Free Republic

SNIPPET: "In recent days Egypt has been disclosing details about uncovering a major Hezbollah espionage ring on its soil. AP cites a cabinet minister saying 25 of its 49 members have been arrested so far. The arrests began back in November, but the disclosures have started only now. The leader of the espionage ring—who is among those detained—was a Hezbollah agent named Sami Shehab, and the group he recruited included Lebanese, Syrians, Sudanese, and Palestinians along with 12 Egyptian Shiites. Not surprisingly, they planned attacks on Israeli vacationers in the Sinai, apparently as revenge for the February 2008 killing of...

Feb. 12 will mark the one-year anniversary of theassassination of Imad Mughniyah, one of Hezbollah’s top military commanders. The anniversary certainly will be met with rejoicing in Tel Aviv and Washington — in addition to all the Israelis he killed, Mughniyah also had a significant amount of American blood on his hands. But the date will be met with anger and renewed cries for revenge from Hezbollah’s militants, many of whom were recruited, trained or inspired by Mughniyah.

Two brothers held in Lebanon as Israeli spies are linked to a team responsible for the assassination of a notorious terrorist leader, Lebanese security sources have claimed. Ali Jarrah, 50, a Lebanese citizen, and his brother Youssef, from Marj in the Bekaa valley, were arrested last week by the Lebanese army, which charged them with espionage. A third suspect has also been held, sources close to the investigation said. All three face the death penalty. The spy ring has been linked to the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, a leading figure in Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’ite militia, who was killed in...

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....

The Hunt for American al Qaeda The United States is turning up the heat in the hunt for the California boy turned al Qaeda operative, Adam Gadahn, who has been charged with treason and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. If caught and convicted, Gadahn could face the death penalty. The State Department along with the Department of Diplomatic Security announced the beginning of a publicity campaign in Afghanistan urging locals to provide any information on Gadahn's whereabouts, with a reward if the information leads to his capture. Radio advertisements with information concerning the $1 million reward have...

U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

Syria on Alert 'Because Hizbullah Revenge Attack is Near' Syria is about to publish its report on the death of Imad Mughniyeh. Lebanon's army has ordered southern residents to move away from the border.

The London based Arabic publication, al-Quds al-Arabi, reported Tuesday that Syria is delaying the publication of its report on the assassination of Hizbullah leader Imad Mugniyah, which was scheduled for Sunday, due to tension and fears generated in both Syria and Lebanon by the wide-scale Home Front Command drill taking place in Israel. Publication of this report, senior Damascus officials have indicated, could do serious damage to Syria as it would expose the involvement of Arab intelligence officials, as well as that of Syrian, Palestinian and Lebanese personnel in the Mugniyah assassination. Lebanese sources close to Hizbullah noted that Syrian...

[url=http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/107729.html]Jewish groups placed on security alert [/url] Citing an increase in threats and attacks, a U.S. Jewish security network warned its members to be alert to a "new set of circumstances." "The convergence and timing of several events coupled with escalating tensions in the Middle East create a new set of circumstances that have commanded our attention," said the alert issued Tuesday by the Secure Community Network. "The current heightened threat environment poses challenges and issues, particularly when there is a need for a balanced approach to securing our institutions, agencies and organizations." The alert cited among other circumstances the...

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

"The one who killed our commander must be punished. The killers must be punished and they will be punished, God willing," Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Monday. In a televised address in Beirut to mark 40 days since the slaying of Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh, Nasrallah drew cheers from the crowd saying, "We will choose the time, place and manner of punishment." Mughniyeh was killed in a car bombing in Damascus, in February. Hizbullah and Iran have accused Israel of the assassination. Israel has denied involvement. "We feel Mughniyeh's presence more than ever. Our brothers have found nothing...

Syria has deployed three military divisions along the borders with Lebanon amidst mounting tension in the region, press reports said Sunday. The leading daily an-Nahar attributed the report to well informed sources, noting that the deployment backs a similar massing of fighters by pro-Syrian Palestinian factions in the Bekaa valley, especially Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) in the Qoussayah area. The development followed Hizbullah's open war declaration against Israel after the Feb. 12 assassination in Damascus of the party's Imad Mughniyeh by a bomb explosion. Hizbullah is sponsoring a major rally in south Beirut's...

