Diplomacy and the Hounds of Hell, Part III

The million dollar question this morning seems to be just what was hit yesterday by Israelis when they attacked a site in Beirut. The Israelis claim it was a Hizbullah bunker where the Islamic terrorists' top leaders were hunkering down. They dropped 23 tons of ordnance on the site, so they obviously believe that there was something quite important there.

Hizbullah denies by fax that any of its leaders were killed and says that the site destroyed by the Israelis was a mosque under construction. Well, that doesn't have to be a mutually exclusive position. It could be a bunker and a mosque, which is not unheard of in the Middle East.

The real test will be whether we start seeing videos of Nasrallah or other top leaders, or whether we get nothing but static from Hizbullah until they sort out who's going to run their terrorist organization now that their leaders are dead and buried under tons of rubble. Blue Crab Boulevard has more.

The Lebanese Prime Minister now says that the world has to help disarm Hizbullah and calls for a ceasefire. Well, the world doesn't have a military force ready or capable of doing the job. Israel is already on the case, and is doing an extremely effective job. The world can help clean up after the mess left by Hizbullah's pervasive and invasive use of Lebanon as its terrorist homeland. The ceasefire will come after Hizbullah is eliminated as a threat, not before.

Egypt, too, wants a ceasefire, but their priorities are to act as kingmakers in the region and exert a countervailing influence against the Iranians and Syrians. And they have to see what the Saudis are doing and counter that as well.

Former Spook takes Lou Dobbs to task for his inane comments about the US foreign policy towards the Middle East and poor knowledge of history.

US Marines have come ashore in order to assist Americans flee the country. This comes at a time when the Israelis are hinting that they might begin a full scale invasion into Southern Lebanon. If the bunker they hit was indeed the command center for Hizbullah, this makes sense as they engaged in a decapitation strike and the remaining Hizbullah around Lebanon have no one to issue them orders. The biggest problem is that without any leaders, there's no one in the organization to say to surrender or retreat.

Britain worries that the offensive against Hizbullah might backfire. Well, considering that the UK has a large militant Islamic population that has no intention of ever assimiliating into British culture, the British government is clearly worried that Hizbullah sympathizers might start a terror campaign on their shores. Yet, if it was not the situation right now with Israel, these same Islamists can and do find other reasons to agitate against the British people - namely that the Brits are not yet Muslims themselves.

And in the biggest joke of the day, the Russians are busy complaining about the scale of the Israeli operation in Lebanon. As if the Russians ever bothered worrying about the scale of their war against Afghanistan or Chechnya? In both, they had no problem levelling entire cities to rubble and then some. Israel selectively targets structures and Russia complains. There's a word for that - chutzpah!

The primary bloggers to check with are Carl in Jerusalem, Israellycool, Dave Bender, Meryl Yourish, Euphoric Reality, Pajamas Media, and Hot Air. Check back with them regularly for updates.

UPDATE:
Debka (yes, the usual rules apply on source's accuracy) claims that Jordan has informed Israeli security that Hamas is trying to infiltrate Israel from Jordan to carry out terrorist attacks.

Jordanian military intelligence relayed information that Hamas had recruited a bomb team in the kingdom. It was on its way to cross into Israel for the strike. Israeli and Jordanian border troops are on a high state of preparedness. The potential targets are the southern port of Eilat, its Arava main road link to the north, the Dead Sea, or the Beit Shean Valley on the Jordan River.

This could help explain why the Israelis closed off Gaza and West Bank through the end of the week.

All Things Beautiful has a good analysis of the media coverage by CNN and compares it with Arab Times editorial who looks like he gets it.

Roger L. Simon notes that Syria is walking a very fine line between giving too much support to Hizbullah and not doing anything and exposing just how weak the regime in Damascus truly is. Rotted to the core. He also notes that Debka is suggesting that Israeli forces have already been engaging in operations inside Syria's border, but I'd take that with a grain of salt. Israel probably does have special forces operating in Syria to identify targets but isn't firing on targets just yet.

Arutz Sheva reports that there's still no idea who was in the bunker.

According to intelligence received by the IDF, the bunker, located in the Bourj al-Barajneh area of southern Beirut, housed the terror organization’s most senior leadership. The intelligence was considered sufficiently reliable to justify a massive attack at around 8 PM, and another one at 11 PM. Dozens of planes took part in the attacks, and the building was totally destroyed.

Following the attack, Hizbullah released a statement via its Al-Manar TV broadcasts that the building was no more than a mosque under construction, and that the Hizbullah leadership was untouched.

IDF sources say it is possible that the above is true, given the depth of the bunker under the building. However, even if so, it is felt that keeping the charismatic Hizbullah leader Sheikh Nasrallah trapped or leashed to an underground bunker - either the one that was bombed or another one - is also an achievement.

It's a waiting game to see who emerges to speak on behalf of Hizbullah. The longer we wait, the more likely it is that Israel hit the jackpot.

Michael Freund wonders whether the Washington Post supports Hizbullah and Hamas. Good question given all the editorial space proffered to the terrorists and their supporters in the past several weeks.

