LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
JULY  19/2006

Latest News From Daily Star19/07/06
Senior Israeli commander expects offensive to end 'within a few weeks'
Diplomats leave Lebanese civilians to pay for a decision they didn't make
US: Truce is unacceptable while Hizbullah remains intact
Latest targets of air blitz: milk and medicine
European diplomacy fails to produce concrete results
Senior Israeli commander expects offensive to end 'within a few weeks'
Israeli attack on army base kills 11 troops as death toll hits 230 .
Evacuation of foreigners finally begins in earnest on seventh day of conflict
Lawyers lodge complaint against Israel for crimes against humanity
Babies start lives as refugees from Israeli onslaught
Hizbullah media man: Israel is trying to save face
Dreams must be forgotten if peace is to come -By Jeremy Bowen

Latest News From miscellaneous sources 19/07/06
Israel says Hizbollah smuggling weapons from Syria-Reuters - USA
Escalation in the Middle East-Florida Catholic - Orlando,FL,USA

Lebanese army seen as key to Mideast peace-Sky Valley Journal
Syria, Iran press defiant-BBC News - UK
SYRIA: More assistance given to besieged Lebanese-Reuters
Hezbollah must release soldiers, withdraw to get ceasefire: IsraelNational Post
Analysis: Israel hopes to deal blow to Hezbollah before truceMonsters and Critics.com
More than 100,000 people escape Lebanon through SyriaRadio New Zealand

Latest News From miscellaneous sources 18/07/06
MacKay defends Lebanon rescue plans-Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
PM's pledge on Lebanon evacuation-BBC News - UK
Israel won't rule out Lebanon ground assault-ABC Online - Australia
Canadian presence in Lebanon reveals deep ties-Globe and Mail - Canada
US Rescue Bogs Down in Lebanon-Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
UN supports Lebanese territorial sovereignty-Globe and Mail - Canada
Israel continues air strikes on Lebanon-Independent Online
Crisis May Put Syria Back in Political Mix-Los Angeles Times
Olmert Blames Iran, Syria for Fighting as Europe Backs UN Force-Bloomberg - USA
Israeli general says ground invasion of Lebanon a possibility-Canada.com
French PM urges immediate ceasefire between Israel, Lebanon-People's Daily Online
Former UN Investigator Says Hezbollah Has Syria's Approval-Deutsche Welle
Westerners flee Lebanon any way they can-CNN - USA
French evacuees arrive in Cyprus from Lebanon-Reuters - USA

Hezbollah must release soldiers, withdraw to get ceasefire: IsraelNational Post
Analysis: Israel hopes to deal blow to Hezbollah before truceMonsters and Critics.com
More than 100,000 people escape Lebanon through SyriaRadio New Zealand
Jordan continues to evacuate citizens from Lebanon-People's Daily Online
Lebanon: the world looks on-Mail & Guardian Online
Lebanon army touted as solution to crisis-Houston Chronicle
Belgians evacuated to Cyprus from Lebanon-Expatica - Netherlands
Bush blames Syria, Iran for violence-San Diego Union Tribune - United States
The Price of Ceasefire-Dar Al-Hayat - Lebanon
Confirmed: Hezbollah Terror Operatives, "Sleeper Cells" Poised in ...Canada Free Press - Canada

