ray testing of pipelines for leaks. Sabotage problems in Iraq were caused by the fact that it is deemed expedient to allow locals to live near the oil patch. No locals; no terror.
Since 9-11 everyone should have learned: Muslims recognize the sovereignty of secular states only on a provisional basis. They don't recognize our sovereignty; why on earth should we recognize their Koran based claims?
#28
give us a reason to take the oil from Chavez? heh heh
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 23:25 Comments ||
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#29
FoxNews was reporting that almost all of the 1000 of the rockets Hizb'Allah shot off in the last few days are hitting empty fields, whereas whatever thingy they showed the Israelis shooting from some sort of ground array thingy (yes, I know nothing of these technical details -- sorry) are hitting their targets well enough to cause the soldiers to dance and sing most picturesquely.
(IsraelNN.com) An IDF source said Tuesday night that Syria is smuggling weapons into Lebanon for the Hizbullah terrorists engaged in the Re-engagement War with Israel.
Nonetheless, said the unnamed source quoted by Reuters news service, Israel does not plan to attack Syria.
#5
Probably not doing anything about it because they can't do what it takes. Smashing Asshead won't accomplish much in the long run. Some other Jooo hater will replace him. They would have to take Syria. Not sure they have the economy it takes to support that dumpster. Look how well the U.S. did in getting Iraqi oil to pay for rebuilding Iraq.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/18/2006 14:52 Comments ||
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#6
Bullshit: Israel crossed and captured the Sinai Peninsula and now, Egypt leaves them alone. The same should be done to Syria. Neighbors like Jordan and Egypt have kept peace with Israel although they were once at war. Sucessful war does establish certain parameters. Syria has been like a rat sneeking in the night working through Hezbollah and Lebenon. Always doing the dirt, always taking a cheap shot at Israel.
Burn them. Burn them so they never forget it.
#7
When young Master Assad leaves office, the infighting will be amusing only to those not caught in the crossfire... and the interference by outsiders (Sunni, Shiite, etc. and so forth) will only make things worse, and extend the process for years. Assad's fellow Alawites may be in control now, but they are small in number and universally hated for their heresy as well as their myriad cruelties over the decades of Assad rule.
#8
Attacking Syria probably wouldn't degrade their ability to smuggle arms to Hezbollah much. If you took out every Syrian tank and plane, it wouldn't stop the smuggling.
I would have to wonder how many additional arms Hezbollah would need. I would expect their numbers to be decreasing resulting in what arms already exist becoming more abundant for the remaining fighters. The only useful import would be expendibles such as ammunition, explosives, grenades, and mines. You can smuggle those things in easy enough using the busses that are being used to transport refugees out. Take a busload of refugees to Damascus and a load of greades back to the border.
Better to watch where the weapons are being stockpiled. The hills between Lebanon and Syria are also full of tunnels and bunkers. There are plenty of ways across that aren't obvious on maps.
#9
Israel and Syria are both playing the international media game. They are doing everything they can to fight each other while at the same time looking innocent.
Keep in mind that every time Israel goes to war it has to stop before it can finish due to international pressure. Right now they have a relatively free hand. Why spoil the opportunity by striking Syria? Instead just keep pounding on Hizballan until either its destroyed or Syria is forced to come in and save them.
In the alternative, Israel could hold on on Syria until the international community starts to call for a cease fire, then do a blitz on Syria and the Bekaa valley. Nothing to lose at that point.
#10
I'm with you James. I personally think it should be official Israeli policy to take whatever land they are attacked from. I think this is probably the best way to reduce rocket attacks. The nations that Israel takes land from will quickly prevent more attacks from happening.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/18/2006 15:22 Comments ||
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#11
Would that neo-impewrialist theft be followed by ethnic cleansing? /MSM
#13
Right now Israel can reasonably control the number of fronts. There's no reason to engage Syria and Iran until the Hizbullah rocket attacks are ended. After that is done, some punishment for Syria and some neutralizing of Iranian nuclear facilities is a reasonable bet. As for this article, unnamed sources quoted by Reuters bore me.
#16
#14 but what about the non-existant wmd's in the bekaa valley??? Nobody is talking about them, but we rantburg readers know that they are there.
