The long reach of the IDF in Lebanon

AP reports (via ynetnews) that a senior Lebanese army officer said military experts have discovered two spy cameras planted by Israel in Lebanon's mountains.

"The officer claimed the long range spying systems were placed in Sanin mountain and the Barouk mountains, which overlook the capital of Beirut.

The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Wednesday that army experts dismantled one of the systems and are working on the second.

He said the army received information about the systems from the militant Hezbollah group – whose members are expected to be indicted on the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

According to the report, the equipment included a system that can record and send signals as well as take footage, and can be operated from afar. The Lebanese official said the spying system was planted in an isolated area with dry rocks, which made it harder to uncover."

This rather bland report is tame compared to the reports in the Hebrew press about what this equipment actually is.

The Hebrew press claims that the equipment is not only for optical surveillance, but it also includes highly sophisticated remote controlled laser "painters" which illuminate targets for IDF laser guided missiles dropped from IAF warplanes.

The equipment was discovered atop rocky mountains that have no vehicular access to them, so the equipment must have been installed by elite airborne IDF units.

Here are some amazing photos of the equipment and its location. (source)






Hot on the heels of this story, Lebanon claims Israel destroyed this equipment last night via airstrikes.

The loud blast that sounded in Lebanon Wednesday night was the result of an Israeli operation aimed at destroying espionage equipment planted off the coast of Sidon, a Lebanese radio station reported Thursday.

On Wednesday the Lebanese army announced it had uncovered Israeli cameras and other spy equipment in the mountainous region, which it claimed the state had been using in order to survey vast areas.

The army statement said long range spying systems were placed in Sanin Mountain and the Barouk mountains, which overlook the capital of Beirut. It added that Hezbollah had provided the information leading to the find.

Later, Lebanese media outlets reported a major explosion off the coast of Sidon. They said the blast was accompanied by over-flights conducted by the Israeli air force in the area and the launching of illuminating bombs. (ynetnews)

The IDF has firmly denied "any reports of IDF activity near Sidon Wednesday night." (JPost)

It must really freak out the Hizbollah that the IDF can remotely target them from deep within Lebanon. For every IDF intelligence installation found like this one, I'm sure there are dozens more.

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Mysterious Blast Destroys Iranian Medium Range Missiles

While Iranian President Ahmadinejad prances around his Lebanese colony threatening Israel and the West, foreign media have reported that a mysterious explosion has killed 18 Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and a fire is now raging in the storage facility of Iran's medium range Shahab-3 ballistic missiles.

(RTTNews) - More than 18 Revolutionary guards were killed and 14 others wounded in an explosion Tuesday at a base of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRG) Corps in the Western Iranian province of Lurestan, reported Iran's official news agency IRNA Wednesday.

A Deputy Commander of the Corps said that blast resulted from a fire that spread to a munitions depot at the corps's base in Khoramabad, 300 miles southwest of the capital, Tehran, and close to Iran's restive Kurdistan region.

Police and fire-and-rescue teams were rushed to the IRG base and the injured were taken to a hospital in Khoramabad, the agency said.

The base houses underground launching and storage facilities for Iran's medium-range Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, said research group Global Security.

Lorestan Governor General Hassan Shariatnejad visited the injured persons hospitalized and offered his condolences over the tragic incident. Local officials declared a two-day mourning Wednesday and a funeral was scheduled for Thursday.

Kudos to the pyromaniac responsible for the fire.
Update: 1:06 PM Two rockets were fired from Gaza at Ashkelon, resulting in air raid sirens. No reports of injuries, and the rockets apparently landed in open areas causing no damage.

Update: 4:20 PM Police say no rockets hit Israel, despite the eyewitness reports from people who heard 2 loud booms.

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How Israel's Dep. Foreign Minister helped Lebanese Palestinians

This story is simply amazing.

For over 60 years, Palestinians living in Lebanon had no rights and existed in sub-human conditions. The world of course, blamed Israel.

Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon wrote about this a few weeks ago in the Wall Street Journal.

Surprisingly, just a couple of weeks after Ayalon's op-ed, the Lebanese government changed their status!

The Lebanese parliament voted on Tuesday to grant the country’s 400,000 Palestinian refugees the right to work in the same professions as other foreigners, lifting a decades-old ban that had relegated the refugees to the most menial jobs.