US: Truce is unacceptable while Hizbullah remains intact
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
The US secretary of state said Tuesday any cease-fire in Lebanon ought to be based on fundamental changes, publicly disagreeing with her Egyptian counterpart, who called for an immediate halt to fighting.
As part of international efforts to end the violence, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for a bigger, better-armed and more robust international force to stabilize Southern Lebanon and buy time for the government to disarm Hizbullah guerrillas.
Rice, at a joint news conference in Washington with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit, said she was primed to visit the region when it will be "helpful and necessary."
Asked about calls for an immediate cease-fire in the region, Abu al-Gheit said: "A cease-fire is imperative, and we have to keep working to reach that objective. It is impera-tive. We have to bring it to an end as soon as possible ... We should do it now."
Rice immediately stated the US position, that a cease-fire was only advisable once the root cause of the fighting - including, in the US view, Hizbullah's attacks - was addressed.
"We all agree it should happen as soon as possible, when conditions are conducive to do so," Rice said.
That, she said, would involve implementation of a standing UN Security Council resolution and the deployment of the Lebanese Army to the borders, as well as the introduction of a strong peacekeeping operation.
"We all want a cessation of violence. We all want the protection of civilians. We have to make certain that anything that we do is going to be of lasting value," Rice said.
The US renewed calls for Syria and Iran to use their influence to force Hizbullah to halt the conflict, said White House spokesman Tony Snow.
Snow again voiced reluctance to back an immediate cease-fire, saying that "a cease-fire that would leave intact a terrorist infrastructure would be unacceptable."
Shrugging off US and Israeli reluctance, Annan said he expected European nations to contribute troops to the proposed force in a bid to end the violence and prevent a wider Middle East conflagration.
"It is urgent that the international community acts to make a difference on the ground,"
Annan said.
He told reporters after meeting European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso that the proposed UN force would have to be more effective than the current UN Interim Force in Lebanon which has been unable to keep peace on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
"The force will be larger, the way I see it, much larger than the 2,000-man force we have there," Annan said. "I would expect a force that will have a modified and different concept of operation and with diffe-
rent capabilities.
"I would expect contributions from European countries and countries from other regions," he added.
Both Barroso and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said they supported the idea and a number of EU countries were ready to contribute.
Solana, who visited Lebanon on Sunday, left for the region late Tuesday for talks in Israel, Egypt and the Occupied Palestinian Territories after conferring on crisis-management efforts with Rice by telephone. Russia's government also dispatched Alexander Saltanov, a legislator and special Middle East envoy.
Both Solana and Annan called Lebanese Premier Fouad Siniora Tuesday to discuss efforts to end the violence.
Annan said it was the Lebanese government, not the proposed force, which would eventually have to disarm Hizbullah, after a breathing period.
The stabilization force would "give the government of Lebanon time to ... organize and prepare to eventually extend its authority throughout the territory including the South, and then give also time for them to sort out the question of the disarmament of the militia," Annan said. - Agencies

