by Uri Avnery
EVERY PEOPLE elevate the profession in which they excel.
If a person in the street were asked to name the area of enterprise in which we Israelis excel, his answer would probably be: Hi-Tech. And indeed, in this area we have recorded some impressive achievements. It seems as if hardly a day passes without an Israeli start-up company that was born in a garage being sold for hundreds of millions. Little Israel is one of the major hi-tech powers in the world.
But the profession in which Israel is not only one of the biggest, but the unchallenged Numero Uno is: liquidations.
This week this was proven once again. The Hebrew verb "lekhassel" - liquidate - in all its grammatical forms, currently dominates our public discourse. Respected professors debate with academic solemnity when to "liquidate" and whom. Used generals discuss with professional zeal the technicalities of "liquidation", its rules and methods. Shrewd politicians compete with each other about the number and status of the candidates for "liquidation".
INDEED, FOR a long time now there has not been such an orgy of jubilation and self-congratulation in the Israeli media as there was this week. Every reporter, every commentator, every political hack, every transient celeb interviewed on TV, on the radio and in the newspapers, was radiant with pride. We have done it! We have succeeded! We have "liquidated" Imad Mughniyeh!
He was a "terrorist". And not just a terrorist, a master terrorist! An arch-terrorist! The very king of terrorists! From hour to hour his stature grew, reaching gigantic proportions. Compared to him, Osama Bin-Laden is a mere beginner. The list of his exploits grew from news report to news report, from headline to headline.
There is and never has been anyone like him. For years he has kept out of sight. But our good boys - many, many good boys - have not neglected him for a moment. They worked day and night, weeks and months, years and decades, in order to trace him. They "knew him better than his friends, better than he knew himself" (verbatim quote from a respected Haaretz commentator, gloating like all his colleagues).
True, one killjoy Western commentator argued on Aljazeera that Mughniyeh had dropped from sight because he had ceased to be important, that his great days as a terrorist were in the 80s and 90s, when he hijacked a plane and brought down the Marine headquarters in Beirut and Israeli institutions abroad. Since Hizbullah has turned into a state-within-the-state, with a kind of regular army, he had - according to this version - outlived his usefulness.
But what the hell. Mughniyeh-the-person has disappeared, and Mughniyeh-the-legend has taken his place, a world-embracing mythological terrorist, who has long been marked as "a Son of Death" (i.e. a person to be killed) as declared on TV by another out-of-use general. His "liquidation" was a huge, almost supra-natural, achievement, much more important than Lebanon War II, in which we were not so very successful. The "liquidation" equals at least the glorious Entebbe exploit, if not more.
True, the Holy Book enjoins us: "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth / Lest the Lord see it and it displeases him." (Proverbs 24:17) But this was not just any enemy, it was a super-super-enemy, and therefore the Lord will certainly excuse us for dancing with joy from talk-show to talk-show, from issue to issue, from speech to speech, as long as we do not distribute candies in the street - even if the Israeli government denies feebly that we were the ones who "liquidated" the man.
AS CHANCE would have it, the "liquidation" was carried out only a few days after I wrote an article about the inability of occupying powers to understand the inner logic of resistance organizations. Mughniyeh's "liquidation" is an outstanding example of this. (Of course, Israel gave up its occupation of South Lebanon some years ago, but the relationship between the parties has remained as it was.)
In the eyes of the Israeli leadership, the "liquidation" was a huge success. We have "cut off the head of the serpent" (another headline from Haaretz). We have inflicted on Hizbullah immense damage, so much that it cannot be repaired. "This is not revenge but prevention", as another of the guided reporters (Haaretz again) declared. This is such an important achievement, that it outweighs the inevitable revenge, whatever the number of victims-to-be.
In the eyes of Hizbullah, thing look quite different. The organization has acquired another precious asset: a national hero, whose name fills the air from Iran to Morocco. The "liquidated" Mughniyeh is worth more than the live Mughniyeh, irrespective of what his real status may have been at the end of his life.
Enough to remember what happened here in 1942, when the British "liquidated" Abraham Stern (a.k.a. Ya'ir): from his blood the Lehi organization (a.k.a. Stern Gang) was born and became perhaps the most efficient terrorist organization of the 20th century.
Therefore, Hizbullah has no interest at all in belittling the status of the liquidatee. On the contrary, Hassan Nasrallah, exactly like Ehud Olmert, has every interest in blowing up his stature to huge proportions.
If Hizbullah has lately been far from the all-Arab spotlight, it is now back with a bang. Almost every Arab station devoted hours to "the brother the martyr the commander Imad Mughniyeh al-Hajj Raduan".
In the struggle for Lebanon - the main battle that occupies Nasrallah - the organization has scored a great advantage. Multitudes joined the funeral, overshadowing the almost simultaneous memorial parade for his adversary, Rafiq al-Hariri. In his speech, Nasrallah described his opponents contemptuously as accomplices to the murder of the hero, despicable collaborators of Israel and the United States, and called upon them to leave the house and move to Tel Aviv or New York. He has gone up another notch in his struggle for domination of the Land of the Cedars.
And the main thing: the anger about the murder and the pride in the martyr will inspire another generation of youngsters, who will be ready to die for Allah and Nasrallah. The more Israeli propaganda enlarges the proportions of Mughniyeh, the more young Shiites will be inspired to follow his example.
The career of the man himself is interesting in this respect. When he was born in a Shiite village in South Lebanon, the Shiites there were a despised, downtrodden and impotent community. He joined the Palestinian Fatah organization, which dominated South Lebanon at the time, eventually becoming one of Yasser Arafat's bodyguards (I may even have seen him when I met Arafat in Beirut). But when Israel succeeded in driving the Fatah forces out of South Lebanon, Mughniyeh stayed behind and joined Hizbullah, the new fighting force that had sprung up as a direct result of the Israeli occupation.
ISRAEL NOW RESEMBLES the person whose neighbor overhead has dropped one boot on the floor, and who is waiting for the second boot to fall.
Everybody knows that there will be revenge. Nasrallah has promised this, adding that it could take place anywhere in the world. For a long time already, people in Israel believe Nasrallah much more than Olmert.
Israeli security organs are issuing dire warnings for people going abroad - to be on guard at every moment, not to be conspicuous, not to congregate with other Israelis, not to accept unusual invitations, etc. The media have magnified these warnings to the point of hysteria. In the Israeli embassies, security has been tightened. On the Northern border, too, an alert has been sounded - just a few days after Olmert boasted in the Knesset that, as a result of the war, the Northern border is now quieter than ever before.
