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Drug Enforcement Administration agents have raided an Oklahoma car dealership that the government suspects may be one of about 30 such businesses in the U.S. involved in funding the terrorist group Hezbollah. DEA agents say the car lot of Ace Auto Leasing in Tulsa is part of a huge network that is selling cars and drugs -- and then using the money to support terrorism against the U.S., myfoxphoenix.com reports. During Friday's raid, agents could be seen carryout out filing cabinets and other items. They also questioned employees and took inventory. "They're making big time money and it's going right...

Hizballah has for some time been a parasitic pseudo-state within Lebanon, complete with its own armed forces, and has slowly been working to devour its host. An attempt to take Beirut would be a rather logical progression of events, unfortunately. Would Hizballah face any resistance from the Lebanese armed forces? "If Assad falls, Hezbollah will take Beirut," from the Jerusalem Post, November 22: Hezbollah may launch a military offensive to take over the Lebanese capital of Beirut if Syrian President Bashar Assad is forced out of power, Dubai-based Arabic-language news website Al Arabiya reported Tuesday according to a "source close...

In a press conference held on Monday afternoon in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit responded to criticism by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday, saying that "They have practically declared war on Egypt via several satellite stations. The Egyptian people reject and opposes this declaration." "They want for there to be chaos in Egypt as there is in their country," Gheit said of Hizbullah. "I tell this man [Nasrallah]: No, no! Our armed forces can defend our homeland from people like you. Your interest in creating chaos is not in the best interest of...

Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday to a hero's welcome and blaze of fanfare that belied the country's rising intercommunal tensions and Western misgivings about his visit. Shouts of "khosh amadi" ("welcome" in Persian) and showers of rice, sweets and petals greeted the Iranian leader as he waved to crowds from an open-topped car after arriving in Beirut at the beginning of a two-day trip. It's Ahmadinejad's first visit to Lebanon, where Iran has cultivated close relationship with Hezbollah, the Shi'ite Islamist group that fought a bitter five-week conflict with Israel in 2006. He was expected to...

10/7/10 Al-Balad newspaper reported on Thursday that the United Nations is moving its offices from Beirut to Cyprus because there are fears that the security situation in Lebanon may deteriorate. The source also said that the UN will only keep a few offices open in Lebanon, adding that European ambassadors were given orders to limit their movement in the country after intelligence reports indicated they might be targeted.

Baghdad leaders reveal that coup plot duped MI6 Julie Flint explains how rumours of Saddam's overthrow caused British intelligence to miss vital information about Iraq's weapons programme British intelligence took its eyes off Saddam Hussein's weapons programmes because it had been duped into believing a military coup would leave Sunni Muslims in power in Iraq. Sources in the country say what they missed was a push to convert chemical and biological organisms into dry agents that could be hidden until pressure on the regime was lifted. 'From the second half of 2000, the focus of the British was not on...

Two people were killed in a four-hour firefight between Shiite Hezbollah supporters and a Sunni group in Beirut on Tuesday, an army spokesman said. AFP - Two people, including a Hezbollah official, were killed in clashes between supporters of the Shiite Muslim movement and partisans of a small Sunni group in Beirut on Tuesday, an army spokesman said. Police told AFP the fighters were using shoulder-launched rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns in the fighting, which continued for some four hours and in which another three people were wounded. "A personal fight between a supporter of Hezbollah and another of Al-Ahbash...

Iran's secret pipeline into the U.S. J.J. Green, wtop.com WASHINGTON - Iran Air 744 is a bimonthly flight that originates in Tehran and flies directly to Caracas with periodic stops in Beirut and Damascus. The maiden flight was Feb. 2, 2007. The mere existence of the flight was a significant concern for U.S. intelligence officials, but now a broader concern is who and what are aboard the flights. "If you [a member of the public] tried to book yourself a seat on this flight and it doesn't matter whether it's a week before, a month before, six months before --...

