Monthly Archives: July 2006

Israeli Unit Kills Islamic Jihad Commander

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.

Lebanon Pulls Hezbollah Towards a Cease-Fire Agreement

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.

Hezbollah’s Nasrallah Possibly Hiding in Beirut’s Iranian Embassy

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.