Senior Israeli commander expects offensive to end 'within a few weeks'
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
BEIRUT: Israel's deputy army chief said Tuesday that the offensive against Lebanon would end within a few weeks, as the Jewish state needed more time to complete "very clear goals." Israel also agreed to arrangements with several Western governments for a major evacuation of foreign nationals from Lebanon Wednesday, a senior army commander told Agence France Presse.
"Twenty boats are going to be able to leave Lebanon Wednesday against seven on Tuesday and just two on Monday," the commander said, asking not to be identified.
Major General Moshe Kaplinsky told Israel's Army Radio that "the fighting in Lebanon will end within a few weeks. We will not take months."
"We need more time to complete our very clear goals. When we fight terror it is a war that needs to be very accurate, very schematic and it takes time," he said.
Israel has been demanding Hizbullah's disarmament and the deployment of the Lebanese Army along the border.
Israel first launched the offensive one week ago after Hizbullah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border clash.
Israel's army said Tuesday that Hizbullah was smuggling weapons from Syria but added it did not regard Syria as a target for attack.
"In the last few days, the smuggling of weapons from Syria to Lebanon has continued," Major General Gadi Eisenkot of the Israeli Army Command told a news conference. "We don't see Syria or the Lebanese Army as a target but at the same time we see the smuggling of weapons from Syria to Lebanon to be used in attacks against Israeli civilians," he said.The Israeli military has said it was a Syrian-made rocket that killed eight Israelis in the northern city of Haifa on Sunday. Hizbullah claimed responsibility for that attack."The [army] is using enormous force against Hizbullah and we have hurt it ... but the organization has many more rockets," Eisenkot said. "They are still capable of firing rockets at Israel."
The military also said its air force had destroyed four trucks traveling from Syria Tuesday with weapons and munitions destined for Hizbullah fighters in the Bekaa Valley. An Israeli military source confirmed that it was not the first attack of this nature, describing the latest raid as "nothing out of the ordinary," pointing out that it was conducted on Lebanese territory. "We do not consider Syria and the Lebanese Army as targets [but] we do consider weapons smuggling between Syria and Lebanon with the utmost seriousness," General Gadi Eisenkot said.
Since Israel started its offensive in Lebanon last Wednesday, all of the main roads connecting Syria and Lebanon have been attacked.
Eisenkot said that since the start of the operation Israel had attacked "more than 1,000 terrorist targets," including 180 places he said were used to fire rockets into the Jewish state. "We will continue our systematic destruction of all Hizbullah positions within a
1-kilometer band the length of the border," he said, vowing that operations would go on "without time limit."
Lebanese security reported Tuesday that two convoys had been destroyed by air strikes in Byblos and the Bekaa.
The trucks destroyed in the Bekaa were delivering medications donated by the United Arab Emirates, while those in Byblos were tour buses.
In an early morning attack, 11 Lebanese Army soldiers were killed and 40 wounded Tuesday as Israeli fighter jets raided an army base in the town of Jamhour, overlooking Beirut's southern suburbs.
At least 12 army personnel were killed and several others wounded late Sunday during Israeli air strikes on army bases in the North Lebanon towns of Tripoli and Al-Abdeh. Over 230 Lebanese civilians have been killed and more than 300 wounded in the Israeli offensive against Lebanon, according to security reports and relief organizations. About five Hizbullah fighters have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces along the southern border since the crisis broke out last week, including a guerrilla killed Tuesday and identified by Hizbullah as Hussein Khalil Hotait, 25.
An Israeli government source has said Israel may step up attacks in the coming days, mindful that its main ally, the US, may not resist international pressure for a cease-fire indefinitely.
The seventh day of the mounting crisis saw Israeli attacks against factories, dams and more civilians with internationally banned weapons.
The Israeli attacks were mainly concentrated on the Bekaa district, as Israeli warplanes launched missiles at the towns of Zahle, Baalbek, Rachaya al-Fokhar and others. The St. Gregorius Church in Rachaya al-Fokhar suffered a direct hit, as did the Lake Qaraoun Dam and the ambulance donated by the Emirates in Dahr al-Baydar. Dozens of civilians were killed and wounded in the attacks. Over 30 civilians were killed in Israeli air strikes against Lebanon on Tuesday.
Ten civilians who had taken refuge inside the Greek Orthodox Church in Rachaya al-Fokhar were wounded in an attack. Lebanese security sources said Israel had used phosphorous missiles in the attack, an internationally banned weapon. Meanwhile, Hizbullah continued to launch rockets at Israel Tuesday, targeting Safad, Tiberius and Haifa with Raad I and III missiles and other Israeli settlements with Katyusha rockets, according to a statement released by the party.
Hizbullah shells killed one person and wounded at least 12 others. -With agencies

