All Hezbollah related subjects in this thread

[J. Abizeid]

Hezbollah chief welcomes prisoners, Israel mourns - Yahoo! News

Hezbollah chief welcomes prisoners, Israel mourns

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a rare public appearance, welcomed five Lebanese freed from captivity in Israel on Wednesday after his guerrilla group returned the bodies of two captured Israeli soldiers.
Nasrallah, whose movements are kept secret for security reasons, embraced the ex-prisoners at a rally in Beirut.
"This people, this nation and this country, which gave a clear image today, cannot be defeated," he told the crowd before leaving to deliver a speech by video link from a secure location.
A grim mood prevailed in Israel, where the prisoner swap was widely seen as a painful necessity two years after the capture of the two Israeli army reservists sparked a 34-day war in which about 1,200 people in Lebanon and 159 Israelis were killed.
Among the released captives was Samir Qantar, who had been Israel's longest-serving Lebanese prisoner and whom Israelis revile for his part in a 1979 Palestinian guerrilla attack.
The International Committee of the Red Cross brought the men to the border town of Naqoura. Wearing military fatigues, they marched down a red carpet flanked by a Hezbollah honor guard.
Two Lebanese army helicopters then flew the men to Beirut, where President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri kissed them at the airport.
"Your return is a new victory," Suleiman declared.
Israel retrieved the corpses of the two soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, only after agreeing to release Qantar, who had been serving a life term for the deaths of four Israelis, including a 4-year-old girl and her father.
"Woe betide the people who celebrate the release of a beastly man who bludgeoned the skull of a 4-year-old toddler," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a statement before a private meeting with the families of the soldiers.
As fireworks lit the night sky, tens of thousands of people waving yellow Hezbollah flags gathered in Beirut for the rally to celebrate the release of Qantar and four Hezbollah fighters.
Crowds threw rice and mobbed the cars carrying the men to the rally in the southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah.
The ex-captives waved Hezbollah and Lebanese flags at the crowds before Nasrallah's brie

[J. Abizeid]

"معاريف": نصرالله يرسخ صورته على أنه أول قائد عربي حارب إسرائيل وهزمها

17 تموز 2008

1. رأى مراسل الشؤون العربية في «معاريف»، جاكي حوجي، إن إسرائيل أُهينت، لأن الأمين العام لحزب الله، حسن نصر الله «سيرسخ صورته على أنه القائد العربي الأول الذي حارب إسرائيل وهزمها» موضحاً أنّ «لا أحد باستثنائه، لا الحكومة اللبنانية ولا الجامعة العربية ولا الأمم المتحدة ولا الصليب الأحمر، لا أحد أعاد مواطناً لبنانياً فخوراً، كان يهترئ في سجن إسرائيلي منذ 29 عاماً».
   
   
   
   
   
   وتطرق المراسل العسكري في صحيفة «معاريف»، عامير ربابورت، إلى عملية تبادل الأسرى فأجملها «بكلمتين: خجل وعار». وفيما لفت ربابورت إلى عدم إجراء احتفال رسمي في إسرائيل للجنود، لفت إلى أن «الدراما ستتركز على ما سيجري خلف الحدود، أي في لبنان». واعتبر أنه «مهما يكن من أمر، يبدو أن السؤال الهام الذي يجب أن يطرح اليوم هو ليس بالذات ما حصل حتى الآن بل ما سيحصل لاحقاً. فمن نواحٍ عديدة، الصفقة مع حزب الله تنهي الفصل الذي لا يبعث على الفخر، من ناحية إسرائيل، والذي بدأ في 12 تموز 2006 وكانت ذروته في حرب لبنان الثانية. اليوم يبدأ فصل جديد».
   ورأى ربابورت أن حزب الله «يخرج اليوم معززاً من نواحٍ عديدة: فقد صمد في وجه هجوم إسرائيلي شديد للغاية، وهو اليوم أقوى مما كان بأضعاف من ناحية عسكرية، بالقياس إلى قدراته قبل حرب لبنان الثانية. كذلك مكانته السياسية في لبنان تعززت وقد حقق الهدف الذي باسمه انطلق لعملية الاختطاف ـــــ تحرير سمير قنطار».
   
