Hi dude, thanks for the welcome. I think that the words in Ezekiel and also Daniel will come
to pass exactly as they are written so that all of Gods word will be seen to be true and
they will complement each other. I have read that the abomination that causes desolation is
the antichrist setting himself up in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and proclaiming himself
God. Maybe the King of Syria. Apparently all mid-east terrorist organisations have public
offices in Damascus, Syria. See www.cynet.com/jesus/PROPHECY/Begin.htm Antiochus Epiphanes
who desecrated the Temple 160 years before Jesus was also the King of Syria. I note that Daniel
12:11 says "From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that
causes desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days. (3 years, 6 1/2 months) Blessed is the
one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1335 days (3 years, 8 months).

Being modern warfare, the weapons burned for fuel in Ezekiel could possibly be
nuclear. They could continue burning whether they ran for the mountains or if only some heed
that warning. In light of Luke 21 I'm thinking that people around the world will need to be
running from the city as they are generally situated near the coast. Matthew 24:21-22 and
Jeremiah 30:5-7 paint a similar picture. ( I have made a post in General Discussion called
'Men will faint from terror') What state must the seas and the sky be in to cause men to
faint from terror. Apparently earth shows signs of flipping its magnetic poles which would
cause havoc and explain fire and hail in the skys. The various visions and dreams of asteroids and mountain sized
tidal waves also seem quite possible if every face is turned deathly pale.

Christians must have to endure at least some of the tribulation because Matthew 24 says
to pray that you will not have to take flight in winter or on the sabbath and it would only
be believers who would be asked to pray. The time to run is when you see standing in the
holy place the abomination that causes desolation mentioned above. (Matthew 24:15-22). Luke
21:20 gives the same warning except that it is when you see Jerusalem being surrounded by
armies.

I'm wary of claiming any exact time frames because we are told a number of times
that no one knows about the day or hour of Jesus return and Matthew also says that it will
be like the time of the flood when people were eating and drinking and marrying right up to
the day Noah entered the ark. The most important preparation is to have accepted Jesus as
Lord and Savior and that is still the most important news we can give to others. Maybe times
of distress will cause them to heed your words. I pray that my love will not grow cold
because of the increase of wickedness (Matthew 24:12) and also to aim for faith, goodness,
knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness and love as exhorted to in 2
Peter 1. Attributes to aim for so that we will never fall.
Boyd

Hizbullah: Deployment of U.S. Warships Will Not Affect Us

Hizbullah on Friday rejected the deployment of U.S. warships off the coast of Lebanon, calling it a threat to Lebanese sovereignty and independence that will not affect the Shiite group. "We are facing an American threat against Lebanon," Hizbullah legislator Hasan Fadlallah said. "It is clear this threat and intimidation will not affect us," he said on local television.

Fadlallah, speaking on New TV, called on Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's government to reject the deployment as well. His remarks came a day after the U.S. revealed it has sent its USS Cole destroyer off Lebanon's coast and was dispatching two more warships in a show of strength as tensions with Syria and political uncertainly mount.

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in Washington Thursday the deployment should not be viewed as threatening or in response to events in any single country in the volatile region.

"This is an area that is important to us, the eastern Med," he said when asked about news reports of the ship movements. "It's a group of ships that will operate in the vicinity there for a while," adding that "it isn't meant to send any stronger signals than that. But it does signal that we're engaged, we're going to be in the vicinity, and that's a very, very important part of the world."

Another military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because full details about the ship movements are not yet public, said a Navy guided missile destroyer, the USS Cole, was headed for patrol in the eastern Mediterranean and that it is accompanied by two refueling ships. The Cole is equipped to engage in a variety of offensive actions, including anti-aircraft and land attack missions.

Another group led by the USS Nassau, an amphibious warship, is headed in that direction on a normally scheduled deployment and some or all six ships in the Nassau group might operate in the eastern Mediterranean also, the official said.

The officer said a third ship would go later, but he did not identify it by type or name.

A Navy news release said the Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group entered the 6th Fleet's operational area on Monday. Besides the Nassau, the group included a guided missile cruiser, two guided missile destroyers and two other amphibious warfare ships. The amphibious warfare ships can carry thousands of U.S. Marines.

The U.S. 6th Fleet, whose area of operations includes the entire Mediterranean, is based at Naples, Italy.

The decision to send the ships appeared to be a not-too-subtle show of U.S. force in the region as international frustration mounts over a long political deadlock in tiny Lebanon. The United States blames Syria for the impasse, saying Syria has never given up its ambitions to control its smaller neighbor.

The presidential election in Lebanon has been delayed 15 times. Just this week the date was pushed back to March 11.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to visit the Middle East next week.

Fadlallah told NTV that Hizbullah would not be affected by "threats and intimidation and such American military shows which do not affect our choices and decisions."
"Lebanese sovereignty and independence are clearly threatened through these direct American moves," he added.

Stretching its military muscle is "proof of failure" of the United States, the Hizbullah MP said. "There is a clear American decision to interfere directly through military pressure," he added. He also told the daily As Safir that the U.S. move proves that the "real confrontation is with effective decision makers in Washington."

"America's show of strength is proof of failure and indication that it had consumed all political pressure to impose the American tutelage," Fadlallah said in remarks published by As Safir Friday. Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun, a major opposition leader, said the ship movements looked like a calculated show of force by the U.S. "There is no need for it," Aoun said.

Other Arab countries appear to be becoming involved in the Lebanese impasse.

Syria is to host an Arab summit in Damascus next month, and pro-U.S. Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt reportedly are threatening to boycott if no president is elected in Lebanon by then.

This could be a tactic by the Saudis and Egyptians to force Syrian concessions in Lebanon to save the summit. The Syrians so far have said the summit will go ahead as planned, regardless of who refuses to attend.

MP Mustafa Alloush of Saad Hariri's al-Mustaqbal Movement said that neither the government nor the anti-Syrian March 14 coalition had any links to the dispatching of the Cole. "But we remind what caused the situation to bring the American equation into the arena," he said, blaming Syria indirectly for inviting such American intervention. "It (the deployment) could be aimed directly at Syria or a declaration by the United States of America that it could be part of this equation that could develop if conditions remain the way they are," Alloush said.

Mullen was asked whether the deployment of the ships was linked to the timing of the Lebanese election. "To say it's absolutely directly tied would be incorrect, but we are certainly aware that elections out there are both important, and they are due at some point in time," he replied.

And when asked whether Syria is the reason for the deployment, he said, "It's not specifically sent to any one country, as much as it is to the region itself."

The Cole was rebuilt after being almost sunk in a terror attack in Aden, Yemen, in October 2000. It was re-commissioned in April 2002 and went on its first post-attack deployment in November 2003.

National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the deployment of the Cole is meant as "a show of support for regional stability." He added that President George Bush is concerned about the situation in Lebanon.

The Cole is sailing to the region from Malta.(AP-Naharnet)

Beirut, 29 Feb 08, 07:45
http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/Ne...2573FD00719496
..............................................................benny

Top official says US anti-Syria sanctions to continue

Politics 2/29/2008 9:17:00 AM

WASHINGTON, Feb 29 (KUNA) -- A senior US official has indicated Washington will continue to exercise anti-Syria sanctions saying Damascus should be punished for its role in Lebanon and Iraq.

"We have every reason to believe that continued pressure on the Syrian government, in the type that was announced by the US Treasury Department, is the right way to go for our country," said the US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicolas Burns, referring to the Treasury department's action to freeze the assets Syrian President Bashar al Assad's cousin, Rami Makhluf, on the grounds that he was involved in public corruption.

"Syria needs to understand it needs to play by the rules in the Middle East," said Burns, late on Thursday -- and cited the treasury acted with good reason.

The US accuses Syria of sponsoring terrorist groups in Iraq, meddling in Lebanon's political affairs and it's close relations with Lebanese Hezbollah, a party with close ties with Iran that has been listed as a terrorist organization by the US. "We have been disturbed to see the union between Syria and Iran in support of some of the most vicious terrorist groups in the Middle East" like Hezbollah, according to Burns, who characterized the countries and terrorist organizations as quite "nefarious."

Both Iran and Syria's presence in the region "runs counter to the hopes and dreams that Lebanon may be free and independent from Syria's domination; that the moderate Palestinians will have a chance to seek peace with Israel; that the people of Iraq should be free of the terrorism that Iran has been fueling by sending sophisticated explosive technology to Shiite terrorist groups," Burns said.

(end) hy.rk KUNA 290917 Feb 08NNNN
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesP...94&Language=en
...........................................................benny

JPost.com » Middle East » Article


Feb 29, 2008 17:20 | Updated Feb 29, 2008 17:42
'Hamas will soon be able to strike any target in Israel'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
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Hamas is improving its rocket technology, and will soon be able to "any target in Israel," Reuters quoted a senior member of the organization, Fathi Hamad, saying Friday at a rally in the Gaza Strip.


Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh speaks after prayers at a mosque in Gaza City, Friday.
Photo: AP
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who was recently reported to have "gone underground" out of fear he would be targeted for assassination by Israel, also spoke at the demonstration. Haniyeh addressed the possibility of a large-scale IDF incursion into Gaza.

"[Such an] operation would end in total failure for Israel, just like the rest of its operations in the past," Haniyeh declared.

"Israel is living under a delusion if it believes that it can topple the Hamas regime in Gaza… Even if Israel kills our leaders, it can't damage the purpose of [our] struggle," he continued.