Such worries are far from baseless. All the past "liquidations" of this kind have brought with them dire consequences:
- The classic example is, of course, the "liquidation" of Nasrallah's predecessor, Abbas Mussawi. He was killed in South Lebanon in 1992 by Apache gunships. All of Israel rejoiced. Then, too, the Champagne was flowing. In revenge, Hizbullah blew up the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, as well as the Jewish community center there. The planner was, it is now alleged, Imad Mughniyeh. More than a hundred people perished. The main result: instead of the rather grey Mussawi, the sophisticated, masterly Nasrallah took over.
- Before that, Golda Meir ordered a series of "liquidations" to revenge the tragedy of the Israeli athletes in Munich (most of whom were actually killed by the inept German police trying to prevent their being flown to Algeria as hostages). Not one of the "liquidated" had anything to do with the outrage itself. They were PLO diplomatic representatives, sitting ducks in their offices. The matter is described at length in Stephen Spielberg's kitschy film "Munich". The result: the PLO became stronger and turned into a state-in-the-making, Yasser Arafat eventually returned to Palestine.
- The "liquidation" of Yahyah Ayyash in Gaza in 1996 resembles the Mughniyeh affair. It was carried out by means of a booby-trapped cellular telephone. Ayyash's dimensions, too, were blown up to giant proportions, so that he had become a legend already in his own lifetime. The nickname "the engineer" was attached to him because he prepared the explosive devices used by Hamas. Shimon Peres, who had succeeded to the Prime Ministership after the murder of Yitzhak Rabin, believed that the "liquidation" would lend him huge popularity and get him re-elected. The opposite happened: Hamas reacted with a series of sensational suicide-bombings and brought Binyamin Netanyahu to power.
- Fathi Shikaki, head of Islamic Jihad, was "liquidated" in 1995 by a bicyclist who shot him down in a Malta street. The small organization was not eradicated, but on the contrary grew through its revenge actions. Today it is the group which is launching the Qassams at Sderot.
- Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al was actually being "liquidated" in a street in Amman by the injection of poison. The act was exposed and its perpetrators identified and a furious King Hussein compelled Israel to provide the antidote that saved his life. The "liquidators" were allowed to go home in return for the release of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmad Yassin from Israeli prison. As a result, Mash'al was promoted and is now the senior political leader of Hamas.
- Sheik Yassin himself, a paraplegic, was "liquidated" by attack helicopters while leaving a mosque after prayer. A previous attempt by bombing his home had failed. The sheik became a martyr in the eyes of the entire Arab world, and has served since as an inspiration for hundreds of Hamas attacks.
THE COMMON denominator of all these and many other actions is that they did not harm the organizations of the "liquidatees", but boomeranged. And all of them brought in their wake grievous revenge attacks.
The decision to carry out a "liquidation" resembles the decision that was taken to start the Second Lebanon War: not one of the deciders gives a damn for the suffering of the civilian population that inevitably falls victim to the revenge.
Why, then, are the "liquidations" carried out?
The response of one of the generals who was asked this question: "There is no unequivocal answer to this."
These words are dripping with Chutzpa: how can one decide on such an action when there is no unequivocal answer to the question of its being worth the price?
I suspect that the real reason is both political and psychological. Political, because it is always popular. After every "liquidation", there is much jubilation. When the revenge arrives, the public (and the media) do not see the connection between the"liquidation" and the response. Each is seen separately. Few people have the time and the inclination to think about it, when everybody is burning with fury about the latest murderous attack.
In the present situation, there is an additional political motivation: the army has no answer to the Qassams, nor has it any desire to get enmeshed in the re-occupation of the Gaza Strip, with all the expected casualties. A sensational "liquidation" is a simple alternative.
The psychological reason is also clear: it is satisfying. True, the "liquidation" - as the word shows - is more appropriate for the underworld than for the security organs of a state. But it is a challenging and complex task, as in a Mafia film, which gives much satisfaction to the "liquidators". Ehud Barak, for example, was a liquidator from the start of his military career. When the "liquidation" ends in success, the executioners can raise glasses of champagne.
A mixture of blood, champagne and folly is an intoxicating but toxic cocktail.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Analysts expect Hizbullah to deal major blow to "Israel"
Source: Daily Star via Islamic Resistance in Lebanon
By Michael Bluhm
BEIRUT: Wednesday's assassination of Hizbullah senior commander Imad Moghnieh will spark a new round of violence in the region, as Hizbullah is certain to retaliate in spectacular fashion, thereby provoking further security fallout in Lebanon, a number of analysts told The Daily Star on Friday.
The aftershocks of Moghnieh's killing could even increase the chances for civil strife here, said Ahmad Moussalli, a professor of political science and Islamic studies at the American University of Beirut.
We are close to a major conflict," he said. "We are at a point of some kind of war. It's very dangerous. You will see Hizbullah hardening its [domestic] position, rather than softening."
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's words at Moghnieh's funeral on Thursday about an "open war" between Hizbullah and "Israel" were not a mere fulmination fueled by the moment, Moussalli added.
"It is a declaration of war, kind of," he said. "The whole ballgame now is different. I don't think it was just rhetoric and emotion. It's not just venting his anger."
On the other hand, Nasrallah's proclamation of an ongoing, open war represents only an explicit admission of the reality dating to the emergence of Hizbullah in late 1982 to fight against the "Israeli" occupation of South Lebanon, said retired General Elias Hanna, who teaches political science at Notre Dame University. For example, after Hizbullah's then-Secretary General Abbas Moussawi was assassinated by "Israeli" helicopters in February 1992, a car bomb killed 29 at the "Israeli" Embassy in Buenos Aires in March 1992, although Hizbullah has never claimed responsibility for the attack.
"It never was a closed war," Hanna said. "It is not something new. There is no cease-fire. It was a declared war a long time ago. It's not one point out of context. It's a continuation of the same war."
Nasrallah's fiery language at the funeral in Rweiss was to be expected, as an effort to bolster spirits and guarantee the continuity of Moghnieh's work, Hanna added. "First, he is trying to keep the morale high [and] then to reassure the resistance Imad Moghnieh accomplished everything he was assigned to," Hanna said.
