World Lebanon War 2006 Newswire Archive

"In this most perverse of all ceasefire resolutions, the aggressor (Israel) retains its arms, its occupation of Lebanese land, sea and air space, and increases its purchase of offensive weapons. The Lobby pushes the US/UN to encircle Hezbollah, control Lebanon’s border with Syria (thus losing sovereignty) and stop the flow of any defensive weapons to replenish the supply depleted defending the country from Israeli invaders ...

"The ‘dual purpose’ wars are designed to weaken and destroy adversaries to US-Israeli plans for regional dominance and to create military bases, geographic encirclement and economic pressure for the ultimate military assault on Iran."

The human rights violations during the war between Israel and Hezbollah must be investigated and researched. Amnesty International presses for this.

There are only two possible solutions for the “Palestinian problem”, classic solutions, historically already defined by the communist movement: or the proletarian revolution (in that particular area the bourgeois revolution is done, as we said above, and it had the mark of Israel) that allows the unification of the nationalities in a transition phase (obviously to eliminate the national problem to the root); or a total war that redraws the whole map of the Middle East and reaches the same aim by a top-imposition.

Israel's war on Lebanon is an integral part of a US sponsored "military roadmap". 

The war on Lebanon, which has resulted in countless atrocities including the destruction of  the nation's economy and civilian infrastructure, is "a stage" in a sequence of carefully planned military operations. 

Lebanon constitutes a strategic corridor between Israel and North-western Syria. The underlying objective of this war was the militarization of Lebanon, including the stationing of foreign troops, as a precondition for carrying out the next phase of a broader military agenda. 

Formally under a UN mandate, the foreign troops to be stationed on Lebanese soil on the immediate border with Syria, will be largely although not exclusively from NATO countries. This military force mandated by the UN Security Council is by no means neutral. It responds directly to US and Israeli interests. 

Moreover, the timely withdrawal of Syrian troops, following the  February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has contributed to opening up a "new space". The withdrawal of Syrian troops served Israeli interests.  The timely pullout was of strategic significance: it was a major factor in the timing and planning of the July 2006 IDF attacks on Lebanon. 

In the aftermath of the Israeli bombings and the "ceasefire",  UN Security Council Resolution 1701, drafted by France and the US in close consultation with the Israeli government, has paved the way for the militarization of Lebanon, under a bogus UN mandate.    

Ehud Olmert's Nietzschean foreign policy

Unexploded Israeli cluster munitions dropped during the 34-day war in Lebanon have killed at least 13 civilians and wounded 50 since the ceasefire took effect on August 14. About 100,000 unexploded cluster bomblets litter the country, preventing large numbers of people from returning to their homes. Israel’s bombardment of urban and residential areas with cluster munitions was a deliberate tactic by the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to terrorise the Lebanese people and prevent refugees from returning to their homes.

UK Headquarters of Israeli Company Blockaded to Gain Ruling on Legality of Trading with Settlements

They flattened it! With Depleted Uranium (and more)!

The bomb plot political ploy fits the previous political pattern of sacrificing capitalist economic interests to serve domestic political and ideological positions. Foreign policy failures lead to domestic political crimes, just as domestic policy crises lead to aggressive military expansion.

Peoples do not win wars, only governments.. People only delight in war when they are poisoned by propaganda and indoctrinated by the school, media and religion.. War, this orgy of killing and destroying, is the absolute horror.. Peace can only be made with enemies. Despite everything, we on this earth are condemned to negotiate reconciliation.

One thing is abundantly clear, the empire is in deep shit and like any cornered animal, they are extremely dangerous. The ‘terror alert’ is indicative of just how desperate they are risking even the destruction of the airline industry in order to put the frighteners on the populace. But has it worked? On one level, yes as the events on an aircraft from Spain bound for London reveal, with the xenophobic Brits refusing to travel on the plane with two people who looked “Middle Eastern” onboard.

As if to emphasis its role as obedient lap dog for Israel and the United States, the United Nations has changed its “rules of engagement” in Lebanon. “New rules of engagement for U.N. troops in Lebanon permit soldiers to shoot in self-defense, use force to protect civilians and resist armed attempts to interfere with their duties, a U.N. document says,” reports Reuters.