May 29, 2008 By Andrew Walden (Hawai'i Free Press) Nadhmi Auchi, seen here with the Governor of Illinois, Rob Blagojevich (middle) at a 2004 Chicago dinner in Auchi's honor arranged by Antonin Rezko (potentially, right)[1]. All three men have been convicted of corruption related charges (Auchi 2003, Rezko 2008, Blagojevich 2009).[2] “A British-Iraqi billionaire lent millions of dollars to Barack Obama's fundraiser (dual US-Syrian citizen Tony Rezko) just weeks before an imprudent land deal that has returned to haunt the presidential contender, an investigation by The Times discloses. The money transfer raises the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi,...

BEIRUT - Lebanon said Wednesday that it will hold Israel responsible for any attack against blockade-busting aid ships planning to sail to Gaza in coming days. Two ships carrying aid are planning to make the trip to Gaza. Lebanese authorities have so far granted one of them permission to sail first to Cyprus and not directly to Gaza because Lebanon and Israel are technically at war.

The United States continues to supply weapons and other security systems to Lebanon's security forces amid rising tensions with Israel and despite concerns in Congress that Hizbullah holds the Beirut government in check. The U.S. government has delivered light weapons, body armor and bomb equipment to Lebanese security forces. This marked the third transfer of military and security equipment to Lebanon in as many months. The U.S. supply has been taking place as Beirut's military has escalated attacks on Israeli fighter-jets on reconnaissance missions in southern Lebanon.Leading members of Congress have expressed concern over the U.S. funding of Lebanon's military...

Lebanon expects to receive additional U.S. assistance to develop its military and security forces. Lebanese officials said the United States has pledged to lead an international effort to bolster Beirut's military and security forces. They said U.S. weapons began to flow to Lebanon in 2010 and could intensify over the next few months. "The U.S. military is convinced that the Lebanese army is capable of controlling stability in Lebanon," Ghassan Al Shibli, a researcher at the Washington-based Rand Corp., said. Officials said the Obama administration has concluded that U.S. aid should not be blocked by Hizbullah's domination of the government...

The Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah was said to have blocked the flow of information on military deployment in Lebanon. A retired U.S. Army general said Hizbullah has been monitoring and preventing communications between Lebanon and the outside world, particularly regarding the arrival of advanced weapons. The general, Paul Vallely, said Hizbullah has sought to keep secret the flow of conventional and nonconventional weapons received from Iran in 2010. "The Internet has been locked down, very tightly controlled," Vallely said. "Anyone associated with any Israeli will be assassinated." The retired U.S. general, an author and military analyst for the U.S.-based Fox News, said...

Amid growing fears of another Middle East war, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has thrown down the gauntlet for Israel by vowing to hammer Ben-Gurion Airport if Beirut's Rafik Hariri International is hit, as it was in their last conflict in 2006. That was not likely an idle boast. Nasrallah was unusually specific in what targets Hezbollah would hit, thus signaling its capabilities. "He's never been as detailed and candid," said Lebanese political scientist and Hezbollah expert Amal Saad-Ghorayeb of the American University of Beirut. According to Israel's military intelligence, Hezbollah has in excess of 42,000 rockets and missiles stashed away,...

The DEBKAfile, an intelligence and security news service, is reporting this morning that the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet after takeoff from Beirut Jan. 25 was caused by an act of Al-Qaeda terror.

BEIRUT, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Rescue workers have located the crash site of an Ethiopian Airlines plane that went down just off the Lebanese coast on Monday, Lebanon's Transport Minister Ghazi al-Aridi said. "(The crash) site has been identified three-and-a-half km (two miles) west of the (coastal) village of Na'ameh," Aridi told reporters at Beirut international airport. He said search and rescue operations were under way but refused to give any further details. He also said it was too early to say what caused the crash but confirmed the plane took off from Beirut international airport in stormy weather

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Syria will back Hizbullah against IDF' By JPOST.COM STAFF http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull If Israel were to attack Hizbullah in Lebanon, Syria would respond and not sit idly by, the Katari Al Watan newspaper quoted Syrian sources as saying in a report published Wednesday. The sources reportedly added that Damascus considered any threat to Lebanon's security and stability as a threat to Syria's security. The paper reported that Damascus was worriedly taking notice of "Israeli deployment and maneuvers along the northern border," and that Syrian leadership assessed Israel was planning a military operation in Lebanon in May. US officials have notified the Lebanese...