The bill was intended to transform Lebanese policies toward the refugees, although Palestinian leaders in Lebanon and human rights workers say it was only a first step that leaves significant stumbling blocks in place.

The Palestinians living in Lebanon are isolated from the rest of the country in refugee camps to a higher degree than anywhere else in the Arab world.

“I was born in Lebanon and I have never known Palestine,” said Ahmed al- Mehdawi, 45, a taxi driver who lives in the Ein el- Hilweh refugee camp, which is notorious for its lawlessness.

“What we want is to live like Lebanese. We are human beings and we need civil rights.” (JPost)

Why is it that real human rights abuses in the Middle East go on for decades, while the left and anti-Zionists bash Israel?

Why does it take a member of the Israeli government to expose this, while all the "Human Rights" fundamentalists ignore it?

The obvious answer: none of the organizations and countries who routinely bash Israel care about Human Rights...they just care about bashing Israel.

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Muqata blocks military aid to Lebanon

A joint Joe-Jameel post and news analysis

Much to the Obama administration and State Department's dismay, the US Congress Foreign Relations Committee is blocking $100 million of US military aid and training for the LAF . This follows Lebanon's attack on Israel, possibly using US weapons in the attack, and most likely using snipers who received US training.

Lebanese (LAF) soldier with US weaponry

This is not the first time that the LAF and Lebanese government subverted US military aid to attack Israel and US security interests.

Israel had set up a spy network in Lebanon to specifically spy on Hezbollah.

The US provided the LAF and Lebanese government with counter-surveillance equipment specifically to use against Hezbollah, and Lebanon instead only used it to locate and dismantle Israel's security espionage network against Hezbollah - also damaging US intelligence efforts against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Muqata is proud to have been the first to bring the matter to the attention of the general public of the possible misuse of US aid, equipment and training specifically during last week's attack on Israeli forces by the Lebanese government. Thanks to our investigative efforts we put this snowball in motion.

But this is not the first time that US security funding, equipment and training have been turned against Israel and US interests.

Palestinian Authority "policemen" have been involved in numerous terror attacks against Jews and US citizens. It is only a matter of time before US General Dayton's Palestinian militia is used full force against Israel. In fact, Dayton has himself warned that this is likely to happen by 2011 if no Palestinian state is created.

Dayton has been thrown out from the PA twice already. The first time was from Gaza, the second was a few months ago after Dayton had a disagreement with the PA leadership.

Israel (post on this subject to go up soon) has recently kicked out Dayton's PA "police" forces from some Arab villages after numerous attacks on Israelis coming from those villages that are under PA security management.

The US policy of funding easily subverted foreign military forces in unstable Islamic countries and governments in the hope of propping up weak leadership is not a sustainable policy. It is not good for US interests in the long-term.

Back in 2008, the US was praising Lebanese military aid (while Israel expressed concern), and the NYTimes even provided some relevant quotes supporting US aid to Lebanon's army.

Now, however, American officials say they have faith in the independence and professionalism of the army, which has become thoroughly integrated to include all of Lebanon’s many religious and ethnic factions, and has avoided interfering in politics. American-driven audits have shown that almost nothing given to the army has ended up in Hezbollah’s hands.

“They have demonstrated year after year after year that when we give them equipment, they take responsibility for it,” said Mark T. Kimmitt, assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs.

Israel made the same mistake by selling advanced arms to Turkey and supporting the PA, and now this policy is coming back to bite Israel.

Furthermore, it is only a matter of time before the Islamic Brotherhood attempts a coup against US-propped up Egyptian government once Mubarak dies, and gains access and control to all of Egypt's advanced US weaponry.

In short, providing military weapons, training and aid to Islamic countries is simply bad long-term policy.

When will the West learn this lesson?

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Lebanon: Global Warning against 'Massive' Israeli Attack

I saw this early today and didn't think much of it, but now Hebrew Israeli websites are picking up on it as well.

Lebanese news-site Naharnet reports:

Lebanon has reportedly received warning of a "massive" aggression Israel plans against Hizbullah, the daily An-Nahar reported Tuesday. The report by An-Nahar Washington's correspondent Khalil Flaihan said international military authorities have warned Lebanon that Israel plans to launch a massive attack targeting Hizbullah positions.

It said Israel is also likely to "widen its aggression to include large areas of Lebanon" under the pretext that Hizbullah continues to receive "heavy and sophisticated weapons" via Syria.