Posted by: 2b 2006-07-18 15:38
#17
NS, no. If the Jooos do it, it's called genocide.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/18/2006 16:19 Comments ||
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#18
Mike N. is looking at Syria the way it should be looked at, like who cares. Acually I think we should act like Syria is of no consequence in the region. Man, that would hurt thier manhood. Maybe fluster them into something stupid.
#21
That's why any place in the Becka where dirt has been dug before GW2 should be hit hard with bunkerbusters. Then any WMD that might escape just screws up Becka.
#22
Like you don't think that satellite and air reccon isn't focused upon potential WMD deposits? That any movement in or around the area will not be monitored? That the US is not sharing near real time info with the Israelis [particularly since DoD gained theater control over assets from the CIA]? That even the appearance of such movement wouldn't be an invitation to preemption?
Forty to fifty percent of Hizbullah's military capability has been destroyed in the six days of the IDF counter-attack following last Wednesday's Hizbullah raid in northern Israel, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The IDF, it is understood, believes it needs another week or so minimum to achieve its military goals in terms of alleviating Hizbullah's capacity to threaten Israel.
Earlier, Deputy IDF Chief of General Staff Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky said in an interview to Army Radio that the offensive against Hizbullah would reach its completion "in a matter of weeks."
Kaplinsky said a massive ground incursion was not necessary at the moment.
"At this stage we do not think we have to activate massive ground forces into Lebanon but if we have to do this, we will. We are not ruling it out," Kaplinski told Israel Radio.
These guys seem to have drunk the RMA koolaid even more than Rummy's worst assistant. How can they possibly estimate that forty to fifty percent of Hizbullah's military capability has been destroyed when they haven't put a boot on the ground? 40-50% of their targets may no longer exist where they did, but that does not mean they are destroyed.
It also demonstrates a shocking misunderstanding of what constitutes military capability. A weapons warehouse is not a capability, a man with a stone is. In no sense have the Israelis, based on the limited information available to us, destroyed or defeated the human capability of HesbAllan. Israel needs to kill lots of Hesb members. LOTS. They have to make sure that the ones who survive know they have been defeated and know they never want to experience something like it again. Make them go home and tell the young boys, "It's not worth it, let's learn to live in peace." Until that time comes, it's just apply, wash, rinse, repeat.
#2
NS presumes to tell the IDF what they have accomplished. He does, after all, have PRESS reports to rely on in doing this!!
IDF only has intel assets in Lebanon, plus classified info. And G*d knows they don't understand what constitutes military capability!! Why there are DECADES of them domonstrating no knowledge of this subject whatsoever.
Pitiful, no?
Moreover, NS has years of observing from a distance, whereas the Israelis only have decades of making hard existential tradeoffs up close and personal.
They're lucky they have your advice, NS.
Of course, what you might mean is that you fear they are not aiming to wipe out Hizbullah as a whole, just to create some breathing space and a cordon sanitaire until they can force the international community to actually back up UN resolutions. Maybe they even think that a little country cannot do this themselves against oil-funded groups without bankrupting their economy and that in any case those who wish to benefit from the demise of terror groups should also chip in rather than just letting Israel do the hard and dangerous work and take the blame.
Just a theory .....
(and yea, that's sarcastic but it's been a hot day and while it's one thing to be worried, it's another thing to suggest Isreal doesn't get it about terrorism. Pfeh.)
#3
I hope this is just feel good quotes for domestic consumption, and not an operating assumption.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/18/2006 10:27 Comments ||
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#4
Hizbullah has to run out of rockets sooner or later, even if Israel doesn't take them out. The worst possible thing right now would be for Hizbullah to stop the rocket attacks and return the hostages. Israel would be pressured to leave them alone with much of their arsenal intact.
#7
There's plenty more rockets in Iran for HesbAllan.
True, but the delivery may be a problem. Not all of the border access with Syria has been taken a care off, I suppose, but the major routes are blocked. Speaking of which, does anyobe remember when the 72 hours ultimatum expires?
#9
Move 10 miles into Leb and 98% of the threat is out of range. Level every building and burn the trees before leaving. Any one trying to move back in can be shelled.
Posted by: ed ||
07/18/2006 11:23 Comments ||
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#10
They have already sent D-9's in for the first kilometer.
#11
Damascus is a short tank ride from the Golan Heights. Wink, wink.