For Hizbullah, Moghnieh's assassination takes precedence over the maneuvering in the 15-month-old domestic political deadlock with the March 14 governing coalition, meaning the Shiite group will step away for some time from street protests or talks over the presidential vacuum, Hanna added. With all the political actors awaiting Hizbullah's response to the killing, the further direction of the political crisis "is in Hizbullah's hands - Mar Mikhael is secondary, the [presidential] election is secondary," Hanna said, referring to the investigation of the deaths of seven opposition supporters on January 27 in Beirut's Mar Mikhael-Shiyyah district.
Hizbullah will first focus on striking back at the Jewish state - which Hizbullah blames for the assassination - in a retaliatory attack on a meaningful target, said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East center. "It will deal a major blow to "Israel"," she said. "Hizbullah assumes that this is war. According to Hizbullah, the war is ongoing. It sees [the assassination] as part of the war."
Nasrallah's comments about "Israel" expanding that war "outside our natural battleground" by killing Moghnieh in Damascus were the most significant element of his speech, Saad-Ghorayeb said, as a signal that Hizbullah would act likewise.
"He was giving an advance claim of responsibility for an operation that Hizbullah will conduct," she said. "In Hizbullah's history, it has never claimed responsibility for any operation against "Israel" or Jewish targets overseas."
Hizbullah will seek out a substantial target as a reflection of the importance of Moghnieh's importance to Hizbullah, Hanna said. "It's going to be big," Hanna said, because Moghnieh "is irreplaceable. He is a co-founder of Hizbullah.
"When you see [Iranian Foreign Minister] Manouchehr Mottaki in Lebanon attending the funeral, it tells you what the importance of this guy is."
The retaliation will probably not take place in Lebanon, as the Blue Line offers few appetizing targets and is now patrolled by a beefed-up UN peacekeeping force, Hanna said. "The dynamics of the South do not let Hizbullah wage an open war" there, he said.
Once Hizbullah hits back, Lebanon will have to face the consequences of the inevitable "Israeli" counter-strike, although the violence could amount to only a series of isolated intelligence operations, Hanna said.
"Maybe this will become a security war, tit for tat," Saad-Ghorayeb said, or it could erupt into a regional conflict involving other states. Saad-Ghorayeb pointed out Nasrallah's "unprecedented" vow that Moghnieh's death marks the beginning of a battle that will lead to the eradication of "Israel".
"That implies that Nasrallah is talking about ... a wider regional war," she said, adding that Hizbullah might have interpreted Moghnieh's killing as a desire on the part of "Israel" and the US to reignite a war against Hizbullah. In this context, Mottaki's presence at the funeral signals Iran's backing for whatever steps Hizbullah takes, she said.
"Mottaki's appearance was very important," she said. "It underlines the strategy and ideological relationship between Hizbullah and Iran. This lends support to whatever Nasrallah said and gives added support to Nasrallah's threats."
Hanna, on the contrary, said regional geopolitical strategy did not play a role in the timing of Moghnieh's assassination - an operation as complex as his killing is only part of the unceasing Hizbullah-"Israeli" war and not tied to any other messages or external factors.
"When you get the chance to hit, you hit," Hanna said.
-------
Commentary: Connecting the dots or how we could see a "Syrian Gulf of Tonkin"
While I do not agree with everything Hanna and Saad-Ghorayeb are saying they are correct in their assessment that Hezbollah's response is likely to trigger a war, possibly a major one. The question then is would such a war be in Hezbollah's interest?
The NIE is long gone and forgotten (after all, the new Indiana Jones has just been released!), the Republicans are likely to bite the dust, Olmert looks like a lame duck, the "Surge" in Iraq will sooner or later be discovered to be the abject failure it always was, the greenback is in free fall, the USA has just SNAFUed again in South America (Bolivia), the Russians dont' care in the least about the OSCE's rejection of the elections, Kosovo is about to blow up, Siniora, Abbas and Mubarak are clueless and desperate, Gaza is not showing any sign to imminently show great love for Fatah, the Russians are doubling their presence in Bushehr - wherever you look you can see signs of collapse of the Neocon dream of a new world order (again). For the Neocons, a big war in the Middle-East could provide the kind of "Gulf of Tonkin" pretext to simply remove all these issue from the political discourse and drawn it all in a wave of self-righteous patriotism.
I think that to provide such a pretext to the Empire would be a major mistake for Hezbollah whose leaders should remember two important facts:
1) High states of readiness are not sustainable over time
2) The longer a liberation war will be delayed, the weaker the Empire will be
Thus, Hezbollah and Iran should sit on their hands as long as possible. Still, that might not be enough.
In the current situation any terrorist act - whether "false flag" or real - will be attributed to Hezbollah and thus make an USraeli 'retaliation' seem legitimate in the eyes of the TV-watching public. Furthermore, the USraeli Empire can simply accuse Iran of assisting Hezbollah in whatever action Hezbollah is accused of taking and that, in turn, will justify both "preemptive" and "retaliatory" attacks on Iran.
I would be willing to bet that all this has already been choreographed in Jerusalem and Washington before Mughniyah was killed. Under those circumstances Hezbollah might also decide that since "retaliation" will happen anyway they might as well take the opportunity of a first shot. I guess that we will find out soon.
By Michael Bluhm
BEIRUT: Wednesday's assassination of Hizbullah senior commander Imad Moghnieh will spark a new round of violence in the region, as Hizbullah is certain to retaliate in spectacular fashion, thereby provoking further security fallout in Lebanon, a number of analysts told The Daily Star on Friday.
The aftershocks of Moghnieh's killing could even increase the chances for civil strife here, said Ahmad Moussalli, a professor of political science and Islamic studies at the American University of Beirut.
We are close to a major conflict," he said. "We are at a point of some kind of war. It's very dangerous. You will see Hizbullah hardening its [domestic] position, rather than softening."
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's words at Moghnieh's funeral on Thursday about an "open war" between Hizbullah and "Israel" were not a mere fulmination fueled by the moment, Moussalli added.
"It is a declaration of war, kind of," he said. "The whole ballgame now is different. I don't think it was just rhetoric and emotion. It's not just venting his anger."
On the other hand, Nasrallah's proclamation of an ongoing, open war represents only an explicit admission of the reality dating to the emergence of Hizbullah in late 1982 to fight against the "Israeli" occupation of South Lebanon, said retired General Elias Hanna, who teaches political science at Notre Dame University. For example, after Hizbullah's then-Secretary General Abbas Moussawi was assassinated by "Israeli" helicopters in February 1992, a car bomb killed 29 at the "Israeli" Embassy in Buenos Aires in March 1992, although Hizbullah has never claimed responsibility for the attack.