Beirut - Israel recently conveyed a warning to Syria through a third party that it would hold Damascus accountable if Lebanese Hezbollah launched attacks on the Jewish state, Israeli and European sources said on Friday. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the warning stemmed largely from Israeli concerns that Hezbollah would launch salvos of cross-border rockets to coincide with any major Israeli offensive in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The sources said the message was conveyed in February through at least one European intermediary following the assassination of a top Hezbollah commander ( pictured) and before this month's five-day...

Syrian dictator Bashar Assad's brother-in-law is suspected of engineering the assassination of Hizbullah's operations officer Imad Mughniyeh, according to a report Saturday in Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siasa ("Politics"). The news report appeared under the headline "Mughniyeh's elimination breaking the back of Damascus regime." The suspicions against the man, Colonel Wasef Shweikat, surfaced after his wife, Bashar Assad's sister Bushra, relocated to Paris with her children following the assassination. The move followed a split between Bashar and Bushra, which began when Mugniyeh informed Bashar of a plot against his regime. The paper said Shweikat met with a senior American intelligence officer in...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Navy has moved the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole and other ships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea off Lebanon, Pentagon officials said Thursday. (snip) The destroyer and two support ships are close to Lebanon but out of visual range of the coast, Pentagon officials said. Another six vessels, led by the amphibious assault ship USS Nassau, are close to Italy and steaming toward the other three, the officials said.

(RTTNews) - Syrian sources on Wednesday told London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newpaper that several Arab nations conspired with Israel's intelligence service Mossad, to assassinate Hizbullah chief of operations Imad Mughniyeh earlier this month. The latest speculation on the assassination of the Hizbullah terror chief comes two days after the former Hizbullah commander's widow accused Syria of being behind her husband's assassination. According to the Syrian sources, Damascus was making considerable progress in the investigation of Mughniyeh's death, and would publish the results of its inquiry following the Arab league summit in Damascus in March. ... Mughniyeh was killed in a car...

Syria has reached "important results" in its investigation of the assassination of Hizbullah commander Imad Mugniyah earlier this month, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported Wednesday, quoting Syrian sources. According to the report, the Syrian regime has decided to wait with the publication of the investigation results until after the Arab League meets in Damascus next week. According to the sources, these results prove that an intelligence organization of an Arab country helped Israel assassinate Mugniyah and that Lebanese and Palestinian elements had also assisted in the killing. Arab sources interpreted the remarks as a Syrian signaling to Arab...

Tehran, 25 Feb. (AKI) - The wife of assassinated militant leader Imad Mughniyeh, claims that Syria was behind the killing of her husband, reported Alborz, a pro-Iranian government source. Her husband, Imad Mughniyeh was killed in a bombing in Damascus on 13 February and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Syria and Iran have blamed Israel for assassinating him. Mughniyeh was the intelligence chief of Hezbollah's secretive military wing, the Islamic Resistance. "The Syrian traitors assisted in my husband's murder," said the wife. Saudi daily 'Okaz' has also entertained the idea of Syria being behind the murder of Mughniyeh. It hypothesises a...

Imad Mugniyah, the senior Hezbollah military commander who was killed in Syria earlier this month, helped form the Mahdi Army, the military wing of the radical Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr, according to an Iraqi intelligence official. He was described as a “co-founder” of the Mahdi Army, Naharnet reported, based on a translation from the Iraqi daily Al Zaman. Mugniyah helped form the Mahdi Army after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003. He recruited from the Shia communities in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and then sent the recruits to Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley for training. “The 300...

There are no written rules of engagement in the ongoing tussle between Israel and Hezbollah. And if there were, neither would stick by them for long. This has been an open war with both parties using every available resource and every trick in the book. But quite often both would accept mediation and, through third-party negotiations, they would agree to exchange prisoners and the remains of dead soldiers and fighters.

Syrian officials are reported to have detained suspects said to be connected or involved in the killing of Imad Moghaniyah, a senior commander of Hezbollah, in Damascus on Tuesday. According to the state-run Al Watan newspaper, "suspects of various Arab nationalities have been arrested". [bold emphasis, mine]

"It won't be long before the conceited Zionists realize that Imad Mughniyah's blood is extremely costly, and it makes history and brings about a new victory," Hezbollah's head of the southern Lebanon region, Sheikh Nabil Kauk, said Sunday at a memorial service for the arch-terrorist who was killed in a car explosion in Damascus last week. auk, who spoke in Mughniyah's home village, Tayr Debba, in south Lebanon, added that Israel was "standing on one leg of fear and trepidation, having become the hostage of its own act of stupidity." Kauk spoke at a ceremony attended by the Iranian ambassador...

