Fox News team release

Syria on the offensive again
By Olivier Guitta-Counterterrorism
I agree with my colleague Walid Phares on the likely implication of Syria in the latest attack against our embassy in Damascus. It sounds very plausible.
Assad like his father is famous for playing the arsonist/fireman strategy. For instance when Western citizens were kidnapped by Hezbollah in the 80's on the orders of Damascus and Tehran, Syria would pretend to help Western nations free their citizens. Nobody was really fooled but everybody played along and thanked the Syrians for their help.
Also, back in April 2004 there was an attack against a UN office in Damascus that our own State Dept deemed most likely done by Syrian authorities.
Syria is hosting lots of terrorist organizations and the Secret police is really watching the country quite extensively.
There's no way really for Al Qaida to stage such an attack which actually does not at all have the hallmarks of AQ.
The timing of this "attack" is not coincidental. Assad is on the offensive: the recent attempted murder of one of the top Lebanese investigators of the Hariri murder, Lt-Col Samir Chehade is one example of this. In particular since the UN Brammertz report is soon going to be released. Indeed Assad is behind the assasination of the ex Lebanese PM. On Saturday, the main witness in the Hariri case an ex Colonel from Syrian Intelligence, Mohamed Al Sadiq declared to Al Arabiya TV network that " Bashar Al Assad and Emile Lahoud gave the order to murder Hariri". He added that the rigged car used in the attack was prepared in a Zabadini camp, near Damascus and that he took pictures of it and gave them to ex UN investigator Mehlis.
Also the recent fast degradation of the situation on the Lebanese political scene does not bode well for a calm future. Indeed Hezbollah has been verbally attacking politicians of the March 14 movement (opposed to Syria) in the past few days. Just today Nasrallah speaking in an interview on Al-Jazeera television has heaped scorn on the Lebanese premier for receiving British Prime Minister Tony Blair, saying the move was aimed at provoking and humiliating his Shiite militant group.
Also yesterday an Hezbollah MP, Ali Ammar, violently attacked the March 14 forces: "The March 14 forces have from the beginning aligned themselves with the Israeli enemy. They have planned the murder of the Resistance in conjuction with the Americans and the Israelis."
In response Druze leader Walid Jumblatt declared that " the attempted murder on Chehade is just the beginning of the excution of the threats of the destruction of Lebanon." He added that Assad's recent speech on the "betrayal" of the March 14 forces was a true call to murder. Incidentally, lots of Lebanese ministers and political leaders have been told to stay put and watch their backs carefully because of credible death threats. Unfortunately once again one can expect a campaign of violence orchestrated by Syria and most likely executed by Hezbollah to hit Lebanon. All this in the midst of rumors of a civil war or a Hezbollah coup d'etat to seize power. September 12, 2006 08:07 PM

Annan Says Israeli Withdrawal 'Significant,' Urges Hizbullah to Disarm
U.N. chief Kofi Annan, in a report on Lebanon, said Israel has made "significant progress" in the gradual withdrawal of its forces from the south and underscored the need to disarm Hizbullah and to reach a just and comprehensive peace in the broader Middle East.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said it was investigating Lebanese complaints that Israeli forces have erected a barbed-wire barrier inside Lebanese territory. Annan's report that was released on Tuesday said both Israel and Hizbullah had mostly complied with the cease-fire that was called for in Security Council Resolution 1701, aside from one major raid by Israel on Aug. 19 and several minor violations.
The Council had asked Annan to report back periodically on the implementation of the resolution, which paved the way for the cease-fire that took effect on Aug. 14. He said Israel has withdrawn from about two-thirds of the area it occupied in south Lebanon as it tried to oust Hizbullah fighters from the area, and has promised to leave entirely by the time Lebanon deploys 15,000 troops and the U.N. sends 5,000 peacekeepers there.
Annan said the process would be finished in the coming weeks. "On the ground, significant progress continues to be made as regards the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces and the deployment of the LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces)," Annan wrote in the report.
But a Lebanese army spokesman said Tuesday that the military submitted a protest to UNIFIL "because a new barbed-wire barrier, parallel to the (existing) Israeli barrier, is being built by the Israeli army on Lebanese territory" in the south. "We have told UNIFIL that the Lebanese army considers this a shifting of the Blue Line," he added, referring to the border marked by the U.N. after Israeli troops ended their 22-year occupation of the south in 2000.
The spokesman said, however, that the Lebanese army had still not deployed along the full length of the border, as called for under Resolution 1701, and was not in a position to verify the situation. "Since 2000, Israel had not touched the line," he said. "Now Israel is in the process of exploiting the situation."
UNIFIL spokesman Milos Strugar, who said: "We have sent a team to investigate the reports." He explained that in some cases, because of tactical considerations due to the terrain, the Israeli fences are actually inside the Jewish state's territory. "This can be as much as 300 meters," he said.
In the report, Annan said he had been encouraged during his recent Mideast tour by statements made by the various parties, including Iran and Syria, and said he expected "their further tangible cooperation." "No state in the region or elsewhere would tolerate the existence of armed groups which challenge the state's monopoly on the legitimate use of force throughout its territory," Annan said referring to Hizbullah. Hizbullah has refused to surrender its weapons as called for by Resolution 1701. Hizbullah has pledged to support Resolution 1701, but warned that it would not disarm until Israel ends its occupation of all Lebanese territory.
Annan's report made it clear that "all forces other than the regular Lebanese Armed forces must be disarmed."
"At the same time, on the Israeli side, overflights must cease completely," it added.The U.N. chief also emphasized the importance of addressing the underlying causes of conflict in the Middle East in order to prevent a resurgence of violence and bloodshed.
"Other crises cannot be ignored, especially in the occupied Palestinian territory, as they are all interlinked," he noted.
"Until the international community insists on a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, any one of these conflict has the potential to erupt and engulf the entire region." On the disputed Shabaa Farms, Annan said he was studying a Lebanese proposal to put the territory under U.N. jurisdiction until the issue of Lebanese sovereignty over it and the delineation of the Lebanese-Syrian border are fully settled.
"I am now studying carefully the complicated cartographic, legal and political implications of such an approach and will revert to the Council in due course," he added.(AFP-AP-Naharnet) (AFP photo shows French soldiers part of UNIFIL listening to a briefing at Beirut port) Naharnet-Beirut, 13 Sep 06, 07:30