RELATED
Barak: Hamas will bear consequences
Kassam hits Sderot home, woman hurt

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri also spoke about a possible IDF operation in the Gaza Strip, saying that Hamas was "in a war against the new Nazis."

Zuhri's comment came after Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i said Friday that "as long as the rocket attacks escalated, the Palestinians are bringing upon themselves a bigger Shoah [Holocaust
............................................................benny

Iranian Missiles Could Threaten Europe, U.S. Says

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iran within the next two to three years is likely to possess a missile capable of reaching much of Europe, the head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency warned yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 17).

“They’re already flying missiles that exceed what they would need in a fight with Israel. Why? Why do they continue this progression in terms of range of missiles? It’s something we need to think about,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering said during a conference in London.

In the face of widespread European skepticism, Obering was promoting the importance of U.S. plans to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and an early warning radar system in the Czech Republic, the Los Angeles Times reported (see GSN, Feb. 28).

Amid the international focus on nuclear proliferation, China, India, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and other nations are significantly boosting the ranges of their missiles, defense experts say.

“Our short-range defenses could protect Rome and Athens,” Obering said. However, those systems would leave Brussels, London and Paris vulnerable “against an Iranian (intermediate-range missile) threat.”

The United States appears close to completing a deal with the Czech Republic on the radar installation. The two nations could sign an agreement at a NATO meeting next month in Romania, followed by approval by summer from Czech lawmakers, said the Czech Foreign Ministry’s top security policy official.

The new Polish government has appeared more reticent about a deal, but officials in Warsaw have indicated they would support the interceptor site in exchange for U.S. air defenses and assistance in modernizing the country’s military.

Russia has strenuously objected to the U.S. plan as a threat to its security. Moscow’s complaints “would be much less vociferous” had the United States not chosen former Warsaw Pact states to host the installations, said Malcolm Chalmers, a foreign policy adviser to Tony Blair during his term as British prime minister.

“Did we only deploy it there because that’s the only place available?” Chalmers said.

The U.S. plan undermines the West’s ability to cooperate with Russia, said Jane Sharp, a senior defense studies research fellow at King’s College London.

“Even if ballistic missile defense did look credible to a potential adversary, they’re still destabilizing, because the logical response for any adversary for a credible defense is to acquire more offensive capability — that is what the Russians are telling us every day,” she said (see related GSN story, today).

U.S. and Czech officials emphasized again yesterday that the system would not be developed with Russia in mind, the Times reported.

“I believe it’s in our interests to try to figure out a way for the Russians to understand the system is not aimed at them, but aimed at the real threats of the 21st century,” U.S. President George W. Bush said in Washington (Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 29).

The foreign and defense ministers from Russia and the United States plan to meet again in coming months to discuss proposals for overcoming Moscow’s objections to the U.S. missile shield plan, the Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

Both nations have offered compromise plans that to date have not gained traction with the other side (see GSN, Sept. 20, 2007, and Oct. 22, 2007).

“U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice intends to visit Moscow in March-April for participation in the consultations over these issues,” a diplomatic source in Moscow told ITAR-Tass.

“The U.S. side continues to consider Russian proposals on creating a joint missile defense, but so far [only] as an addition to its system in Eastern Europe,” the source said.

The planned talks “should clarify how possible such cooperation is,” the source added (Xinhua News Agency, Feb. 29).

Meanwhile, Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich said yesterday the United States has not yet offered enough military modernization aid as part of the missile shield deal, the Associated Press reported.

An offer made this week is “much more open than previous proposals, and that’s a good thing,” he said.

“But it’s still far from fulfilling Poland’s expectations, and that’s why negotiations must continue,” Klich added.

He did not discuss details of the offer. Poland has said it needs support in 17 military areas (Associated Press/Salon.com, Feb. 28). http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive...wire=D8V3GFU86
............................................................benny

Benny,
u and I see eye to eye on most everything...I know where u r coming from with a feeling about the Rapture this yr..my studies lead me to the personal opinion that the magog invasion happens 10.5yrs before the abom. of desolation...i also think that the rapture happens before magog. infact i think that the rapture is the reason Russia and its arab allies feel they can attack Israel and get away with it..The USA will be in chaos...millons of our population gone...soldiers, dr.s, pilots, president etc...
but i still cant get the time line down on Is. 17 and magog from ezek. there is no mention of syria with magog so we assume Is17 happens first. but Is. 17 paints a picture of Isael having a pretty ruff time too and then the magog invasion takes place at a time when Isreal is safe and confident???

US warship threatens regional stability: Hezbollah

By Laila Bassam
1 hour, 29 minutes ago



The pro-Iranian Hezbollah group accused the United States on Friday of endangering regional stability by deploying a warship off Lebanon and vowed to defy what it called an act of military intimidation.

The United States said on Thursday it sent the destroyer USS Cole to the eastern Mediterranean because the Bush administration was concerned about Lebanon's political deadlock.

"The American move threatens the stability of Lebanon and the region and it is an attempt to spark tension," Hezbollah member of parliament Hassan Fadlallah told Reuters by telephone.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, leads a Lebanese opposition locked in a 15-month-old power struggle with the Western-backed governing coalition.

The standoff, which Washington blames on Syrian meddling, has left Lebanon without a president since November.

"The American administration has used the policy of sending warships to support its allies in Lebanon before, and that experiment failed and backfired," Fadlallah said.

"We don't succumb to threats and military intimidation practiced by the United States to implement its hegemony over Lebanon."

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said his government had not requested any such move by Washington.

"Regarding reports that U.S. warships have arrived to the east of the Mediterranean, it is important that I make clear that there are no foreign warships in Lebanese territorial waters," Siniora said, addressing Arab ambassadors.

"We did not call any warships from any side."

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said that for U.S. adversaries, the move was "just a reminder, that we are there."

"We have a long-term commitment to peace and stability there (in the region), and we're not going anywhere ... we intend to maintain a very robust, defensive presence there," he said.

REPEAT

"America repeats the adventure of '82," the headline of the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper said, referring to a big U.S. military deployment in Lebanon after the 1982 Israeli invasion.

At that time the United States deployed Marines in Beirut and warships off the coast to support a Lebanese government trying to reach a peace deal with Israel.

U.S. forces had to pull out after a series of suicide bombings by pro-Iranian militants, one of which killed 241 Marines. The Lebanese government was forced to scrap its peace agreement with Israel under pressure from Syria and its local allies.

A U.S. defense official said the Cole left Malta on Tuesday heading toward Lebanon. It would not be visible from the Lebanese coast but would stay "well over the horizon."

Lebanon's presidential election was postponed again this week to March 11 from February 26, the 15th such delay, after rival leaders failed to reach a deal.

The deadlock has threatened to degenerate into sectarian violence and continues to poison inter-Arab relations in the run-up to an Arab League summit in Syria on March 29-30.

The deployment of the USS Cole was announced two weeks after the assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Imad Moughniyah, who was on the United States' most wanted list of terrorists.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah blamed Israel for Moughniyah's killing in Damascus and vowed to avenge his death. Israel denies any links but its secret Mossad spy service had sought the Lebanese militant for two decades.

(Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Beirut and Susan Cornwell and Andrew Gray in Washington; Writing by Nadim Ladki; editing by Robert Woodward)


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080229/...p_dc&printer=1
...........................................................benny

Hi, thanks for the welcome. I'm reposting this reply because by the time I had posted it as a quote it was on the previous page so I hope people find that it is worth reading.

I think that the words in Ezekiel and also Daniel will come
to pass exactly as they are written so that all of Gods word will be seen to be true and
they will complement each other. I have read that the abomination that causes desolation is
the antichrist setting himself up in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and proclaiming himself
God. That would be an abomination and it would cause desolation if people heed the warnings of Matthew 24 and Luke 21 to run from the city. Maybe its the King of Syria. Apparently all mid-east terrorist organisations have public
offices in Damascus, Syria. See www.cynet.com/jesus/PROPHECY/Begin.htm Antiochus Epiphanes
who desecrated the Temple 160 years before Jesus time was also the King of Syria. I note that Daniel
12:11 says "From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that
causes desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days. (3 years, 6 1/2 months) Blessed is the
one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1335 days (3 years, 8 months).

Being modern warfare, the weapons burned for fuel in Ezekiel could possibly be
nuclear. They could continue burning whether they ran for the mountains or if only some heed
that warning. In light of Luke 21 I'm thinking that people around the world will need to be
running from the city as they are generally situated near the coast. Matthew 24:21-22 and
Jeremiah 30:5-7 paint a similar picture. ( I have made a post in General Discussion called
'Men will faint from terror') What state must the seas and the sky be in to cause men to
faint from terror. Apparently earth shows signs of flipping its magnetic poles which would
cause havoc and explain fire and hail in the skys. The various visions and dreams of asteroids and mountain sized
tidal waves also seem quite possible if every face is turned deathly pale.

Christians must have to endure at least some of the tribulation because Matthew 24 says
to pray that you will not have to take flight in winter or on the sabbath and it would only
be believers who would be asked to pray. The time to run is when you see standing in the
holy place the abomination that causes desolation mentioned above. (Matthew 24:15-22). Luke
21:20 gives the same warning except that it is when you see Jerusalem being surrounded by
armies.