Late Tuesday night in Damascus, Imad Mugniyah, senior terrorist of Hezbollah, was killed in a car bomb explosion. It was a fitting death for a founding father of Islamic terrorism, a man who himself had built many bombs. If you had not heard of Mugniyah before, there is a good reason. Terror chieftains like Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri seek the limelight with their frequent and widely disseminated diatribes. Not Mugniyah. Until recently, only a handful of photos of him were publicly available, and he never gave interviews. Instead, he was something of a ghost, confined to the...

Thomas Joscelyn has an excellent piece on the death of Imad Mughniyeh, and his possible connections to Al Qaeda and the terror attacks of 9/11: Death by Car Bomb in Damascus. Late Tuesday night in Damascus, Imad Mugniyah, senior terrorist of Hezbollah, was killed in a car bomb explosion. It was a fitting death for a founding father of Islamic terrorism, a man who himself had built many bombs. If you had not heard of Mugniyah before, there is a good reason. Terror chieftains like Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri seek the limelight with their frequent and widely...

The German weekly Der Spiegel reported Saturday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to declare the two soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah, Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser, dead. Olmert was in Germany last week, and the Germans are the chief mediators between Israel and Hezbollah on this issue. The likelihood that they are dead increases with every day that goes by with no sign of life from them. Israeli security sources confirmed last night that the intelligence community is reassessing the kidnapped soldiers' situation and is likely to make "difficult decisions" on the matter in the coming weeks. But Israel is...

VIDEO - Iran's president sent a condolence letter on Thursday to Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah following the assassination of the Lebanese terror group's top military commander Imad Mugniyah. "(Mugniyah) was neither the first nor the last victim in the defense of the dignity of the nations, but his death is casts more shame on the Zionists and their supporters," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wrote in the letter. "The occupiers of Jerusalem (Israel) must know that these crimes will not compensate for their humiliating defeat during their invasion of Lebanon," he continued to say. "Despite the fact that the Lebanese nation has lost...

(IsraelNN.com) A Kuwaiti newspaper reports that Hizbullah terrorist chief Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a car-bomb attack in Damascus on Tuesday, was in the midst of planning major terrorist attacks in moderate Arab countries when he was killed. Al-Watan reports that American intelligence had learned that Mughniyeh arrived in Damascus three days earlier with instructions from, and in coordination with, the Iranians. His objective was to meet with Hizbullah leaders and coordinate a mass attack, for which he was to receive help from Syrian intelligence. The American involvement in the killing is explained as being in retaliation for a...

The Targeted Killing of Imad Mugniyeh By Alan M. Dershowitz FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, February 14, 2008 If Imad Mugniyeh - the Hezbollah terrorist mastermind who was responsible for hundreds if not thousands of murders – was indeed successfully targeted for assassination, his untimely death should be cause for celebration. I say untimely, because if he had been killed years ago, many innocent lives would have been saved. At the time of this writing, no one can be sure whether Imad Mugniyeh is really dead, whether if he is dead he was killed by a car bomb, and who is responsible...

IDF Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, instructed the alert level to be raised on the ground and in the air in order to protect the northern border and Israeli interests. The move comes following the assassination of arch terrorist and Hizbullah military commander Imad Mugniyah on Tuesday night in Damascus. (Hanan Greenberg)

Mastermind's death a 'major, major blow' to Hezbollah National Post, Canada A short, chubby Islamic revolutionary, Mugniyeh began his career guarding Yasser Arafat during the Lebanon civil war and then went to work for the Iranians, ... http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=306565

WASHINGTON - President Bush, stepping up pressure on Syria, ordered new sanctions Wednesday to punish officials in Damascus for alleged efforts to undermine stability in Iraq and meddle in Lebanon's sovereignty and democracy. Bush, in an executive order, said he was expanding penalties against senior government officials in Syria and their associates deemed to be responsible for — or to have benefited from — public corruption. The order did not specifically name any officials. Bush signed the order a day after Imad Mughniyeh, one of the world's most wanted and elusive terrorists, was killed in a car bombing in Syria...

