In this issue: 1) Diplomats Back Troops, but Not Cease-fire, for Mideast 2) As Many as 14 Israeli Troops Killed in Lebanon 3) UN Deaths Put Pressure on Rome Talks for Ceasefire 4) Accusations fly after U.N. observers killed 5) U.N.: Observers made many calls before strike 6) Mideast talks fail to reach cease-fire agreement 7) Putin and Ahmadinejad Discuss Mideast Crises 8) Hizbollah Bombards Northern Israel, Dozens Wounded 9) U.S., Allies Divided Over Cease - Fire Terms 10) Prodi: Italy Will Join Mideast Force 11) Israel Seeks 1.2 - Mile - Wide 'Security Zone' 12) Greek Police, Anti - War Protesters Clash 13) Hezbollah: Israeli Onslaught a Surprise 14) Ahmadinejad Calls for Lebanon Cease - Fire 15) Why Syria Has Much to Lose if Hezbollah Is Finally Halted 16) Israel Finding a Difficult Foe in Hezbollah 17) Iraqi PM Says Fate of Iraq Is Tied to U.S. 18) UN negotiators close to deal on Iran nuclear draft 19) Nations Closer on Iran Resolution Deal 20) Iranian Dissident Akbar Ganji: Dangers of a US Invasion of Iran 21) Syria, Iran lack full Hizbollah control: US official
Summary: American, European and Arab diplomats called today for an international force to be deployed in along the border between Lebanon and Israel and for a regional peace conference including Syria and Iran. But they stopped short of calling for an immediate cease-fire, the New York Times reports. The foreign ministers issued a joint statement calling for "urgent efforts'' toward a cease-fire. Most of the countries attending the conference made clear that they favored an immediate halt. But Secretary of State Rice said that the US continues to oppose trying to arrange a cease-fire before the conditions have been created for a "sustainable'' peace. Lebanon's prime minister repeated his call for an immediate end to the fighting. He also said that as part of any negotiations, he would press several conditions: that Israel withdraw from the Shebaa Farms territory it continues to occupy, that it release Lebanese prisoners, and that it turn over a map showing the locations of land mines it placed in southern Lebanon. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have been critical of Hezbollah while calling for an immediate cease-fire. In the run-up to the meeting, the United States and Britain stood virtually alone in opposing an immediate cease-fire.
On Tuesday, four unarmed United Nations observers were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit their observation post near the Israeli border. After learning of the deaths on Tuesday night, Mr. Annan denounced the "apparently deliberate targeting" of the post. Asked about that remark today, he said that the post was "long established and clearly marked," and that the shelling had begun in the early morning and continued into the evening despite numerous warnings from UN commanders to the Israeli army. He called for a joint investigation by the UN and Israel. Israel's prime minister called Annan today to apologize for what Israel says was an accident. In the past two weeks, there have been several dozen incidents of firing close to U.N. peacekeepers and observers, including direct hits on nine positions, some of them repeatedly. As a result of these attacks, 12 U.N. personnel have been killed or injured, U.N. officials said.
The U.N. observers killed when an Israeli bomb hit their bunker in Lebanon Tuesday called an Israeli military liaison about 10 times in the six hours before they died to warn that aerial attacks were getting close to their position, CNN reports. After each call, the Israeli officer promised to have the bombing stopped, an officer at the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) base in Noqoura said. Finally, an Israeli bomb exploded directly on the U.N. post near Khiyam, killing four U.N. observers.
Mahmoud Komati, deputy chief of Hezbollah's political arm, told Associated Press that Hezbollah was surprised by the force of Israel's reaction to its capture of two Israeli soldiers. He said Hezbollah had expected "the usual, limited" response such as commando raids or limited attacks on Hezbollah strongholds. Komati said his group had anticipated negotiations to swap the Israeli soldiers for three Lebanese held in Israeli jails, with Germany acting as a mediator as it has in past prisoner exchanges. He said the group would not give up its weapons because of Israeli occupation of Lebanese land, the ''threat of Israeli aggression'' and the Lebanese held in Israeli jails.
Israel wants to establish a 2 kilometer-wide strip in south Lebanon that will be free of Hezbollah guerrillas, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday, giving the dimensions of a new ''security zone'' for the first time. ''We want a two-kilometer (1.2-mile) space from the border in which it will not be possible to fire rockets toward soldiers and civilians' houses and in which there will not be contact with military border patrols,'' Olmert was quoted as telling the committee. Israeli soldiers patrolled a ''security zone'' during Israel's 18-year occupation of south Lebanon, but Olmert indicated the new buffer zone would be different. ''We do not have any intention of returning to the security zone but want to create an area where there will be no Hezbollah,'' he was quoted as saying.
