Combatants of the Islamic Resistance are fighting since early morning, violent confrontations using an array of automatic and heavy weapons
with the "Israeli" enemy in the surrounding areas to the north of Bint Jubail city. Soldiers of the occupation attempted to make an advance from
the north, a force from the triangle Bint Jubail - Aytaroun - Maroun El-Raas and from the south-west, backed by heavy artillery bombardment
along with raids by "Israeli" fighter helicopters.
The combatants ambushed the enemy force with R.P.G. and anti-armored vehicles explosive packages.
Earlier in a statement the Islamic Resistance confirmed: "contrary to what is been claimed by enemy media that its occupation forces took
control of Bent Jubail city, the resistance denies that and confirms the city remains outside the control of the occupation and that battles are still
being fought on its outskirts and surrounding areas where the resistance fighters are dealing the occupation forces ferocious and harsh
confrontations". Source:Special July 25, 2006. Date: 25/07/2006 Time 17:29
The Islamic Resistance announced in a statement "that its heroes directed a burst of missiles towards Haifa city at 12:15 pm". "Israeli" sources
talked of several dead and at least 25 injured in this bombardment. The Islamic Resistance had rained rockets on enemy settlements in Safad,
Acre, Maalot, Kiriat Shmona and Naharia. Haaretz wrote that these settlements were pelted with thirty eight missiles since the morning, where
fires rage in several of them. Source:Special July 25, 2006. Date: 25/07/2006 Time 17:27
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
"Among the Believers are men who have been true to their covenant with God: of them some have completed their vow (to the extreme), and
some (still) wait: but they have never changed (their determination) in the least"
Koran 33:23
God the exalted and the great told us what was true
The Islamic Resistance announces its two martyrs Harb and Kallas
Martyr Combatant Ali Malek Harb "Haj Diyah"
Born in Jibsheet in 1975, married, joined the ranks of the Islamic Resistance in 1993, received several courses in military training, and obtained
the commendation of the Secretary General for "Hizbullah".
Martyr Combatant Ali Ahmad Kallas "Mousa",
Born in Nabatieh in 1973, married, joined the ranks of the Islamic Resistance in 1990, received several courses in military training, and obtained
the commendation of the Secretary General of Hizbullah. The Islamic Resistance Source:Special July 25, 2006. Date: 25/07/2006 Time 17:25.
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
"but if ye revert (to your sins), we shall revert (to our punishments): And we have made Hell a prison for those who reject (all Faith")
Koran 17:8
God the exalted and the great told us what was true
The Islamic resistance announced that its hero fighters delivered a burst of Katyusha rockets at 11:00 am towards Naharia settlement.
The resistance fighters also delivered a burst of Katyusha rockets at 12:00 midday towards Carmael settlement.
Also announced by the Islamic Resistance that contrary to what is been claimed by enemy media that its occupation forces took control of Bent
Jubail city, the resistance denies that and confirms the city remains outside the control of the occupation and that battles are still being fought
on its outskirts and surrounding areas where the resistance fighters are dealing the occupation forces ferocious and harsh confrontations".
"(.. in any case) there is no help except from God. The Exalted, the Almighty" Koran 3:126. Source:Special July 25, 2006. Date: 25/07/2006
Time 17:22.
Israeli soldiers and paratroopers advanced on the Southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbail Monday but were repelled by Hizbullah fighters, as the
death toll rose to over 370 Monday with the deaths of at least seven more civilians and three Hizbullah fighters.
The political adviser to the UN peacekeeping force in the South, Milos Strugar, said Monday that the Israeli Army was "a few kilometers [inside]
the UN-demarcated Blue Line," in the area of Maroun El-Ras.
Speaking to local satellite television station LBCI, Strugar said the Israeli Army was "reinforcing" its presence near Maroun El-Ras, but said he
could not predict whether "Israel" intended to invade Bint Jbeil.
In a statement, Hizbullah said it had shot down an Israeli helicopter and hit five tanks, inflicting casualties in fierce battles that erupted as
Israeli forces pushed north. Arab television channels said four Israeli soldiers had been killed. The Israeli military said two airmen died in the
helicopter crash, which it attributed to a mechanical problem.
The tank thrust toward Bint Jbail was one of several recent Israeli forays along the border in search of Hizbullah fighters and rocket-launchers.
Israeli Brigadier General Miri Regev said that Bint Jbail was a major launching site for Hizbullah rockets.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Lebanon continued to mount.