I'm wary of claiming any exact time frames because we are told a number of times
that no one knows about the day or hour of Jesus return and Matthew also says that it will
be like the time of the flood when people were eating and drinking and marrying right up to
the day Noah entered the ark. The most important preparation is to have accepted Jesus as
Lord and Savior and that is still the most important news we can give to others. Maybe times
of distress will cause them to heed your words. I pray that my love will not grow cold
because of the increase of wickedness (Matthew 24:12) and also to aim for faith, goodness,
knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness and love as exhorted to in 2
Peter 1. Attributes to aim for so that we will never fall.
Boyd

THE WORD OF CREATOR

YE STILL SEEK DESTRUCTION?
YE STILL WANT TRIBULATION?
YE STILL WANT COSMIC LIGHT SHOW?
YE STILL WANT RAPTURE IN THE VOID OF SPACE?

READ THE WORD WITH LOVE
KEEP THE GOOD
READ THE WORD NOT WITH HATE,
NO GOOD IN IT.

WORD IS MIRROR OF THY SOUL
ONLY READ THROUGH LOVE OF JESUS
SOUL IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
WORD IS TRUTH AND NO LIE

NO LIE OF HATE
ONLY THIS:
TRUTH OF LOVE
CIRCLE IS ROUND

END OF TIMES THEREFORE
NEW BEGINNING
IN GOD WE TRUST
GOD IS WITH US.

AMEN

Hi, out of interest, is this a poem or some sort or a message that you have clearly heard from God because the first line says word of creator. It is interesting. For myself, I have never said God told me this or God told me that in case it was a misrepresentation of him. We can however, be sure of the bible and all that is written in it. Thats not to say that God doesn't speak to people as he has at times in the bible. The bible also says not to show contempt for prophecy so I think that true prophecy is quite valid and particularly so when it matches with the what the bible has said will happen. Visions and dreams are also expected in end times. I did once have a dream of devastation where anything greater than one storey tall was rubble. Could be something in that.

Luke 21 says that nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea and that men will faint from terror. Ut could make the following possible - http://standeyo.com/NEWS/08_Prophecy/080221.A.Strom.html
Even the heavenly bodies will be shaken. The same chapter says when these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near. Its a good reason to keep telling others news that Jesus suffered the worst beating in all history (Is 50:6,7 52:14 53:6,7) to pay the price for our sins and that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)

It is both a poem and from God. But if God thinks it is not from Him, may He strike me dead now.
Also, it is merely a recapitulation of what I have been saying since I joined the forum, and I am still alive. Thank You Lord God!

The Word of God is a mirror of thy soul
Read it with hate and you read destruction
Read it with Love and you read Salvation.
Therefore, what you know from the Word,
is in the EYE of the beholder.
First bind the tares in the Word,
Then read the rest which remains.

Libya urges Arabs to stop Israeli attacks on Gaza
Sat Mar 1, 2008 11:02am EST

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya on Saturday called on Arabs to halt what it called an Israeli military campaign aimed at "wiping out the Palestinian people".

Israel killed 36 Palestinians on Saturday in its deepest incursion into the Gaza Strip since pulling out in 2005, stoking fears of a broader conflict that could derail renewed U.S.-backed peace talks.

At least 71 Palestinians have been killed in four days of Israeli air strikes and raids in the Hamas-controlled territory.

"What Israel is doing in Gaza confirms that the so-called peace process in the Middle East is a deliberate ploy to cover up a continuing campaign to wipe out the Palestinian people," Libya's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"This bloody Israeli campaign had laid bare the reality of the aims of the Zionists and their disdain of the so-called peace initiatives," the statement, carried by the official news agency Jana, added.

Israel says it is responding to cross-border rockets that killed an Israeli man in the border town of Sderot on Wednesday and wounded others in the southern city of Ashkelon.

"Libya calls on Arabs to take an urgent position to stop the Zionist machine of mass killing and muster political and material support to rescue the sons of the Palestinian people from this Zionist shoah," the Libyan ministry said.

"Libya also calls on the international community to shoulder their responsibility to halt this mass killing."

The Israel deputy defense minister has warned Gazans they risked a "shoah" if the rocket fire does not stop. The word "shoah" is rarely used in Israel beyond discussions of the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews but government spokesmen said Matan Vilnai had employed the word only to mean "disaster".

(Writing by Lamine Ghanmi; Editing by Alison Williams)

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...16594620080301
.............................................benny

Iran calls Security Council debates on its nuclear program 'futile'


Tehran calls new UN Security Council debates on its nuclear program ‘futile’ and ‘pointless’, says they will undermine rather than enhance international security

Associated Press Published: 03.01.08, 20:16 / Israel News




Tehran on Saturday called illegal and "futile" UN Security Council debates for new sanctions against Iran, saying sanctions would undermine, not strengthen, global security.



Iran Showdown

Iran brushes US rocket rebuke / AFP

Islamic republic rejects concerns from its arch-enemy over its firing of rocket into space, saying such 'scientific achievements' should not worry anyone
Full story



The US Push for a third round of sanctions against Iran is an "exercise in futility," said government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham. He made the remarks after Britain and France delayed a Security Council vote on new sanctions against Iran until Monday to try to get more support for the resolution.



The two countries are co-sponsoring the resolution that would impose a third round of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.




Iran says a report released by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency last week has vindicated Iran's nuclear program and left no justification for any Security Council sanctions.



"The Security Council's re-entry into (Iran's) nuclear issue lacks legal justification," Elham told a press conference Saturday. "Any action (new sanctions against Iran) will be a violation of the Security Council's philosophy of existence and a violation of the charter of the United Nations."





Iran has rejected two previous Security Council resolutions as "Illegal", Saying it will never give up its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel.



The 11-page report by the International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei last week said all major past issues surrounding Iran's nuclear activities had been fully resolved or are "no longer outstanding at this stage," repeatedly saying the IAEA's findings are consistent with information available to the agency and explanations provided by Iran.




The US, However, said the report actually strengthens the case for additional sanctions because it also says Iran failed to heed Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment. "Given the IAEA report, Security Council debates are nothing but a pretext and hostility towards Iran. It shows they (the US And its allies) are opposed to Iran's scientific development," Elham told reporters.




Elham insisted Iran will "Not trade its independence at any price", Insisting that Iran will not give in to

Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment. Iran insists its enrichment activities are intended only for peaceful civilian purposes, but the US, The European Union and others suspect its real aim is to produce atomic weapons.




Advertisement



The draft Security Council resolution would expand travel restrictions and the freezing of assets to more Iranian officials linked to the nuclear effort. It also would ban trade with Iran in goods which have both civilian and military uses and introduce financial monitoring on two banks with suspected links to proliferation activities.



The resolution also would authorize inspections of shipments to and from Iran that are suspected of carrying prohibited goods.


.......................................benny

I think it is wrong to say that our own words and actions are what God wants. That would absolve us of any responsibility for the consequences of something which may be quite contrary to what God wants. That would be like someone making a post and saying its from you and then asking you to kill them if its not true.

Gods word is more precious than gold, than much pure gold (ps. 19:10) It does not contain any tares (false wheat) and those who discover it, live, really live (prov. 4:21,22). It does tell us of the wondrous salvation made possible by Jesus death on the cross. There are also various stories of destruction and much more besides. It is an understatement to call it fascinating and I thoroughly recommend every part of it.

Saudi citizens advised to leave Lebanon for security reasons
Saturday, 1 March, 2008 @ 7:30 PM

Riyadh - Saudi Arabia has advised its citizens in Lebanon, especially families living there, to leave the country immediately due to the security situation, several Saudi nationals said on Saturday.

The deployment of the USS Cole off the Lebanese coast may have added more concern about the political deadlock in Lebanon,

Hezbollah and Syria criticized the US action ,.

The warship is anchored about 60 Miles ( 96 KM) off the Lebanese coast

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi embassy in Lebanon regarding the Saudi travel advisory nor with regards to the deployment of the USS Cole

Saudi Arabia has been under criticism by the Iranian and Syrian backed Hezbollah-led opposition

Kuwait and Bahrain have issued similar travel advisories to Lebanon

Restriction of travel by the Arabian Gulf countries will be a blow to the Lebanese economy , which has been suffering since the 2006 summer war .

Lebanon is one of the most indebted nations on per capita basis and depends greatly on the tourism industry .

http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/20...i_c.............benny

Israel will be 'uprooted', says Iran


From correspondents in Tehran

March 02, 2008 07:32am
Agence France-Presse
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599...rom=public_rss


IRAN'S President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that Israel will be "uprooted" and its leaders put on trial as he condemned today's deadly Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip.

"I already said last year that the real Holocaust was in Palestine," Mr Ahmadinejad told state television in an interview, alluding to his oft-repeated doubts about the magnitude of the mass slaughter of Jews in World War II.

"For any child that is killed (in the Palestinian territories), a judicial case will formed to find those behind it. They should know they will be put on trial, one by one," he said.

Mr Ahmadinejad, who has caused international outrage by calling the Holocaust a "myth" and repeatedly predicting Israel is doomed to disappear, said the Jewish state was facing a looming confrontation.

"Gaza is the beginning, the real issue is elsewhere. They should know that both in the prelude and in the real thing they face a defeat and this time they will be uprooted," he said.

Mr Ahmadinejad last month called Israel a "dirty microbe" and "savage animal" in a speech to a public rally, provoking a new wave of international condemnation of his anti-Israel comments.

The Islamic republic has a longstanding policy of non-recognition of Israel but its rhetoric against the Jewish state has sharpened during the presidency of Mr Ahmadinejad.