   بدوره، رأى أيال ميغد في «معاريف» أن إسرائيل «وصلت إلى اليوم الكئيب الحالي، الذي يغلق دائرة السخافة التي بدأت بالخروج إلى حرب ترمي، كما نذكر، إلى إعادة الأبناء إلى الديار». واعتبر أن «هذا يوم بائس، مثير للاكتئاب. يوم آخر في التاريخ الإسرائيلي الطويل من انعدام المسؤولية وغياب التفكير، اللذين يظهران على الملأ صبح مساء بإشراف أولئك الذين يدعون أنهم مسؤولون عن سلامة الدولة وأمنها».

Some don’t agree!

http://forum.tayyar.org/f8/issue-hez...inciple-33425/

The issue of Hezbullah arms is a matter of principle.

Some believe that the arms are no longer necessary from a pure Lebanese perspective. They believe that in fact today in 2008 the arms are a negative influence on the stability of the borders and Lebanon's ability to create and benefit from a neutral environment to protect itself as the middle east crisis continues to evolve. Some believe that the Shebaa farms are simply an excuse, that the prisoners issue can be resolved over time with other means and with calmer rhetoric much like everyone is dealing with the Syrian prisoners issue. Some have suspicions that Hezbullah's insistence on maintaining its arms doesn't only emanate from its desire to protect itself, in fact it is primarily driven by its desire to use these weapons for a broader regional goal that keeps the prospects of an open front in the south of Lebanon a reality for the benefit of regional players such as Iran, Syria and Hamas. Somebelieve that Hezbollah's weapons, may very well be used at some point in time for internal reasons, and they believe that political parties should not control militias and have arms that it can leverage politically, and internally, even if it doesn't ever use them. Some believe that Hezbollah is very interested in an Islamic Shiite state that transcends the borders of Lebanon and fear that one day It may use its arms to forward that goal. Some believe that peace and war in their country is an important matter that they should have a say in and are never willing to farm it out to one group, one sect, or one militia. These same people believe that appeasing HA is not the answer. They also believe that going to war with Hezbollah is not the answer either. They believe that isolating HA politically, and dealing with the matter of arms on the basis of strong principles and not on the basis of weak capitulation is the right way forward.

[J. Abizeid]

Saad came to negotiate a deal. His F14 team apparently lost their contract and are looking for employment. They are looking for a new master.
Nayla looks cute, love on her mind.
Saniora sat in first row today to expose himself.
Maestro Jumblatt offered a sample of his command performance:
tayyar.org - Lebanon News -جنبلاط: لاسترجـاع مــزارع شبعـا سلمـا او Ø*ربا#

جنبلاط: لاسترجـاع مــزارع شبعـا سلمـا او حربا

The guy doesn’t know it yet. HA arms cured is hallucination,

[joseph_lubnan]

Prisoners’ Homecoming a Triumph for Hezbollah

The New York Times
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Published: July 17, 2008

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Tens of thousands of people waving flags, lighting fireworks, smiling, laughing, and jostling for a view of Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, packed into an open square in this city’s southern suburb on Wednesday night to celebrate the release of five prisoners from Israel. A banner strung over the crowd read: “God’s Achievement Through Our Hands.”

Samir Kuntar, left, released by Israel, embraced his brother Bassam in Beirut.
It was classic Hezbollah, seeking to rally Lebanon behind its yellow flag, demonstrating again that death on the battlefield or capture by the enemy are never liabilities but only rallying points for the resilient Iranian-backed Shiite group that has run up a string of political victories inside Lebanon and in its battle against Israel.

The prisoners were swapped by Israel in exchange for the bodies of two soldiers.

Samir Kuntar was a 16-year-old when he was imprisoned in Israel for killing a police officer, a civilian and a child. He was 46 years old when he walked down a red carpet on Wednesday, to freedom in Lebanon, where he was greeted as a hero, dressed in a military uniform, a yellow Hezbollah scarf draped over his shoulders. Later, in Beirut, Mr. Kuntar, a Lebanese Druse, hugged and kissed Sheik Nasrallah, then addressed those gathered with defiance aimed at his longtime captors.

