Free Republic

The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon says its prosecutor has issued indictments for the 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The names of the accused remain confidential for now, but are widely believed to include members of the armed Shia group Hezbollah. A pre-trial judge now decides whether to issue warrants. Last week, Hezbollah and its allies brought down Lebanon's government in a dispute over the tribunal. The group, which denies any role in the killing, has dismissed the tribunal as a US and Israeli plot that is designed to discredit it. It has demanded that Lebanon cease...

KARACHI - Hezbollah has emerged as the new champion of the jihadist world, eclipsing even al-Qaeda as it battled the might of the US-backed-and-supplied Israel Defense Forces. Shi'ite Hezbollah's newfound international popularity is likely in turn to encourage closer ties between it and Salafi-dominated al-Qaeda, which had fallen in Hezbollah's esteem for its targeting of Shi'ites in Iraq. An Iranian intelligence official explained to Asia Times Online, "There have been some contacts between Hezbollah and al-Qaeda in the past, but those contacts were at the individual level.

'Israel can only lose once' Posted: August 18, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2006 During one of Israel's many wars, Golda Meir offered this famous – and tragic – observation: "The Arabs can fight, and lose, and return to fight another day. Israel can only lose once." Golda's assessment became a truism of the Middle East up until now. And the jury is still out as to whether her assessment remains true to this day. In the strange and surreal world that is the Middle East, Israel lost its war with Hezbollah. And while it remains intact at the moment,...

This morning as the sun rose over Jerusalem, my wife Leah gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at the Hadassah Medical center. A few hours later I drove to the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Malachi where my wife's parents live.After packing several personal items that my wife will need for her hospital stay, I set out to drive back to Jerusalem. As I passed the central bus station in Kiryat Malachi, I saw an Israeli soldier waiting to get a ride. I rolled down the window and asked him where he needed to go. He said his...

French Ambassador to Israel Gerard Araud belittled efforts to have Hizbullah placed on the EU's list of terrorist organizations as "feel-good diplomacy" that "wouldn't make the slightest difference." He also said that Israel had refused an EU offer to send peace-keeping troops to Gaza, and that France stands poised again to push to bring Iran before the Security Council to keep it from acquiring nuclear weapons. Araud made the comments during a lecture he gave on "France and the Middle East" at Bar-Ilan University on Tuesday. Israel has long urged the EU to put Hizbullah on its list of terror...

Hizbullah refuses to bow to American ‘threats’ US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage’s description of Hizbullah as the “A-Team” of terrorism and the US administration’s vow to “take them down one at a time” drew criticism from former Premier Salim Hoss and several political parties over the weekend. In answer to Armitage’s statements, Former Prime Minister Salim Hoss expressed regret in a Saturday statement toward what he said was US “confusion” between the struggle for liberation and terrorism. He added that Washington “champions” human rights across the globe “but overlooks” the same rights when it comes to the Palestinians....