Iran insists its position is in no way anti-Semitic but anti-Zionist, pointing to the continued existence in the country of the largest Jewish community in the Middle East after Israel.

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip today killed more than 50 Palestinians, medical sources said, making it one of the deadliest Israeli operations since the September 2000 outbreak of the Palestinian uprising.

.....................................................benny

Israel aims to stamp out missile jihad by destroying Hamas rule of Gaza

March 1, 2008, 7:36 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile’s military sources report the Israeli military command is now targeting Hamas rule of the Gaza Strip as ultimately the only effective way of halting the Palestinian missile offensive against civilian locations. It therefore proposes to systematically destroy Hamas institutions one by one until its rule of Gaza caves in.

This tactic was presented to prime minister Ehud Olmert Friday on his return from Japan. If Hamas alternatively decides it can no longer afford the exorbitant price exacted by the Israeli military for sustaining its missile offensive and abandons it, the IDF will halt its military operations. This would lead to an informal truce.

The IDF has now set itself the following targets:

Every Palestinian military and security installation belonging to Hamas, as well as its Al Dawa social welfare branches used as meeting places and the money changers’ places of business.

A series of ground operations on the same lines as the Sejayia raid will be launched to drive Hamas and its allied terrorist groups out of northern Gaza – the sites of most missile launches against Ashkelon and Sderot. Once this part of the territory is purged, Israeli military control can be exercised without reoccupation.

DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources report that Hamas leaders are well aware of the IDF’s revamped tactics and have employed counter-measures.

1. Their heads of government, armed wings and clerical authorities have gone to ground.

2. Their rank and file have taken over an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 civilian homes around Gaza City active and set up a wall for the town’s defense. Each home is provisioned with sufficient ammo, water and food for three weeks’ combat.

3. All Hamas operatives have dumped their cell phones and all means of communication which could betray their whereabouts. Orders and messages are carried by courier, usually children.

4. Thousands of missiles and rockets of different types are stocked in private homes and schools inside Gaza City and its refugee camps to escape Israeli attacks. This stratagem allows Hamas to calibrate its missile barrages on Israeli civilians according to the intensity of Israeli strikes against them.
http://debka.com/headline.php?hid=5068
..............................................benny

US warships move into E. Mediterranean in case Gaza escalation spills over into Lebanon
February 29, 2008, 9:35 AM (GMT+02:00)


Egyptian Gen. Suleiman cancels Israel visit
Friday, Feb. 29, Egypt’s intelligence minister Omar Suleiman canceled his visit to Israel because of estimates in Cairo that hectic preparations current in Israel and the Gaza Strip augur a steep escalation of cross-border violence.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report: Officials in Cairo expect Israel redouble its air bombardment and armored raids against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, and Hamas to intensify and broaden the scope of its missile and rocket attacks on Israeli towns and villages.

Both sides are convinced that a further ratcheting-up of the war will generate indirect truce talks through a third party.

The US has meanwhile posted naval and marine vessels opposite the shores of Israel and Lebanon in case the fighting spreads to a second front. DEBKAfile’s Washington sources quote US and Israeli military sources as skeptical of the chances that prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak will secure a ceasefire. The Gaza conflagration is more likely, they believe, to stir Hizballah to ignite a fresh assault from South Lebanon.

These sources point to four significant developments to watch for:

1. Hizballah is adamant about avenging the death of its military commander Imad Mughniyeh by border strikes against Israel and terrorist attacks inside the country. This Iranian front group is also committed to helping Hamas. The end of the 40 days of mourning for Mughniyeh on March 22-23 is anxiously awaited.

2. Israel is braced for this eventuality and in mid-preparation for its army to turn the tables on a Hizballah assault and carry the war into Lebanon.

US intelligence sources note that last week, the IDF deployed Patriot missile defense batteries around Haifa in case Hizballah unleashes a rocket offensive on the North as in 2005.

Our sources also report that local authorities and private security firms responsible for public safety in northern Israel were instructed to inspect bomb shelters and ascertain they were ready for use by March 10.

3. The quarrel between Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian president Bashar Assad, which is nearing boiling point, threatens to be fought out in Lebanon, their main bone of contention. Both are sending quantities of arms and ammo to the Lebanese militias under their respective wings.

4. This week, Abdullah persuaded Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s Abdullah to boycott the forthcoming Arab League summit in Damascus. Assad is unlikely to take this slap in the face lying down. There are indications he is ready to stir up Palestinian terrorist groups for attacks on Saudi, American and Israeli interests in the region.

Standing close by for immediate action off the troubled Mediterranean shores of Lebanon, Israel and Gaza is the USS Cole guided missile destroyer opposite Lebanon. It was joined Monday by the USS Nassau amphibious warship and its strike group of six vessels carrying 2,800 marines, flight crews and sailors. US naval sources report that a third group will join them shortly.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report the Nassau is accompanied by the amphibious transport dock ship USS Nashville , the guided missile destroyers USS Ross and USS Bulkeley and the fast nuclear strike submarine USS Albany SSN 753.

While cruising off the Lebanese coast, this formidable US naval force is close enough to the shores of Israel and Gaza to respond to developing emergencies.

.............................................benny

IDF gears up for Gaza op

Operation Warm Winter concludes first stage, as IDF forces target rocket firing grounds in Gaza over weekend. Second stage to include urban patrols on search-and-destroy mission for hidden weapons
Hanan Greenberg
Published: 03.02.08, 01:58 / Israel News

Operation "Warm Winter" has finished its first stage – targeting terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip neighborhoods of Sajaiya and Jabalya, the IDF said Saturday.

The operation's first stage also targeted ditches and similar places used as firing grounds by launchers, which were blown up. The second stage of the operation includes patrolling urban areas on a search-and-destroy mission – a hunt for hidden weapons.

Warm Winter's weekend resulted in dozens of Palestinian fatalities; as the Israeli side suffered two fatalities, and seven casualties.

"The military operation against all ranks responsible for Qassams will continue. The gloves are off and we have no intention of sitting on the sidelines while rockets are being fired," said a security source. The massive strikes, he added, will continue and may even increase.

IDF forces in the field reported most of the Palestinian casualties were affiliated with Hamas. The IDF denied the Palestinians' claims of mass casualties among innocent residents, citing only a few such incidents were known.

Hamas, said the IDF, often states false casualty claims in order to generate sympathy in the international community.

Senior defense establishment officials held a security briefing Saturday night in which it was decided that the IDF will continue its operation, as means to foil Hamas' plan to have a large-scale ground incursion claim many innocent lives in the Strip.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin, Israel's military intelligence chief, Major-General Amos Yadlin and other officials attended the briefing.

"The operation in Gaza is ongoing," said Barak. "Hamas will be held responsible… we are not happy Gaza residents are hurt, but the responsibility lies with Hamas and those firing rockets. Our responsibility is to keep the residents of Sderot, Ashkelon and the Gaza vicinity communities safe, and that we will do."
The IDF's main concern continues to be Warm Winter's final price tag: Hamas has fortified its strongholds and has snipers war-ready. "Overall, our forces are doing admirable work," said the officers present at the briefing.

The IDF operation in Gaza is currently engaging combatants from the Givati Brigade, the Ninth Armor Battalion, IAF forces and Engineers Corps' combatants; and while no large-scale operation was launched during the weekend, a lot depends on the coming developments.

IDF officials did not rule out a possibility of the operation leading to yet another escalation, which in turn lead to a large-scale operation; but some believe several in-depth pinpoint operations may cause Hamas to rethink the ceasefire.

According to the IDF, some 130 have been fired at Israel since Wednesday.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...513450,00.html
........................................................benny

REPEATED MESSAGE TO ISLAM

ISLAM DO YE HAVE ONE LEADER?
LET ALLAH SPEAK NOW OR
FOREVER HOLD HIS SPLIT TONGUE
YAHWEH IS SPEAKING

YE PEOPLE MISLED
COME TO LOVE MY SON
REPENT THE JIHAD
SALVATION FOR YOU ALSO

LOVE IS FOR ALL
SHAKE OFF THE HATE
ONE GOD
ONE HEAVEN
ONE PEOPLE
CAN YE SEE?

---------------------------

MESSAGE TO DHALAI LAMA

YE ARE PERSISTENT
IN OBEDIENCE AND PRAYER
TOO FAR FOR WORD TO REACH
PAST WAS NOT FAST

YE AWAIT THY SAVIOR ALSO
SAVIOR IS ALREADY HERE
SHARE TO INVITATION
JESUS CHRIST FOR ALL

NOW COME BROTHER
YE HAVE SEARCHED CLOSE
HE HAS WATCHED YOU WALK BY
HE FOUND YOU HUMBLE

NOW RISE AND SHARE
BROTHER AND SISTER ALIKE
COME OVER AND ANNOUNCE
QUEST HAS ENDED

(someone please invite the Dhalai Lama?)

------------------------------------

MANY RELIGION AWAIT...

CALENDARS MATH SYSTEM
EASY TO COMPILE CREATE
INTERSECT LINES DESIGNED
IN FOCAL POINT KEYS

Target Iran - Air Strikes ......from globalsecurity.org
In May 2003, Ephraim Asculai, a former Israeli Atomic Energy Comission official, in an article written for the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, wrote that "nuclear verification is clearly failing in Iran, when (the IAEA) let Iran proceed with its ambitious program. In any case, it would be unable to deter or stop its development of nuclear weapons. The verification mechanisms will fail by not being able to prove anything, since intentions, particularly when based on legal actions, are unverifiable."