“I return from Palestine, only to go back to Palestine,” he said, to a whistling, cheering, roaring crowd. “I promise families in Palestine that we are coming back, me and my brothers in the resistance.”

The audience chanted his name: “Samir! Samir! Samir!”

The government declared a national day of celebration, closing all government offices and banks, and many private businesses closed as well. The president, the prime minister and others tried to present the swap as a triumph for Lebanon, not just Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist group by the United States. But there was no disguising the fact that, in the eyes of its followers and many others, Hezbollah had scored a historic victory.

Sheik Nasrallah had ordered the kidnapping of the two Israelis with the express purpose of using them as bargaining chips to free all Lebanese from Israeli jails.

That cross-border raid prompted a huge Israeli invasion that not only failed to dislodge Hezbollah militants, but also allowed Sheik Nasrallah to argue — persuasively to some Lebanese, even beyond his traditional Shiite base — that the group was the strongest defender of the nation. Since the war, Hezbollah has strengthened its political and military grip on much of Lebanon.

“This people, this nation and this country, which gave a clear image today, cannot be defeated,” said the sheik, who rarely appears in public, for security reasons.

The release followed by less than a week Hezbollah’s success in winning another important victory. It gained veto power over government decisions by increasing its representation in the cabinet. From top to bottom, the formal powers and symbols of the state, the president, the prime minister, the speaker of Parliament, the Lebanese flag, stood beside and behind Hezbollah on Wednesday as the prisoners were welcomed home.

In Lebanon, power is divided among the major sects, Sunnis, Shiites and Christians. Historically, Sunnis and Christians were more powerful forces, with the Shiites often marginalized. That has changed as Hezbollah has grown into a force more powerful than the state itself, both militarily, politically and socially. This prisoner release, and the fact that Mr. Kuntar is a Druse — one of the more influential of Lebanon’s 18 religious sects — only adds to that growing credibility.

“The result is that Hezbollah emerges as a force in Lebanon that can deliver,” Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a political analyst in Lebanon and an expert on Hezbollah, wrote on the openDemocracy Web site. “Thereby perpetuating an important political dynamic — of the nonstate actor which functions as the de facto state versus the state nonactor which merely enjoys the status of the de jure state.”

If Israel’s goal of the release was to begin to strip away the issues that Hezbollah uses to justify keeping its weapons — as some political analysts in the region speculated — Sheik Nasrallah did not sound concerned. After leaving the stage, in remarks broadcast to the audience, he said that he would be willing to accept a diplomatic solution to the remaining land disputes with Israel — and with Lebanese factions that are opposed to Hezbollah keeping its weapons.

For some here, though, recent wounds were too raw, and the distrust of Hezbollah too deep, to savor the apparent triumph. Last May, Hezbollah turned its guns on residents of Beirut during a spasm of sectarian violence. It routed pro-government forces with ease, forcing a compromise that gave them the veto power in the government.

“I don’t feel like I am part of this,” said Rami Abdullah, 34, as he sat behind the cash register of his nut shop in the Sunni neighborhood of Tariq Jadideh. “It is not going to restore their image. The resistance should have stayed the resistance against the enemy.”

Lebanon’s new so-called national unity government had its first meeting Wednesday, the first government in which Hezbollah and its allies have veto power. But the country has far to go to resolve the social, political and economic problems that it faces, and those daunting realities kept many from celebrating.

“I just want to live in a safe country,” said Richard Fahd, 35, as he strolled through the center of the city, where there was no sign of celebration. “I don’t care about a prisoner exchange. This doesn’t concern me.”

But it was quite a different mood not far away, in Dahiya, the southern suburb and Hezbollah stronghold that was flattened by Israeli bombs in the 2006 war.

“Nasrallah and Hezbollah are divine,” said Marwa Moussa, 24, as she waited hours in the thick heat of the summer for the celebration to begin. “They can achieve what no one else can.”

All day long, revelers lined the airport road where it cut through Dahiya, waving the flags of Hezbollah and its allies. They roared around in groups on motor scooters, blasted music from pickup trucks and huge speakers, almost always the stirring martial tunes of the Hezbollah men’s choir. Later, at night, the road was near gridlock, packed with supporters of Hezbollah.

