Blogs of War

I finally got my face in the hometown paper. Well, its web site at least. I didn’t even have to embezzle city funds, lead cops on a three hour chase, or plow my SUV into METRO’s light rail. My family should be proud.

Thanks to an invitation from blog/media/tech guru Dwight Silverman, I’ll also be blogging the war at the Houston Chronicle. Chronicles of War will cover the same topics you see here at Blogs of War but with a little more depth.

I’m excited about the prospect of getting these topics, and my take on them, in front of a new audience. I’ll keep you guys (and gals) in the loop on developments at Chronicles of War but I hope that you’ll check it out, link it, and participate in the discussion.

Posting is slow but for good reason. I’ve recently hinted at a new project in the works. I actually have a few projects working right now, but one of them should be especially interesting to you. If all goes well it will go live within the next 24 hours. You may see an announcement here as early as this evening or Tuesday morning.

Stay tuned.

Australia’s Herald Sun has the images, recently smuggled out of Lebanon, just reinforce what we already know about the way terrorists operate:

The images, obtained exclusively by the Sunday Herald Sun, show Hezbollah using high-density residential areas as launch pads for rockets and heavy-calibre weapons.

Dressed in civilian clothing so they can quickly disappear, the militants carrying automatic assault rifles and ride in on trucks mounted with cannon.

The photographs, from the Christian area of Wadi Chahrour in the east of Beirut, were taken by a visiting journalist and smuggled out by a friend.

These photos need to be circulated but it’s a bit troubling that they’re somehow viewed as earthshattering evidence of the moral depravity of terrorists when we’ve known this for decades. Well, some of us have anyway.

The French have officially joined the pro-genoicde camp:

Iran is a significant, respected player in the Middle East which is playing a stabilizing role, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Monday.

“It was clear that we could never accept a destabilization of Lebanon, which could lead to a destabilization of the region,” Douste-Blazy said in Beirut.

“In the region there is of course a country such as Iran – a great country, a great people and a great civilization which is respected and which plays a stabilizing role in the region,” he told a news conference.

The Soviet Union played a stabilizing role for many years. Tens of millions died in the process.

The IAF is scaling back for 48 hours. Will Hezbollah? Not likely:

Rocket attacks launched by Hizbullah terrorists from southern Lebanon continued on Monday despite Israel’s agreement to honor a 48-hour moratorium on IAF air strikes on terror targets.

The northern border town of Kiryat Shmona was again struck by rocket fire Monday. The rockets fell in open areas near the town, causing no injuries or damage.

I was following the Qana affair closely yesterday but several ongoing projects kept me tied up. Blogs of War will be operating at 150% by the afternoon though.

The battle lines are being drawn:

Anti-U.S. leaders Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad met in Tehran on Saturday, pledging mutual support for one another, state media reported.

Chavez’s two-day visit came as Iran faces renewed international criticism for its nuclear program and as a backer of Hezbollah guerrillas, engaged in fighting with Israel since they captured two Israeli soldiers July 12.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council on Friday reached a deal on a resolution that would give Iran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions.

Following talks, Chavez pledged that his country would “stay by Iran at any time and under any condition,” state television reported.

Venezuela is beefing up it’s military at a rapid pace. We can thank Spain, Russia, and China for that. It’s even more frightening when you read the report in Iran’s state media:

Confirming Venezuelan president remarks that the US era is coming to an end in the world, the ayatollah noted that this reality can be seen right now and the number of nations and countries who resist against the US are increasing.

Referring to President Chavez stances on the world issues, Ayatollah Khamenei said they reminded the stances of Simon Bolivar, the Latin American Revolutionary figure.

The ayatollah also emphasized the necessity of expansion of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in different fields.

President Chavez, for his part, by expressing pleasure over his new visit to Iran, called Bolivarian revolution of Venezuela as a brother of the Islamic revolution in Iran and said, ” We intend to expand relations with Iran in different areas.”

Chavez said the American empire is coming to an end and the increasing number of governments in Latin America opposed to the US policy is an evidence to prove claim.

He emphasized the necessity of consolidation among countries with the same stance and opposed to the US policies and pointed out that such countries should expand their cooperation and increase their ability and potentials and never be frightened by the US threats.

The Lebanese front has dominated the news but there’s still plenty of activity on the other:

Palestinian witnesses said undercover soldiers in the West Bank city of Nablus opened fire at several Palestinians, killing two gunmen without engaging in a clash. Initial reports from the witnesses said the militants had returned the soldiers’ fire.

The army said troops fought a gun battle with the militants. Palestinian armed groups said the dead men were Islamic Jihad’s most senior commander in Nablus and a member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction.

This effort is an attempt to craft an official Lebanese position. Israel isn’t directly involved at this point:

The plan also calls for the return of displaced Lebanese to their homes, negotiations between Israel and Lebanon concerning the disputed Shebaa farms now under Israeli control, the disclosure of maps showing Israeli minefields near the Lebanese border, the deployment and strengthening of the Lebanese army and the expansion of the U.N. force in the south.

While Hezbollah agreed to a cease-fire with Israel and an increased international presence in southern Lebanon, the group objected to “a robust force” of international peacekeepers in the region, the sources said.

Hezbollah did not specifically agree to disarm, as Israel has demanded, the sources said. The plan does, however, call for the Lebanese military to take control of southern Lebanon, along with the U.N. force, which implies that the Hezbollah militia would not operate there.

Hezbollah is already upset about the prospect of a multi-national force in Lebanon. Once an agreement like this goes through Hezbollah will regroup and start killing peacekeepers. It’s inevitable.

There reports aren’t exactly accurate. He’s not hiding folks. He works there:

Intelligence reports indicate the leader of Hezbollah is hiding in a foreign mission in Beirut, possibly the Iranian Embassy, according to U.S. and Israeli officials.

Israeli military and intelligence forces are continuing to hunt for Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary-general, who fled his headquarters in Beirut shortly before Israeli jets bombed the building last week.

“We think he is in an embassy,” said one U.S. official with access to the intelligence reports, while Israeli intelligence speculates Sheik Nasrallah is hiding in the Iranian Embassy.

If confirmed, the reports could lead to an Israeli air strike on the embassy, possibly leading to a widening of the conflict, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Foreign embassies are sovereign territory and an attack on an embassy could be considered an act of war.

I don’t think this type of disagreement is all that unusual:

The heads of two Israeli intelligence agencies disagree over how much the Israel Defense Forces assault has damaged Hezbollah, although both say the group has been weakened.

The Mossad intelligence agency says Hezbollah will be able to continue fighting at the current level for a long time to come, Mossad head Meir Dagan said.

However, Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin disagrees, seeing Hezbollah as having been severely damaged.

I’d like to side with the IDF but the Mossad is right. Airstrikes and limited ground activity may improve the immediate security situation (in time) but they won’t unravel Hezbollah.