Free Republic

When writing about Lebanon I get a nervous feeling that but for the grace of G-d, this could happen to Israel. Lebanon has had one of the roughest histories among all the nations. The disintegration of order and sanity began with the arrival of Yasser Arafat and the PLO after they were cast out of Jordan after the events now called Black September where Yasser Arafat used his followers to overthrow the government in Jordan. Soon after being exiled to Lebanon everything boiled over. Yasser Arafat again made an attempt to take over the government in Lebanon while using southern...

From the point of view of Iran and its Lebanese terrorist puppet, Hezb'allah, the timing of the collapse of Lebanon's government couldn't have been more exquisite.  For President Obama, the in-your-face timing arranged by the mullahs in Tehran dramatically underscored a U.S. foreign-policy disaster in the Middle East. Just as Obama was meeting at the White House with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Hezb'allah pulled the plug on Hariri's coalition government with the collective resignation of Hezb'allah's cabinet ministers.   Blindsided by Hezb'allah, Hariri made a quick get-away from Washington and flew back to Beirut to face a major political crisis and...

"What did the President know, and when did he know it?" asked Howard Baker about President Nixon during the Watergate hearings. The carefully planned May 31 ambush of Israeli naval commandos by armed Turkish martyrdom fanatics, in collusion with Jodie Evans of the radical leftist group Code Pink and along with Obama friends Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, raises precisely the same question. Most conspiracy theories are hogwash, but not all of them. Stalinism really was a conspiracy to infiltrate, sabotage, and ultimately conquer the West. It had some spectacular successes, like stealing nuclear secrets from the Manhattan Project, a feat...

The widely read Cable, a publication of Foreign Policy magazine, responded to my article about apparent hints that the Obama Administration and its favorite think tank might be involved in pushing the idea of dealing with Hizballah, a revolutionary Islamist group in Lebanon which is terrorist, genocidally-intended toward Israel, and a client of Iran and Syria. Despite the fact that I was very careful and responsible, accurately quoting the letter I had received, the article’s headline was entitled, The nonexistent Obama conspiracy to engage Hezbollah,” as if the whole notion was ridiculous. But the only evidence that this isn't happening...

00:31 Israeli banks urge Americans to close investment accounts in Israel (TheMarker)

According to news reports Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is pushing Hezballah to start another war with Israel with the sole purpose of deflecting attention away from his own lack of popularity at home. As the continuing protests show, the current regime is very unpopular with the Iranian populace. “As Israel is beating the war drums four years after its humiliating military defeat against Hizbullah, many believe that Ahmadinejad might exploit another conflict between Israel and the militant group as a way of resolving his own lack of legitimacy inside Iran,” wrote Iran's Green Voice newspaper. ...The report also alleged that...

In July there was a mysterious explosion at the Hirbet Salim village in South Lebanon, heard on both sides of the border. According to IDF military sources the explosion happened , at one of the 35 Illegal large weapons caches Hizballah built as near as 20 kilometers from the Israel border right in front of the noses of the United Nations UNIFIL forces. The Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa reported today, that chemical weapons were stored in the hidden Hizballah arms warehouse which blew up at Hirbet Salim near the Israeli border in mid-July. Of the 11 Hizballah operatives killed in the...

Two weeks ago Egypt announced with great fanfare that it found a Hezbollah cell operating inside in the Sinai desert...Egyptian authorities say the Hezbollah cell was planning attacks against tourist sites in Sinai, conducting surveillance on strategic targets including the Suez Canal, and funneling arms and money to Hamas. Hassan Nasrallah, has admitted that the ringleader of the cell was a member of his organization to provide "logistical support to help the Palestinian brothers in transporting ammunition and individuals ...These latest actions by Hezbollah have planned by Iran, who wants to be top dog in the Arab world. This past...

U.S. defense officials say a Navy vessel that is part of the new piracy task force intercepted and searched an Iranian-owned ship that officials feared was carrying arms to Hamas. It's unclear whether those suspicions were founded. Two defense officials say the Cypriot-flagged commercial vessel was tracked by a U.S. Navy ship in the Red Sea over the weekend. One official says it was boarded with the consent of the vessel's crew on Monday and Tuesday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. The search turned up ammunition that included artillery...

Fears that Russia might sell advanced weaponry to Syria kicked up a mini-storm of concern in Israel on Thursday. Syrian President Bashar Assad, in Russia for talks with President Dmitry Medvedev, has been campaigning to acquire weapons systems that include long-range surface-to-surface missiles, according to Russian media reports. The news of Assad's reported ambitions prompted immediate hand-wringing among Israeli officials and analysts. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel was "analyzing the ramifications" of Assad's visit.