Middle East: The worldwide war on terror has scored a major victory with the death of the terrorist, mass murder and Hezbollah chieftain responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. Marines and Israeli citizens.Imad Mughniyeh is not a name most Americans are familiar with, though they should be. He was among those indicted in the U.S. for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner in which a U.S. Navy diver was killed. Robert Stethem was brutally beaten, murdered and dumped on an airport tarmac in Beirut, Lebanon. Before 9/11, Mughniyeh was responsible for the deaths of more Americans than...

TWA Flight 847 - 6/85 - Stethem - (1 of 6) TWA Flight 847 - 6/85 - Stethem - (2 of 6) TWA Flight 847 - 6/85 - Stethem - (3 of 6) TWA Flight 847 - 6/85 - Stethem - (4 of 6) TWA Flight 847 - 6/85 - Stethem - (5 of 6) TWA Flight 847 - 6/85 - Stethem - (6 of 6)

Robert Dean Stethem SW-2 (Diver), United States Navy This young Navy diver was returning from an assignment in the Middle East when the commercial jet on which he was a passenger was hijacked by terrorists. He was shot to death, after being tortured, by the terrorists on June 15, 1985. He is buried in Section 59 of Arlington National Cemtery, near a number of other Americans who were victims of worldwide terrorism. Long before Osama bin Laden burst onto the scene and President Bush declared war on terrorism, there was the elusive Imad Mughniyah. One of the world's most wanted...

WASHINGTON – While Israel has formally refuted allegations it was involved in the assassination of Hizbullah 'operations officer' Imad Mugniyah in Damascus on Tuesday, former CIA official Bruce Riedel says all signs seem to indicate the Mossad was behind the killing. Riedel, who spent over 30 years with the CIA before serving as a senior advisor on South Asian and Middle East affairs under three US presidents, said Israel has already carried out similar operations in Syria Currently a senior fellow with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute, he says Mugniyah's assassination proves Israel has...

JAFFA, Israel – The deputy commander of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, responsible for infamous deadly attacks against the U.S. and Israel, including involvement in the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon, was killed in a car bomb blast in Syria today. Imad Mughniyah was Israel's No. 1 most-wanted terrorist, even ahead of Hezbollah chieftain Hassan Nasrallah. Mughniyah was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world by Western intelligence agencies. He led Hezbollah's "international terror branch," directly orchestrating attacks against foreign targets, according to Israeli security officials. He was widely considered Nasrallah's successor. Mughniyah was...

By Bill RoggioFebruary 13, 2008 9:40 AM Imad Mugniyah, Iranian operative and leader of Hezbollah's military wing, was killed in Damascus, Syria. Click image to view. Imad Mugniyah, the leader of Hezbollah’s military wing and a senior officer in Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, has been killed in yesterday’s car bombing in Damascus, Syria. Mugniyah was behind multiple terror attacks against US, Israel, and other nations, and most famously the 1983 Beirut suicide attacks which killed 241 US Marines and 58 French paratroopers. Hezbollah has confirmed Mugniyah’s death, and has issued the following statement: With pride and honor, we announce the...

—April 1983: suicide bomber rams van packed with explosives into the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans.AVENGED!! —October 1983: suicide attackers carry out near simultaneous truck bombings against barracks of French and U.S. peacekeeping forces in Beirut, killing 241 American Marines and 58 French paratroopers.AVENGED! —March 1984: Lt. Col. William F. Buckley, CIA station chief in Beirut, kidnapped and eventually killed in the beginning of a spate of kidnappings linked to Hezbollah.AVENGED! —March 1985: Associated Press chief Mideast correspondent Terry Anderson kidnapped and then held for more than six years.AVENGED! —June 1985: Lebanese Shiite militants hijack...

Reservist Military Intelligence officers tell Ynet of Imad Mugniyah's prowess as terrorist mastermind. Former Mossad chief Danny Yatom: One of most dangerous terrorists ever. "Hizbullah lost its most important operative in the organization in recent years," a reservist Military Intelligence officer told Ynet on Wednesday in reference to the killing of senior Hizbullah military commander Imad Mugniyah in an explosion in Damascus. "He was an expert in carrying out terrorist attacks and at the same time, he was an expert in maintaining a low profile and knowing, for 20 years, how to evade the many that tried to get him,"...