BEIRUT: At least two people were killed late Saturday in a blast that shook Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut, a security official said.

Obama Justice Department seeks to block enforcement of judgment against Iran for murder of 241 United States MarinesIn 1983, 241 United States Marines were murdered by a suicide bombing in which a Bush-era Federal court ruled that Iran was complicit. The court ordered Iran to pay the families of the murdered service members $2.65 billion. The Boston Globe reports that the Obama Justice Department has, in an effort to appease Iran, intervened to quash the judgment; in other words, Barack Obama has sided openly with terrorists who murder U.S. Marines.... the Obama State Department (Hillary Clinton) has cut off funding...

Mideast: Iran tests an advanced warhead design as it gets caught shipping weapons to Hezbollah. Syria is reported to give the group operational control over Scud missiles. It's five minutes to midnight. Tyranny abhors a vacuum. While the U.S. and the West dither in Hamlet-like fashion over whatever we shall do in places such as Afghanistan and Iran, the Axis of Evil is in full swing in its plans to destroy Israel and threaten Europe and America. Israel last week seized what it said was the largest arms cache ever intercepted in the region. Israeli navy commandos boarded the Francop,...

RAIN RAN in small rivers from the equipment and the faces of the men loading up to leave in the early hours of that morning. Although the day had barely gotten a running start, already Camp Lejeune Marines were packing their gear, tying it down, and prepping for deployment. On the faces of these men — young and shiny baby Marines, experienced men facing their first deployment, and experienced veterans who had already been there and done that — was a grim expectation of what they would face in a few hours when they reached their destination: Beirut, Lebanon. Their...

Some 26 years after a bombing in Beirut killed 241 American Marines, sailors and soldiers, one community here in the east is still picked up the pieces. Many of the men killed when a suicide bomber attacked the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines headquarters building in Lebanon on October 23, 1983, were stationed at Camp Lejeune and lived in Jacksonville. And as Philip Jones reports, the wound is still fresh there almost three decades later: Prayers of praise echoed through Jacksonville’s Beirut Memorial Friday morning before giving way to salutes to our country and the men who laid down their lives...

Twenty-six years after a bombing in Lebanon stunned Jacksonville, Camp Lejeune and surrounding communities, veterans and their families still remember with sadness but are forging healing bonds. On Friday morning, the city and Camp Lejeune marked the anniversary of the 1983 suicide bombing that took the lives of 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers, most of whom were from the First Battalion, Eighth Marines, based at Jacksonville’s Camp Geiger. The service at the Beirut Memorial drew hundreds to the granite wall carrying a simple, eloquent inscription: “They Came in Peace.” Jacksonville Mayor Sammy Phillips recalled the grief stricken moments the community...

At 6:20 on the morning of Oct. 23, 1983, a massive truck bomb plowed through the gates of the barracks of a U.S. Marines Corps peacekeeping force stationed in Beirut, Lebanon. The detonation, the most powerful non-nuclear explosion on record, would kill 241 of the 271 servicemen inside — the largest single-day death toll for the Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. At the time, Mark Wolcott of Tioga County was a lance corporal in the Marine Corps, assigned as a repairman for amphibious troop carriers, or “Amtraks.” On the night of Oct. 22,...

The community remembers the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit of 1983 as brave troops who suffered great losses in Beirut in one of the most devastating non-nuclear bombings of all time. Retired Marine Col. Timothy Geraghty remembers them as “my men.” Geraghty will be in Jacksonville today to commemorate the anniversary of the bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed nearly 300 peacekeeping troops, 241 of whom were Marines and sailors under his command. Twenty-six years after the event, he has told the story of Beirut in his own words.