The annual intelligence assessment presented to Israel's Knesset on 21 July 2004 noted that Iran's nuclear program is the biggest threat facing Israel, "Maariv" and "Yediot Aharonot" reported on 22 July 2004. Some Likud and Labor Knesset members subsequently called for a preemptive strike against the Iranian nuclear facility. Former Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh (Labor) said, "If the international community's helplessness in the face of the Iranian threat persists, Israel will have to weigh its steps -- and soon." Ehud Yatom (Likud) said, "The Iranian nuclear facilities must be destroyed, just as we did the Iraqi reactor. We must strive to attain the ability to damage and destroy any nuclear capability that might be directed against Israel." On 08 September 2004 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the international community has not done enough to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and warns that Israel will take its own measures to defend itself. He also said Iranian officials have made it clear they seek the destruction of the Jewish state. Israeli Air Force pilots have been practicing attacks on a scale model of the Bushehr reactor in the Negev Desert.

In October 2004 Ephraim Kam, the deputy head of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies said that "It would be a complicated operation. In order to undermine or disrupt the Iranian nuclear program, you would have to strike at least three or four sites ... Otherwise the damage would be too limited, and it would not postpone the program by more than a year or two, and this could in the end be worse than doing nothing." Shai Feldman, also at the Jaffee Center, said "There is a logic to operating against Iran even if the location of every facility is not known, because just taking out the facilities that are known, especially if they include the enrichment and heavy water plants, would in itself create a serious degradation of the Iranian potential."

The Israeli Air Force received the first two of 25 F-15I [officially I is for Israel, not Iran, though some take a different view] Ra’am (Thunder) aircraft, the Israeli version of the F-15E Strike Eagle, in January 1998, and as of early 2004 had an inventory of 25 aircraft. According to the Israeli Air Force, this aircraft has a range of 4,450 km, which equates to a combat radius of 2,225 km. Deliveries of the F-16I Sufa (Storm) began in early 2004. This heavily modified aircraft, with massive conformal fuel tanks, has a reported combat radius of 2,100 km. Probable strike targets such as Bushehr and Esfahan lie about 1,500 km from Israel.

The 2,060-km strike on the Palestine Liberation Organization's headquarters in Tunis in October 1985, in retaliation for the murder of three Israelis on a yacht in Cyprus, was the IAF's furthest attack from home to date. The F-16s which bombed the Iraqi reactor in 1981 were not refueled and returned home on their last drops of fuel.

On 21 September 2004 Israel acknowledged that it was buying 500 BLU-109 bunker-buster bombs, which could be used to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities. The bombs, which can penetrate more than 7 feet of reinforced concrete, are part of a $319 million package of air-launched bombs being sold to Israel under America's military aid program.

The German magazine Der Spiegel reported in October 2004 that Israel had completed plans for a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Der Spiegel reported that a special unit of the Mossad had received order in July 2004 to prepare a detailed plan, which had been delivered to the Israeli Air Force. The source for the report, an IAF pilot, said the plan to take out Iran's nuclear sites was "complex, yet manageable." Israel's plan assumes that Iran has six nuclear sites, all of which would be attacked simultaneously.

It would be difficult for Israel to strike at Iran without American knowledge, since the mission would have to be flown through American [formerly Iraqi] air space. Even if the United States did not actively participate with operations inside Iranian air space, the US would be a passive participant by virtue of allowing Israeli aircraft unhindered passage. In the eyes of the world, it would generally appear to be a joint US-Israeli enterprise, any denials notwithstanding. Indeed, it is quite probable that Iran would not be able to readily determine the ultimate origins of the strike, given Iran's relatively modest air defense capabilities. Thus, even if the strike were entirely of American origin, Israel would be implicated. When asked in August 2004 about Israeli threats to attack Iran, Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, declined to say whether the United States would support such action by Israel.

In an 08 September 2004 interview in the "Jerusalem Post" newspaper, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says the international community has not done enough to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and warns that Israel will take its own measures to defend itself. Sharon said there was no doubt that Iran is trying to obtain nuclear weapons and is doing so by "deception and subterfuge." He said international efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions had not been sufficient. Sharon calls for increased pressure and supervision of Iran's nuclear program and said the issue should be brought before the UN Security Council for sanctions to be levied against Tehran. Sharon said Israel would take steps to defend itself against the Iranian threat. He did not elaborate.

Even though the uranium facility at Natanz has been buried underground, it remains vulnerable. As Lieutenant Colonel Eric M. Sepp noted, "The "cut-and-cover" facilities are constructed by digging a hole, inserting a facility, and then covering it up with dirt and rocks. These cut-and-cover facilities can be just below the surface of the ground or may reach a depth of perhaps 100 feet, and represent the vast majority of underground facilities today. In the case of contemporary cut-and-cover facilities, there is no question that conventional munitions can defeat them."

The air strikes option does have the same problems that one would face in North Korea, namely that Iran has a rather significant air defense capability which could complicate use plans. However, unlike North Korea, Iran is not in a position to hold US soldiers or allied civilian populations (Iraq) hostage. A full-scale Iranian military retaliation, though possible, is highly unlikely, especially with the significant US force presence in Iraq. It is possible that Iran could use its ballistic missiles to strike US or allied targets throughout the Persian Gulf region, and in fact Iranian officials have explicitly promised to do just that.

.................................................benny

Do we see yet where Satan lives? Under cover of "Angel of Light"? Iran? Damascus? Gaza?

If Islam fails to repent and goes to war, those who did not stop the abomination will be judged before God and made accountable for their choices.
I must however say, that until Gods Return, moslemons can still repent
and through the Salvation promised by the Lord Jesus Christ accept God as the RULER and CREATOR. <===============

What do we do with all those unused free tickets?

The abomination that causes desolation is described in Daniel 11 as a king of the North.
Daniel 11
31 "His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. 32 With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.

33 "Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. 34 When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. 35 Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.

The King Who Exalts Himself
36 "The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. 37 He will show no regard for the gods of his ancestors or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. 38 Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses; a god unknown to his ancestors he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. 39 He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price. [d]

40 "At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade many countries and sweep through them like a flood. 41 He will also invade the Beautiful Land. Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand. 42 He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape. 43 He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and Cushites [e] in submission. 44 But reports from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many. 45 He will pitch his royal tents between the seas at [f] the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.


This may be Gog of Magog (Ezeliel 38 and 39) from the far north who with many nations descends on Israel like a cloud but the Sovereign Lord will deal with them in such a way that all people on the face of earth will tremble at his presence. Even the fish and birds and beasts and every creature will tremble. That has got to be a serious earthquake. Rain, hailstones and burning sulfur also.

Iran leader calls on Muslims to hit Israel "in face"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iran leader calls on Muslims to hit Israel "in face"
Sun Mar 2, 2008 1:54pm EST Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page[-] Text [+]
powered by SphereTEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader on Sunday called on Muslims to rise up and their leaders to hit Israel "in the face with their nations' anger" over the Jewish state's offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 100 Palestinians.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also blamed Iran's other arch foe, the United States, for the violence in Gaza.

"It is with the support of that (the U.S.) oppressive government that the Zionists (Israel) are committing these unforgivable sins with impudence," a statement read out on state television quoted him as saying.

"The Islamic (people) must rise and the Islamic leaders must hit the occupying regime in the face with their nations' anger," Khamenei's statement said.



http://www.reuters.com/article/newsM...571.............benny

March 2, 2008

Analysis: Israel's Gaza incursion is not the 'big one'
Jerusalem wants to prevent rocket attacks coming from its north and south, but cannot afford a full-scale invasion

( Suhaib Salem/Reuters)
Gazans are caught between militants determined to emulate Hezbollah and a powerful Israel determined to stamp out rocket attacks

James Hider, Middle East Correspondent, The Times
Israel’s top brass is saying that its major incursion into Gaza, while very big, is not yet “the big one,” the full-scale invasion and re-occupation of the territory that Israel left in 2005.

It may be a warm-up for that event, much dreaded by so many Israelis and Palestinians, or it may the first of a series of wide-ranging operations aimed at crippling rocket-launching Islamists, blowing up their arsenals and sending a message to Hamas of the price that the Palestinians will pay for the Islamists’ insistent rocket barrages.

Israel is loath to reoccupy Gaza in the same way that it retook the West Bank in 2002 at the height of the intifada. The cost of fighting its way through the overcrowded cities of the Mediterranean strip, both in terms of lost soldiers and international support, would be high.

Israeli commentators point out that when the army took over the West Bank, it operated against Palestinian factions while leaving the day-today administration of the territory’s cities to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority.

That it could not do with Hamas, which it deems a terrorist organisation, and would find itself having to establish some form of civil administration for 1.5 million Palestinians in an area it itself has deemed a hostile entity.

If Israel does nothing, its security experts fear Hamas will build up a stockpile of Iranian and Syrian missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv. They argue that while acting now may be bloody, it is better than letting the situation fester for years.

Many of the weapons were brought in when Hamas destroyed a border wall with Egypt in January. A major fear for the Jewish state is to be caught between two well-armed proxies of their Iranian arch-foe, Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north.

Israel is hoping that Gazans, long cut off from the world and isolated because of their Hamas leadership, will start to rise up against the Islamists, and see hope in the worse-than-expected turnout at a planned protest rally last week.