"It never was a closed war," Hanna said. "It is not something new. There is no cease-fire. It was a declared war a long time ago. It's not one point out of context. It's a continuation of the same war."
Nasrallah's fiery language at the funeral in Rweiss was to be expected, as an effort to bolster spirits and guarantee the continuity of Moghnieh's work, Hanna added. "First, he is trying to keep the morale high [and] then to reassure the resistance Imad Moghnieh accomplished everything he was assigned to," Hanna said.
For Hizbullah, Moghnieh's assassination takes precedence over the maneuvering in the 15-month-old domestic political deadlock with the March 14 governing coalition, meaning the Shiite group will step away for some time from street protests or talks over the presidential vacuum, Hanna added. With all the political actors awaiting Hizbullah's response to the killing, the further direction of the political crisis "is in Hizbullah's hands - Mar Mikhael is secondary, the [presidential] election is secondary," Hanna said, referring to the investigation of the deaths of seven opposition supporters on January 27 in Beirut's Mar Mikhael-Shiyyah district.
Hizbullah will first focus on striking back at the Jewish state - which Hizbullah blames for the assassination - in a retaliatory attack on a meaningful target, said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East center. "It will deal a major blow to "Israel"," she said. "Hizbullah assumes that this is war. According to Hizbullah, the war is ongoing. It sees [the assassination] as part of the war."
Nasrallah's comments about "Israel" expanding that war "outside our natural battleground" by killing Moghnieh in Damascus were the most significant element of his speech, Saad-Ghorayeb said, as a signal that Hizbullah would act likewise.
"He was giving an advance claim of responsibility for an operation that Hizbullah will conduct," she said. "In Hizbullah's history, it has never claimed responsibility for any operation against "Israel" or Jewish targets overseas."
Hizbullah will seek out a substantial target as a reflection of the importance of Moghnieh's importance to Hizbullah, Hanna said. "It's going to be big," Hanna said, because Moghnieh "is irreplaceable. He is a co-founder of Hizbullah.
"When you see [Iranian Foreign Minister] Manouchehr Mottaki in Lebanon attending the funeral, it tells you what the importance of this guy is."
The retaliation will probably not take place in Lebanon, as the Blue Line offers few appetizing targets and is now patrolled by a beefed-up UN peacekeeping force, Hanna said. "The dynamics of the South do not let Hizbullah wage an open war" there, he said.
Once Hizbullah hits back, Lebanon will have to face the consequences of the inevitable "Israeli" counter-strike, although the violence could amount to only a series of isolated intelligence operations, Hanna said.
"Maybe this will become a security war, tit for tat," Saad-Ghorayeb said, or it could erupt into a regional conflict involving other states. Saad-Ghorayeb pointed out Nasrallah's "unprecedented" vow that Moghnieh's death marks the beginning of a battle that will lead to the eradication of "Israel".
"That implies that Nasrallah is talking about ... a wider regional war," she said, adding that Hizbullah might have interpreted Moghnieh's killing as a desire on the part of "Israel" and the US to reignite a war against Hizbullah. In this context, Mottaki's presence at the funeral signals Iran's backing for whatever steps Hizbullah takes, she said.
"Mottaki's appearance was very important," she said. "It underlines the strategy and ideological relationship between Hizbullah and Iran. This lends support to whatever Nasrallah said and gives added support to Nasrallah's threats."
Hanna, on the contrary, said regional geopolitical strategy did not play a role in the timing of Moghnieh's assassination - an operation as complex as his killing is only part of the unceasing Hizbullah-"Israeli" war and not tied to any other messages or external factors.
"When you get the chance to hit, you hit," Hanna said.
-------
Commentary: Connecting the dots or how we could see a "Syrian Gulf of Tonkin"
While I do not agree with everything Hanna and Saad-Ghorayeb are saying they are correct in their assessment that Hezbollah's response is likely to trigger a war, possibly a major one. The question then is would such a war be in Hezbollah's interest?
The NIE is long gone and forgotten (after all, the new Indiana Jones has just been released!), the Republicans are likely to bite the dust, Olmert looks like a lame duck, the "Surge" in Iraq will sooner or later be discovered to be the abject failure it always was, the greenback is in free fall, the USA has just SNAFUed again in South America (Bolivia), the Russians dont' care in the least about the OSCE's rejection of the elections, Kosovo is about to blow up, Siniora, Abbas and Mubarak are clueless and desperate, Gaza is not showing any sign to imminently show great love for Fatah, the Russians are doubling their presence in Bushehr - wherever you look you can see signs of collapse of the Neocon dream of a new world order (again). For the Neocons, a big war in the Middle-East could provide the kind of "Gulf of Tonkin" pretext to simply remove all these issue from the political discourse and drawn it all in a wave of self-righteous patriotism.
I think that to provide such a pretext to the Empire would be a major mistake for Hezbollah whose leaders should remember two important facts:
1) High states of readiness are not sustainable over time
2) The longer a liberation war will be delayed, the weaker the Empire will be
Thus, Hezbollah and Iran should sit on their hands as long as possible. Still, that might not be enough.
In the current situation any terrorist act - whether "false flag" or real - will be attributed to Hezbollah and thus make an USraeli 'retaliation' seem legitimate in the eyes of the TV-watching public. Furthermore, the USraeli Empire can simply accuse Iran of assisting Hezbollah in whatever action Hezbollah is accused of taking and that, in turn, will justify both "preemptive" and "retaliatory" attacks on Iran.
I would be willing to bet that all this has already been choreographed in Jerusalem and Washington before Mughniyah was killed. Under those circumstances Hezbollah might also decide that since "retaliation" will happen anyway they might as well take the opportunity of a first shot. I guess that we will find out soon.
Excerpts from Nasrallah's speech warning Israel (subtitled video)
An unambiguous warning from a man who has never made an empty threat:
Full speech transcript:
Source: Hizbollah.org
Hizbullah Secretary General his eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed that "Hizbullah and the Islamic Resistance stand prepared to face any potential aggression on Lebanon, for Imad Moghnieh has left behind tens of thousands of very well trained fighters who are more than ready for martyrdom".
His eminence added: "From July 2006 war until the martyrdom blood of Hajj Imad, let the entire world begin to write in this history to be the beginning of the fall of 'Israel'."