Israeli attack on army base kills 11 troops as death toll hits 230
Warplanes even hit pair of ambulances evacuating wounded soldiers
By Nada Bakri -Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
BEIRUT: Israeli warplanes on Tuesday struck an army base in Jamhour, east of Beirut, killing 11 soldiers and wounding at least 40 others. The death toll in Lebanon for the past week's violence had, by the time The Daily Star went to press, risen to at least 208 civilians and 22 soldiers.
Jamhour's army base is responsible for managing and executing developmental projects such as paving roads and building and refurbishing bridges.
"The unit carries out development projects in rural areas. It is not a combat unit but rather a developmental support unit," an army spokesperson told The Daily Star.
The base was struck three times by Israeli warplanes, which also hit two ambulances transporting soldiers wounded in the initial attacks.
"They killed them even though they did not fire one bullet," said a relative of an officer killed early Tuesday. "Now, when I think about it, I tell myself I wish they did. At least then their deaths would be reasonable."President Emile Lahoud said Israel wanted to "destroy Lebanon," adding: "This massacre [at Jamhour] committed by the Israeli enemy shows Israel is determined to implement its plan to destroy Lebanon and paralyze its security forces."
Lahoud said such acts only made the Lebanese more determined "to defend the sovereignty, independence and dignity of Lebanon."
Since the offensive began one week ago after two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped during a Hizbullah raid, the Lebanese Army has been more of a victim than defender. The international community continues to call on the Lebanese government to deploy its soldiers along its Southern border and push back Hizbullah's guerrillas as pre-conditions to any cease-fire.
However, analysts say such a move is problematic due to ethnic and religious divisions. "I strongly support Hizbullah's operation. I am all for the resistance and its heroic mission," said Ali, a Lebanese soldier who preferred not to give his family name. Many of his fellow soldiers, as well as Ali, would be "eager to join the resistance" should circumstances allow, he added. However, the only action Lebanon's army has taken during seven days of Israeli strikes has been to fire anti-aircraft guns at Israeli warplanes attacking infrastructure targets.
Israel destroyed most of Lebanon's radar stations last week because they were used to target a warship Friday, according to Israel's military.
That claim could not be confirmed but some level of coordination is widely believed to exist between Lebanon's military and Hizbullah.
However, Israel and the US continue to demand that Lebanon deploy its army along the Southern border and wrest control from the Shiite movement.
Syria, which virtually controlled Lebanon for 29 years before withdrawing its troops last year, and its allies in Lebanon have resisted such a deployment for years.
Hizbullah, strongly backed by Damascus and Tehran, is opposed to any army deployment in the South.
"The decision to deploy the army is a political decision with regional dimensions," Elias Hanna, a political analyst and retired army general, told The Associated Press. "It is also a decision that cannot be executed without internal consensus."
"As long as there are divisions in society, there will always be fear of the army splintering into several factions," he added. "This is why consensus is very important."
Lebanese Premier Fouad Siniora has said his government wants to work with the UN to re-assert state authority over all Lebanese territory.
The Lebanese Army has grown from 35,000 to 70,000 since the end of the Civil War in 1990, far outnumbering Hizbullah's estimated 6,000 fighters.
But the army has no fixed-wing aircraft and its helicopters are equipped only with mounted machine guns.
The army could also fragment along sectarian lines, as was the case during the Civil War.
The effectiveness of the army "has been severely hampered by the ethnic and religious divisions in Lebanon and the role Syria played while its forces occupied the country," security analyst Anthony Cordesman said in a report for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"It will be years before the Lebanese Army can emerge as an independent fighting force that could engage Israeli or Syrian forces in anything other than well-positioned defensive combat," he added. Still, many believe the army could be trusted to act as a protective force in the South.
"In the past, what was the army's problem? A divided political decision," said Samir Geagea, the Lebanese Forces leader who led the party's militia during the Civil War. "The important thing is to agree this is the institution that will bear this responsibility. Not Hizbullah." - With AP