More than 125 rockets fired by Hizbollah guerrillas slammed into the city of Haifa and other parts of northern Israel on Wednesday, wounding dozens of people, security sources and medics said. The fresh salvoes from Lebanon came as the United Nations chief aid official, Jan Egeland, was visiting the city. "I've come here like I have visited Lebanon and I visited Gaza to see for myself how indiscriminately the civilian population is suffering, how rockets are hitting homes, families,' he told reporters. "This is totally condemnable. I have condemned it when I was in Lebanon, when I was in Hizbollah heartland. It has to stop.''
Israel pressed ahead with its nearly month-old offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza. At least 13 Palestinians, including a young girl, were killed in airstrikes and artillery bombardment that also wounded more than three dozen.
Italian Premier Romano Prodi said Wednesday he will commit troops to a military force for Lebanon if it has a U.N. mandate. Prodi's statement about committing troops came a day after Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member, said it would consider playing a major role in a peacekeeping force in Lebanon if there was a strong U.N. mandate.
Greek protesters toppled a statue of President Truman and clashed with police during demonstrations Tuesday against the fighting in Lebanon. Demonstrators gathered earlier outside the U.S. Embassy and used a power saw and ropes to bring down the Truman statue. AP reported that "It wasn't immediately clear why the protesters focused on the Truman statue" but noted that it had been targeted in the past. Truman implemented a U.S. intervention in Greece after the Second World War that resulted in a repressive military dictatorship.
Iranian President Ahmadinejad called for a cease-fire in Lebanon and criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East on Wednesday, saying Washington wants to ''recarve the map'' of the region with Israel's help. Ahmadinejad's nation is a major backer of Hezbollah and a sworn enemy of Israel, but he denied that Tehran provides military support to the militant group. In addition to a cease-fire, Ahmadinejad called for talks on the Lebanon crisis without conditions.
Syrian officials and analysts said the nature of the longstanding relationship between Damascus and the militia appeared to be shifting, with Syrian leverage rapidly diminishing, the New York Times reports. For the decades when Syrian soldiers were deployed in Lebanon, Damascus kept firm control over the pipeline of arms to Hezbollah and could generate or suppress its activities with little trouble. Now, analysts argue, even if asked, Syria may have trouble tamping out the flames. One Western ambassador said "There may be a new strategic situation in the making because Israel does not have the overwhelming strategic superiority that it thought it had." The basis of that new equation is Hezbollah's continued ability to land rockets deep inside Israel despite two weeks of punishing assaults, with plenty of indications suggesting it can fire for weeks, if not months. Ironically, by forcing Syria to withdraw its military from Lebanon last year, the United States and its allies diluted the significant direct leverage Syria might have had over Hezbollah. Iran, Syria and Hezbollah were all taken aback by the ferocity of Israel's response to the capture of two soldiers; the seizure seemed to fall within the unspoken rules of limited engagements. Similar operations had prompted prisoner exchanges in the past, the current demand by Hezbollah for ending the fighting.
A week ago, Israeli officials said their military had knocked out up to half of Hezbollah's rocket launchers and suggested that another week or two would finish the job of incapacitating the Lebanese militia, the New York Times reports. That talk has largely stopped. Hezbollah is still launching 100 rockets a day at Israel, nearly as many as it did at the start of the war. Soldiers return from forays into Lebanon saying the network of bunkers and tunnels is more sophisticated than expected. And Iranian-made long-range missiles apparently capable of hitting Tel Aviv remain in the Hezbollah arsenal.
Addressing a joint meeting of Congress, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki today asserted that Iraq has become an essential partner to the United States in its fight against terrorism, the Washington Post reports. Maliki said the U.S.-led military force in Iraq should be withdrawn "only when Iraq's forces are fully capable." His speech was interrupted by a protester wearing a pink T-shirt that read "Troops Home Now." "Iraqis want the troops to leave. Bring them home now," the protester shouted before being ushered out of the House chamber. Maliki did not address his recent criticism of Israel's military operation against Lebanon. Yesterday, some House and Senate Democrats said Maliki should not be allowed to address Congress because of his comments critical of Israel. Maliki criticized U.S.-led reconstruction efforts in Iraq, telling the members of Congress: "Much of the budget you had allocated for Iraq's reconstruction ended up paying for security firms and foreign companies, whose operating costs were vast. Instead, there needs to be a greater reliance on Iraqis and Iraqi companies, with foreign aid and assistance to help us rebuild Iraq."