“It is a great achievement, it makes me feel so proud,” said Khadija Mouad, 50, seated in one of thousands of plastic chairs placed in the square for the celebration. “Hezbollah is the party that always achieves great accomplishments.”

Earlier the prisoners had been greeted by a crowd of thousands along the border with Israel. The prisoners smiled and waved as confetti fell. They flew by helicopter to the airport in Beirut, where they were greeted by the new president, Michel Suleiman, the prime minister, Fouad Siniora, and the speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri. Then the convoy proceeded on to Dahiya, where to the surprise of those gathered, Sheik Nasrallah walked onto stage. He hugged and kissed each of the freed prisoners then stood beside Mr. Kantar as he addressed the crowd.

“I just came to say ‘Hi’ and congratulate you on this victory.” Sheik Nasrallah said to the crowd. “As we have said in the year 2000, the time of defeat is long gone. And today is the time of victory. These people have proved to the world, to their friends and their enemies, that they cannot be defeated.”

For the most part, the day was more about the moment, the celebration, the chance to point to those killed in battle — and those freed. Hezbollah dubbed the event Operation Radwan, after Imad Mughniyeh, also known as Hadj Radwan, a senior Hezbollah official assassinated in June in Damascus, Syria. “Operation Radwan” read the banners strung along the airport road. “To free the prisoners and the martyrs. A sign for freedom. Victory from God.”

[Venom]

Mugnieh assassinated

Syria flirting with Israel and ready to solve the Golan heights issue

Syria received with open arms in Europe!

Closing the detainees problem with Israel.....


I dont know am trying to put the puzzle together!

[Tashnag]

The Mou will make the fpm credibility very low ...


1 - In the mou, is there a talk of tahrir asra falastinien and iranian diplomats? what a joke

2 - Now all lebanese asra from israel is here, shebaa farms is being put under un control..and all this with no sign of hezbollah handing their weapons...


we are back to the same point again, the Mou failed..the solution failed...


I believe hezbollah willl never hand their weapons as they believe in the destruction of israel. I find israel as defense key for christians in the region..Had it not been israel in this region, the most probable is that hezbollah was going to use their weapons against christians of the region...

[CPL]

Originally Posted by Tashnag

Had it not been israel in this region, the most probable is that hezbollah was going to use their weapons against christians of the region...

Wein 3am tba33id. Had it not been Israel in this region, there wouldn't have been any Hizbullah to begin with, nor Lebanese Forces, nor Palestinian refugees, your salary would have been 4000$ starter, hanging out ANYWHERE in Beirut OR ELSE, with streets as old as the late 1800s, all like Gemmayze.

[Venom]

Originally Posted by Tashnag

The Mou will make the fpm credibility very low ...


1 - In the mou, is there a talk of tahrir asra falastinien and iranian diplomats? what a joke

2 - Now all lebanese asra from israel is here, shebaa farms is being put under un control..and all this with no sign of hezbollah handing their weapons...


we are back to the same point again, the Mou failed..the solution failed...


I believe hezbollah willl never hand their weapons as they believe in the destruction of israel. I find israel as defense key for christians in the region..Had it not been israel in this region, the most probable is that hezbollah was going to use their weapons against christians of the region...

That's why no more Christians in Palestine?....plus if u think like that why don't u join Kataeb or Geageaists?

[Incognito]

Does anyone read the news? Or do people just sit here thinking they're political experts whilst immaturely bashing each other away and throwing personal jibes like school kids in a yard?

Anyway back to the subject, rumours of Mughniyeh's death have been surfacing ever since he died.

Here's two (out of the many) that I believe hold possible scenarios:

1.

2008-06-06 12:28 (New York)

Berlin (dpa) - A coup plot against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was quietly crushed without the world noticing, the German newspaper Die Welt was set to report Saturday, quoting German and “foreign'' intelligence sources.

It said Syria's military intelligence chief, Assef Shaukat, had plotted to seize power while Assad was hosting an Arab League meeting in Damascus in February. Shaukat, who is an in-law to the president, and 100 intelligence officers had been arrested.

Die Welt said Assad had been tipped off by Imad Mughniyah, a senior member of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization in Lebanon.