Lebanon Claims Israel Encroached its Territory with New Barbed-Wire Barrier
U.N. peacekeepers on Wednesday asked Israel's army to pull down a new barbed-wire barrier that Lebanon said encroached on its territory, a U.N. spokesman said. Alexander Ivanko, a spokesman for the UNIFIL peacekeeping force, said new wire coils were put up in Lebanese territory between the northern Israeli village of Metulla and Kfar Kila, a town in southern Lebanon. U.N. forces have asked Israel's army to remove the barrier, Ivanko said.
"We expect them to do so as quickly as possible," he said. The Israeli army said it was repairing the fence along the route set down in a May 2005 U.N. resolution. The repairs were being made in various places along the border because of the war, the army said. In a recent letter to the head of the U.N. peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, Prime Minister Fouad Saniora protested the barrier encroachment along the "Blue Line" between the countries, Lebanese army and U.N. officials said. New barriers were put up in several places, including the Khiam plain and the town of Gadjar, covering an area about 15 meters (yards) deep and a total of 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) wide, the officials said. The barriers run parallel to existing coils laid out along the Blue Line frontier designated by the United Nations force in 2000, the officials said.Israeli troops are gradually withdrawing from south Lebanon after 34 days of fighting with Hizbullah starting on July 12. Hundreds of people died and thousands fled their devastated homes. U.N. forces are working to cement a fragile cease-fire.
Under a new U.N. Security Council resolution, Israeli forces are expected to withdraw fully from north of the frontier. At their peak, an estimated 30,000 Israeli troops were in Lebanon.(AP) Naharnet- Beirut, 13 Sep 06, 15:06

German Cabinet Agrees 2,400-Strong Force for Lebanon
By Andreas Cremer and Brian Parkin
Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The German Cabinet agreed to send a naval force of as many as 2,400 troops personnel to patrol Lebanon's coastline as part of the United Nations-led mission to police a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah guerillas.
It's the first time German forces will have served in the Middle East since the end of World War II. Germany will assume a ``leading role'' in the UN-led naval mission, Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told reporters in Berlin today. The deployment is backed by a one-year mandate expiring Aug. 31, 2007, he said.
``We can now become effectively active, we are no longer confined to a spectator role,'' Chancellor Angela Merkel told the same press conference. ``This is no mission like any other one. To me, this matter is of historic dimension.'' The UN cease-fire began Aug. 14 as part of Security Council resolution 1701 that calls for an international force of 15,000 soldiers and a similar contingent of Lebanese troops to act as a buffer between Israel and the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah militia.
Germany's 2,400-strong contingent includes 1,500 naval forces, 400 lead personnel including logistical staff and 100 troops tasked with training Lebanese forces. Germany's deployment will cost 193 million euros ($245 million) with the bulk of that, 147 million euros, hitting public coffers next year, Jung said.
Merkel and German lawmakers, who will vote on the troop deployment on Sept. 20, have sought a ``robust mandate'' from the UN to boost its effectiveness. The mission will have its robust mandate, said Merkel. The German force will be ``effectively active'' off the Lebanon coast, she said.
Germany bears ``responsibility'' for Israel's right of existence, Merkel said, adding the government's contribution is designed to help achieve a ``sustainable solution'' to conflicts in the Middle East. Some 64 percent of Germans are against the country's troops being deployed to Lebanon with 32 percent in favor, a poll of 1,000 people carried out Sept. 11 by researcher Emnid for N24 television showed today. Fifty-six percent of respondents said the army wasn't well-enough equipped for the mission, according to the poll, which had a margin of error of 2.5 percent. Israeli soldiers have withdrawn from central areas of southern Lebanon as part of the resolution that halted the 33-day conflict, the UN said today on its Web site.
Indian troops with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as Unifil, will oversee the arrival of Lebanese soldiers in the areas from as early as today, the UN said.

Don't travel to Syria, govt advises
Wednesday Sep 13 19:40 AEST
Australians are being urged to think again about whether they need to travel to Syria after an aborted attack on the United States embassy in Damascus.
On Tuesday, Syrian forces thwarted an attack on the US embassy which killed one local security guard and three of the attackers.
Reuters reported on Wednesday the death of a fourth attacker who had been injured in the incident.
Australia does not have an embassy in Syria. Consular assistance is provided by the Canadian embassy in Damascus or Australia's embassy in Egypt.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on Wednesday reissued advice to travellers that they should reconsider their need to visit Syria.
"We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to Syria because of the high threat of terrorism and volatile security environment in the region," it said.

Israel general quits over Lebanon
There had been speculation the general would step down
Israeli army Major General Udi Adam, who had a key role in commanding Israeli forces during the conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, has resigned.
He is thought to be one of the first senior officials associated with the war to leave his post. His resignation, which the Israeli army says it has accepted, comes at a time of continuing public criticism about the way the conflict was handled. Israel has launched a probe on the role of government and military in the war.
There had been widespread speculation the general would step down as head of the Northern Command after he was sidelined at the height of the conflict.
Critics say many mistakes were made, including a misjudgment of Hezbollah's capability and a failure to free the two Israeli soldiers whose capture sparked the fighting. On Tuesday, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah said the two soldiers held by his group would only be released if Lebanese militant Samir Qantar, who has been held by Israel for 27 years, was also freed.
Mounting debate
Maj Gen Adam has decided to retire "when the last soldier returns from Lebanon", which is expected next week, the Maariv daily newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Such an announcement by a general cannot be ignored
Defence Minister Amir Peretz
Who are the prisoners?
He had faced criticism in the Israeli media and among defence analysts that he was too cautious.
He was a key military figure in the conflict, in command of the north of Israel when militants entered from Lebanon and captured the two Israeli soldiers.
Once war started, Gen Adam was the officer on the ground in charge of the campaign.
During the conflict, the army chief of staff Lt Gen Dan Halutz appointed his own deputy, Maj Gen Moshe Kaplinski, as commander of operations in Lebanon, with a key role in securing the Israel-Lebanon border.
The move was widely seen as a decision to sideline Gen Adam who was thought to have disagreed with the chief of staff about strategy.
"The state of Israel definitely owes [Adam] a great debt," Defence Minister Amir Peretz told Israeli radio on Wednesday.
"No doubt we need to examine the meaning of the [move], why he decided to do it... Such an announcement by a general cannot be ignored."
Pressure on others
The general's resignation is not entirely surprising, but it is significant at a time when many in Israel are still calling on their leaders, both military and political, to take responsibility for the way the war was handled, says the BBC's Jill McGivering in Jerusalem.
Debate about failures in military strategy - and intelligence - is persisting.
Many still say the war failed in its objectives - to free the captured soldiers and chasten Hezbollah militants.
A month after the ceasefire started, that process of self-examination and holding to account has barely begun, our correspondent adds.
Debate is continuing about how far-reaching and how powerful official inquiries should be.
Gen Adam's resignation may increase the pressure on other figures, also central to the campaign, our correspondent says.

