From: Andrew Johnson
Date: 2006-07-19 14:46:04
As indicated by these 2 BBC stories. So now it’s Iran who kidnapped Israeli soldiers? Pull the other one!! news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/… Israel claims Iran link to crisis Hezbollah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers last week was timed to divert attention from Tehran’s nuclear programme, the Israeli PM has claimed. Ehud Olmert said that the cross-border raid in which the two soldiers were taken and eight others killed was co-ordinated with Tehran. About 30 people died in a seventh day of conflict, most of them in Lebanon. US President George W Bush has meanwhile accused Syria of trying to use the crisis to return to Lebanon. “Syria is trying to get back into Lebanon, it looks like to me,” Mr Bush said in Washington. “It’s essential that the government of Lebanon survives this crisis. We’ve worked hard to free – and we meaning the international community – worked hard to free Lebanon from Syrian influence.” The US state department refused to confirm comments by an Israeli ambassador that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would travel to the region on Friday. Israel launched its assault and blockade last Wednesday after the two soldiers were captured. About 230 Lebanese people have been killed since then – the majority of them were civilians, but the toll includes about 30 soldiers. The number of Hezbollah militants killed is not known. Twenty-five Israelis have died – 13 civilians and 12 members of the military. Israel has frequently blamed Syria and Iran for arming and backing Hezbollah, but Mr Olmert’s comments were the first explicit claim of Tehran’s direct involvement in the capture of the soldiers, correspondents say. FOREIGNERS IN LEBANON Canada: 40,000 Philippines: 30,000 Australia: 25,000 US: 25,000 UK: 22,000 (inc. 10,000 with dual nationality) France: 20,000 Mr Olmert said the timing of the incident was not an accident, and the international community at the G8 summit in Russia had fallen for it – discussing Lebanon rather than Iran’s nuclear programme. Earlier, Israel’s foreign minister met a UN team trying to negotiate a ceasefire, but said the soldiers’ release and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south would have to precede any ceasefire. Thousands more foreigners have continued to flee Lebanon as the crisis deepens. The UN announced that its non-essential staff would join the exodus. A British warship docked in Beirut at the start of a mission to transport up to 12,000 Britons and a further 10,000 people with dual British-Lebanese nationality to Cyprus. The US, Canada and other governments were also organising evacuations by land, air or sea. In other developments: Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora said Israel was “opening the gates of hell and madness” on his country, and said Israel’s response to the soldiers’ capture had been disproportionate Pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud vowed to stand by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he expected European nations to contribute troops to a proposed stabilisation force to end the fighting The UN warned of a humanitarian disaster as Lebanese flee their homes, with air strikes on roads and bridges hampering efforts to help them Shlomo Goldwasser, the father of one of the missing Israeli soldiers, said he hoped all means – legal or illegal – would be used to get his son Ehud back As Israel launched fresh air strikes and cross-border attacks on Tuesday, six bodies were pulled from the rubble of a home in the Lebanese border village of Aitaroun, and another family was killed in the coastal city of Tyre. In one attack, 11 Lebanese soldiers were killed at a barracks east of Beirut. HAVE YOUR SAY Hezbollah, Syria and Iran are using our country as a battleground against Israel Nayef, Beirut The Lebanese army has been ordered not to respond to the Israeli attacks. But Lebanese soldiers have now died in several strikes, including one on the port of Abdeh on Monday in which nine died. Fresh volleys of Hezbollah rockets landed on northern Israel on Tuesday. One attack killed an Israeli in the town of Nahariya. Rockets also hit Haifa, Safed, Acre, Kiryat Shemona, and Gush Halav region near Safed, Israeli officials told AP news agency. Israeli military officials say more than 700 Hezbollah rockets have now landed in Israel since the crisis began. Story from BBC NEWS:news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr…: 2006/07/18 21:38:58 GMT© BBC MMVI More shite: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/… Blair accuses Iran of arms supply Tony Blair has accused Iran of supplying weapons to attack UK troops in Iraq, and of giving arms to Hezbollah so it could target Israel. In a statement, he told MPs it was important to implement a 2004 UN resolution calling for Hezbollah to be disbanded and support for it to end. UK and America have long blamed Iran for supplying Hezbollah with weapons to fight a proxy war against Israel. These claims have been rejected by officials in Tehran. Iran has also denied arming insurgents in Iraq but it has stepped up rhetoric against Israel and the US in recent days, warning any attack on Syria would “definitely make the Zionist regime face unimaginable losses”. ‘Financial support’ In a statement to the Commons earlier on Tuesday, Mr Blair said: “Hezbollah is supported by Iran and Syria. “By the former in weapons – weapons, incidentally, very similar if not identical to those used against British troops in Basra. “By the latter in many different ways, and by both financially.” We grieve for the innocent Israelis and innocent Lebanese civilians that are dead Tony Blair Mr Blair’s official spokesman clarified later: “What he is simply saying is stating the obvious, which is that the rockets that have been fired into Israel have been analysed as being from that source. “We have compared that with what has been happening around Basra. That obviously has implications.” ‘Deeply destructive’ British officials have accused elements in the Iranian regime over the proliferation of sophisticated explosives capable of piercing the armour of British vehicles in Iraq. It said the devices, with infrared triggers, had been blamed for the deaths of at least 14 British soldiers in the past year, although Tehran had denied any involvement. Conservative leader David Cameron said it was “absolutely clear for everyone to see that the involvement of both Iran and Syria in Hamas and Hezbollah is deeply destructive and needs to be addressed”. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell pressed the government to call for an unconditional and immediate ceasefire. “How will it be possible to insert an international force unless there is a ceasefire? Such a force can hardly fight its way in,” he said. Mr Blair urged both sides in the crisis to take account “of the human situation” and asked that military action by Israel was “proportionate”. He went on: “We grieve for the innocent Israelis and innocent Lebanese civilians that are dead, for their families that mourn, and for their countries that are caught up in the spiral of escalating confrontation.” He called for the UN Security Council resolution on the future of Hezbollah to be brought into force. “How it’s implemented, however, is very, very difficult, given the state of the Lebanese government and the Lebanese nation at the present time.” He pledged to “keep up the diplomatic pressure on Iran to come into compliance with its international obligations”, and said he would “urge Syria to take the action it could take in relation to Hezbollah, if it wanted to do so”. ‘Sustainable ceasefire’ Earlier, UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that an international force would be “potentially a viable option” in ending the crisis. She explained Britain was “talking to the UN” about the role of such a force in brokering “a sustainable ceasefire”, adding it was unhelpful to dismiss the idea without offering any alternatives. As long as people are being slaughtered in their dozens… then this matter is going to continuing spiralling George Galloway She also claimed Hezbollah had “poured petrol on a bonfire” by “firing rockets into Israel all the time”. Mrs Beckett called for “the unconditional release” of the two Israeli soldiers captured by Lebanon. She also wanted “all of those who are involved in the region to act proportionately to the problems that we all know they’re experiencing”. ‘Slaughtered’ Meanwhile George Galloway, leader of the Respect party, has criticised the failure of world leaders to resolve the crisis. “The best way is to have a ceasefire, and that is what the G8 should have called for and didn’t, because Mr Bush and Mr Blair refused to allow them to do so. “As long as people are being slaughtered in their dozens… then this matter is going to continuing spiralling, and maybe spiral out of control,” he told the Today programme. “Israel holds thousands of prisoners who were kidnapped by them in Israel, in Lebanon, in Palestine and they should exchange them for the prisoners who’ve been kidnapped by Hamas and by Hezbollah,” Mr Galloway said. Story from BBC NEWS:news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr…: 2006/07/18 17:50:59 GMT