Diplomats leave Lebanese civilians to pay for a decision they didn't make
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Editorial-Daily Star
Seven days into Israel's war on Lebanon, there is no hint of effective international diplomacy on the horizon. The Lebanese are being forced to accept that they are alone in the world, without a friend who can defend them against an undeserved onslaught. The Syrians, who many have argued share a healthy portion of blame for the current crisis in Lebanon, are too busy saving their own skins, threatening fierce reprisals if their nation comes under attack. The Iranians, also fingered in this latest wave of hostilities, are cozily sitting back and enjoying the luxury of sacrificing Lebanon and Hizbullah in their quest to sweeten a deal with the West over their nuclear program.
Saudi Arabia is abandoning its role as a regional peacemaker, placing all of the blame squarely upon Hizbullah and Iran, and expressing no hint of outrage over the collective punishment and destruction in Lebanon. They apparently have adopted the belief that the more than 220 innocent civilians killed are among the "elements" in Lebanon who are responsible for the current crisis.
Egypt, the home of an ineffective Arab League, which cannot even muster the diplomatic will to hold a summit, is busy scolding Hizbullah for its misdeeds. As Lebanon burns for a seventh straight day, we see no sense of urgency on the part of Egyptian leaders to convene emergency talks among regional heads of state.
Even in Israel, there is no sign of diplomatic efforts on the part of leading politicians. The rookie Israeli government - which has achieved record destruction at a scale and pace rarely seen, even in this part of the world - has stepped aside and let Israeli generals take the lead. They fail to see the irony in the fact that their commanders have been pounding the very army that they expect to impose order over Lebanese territory.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
And the Europeans and the Americans are blindly following as the Israelis lead us all down a treacherous path. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, formerly an advocate for the Lebanese people, is still lingering in Washington, apparently reluctant to even try to come and resolve this conflict.
In these darkest of hours, with the skies of Lebanon and the brains of international leaders clouded by the haze of war, the Lebanese are desperately searching for an outstretched hand of diplomacy. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has pleaded with the world to stop Israel's "barbaric" attacks on the country. But the world has effectively abandoned the Lebanese people to their misery and turned a blind eye as they suffer the consequences of a decision that they themselves did not make. Instead of sending us their diplomats, the world is sending us its boats and buses for the refugees who hold foreign nationalities.
The Lebanese who don't hold dual citizenship have no choice but to hunker down in their basements and shelters and watch the return of an international war that has been played out again and again on their territory. This time, their beloved homeland has been chosen as a battleground in which the Israelis will brutalize the Lebanese in order to teach the Iranians a lesson on behalf of the West. The war-weary Lebanese have no choice but to pay the ultimate price and once again bear the brunt of the consequences of world diplomats' failure to resolve a crisis peacefully.