Oh, and take as long as you like. We of the peace keeper forces are still making lunch arrangements.
#12
#9 Move 10 miles into Leb and 98% of the threat is out of range. Level every building and burn the trees before leaving. Any one trying to move back in can be shelled.
Hope they use the US made Howitzers we gave them. Would give me such a warm feeling to know something US made is pounding Hezballah into dust.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/18/2006 11:41 Comments ||
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#13
If Israel sends tanks and troops to Lebanon, I hope we reposition a bunch of troops on the West of Iraq. Just to keep them guessing.
#14
A little heat coming from the western Iraqi desert would be a nice thing, If ya know what I mean.
Just daydreaming, folks. Move along now.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/18/2006 12:16 Comments ||
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#15
Can't get at the article right now. However, the TV reporting is that the IDF says it has destroyed about 40% of the rockets and other infrastructure in the south of Lebanon.
That's a claim that can reasonably be based on intel, I think.
#16
If HisbAllan is hiding the rockets in and among houses, it would certainly be interesting to know how Israel destroyed 4-5,000 of the 10-13,000 rockets without killing a lot more civilians. If photo reconnaisance is so good, how come we had so much trouble with getting it right on Iraq? Sure, it's a smaller space and Israel has had a lot more time and humint. But I'd still want to put some boots on the ground to confirm that estimate. Especially after that C-802.
#17
No kidding. Esp good to check on the ground in case these jerks have been digging things up in the Bekka recently.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
07/18/2006 13:03 Comments ||
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#18
Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, on the Israeli general staff, said, We have damaged Hezbollah but they still have significant operational capacity. He noted the decline in rockets launched into Israel in the last two days an average of 40 a day, down from initial highs of 150 and said it was a testament to the damage caused by the Israelis.
It will take time, its more than a matter of days on the military side, he said. We aim to change the situation and not go back to where we are"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 13:09 Comments ||
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#19
I thought I remember Israel saying that they wanted to destroy what was valuable to Hezballah, like their weapons and infrastructure, not to necessarily take out the fighters themselves. To me, that seems about the best anyone could hope for from the air. All they have to do is to shame Iran for not putting thier own butts at risk and the whole thing may well go away, at least in the present form! :-)
I really only watch FOXNews, but I can tell you they always have lots of pics of M109A6 155mm loadin' and firin'. It is something the media can show well without any real risk.
I heard a report that the M109 battery shown last night was a new battery to the area. I hope it wa sincremental and not replacement.
#22
Nimble,
They are probably talking about the number of launchers , of which there probably are a finite number. They probably know how many there are and where they are located.
AL
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/18/2006 14:31 Comments ||
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#23
Iran gives the Arabs, just enough in weapons and money to cause trouble and die for Iran. They kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Arab's die when they fight the Jew's with inferior weapons, and they get other Arab fanatics rise up against the Jews to die for them. Someday, the Arabs will realize that.
#24
Has anyone heard anything about these launchers being remotely controlled? If so, does that mean that a guy could be sitting in his living room drinking tea when the missile in his garage starts to beep then launch, or does it mean they run about 100 feet of wire and run away when they push the button, or does it mean they can call the guy and he pushes the button when the family is out of the way?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 15:33 Comments ||
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#26
I read reports where they have found houses that have special rooms to house some kinds of missiles. Disturbing, but easy to deal with if you know they are there.
#27
"Israel needs to kill lots of Hesb members. LOTS. They have to make sure that the ones who survive know they have been defeated and know they never want to experience something like it again."--Nimble Spemble
A good time to strike would be when HeadsforAllan holds one of those massive parades with hundreds of black-clad, goose-stepping Islamo-Nazis marching and Nass-asshole in the viewing stands.
About two dozen cluster bombs followed by napalm should do the job.
#29
#4 Hizbullah has to run out of rockets sooner or later, even if Israel doesn't take them out. The worst possible thing right now would be for Hizbullah to stop the rocket attacks and return the hostages. Israel would be pressured to leave them alone with much of their arsenal intact.
Ummm, they have about 13,000 missiles and rockets of various sizes, shapes, and flavors.
According to most accounts, HeadsforAllan has fired off less 1,200 so far. They're not running out anytime soons, especially if Syria can slip a few in now and then.