UN insists Hezbollah disarm, Hezbollah attacks Siniora government
Kofi Annan releases report saying that no state can tolerate armed groups on its territory. Security Council is scheduled to examine the document Friday.
Beirut (AsiaNews) – Hezbollah remains the nodal point in Lebanon’s predicament. As United Nations troops deploy, Secretary General Kofi Annan released last night a report confirming that Resolution 1701 requires Hezbollah’s disarmament. Earlier in the day Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, slammed Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on al-Jazeera for welcoming his British counterpart and Israel’s “accomplice”, Tony Blair, and demanded he resign in favour of a national unity government. In response to a question about disarming his party’s militia in accordance with the Tā'if Agreement, he said that the application of the accord is meant to build a state that is strong, just and equitable, and that his movement would deal with disarmament issue at a later date.
In the 14-page report, Kofi Annan described the current situation and his recent trip to the Middle East ahead of a Security Council meeting scheduled for Friday in which implementing Resolution 1701 will be discussed. The report underscores the contribution of various countries to UNIFIL and the Lebanese army deployment in the south to replace existing armed groups. “No state in the region or elsewhere would tolerate the existence of armed groups which challenge the state's monopoly on the legitimate use of force throughout its territory,” Annan wrote. For the same reason he called for the complete cessation of Israeli overflights over Lebanon. The UN chief said that his trip to the region had positive results, including commitments by Syria and Iran, especially Syria’s pledge to take concrete measures to stop arms smuggling across its borders.General Michel Sleiman, commander-in-chief of the Lebanese army, informed his counterpart in UNIFIL that some 8,000 Lebanese soldiers have been deployed along the border with Syria. Mr Annan also said that “[o]ther crises cannot be ignored, especially in the occupied Palestinian territory,” he noted. “Until the international community insists on a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, any one of these conflict has the potential to erupt and engulf the entire region.” On the disputed Shabaa Farms, Annan said he was studying a Lebanese proposal to put the territory under U.N. jurisdiction until the issue of Lebanese sovereignty over it and the delineation of the Lebanese-Syrian border are fully settled.

The tough and the toothless
A journalist’s task in searching for the truth almost always requires asking tough questions – if not repeatedly, then at least once or twice during an interview. That’s the way veteran journalist Mike Wallace handled an interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (60 Minutes, Aug. 13), writes former CBC News correspondent Bernard Goldberg in “Mr. Ahmadinejad’s Neighbourhood” (Wall Street Journal, Aug. 15).
Goldberg notes that Wallace repeatedly attempted to get Ahmadeinejad to explain why he said that Israel must be wiped off the map. Goldberg writes that while the media-savvy Ahmadinejad evaded the questions, “[t]o his credit, Mike [Wallace] never let up… in the end all a reporter can do is ask the tough question and let the subject answer. If he doesn’t, you can try again.”Then there is Nahlah Ayed who, in her reports from Lebanon for CBC Television, rarely asks tough questions.
During her July 28 interview with pro-Syrian Lebanese president Emile Lahoud, she failed to challenge him even once. More recently, on The National, Sept. 4, Ayed interviewed the family of Samir Qantar, a Lebanese man who, as a member of a PLO terrorist group, brutally murdered two members of an Israeli family nearly 30 years ago and has been jailed by Israel ever since. Hezbollah has demanded Qantar’s release as part of a prisoner exchange for the two Israeli soldiers it kidnapped on July 12. Ayed begins her report by introducing Qantar’s mother and brother in their home: “Suham Qantar has been waiting to see her elder son for 27 years. She won’t speak about it publicly. It’s just too disturbing. So she lets her younger son, Bassam Qantar do the talking.” During the interview, the family is looking at photos of Qantar, creating a sympathetic atmosphere.
Ayed explains, over a shot of archival footage, that in 1979 “Qantar and a group of militants snuck in to the Israeli coastal town of Nahariya” and held a father and his four-year-old daughter hostage. Then she says: “After a firefight with Israeli security forces, Qantar shot the father and clubbed the four-year-old to death with the butt of a rifle. Qantar became a hero to many Lebanese. As they saw it, he was fighting for his country against a hated enemy.”
The sudden jump from clubbing a child to becoming a hero is jarring, even shocking. Instead of providing balance by including comment from the remaining Israeli victim of Qantar’s attack, Ayed’s story only includes comments from an Israeli foreign affairs spokesperson, not about the terrorist attack, but rather only about why Israel in the past refused to release Qantar as part of a prisoner swap – because Hezbollah had reneged on its promise to provide information about Israeli Air Force pilot Ron Arad whose plane went down in Lebanon in the 1980s. Running a clip of Nasrallah vowing to free prisoners, Ayed remarks: “Nasrallah called the capture of the Israelis ‘Operation True Promise,’ suggesting the Israelis were taken in part to force the release of Samir Qantar. But Israel says releasing Qantar is not on the table, despite Nasrallah’s calculations.” Ayed does include a brief statement of the Israeli spokesperson saying, “Israel’s position on the abducted soldiers is exactly what the UN Security Council resolution says. They must be released unconditionally at once.”
But she concludes: “Samir Qantar’s fate is still out of his family’s hands and depends on the prospect of negotiations. All they can do is wait for the outcome.”
Ayed’s words make Qantar’s release appear to be a political mission, while the pictures of his family treat it as a humanitarian campaign. In fact, the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers was arguably a crime designed, among other things, to allow a brutal murderer to walk away from prison.
What is missing from Ayed’s report is even a hint of a tough question – what does his family think about Qantar’s cold-blooded murder of a father and his four-year-old daughter?
**Paul Michaels is communications director for the Canada-Israel Committee.