Two brothers, aged 9 and 11, and their uncle were killed in their home north of Tyre when Israeli jets destroyed three adjacent buildings. Several
people were buried in the debris, residents said. Another resident was killed in a dawn attack on the same village.
Two other civilians were killed when their house south of Tyre was destroyed, and an attack on a nearby Palestinian refugee camp killed one
person, medical officials said.
In Baalbeck, the body of a policeman was recovered from the ruins of buildings in a quarter repeatedly targeted by Israeli firepower. He had
apparently been killed days before.
Hizbullah said in a statement that three more of its fighters were killed, bringing the total to 19.
One Palestinian was killed and five others, including a baby, were wounded in attacks on the refugee camp at Rashidiyeh, medical sources said.
Hizbullah/s secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, told local Arabic daily As-Safir newspaper in an interview published Monday that any
Israeli land invasion "will not accomplish any political results, or stop Hizbullah rocket salvos."
According to Lebanese television reports quoting Israeli military sources, "Israel" has warned that it will destroy 10 buildings in Beirut/s southern
suburbs for every rocket fired by Hizbullah at Haifa.
Elsewhere, two Lebanese Red Cross ambulances transporting six wounded civilians from the Southern town of Tibneen were targeted by an Israeli
raid in Qana at dawn Monday.
On the diplomatic front, German Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler said that "any peacekeeping force involving EU troops can only be deployed
... with the agreement of Lebanon and "Israel"."
"Such a force can only be part of a wider concept," Erler told Deutschlandradio Kultur. "But anyone who supports the idea must be prepared, in
principle, to help in one way or another."
Human rights officials have warned that the clashes may be violating humanitarian law, but experts say prosecutions are unlikely. Source:Daily
Star, July 25, 2006. Date: 25/07/2006 Time 17:06
The Israeli Army/s chief of intelligence says the "surprises" Hizbullah keeps promising could go beyond long-range rockets and could mean the
capture of more Israeli soldiers or an attack on Israeli targets abroad. "I believe that Hizbullah is trying to fray the nerves of Israeli citizens by
promising surprises," Major General Amos Yadlin said during a news conference in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
Asked what those "surprises" might be, Yadlin said: "Hizbullah is threatening to fire rockets with an even longer range; therefore, this is no
longer a surprise.
"Hizbullah may try to surprise us by mounting another operation to kidnap soldiers or civilians," he added. "It might also attempt to take action
against the state of "Israel" abroad.
"Israel"/s offensive in Lebanon is not aimed at totally dismantling Hizbullah, but rather at preventing it from returning to the border and
attacking the "Jewish state"," said Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, who formerly headed "Israel"/s Shin Bet internal security agency.
He said "Israel" wanted to write a new "Dictionary of Terms" for relations with Hizbullah.
"Trying to write it with bullets and bombs takes a little longer, but it is going to be written," he said. "If they even think of attacking, they will
know what price they, or Lebanon, will pay."
Meanwhile, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Monday that "the United States will soon provide "Israel" with some 100 bunker buster bombs
to kill Hizbullah/s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and destroy the party/s" fortifications.
According to the Saudi-owned daily, sources in Washington and Tel Aviv said the bombs, which can penetrate up to 40 meters underground,
would be shipped to "Israel" from a US military base in Qatar.
Citing US officials, the New York Times reported on Saturday that the Bush administration was rushing a delivery of satellite-and laser-guided
bombs to the "Jewish state" in response to an Israeli request.
The report did not give details on the munitions in question.
Diplomatic activity to end the crisis has intensified and both Israeli security sources and Western diplomats said the army believed it had about
one more week to do as much damage to Hizbullah as it could.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who started a visit to the region, said a ceasefire was urgent as long as the right conditions were in
place and that the US wants any agreement to remove the threat posed to "Israel". Source:Daily Star, July 25, 2006. Date: 25/07/2006 Time
16:36.
Hezbollah war with "Israel", so far, has been a rare military accomplishment in the history of the Middle East conflict, analysts say. But they
doubt whether the Islamic militia can endure sustained and intensive warfare.
Although Lebanon has paid the price with mounting civilian casualties and a devastated infrastructure, Hezbollah has largely remained intact, and
despite the 12-day pounding of the militia positions it is still able to fire rockets into "Israel".
The Israeli military, which prides itself on a history of brilliant victories over the Arabs, was caught unawares when Hezbollah captured two Israeli
soldiers and killed four sailors in an attack on an Israeli navy boat.