#31
Hezbollah doesn't really need a large arsenal. A score of deadly hits with Zilzaal 1 and Raad 1,2 on Haifa and Tel-Aviv and the Zionist Jews will all be afflicted with shock, heart attack or cardio-vascular failure. I wonder why they have such a high propensity for this? Any ideas? You should thank Muslims that we haven't hit the petro-chemical plants in Haifa...yet. But that may change. I do hope occupied Palestine has excellent heart transplant facilities.
Posted by: the Levant ||
07/18/2006 16:58 Comments ||
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#32
LOL - Paleo medical talent? Didn't you know hospitals are to base Paleo snipers in? Jeebus....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 17:02 Comments ||
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#33
Re #29: It's not just the missiles they've fired that count. There are also destroyed missiles and destroyed missile crews. Personally I doubt that Syria can deliver many new missiles under these conditions anyway.
#34
Does Hezbollah have excellent testicle transplant facilities, Levant? Yhey might want to start making use of them, as the current membership seems quite lacking in that department.
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
07/18/2006 17:12 Comments ||
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#36
I was ignoring his reality :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 17:13 Comments ||
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#37
levant has a serious case of envy re: Israeli medical capabilities. S/he ought to. The Muslim world has added bupkis - nothing - to humanity's achievements in medicine, science, engineering or anything else for the last 1000 years or so.
Whereas the Jews consistently contribute well beyond their numbers.
#38
It seems to me that it would be fair for Israel to tack on the requirement that the remainder of those missiles are destroyed within one week by UN "forces" or no deal.
As for the heart transplant idea, Israeli doctors have all the necessary talent even if the people occupying the area of Israel that they like to call "Palestine" don't. If Hezballah does manage to hit the refinery, it won't be long before Israel makes sure there are lots of spare parts laying around to perform all kinds of transplants.
#42
#37: "The Muslim world has added bupkis - nothing - to humanity's achievements in medicine, science, engineering or anything else for the last 1000 years or so."
Now, now - don't be nasty.
The moslem Arabs have contributed the homicide bomb belt - and the buzzing prayer rug.
In light of these stellar inventions, aren't you ashamed of yourself for dissing them?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/18/2006 17:29 Comments ||
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#43
Levant is in Syria? Cool. What are your opinions on all the happenings over there? How did your opinions on all this stuff get formed?
#47
Re #31: Actually, the heart attack rate is a lot higher in Syria than in Israel. Must be all that seething.
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/h/heart_attack/stats-country.htm
Thought it might be useful to link to one of the better resources on the web, the University of Texas Libraries Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection. Some maps of interest:
#7
Look at he Gaza Land Use map. The fields are green on the Israeli side of the line, and bare dirt on the Paleo side. Dead, just like the spirit and intellectual awareness of it's populace.
(KUNA) -- A three-story building collapsed Monday in the northern Israeli city of Haifa after it was hit by a Hezbollah rocket, said Israeli radio. The Israeli radio added that two were wounded and rushed to a nearby hospital, while rescue teams have been searching for more wounded people under the rubble of the collapsed building. Hezbollah continued firing rockets from Southern Lebanon on Israel, wounding six Israelis.
Meanwhile, Israel threatened to completely destroy the utilities network in Lebanon if Hezbollah attacked the petrochemicals facilities in Haifa city. A senior Israeli military official told Israeli radio that Israel avoided targeting Lebanese infrastructure; however, if Hezbollah attacked the petrochemicals plant in the Gulf of Haifa with its long-range rockets, the Israeli army would completely destroy the Lebanese power network.
The Israeli military official, whose name was not disclosed, said that Israeli army's operation in Southern Lebanon focused on Hezbollah's rockets battery locations. Israeli warplanes have executed several raids on Lebanon's power plants since July 12, the last was today as a power plant in Eastern Beirut was bombed.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
IDF, you are being too restrained. Go for it. Take their infrastructure down ASAP. At the rate they're flooding Israel with missiles, they are bound to connect every once in a while.
#2
I say the Hezzies are sissies unless they focus all their rockets on the petrochemical facilities. After all, it's obvious the Joooos don't want it to happen, so it must be allen's will....