Who's a Terrorist? Nonaligned Movement Seeks to Broaden World's Definition After Israeli Offensive
Iran, Syria and North Korea are among more than 100 nations trying to broaden the world's definition of "terrorism" to include the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the U.S. occupation in Iraq. Converging on Fidel Castro's communist Cuba for a summit including 50 heads of state by week's end, diplomats are complaining of a double standard: powerful nations like the United States and Israel decide for the world who the terrorists are, but face no punishment for their own acts of aggression. A draft of the Nonaligned Movement's joint declaration condemns "terrorism in all its forms," especially violence that targets civilians.
Terrorism should not be associated with any religion or nationality, says the draft, which singles out a favored phrase of U.S. President George Bush: Member countries "totally reject the use of the term 'axis of evil' by a certain State to target other States under the pretext of combating terrorism."
A Cuban official said sarcastically on Tuesday that the U.S. could one day accuse the entire Nonaligned Movement of supporting terrorism.
"Reading some news reports ... I'm left to believe that the axis of evil is growing," said Abelardo Moreno, Cuba's vice foreign minister. "Soon, the (axis of evil) will be made up of 118 countries."
The draft declaration condemns Israel's invasion of Lebanon. It also hails the Lebanese people's "heroic resistance to the Israeli aggression" and demands that Israel compensate the Lebanese government and people for the deaths, injuries and destruction the war caused.
Despite the recent spotlight on Lebanon, many representatives from Nonaligned countries say much of the world's terrorist activity won't end until a solution is found for the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories.
"This issue is at the core of so many problems that it would help stop some terrorism if it were resolved," said Khalid A. al-Akwa, a Yemenese foreign ministry official. If Israel and its neighbors respect each other's borders and recognize the right of both states to exist, Palestinian resistance groups could eventually disappear, he predicted.
Many Arab officials say Al-Qaida, however, is in a different category, one representing true terrorists. Al-Akwa agreed.
"They target civilians, they lack the cause and the justification, they don't distinguish among anyone -- they're even attacking us Muslims," he said. "And they have a different political agenda, to extend an Islamist system that doesn't really have anything to do with our religion."
The document could be muted in this week's debate. A North African diplomat described the section on terrorism as "alphabet soup," because it tries to include all the members' perspectives. "There is a gentleman's agreement that what is most important is cohesion," he said.
And while many Arab diplomats privately describe the military actions of the U.S. and Israel as examples of "state terrorism," a specific reference to this was eliminated during Monday's discussion, according to al-Akwa. "It was surprising," said al-Akwa. And while he said he did not know why the section was taken out, he didn't hear very much objection, "not even by the Palestinian delegation." Terrorist acts against civilians in Iraq are also condemned in the summit document, which offers support for the current Iraqi government -- also backed by the U.S. But many nonaligned countries have sharply criticized the invasion of Iraq, and the current U.S. occupation is sure to be addressed this week. Even India and other countries that have good relations with the developed, Western world called for less labeling and more cultural sensitivity, citing racial profiling and discrimination against people from Middle Eastern and Asian countries.
Debate is expected to get particularly lively after the arrival of outspoken anti-American officials including Presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Bashar Assad of Syria, and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. North Korea is sending its No. 2 leader, Kim Yong Nam. An Nahar said Wednesday that President Emile Lahoud headed the Lebanese delegation to Cuba. From Havana, Lahoud will travel to New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly's 61st session.(AP-Naharnet)
Beirut, 13 Sep 06, 10:27

Hezbollah lies just below the surface in south Lebanon as peacekeepers move in
By Alfred De Montesquiou
ASSOCIATED PRESS-1:19 p.m. September 9, 2006
SRIFA, Lebanon – The only hint of Hezbollah fighters is the parked motorbikes – their favorite way of moving along the front lines.
Guerrillas have been laying low as peacekeepers fan out across the south on a mission to ensure that Hezbollah keeps its weapons under wraps after an Aug. 14 cease-fire that ended its 34-day conflict with Israel. But support for the Islamic militant group has only grown among Shiites trying to return to their lives amid the war's destruction. One village resident said he was a fighter for the Shiite guerrilla force and was ready to take up weapons again at a moment's notice.
“My motorbike is ready and my gun is ready,” said the young man in his 20s, who refused to give his name because of his connection with the group. He pointed at his cell phone: “One text message and I'm with my unit.” His comments reflect the complexity of the mission of U.N. peacekeepers, who are now parked nearby. A contingent of nearly 1,000 Italian troops has set up a temporary base just outside Srifa, and the Lebanese army mans a checkpoint at the village entrance.
The U.N. resolution that established the cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel calls for the eventual disarming of the guerrillas. But that potentially explosive task will not fall to the international troops. Instead of actively seeking out Hezbollah's arsenal, commanders of the force have said they will take weapons they see or come across, aiming to ensure that the guerrillas cannot bring them out for use. In Srifa – just below the Litani River that marks the northern edge of the buffer zone that peacekeepers are patrolling – few residents want to see Hezbollah disarmed. Groups of women gathering for an evening chat, old men sipping tea on the sidewalk and children playing with debris all said they backed the guerrillas.
“Hezbollah is our country, they are the only ones to defend us,” 16-year-old Nahira Nazzal said. “We want them to keep their guns.”
Srifa was heavily bombarded during the fighting, with more than 300 houses flattened and 38 people killed – and residents say they're proud that Hezbollah rocket fire from the area attracted such an Israeli punishment. “Even if you're a communist, or neutral, you have to be with Hezbollah now; this is a sacred war,” said Mohsen Eid, who was left jobless when an air strike shattered his ice-cream parlor.
The groan of small power generators filled the twilight air in Srifa one evening this week as residents prepared for another night with little or no electricity, running water or other modern appliances. “No TV, no radio, there's nothing to do, we've gone back to the 19th century,” Nahira said under the sole flickering light bulb in her family's home. “But we're lucky, at least our house is still there,” she said, pointing at the room's crackled walls and empty windows blown out by nearby explosions. Her street is littered with rubble of destroyed buildings, and the nearby main road is dotted with bomb craters.
On one wall of the Nazzal family's living room hang portraits of leaders of Amal, another popular Shiite Muslim movement, seen as more moderate and secular than Hezbollah. Srifa has long been a stronghold for Amal and communist groups rather than the guerrillas.
“I've always been with Amal, but now my children all go with Hezbollah,” said Nahira's father, Hassan, a 52-year-old widower with 10 children.
Nahira's eldest brother, Ali, 26, has brought home the portable generator that powers one light bulb in the living room. He works as an electrician, employed by villagers who say Hezbollah gave them $10,000 for each destroyed house and various other amounts to compensate for lesser damage.
The Nazzals struggle to get by with Ali's salary and cash made by the father at a vegetable stall. Two younger brothers also help by working as waiters in a restaurant farther north. “Life has always been difficult for us Shiites. But since the war, it's even harder,” said another of Hassan Nazzal's daughters, Zeinab, 25, a teacher who is unemployed because her school was bombed.
The price for a gallon of drinking water doubled after the fighting, and the cost of fuel and cooking gas also has skyrocketed, said Ouhla, 23, who stays home and takes care of the family since the mother died several years ago. She said her task had been made harder because the fridge and freezer weren't working, and she couldn't afford to use much cooking gas. “Now, it's a lot of boiled potatoes,” she said with a smile. She said she cooked mostly on a fire with wood the family had gathered on their plot of land outside the village. “But I'm running out,” she said.
The Nazzals said Israeli tanks had reached their land – some 15 miles north of the border – during the fighting, and the area was now littered with land mines and cluster bombs that made it too dangerous to collect more wood.
Outside of the south, the Lebanese military and international officials are working to make sure new Hezbollah weapons do not enter by land, sea or air. But any move to take away weapons the guerrillas already have must come from the Lebanese military – and that would require a decision from the government in Beirut, which is not likely in the near future. The government would have to overcome tough opposition among the Shiite population, which in villages like Srifa has made clear its feelings. Over the remains of a destroyed home near the Nazzal's, a yellow Hezbollah banner has been stretched, with a bitter message across it: “America, this is your new Middle East.”