Key members of the U.N. Security Council were close yesterday to agreement on a draft resolution demanding Iran suspend all nuclear enrichment and reprocessing work and threatening to consider sanctions if it refuses, Reuters and AP reported. Negotiations on the resolution have dragged on for 10 days. The draft is expected to demand Iran suspend all uranium enrichment-related and plutonium reprocessing activities as well as the construction of a heavy-water reactor. It says that if Iran does not comply with the resolution the council would consider measures under Article 41 of Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which relates to economic and diplomatic sanctions, but excludes military force. The date set for compliance is still open but is expected to be at the end of August.
Iranian investigative journalist and dissident Akbar Ganji was interviewed on Democracy Now yesterday. Ganji strongly opposed any U.S. military attack on Iran. Such an attack will not bring democracy, it will only devastate Iran, he said.
Syria can do far more to rein in Hizbollah, such as stopping arms flows into Lebanon, but is not capable of putting the militia "out of business," a top U.S. counterterrorism official said on Tuesday. President Bush told British Prime Minister Tony Blair last week that the key to ending the current Middle East crisis was to "get Syria to get Hizbollah to stop doing this shit." But Henry Crumpton, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism, said even Iran -- which he said had more influence than Syria -- did not have full control over the Islamist guerrillas.
Articles: 1) Diplomats Back Troops, but Not Cease-fire, for Mideast Helene Cooper And John O'Neil New York Times July 26, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/26/world/middleeast/26cnd-mideast.html
2) As Many as 14 Israeli Troops Killed in Lebanon Associated Press July 26, 2006 Filed at 11:08 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Lebanon-Israel.html
3) UN Deaths Put Pressure on Rome Talks for Ceasefire Reuters July 26, 2006 Filed at 0:33 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast.html?_r=1&oref=login
4) Accusations fly after U.N. observers killed Annan slams 'apparently deliberate' strike by Israel CNN Wednesday, July 26, 2006 Posted: 0757 GMT http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/26/mideast.main.0330/index.html
5) U.N.: Observers made many calls before strike Annan, China condemn attack that killed 4 CNN.com Wednesday, July 26, 2006 Posted: 1223 GMT http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/26/mideast.observers/index.html
6) Mideast talks fail to reach cease-fire agreement CNN Wednesday, July 26, 2006 http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/26/mideast.romeconf/index.html
7) Putin and Ahmadinejad Discuss Mideast Crises Reuters July 26, 2006 Filed at 2:33 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast-iran-russia.html
8) Hizbollah Bombards Northern Israel, Dozens Wounded By REUTERS July 26, 2006 Filed at 9:56 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mideast-haifa.html
9) U.S., Allies Divided Over Cease - Fire Terms ASSOCIATED PRESS July 26, 2006 Filed at 10:23 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Rice.html
10) Prodi: Italy Will Join Mideast Force Associated Press July 26, 2006 Filed at 12:41 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Prodi-Interview.html
11) Israel Seeks 1.2 - Mile - Wide 'Security Zone' Associated Press July 26, 2006 Filed at 8:08 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Fighting-Olmert.html
12) Greek Police, Anti - War Protesters Clash Associated Press July 26, 2006 Filed at 12:33 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Fighting-Greece-Protest.html
13) Hezbollah: Israeli Onslaught a Surprise Associated Press http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Fighting-Hezbollah.html July 26, 2006 Filed at 1:05 a.m. ET
14) Ahmadinejad Calls for Lebanon Cease - Fire Associated Press July 26, 2006 Filed at 12:11 p.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mideast-Fighting-Iran.html
15) Why Syria Has Much to Lose if Hezbollah Is Finally Halted Neil MacFarquhar New York Times July 26, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/26/world/middleeast/26syria.html
16) Israel Finding a Difficult Foe in Hezbollah Steven Erlanger And Thom Shanker The New York Times July 26, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/26/world/middleeast/26strategy.html
17) Iraqi PM Says Fate of Iraq Is Tied to U.S. Bill Brubaker Washington Post Wednesday, July 26, 2006; 1:30 PM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072600230.html
18) UN negotiators close to deal on Iran nuclear draft Evelyn Leopold Reuters Tuesday, July 25, 2006; 8:33 PM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/25/AR2006072501299.html
19) Nations Closer on Iran Resolution Deal Associated Press July 26, 2006 Filed at 12:29 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-UN-Iran-Nuclear.html
20) Iranian Dissident Akbar Ganji: Dangers of a US Invasion of Iran Democracy Now July 25, 2006 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/25/1443204
21) Syria, Iran lack full Hizbollah control: US official Caroline Drees Reuters Tuesday, July 25, 2006; 12:15 PM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/25/AR2006072500664.html
-------- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org
-- Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org