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/18/2006 6:31 Comments ||
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#3
Seems to me that missiles capable of reaching Haifa are big enough and in the air long enough that Israel ought to be able to get a very precise fix on the launch site. They (IDF) say that's their operational focus. How are they (Hezb) getting away?
#5
They've been showing the Hezbollah Rocket Corp video on all the news networks. They have a truck mounted launcher with what looks like a dozen tubes in one horizontal row. Tubes appear to be 10 - 12 feet long. Truck looks like 10 ton size, easy to shoot and scoot.
Also caught glimpse of a man-portable single tube launcher on a tripod. Could be carried into a building and fired from a window, if you didn't care what happened to the inside of the room.
The rockets seem to be fired as single shots, rather than massed bombardment. That way makes it harder to pin down a launch site.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 10:10 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- As many as forty-nine Indians were Monday evacuated from Beirut and an Indian soldier with the UN peacekeeping force was injured following tensions in Lebanon. There were no plans to move out the 600 Indian troops by India as the UN would have to take this decision, Indian Foreign Ministry officials told reporters Monday in Delhi. The Indians were taken in two buses to Damascus, the officials said.
Nearly 12,000 Indians living in Lebanon have been advised to contact the Indian embassy in Beirut so that arrangements can be made to move them to safety, the officials added. Indian Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi convened a meeting of senior officials Monday evening in Delhi to discuss contingency plans to ensure the safety of Indians living in Lebanon.
The Indian soldier had minor injuries, the officials said. "The Indian soldiers are under the UN flag. Any decision on whether they stay, should be re-deployed or should be pulled out will be taken at the UN headquarters based on the assessment of the UN commander on the ground," the officials added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Okay -- let me get this right. We got members of the Indian army, under UN, in Lebanon. There are UN flags next to Hezbollah flags at the Lebanon border, and the UN, Russia and Blair, want to send in more UN troops? What have the ones that are there not doing, that more just won't do? But, I do know a few Marines who would gladly take the job.
#2
UN "buffer force" there are just *observers*. Basically, they count the number of shots, rockets,... and get an hefty pay at the end of the month, nothing else. They have no power whatsoever, and are not allowed to do anything at all excepting keeping track.
#5
NEW DELHI: The Government has sent four naval ships to Lebanon for evacuating Indians from the country, where the Hizbollah militant groups are under Israeli attack.
The ships will be in the vicinity of the Lebanon coast on Wednesday. In view of the naval blockade by Israel, the Government is in touch with Tel Aviv to ensure safe passage to Indian citizens in the event of the situation deteriorating further.
Army sources said there was no move to evacuate the troops stationed in southern Lebanon on the border with Israel. which is the scene of hostilities between the Israeli Defence Forces and Hizbollah militant group. Part of the United Nations mission, the troops have been mandated to confirm and monitor the withdrawal of the Israeli forces after they withdrew from the area in the late eighties.
The troops are currently taking shelter in bunkers and underground shelters, as is the case when clashes take place between the two sides.
Posted by: john ||
07/18/2006 19:42 Comments ||
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Hezbollah fighters fired rockets at nine Israeli settlements, Al-Manar television reported. The station, the mouthpiece of Hezbollah, said the attack targeted the Israeli military command headquarters in the northern Safad town.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
What is Hezbollah going to do when they run out of rockets? There are sea, land, and air blockades, they have blown some caches, some prolly don't work after storage, some prolly blow up right on the pad.
I'm sure they are smuggling some into the country, but not enough to form a supply line. So what are they going to do when they are gone?
#2
I've seen reports they had between 10 and 14 thousand rockets on hand. Even with attrition, you could fire a 100 a day for three months.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 10:14 Comments ||
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#3
I've seen reports they had between 10 and 14 thousand rockets on hand. Even with attrition, you could fire a 100 a day for three months.
The rockets themselves yes. The platforms and launchers are MUCH more limited I would guess. And the personel who can use them I would assume are getting roasted by IDF missles. Though I doubt anyone on any network would mention that with Baby ducks getting hurt.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/18/2006 11:37 Comments ||
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#4
Airlift from Iran into Damascus, truck to Bekaa.
A new barrage of rockets fired by guerrillas in southern Lebanon hit northern Israel late Monday, Israeli security officials said. Security officials said one rocket hit a hospital in the northern town of Safed, but the army later said the rocket hit near it. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Other rockets hit the northern city of Haifa, where a three-story apartment building was destroyed by a rocket earlier in the day, and the border town of Kiryat Shemona, officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
What about those non-existant WMDs in the Bekaa Valley? Can Hezbollah access them?