UAE 'will always support Lebanon'
WAM- Beirut: The UAE will always support Lebanon, to help it overcome the effects of the Israeli aggression, said Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs.Al Gergawi, heading a UAE delegation to Leb-anon, was received by Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Monday. He conveyed to Lahoud the greetings and wishes of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Lahoud said that the solidarity shown by the UAE with Lebanon during the crisis was not new, as the UAE has always given the best support to Lebanon. He commended the UAE for its help in extracting landmines from southern Lebanon, and said that Israel bombarded Lebanon with more than 100,000 cluster bombs in the last two days of the aggression. Al Gergawi reviewed the support to be provided by the UAE, which includes rehabilitation of schools and the removal of landmines and cluster bombs, in addition to the aid given earlier to the displaced Lebanese during the war and the rehabilitation of hospitals and a fishermen's port in Al Ouzai area, and other assistance. He referred to Shaikh Khalifa's initiative to rebuild schools in southern Lebanon, saying that rebuilding operations will start today.

Terrorist Ali Hamadi Rejoins Hezbollah Following Release From Prison
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
By James Rosen
WASHINGTON — One of the most infamous terrorists of the 1980s has rejoined Hezbollah following his release from a German prison and deportation to his native Lebanon in December 2005, a senior Bush administration official told FOX News.
Mohammed Ali Hamadi was released despite strong U.S. objections, FOX News learned. Those objections were raised in phone calls to German authorities by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller, as well as by top-level State Department and administration counter-terrorism officials.
"[The Germans] ignored us and didn't give us enough time to pursue it through legal action," an official told FOX News on the condition of anonymity. "They gave us very short notice."U.S. officials said they "can't rule out" the possibility that Germany deported Hamadi, after he had served 19 years of a life sentence, in exchange for the release of Susanne Osthoff, a German archeologist taken hostage in Iraq and freed four days after Hamadi's deportation. German authorities have denied any such deal was made. In June 1985, Hamadi was one of four Islamic militants who commandeered TWA Flight 847 — en route from Athens to Rome — and hijacked it to Beirut. The ensuing hostage ordeal lasted 17 days, with the plane shuttling among various Mediterranean airports.
On the second day of the hijacking, Hamadi and his accomplices learned that U.S. Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem was on board. Hamadi and his co-conspirators beat Stethem unconscious, then shot him to death and dumped his body on the tarmac of the Beirut airport. The hijackers later escaped.
In 1987, Hamadi was arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, for carrying explosives in his bag at the airport. He was convicted both on that charge and of Stethem's murder and sentenced to life in prison. Late last year he was paroled by the German authorities and deported to Lebanon.
On Dec. 21, 2005, shortly after Hamadi's return to Lebanon, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters: "I think what I can assure anybody who's listening, including Mr. Hamadi, is that we will track him down, we will find him and we will bring him to justice in the United States for what he's done.
"We will make every effort, working with the Lebanese authorities or whomever else, to see that he faces trial for the murder of Mr. Stethem."
At a press briefing Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tom Casey confirmed that contact had been made with the Lebanese government regarding Hamadi, and that the case remains active."The United States still believes that he and anyone else who is responsible for such heinous acts should face justice," Casey said. "And we do continue to wish to see him be brought to the United States to face trial here."
Hamadi's alleged accomplices — Hassan Izz-Al-Din, Ali Atwa and Imad Mughniyeh — were never captured.
Mughniyeh is also believed to be responsible for the 1983 barracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines in Lebanon and for the 1984 torture and murder of William Buckley, the CIA Station Chief in Beirut.
Mughniyeh, who is believed to have undergone extensive plastic surgery to make himself unrecognizable, has been described in the media as "probably the world's most wanted outlaw."Upon hearing news of Hamadi's release in 2005, Stethem's family members said they would keep pressuring the U.S. government to seek extradition from Lebanon. "We'll be after him," Stethem's mother, Patricia, said of Hamadi. "We won't let it rest."

Hezbollah leader predicts talks on prisoner swap with Israel next week

Canadian Press-Published: Wednesday, September 13, 2006
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Hezbollah's leader said Tuesday he accepts UN mediation with Israel on a possible prisoner swap and a special envoy will launch the talks next week. But in an interview with the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera channel, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah insisted he will not to approve any prisoner exchange deal, unless it includes the release of Samir Kantar, a Lebanese prisoner Israel has held longest.
Nasrallah's remarks came more than a week after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said during a visit to Saudi Arabia he would appoint a mediator for indirect talks between Israel and the Islamic militant group on the release of two captured Israeli soldiers.
Israel has rejected calls for a prisoner swap to secure the soldiers' freedom, calling instead for their unconditional release. The UN ceasefire resolution that ended more than a month of Israel-Hezbollah fighting also calls for an unconditional release.
"So far, the negotiation channel has been settled. The channel that has been agreed on or accepted is the United Nations via Secretary General Kofi Annan who has announced that he will assign a European personality to undertake the mediation and contacts between us and the Israelis," Nasrallah said in the interview with Al-Jazeera. He said the UN envoy, whom he did not name, had been expected to arrive last week but should come next week.
"So far, no talks have begun," he said. Hezbollah guerrillas captured the two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid July 12 that sparked the fighting between the group and Israeli forces. The war ended Aug. 14 under a ceasefire and Israeli troops still occupy positions in southern Lebanon while they wait for a beefed-up UN peacekeeping force to deploy. On the same day the two Israelis were captured, Nasrallah told a news conference the two would be released only through a prisoner exchange with Israel. Nasrallah ducked a question Tuesday on whether Hezbollah would demand only the release of Kantar and two other Lebanese in exchange for the Israelis. Before this summer's crisis, he had called for other Arab prisoners to be freed.
Nasrallah said he told Hezbollah officials assigned to negotiate with the UN envoy to obtain a promise from Israel that it would not to leak any details of the talks to the news media. He warned any leaks by the Israelis would lead to the suspension of the talks.
He insisted a prisoner swap would only be possible if it includes Kantar's release. "Absolutely not. You're asking me about a deal without Samir (Kantar), I tell you 'No'," the Hezbollah leader said emphatically. Kantar, one of three Lebanese that Hezbollah has long demanded released, is serving prison terms totalling 542 years for killing three Israelis during an attack in 1979. Israel said it will not release Kantar until it receives information about Ron Arad, an air force navigator who went missing after his plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986. His fate is unknown.