While many Gazans resent the rocket fire – which they acknowledge ultimately causes them far more harm than Israel – most are too afraid to stand up to Hamas and its thousands of devoted gunmen. Those who criticize the rocket-launchers are quickly branded traitors, a dangerous epithet in a lawless area racked by nationalist violence.

Hamas for its part is playing a game of brinkmanship, baiting Israel with its rockets and counting on nationalist sentiment to make Gazans back them when Israel attacks with deadly force.

The people of Gaza are caught in between two sides. Isolated economically and diplomatically, Hamas’s leaders appear to be trying to emulate Hezbollah’s 2006 withstanding of an Israeli onslaught while still continuing to fire their rockets, which brought the Lebanese wide-ranging support on the Arab street.

Even as the death toll rose for a second day in Gaza, rockets were still landing in Sderot and Ashkelon, indicating that the bitter battle will keep raging for at least several more days, if not weeks or even months, as happened when Israel stormed Gaza in 2006 following the capture of one of its soldiers


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...=1204488795252
..............................................benny

Three More Katyushas on Ashkelon, Arab Violence Spreads


25 Adar 5768, 02 March 08 10:47by Hillel Fendel(IsraelNN.com)

Hamas terrorists in Gaza continued to fire rockets at Israel, scoring two direct hits in the Negev and at least one direct hit in Ashkelon. A woman was wounded by shrapnel, and many people were treated for trauma.

Three Grad Katyusha rockets were fired early Sunday evening at Ashkelon, and two of them landed in the city center. One house was hit directly. In Sderot, a factory was hit, as was a house in a nearby community. Other rockets hit areas termed "open" in the Eshkol and Shaar HaNegev areas of the western Negev, and continued to fall in the vicinity throughout the early afternoon.

Close to 30 rockets and mortar shells had been fired at the Negev and Ashkelon by 6 PM. Four soldiers were lightly wounded on Sunday, during the course of the IDF counter-terrorism's operation that began Friday night.

Meanwhile, Arabs throughout the Palestinian Authority attempted to open new fronts of anti-Israel violence. In Hevron, Bethlehm and elsewhere in Judea and Samaria, army forces were compelled to use force to contain Arab mobs, and 40 were injured. PA sources claimed that one Arab was killed. Three Israelis have been lightly wounded: An IDF officer in Tekoa, west of Bethlehem; a soldier in northern Jerusalem; and a civilian in Hevron.

In Shuafat, a northern Jerusalem Arab slum neighborhood, dozens of Arabs threw rocks at security forces and burned tires... On the Temple Mount, Arabs stoned visiting Jews, and then tried to roll a car down towards Israeli security forces; no one was hurt... In the western Shomron, near Avnei Heifetz, Palestinian terrorists fired at a passing car. The car happened to have been driven by an Israeli-Arab, and no one was hurt...

Arabs threw rocks and caused damage to property in Kiryat Arba, Beitar Illit and near Baka el-Garbiye in northwestern Shomron.


http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Se...=0&item=125431
...................................................benny

Mar 2, 2008 16:44 | Updated Mar 2, 2008 16:53
Lebanese protesters: 'Death to Israel'
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Hundreds of Hizbullah supporters gathered Sunday at a border fence separating Lebanon and Israel to protest Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip that have reportedly killed nearly 70 Palestinians in two days.


A Lebanese soldier, stand guards on a roof top in front the Lebanese Israeli border, seen in the right, as Hizbullah supporters protest against the fighting in the Gaza strip, at the Fatima Gate border point in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, Sunday.
Photo: AP
Up to 1,000 supporters carrying Lebanese and Palestinian flags took part in the demonstration at the Fatima Gate border point in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila across from Israeli outposts on the other side.

"Death to Israel," some of them shouted. Others carried banners that read in Arabic: "The blood of our sons in Palestine will not be in vain."

Nearly 70 Palestinians were killed in two days of operations in Gaza. A total of 54 Palestinians were killed in fighting Saturday, the highest single-day death toll in more than seven years of violence. Two Israeli soldiers also were killed, as well as an Israeli student and father of three on Wednesday.

The attacks, which Israel says are in response to Palestinian rocket attacks, have caused fury in the Arab street, with demonstrations Saturday in Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

The attacks have been denounced by many Arab governments, including Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has described them as "worse than the holocaust" against the Palestinian people.

Also Sunday, thousands of students held protests at universities across Egypt, calling on Arab leaders to stop Israeli aggression and support the Palestinians, according to police officials.

Some of the protesters burned Israeli and American flags and chanted slogans against the two nations, the officials added, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Jpost.com contributed to this report.
...............................................benny

Intelligence chief: Don't forget Iran, Syria


Major General Amos Yadlin says current quiet on other fronts should not mislead Israel, as country's enemies watch Gaza developments before taking next steps

Roni Sofer Published: 03.02.08, 19:14 / Israel News




The latest round of violence in Gaza was ignited by the assassination of five Hamas military experts trained in Iran, Syria and Lebanon, IDF Intelligence Chief Major General Amos Yadlin told cabinet ministers Sunday.



Fighting Back?

Ramon: Why aren't we firing back? / Roni Sofer

(VIDEO) Vice Premier Haim Ramon wants IDF to shoot back at launch sites even if they are located in civilian areas, says measure was approved during Lebanon War; justice minister to look into matter
Full story



Yadlin noted that the massive Qassam fire leveled at Israel by Palestinian terror groups began when Israel "prevented a quality terror attack" by assassinating the military experts.



The intelligence chief also noted that Hamas is waging a broad-based strategic military campaign, and that Israel must consider all facets of this campaign in order to respond most effectively.



“With all the focus on the south of Israel right now, said Yadlin, we must not forget Iran, Hizbullah and Syria. The fact that they are quiet right now does not mean that they have bowed out of this battle. On the contrary, they are all looking to Gaza in order to see how this conflict will pan out, and this will greatly determine the steps they take next,” he warned.



Hamas is currently under political siege, explained Yadlin. “Very few countries are willing to have diplomatic relations with this organization,” he said, and this has led Hamas to take steps to try and escape this political isolation.



“Hamas reigns supreme in Gaza, “ Yadlin said, “it spearheads all military operations as well as all terror attacks originating from the Strip.”




Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also addressed the cabinet ministers Sunday and stated that “we talk far too much, far more than is necessary, which removes the element of surprise in our dealings with these murderous organizations, and affords them much greater flexibility and preparedness in their actions.” Olmert asked his cabinet to “keep talk of ultimatums, military strategy and the like to a bare minimum.”




The cabinet also discussed the cynical use Hamas makes of Palestinian civilians in camouflaging its rocket attacks on Israel. IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi told the cabinet that several days ago an old Palestinian man was spotted leaving a village in the northern Gaza Strip with a wagon. In this wagon was hidden a long-range Grad missile that was then promptly launched at Israel from a nearby orchard.



'Military action bears heavy price'

Defense Minister Ehud Barak noted at the cabinet meeting that one Israeli civilian and 100 Palestinians were killed during the past week’s military campaign. “Military action bears a heavy price, namely two Israeli casualties,” Barak said.



The defense minister also noted that the Palestinians' recent use of Grad missiles is far graver than past Qassam rocket attacks. “Israel cannot and should not accept this escalation in violence and uninterrupted use of industrialized Grad missiles on the part of the Palestinians, which automatically triples the number of Israeli civilians vulnerable to such attacks,” he said.



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Prime Minister Olmert spoke out harshly during Sunday’s meeting against international condemnation leveled at Israel. “while Israel is merely exercising its right to defend itself, the self righteous international community is all too quick to rebuke it,” said Olmert. ...........................................benny

Ofakim was third Israeli town to join Hamas missile targets Sunday
March 3, 2008, 12:23 AM (GMT+02:00)


Israel pounds Hamas in Gaza
A Palestinian missile hit Ofakim, a town of 30,000, situated 12-15 km east of Gaza and south of Beersheba, Sunday, March 2, crashing into the Salli mausoleum, but causing no casualties.

Defense minister Barak stated that Israel would fight Hamas in Gaza until it was forced to halt its missile-rocket war against Israeli towns and villages. The goal would not be attained in two days and more escalation was to be expected, Barak said. Regarding the Palestinian Authority’s suspension of peace talks, the defense minister said the PA had only itself to blame for the current crisis by letting Hamas terrorists to throw it out of Gaza eight months ago.

Saturday night, the Israeli air force demolished the building housing Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh’s office in Gaza City. Haniyeh was absent; he and the rest of the Hamas leadership have gone into hiding.

DEBKAfile’s military sources reported earlier that the IDF command received intelligence of Hamas plans to top their missile jihad by infiltrating terrorists into Israeli cities through secret tunnels running under the Gaza-Israel border. Palestinian suicide bombers are also to be unleashed against Israeli troops fighting in northern Gaza; Hamas is at the same time determined to keep up its heavy missile and rocket barrage against Israeli civilian towns and villages.

Saturday night, Israeli forces therefore continued to pound Hamas targets without let-up, including air strikes against Khan Younes and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and al Bureij camp further north. Another 10 Palestinian gunmen were killed, raising the day’s Palestinian death toll to close to 70. They included a number of civilians, including children. In Jebalya, a Palestinian truck loaded with 160 missiles, rockets and mortar shells was blown.