If Sheikh Ragheb Harb's blood drove them (the "Israelis") out of most of the Lebanese territory and Sayyed Abbas' forced those out of the security zone except for Shibaa Farms, then the blood of martyr Imad Moghnieh will drive them out of existence God willing".
At the funeral of the martyred leader Hajj Imad Moghnieh (otherwise known as Rodwan), Sayyed Nasrallah addressed the Zionists in a speech to mourners in Beirut's southern suburb of Roueis at Lord of Martyrs Compound, saying: "You killed Hajj Imad outside our natural battleground. Our battleground with you is on the Lebanese territory as it has been; now you have overstepped the border."
He further stressed that "faced with this killing, its timing, place and manner with which it was carried out, that if you ('Israelis') choose this type of open war, then let the world know we will accept it an open war".
When Sayyed Nasrallah directed his talk to the 'February 14' team, he stressed that "Lebanon will never be 'Israeli' or American. It will never serve as a place or foothold for the Zionists. It will not be divided nor federalized. He who seeks 'divorce' and separation within Lebanon, let him leave to his masters in Washington and Tel Aviv."
Lebanon will remain a country of national unity, coexistence and civil peace; it will remain a country of resistance, triumph and national dignity against the desire of political dwarves."
The following is the text of the speech:
"For the spirit of the dear and beloved brother hajj Imad Moghnieh (Hajj Rodwan), and those of all the martyrs of the homeland and the nation we pray.
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, praise be to Allah, lord of the worlds, prayers and peace be upon our prophet Muhammad, his household and chosen companions, and all the prophets and messengers...
May peace, God's mercy and blessings be upon you
Almighty God says: {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} [33:23 SURAT THE CLANS, COALITION, COMBINED FORCES]
... The martyr leader Imad Moghnieh faithfully promised God and eagerly waited to be with God and died a martyr during the mourning period of the martyrdom of Abi Abdullah Hussein (PBUH) Lord of the martyrs...
Carrying his burial shroud, Hajj Imad was ever ready to sacrifice his own blood since his youth. He lived the years making victory as he sought martyrdom, until he finally arrived at his chosen goal ... congratulations to him on this high divine medal...
Hajj Imad comes from an entire household of martyrdom and jihad ...
At the outset, I would like to congratulate and pay condolences to the dear and beloved, honorable parents of Imad. I congratulate them for this divine alignment for your son's martyrdom. Let the whole world know that this jihadist house gave all it had: Fuad, Jihad and now Imad ...
To his struggling and sacrificing wife in jihad, his sons and daughters, his mujahideen relatives and loved ones, his resistance brothers and comrades in Lebanon and Palestine, and in every land where God has jihad and men, I give congratulations to you all for our dear and beloved brother's receiving of this great divine medal. I also pay condolences for the loss of a dear and beloved brother, struggler and commander.
Hajj Imad Moghnieh is of the rank of leaders whose entire struggle, effort, work and life are all spent in secret charity with God almighty... these are God's soldiers unknown on earth but known in the sky. They defend not themselves only, but the issues of the nation. They do not await praise because they are unknown. They do not defend themselves against lies or respond to unjust charges, because they do not see a presence for themselves outside the battle of jihad and sacrifice..
...We and the nation owe such souls the justice of disclosing to the world their glowing faces, pristine truths and grand offerings.
Today, martyr Hajj Imad has the right to be known by this nation and to be justly served by it for its own sake and not for his... so that the nation is inspired by his spirit, lesson and struggle ...
...Hajj Rodwan today is in God's grace, and all that is being said of him in praise or eulogy are part of the mortal world which means nothing to those reaching God's grace...
This martyrdom, has been expected for 25 years, and has not surprised us, for we all belong to a school whose prophets, Imams and leaders are all martyrs...
...Today, with Hajj Imad's martyrdom we are placed in our natural course as we were with the martyrdom of our leader and secretary-general Sayyed Abbas Moussawi, just as we were also with the sheikh of martyrs sheikh Ragheb Harb.. Because we are in a real bloody battle defending our nation, our holy places and our dignity in the face of all the greed and aggression posed by "Israel", the United States as well as those who stand behind them.
Today, with time constraints, falling rain and loved ones waiting is not the time to serve Hajj Imad justice now...
...in the coming days we will only do a part of our duty, but standing before our martyred leader and his purified body and within earshot of the world that awaits Hizbullah's position in this hour, I would like to emphasize several points...
First: the Zionists see in the martyrdom of hajj Imad a great achievement and we see a good omen of the decisive and imminent victory God willing..
...To back track a little through memory you will find thus was the case with sheikh Ragheb... upon his killing the resistance escalated and "Israel" withdrew from Beirut, the mountains and out of most Lebanese regions except the south...this was due to the resistance and his righteous blood, not international resolutions or interventions that always side with the Zionists ...
...Such was the case with the martyr leader Sayyed Abbas Moussawi after whose martyrdom the resistance soared, leading to "Israel's" humiliating defeat and withdrawal only a few years later in 2000...
...through his blood and the resistance which bore the banner and deeds of Sayyed Abbas Moussawi, and not by international resolutions and the international community...
......Today they killed the leader-brother hajj Imad Moghnieh. They think in killing him the resistance will collapse. They killed him in context with the war that did not end in July and continues on the political level till now.
Why did they fail in July war even though according to Winograd they were the strongest army in possession of superior arms and technology to anyone else in the region,? Simply because its army faced a valiant resistance, with courage and faith for 33 days...Because they were confronted by Imad Moghniyeh along with his brothers and pupils, who fought them courageously and intelligently. Thus, this 'Israel' lost its first war, governed according to historical laws and the promise of its founder, "Israel" will imminently fall and it will fall, God willing...
With the blessed blood of hajj Imad Moghnieh, the results will come to fruition, the blood of sheikh Ragheb, Sayyed Abbas', Fathi Shokaki, Ahmad Yassin and that of the mujahideen leaders to sweep with its purity this cancerous usurper entity grown in the heart of the Arab and Islamic nation.
Second: Let all friends and those concerned be assured, and also let the enemy know that they committed a very big folly. As we stand before the body of martyr Imad and his brothers who know all the facts, I say to friends and foes: there is no weakness or imbalance in the body and ranks of the resistance.
Imad Moghnieh's brothers will continue down his path of jihad, just as Sayyed Abbas' blood did in the past, so will his. The 'Israelis' cannot conceive of the spiritual and emotional bond inspired by Sayyed Abbas' within the resistance and Hizbullah. These people do not know because they belong to a different culture.