Hezbollah To Keep Arms, And Asks Lebanon's Government To Resign
September 12, 2006 1:23 p.m. EST
Komfie Manalo - All Headline News Foreign Correspondent
Beirut, Lebanon (AHN) - In a major blow to the U.N. peace plan in Lebanon following the 34-day war, Hezbollah said at a rally they will keep their arms and asked Lebanon's government to resign. Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar told a rally in a Shiite southern suburb on Monday night that "the Forces of March 14 [the anti-Syrian coalition which leads the government] aligned themselves with the Israeli enemy from the start" of the conflict that ended on August 14.
"They planned the assassination of the Resistance [Hezbollah's military wing] in collaboration with the Americans and the Israelis. The Resistance will keep its weapons," he said repeatedly, defiantly rejecting the U.N. Security Council cease-fire resolution which called for the group to disarm.
He told his audience, "This government must go," while the crowd chanted, "Government, resign!"This came as the number of international peacekeepers in Lebanon continue to increase with the recent arrival of French tanks and other armor. Ammar called for the formation of a government of national unity to include Christian Michel Aoun, a long-time opponent of Syria but is now allied with Hezbollah, and pro-Syrian Christian notables like former MP Suleiman Franjieh.
Hezbollah holds 24 cabinet position in the current government. The rally was the biggest gathering organized by the militants since the end of the July war and Ammar's speech came after the guerrillas issued a statement on Monday criticizing the Forces of March 14th. Prime Minister Fuad Siniora belongs to that group and has come under fire from the opposition press for being too soft in his dealings with the West. The Hezbollah statement said, "The repeated calls by these forces for the disarmament of Hezbollah aim to serve the interests of their Western masters, at the head of which are the United States and their allies, Israel.
"We appeal to those forces to prove their nationalism and not put Lebanon under foreign tutelage, the object of which is to make Lebanon unable to defend itself against Israel."

The Stockholm Conference: A Political Obscenity
by Rachel Neuwirth-Sep 13, '06 / 20 Elul 5766
Salomon Benzimra contributed to this article.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701 put an end to the month long war between Israel and Hizbullah. Two weeks after the cessation of hostilities, a conference was held in Stockholm to specifically raise funds for the reconstruction of Lebanon, but without any concern whatsoever for the damage inflicted by Hizbullah on Israeli civilian facilities.The Stockholm Conference included some sixty participants, comprising many countries, international organizations and NGOs. The Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, opened the conference on August 31 with an appeal for help after "Israeli bombing wiped out 15 years of postwar development." Expected to raise about $500 million, the participants pledged twice that amount in what was considered an overwhelming success, while Israel was sidelined.
The Swedish Prime Minister, Goran Persson, showed his solidarity with the Lebanese people: "Our message... should be clear and firm: You are not alone.... War may be the business of some, but peace will always be our common duty."
However noble these sentiments may be, there was a shocking omission: the quest for responsibility. Whereas the European Left has always been eager to find exculpatory "root causes" in all matters related to Islamic terrorism after 9/11 - and has found them in such implausible factors as poverty, inequality, oppression, joblessness and alienation - there was no mention in Stockholm of the root causes of the Lebanese ordeal. This omission is nothing short of obscene.
A brief background is in order. Israel was attacked by Hizbullah in an unprovoked aggression. The casus belli that triggered the war on July 12 - after six years of cross-border violations in full view of the UNIFIL observers, whose dubious role is still being questioned today - was the launching of Katyushas across the Israel-Lebanon border at the same time that two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped and four others were killed. Everyone recognized that Israel was the attacked party: the G8, the UN, the EU and even Saudi Arabia unequivocally identified Hizbullah as the aggressor.
And yet, at the Stockholm Conference, the only thing we heard from the "international community" was pledges to assist Lebanon in its reconstruction effort, as if the country had suffered a natural disaster. This is an obscenity.
There was nothing natural in this destruction: it was the result of a war launched from Lebanese territory against a sovereign neighboring country. Certainly, Lebanon, as a country, did not attack Israel. Hizbullah did. But Hizbullah is an armed militia affiliated to a political party with significant representation in the Lebanese parliament and at the ministerial level, even though it is trained, armed and spiritually supported by a foreign power, Iran.
Moreover, except for his declaration on the first day of hostilities, Fouad Siniora maintained his firm support for Hizbullah throughout the period of hostilities, conveniently forgetting his obligation to disarm Hizbullah, as required by UN Resolution 1559, which was passed two years earlier. The regular Lebanese army also cooperated with Hizbullah on more than one occasion. Therefore, holding Lebanon to be a squeaky clean victim of aggression is also obscene.
Whatever the legal responsibility of Hizbullah and Lebanon in the war, Israel was certainly the victim of aggression. Not only did the participants in the Stockholm Conference never raise this issue, but some organizations even compounded the obscenity by accusing Israel.
In an appalling statement, analysts of the European-based Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt (French acronym CADTM) declared, "Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon must demand accountability from their aggressors.... For Lebanon, a possible solution resides in the immediate cancellation of its debt and the establishment of funds for its reconstruction, which would be fed by reparations deposited by Israel."
Furthermore, CADTM suggested that the United States, as a backer of Israel, should also be liable for "reparations." They concluded with this pearl of Orwellian doublespeak: "It is only then that it will be possible to say that the Lebanese people will have received justice."
These comments from CADTM should have provoked an uproar of indignation, but nothing was heard in the august halls of the Stockholm Conference. This silence was also obscene.
Now is the time to put "reparations" in its proper context. The issue of war reparations is covered in the 1907 Fourth Hague Convention and in the Geneva Conventions of 1949. More recently, the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) was set up to deal with Iraq, following its attack on Kuwait in 1991. Security Council Resolution 687, adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter, mentions that "Iraq... is liable under international law for any direct loss, damage... or injury to foreign Governments, nationals and corporations, as a result of Iraq's unlawful invasion... of Kuwait."
Chapter VII deals with "threats to peace, breaches of the peace and acts of aggression." Iraq was forced to accept all the provisions of Resolution 687. Similar action should have been taken against Hizbullah for the damage inflicted on Israel's civilian areas, but UN Resolution 1701 failed to mention any liability on the part of the aggressor. Had a conference been convened in Stockholm back in 1991, I doubt its single concern would have been to assist Iraq financially.
No one would deny that innocent Lebanese civilians suffered greatly from the war. But so did Israeli civilians, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced, 6,000 homes destroyed and the northern Israeli economy in shambles.
So, rather than basking in the one-sided consensus of Stockholm, a more constructive way to handle the situation would be to create a joint Lebanese-Israeli body, including those elements of Lebanese society that have not been tainted by Hizbullah, i.e. Christians, Druzes, Sunnis and possibly a portion of the Shi'a population, and launch a combined claim for war reparations from Hizbullah's supporters - Syria and, especially, Iran.
This approach would have many advantages that were not apparent in the ill-conceived Stockholm Conference:
1) A claim for war reparations would be a powerful deterrent to aggressive "adventurism," as the Saudi foreign minister characterized the Hizbullah attack. Leaving military aggressors financially unscathed encourages further aggression.
2) Creating a multi-billion dollar lien against Iran would be welcomed by the international community, now that sanctions are envisaged against Iran for the non-fulfillment of its nuclear obligations.
3) The creation of such a joint Israeli-Lebanese body will be a positive sign of collaboration between Israeli and Arab civil societies. There is no territorial dispute between Lebanon and Israel, notwithstanding the phony issue of the Shebaa Farms. This initiative should be welcomed by all Sunni Arabs, who are now more scared of Iran than they are of Israel.
None of the above was on the agenda of the Stockholm Conference, where Israel was viewed either as the aggressor or as the party working against peace.
In the conferees' lopsided view of reality, where the relationship of cause to effect never enters the equation, the donor countries also pledged half a billion dollars to the Palestinians, 90% of which is to be channeled through the Palestinian Authority, now controlled by the terrorist organization Hamas. No questions were asked, no conditions set. Once again, the international donors were mesmerized by the swan song of Mahmoud Abbas, whose senior advisor complained about the "never-ending" humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and the "constraints imposed on the Palestinians."
It would have taken a volley of Kassam rockets crashing through the entrance of the Stockholm Conference hall to give those donors a bitter taste of reality.