Diplomatic sources in Beirut did not rule out the possibility that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could raise the issue of the seized ship alledgedly carrying weapons for Hizbullah and the explosions that took place in Khirbit Selim and Teir Felsay as well as the Katyusha firing from the southern town of Houla.

The sources pointed out that Natanyahu would exploit these incidents to accuse Hizbullah of breaching Resolution 1701 "posing a real threat to Israel's security and that its armed forces are ready for any emergency."

They said the U.S. and French presidents, however, are unlikely to approve any new Israeli offensive against Lebanon.

1. I wonder if Netanyahu and Obama discussed this last night? I just saw the following headline article on the JPost website -- I wonder if this gives any credence to the Naharnet report?

Unusual media blackout follows Netanyahu, Obama meeting

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held a lengthy meeting with US President Barack Obama Monday night which addressed the Middle East peace process, Iran and Israeli security.

The one-hour-and-forty-minute parley was accompanied by an unusual news blackout, as the standard photo op and press availability were not held. In addition, Netanyahu canceled a scheduled briefing with Israeli reporters and Defense Minister Ehud Barak scrapped plans for radio interviews following the talks.

2. If this really is that serious, then Israel would need to act, regardless of "permission" from the US and France. France? Since when does Israel ask France for permission before doing anything?!

3. I don't think this is really in the works right now...[updated in light of the JPost headline emphasis...who knows...]

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Worthwhile Sunday Reading

(Updated) A rare and eloquent exposition of moral clarity. The widow of Andrei Sakharov writes about Jews, Israel, and antisemitism. (JPost)

At one time, the Nobel Peace Prize was the highest moral award of our civilization. But after December 1994, when Yasser Arafat became one of the three new laureates, its ethical value was undermined. I haven't always greeted each selection of the Nobel Committee of the Storting [Norwegian parliament] with joy, but that one shocked me. And to this day, I cannot understand and accept the fact that Andrei Sakharov and Yasser Arafat, now posthumously, share membership in the club of Nobel laureates.

...

And yet I still think (and some will find this naïve) that the first tiny, but real step toward peace must become the release of Schalit. Release, and not his exchange for 1,000 or 1,500 prisoners who are in Israeli prisons serving court sentences for real crimes.

Returning to my question of why human rights activists are silent, I can find no answer except that Schalit is an Israeli soldier, Schalit is a Jew. So again, it is conscious or unconscious anti-Semitism. Again, it is fascism.

Stephen King goes to bat for Israel...why is the planet fixated on Israel, when there are at least 70 other conflicts going on around the world?

SO WHY why the obsession with Israel? It’s the only country in the world whose existence is queried is one reason. It’s the Holy Land to the world’s two largest faiths is another. That al-Qaeda sometimes backs the Palestinian cause makes Israel/Palestine strategically important – but that’s true of Chechnya, too.

Maybe it’s the oil in the Middle East region that makes Arab countries important in western capitals (while distracting from their own despotism)?

Could it be some wrongheaded notion of guilt for having set up Israel after the Holocaust, when actually Israel fought British imperialism for its independence? Could it be, as many Israelis believe, that we see Israelis as Jews and, therefore, as bloodthirsty sub-humans in the latest manifestation of centuries-old anti-semitism?

Or is it just anti-Americanism? Perhaps it’s a little to do with each of these factors. But could it actually be that we see Israelis as very much like ourselves – sophisticated, prosperous, well-educated, fairly pale-skinned democrats? Do we hate ourselves that much? It’s either that or Israel simply isn’t deadly enough to deter the journalists too afraid to work in fly-ridden Congo.

Read it all here. hat-tip: Soccer Dad

Iran starts manufacturing of a new "anti-aircraft" canon.

TEHRAN (Nasdaq via AFP)--Iran launched a production line Sunday for manufacturing cannons for warships that can be used against cruise missiles, the Fars news agency reported.

"The final range of the 40-millimeter naval cannon, named Fath (victory), is 12 kilometres (more than seven miles) and it shoots 300 projectiles per minute," Defence Minister Mohammad Mostafa Najjar said in a statement reported by Fars.

"It can be used against cruise missiles...It is an anti-aircraft low-altitude weapon for use on warships," he said, adding that it was being entirely built by Iranians.

Iran has boasted in the past of developing new weapons systems only for its claims to be met with skepticism by Western defense analysts.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Wednesday that Iran had successfully test-fired a new medium-range missile, named Sejil-2, drawing a warning from Israel that Europe too should now worry about the Islamic republic's ballistic program.