#2
Based on their seeming freedom to move about the country it would seem they clearly should have access to them (Bekaa WMD). Have they not used them out of some kind of civilized or self-preservational instinct (not generally detected in this sub-species), or because they have not gotten desperate enough/decided the time was right, or because the weapons are not there/not functional, or maybe because the Syrians/Iranians ultimately have control of those weapons and won't let Hezballah have them (yet)?
#3
If the WMD weapons are there, and Syria letz Hiz use them, Syria would have made itself a BIG target for pounding. I do not think that the Syrians are THAT stupid. But I have been shown that I was in error before.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/18/2006 12:20 Comments ||
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#4
Assumes the WMD in the Bekaa Valley are under Syrian control and that the control can be maintained. If Hisb starts to go Tango Uniform, it could be their Samson option.
#2
starred with Ronald Reagan in "King's Row" the movie where Reagan used the line "where's the rest of me". The line was later used as title of a Reagan autobiog
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(KUNA) -- More than 60 people were killed Monday after tribal clashes erupted in Al Buhayrat state in southern Sudan. Sudan News Agency (SUNA) said fighting amongst Al-Denka tribe members began since last week. SUNA added that local forces stopped the violence between the tribe members and stated that the state's governor is dealing with the matter now.
A top criminal of the city was killed during a "shootout" between the members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his cohorts at C & B road early morning.
Six Islamic militants were sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Bangladesh's eastern Feni district Monday for series bombings on Aug. 17 last year, which killed three people and wounding hundreds. The court also fined them 5,000 taka (about 71 U.S. dollars) each. The six militants belong to Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which was blamed for a series of bombings in 63 out of 64 districts of Bangladesh on Aug. 17 last year and suicide bomb attacks that killed 28 people and wounded several others. 
BISHKEK: Police have stepped up security in southern Kyrgyzstan amid fears of retaliation by Islamic radicals for the deaths of five alleged religious extremists, officials said on Monday. The alleged extremists, killed in a shootout with law enforcement authorities on Friday, had been suspected of fatally shooting a police officer and wounding three other people in the southern city of Jalal-Abad. Police have been on heightened alert and border control has been tightened in the Central Asian nation's south to guard against possible attacks by supporters of the alleged extremists, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Aida Bakirova said. 
(KUNA) -- A Turkish policeman was killed Monday by the Kurdistan Working Party (PKK) in the eastern Turkish governorate of Van. Turkish Ihlas News Agency cited security sources as saying that the attack took place in Ozlap town near the Turkish-Iranian border, noting that clash with PKK members was ongoing. The source added that another policeman was wounded in an attack by PKK members in the Bingol governorate. At least 23 Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes with PKK this month in different parts of Turkey.
The man said to be responsible for killing and mutilating two U-S soldiers in Iraq last month has been killed. Iraq's national security adviser today announced the death of Jordanian 
The Balochistan government claimed on Monday that another commander of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, along with several other tribal militants, had decided to surrender before the government and support the government in its campaign against the Nawab. "Wadera Ghulam Mohammad Jujrani, a commander of Nawab Bugti's militia, has given up arms and decided to support the government along with twenty of his armed men," Abdul Samad Lasi, district coordination officer (DCO) of Dera Bugti, told reporters.
RAIPUR, India - Hundreds of Maoist rebels stormed a government relief camp in central India on Monday and killed at least 25 people, including members of a state-backed, anti-Maoist group, police said. More than 50 were wounded, and at least 100 people living at the camp housing the Salwa Judum (Campaign For Peace) were missing after the rebels, many armed with automatic weapons, launched the raid in the insurgency hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh state.
Taliban commanders have warned the South Waziristan administration against collecting import tax. "Taliban commanders visited the Jandola office of the political administration a few days ago, stopping them from collecting import tax from the tribesmen," a senior administration official, asking not to be named, told Daily Times. He said the Taliban considered the tax collection "un-Islamic" and told the tax collectors that they would face "serious consequences" if they did not stop immediately. 