Canadian Coalition for Democracies
Until Fatah and Hamas charters end call for Israel's destruction, Canada must deny funding to Palestinian Authority
For Immediate Release
Toronto, Canada, Tuesday, September 12, 2006 - Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh announced an agreement yesterday to form a Palestinian unity government. The article in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida makes it clear that the reason for this arrangement is the "resumption of [Western] aid". "Western aid was stopped with the election of Hamas, because Hamas refused to renounce violence and recognize the state of Israel," said Alastair Gordon, president of the Canadian Coalition for Democracies. "To this day, the charters of both Fatah (PLO) and Hamas both call for the destruction of Israel through violence." Were Canada to resume funding of the Palestinian Authority, it would be funding a government whose guiding principles are clearly stated in its governing charters:
'Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.'
'Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement [Hamas].
'There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad.'
'Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavours.'
'Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own.'
"The Palestinian Authority has received billions in Western aid, while violence and incitement have grown dramatically," added Gordon. "If Canada resumes funding the PA while the Fatah and Hamas charters call for Israel's annihilation, and before there has been a lengthy period without attacks or incitement, then we are supporting a government whose words and actions do not even pretend to be interested in anything but the violent destruction of Israel and her people. "Unconditional funding has rendered Palestinian society violent, dysfunctional and dependent. We now have a chance to introduce incentives that may start to change that tragic situation."
Alastair Gordon, President
416-963-8998

But Muslim Leader Says Netherlands Must Defend Dutch Values:
http://www.nisnews.nl/public/130906_1.htm
Muslim Leader: Netherlands Must Defend Dutch Values
THE HAGUE, 13/09/06 - Muslim leader Hikmat Mahawat Khan lashed out fiercely yesterday at the government. Instead of defending Dutch values, it fosters Islamic behaviour that does not belong in the Netherlands. "It is simply unacceptable," he stated in newspaper Trouw.
Khan is "fed up with pointless chit chat, tea sessions, rank-and-file-politics and all kinds of meetings. Hereby I am also referring to events by some immigrant organisation or other, where the local alderman for Integration holds a little speech and draws applause, before hurrying on to another, equally pointless meeting. The Netherlands is on fire and we still think we can continue in the same vein as twenty years ago".
Until recently, Khan was chairman of the Contact Group Islam (CGI). This umbrella organisation of moderate Muslims came into being beside the Contact Body of Muslims and the Government (CMO), a larger umbrella that however represents only Sunnite Muslims. CMO and CGI were intended to merge into a single government dialogue partner. When this failed, the government gave priority to the orthodox CMO, according to Khan.
In the view of Khan, who has since resigned as CGI chairman, the government attempts to boost integration through meetings with Imams and thus strengthens the position of these Muslim leaders, added Khan. "The Imams and the government both want to avoid rocking the boat so they make socially desirable statements instead. They know precisely what the government does and does not wish to hear. They avoid broaching thorny issues. The government does not wish to bring them up either, because that would mean having to solve these problems".
Khan feels the government should demonstrate more clearly that certain matters are unacceptable in the Netherlands. "We should take a look at America. (...) They are harsher and clearer over there. You may rage inside the mosque but not outside. You are free to isolate yourself if you wish, but you will have to reap what you sow."
"If you isolate yourself in the Netherlands, the community is saddled with the financial consequences. You demand the right to apply for a job wearing a burqa and when you fail to get a job you feel you're entitled to an allowance. (...) An Amsterdammer must have the guarantee that Amsterdam will always be Amsterdam, a city (...) where Dutch principles prevail." "When the Queen did not shake hands with men in the Moubarek Mosque in The Hague, Prime Minister Balkenende said that was fine. Nonsense of course, people shake hands in the Netherlands; that is the custom here. Balkenende is causing a great deal of damage by saying this. The same applies to the cuddling talk of Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen. It is counterproductive."
Khan also criticises the double nationality held by most immigrants in the Netherlands. "Double nationality has a disastrous effect. Especially when MPs and other politicians also have them. It is simply unacceptable". Khan's conclusion is unambiguous: "Do away with palliative measures. Positive discrimination does more harm than good. It may yield a single immigrant a job but it creates huge annoyance among the indigenous Dutch population".

Minister in Netherlands Welcomes Sharia if Majority Wants It
http://www.nisnews.nl/public/130906_2.htm
THE HAGUE, 13/09/06 - Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner considers the Netherlands should give Muslims more freedoms to behave according to their traditions. Muslims refusing to shake hands is fine with him. And Sharia law could be introduced in the Netherlands democratically, in the minister's view.
Muslims have the right to experience their religion in ways that diverge from Dutch social codes, accordign to the Christian democrat (CDA) minister. He thinks Queen Beatrix was very wise not to insist on a Muslim leader shaking hands with her when she visited his mosque in The Hague earlier this year.
Integration Minister Verdonk did previously scold an imam who would not shake her hand. Without directly referring to this incident, Donner considers "a tone that I do not like has crept into the political debate. A tone of: 'Thou shalt assimilate. Thou shalt adopt our values in public. Be reasonable, do it our way'. That is not my approach".
Donner strongly disagrees with a recent plea by CDA parliamentary leader Maxime Verhagen for a ban on parties seeking to launch Sharia (Islamic law) in the Netherlands. "For me it is clear: if two-thirds of the Dutch population should want to introduce the Sharia tomorrow, then the possibility should exist," according to Donner. "It would be a disgrace to say: 'That is not allowed!'."
Donner makes his remarks in an interview in a book entitled, 'The country of hate and anger' (Het land van haat en nijd). The book was written by journalists Margalith Kleijwegt and Max van Weezel of weekly magazine Vrij Nederland. Minister Verdonk will be presented with the first copy today.

U.S. Embassy: Assad allows attack, offers "protection" and aims at confusion

By: Walid Phares

According to well-informed Syrian sources, the September 12 terrorist attack against the U.S. embassy in Damascus is one of the "Machiavellian" Assad operations. Let's remind ourselves that the Syrian regime's senior strategists and intelligence officers were trained by the sophisticated "intox" schools of the former Soviet's KGB. One of the main tactics of this old school, refined by Hafez Assad during his rule of Syria is based on the following concept: If the equation is to your disadvantage, create a new problem, offer to solve it, obtain recognition; and by that you'd change the equation.