Hamas is counting on a combination of multiple-casualty terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers with a continuous rocket blitz to bring Israel to its knees and force the IDF to end its incursion into Gaza.

Israeli leaders, for their part, expect the heavy Palestinian cost in life and demolition of the Hamas’ government and military infrastructure to terminate their missile offensive.

Saturday night saw stepped up Palestinian terrorist activity on the West Bank.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report an explosive device blew up in the hands of a terrorist preparing to hurl it at an IDF patrol south of Hebron. He was seriously injured.

Gunshots were aimed from Beit Jala at Mt. Gilo, at the southern edge of Jerusalem. An armed Palestinian was driven off when he tried to attack a military police checkpoint near Shuafat in northern Jerusalem. Pesagot near Ramallah came under gunfire. This series of attacks is estimated by Israeli security chiefs to be the start of a systematic terrorist offensive in and around Jerusalem.

.................................................benny

If we have to use force to change the situation, we will do so”
March 3, 2008, 12:15 AM (GMT+02:00)


Defense minister Ehud Barak: Our first responsibility is to our citizens' security
Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak made this pledge after a high-level security conference Sunday night May 2 on the Gaza missile crisis. “It’s time to act, our operation will press on and Hamas will be responsible for the consequences,” he said. Barak pointed out that Israel pulled out of Gaza and tore Israelis from their homes for the sake of calm on the Israeli side of the border. “But Hamas continues to shoot at innocent civilians for no reason at all. Our first responsibility is for our citizens’ security.”

Military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin noted that Iran, Syria and Hizballah are waiting and watching the confrontation in the Gaza Strip to see how it turns out as a future reference point for their own course of action against Israel.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report: All that the Israeli military has done so far is to enter the same strip of land around Beit Hanun and Beit Lahiya inside northern Gazan in which it has operated in previous routine operations, with no effect on the Palestinian missile offensive. By deploying F-16 jets for air attacks this time Israel has increased the number of Palestinian casualties but otherwise changed nothing. There was little fighting Sunday because Hamas and Islamic Jihad combatants had pulled back. Therefore without a change of tactics, the situation cannot be changed.

...............................................benny

Israel buys supply of pills to protect against nuclear radiation

Defense establishment officials reported on Sunday that Israel has recently purchased a new supply of "Logol" pills against nuclear radiation.

The pills were first experimentally distributed in 2004 to residents of Arad and Yavneh in southern Israel, and were met with strong opposition from the mayors of these Negev towns.

The initiative to repurchase the pills was reported by officials on Sunday as part of a visiting delegation of Knesset Members to the Soreq Nuclear Research Center, located southeast of Dimona.

However, the defense establishment is still mulling whether to redistribute the pills to residents of communities located near the nuclear reactor or store them away for the time being.

Dr. Dan Berkovits, from the Soreq Nuclear Research Center, said during Sunday's visit to the site that an electrical particle accelerator will be activated March 10, and is supposed to take over all the functions currently being done by the Soreq reactor, including nuclear medicine and aviation.

"If Israel manages to adhere to the schedule, it would be the first country to replace a nuclear reactor with a particle accelerator," Berkovits said. However, he did not comment on whether the reactor would be shut down because of the new accelerator.

MK Ophir Pines-Paz, head of the Knesset's Interior Committee, said that the accelerator marks a "step in the right direction."


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/959928.html
.................................................benny

JPost.com » Middle East » Article


Mar 3, 2008 0:38 | Updated Mar 3, 2008 1:39
Hamas is pushing for a cease-fire
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
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Beleaguered Hamas leaders on Sunday signaled their willingness to reach a cease-fire with Israel, sources close to Hamas said.


Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
Photo: AP [file]
The sources said Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh sent urgent messages to the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia urging them to work toward ending the IDF military operations in the Gaza Strip.

The sources told The Jerusalem Post that Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders also appealed to Turkey to intervene and convince Israel to halt its offensive.

Hamas's apparent readiness to reach a cease-fire with Israel is seen by some Palestinians as evidence of the Islamist movement's concern that it may lose control over the Gaza Strip should the military operations continue.

"Hamas is nervous," remarked a senior Palestinian Authority official in Ramallah. "All their leaders have gone underground. They didn't expect such a massive attack from Israel."

Other Palestinians, however, said Hamas's call for a cease-fire at this stage of the fighting was aimed at showing that Israel had failed in achieving its primary goal of toppling the Hamas regime.

Taher a-Nunu, a spokesman for the Hamas government, confirmed that the Hamas leadership had sought the intervention of a number of Arab countries in reaching a cease-fire with Israel.

He said Hamas had also invited Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa to visit the Gaza Strip in solidarity with the Palestinians.

"Hamas wants to end the genocide and holocaust in the Gaza Strip," the spokesman said. "We have urged a number of Arab and Muslim leaders to exert pressure on the Americans and Europeans to save the Palestinians."

He also accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of providing Israel with an excuse to attack the Gaza Strip by declaring that al-Qaida had established bases there. "Some of the leaders of the Mukata [presidential compound] in Ramallah gave Israel a green light to launch its aggression on the Gaza Strip," he added. "The Americans have also given their blessing to the attack."

Hamas leaders and spokesmen expressed deep concern over the failure of the Arab and Islamic governments to put pressure on Israel and the US to stop the IDF operations. "The Arabs and Muslims are not only sleeping," said a Hamas official. "They are actually partners to the Israeli aggression."

He said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II were the only Arab leaders who were actively working toward reaching a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel.

The Egyptians and Jordanians are clearly worried that the violence in the Gaza Strip would trigger unrest in their countries. Over the weekend, thousands of Palestinians, Jordanians and Egyptians demonstrated in protest against the IDF raids and the "continued silence" of the Arab leaders.

Mubarak on Sunday decided to reopen the Rafah border crossing to allow Palestinians to be brought into Egypt for medical treatment. Some 200 Palestinians were transferred immediately from the Gaza Strip to different hospitals in Egypt. Jordan also decided to open its hospitals to Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, PA officials in Ramallah voiced concern over growing protests in the West Bank in the aftermath of the IDF military operations. The officials warned that the ongoing offensive and the growing number of casualties in the Gaza Strip could spark a "new intifada" in the West Bank.

According to a PA official, Palestinian policemen refused Sunday to confront demonstrators in many West Bank cities out of fear of being branded "collaborators" with Israel. "The Israeli military escalation is weakening the Palestinian Authority," the official warned. "Israel is rallying more and more Palestinians behind Hamas."

Abbas, who has been facing heavy criticism from Hamas and many Arabs, on Sunday succumbed to pressure to halt peace talks with Israel. His decision also received the backing of the Fatah and PLO leadership.

Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Abbas, said the PA president decided to suspend negotiations and "all forms of contacts on all levels [with Israel] because it has become meaningless in the wake of the continued Israeli aggression."


................................................benny

The one that dares to hit the atomic button, will surely be in the pit, or I will not live.

FOOLS

HATE BEGETS HATE
VICIOUS CIRCLE GOES AROUND
AND AROUND IN EVER HIGHER LEVEL
EATS UP DNA STRAND BY STRAND

SO WHAT YE SOW IS
WHAT YE WILL REAP
MIRROR OF WORD BOUNCES BACK
RIGHT IN YOUR FACE

SO LOOSER YE WANT TO GO THERE?
FIRE BEGETS FIRE
CIRCLE WILL STOP
GOD IS THREE IN ONE

Thousands of Jordanians hold anti-Israel march
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?...Id=USL02507300
Sun Mar 2, 2008 1:02pm EST

AMMAN, March 2 (Reuters) - Crying for revenge with suicide attacks, thousands of Jordanians marched in the capital of the pro-U.S. kingdom on Sunday to protest against Israel's Gaza offensive that had killed more than 100 Palestinians.

About 10,000 protesters, mainly from Jordan's mainstream Muslim Brotherhood and smaller opposition groups, took to the streets in one of the country's most vocal and largest anti-Israeli demonstrations in recent years.

"O Hamas, O Hamas, bring the suicide bombers ... Victory to Hamas and defeat to the Jews and Americans," chanted the crowds, who called on the Islamist militant group to resume suicide attacks and intensify rocket strikes against Israel.

Israel's deadliest and deepest incursion into the Gaza Strip since pulling out in 2005 provoked angry reactions among Jordanians, many of whom are of Palestinian origin.

A 21-month-old girl, two other civilians and three militants were killed in the latest fighting in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, raising the Palestinian death toll in five days of bloodshed to more than 100, including about 60 civilians, medics said.

Israel said it was acting in self-defence to curb cross-border rocket attacks by militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and threatened to intensify its ground and air campaign despite allegations it was using excessive force.

Defying government curbs on street marches, thousands have taken to the streets inside many of Jordan's squalid camps and poor districts of the capital under the watchful eyes of the authorities to show solidarity with their brethren.

Jordanian officials have been alarmed by Israel's military offensive and worry it could derail U.S. backed peace moves between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

They fear it broadens the popularity of the Islamist movement among a majority of poor Jordanians, many of them living in refugee camps and disenchanted with the U.S.-led Middle East peace process.

The demonstrators lambasted Arab rulers, accusing them of complicity with Israel and standing idly by as ordinary Gazans are killed.