(KUNA) -- Pakistani security forces have arrested a wanted former Taliban commander from Southwestern Baluchistan province, bordering Afghanistan, said security officials Monday. Taliban commander, Maulavi Hamdullah, was arrested in a raid in Nawann Kuli area of Quetta few days back, the provincial capital, officials told KUNA. They added that he has been shifted to undisclosed location and is under interrogation. During Taliban regime Maulavi Hamdullah had served as the Repatriation Attache at the Taliban Consulate General in Quetta.
An Iraqi top security official said Tuesday that four key al-Qaida leaders, who are responsible for major bombings and sectarian bloodshed in the country, have been captured in Baghdad. Iraq's National Security Advisor Muwafaq al-Rubaie made the government announcement in a televised news conference. Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops captured the four al-Qaida leaders and killed the fifth, a Jordanian who slaughtered last month two U.S. soldiers in Yousifiyah town, about 20 km south of Baghdad, al-Rubaie told the reporters. Rubaie identified the detained four as 
Up to eight militants were arrested by the US army in two separate incidents in northern Baghdad. A statement for the US army said Monday that an Al-Qaeda member and four of his aides were arrested during a raid in Al-Yousifiyah town in southern Baghdad. The statement added that the US soldiers also arrested three militants at a US army checkpoint in Al-Doura area in south Baghdad, where different kinds of ammunition was found in their vehicle.
(KUNA) -- Up to 60 Iraqis were killed and 45 others injured after coming under fire in the town of Mahmoudieh, which is some 20 kilometers south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said Monday. The victims included a large number of women and children, a source in the ministry told the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). "The attack was preceded by a car bomb explosion as well as a mortar attack. When the town's people came to the scene to take a look, armed gunmen opened fire on them killing 60 and injuring 45 including first aid people who came to provide assistance to the initial victims," the source said. 
(KUNA) -- An insurgent leader was killed and 12 were injured after two military operations conducted by the Iraqi army, said a US army source Monday. The source told KUNA that the Iraqi army managed to kill a leader of an insurgent cell and to arrest four of his henchmen in southeast of Talafar in northern Iraq.
WASHINGTON - Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday Hezbollahs attacks on Israel with imprecise rockets in civilian areas violated international humanitarian law and most likely constituted war crimes. The attacks Sunday and Monday were at best indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, at worst the deliberate targeting of civilians, the New York-based group said in a statement. Either way, they were serious violations of international humanitarian law and probable war crimes, it said. 
An Israeli air strike flattened the 8-storey Palestinian foreign ministry building in Gaza City today, part of a campaign against the Hamas militant group and the government it controls. The foreign ministry building, which was badly damaged in a previous Israeli air strike, was completely destroyed by the early morning blast, which tore into nearby homes, shops and offices, witnesses said. At least nine Palestinians were injured, most of them children. No deaths were reported.
(KUNA) -- Ezzideen Al-Qassam brigades, Military wing of Hamas, bombarded Kfar Saad settlement in eastern Gaza and an electricity power station in occupied Asqalan with two Qassam rockets on Monday. "The shelling came coinciding with a Zionist incursion into Beit Hanoun which aims at halting launch of rockets at Israeli targets," the brigade's statement said. The bombardment came in retaliation of the Israeli crimes against Palestinians and a way to fight back, the brigades said.
(KUNA) -- An Israeli army spokesman said Monday that three Israeli soldiers were injured by Palestinian gunfire in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza Strip. The spokesman told the Radio that the soldiers were participating in a military operation in Beit Hanoun when Palestinian activists launched a rocket towards them. Izzuddine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, claimed responsibility for the attack in Beit Hanoun. Meanwhile, a local radio station said that an Israeli fighter Jet fired missiles on Palestinian activists responsible for the rocket attacks on the Sderot settlement.
Iran's Hizbollah, which claims links to the Lebanese group of the same name, said on Tuesday it stood ready to attack Israeli and U.S. interests worldwide.
(KUNA) -- A three-story building collapsed Monday in the northern Israeli city of Haifa after it was hit by a Hezbollah rocket, said Israeli radio. The Israeli radio added that two were wounded and rushed to a nearby hospital, while rescue teams have been searching for more wounded people under the rubble of the collapsed building. Hezbollah continued firing rockets from Southern Lebanon on Israel, wounding six Israelis.