Mughniyah was killed a few days later in a bomb blast on February 12 in Damascus.

The sources said it was possible that associates of Shaukat had assassinated him in revenge. Releasing the story Friday in advance of going to print, Die Welt said some of the plotters were allegedly linked to violent Islamist groups.

Die Welt said the Syrian embassy in Berlin had rejected the coup story as utterly untrue. Without naming a source, the newspaper said German diplomats were aware of the coup story but had not been able to confirm it as fact. dpa jbp sc

-0- Jun/06/2008 16:28 GMT

2.
The Assassination of Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus: Antecedent to War?

On February 12, 2008 Imad Fayez Mughniyeh, a top Hezbollah security official, was assassinated in Damascus by means of a remote detonated car bomb. The intelligence services of America, Israel, Britain, France, Germany, Jordon, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia were all suspected of some form of involvement. According to The Daily Star, an English-language newspaper based in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia had helped Israel in assassinating Imad Mughniyeh and a Saudi military attaché was arrested in Damascus due to links to a Syrian collaborator in the assassination. [37]

More than a month following the Mughniyeh assassination, U.S. Vice-President Cheney made a regional tour of the Middle East. "We must not, and will not, ignore the darkening shadows of the situations in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria and in Iran and the forces there that are working to derail the hopes of the world," Vice-President Cheney vowed dramatically in a insinuation that conflict was brewing and the U.S. was prepared to aid Israel. [38]

It did not take long for pundits to point toward Mughniyeh's murder as being used in a ploy to launch war in the Middle East. Israel's intelligence and information apparatus started exerting themselves in a misinformation campaign to create doubts about the murder of Imad Mughniyeh. Tel Aviv's aims were to shift the blame on the Syrians in a psychological operation (PSYOP) intended to inseminate doubts and mistrust between Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran, in order to strain their alliance and weaken the Resistance Bloc.

According to Israel's Channel 10, sometime after the assassination of Mughniyeh, Tel Aviv sent Hezbollah a letter through a third party, threatening another disproportionate war against Lebanon. Tel Aviv also wasted no time in threatening Syria if Hezbollah launched retaliatory attacks on Israel. [39] In this context, Reuters also reported that an unnamed senior Israeli official had spelled out conflict with the Syrians as a reprisal for hostile Lebanese and Palestinian actions against Israel. [40] The root of these so-called hostile actions by Lebanese and Palestinian groups are of retaliatory nature to hostile actions initiated by Tel Aviv. In many cases, these attacks against Israel are invited by Tel Aviv as a means to create the justifications of postponing peace, annexing territory, and launching war.

In mid-April, 2008, Israeli jets and helicopters created insecurity among residents of Haifa when they scrambled across Israel to intercept an unidentified light plane entering Israeli airspace. [41] Tel Aviv's security and military forces have been on high alert since the Mughniyeh Assassination. [42] On March 18, 2008 an Israeli warship was also dispatched into Lebanese waters, where it was intercepted by an Italian warship, in a move that many in Lebanon saw as a taunt by Israel.

Israel has advertised very publicly that it expects retaliation from Hezbollah. [43] This "retaliation" could also give Israel an excuse for launching another war. The Israeli government also used the opportunity to raise domestic tensions amongst its own citizens. Israeli officials also warned about possible attacks from across the Lebanese border by Iranian-manufactured "explosive-packed drones" or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) sent by Hezbollah. [44]

Incognito: The 2nd story might be losing some credence as Israel has since welcomed the idea to negotiate. However, it is important to note that this change in Israeli policy is fairly recent. Israel for the past 8 years has maintained a neocon policy of battering its neighbours to improve its own standing as the supreme regional powerhouse.

The Syrian story is also rather credible, considering that Shawkat has disappeared and is no longer head of the Military Intelligence. It is also worth noting that Hizballah's rhetoric regarding the assassination has quietened in recent months. Food for thought nonetheless.

[Frisbeetarian]

Thats interesting. You are entitled to your opinion. But tell me, since you described yourself as a non-Muslim theist, what exactly is your theology, and how is it different from religion? Is it detached from "superstition and stupidity" and does it embrace "logic and clarity", unlike religion as you claim?