The blood of hajj Rodwan strengthens us, gives us more firmness and solidarity as we continue the road widening and making larger our horizons.
I would like to say to the foe before the friend that hajj Imad with his brothers accomplished his entire task. Today as he departs a martyr, he left behind only a small portion of his work to be completed...
...Since the end of the war in July, we started preparing for another day, because we know 'Israel' will assault Lebanon and launch a war against Lebanon and the region. We since the 14th of August when the displaced were returning to their homes, much of our organization was overseeing and organizing housing care and compensation duties; from the first day after the war, those who were fighting have been preparing for the war to come... What I promised in the past is not for the future. It has already been fulfilled at the hands of martyr Imad and his brothers.
Today, the resistance is fully prepared to confront any possible 'Israeli' war. Yesterday, I was speaking about rockets but today I will speak about fighters. Winograd said that a few thousand fighters confronted the strongest 'Israeli' army in the region for several weeks, something the enemy admits to...Today, I say to those who killed hajj Imad: in any coming war, not only one Imad Moghnieh will be waiting for you, not even several thousands of fighters... but tens of thousands of trained youths ready for martyrdom.
Third: To the enemy, because we are not treacherous, and to the friend, in seeking to be excused, I say the following: the Zionists have killed Hajj Imad Moghnieh in Damascus, all field and investigative reports confirm this matter. In dealing with this issue, the 'Israelis' only alluded more than declared responsibility for the assassination.
To them I say: you have slain hajj Imad outside the normal battleground. You used to fight us here on our land. Today, you went outside the border. I will quote something from the July 2006 war the first time I addressed you back then saying that if you wanted it to be an open war then let it be an open war, as I had promised the believers victory, because I have confidence in God, the believers and our people.
To the Zionists: confronted by this killing, its timing, place and the manner with which it was carried out, I say that if you ('Israelis') choose this type of open war, then so be it. Like all other people, we possess the sacred right to self-defense, and all that this right entails to defending our country will be carried out by our brothers and leaders God willing.
Fourth: On the 14th of February, the commemoration of martyr Hariri, we were hoping that this occasion would join the Lebanese. However, some wanted to turn this occasion into a party of curses.
In such event, I will not respond. I only underline that the Lebanon that we gave our dear leaders will never be 'Israeli' and will never be divided. He (MP Walid Jumblatt) who wants divorce (between the loyalty and the opposition) can go to his masters in Washington and Tel Aviv.
Lebanon will remain united and in spite of some dwarfs, Lebanon will continue to be a country for resistance. Despite the calls made for armies to fight wars on their behalf against the resistance, Lebanon will continue to be a country for civil peace and despite all attempts a country for resistance, victory and dignity.
In a few words and despite the attempts made by those calling for foreign armies to launch war on Lebanon and Syria, because they are too cowardly to fight their own war, and despite the ongoing seditious attempts day in day out... Lebanon will remain a country of unity, dignity, martyrdom, and forever deserves martyrs of such caliber as Abbas Musawi, Sheikh Ragheb Harb and Rafik Hariri.
Let us pray for our dear beloved and bid him farewell in the last-moments and renew our pledge to him...with our hands let us raise him to our shoulders proud of his leadership and martyrdom, making sure all our murderous enemies hear our voices despite the cold, and rain, that we will continue resistance until complete victory, God willing, no matter how the magnitude of the sacrifices.
May God bless you all, and raise our martyr to his heavens, along with the martyrs who preceded him and God willing our course will only be filled with victory festivities.
Full speech transcript:
Source: Hizbollah.org
Hizbullah Secretary General his eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed that "Hizbullah and the Islamic Resistance stand prepared to face any potential aggression on Lebanon, for Imad Moghnieh has left behind tens of thousands of very well trained fighters who are more than ready for martyrdom".
His eminence added: "From July 2006 war until the martyrdom blood of Hajj Imad, let the entire world begin to write in this history to be the beginning of the fall of 'Israel'."
If Sheikh Ragheb Harb's blood drove them (the "Israelis") out of most of the Lebanese territory and Sayyed Abbas' forced those out of the security zone except for Shibaa Farms, then the blood of martyr Imad Moghnieh will drive them out of existence God willing".
At the funeral of the martyred leader Hajj Imad Moghnieh (otherwise known as Rodwan), Sayyed Nasrallah addressed the Zionists in a speech to mourners in Beirut's southern suburb of Roueis at Lord of Martyrs Compound, saying: "You killed Hajj Imad outside our natural battleground. Our battleground with you is on the Lebanese territory as it has been; now you have overstepped the border."
He further stressed that "faced with this killing, its timing, place and manner with which it was carried out, that if you ('Israelis') choose this type of open war, then let the world know we will accept it an open war".
When Sayyed Nasrallah directed his talk to the 'February 14' team, he stressed that "Lebanon will never be 'Israeli' or American. It will never serve as a place or foothold for the Zionists. It will not be divided nor federalized. He who seeks 'divorce' and separation within Lebanon, let him leave to his masters in Washington and Tel Aviv."
Lebanon will remain a country of national unity, coexistence and civil peace; it will remain a country of resistance, triumph and national dignity against the desire of political dwarves."
The following is the text of the speech:
"For the spirit of the dear and beloved brother hajj Imad Moghnieh (Hajj Rodwan), and those of all the martyrs of the homeland and the nation we pray.
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, praise be to Allah, lord of the worlds, prayers and peace be upon our prophet Muhammad, his household and chosen companions, and all the prophets and messengers...
May peace, God's mercy and blessings be upon you
Almighty God says: {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} [33:23 SURAT THE CLANS, COALITION, COMBINED FORCES]
... The martyr leader Imad Moghnieh faithfully promised God and eagerly waited to be with God and died a martyr during the mourning period of the martyrdom of Abi Abdullah Hussein (PBUH) Lord of the martyrs...
Carrying his burial shroud, Hajj Imad was ever ready to sacrifice his own blood since his youth. He lived the years making victory as he sought martyrdom, until he finally arrived at his chosen goal ... congratulations to him on this high divine medal...
Hajj Imad comes from an entire household of martyrdom and jihad ...
At the outset, I would like to congratulate and pay condolences to the dear and beloved, honorable parents of Imad. I congratulate them for this divine alignment for your son's martyrdom. Let the whole world know that this jihadist house gave all it had: Fuad, Jihad and now Imad ...