How does Israel keep its spy network going in Lebanon? The Lebanon Daily Star reports its all because of "Beautiful women."

BEIRUT: Beautiful women, clandestine trips abroad and a hurried escape across a mine-infested border ... All are aspects of alleged Israeli espionage networks unraveling in Lebanon and worthy of a spy novel. Nearly 20 suspected spies, including a butcher, a mobile phone salesman and a retired general, have been detained in recent months as part of a long-running probe by Lebanese intelligence into Israeli sleeper cells. And more arrests are expected, security officials say.

source here. (Or cached here if the first link isn't working)

And why are these spy network unraveling? JoeSettler has the scoop.

It is well-known that the US has been supplying various Lebanese Internal Security Force with money ($1 billion since 2006), training and equipment.

This money, training and equipment was supposed to go to the fight against terror and Hezbollah.

It was these US backed, trained, and equipped security forces that uncovered the spy rings that were spying on Hezbollah.

Ha'aretz managed to link statements by the Lebanese government indicating that these US resources went specifically to capturing the Israeli spies that were targeting Hezbollah.

Hezbollah is expected to win major if not majority control in the upcoming June 6th elections.

Mark my words -- the upcoming June 6th Lebanese election will be pivotal to the future of the Middle East.

In a classic US State Department blunder, US Vice President Joe Biden visited Beirut to "show support for Lebanese democracy and independence". The State Department is clueless if they think that Biden's appearance in Beirut will help keep Hizbollah out of power.

It's a measure of how seriously the White House is taking the Lebanese elections next month that Joe Biden made the rounds in Beirut today, the highest ranking American official to visit in 25 years. Like Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who passed by last month, Biden kept up the fiction that the trip was a show of support for Lebanese democracy and independence and not an endorsement of any one faction. He then promptly met with the leaders of the ruling, pro-American coalition behind closed doors. (TIME)

The US is not regarded that highly in Lebanon today, and Joe Biden's appearance will bolster anti-US sentiment and provide even more support for Hizbollah.

That's not only my call. IDF Major General (reserves) Yaakov Amidror said it today on IDF Radio.

Oh well.

Iran, Gaza, Syria...Lebanon, what's one more country that's trying to drive us into the sea?

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What the heck is going on in Lebanon?!

Picture via BloggingBeirut

My good friend "Lurker" and I have each missed major historical events as they took place;

• I told him about Iraq's invasion of Kuwait (he missed that one, but then again, the NY Times didn't appreciate its significance the first day either).
• He told me about some big event in Russia back in August, 1991.
• I tagged him back this past Wednesday, and told him about Hizbollah's military coup in Lebanon.
• He tagged me back on Friday, that Lebanon had fallen. Well, almost...but it's only a matter of hours to days before Lebanon is entirely under Hizbollah's control.
  

The Beirut Blogger calls Hizbollah, the "opposition" -- yet the combination of Amal and Hizbollah has taken over the Beirut airport, the media, burned down newspaper offices, and Lebanon is now in mayhem, with people fleeing in all directions.

The Lebanon Star reports from Beirut: Lebanon's governing coalition, the March 14 Forces, accused Hizbullah of staging a military coup against the state and said that Hizbullah's arms have become illegitimate after they were used against their fellow Lebanese citizens. "Hizbullah's claim that its arms were only targeted at Israel have proved false and invalid in the past two days, which witnessed the uses of such arms against the Lebanese people," the statement said.

Despite the dire warnings on the United States of America Embassy website in Beirut;

As stated in the current Travel Warning for Lebanon, the Department of State continues to strongly urge that Americans defer travel to Lebanon and that American citizens in Lebanon consider carefully the risks of remaining.

In a crisis situation, American citizens are responsible for arranging commercial or private means of transportation to depart Lebanon. American citizens wishing to depart Lebanon are urged to do so, keeping in mind that options are currently limited.

Major roads to Beirut International Airport remain blocked, and there is only limited airline service at present. Violent clashes in several areas in and around Beirut have been reported, and it is still not known when the airport road will re-open and normal air transport services will resume. The main road to Damascus remains blocked.