I have been a resident of the Hamra district for two years now, where there is anything but routine. As a Chicagoan as well, I compare Hamra to Wicker Park, Chicago. Concentrated with hipsters, artists, intellectuals, old money, and yuppies, it is a neighborhood consistently updating its face with new chains and cozy pubs and demolition of old relic buildings and businesses. It comprises one of the most mixed populations in Lebanon and caters to that with anything from a brothel to a Dunkin Donuts coffee. I entered Hamra as a stranger, meeting individuals at this party or that pub....

Renovation work is underway at the main synagogue in central Beirut, after approval from the Lebanese government, planning authorities and even Hezbollah. The work, which is being funded by private donors and a Lebanese construction firm, began two weeks ago, according to various media reports. Built in the 1920s, the synagogue is located in the neighborhood of Wadi Abu Jamil, close to Lebanese parliament and other government buildings in downtown Beirut.

He may yet turn out to be the avatar of Iranian democracy, but three decades ago Mir-Hossein Mousavi was waging a terrorist war on the United States that included bloody attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

Biden will travel to Beirut... on Friday to reinforce... support for an independent and sovereign Lebanon....In addition, Biden will join Lebanon's Defense Minister Elias Murr and announce the United States' military assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces.

BEIRUT // Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, surprised Beirut yesterday with an unexpected three-hour visit that US diplomats billed as an effort to reassure the country of support despite the Obama administration’s recent overtures towards Syria and Iran. Many Lebanese have been concerned that US support for Lebanon could fade in favour of a broader Middle East peace deal. The United States has backed the current governing coalition, commonly known as “March 14”, against a Hizbollah-led opposition that is competing for control of the parliament in elections scheduled for early June. Mrs Clinton avoided direct endorsements of either...

BEIRUT (AFP) — As Beirut prepares to don the mantle of UNESCO "World Book Capital City 2009," Arabic novels are enjoying an unprecedented boom across the Middle East, breaking taboos on topics such as sex and religion. The Lebanese capital was chosen as the world's literary centre this year "in the light of its focus on cultural diversity, dialogue and tolerance," according to the UNESCO selection committee. There is no shortage of literary fodder as book readings and launches are scheduled across Beirut daily for the last week of April. Among books being showcased will be a wealth of latest...

Note: Photo included. Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Blog Details Beirut: Jamaat-e-Islami Leader Meets With Hamas Official Abdul Ghaffar Aziz, director of foreign affairs of Pakistan’s Jamaat-e-Islami, meets with Hamas’s Deputy President Musa Abu Marzuq in Beirut. Source: www.jasarat.com, Pakistan, accessed April 15, 2009 Posted at: 2009-04-15

Sometimes a story just doesn't seem to be "all there." Cinnamon Stillwell suspected as much in a NewsBusters item on January 10: Call me overly suspicious, but the story of 16-year-old Farris Hassan traveling to Iraq on a whim strikes me as unbelievable. Hassan's interview with Rita Cosby of MSNBC, a Florida newspaper columnist's skepticism, and a January 18 posting by the Northeast Intelligence Network (NIN), which describes itself as "a small contingent of experienced investigators ..... founded by veteran private investigator Douglas J. Hagmann," all appear to confirm Stillwell's suspicions. What is known of Farris Hassan's saga at this...