To his struggling and sacrificing wife in jihad, his sons and daughters, his mujahideen relatives and loved ones, his resistance brothers and comrades in Lebanon and Palestine, and in every land where God has jihad and men, I give congratulations to you all for our dear and beloved brother's receiving of this great divine medal. I also pay condolences for the loss of a dear and beloved brother, struggler and commander.
Hajj Imad Moghnieh is of the rank of leaders whose entire struggle, effort, work and life are all spent in secret charity with God almighty... these are God's soldiers unknown on earth but known in the sky. They defend not themselves only, but the issues of the nation. They do not await praise because they are unknown. They do not defend themselves against lies or respond to unjust charges, because they do not see a presence for themselves outside the battle of jihad and sacrifice..
...We and the nation owe such souls the justice of disclosing to the world their glowing faces, pristine truths and grand offerings.
Today, martyr Hajj Imad has the right to be known by this nation and to be justly served by it for its own sake and not for his... so that the nation is inspired by his spirit, lesson and struggle ...
...Hajj Rodwan today is in God's grace, and all that is being said of him in praise or eulogy are part of the mortal world which means nothing to those reaching God's grace...
This martyrdom, has been expected for 25 years, and has not surprised us, for we all belong to a school whose prophets, Imams and leaders are all martyrs...
...Today, with Hajj Imad's martyrdom we are placed in our natural course as we were with the martyrdom of our leader and secretary-general Sayyed Abbas Moussawi, just as we were also with the sheikh of martyrs sheikh Ragheb Harb.. Because we are in a real bloody battle defending our nation, our holy places and our dignity in the face of all the greed and aggression posed by "Israel", the United States as well as those who stand behind them.
Today, with time constraints, falling rain and loved ones waiting is not the time to serve Hajj Imad justice now...
...in the coming days we will only do a part of our duty, but standing before our martyred leader and his purified body and within earshot of the world that awaits Hizbullah's position in this hour, I would like to emphasize several points...
First: the Zionists see in the martyrdom of hajj Imad a great achievement and we see a good omen of the decisive and imminent victory God willing..
...To back track a little through memory you will find thus was the case with sheikh Ragheb... upon his killing the resistance escalated and "Israel" withdrew from Beirut, the mountains and out of most Lebanese regions except the south...this was due to the resistance and his righteous blood, not international resolutions or interventions that always side with the Zionists ...
...Such was the case with the martyr leader Sayyed Abbas Moussawi after whose martyrdom the resistance soared, leading to "Israel's" humiliating defeat and withdrawal only a few years later in 2000...
...through his blood and the resistance which bore the banner and deeds of Sayyed Abbas Moussawi, and not by international resolutions and the international community...
......Today they killed the leader-brother hajj Imad Moghnieh. They think in killing him the resistance will collapse. They killed him in context with the war that did not end in July and continues on the political level till now.
Why did they fail in July war even though according to Winograd they were the strongest army in possession of superior arms and technology to anyone else in the region,? Simply because its army faced a valiant resistance, with courage and faith for 33 days...Because they were confronted by Imad Moghniyeh along with his brothers and pupils, who fought them courageously and intelligently. Thus, this 'Israel' lost its first war, governed according to historical laws and the promise of its founder, "Israel" will imminently fall and it will fall, God willing...
With the blessed blood of hajj Imad Moghnieh, the results will come to fruition, the blood of sheikh Ragheb, Sayyed Abbas', Fathi Shokaki, Ahmad Yassin and that of the mujahideen leaders to sweep with its purity this cancerous usurper entity grown in the heart of the Arab and Islamic nation.
Second: Let all friends and those concerned be assured, and also let the enemy know that they committed a very big folly. As we stand before the body of martyr Imad and his brothers who know all the facts, I say to friends and foes: there is no weakness or imbalance in the body and ranks of the resistance.
Imad Moghnieh's brothers will continue down his path of jihad, just as Sayyed Abbas' blood did in the past, so will his. The 'Israelis' cannot conceive of the spiritual and emotional bond inspired by Sayyed Abbas' within the resistance and Hizbullah. These people do not know because they belong to a different culture.
The blood of hajj Rodwan strengthens us, gives us more firmness and solidarity as we continue the road widening and making larger our horizons.
I would like to say to the foe before the friend that hajj Imad with his brothers accomplished his entire task. Today as he departs a martyr, he left behind only a small portion of his work to be completed...
...Since the end of the war in July, we started preparing for another day, because we know 'Israel' will assault Lebanon and launch a war against Lebanon and the region. We since the 14th of August when the displaced were returning to their homes, much of our organization was overseeing and organizing housing care and compensation duties; from the first day after the war, those who were fighting have been preparing for the war to come... What I promised in the past is not for the future. It has already been fulfilled at the hands of martyr Imad and his brothers.
Today, the resistance is fully prepared to confront any possible 'Israeli' war. Yesterday, I was speaking about rockets but today I will speak about fighters. Winograd said that a few thousand fighters confronted the strongest 'Israeli' army in the region for several weeks, something the enemy admits to...Today, I say to those who killed hajj Imad: in any coming war, not only one Imad Moghnieh will be waiting for you, not even several thousands of fighters... but tens of thousands of trained youths ready for martyrdom.
Third: To the enemy, because we are not treacherous, and to the friend, in seeking to be excused, I say the following: the Zionists have killed Hajj Imad Moghnieh in Damascus, all field and investigative reports confirm this matter. In dealing with this issue, the 'Israelis' only alluded more than declared responsibility for the assassination.
To them I say: you have slain hajj Imad outside the normal battleground. You used to fight us here on our land. Today, you went outside the border. I will quote something from the July 2006 war the first time I addressed you back then saying that if you wanted it to be an open war then let it be an open war, as I had promised the believers victory, because I have confidence in God, the believers and our people.
To the Zionists: confronted by this killing, its timing, place and the manner with which it was carried out, I say that if you ('Israelis') choose this type of open war, then so be it. Like all other people, we possess the sacred right to self-defense, and all that this right entails to defending our country will be carried out by our brothers and leaders God willing.
Fourth: On the 14th of February, the commemoration of martyr Hariri, we were hoping that this occasion would join the Lebanese. However, some wanted to turn this occasion into a party of curses.