An Iranian-made radar-guided anti-ship missile was used in the attack, the Israeli military has said, and Tel Aviv is admitting that it was caught
off-guard, a second time.
"We were not aware that Hezbollah possessed this kind of missile," Rear Admiral Noam Faig, "Israel" Navy (IN) head of operations, told Janes
Defence Weekly last week. "We are familiar with that missile from other areas, but assumed that the threat was not present in Lebanon."
Prepared for showdown
In relative terms, the militia has had more success in fighting "Israel" than many Arab states and analysts say the group was well prepared for the
showdown.
Amal Saad-Ghoreyeb, author of "Hezbollah: Politics and Religion" told Aljazeera.net: "A lot of commentators say the group must have
miscalculated. But Hezbollah ability to provide a military deterrent must be indicative of the fact that the movement was prepared for such an
Israeli onslaught."
Twenty Israeli soldiers have been killed and several tanks destroyed by Hezbollah, who has confirmed that 13 of its fighters have also been killed.
Hezbollah tactics are becoming clearer as the conflict continues. The group has a military force as large as 5000 that is divided into decentralised
divisions, and since the Israeli withdrawal from the south in 2000, the group has been preparing underground tunnels across south Lebanon and
building sophisticated armoury.
Vietnam style warfare
Military analysts have drawn comparisons between the Hezbollah and Vietnamese fighters and other guerrilla forces in their tactics.
"They are well armed, well motivated combat veterans from the 1990s. It is the old Mao Tse tung guerrilla strategy of retreating when the enemy
advances and advancing when the enemy retreats," Nicholas Blandford, the Janes Defence Weekly analyst in Lebanon, told Aljazeera.net.
Unlike many Arab militaries that are under tight, centralised control, Hezbollah works in small decentralised groups that are able to respond
quickly without permission from senior ranks.
"They always operate in small isolated cells. One cell does not know what the other cell is doing. I am sure Hassan Nasrallah does not know what
the military wing is doing sometimes. This decentralised structure is part of the group military potency," Saad-Ghoreyeb said.
The last war "Israel" fought in Lebanon was against the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in 1982; but the Palestinian resistance to the Israeli
invasion was mostly unsuccessful as it was infiltrated with informers and applied tactics similar to a regular army.
This time "Israel" faces a far more formidable force made up of dedicated and secretive members who have years of experience in fighting a
guerrilla war in south Lebanon.
Fierce fighting
Reports from Israeli soldiers returning from raids in Lebanon say that they have fought fierce battles with a formidable foe.
"They are not normal soldiers, you know," one was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. "They are guerrillas. They are very smart."
But although Hezbollah have fared well up until now, it remains to be seen how long they can sustain the fierce Israeli assault.
Supply lines within Lebanon have been cut and the group will also have difficulties importing weapons from outside the country. However,
according to Israeli reports they have enough rockets to last them for a month.
"The rate of rocket fire has dwindled since last Wednesday. Whether this is a tactical move or because they are running low on supplies is
impossible to say," Blanford said.
Ground War
What is likely is that Hezbollah are waiting for a full-scale invasion so they can engage "Israel" on the ground and fight a guerrilla war in the
valleys and mountains of south Lebanon.
"As for us, our equation and principles are the following: When the Israelis enter, they must pay dearly in terms of their tanks, officers &
soldiers. This is what we pledge to do and we will honour our pledge, God willing," Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah secretary general, said in an
interview with Aljazeera on Thursday.
Tel Aviv ended its 18-year-long occupation of the border area in 2000 and is unlikely to re-engage in a conflict that was sometimes referred to as
"Israeli Vietnam".
Alon Ben-David, a Janes Defence Weekly correspondent wrote in last weeks issue that the Israeli military has suffered "considerable" casualties in
its push north in Lebanon.
"The Israeli forces have discovered that Hezbollah has established a Viet Cong-style network of tunnels and trenches close to the Israeli border,
providing shelter for its operatives and their weapons," he said. Source:aljazeera.net, 25-7-2006. Date: 25/07/2006 Time 14:39.
After a comparatively quiet morning, the North of "Israel" found itself once again under rocket fire early Tuesday afternoon, with rockets landing
in Kfar Mrar, Kiryat Shmona, Acre, and Nahariya. The heaviest barrage, which included 16 rockets, struck Haifa.
At least 23 settlers were wounded in the attack, two moderately and 11 lightly. The rest were suffering from shock. Magen David Adom
ambulances evacuated the wounded to Haifas Rambam Hospital.
