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Kuwait-based Al Jarida quotes Israeli security official as saying that Israel is mulling destroying remainder of cache in Beka'a Valley; report could not be confirmed by any other source. Lebanon Kuwait's Al-Jarida newspaper reported Wednesday that Israeli warplanes attacked a convoy carrying missiles along Lebanon's border with Syria two days earlier. Quoting Israeli sources, the newspaper said that the missiles were intended for delivery to Hezbollah, to bolster their cache of advanced weapons. The report did not specify whether the alleged attack was carried out on Lebanese or Syrian territory. The newspaper sources an Israeli security official, described as an...

Lebanese Cabinet agrees to send troops to southern Lebanon if Israel withdraws and if it gets help from an international force.

DEBKAfile reports: Iran’s national security adviser Ali Larijani flies to Damascus aboad special military plane Wednesday night as war tension builds up around Hizballah kidnap of 2 Israeli soldiers Larijani is also Iran’s senior nuclear negotiator. He will remain in Damascus for the duration of the crisis in line with the recently Iranian-Syrian mutual defense pact. His presence affirms that an Israeli attack on Syria will be deemed an assault on Iran. It also links the Israeli hostage crisis to Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West. The White House released a statement holding Syria and Iran responsible for Hizballah abduction...

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The U.S. Defense Department is said to be mulling a proposal to expand special operations forces and send them to destroy insurgency strongholds along the Lebanese-Syrian border. U.S. defense sources said the proposal is being examined by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. They said the plan calls for a multi-pronged attack on insurgency strongholds in such countries as Lebanon and Somalia. "The global war on terror is continuing, and it will for the foreseeable future," Rumsfeld, who did not cite future U.S. counter-insurgency targets, said on Tuesday. "As we prosecute the war, we'll need to continue to strengthen,...