Evacuation of foreigners finally begins in earnest on seventh day of conflict
By Ian Lye -Special to The Daily Star
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
BEIRUT: Days after hundreds of Europeans started leaving Lebanon, the mass evacuation of Americans finally got under way Tuesday, as about 200 Americans, mostly students, boarded a chartered Swedish ship for Cyprus. The mood at the American University of Beirut's women's dormitory, a designated meeting point for those waiting to be evacuated, was one of restlessness and tension Tuesday morning. A girl in a white tank top punched the buttons of her mobile phone furiously, while in the corner of the room, a group of students crowded around a television set watching a DVD. Others lounged around, finding ways to occupy themselves while waiting. "I'm really glad to be getting out safely, but I think we all feel a little guilty about leaving the Lebanese behind, and that this is happening to the country now," said Sonia Hijab, a high-school student from Pennsylvania who was leaving just two weeks after she arrived in Lebanon to study Arabic.
While many of those leaving expressed relief at finally being able to do so, seven days after the Israeli-Lebanese crisis broke out, anger and frustration were also widespread sentiments among those The Daily Star talked to. "I just feel pure unadulterated rage," said Effie Walker, a full-time AUB student from Arizona. "Hizbullah is not Lebanon, and Israel has no right to do this to this beautiful country."
Walker and a friend both said they were not going back to the US from Cyprus, but intended to go to Jordan instead and start a canned-food drive to help the people in Lebanon.
Tourist Mark Kaba, 19, said he felt "anger at what's going on and frustration that no one's speaking up."
Others, like the Charara family from California who were here on vacation to visit relatives, felt torn.
"I've lost everything, even the house I had here," said a visibly distraught Tom Charara, with tears in his eyes. "I have relatives that can't leave, and there are all these people dying, being burned alive. I regret leaving, but I have two kids, and they are very scared."
"What hurts most is that the whole world is standing by and doing nothing," he added.
"It's unlike anything I've been through before," said his wife Rola, who lived in Lebanon during the Civil War. "I feel there is no place in Lebanon that is safe."
"I wish the leaders would know how many lives they've destroyed, not just the ones killed, but this also may have been my last chance to see my parents, who were very sick," she said, before breaking down into uncontrollable sobs.
Those American citizens who were leaving were taken in buses to Beirut Port Tuesday afternoon, where they boarded the Hual Transporter, which was also loading up to 1,000 Scandinavians and other Europeans, in addition to the 200 Americans.
"We've coordinated with various parties to ensure that those Americans who want to leave can do so safely," US Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman said at Beirut Port, where the first batch of Americans to evacuate by sea were gathered. "Starting tomorrow, we will have larger volumes of Americans being evacuated, and we will be here to help them leave as long as we need to." Feltman said 1,000 more Americans would leave on Wednesday, going by sea.
According to wire reports, Americans must sign a note pledging to reimburse the US government before getting on the ships to be evacuated.
They will be charged the price of a single commercial flight from Beirut to Cyprus, usually about $150 or $200, although officials refused to specify.
If they have no way to fly onward, they also will be asked to reimburse the price of an airline ticket from Cyprus to the US.
The Pentagon has also ordered five military ships and thousands of Marines and sailors to help transport US citizens out of Lebanon, a move that could sharply speed up the evacuation as fighting continues. Helicopters from a Marine expeditionary force have evacuated 68 Americans over the past two days. Those flights continued on Tuesday, ferrying 120 Americans to Cyprus, the US Navy said.
Overnight some 800 evacuees by sea arrived at Larnaca onboard a Greek ferry chartered by the French government. The Iera Patra was awaiting authorization to make a return trip as the evacuees were flown on to Paris.
France also announced that it is sending a navy support ship, the Mistral - capable of taking on board 4,000 evacuees - in addition to two other vessels expected to arrive off Beirut Wednesday or Thursday. Meanwhile, Britain hopes to evacuate some 5,000 of its nationals from Lebanon by the end of the week, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday. He said one ship would arrive Tuesday and a second Wednesday. A Greek frigate was expected in Larnaca Tuesday with a couple of hundred Europeans while the Canadian government said it has arranged for ships to evacuate Canadians starting Wednesday. - With agencies.

Ahmadinejad shows no sign of backing down
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated on Tuesday that his country had every right to produce atomic fuel, showing no sign of backing down on nuclear work before a UN Security Council meeting. Diplomats have said the world body will meet this week to draft a resolution demanding that Iran end sensitive nuclear work which the West fears could be used to make bombs.
"Having a nuclear fuel cycle is the Iranian nation's obvious right," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency, repeating Tehran only sought a fuel cycle to build power stations. The UN Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, will decide what action to take after Iran took too long to respond to a package of incentives from six world powers that wanted it to stop enriching uranium.
The Group of Eight leaders were told Iran was seriously considering the package, South African President Thabo Mbeki said Monday.
Mbeki, whose Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma visited Iran last week, said he passed on that message during his meetings with G-8 leaders in Russia. An Iranian Foreign Ministry official had made similar comments Sunday, but Mbeki's briefing took the communications to a higher level.
"We have ... communicated the essential message from the Iranians," Mbeki told foreign reporters. "It is that they believe this proposal is important, it constitutes an important starting point with regard to the negotiating process which everybody agrees needs to take place, and therefore that they are considering the matter seriously."Meanwhile, Iran's Parliament may push though a law on suspending membership of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the Security Council pressures Tehran to freeze enrichment, a top MP warned Tuesday. "If the Security Council wants to pass a resolution obliging a halt of uranium enrichment, Parliament will undoubtedly bring up the issue of suspending Iran's NPT membership," Alaeddine Borujerdi told the Iranian Students News Agency. "We hope the Security Council does not make an unreasonable decision that changes Iran's current attitude," said the MP, who heads Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commitee. - Agencies