A new Palestinian militant group whose members have been trained to carry out rocket-launching and bombing operations was reportedly formed in the southern refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh to carry out among others an attack on the Egyptian embassy. Al-Balad daily reported on Sunday that a Palestinian named Jamal Hamad formed the organization, which he named "Jihad movement for the victory of Gaza" with the assistance of Ghandi Sahmarani, a Lebanese wanted from the authorities on several terrorist charges. The newspaper said several militants from Jund al-Sham and Osbat al-Ansar have joined the new group. The militants have received training...

ht Gateway PunditThe man’s not even President yet [/sarcasm off]reuters Outrageous protests against Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip, held near the U.S. embassy in Lebanese capital Beirut, were dealt with tear gas and water cannons on Sunday. Lebanese security forces dispersed 200-strong demonstrators who tried to cut through the barbed wire near the Embassy. Reports said the demonstrators, carrying Lebanese and Palestinian flags, were fend off while trying to cross the barricade to the mission compound in Awkar, north of Beirut. They demanded that the U.S. ambassador be expelled from Lebanon. Injuries have been reported in the use of...

KristallnachtGoogle News Search - Results 1 - 50 of about 1,965 for kristallnacht. (0.57 seconds) Marine Corps Birthday Google News Search Results 1 - 50 of about 403 for marine corps birthday. (0.58 seconds) British soldiers give a hand in rescue operations at the site of the bomb-wrecked U.S. Marine command center in Beirut on Oct. 23, 1983. AP File Submitted By Marine Viet Vet

During the summer of 1982, in the wake of a presidential directive, Marines went ashore at Beirut, Lebanon. Fifteen months later, on 23 October 1983, extremists struck the first major blow against American forces – starting this long war on terrorism. On that Sunday morning, a suicide bomber drove an explosive laden truck into the headquarters of Battalion Landing Team 1/8, destroying the building and killing 241 Marines and corpsmen. Extremists have attacked our Nation, at home and abroad, numerous times since that fateful day in Beirut. Their aim has always been the same – to kill as many innocent...

Sunday morning was like a holiday. It was the only day of the week when the Marines could sleep in, the only day they got hot food, remembers retired Master Gunnery Sgt. John Nash. "We really looked forward to that Sunday morning, and the terrorists knew that," Nash said. At 6:22 the morning of Oct. 23, 1983, Nash was lying in his cot, talking to a fellow corporal about whether they should go to the chow hall for breakfast. Suddenly, the conversation was interrupted by a boom Nash called "totally indescribable." "It blew us all out of our racks," Nash...

FBI Warns of Potential Terror Attacks The FBI and Department of Homeland Security today issued an analytical "note" to U.S. law-enforcement officials cautioning that al-Qaida terrorists have in the past expressed interest in attacking public buildings using a dozen suicide bombers each carrying 20 kilograms of explosives. Authors with the U.S. Office of Intelligence and Analysis added that they have "no credible or specific information that terrorists are planning operations against public buildings in the United States." The FBI and DHS analysts said they were releasing the note because "it is important for local authorities and building owners and...

dawn 25 years ago today, a lumbering, yellow Mercedes truck smashed into US Marine headquarters near Beirut airport, detonating a gargantuan bomb that killed 241 peace-keepers. It was the Marines' biggest single-battle death toll since Iwo Jima. A short while later, a car-bomb killed 74 French peace-keepers not far away. Imagine this anniversary being celebrated by Iran's Supreme "spiritual" leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameni, in the company of Revolutionary Guard commandant Mohammad Ali Jafari and intelligence chief Gholam-Hussein Mohseni-Ejei. Khameni might make a toast - non-alcoholic - to the memory of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini; Jafari might boast that their predecessors pulled...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2008 – Twenty-five years ago, Marine Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Nashton lay broken, burned and blind in a military hospital bed in Germany, the victim of a brutal terrorist attack that nearly killed him. Former Marine Ken Curry, left, and Bill Short, a former sailor, fight back tears during the White House Commission on Remembrance’s 25th annual tribute Oct. 19, 2008, at Arlington National Cemetery to those killed in the Oct. 23, 1983, terrorist attacks on a Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Defense Dept. photo by Fred W. Baker III  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available....