"Shame on you, Shame on you rulers. You have betrayed your people ... Open the borders and let us fight the Jews," youths chanted. (Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Sami Aboudi)
__________________
..................................................benny

Quick Links"24"FSM Research - Illegal Aliens and our National SecurityDonate - It's fast and easy!Latest FSM PollAre College Students at Risk in The “War on Terror”?FSM BlogSchool Bus Safety - FSM on FOXNewsMust ReadsAbout FSMEnfactlopediaGotta Know! 2006 Voters GuideProductsContact Congressional Rep.
Published: March 3, 2008
America's ‘Big Stick’ Off the Lebanese Coast
W. Thomas Smith Jr.



USS Cole – the guided-missile destroyer attacked by al Qaeda in the port of Aden (Yemen) in 2000 – has been back in the fight since 2002. And last Tuesday, the now-famous warship set a new course from Malta to the Lebanese coast where she will be stationed just over the horizon, unseen, but within easy striking distance.



Cole – along with two support ships – soon will be joined (or relieved of her watch) by a six-vessel U.S. Navy expeditionary strike group: the centerpiece of which is the amphibious assault ship USS Nassau, capable of landing some 1,900 Marines. The strike group includes a couple of destroyers, a cruiser, and an attack submarine.



HEZBOLLAH RANTING


Hezbollah, the Shiia terrorist group based in Lebanon, is furious. Friday’s headline in the group’s newspaper, Al Akhbar, reads: “America repeats the adventure of ‘82” – a reference to the American deployment to Lebanon that ended soon after 241 American Marines, sailors, and soldiers were killed in the U.S. Marine barracks bombing by Hezbollah in October 1983. (Also, notice how anyone opposed to U.S. military operations refers to those operations as “adventures.”)



Today, despite the fact that Hezbollah (as a political entity) is the only party in Lebanon that fields a fully standing terrorist army (not the legitimate Lebanese Army) funded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah’s parliamentarians have called the U.S. deployment “an American threat against Lebanon,” “military meddling,” and an “attempt to attach Lebanon to a joint Israeli-American scheme for the region.” What they’ve failed to mention is that Hezbollah has clashed with the legitimate army and police in recent weeks. They have threatened “open war” with Israel. They have threatened competing parliamentarians. They have assassinated Lebanese leaders and provided operational support for assassins operating in Lebanon. They continue to call for the “death” of America. And Lebanon has been unable to elect a president in multiple attempts over the past several months, due primarily to the overt threat of Hezbollah.



THE ADMIRAL’S SIGNALS


Of course, the American Naval presence is a measure of “big stick diplomacy” in the region. But U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the only signals the warships are sending are “that we're engaged and we are going to be in the vicinity, and that's a very important part of the world." that we're engaged and we are going to be in the vicinity, and that's a very, very important part of the world.”








Not denouncing, but distancing himself from the developments, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Friday, “We did not request any warships from any party.” What he did request was “clarification” from the U.S. ambassador.



Members of Lebanon’s pro-democracy movement – both in Lebanon and among the global Lebanese Diaspora – welcome the “show of force.”



In fact, Dr. Walid Phares, director of the Future of Terrorism Project for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, was calling for a similar strike force (a carrier strike group in fact) back in November 2007 when he told me for a piece in National Review Online:



“Deploying an aircraft carrier strike group into the eastern Mediterranean could balance the weight of the Iranian Pasdaran and their missiles deployed in Lebanon, so that Tehran and Damascus aren't the only powers present in that small country.”



Today, Phares tells me:



“The U.S. Navy maintains a permanent presence in the eastern Mediterranean, so the USS Cole is not breaking any existing regional balance of power. It is simply reaffirming it. Deploying this warship off the coast of Lebanon certainly has multiple dimensions. First, it is symbolic as the ship that was attacked by al Qaeda in 2000, thus being deployed close to terrorist bases sends a significant message. But more practically I see the Cole’s mission – and perhaps other ships joining her – as a positioning of American assets to face the enormous Iranian assets deployed in Lebanon, including the missiles.”



According to Phares, the U.S. considered stationing a Naval force off the coast of Lebanon, last year. But the Lebanese Government and Lebanese Army commander, Gen. Michel Sleiman, requested a postponement of such an American force until after the Lebanese presidential elections.


WHY THE BIG STICK NOW?


Phares says:



“Since the elections have been blocked by Hezbollah indefinitely – and as the flow of weapons from Iran continued – today’s deployment of the Cole is very normal in pure strategic terms. Of course, the forces of the axis – Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah – don’t want to see any international or Western force deployed in their area of operation and hegemony. The U.S. Navy has always maintained a presence in the region, but Iran's strategic assets are increasing dramatically [the money and weapons are reaching critical mass]. From that perspective, this is a message from Washington – and ultimately from NATO – to Tehran and its allies not to upset the stability of the region. In local terms, the U.S. is warning Iran and Syria not to launch an offensive against the Lebanese Government and the UNIFIL [United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon]. That's the bottom line.”



OTHER NAVAL FORCES


Lebanon maintains a very small navy composed primarily of a few patrol boats, and a small but very tough corps of Naval commandos, which technically falls under the organizational control of Lebanese special operations forces.



UNIFIL also operates the Maritime Task Force (MTF), which is responsible for assisting the Lebanese Navy with coastal defense and preventing seaborne arms smuggling operations. The MTF has been commanded by German Navy participants of UNIFIL since October 2006: just after the Israeli-Hezbollah war, and the first time German Naval forces have been stationed in the Middle East since World War II.



SPEAKING SOFTLY


On Saturday, command of the MTF was transferred to Italian Naval forces. During the change-of-command ceremony, Italian Maj. Gen. Claudio Graziano, commander of UNIFIL, was reportedly asked about the American Naval force steaming close to Lebanese waters. “I cannot comment on this,” Graziano responded, adding that such operations had nothing to do with the MTF.



Publicly, Adm. Mullen has said that the three-ship deployment (and the probable addition of the six ships packed with enough guided missiles, jump-jets, attack helicopters, and Marine riflemen to send every blustering Hezbollah commander breaking and running for the Syrian border) should not be seen as “threatening or in response to events in any single country.”



Mullen is speaking “softly,” as Pres. Theodore Roosevelt would have said. And, yes, he is carrying “a big stick.”

...................................................benny

THE BIG STICK?

YE ALREADY LAMENT
ABOUT A CRUSER?
WITH THE CARRIER EAGLE
WITH THE FISH ARROW
WITH THE LION ROAR

THEN HOW MUCH YE TREMBLE THEN?

NOW HOTHEADS

YE NEED ONE MORE THUNDER
BEFORE YE LISTEN TO YOUR GOD?

---------------

Easy easy, the internet is not as fast as You, My Lord.

labry-what are you trying to accomplish? most of your post make no connection at all to what the thread is about...how old are you?

1. My name is Labrys
2. I try to accomplish to bring the Word of God, altho it is tuff
3. No connection? My replies here are to the topics posted already, Enough connection?
4. When in Capital letters it is not me speaking, but a higher connection.

5. I am 52, and soon 53.

JPost.com » Middle East » Article


Mar 4, 2008 9:12 | Updated Mar 4, 2008 9:17
UN chief concerned about Hizbullah arms
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Israel says Hizbullah is rearming and has an arsenal including 10,000 long-range rockets and 20,000 short-range rockets in southern Lebanon, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council in a report.


United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Photo: AP , AP
While Ban's report did not confirm Israel's claim, the UN chief reiterated his concern about Hizbullah's public statements and persistent reports pointing to breaches of a UN arms embargo, which bans weapons transfers to the militant Shiite Islamic guerrilla group.

Ban also expressed concern at "the threats of open war against Israel" by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah accused Israel of trying to start a new war by assassinating a top Hizbullah commander and warned it would be a battle the Jewish state would lose. Israel has denied involvement in the Feb. 12 car bombing in Damascus, Syria that killed Imad Mughniyeh.

The secretary-general's report focused on implementation of the UN cease-fire resolution that ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hizbullah in August 2006. The resolution reiterates a call for the disarming of all militias and bans arms transfers to them.

"Reports of Hizbullah rearming are a cause of great concern, posing serious challenges to the sovereignty, stability and independence of Lebanon," Ban said.

He told the council he continues to believe that the disarmament of Hizbullah and other militias must be part of a Lebanese-led political process that would fully restore the government's authority throughout the country. He expressed regret "that the persistent deterioration of the political climate and the prolonged deadlock" over the election of a new Lebanese president have made it impossible to deal with the disarmament issue.

In his last report to the council in late October, Ban alleged that Hizbullah had rearmed with new long-range rockets capable of hitting Tel Aviv and tripled its arsenal of C-802 land-to-sea missiles since the 2006 war. He also drew attention to alleged breaches of the arms embargo and the transfer of sophisticated weapons from Iran and Syria _ both strong backers of Hizbullah - across the Lebanon-Syria border.

Syria disputed the claim and countered that the allegations of weapons smuggling are motivated by political rather than security considerations, Ban said, but Hizbullah's leaders have admitted on several occasions that their military capacity had been replenished after the war with Israel.

"I, therefore, remain concerned that this border remains vulnerable to such breaches, which would represent serious violations of the resolution and constitute a significant threat to the stability and security of Lebanon," he said.

"All member states in the region, in particular the Syrian Arab Republic and the Islamic Republic of Iran, have a key responsibility in this regard," the secretary-general said. "Such violations risk further destabilizing Lebanon and the whole region."

After the 2006 war, a beefed-up UN force was stationed in south Lebanon, south of the Litani River, partially to keep Hizbullah from smuggling weapons into the area.

In Monday's re