DAMASCUS BLAST ON TUESDAY KILLED SENIOR HEZBOLLAH MILITARY COMMANDER - LEBANESE POLITICAL SOURCE

Following an appeal from the Argentinean Attorney General, Interpol issued international extradition warrants for five senior Iranians and one senior Hezbollah operative. The charge was involvement in the suicide bombing attack of the Jewish community center building (AMIA) in Argentina in 1994. The men wanted by Argentina. Top row, left to right: Ali Akbar Heshemi Bahramie Rafsanjani, Ali Fallahijan, Ali Akbar Velayati, Mohsen Rezai. Bottom row, left to right: Imad Moughnieh, Mohsen Rabbani, Ahmad Reza Asghari, (also known as Mohsen Randjbaran), Ahmad Vahidi. Picture from the Argentinean Attorney General's Website. International extradition warrants were not issued by Interpol for Ali...

Interpol says it is planning to seek the arrest of six Iranian former officials whom Argentina blames for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre. But it has decided to turn down arrest requests for three others named by Argentina, including former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The attack on a seven-storey building in Buenos Aires killed 85 people. Argentina's investigation concluded that Iran had ordered the bombing. The country denies any involvement. Interpol, the international police agency, considered written and oral presentations from both Iran and Argentina before making its decision. Investigation failures It said it would issue...

Interpol issued alerts yesterday to arrest five Iranian officials and a Hezbollah leader suspected of planning the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 and injured more than 150 others. The orders, known as capture notices, were issued to the world's police organizations in the wake of criticism from the chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who accused the international police agency of failing to assist Argentina in locating and capturing those suspected in the deadly blast. In January, Reps. Tom Lantos, California Democrat, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican, urged...

New Fears: The Return of a Superterrorist Feb. 5, 2007 issue - Before Osama bin Laden, there was Imad Mughniyeh. The Lebanese terrorist from Hizbullah was considered the most dangerous in the world. Now the White House worries that he's back, after years of lying low. Four serving U.S. intel and counterterrorism officials, anonymous when discussing sensitive material, said Mughniyeh is prominent in recent reporting from the field about Hizbullah activity. Bruce Riedel, a veteran Mideast expert recently retired from the CIA, told NEWSWEEK there is "no question he is heavily involved in [formulating] terrorist contingency plans in case of...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge on Friday ordered the Islamic Republic of Iran to pay $254 million to the family of 17 U.S. servicemen killed in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers residence at a U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia. The default judgment was entered against the Iranian government, its security ministry and the Revolutionary Guards after they failed to respond to the lawsuit, which was initiated more than four years ago. In issuing the $254.4 million judgment in the case, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth concluded that the Khobar Towers attack...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Iranian government is partly to blame for a 1996 terrorist attack that killed 19 Americans in Saudi Arabia, a federal judge ruled Friday. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth allows the families of the victims of the Khobar Towers bombing to seek $254 million in compensation from the conservative Islamic regime in Tehran. Though intelligence officials have suspected a link between the Tehran government and the Saudi wing of Hezbollah, which the FBI has accused of carrying out the bombing, Friday's ruling is the first time a branch of the U.S. government has...

The relations between Russia and the Shiite's religious leadership in Lebanon started to develop in the beginning of the seventies. The spiritual leader of the Lebanese Shia community, Imam Moussa Al-Sadr, visited Moscow in 1972 and asked Soviet authorities to issue humanitarian aid to his people. At the same time cooperation between the Marxist factions of the PLO that were active in Lebanon and Soviet military intelligence – GRU, intensified greatly. Several soviet officers (speaking fluent Arabic) even visited Palestinian terrorist training camps in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon between 1972-1975. Using their connections in PLO they managed to establish...

Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa denied his country had a role in either the Hamas or Hezbollah abductions. "It's up to the resistance - both the Lebanese and the Palestinian - to decide what they are doing and why are they fighting," al-Sharaa told reporters in Damascus. But he put ultimate blame on Israel for the seizures of the soldiers, saying, "For sure, the occupation (of the Palestinian territories) is the cause provoking both Lebanese and Palestinian people, and that's why there is Lebanese and Palestinian resistance." There were also signs that Egypt was growing impatient with Syria in the...