25 Years Later: We Came in Peace By Colonel Timothy J. Geraghty, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired) In a Proceedings exclusive, the commanding officer of the Marine unit devastated by the suicide bombing of its barracks in Beirut recounts the horror of that October day 25 years ago and calls it a seminal event in the war against Islamist extremists. On Sunday morning, 23 October 1983, I awoke as usual at dawn, dressed, and went below to the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit's Combat Operations Center to check the overnight communications traffic. I roamed outside my headquarters at Beirut International Airport to...

Beirut, July 2: At "Buns and Guns" you can order a "Kalashnikov" sandwich from a bullet-shaped menu, prepared by chefs in military fatigues with the roar of explosions as background music. This new fast food restaurant in Beirut's southern suburbs, where the Hezbollah movement holds sway, was the brainchild of co-owner Ali Hammoud. He said the war theme was a novel concept that had nothing to do with Lebanon's bloody recent history. "It's just an idea I had, nothing more, nothing less. I could have put toys in place of the sandbags and teddy bears instead of guns. But it...

Lebanon will not become the next Gaza. Commenters both inside and outside the country compared Hezbollah's invasion of West Beirut last week to the Hamas takeover of Gaza last year, which is perhaps understandable: that's what it looked like. If Lebanon's mainstream Sunni-dominated party--Saad Hariri's Future Movement--has a militia that is able and willing to fight, it didn't make much of an appearance. Hezbollah seized the western half of the city in a walk. Most journalists focused on this portion of the conflict because West Beirut is where almost every journalist in Lebanon lives and where almost every hotel for...

BEIRUT: Hezbollah on Saturday began withdrawing gunmen from Beirut and handed control of the streets to the Lebanese army, after days of gunbattles with supporters of the US-backed government. Hezbollah, a political group backed by Iran and Syria with a guerrilla army, said it was ending its armed presence in Beirut after the army overturned government measures against the group. Hezbollah seized control of much of the city on Friday after fighters loyal to the group routed gunmen loyal to the anti-Damascus governing coalition. The Hezbollah-led opposition said it would maintain a "civil disobedience" campaign until its demands were met,...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah TV says that Hezbollah-led opposition forces will withdraw all their gunmen from Beirut in compliance with an army request. An opposition statement says the move comes after the army called on gunmen to get off the street and reopen the roads. But the statement said that a "civil disobedience" campaign will continue until its demands are met. Hezbollah gunmen seized most of the capital's Muslim sector Friday in the worst sectarian strife since a 15-year civil war ended nearly two decades ago. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier...

<p>Starting late last night and continuing into the morning, Hezbollah and Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) militiamen engaged in street clashes on the major roads of Hamra and Verdun, among other areas of broader Ras Beirut.</p> <p>"We have an SSNP flag right under us. I'm looking at their guys as we speak," noted Dana, a resident of Hamra. "The ones that I can see are holding their guns... they stop cars; like, every time a car passes by, they stop the car. If they like it, they'll let it go. If they don't, they'll make it turn around."</p>

Italy readying evacuation plan for Lebanon May 9, 2008 ROME (Reuters) - Italy's foreign ministry said on Friday it was preparing an evacuation plan for its nationals in the Lebanese capital Beirut, where Hezbollah fighters and pro-government gunmen have been battling for three days. A ministry spokesman said the plan was not operational yet and would be enforced only if necessary. He said Italians in certain parts of the city were being offered safe shelter if they wanted to leave their homes. "I wouldn't call it at this phase an evacuation. We are ready for that, we are preparing it...

Hizbollah swept through major areas of Beirut in an overnight push that resulted in the deaths of 11 and forced Lebanese MPs out of the capital The Shia group seized control of large areas of Beirut’s Sunni Muslim districts, which are loyal to the US-backed government on Friday. The pro-Western leadership was effectively besieged with top leaders Saad Hariri of the Sunnis and Walid Jumblatt of the Druse sect surrounded in their compounds in Muslim western Beirut. Many MPs were forced to convene an emergency outside the capital. The fighting left the country’s army on the brink of potentially decisive...