In Kfar Mrar, 25 people were wounded, one critically. Two others were in moderate condition, two were lightly wounded and 20 were treated for
shock, according to Magen David Adom.
According to police, what could have been disastrous results of the salvo on Haifa were avoided, due to the fact that most of the rockets missed
apartment buildings and impacted in courtyards.
One of the rockets hit a city bus. Puddles of blood were seen on the front steps of the bus leading up to the drivers seat. The windshield was hit
by shrapnel.
A house that was hit by yet another rocket sustained heavy damage, but no one was seriously hurt, witnesses said. Two other rockets struck very
close to one of the citie hospitals, doctors said.
In an almost simultaneous attack on the Upper Galilee, seven rockets fell in open spaces around Kiryat Shmona, setting fires in the area. No one
was wounded.
Earlier on Tuesday, at least five rockets fell in Safed, three in Acre and one in Shfaram.
Also Tuesday morning, warning sirens sounded throughout the North, including in Hatzor Haglilit, Safed, Haifa, Karmiel, Rosh Pina and Kiryat
Shmona. Source:Jerusalem Post, 25-7-2006. Date: 25/07/2006 Time 13:46.
Hezbollah gunners renewed their attacks on "Israel" on Tuesday morning when they fired two rockets at the Upper Galilee.
Another two rockets landed a few minutes later in an open area in the northern city of Safed. There were no casualties reported in any of the
strikes.
Eight Israelis were wounded Monday afternoon - two of them moderately to seriously - when a barrage of rockets fired by Hezbollah guerillas in
Lebanon landed in cities and towns across northern "Israel".
Dozens of rockets struck the north in several waves, hitting Tiberias, Nahariya, the Haifa suburbs, Acre, Safed, the Upper Galilee, Shlomi, the
Maalot area, the Druze village of Kisra and Tefen.
Two Israelis in a settlement located to the east of Maalot were moderately to seriously wounded with shrapnel wounds to the neck and stomach.
Of the wounded, two from Nahariya and one each from Shlomi and Acre were evacuated to Nahariya Hospital.
Two people sustained shrapnel wounds in Tiberias and 22 suffered from shock.
A field in the Safed area caught fire as a result of the strikes. The area hit in Acre was also struck Sunday and a house in Nahariya sustained a
direct hit. Sirens also wailed in Haifa, but no rockets fell on the city. Source:Haaretz, 25-7-2006. Date: 25/07/2006 Time 10:42.
Hizbullah Consultative Board Member Sheikh Mohammad Yazbeck confirmed in a statement, "The heroic combatants who are fighting fierce
battles to intercept the Zionist forces in Maroun El-Rass represent the beginning of a good omen for a victory that will set the basis for building
Lebanon of the future that will not be controlled by the embassies of the west." His eminence added, "The mad Zionist assault enters its
thirteenth day leading nowhere but the committing of massacres against old and young men, women and children. This is the same Nazism. The
issue did not only confine to the two captured soldiers, although this is Lebanon right to free its prisoners. In fact, there is a conspiracy coupled
with an Arab silence, which seeks to erase from the Lebanese forehead (Lebanon defeated the enemy in 2000.)"
His eminence also said, "The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice comes to the region with the slogan of the New Middle East. What she seeks
nowadays through policy is that which they could not achieve through war and destruction." His eminence added, "We refuse to surrender and
accept that which the Zionist enemy seeks. Their destruction was enormous, but they cannot destroy the willpower and determination that
remain stronger than their supremacy."
Sheikh Yazbeck called on "the Lebanese to benefit from the generosity and sacrifices of the combatants and that they must not be pressurized by
any decisions of the US that supports "Israel" and the policy of killing and destruction in Lebanon. Rice can only bring further destruction and
ruins. The Lebanese people determination is more powerful than their terrorism in its entirety.
His eminence called on the Lebanese will all their sects "to further unity and embracement of the Lebanese army and resistance with more
endurance in order to break and defeat this hostile enemy as well as face this serious conspiracy on Lebanon," stressing at the same time on that
"victory is coming and Lebanon will be an example of the Arab and Moslem world." Source:Special July 24, 2006. Date: 25/07/2006 Time 10:34.
The Israeli bombardment targeted the outpost of the UN peace keeping force in south Lebanon the frontline town of Rmeish. Four elements of
the force were hospitalized in the civil hospital in Nakoura for treatment. Source:National Media Agency, July 24, 2006. Date: 25/07/2006
Time 10:03.