The strategic objective of the Assad regime today is to deter Washington from further pressures against Syria, in the form of the Hariri investigation, the U.S. pressure through the Security Council to deploy forces along the borders with Lebanon and the American ongoing support to the anti-Syrian Government in Beirut.

The Tehran-Damascus-Hezbollah axis is in dire need to "contain" Washington's pressures and gain time, as much possible of time. Why would they need time? Because they have to rearm Hezbollah, crumble the Lebanese Government, and face off with UN pressures on the nuclear issue. Syria has the marching orders to disorient the United States, and hence it adopted a twin approach:

Allow a Jihadist-type terror attack to take place against a US interest in Damascus. And how can that be possible? The seasoned experts on Syria knows all too well that the Assad Mukhabarat are in control of, or have "access" to the overwhelming Terrorist organizations in Syria and Lebanon. They've had thirty years of deep involvement to accomplish this takeover. In addition to Shiia Hezbollah, Syria has control, a remote-control of, or an access to Sunni Salafists groups, including networks that connects with al Qaeda. In short, Syria's intelligence services can prepare the ground to "persuade" Jihadists to strike at some point. The Jihadists have an ideological and strategic enmity with the US; the Assad regime has the ability to have the "mob" unleash attacks, in the same way the Baath regime of Syria has "allowed" thousands of Jihadists to cross the border to Iraq to kill US and coalition troops. Assad the father also "allowed" Jihadis to attack U.S and French interests in Lebanon during the 1980s. More recently, Assad "allowed' violent demonstrations to attack embassies in Damascus. Knowing that Syria's State police controls the country with an iron hand, these precedents are too bright to ignore. In today's apparatus two men dominate the Terror web from their security intelligence positions: Mohammed Nassif, the director of State Security and Ali Yunis, the assistant of Asaf Shawkat, the regime's security commander. Nassif and Yunis are the team that controls and connects with the Jihadist underworld in the Levant.
Stage the "protection" – After the operation happens, the regime allows some of their men to be killed in action against the "Terrorists." Obviously, this move will be hard to absorb by Western and American public psychologically. Maybe Hollywood movies writers can. In short (as an analytical projection) the regime "allowed" the operation to happen, "knew" it would happen, and let the security guards on the ground sacrifice themselves in the line of diplomatic duty.

The Dividends:

Sending a message to the U.S as follow: "Al Qaeda can strike you in our midst (Syria and Lebanon) and we can't do much about, except the classical protection once the 'cells' would be about to engage or have already engaged. In short we are extending the measures under international laws, not more."
"But, we can stop them." Meaning that "our 'powerful' intelligence and security agencies can go after these terrorists (who aren't Syria's friends to start with) and offer them to you, as we used to do in the good old days: We'd send Hezbollah to kill your Marines in Lebanon and allow the Salafists to kill the Marines again in Iraq, but at the same time we can do business with you and 'protect your' embassies from the terrorists we are harboring anyway." Yes a good Levantine maze.
"Your public, via international media, 'saw' that we are defending your embassy and have 'lost' security guards while defending it. So what are you going to tell your public? That we, the Syrian regime, 'are' the terrorists? It will look bad when after we sacrificed our men for your diplomats, your diplomats would call us terrorists."
Secretary Rice "had" to issue a statement "thanking" Syria. In Assad's mind, it would be an embarrassment for the U.S. to attack Syria for being a harbor to terrorism when Damascus has just been thanked for fighting those terrorists. This, basically, would gain more "time" for Assad. Enough time needed to:
Rearm Hezbollah, prepare attacks against UN and other multinational forces to come closer to the Syrian borders, and of course to allow the other pressures to recede.
Extra dividend: Unleash the school that supports "dialogue and friendship" with the Syrian regime in Washington to advance its arguments in this regard.

A question has been fusing in the media about Zawahiri's calls for the Levant Jihadists, including the Jund al Sham to attack targets in Syria and Lebanon.

Are these video messages coordinated with Syria and Iran? While no evidence is surfacing yet, these are two Jihadi wars taking place against the U.S. and its allies at the same time. In the midst of an Al Qaeda war and of a Khumeinist-Baathist campaign, both directed against democracies in the region, overlapping actions aren't impossible.

Otherwise, how to explain that al Qaeda waited so long before it issued a direct Jihad-guideline on Lebanon and Syria after 14 years of war against the U.S. and three years of war in Iraq? Why would the number-two of al Qaeda suddenly develop an interest in the Lebanese-Syrian battlefield, immediately after the ceasefire was concluded between Hezbollah and Israel? Who needed whom to begin the next stage in troubles after the issuing of UNSCR 1701?

Let's call it the quiz of the month: You'll find your answer in Machiavelli's writings.

— Walid Phares holds degrees in law and political science from Saint Joseph University and the Lebanese University in Beirut, a Masters in international law from the Universite de Lyons in France and a Ph.D. in international relations and strategic studies from the University of Miami. He has taught and lectured at numerous universities worldwide, practiced law in Beirut, and served as publisher of Sawt el-Mashreq and Mashrek International. He currently teaches Middle East political issues, ethnic and religious conflict, and comparative politics at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Phares has written seven books on the Middle East and published hundreds of articles in newspapers and scholarly publications such as Global Affairs, Middle East Quarterly, and Journal of South Asian and Middle East Studies. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, and BBC as well as on radio broadcasts. Aside from serving on the boards of several national and international think tanks and human rights associations, Dr. Phares has testified before the US Senate Subcommittee on the Middle East and South East Asia and regularly conducts congressional and State Department briefings.

Dr. Phares is a visiting fellow with the European Foundation for Democracy in Brussels and a senior fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C. His most recent book is Future Jihad, and he was the author of the memo that introduced UNSCR 1559 in 2004.

Visit Dr. Phares on the web at walidphares.com and defenddemocracy.org.

Also by Walid Phares:
• U.S. Embassy: Assad allows attack, offers "protection" and aims at confusion [13 Sep 06]
• Hezbollah's Political Blitzkrieg [14 Aug 06]
• Israeli targets in Lebanon [27 Jul 06]
• Zarqawi: Killing the future chief of al Qaida [09 Jun 06]
• From London to Toronto: Dismantling cells, dodging their ideology [05 Jun 06]
• The Strategic Waves of Iraq's Liberation [01 May 06]
• Are you ready for Hezbollah's Preemptive Terror? [10 Apr 06]
• A Jihad window at the Emirates' gate? [28 Feb 06]
• Osama's unmistakable message [26 Jan 06]
• The US and Pakistan
Allies or Not Allies Is the Question [16 Jan 06]
• Catch them, but do not watch them!
Spying on al Qaeda in America [20 Dec 05]
• Iraqi Victory, American Achievement
The October 15 Referendum [17 Oct 05]
• Debate on al Qaida's losses in Iraq
Newsweek's speedy conclusions lead to analytical crash [29 Sep 05]