Meryl Yourish points out the double standard of the UN never complaining about the war crimes committed by terrorist groups and Zapatero's statements against Israel despite Spain's occupation of Moroccan territory.

UPDATE:
Hamas is apparently trying to work with Egypt in trying to negotiate a deal in the aftermath of the raid on the Hizbullah compound in Beirut. They want to deal because they don't want to die.

Hamas leaders have met with an Egyptian team in Gaza to discuss the release of an Israeli soldier kidnapped June 26 by the Palestinian militant group.

Mediators in the negotiations said no agreements have been reached between the parties and Hamas has signaled an unwillingness to discuss the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit independent from Hezbollah, Ha'aretz reported Thursday.

The mediators said the Egyptians have been discussing a deal that would exchange Shalit for Palestinian prisoners and would bring an end to Qassam rocket fire from the Palestinians as well as Israeli military operations in Gaza.

Some high-ranking Hamas officials have supported negotiations out of fears that Israel would no longer be willing to negotiate if Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is killed or captured.

Peace through superior firepower at its best. Hamas knows that it could have been them on the receiving end of the bunker busting mission. They're cowards, and this further reinforces the fact that they now fear the retribution imposed by Israel for their ongoing terrorism against Israel.

And despite the fearsome pounding that Hizbullah has taken, someone in Lebanon's government thinks it would be a good idea to stand alongside Hizbullah if Israel invades.

The Israelis claim that Hizbullah has a bunch of similar undergrond bunkers throughout Southern Lebanon, which makes sense. They've had six years to become firmly entrenched and the Lebanese government has been unwilling or unable to deal with the situation - as is required under UN SCR 1559.

UPDATE:
Hizbullah has kidnapped two foreign journalists in Lebanon. Because they're all about peace, love, compassion, and kindness, you see. What justification is there for this? You can't blame Israel for the kidnappings, though I'm sure someone will try [ed: everything can be blamed on Israel if you try hard enough and your logic and moral center are reversed]

Kofi Annan tells the UN Security Council that this violence must stop. Nice. Where were you telling everyone that the violence had to stop in Rwanda or Sudan or any of the other hellholes out there while you had the ability to stop it? You were silent then. Now, you simply look like you're helping terrorists escape their just desserts.

Flopping Aces notes Tony Snow's performance against the WH Press Corps questions about the Administration's diplomatic efforts. The press isn't distinguishing itself for having a solid grasp of facts.

Others blogging: Greyhawk, The Moderate Voice, and The Anchoress. Ranting Profs eviscerates the war as war crime meme currently making the rounds about Israel's acts to defend itself against ongoing terrorist acts. Boker Tov, Boulder does the same to Pat Buchanan's inane comments.

UPDATE:
Ynet is reporting that Nasrallah has spoken - and that Hizbullah is still functioning. That remains to be seen. Hizbullah is sticking to its demands that Israel release its prisoners before Hizbullah releases the Israeli soldiers.

The two journalists captured by Hizbullah appear to have been released.

The Israelis are going to allow a humanitarian corridor. I think it's a bad idea, and lets Hizbullah terrorists a freeway to escape the carnage of their own making. Meanwhile, the IAF is resuming its attacks around Beirut. Hizbullah terrorists were nabbed in Nablus. Rockets are still falling in Israel, but fewer today than the past few days. Does it have something to do with the bunker strike?

UPDATE:
Heavy fighting has broken out between Hizbullah and the IDF near the Lebanese border. The IDF has taken casualties, but isn't giving specifics. Meanwhile, FullosseousFlap comments on Nasrallah's latest utterances, coming more than a day after the massive IAF raid on a bunker in Beirut. David Bernstein is dissappointed that Nasrallah hasn't added to the rolls in hell.

Two Israeli helicopters apparently collided near Kiryat Shimona. Four soldiers were wounded.

Arabs living in Nazareth are showing themselves to be quite capable of being completely able to divorce themselves from reality. Hizbullah fires rockets at them, but it's Israel's fault. And for good measure Nasrallah proclaimed them shahids. So all's well.

Israel has withdrawn from the International Federation of Journalists. More Hizbullah terrorists were interdicted in Nablus.

Outside the Beltway and Security Watchtower notes the Saudi Wahabi fatwa against Hizbullah - nothing quite beats having a bit of intramural conflict (Sunni/Shi'a) to spice up the Islamic-Israeli conflict.

Laurence posting at IMAO notices that the world is treating Hizbullah quite a bit different than another Islamic terrorist group - all because Hizbullah decided to build schools and hospitals. Curious, isn't it.

Others blogging: Partisan Times, Soccer Dad, Jeff Goldstein, and Power and Control.

Secretary of State Rice will be visiting the Middle East next week. I don't believe that she'll accomplish much of anything - Israel is determined to carry the war to Hizbullah and Hizbullah shows that it is completely unwilling to cease its war with Israel. Israel cannot and should not be handcuffed when dealing with this ongoing existential threat.

Technorati: terrorism, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Rains, Summer, cavaliers, wrath, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah, lebanon, syria.