American citizens wanting to depart may wish to consider chartering private watercraft to Cyprus. Until such time as travel services out of Lebanon become available, the U.S. Embassy urges American citizens to ensure they have an adequate supply of food, water and other essential items and to remain safely inside their homes. Americans are encouraged to review their travel plans following resumption of normal air services.

the embassy website claims that it's still business as usual...sort of.

The U.S. Embassy remains open for business; however, Nonimmigrant Visa processing has been suspended except under special circumstances. American Citizen Services and Immigrant Visa processing are functioning normally. American citizens are urged to avoid the airport road and any other areas where demonstrators are gathered, and to monitor the local media for information regarding the security situation.

However, Israeli websites claim that the US has already started evacuating its personnel from the Beirut embassy.

Of course, nothing could be worse for Israel than the timing of Lebanon's take-over by Hizbollah, than the current (and latest) Olmert scandal -- which is paralyzing Israel from effectively preparing for the new reality. The only message the government could send out was far from reassuring...

The latest upheaval in Lebanon found its way to the government meeting Sunday, as Military Intelligence chief Major-General Amos Yadlin briefed the ministers on the ongoings across the northern border. Israel, said Yadlin, must be prepared for the power shift in Lebanon: "Hizbullah's use of weapons inside Beirut send a very different kind of message… We have to be pragmatic, but there is no need for hysteria."

Vice Premier Haim Ramon added that "we have to realize that Lebanon is a Hizbullah state. Everything happening there is their doing… The country is ruled by the Hizbullah and the reigning government is meaningless, its fiction."

Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter reiterated, "Hizbullah maintains its hold on Lebanon, without the responsibility of running matters of state. This creates a real difficulty for Israel, which can't work against the (emanating) regional terror."

"We are constantly briefed on the situation in Beirut, and since Israel may be affected by what is going on over there, we are somewhat concerned… Israel, however, cannot lead the international response (to the events), which is why we are still refraining from any official move." (YNET)

The bottom line is that Lebanon is now going the same route as Gaza (or vice-versa). Both will be ruled by Islamic fundamentalist groups that are proxies of anti-Israel fundamentalism. Both are dangerous to Israel's security. Both will be active battle fronts against Israel -- and will play off each other; escalation on one front will bring about escalation on the next, making it even more difficult for Israel to respond to the ongoing missile strikes from Gaza (or Katyusha attacks up north)

The Middle East has definitely just taken a new turn for the worse.

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The Missing Israeli Returns.

Gavriel Dwait's body was returned to Israel last night from Lebanon as part of an exchange with Hizbollah.

The Missing Israeli Returns Home.

Missing? Was he lost? I'd never even heard his name before last night's late news report. No one I've asked has ever heard his name before. I googled his name in Hebrew and English, "Missing Israeli Gavriel Dwait".

The deafening response from Google was "Your Search for "Missing Israeli Gavriel Dwait" did not match any documents."

Had Google been a bit more honest, it would have added the following recommendation for a "better" search result.

There isn't an Israeli alive who hasn't heard of the names "Ehud Goldwasser, Udi Regev, Gilad Shalit, Ron Arad" and many others.

Yet, no one has ever heard of Gavriel Dwait.

Gavriel Dwait, z'l.

Beersheva resident Gavriel Dwait, a Jewish immigrant from Ethiopia, drowned in the Mediterranean Sea on January 20, 2005. He was 27 at the time. His parents have been searching and waiting for 2 years and 7 months.

So why haven't we heard of him before? The Israeli police told the family, "eventually, he'll show up." The family hired buses to bring volunteers to look for him on Israel's Northern shores, but to no avail. His body must have washed upshore to Lebanon.

Truth be told, I doubt that anyone in Israel's government had any clue he was missing, and it was probably Hizbollah that surprised Israel with the offer. To make matters worse; this exchange has been in the planning for a few months now, yet no one bothered to even inform Gavriel's family.

You can be sure that the Goldwasser, Regev, Shalit and Arad families are updated all the time from the government on the status of their missing loved ones.

The dirty reason is wrapped up in one word.

Proteczia. noun. protection. essential for survival in Israel.

A family of new immigrants from Ethiopia living in Beersheva has little hope of knowing how to pressure the Israeli police, how to contact the media, or even how to find a Member of Knesset.

Had Gavriel's family been more connected, you can be sure we would have heard his name before...or at least Google would have found a reference to him.

Oh, and the fact that he was Ethiopian probably played a part as well.

Israel has alot of soul searching to do.



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