One day it might be slightly - but darkly - funny to look back on "Israeli" rationalizations for its target choices during the offensive against
Lebanon that began on July 12. Right now, though, for those who can look at the facts on the ground through anything other than a prism
supplied by "poor little "Israel"," the more common reactions are confusion, fear and outrage.
The Jewish (Zionist) state official position is that it is destroying "terrorist infrastructure" as a means of (in no particular order, for reasons
which will shortly be evident); a) degrading the command and control and combat capabilities of Hizbullah; b) freeing the two Israeli soldiers
whose capture sparked the disproportionate onslaught; and c) establishing a new "buffer zone" along the border to put northern "Israel" beyond
the reach of most Hizbullah rockets.
It is hard to see how these goals can be furthered by a target list that has so far included a textile factory, a dairy, a glass factory, and a
woodworking shop. A key component of the Jewish state strategy is emerging: One of the world most technologically sophisticated military
organizations wants to make sure that no Hizbullah fighter can wear a T-shirt while he drinks milk from a proper tumbler while sitting at a
wooden table. But the fighter might find some milk - and a usable receptacle therefore - and might be lactose-intolerant and suffer some kind of
stomach problem after he drinks the "terrorist elixir," so pharmaceutical plants also need to be bombed in order to cut off his access to
treatment. The fighter would then require considerable amounts of toilet tissue, which must explain why a paper factory was destroyed. He
might call a friend to bring some, so cellular phone transmission networks must also be eliminated, and since the call might get through anyway,
the friend must be denied mobility by blowing up gas stations. The Hizbullah man might also see a television ad for a home remedy, so
broadcasting has to be hit, too, as well as grocery stores. In case the fighter is in a washroom equipped with a bidet (however unlikely), he must
be prevented from using it, so water reservoirs are legitimate targets as well. And what if he calls an ambulance? Start knocking them out, too,
and throw in a couple of hospitals for good measure.
If we assume that these kinds of facilities (and there have been dozens of others just as innocuous) are "terrorist infrastructure," perhaps it
would be less time-consuming to enumerate those that are not. Hopefully someone can discern what these might be. One has to assume, after
all, that at least some Hizbullah fighters like to smell flowers, for instance, so florists shops are fair game. The same goes for just about
anything human beings require for sustenance. Maybe, given the dietary restrictions followed by many practicing Muslims, alcohol is off-limits?
But alcohol is not just an intoxicant. It is also an antiseptic, so anyone who stocks Johnny Walker on his shelves is hereby forewarned. How about
pork farms? They seem safe right now, but give Israeli planners a few days to consider contingencies.
The sheer absurdity of "Israeli" excuses for targeting items that patently have no military value demands that such questions be asked. This is specially true in light of the sole nuance detectable in US reactions to the assault: President George W. Bush has stated that while he has no problem with the Jewish state ravaging of Lebanon, he would like to make sure that the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora survives.
The premise of Bush theorem is typically cloudy, especially since there will be precious little for anyone to govern when this is all over, but also because the broadcasting targets have included FTV and LBC. FTV is affiliated with the Future Movement, the same Sunni organization whose
MPs form the core of Siniora support in Parliament. As for LBC, it is a staunch ally of the Christian politicians who joined the Future Movement to
form the March 14 Forces whose very purpose has been to tilt Lebanon away from its former Syrian masters and seek accommodation with the
United States. Targeting them necessarily reduces the ability of Siniora and his allies to make a variety of points that need very badly to be made
about the national interest.
Does the destruction of such targets serve any of the goals the Jewish state has enunciated? The answer is mixed at best. Certainly, Hizbullah
capabilities have been reduced, but its fighters have provided spirited and apparently well-coordinated defense against Israeli ground incursions,
and its rockets continue to exact some small measure of revenge for the devastation meted out in Lebanon. Obviously the two soldiers are no
closer to being released, and while Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh has said that they are in good health, that could change if and when the
Israeli Air Force flattens the wrong building. A buffer zone might still be established, but to what end? The only real protection for residents of
northern "Israel" is not an armed presence that will try to keep Hizbullah out of rocket range, but a serious look at the party very real grievances.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that a cease-fire will be of no use if it leaves in place the conditions that led to this war. All she
needs to do now is get beyond the tired rhetoric about bogeymen and take a hard look at what those conditions really are.
Marc J. Sirois is managing editor of The Daily Star. Source:Daily Star, 25-7-2006. Date: 25/07/2006 Time 10:16.