After three weeks of searching Beirut and South Lebanon for evidence that Israel were striking military targets I have finally found it! I was beginning to give up hope. Twenty long days of visiting bombed schools, hospitals, factories and residential areas. Not a scrap of military metal to be found. I was beginning to think that Olmert was a liar. I was wondering if all that hanging out with Bush and Blair was beginning to rub off on him? Now I am standing on a hill high above the village of Khiam in south Lebanon, and all around me lie the debris of destroyed Tanks, Jeeps, Artillery weapons and APCs. The airstrike that took this place out was certainly efficient. Just one problem. All this hardware is… erm… Israeli.

On Friday morning it was announced that Israel had bombed a rural area in the Bekka province. This was a blatant violation of the ceasefire, which had been in place for just 4 days. When asked for an explanation by the UN, the Israelis retorted that they could not discuss the operation for reasons of security. Replace the word ‘security’ with ‘embarrassment’ and the statement makes a lot more sense.

Over 1000 people are packed into the Mosque at Ali el-Nahri, to remember 5 of the town’s Martyrs who died in the recent war. All were civilians. They had been hastily buried during the hostilities, in some cases before their relatives had even been informed. Today is a chance for them to be remembered. The security seems tighter than usual – my credentials are checked several times. The reason why becomes apparent when the main speaker arrives. Dr Hussain Al Hajj Hassan is a senior figure in Hizbollah and someone who the Israelis have vowed to assassinate. He is a powerful and charismatic speaker. Most of his address is given over to paying tribute to the towns Martyrs. However he is not lost for words on subjects like Israel, Olmert and Bush.

I’m in a coffee house in Baalbek to meet Mr Ahmad Rayya, who is a senior figure in Hizbollah and the spokesman for the local district. Baalbek has suffered badly from Israeli air strikes, and the evidence is all around us. Our journey here has taken us passed numerous bombsites where shopkeepers and homeowners toil in the dust and rubble to salvage items in preparation for clearance and rebuilding. The backdrop of Baalbeck’s ancient Roman ruins seems strangely in keeping with the destruction below. I start by asking him to summarise the cost of the war to the area.

I am being shown around what is left of the Leban Lait Dairy plant by Deeb Mounzer, a mechanical engineer and one of the union reps. It was one of the biggest diary producers in the Middle East. On the 5th day of the war it was attacked by fighter jets in a strike whose precision was matched only by its ferocity. The factory is a twisted pile of metal drenched in millions of gallons of dairy that has been fermenting in the sun for weeks. The stench is unbearable and clouds of flies swarm around the wreckage. Deeb tells me that 270 people are now unemployed and no one is insured for war. The present estimate for getting even part of the factory operational is 1-2 years. The cows in the nearby supply farm are weak and neglected and no longer able to produce milk. Israel’s excuse for this outrage was that the factory was a possible weapons storage and funded Hizbollah. This allegation was repeated by all the corporate media in the west.

Never let it be said that Hizbollah are not media savvy. Quickly produced banners placed around the ruins of Dhayiya make their views of Israel’s sponsors very clear. ‘The New Middle Beast’ proclaims one, taking the piss out of George Bush’s recent statement. ‘Made in USA’ says another. ‘Extremely Accurate Targeting’ attacks Israel’s claims that their bombings were somehow precise; the banner in question being sat in the middle of a completely demolished street.

Copyleft cartoon by Brazilian cartoonist Latuff.

The border town of Aita Al-Shabb saw some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The town is destroyed having been hit with shells, missiles, bombs and heavy machinegun fire. Shortly after we arrive, an elderly woman approaches and asks us to come and see her home. Haji Mariam Srour is 82 and slept for thirty days under her bed. This was a smart move when you consider that every window in her house has been shattered, showering the place with glass. After half her house (the other side from the bedroom) was hit directly by a shell she spent three days sheltering in a neighbour’s bathroom with three other elderly women and no food. Had the ceasefire not happened they could all be dead.