Syria decided on Tuesday to postpone releasing the findings of its investigation into the Feb. 12 assassination of Hezbollah operations chief Imad Mughniyah just as Iranian media outlet, Fars News Agency, reported through its Persian language service that Syrian authorities had detained a Saudi Arabian intelligence official for allegedly participating in the assassination. According to the Fars report, the Saudi official’s Syrian girlfriend bought the two vehicles used in the bombing that killed Mughniyah. We are also told that Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a top Saudi national security official, masterminded the operation. While Damascus is refraining from officially implicating Riyadh...

It took the Syrian authorities nearly a full day to issue a statement condemning the killing of leading Hezbollah member Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus on Tuesday night. When it appeared, the statement made no clear accusation of who was behind the car bomb. The assassination is being taken very seriously and has triggered alarm in Syria, a country that usually keeps a tight hold the security situation. Hezbollah is a strong ally of Syria and analysts believe the assassination of one of its top members is meant as a message to both Syria and Iran, Hezbollah's other main backer. "This...

Hezbollah has managed to deploy large numbers of Katyusha rockets and antitank missiles in southern Lebanon, senior Israel Defense Forces officials have told Haaretz. These weapons in Shi'ite villages have been undetected by UN observers, the officials say.

Hizbullah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Kassem said Tuesday that the Lebanese army was responsible for the deaths of three protestors in Beirut demonstrations held Sunday. In a speech commemorating the deceased protestors, Qassem said that “the Lebanese army holds full responsibility for disclosing the truth about these events. There was no fire exchanged between the two sides, as the protestors were unarmed. It is no coincidence that all of those killed were protestors.” (Roee Nahmias)

DETROIT – Nada Nadim Prouty, a 37-year-old Lebanese national and resident of Vienna, Va., pleaded guilty today in the Eastern District of Michigan to charges of fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship, which she later used to gain employment at the FBI and CIA; accessing a federal computer system to unlawfully query information about her relatives and the terrorist organization Hizballah; and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The announcement was made today by Stephen J. Murphy, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan; Kenneth L. Wainstein, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Willie T. Hulon, Executive Assistant Director of the...

The wife of fugitive La Shish restaurant owner Talal Chahine has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and naturalization fraud. She is accused of faking a marriage to gain U.S. citizenship and serving as a reference for her sister, Nada Nadim Prouty. Chahine is charged with tax evasion and believed to be in Lebanon.

Al-Husainy was a guest. This was the Islamic cleric that gave a prayer invocation at the DNC Winter meeting this last Friday. Sean was at his best attempting to get a yes or no answer out of the cleric. The cleric was at times incomprehensible and even managed a humerous literal "you talkin to me" moment that just cracked me up!

MUST READ - James Baker Works to Establish Direct Diplomatic USA - Iran Ties Former US Secretary of State Baker Attempts to Bypass Bush White House on Iran Defense & Foreign Affairs Analysis. By Gregory R. Copley, Editor, GIS. Former US Secretary of State James Baker, who co-chaired the recent US Iraq Study Group — the main recommendations of which were rejected by the George W. Bush Administration — is working indirectly and behind the scenes to bring about direct diplomatic ties between the US and Iran. This is in defiance of Bush White House policy which essentially has said...

Egyptian Gama'a al-Islamiyya's Public Relations Campaign By Chris Zambelis In a recent interview conducted by the Dubai-based al-Arabiya news network, Dr. Nageh Ibrahim, senior leader and chief ideological theorist of the Egyptian Gama'a al-Islamiyya (EIG, Egyptian Islamic Group), reiterated the movement's pledge to renounce violence. He also reconfirmed EIG's commitment toward pursuing a peaceful and flexible agenda and its rejection of extremist positions it previously held toward the Egyptian government, Christians and theological interpretations of key aspects of Islam. Ibrahim claims that his decision to speak out publicly on these issues is meant to refute an August videotaped statement by...

The U.N. plan for a cease fire and patrols by an international force is falling apart, leaving the possibility Hizbullah will re-arm itself while Israel's hands are tied by international pressure. France has provided the latest hitch in the deployment of the proposed international United Nations force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The French General in charge of UNIFIL was quoted in a French newspaper saying that it could take up to a year to deploy the forces. Paris has promised to send thousands of troops that would lead the international force to carry out the cease fire resolution, which requires "the...