Elaboration on this subject is further needed so to clarify where i stand. Ever since i comprehended how much Islam and the whole notion of organized religion is not suited with the way my mind is evovling, i have been really hard at work, reading lots of history, philosophy, economy, so to find any meaning to this our "civilized" behaviour. History in particular held a firm interest in my research. Until now, i have reached no conclusion nor have i replaced my faith with another. But a firm mindset i have set to establish is to never persuade people with what i believe in. I believe that the "laws" are "god", these rules cant be bent cant be overrulled, we have yet to reach a minimal understanding of these rules of nature, but each day is a progress. And it is my firm belief that in order to have a greater leap in understanding these rules; the human race would have to leap forward in biological evolution, to a more sophisticated state, "a further understanding of our brain" would be needed, and only a biological jump could let us reach that.

Well first of all, Hezbollah is not a party that believes that "every person that does not believe in Allah and Mohamad will go to hell". Let's not turn this into a discussion about Islam by making innacurate statements.

Being a Muslim party, it believes that wether we like it or not. The Qoran clearly states it. There is no arguing on this point.

Secondly, Hezbollah does not impose beliefs on people. Religous beliefs are a function of individual choice. A member of Hezbollah is free to believe in whatever he wants, and a Christian is free to beleive in whatever he wants. If the Christian (or Sunni or Druze or Alawite or Atheist or whoever else) is so narrow minded to believe that the resistance should not be supported for sectarian reasons, regardless of their accomlishments on the national level, then I don't want his/her support.

I never said that the hizb is imposing its religion on anybody, and i never said that the hizb is not letting anybody resist but it. I clearly stated that im seeking to find a loophole for the resistance to continue and prosper, i never mentioned anything about the hizb enforcing their religion on anyone. The example given about the christian, meant that even though the christian will lend his support but he will probably not join the resistance because of religious reasons.

When did Hezbollah enter the government? In 2005. And the only reason it did so was out of necessity, because of international pressure to get Hezbollah to disarm. If Hezbollah could have their way, they would prefer not to be in government at all.

Why the chariteis and schools? Because the state of society necessitates it.

So theres is no particular body inside the hizb that will see political and social benefits upon the establishement of these institutions. You cant be possibly trying to convince me that the hizb opened these institutions just for the sake of the weary and sickly and not also to reap benefits for itself.

But like I said, I respect your opinion, but as of this point it is just an opinion. Hezbollah has put forth a model that is tried and tested and seems to be successfull, so its not just a bunch of arbitrary ideas strung together. What you are saying, if I understand correctly, is that resistance alone should be enough of a driver for people to follow behind a movement, and that religion is illogical and decays society so the resistance should drop it. However, the experience in Lebanon does not indicate this. Many secular movements with resistance as thier driver did not survive and thrive, and Hezbollah has been able to utilize religion and at the same time increase education levels, literacy rates, political awareness, ideological resoundment, etc among Shias in Lebanon. As for religion, I strongly disagree with you but respect your opinion nonetheless.

Perhaps if you were to back up your opinions with some kind of ideological basis or substantive argument, we can discuss their plausability and relevance. However, at this point, all I can say to you is that your opinions are interesting, but I disagree because we already have a model that is working and successful. Why fix it if isn't broken?

But you cant turn a blind eye and pretend that everythings fine and dandy, opposition towards the resistance is growing, particularly within the sunnis. U must remember that we live in an area where the majority of the populace is sunni, thus the hizb must take great consideration here (i believe that the last goverment decision that lead to the clashes a month ago were a political trap so to make the hizb do what it did, so make the world see the hizb as a faction that is leading a war against the sunnis, and the hizb fell for it, but then again they couldnt just not do anything). We are facing salafi/wahabi threats everyday, these mind numb religious zealots have a deep hatred for the shiaas and especially for the hizb. Things are not going to get better, because in the midst of such emptiness in reform and support of the goverment, salafi influence will quadruple. I said it, my proposition is far fetched, but it is something i want to see someday, something that in my opinion must happen if we ever want to see a unified Lebanon.

As for religion, I strongly disagree with you but respect your opinion nonetheless.

Thank you :).