In such event, I will not respond. I only underline that the Lebanon that we gave our dear leaders will never be 'Israeli' and will never be divided. He (MP Walid Jumblatt) who wants divorce (between the loyalty and the opposition) can go to his masters in Washington and Tel Aviv.
Lebanon will remain united and in spite of some dwarfs, Lebanon will continue to be a country for resistance. Despite the calls made for armies to fight wars on their behalf against the resistance, Lebanon will continue to be a country for civil peace and despite all attempts a country for resistance, victory and dignity.
In a few words and despite the attempts made by those calling for foreign armies to launch war on Lebanon and Syria, because they are too cowardly to fight their own war, and despite the ongoing seditious attempts day in day out... Lebanon will remain a country of unity, dignity, martyrdom, and forever deserves martyrs of such caliber as Abbas Musawi, Sheikh Ragheb Harb and Rafik Hariri.
Let us pray for our dear beloved and bid him farewell in the last-moments and renew our pledge to him...with our hands let us raise him to our shoulders proud of his leadership and martyrdom, making sure all our murderous enemies hear our voices despite the cold, and rain, that we will continue resistance until complete victory, God willing, no matter how the magnitude of the sacrifices.
May God bless you all, and raise our martyr to his heavens, along with the martyrs who preceded him and God willing our course will only be filled with victory festivities.
50,000 Hezbollahis in State of High Alert
Assafir Daily - Translated by Al-Manar
The Lebanese newspaper Assafir reported Saturday that the Hezbollah has put 50,000 of its resistance fighters in a state of high alert and evacuated all buildings in the area designated for social or political purposes in recent days. Hezbollah vowed to retaliate the assassination of it resistance commander Imad Moghniyeh who was killed in Damascus by Mossad agents. Israel has denied any involvement.
Meanwhile, another Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar, reported that Lebanese officials believe a serious military confrontation with Israel will erupt in the near future. "This possibility has been raised in intensive discussions being held between Hezbollah officials and Iranian and Syrian officials. The various militant Palestinian organizations have also declared a state of high alert," the report added.
------
In the meanwhile. Olmert seems to be planning to "declare dead" the two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah (thereby further outraging the Israeli public and opening the door for a total war on Hezbollah), Hamas reveals that Abbas attempted to kill Haniyeh and Israel is going on high alert.
A war could be imminent.
The Lebanese newspaper Assafir reported Saturday that the Hezbollah has put 50,000 of its resistance fighters in a state of high alert and evacuated all buildings in the area designated for social or political purposes in recent days. Hezbollah vowed to retaliate the assassination of it resistance commander Imad Moghniyeh who was killed in Damascus by Mossad agents. Israel has denied any involvement.
Meanwhile, another Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar, reported that Lebanese officials believe a serious military confrontation with Israel will erupt in the near future. "This possibility has been raised in intensive discussions being held between Hezbollah officials and Iranian and Syrian officials. The various militant Palestinian organizations have also declared a state of high alert," the report added.
------
In the meanwhile. Olmert seems to be planning to "declare dead" the two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah (thereby further outraging the Israeli public and opening the door for a total war on Hezbollah), Hamas reveals that Abbas attempted to kill Haniyeh and Israel is going on high alert.
A war could be imminent.
Syria denies joint Syria/Iran/Hezbollah investigation
From the Palestinian Pundit blog:
"DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria denied Iranian claims that the two countries would conduct a joint investigation into the assassination of a top Hezbollah commander, the Syrian state news agency reported.
Imad Mughniyeh, who was one of the world's most wanted fugitives, was killed in a car bomb in the Syrian capital Tuesday night. He was accused of masterminding attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Reza Sheik Attar announced the joint probe on Friday, according to Iran's official news agency.
But a Syrian official dismissed the report as "totally baseless" and said Damascus would conduct the investigation alone, Syria's state-run news agency reported late Friday. It did not name the official.....
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with senior Syrian officials in Damascus on Thursday and Friday to discuss Mughniyeh's assassination. Attar said Friday that Iran and Syria agreed to the joint investigation during Mottaki's visit....."
***
This is rather interesting. Earlier it was announced that not only Iran, but also Hizbullah were involved in the investigation. For example Al-Jazeera reported this: Hezbollah security team in Syria.
It seems that the Syrian regime has something to hide; otherwise why not cooperate with Hizbullah and Iran?
-------
Commentary: ok, now things are getting clearer. Assad probably got a call from his bosses in Jerusalem or Washington and is now reneging on his promise. He must have received some security guarantees to take such a risky step and openly defy Iran and Hezbollah. From the sorry scumbag who sold out the PKK and Ocalan to the Turks such duplicity was to be expected: why not kill Mughniyah and backstab Hezbollah? Except that Mughniyah was not Ocalan and Hezbollah is not the PKK: Hezbollah can - and will - fight back and retaliate. Ditto for Iran. And if Assad really thinks that the Empire can help and protect him he is as stupid as he is duplicitous.
"DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria denied Iranian claims that the two countries would conduct a joint investigation into the assassination of a top Hezbollah commander, the Syrian state news agency reported.
Imad Mughniyeh, who was one of the world's most wanted fugitives, was killed in a car bomb in the Syrian capital Tuesday night. He was accused of masterminding attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Reza Sheik Attar announced the joint probe on Friday, according to Iran's official news agency.
But a Syrian official dismissed the report as "totally baseless" and said Damascus would conduct the investigation alone, Syria's state-run news agency reported late Friday. It did not name the official.....
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met with senior Syrian officials in Damascus on Thursday and Friday to discuss Mughniyeh's assassination. Attar said Friday that Iran and Syria agreed to the joint investigation during Mottaki's visit....."
***
This is rather interesting. Earlier it was announced that not only Iran, but also Hizbullah were involved in the investigation. For example Al-Jazeera reported this: Hezbollah security team in Syria.
It seems that the Syrian regime has something to hide; otherwise why not cooperate with Hizbullah and Iran?
-------
Commentary: ok, now things are getting clearer. Assad probably got a call from his bosses in Jerusalem or Washington and is now reneging on his promise. He must have received some security guarantees to take such a risky step and openly defy Iran and Hezbollah. From the sorry scumbag who sold out the PKK and Ocalan to the Turks such duplicity was to be expected: why not kill Mughniyah and backstab Hezbollah? Except that Mughniyah was not Ocalan and Hezbollah is not the PKK: Hezbollah can - and will - fight back and retaliate. Ditto for Iran. And if Assad really thinks that the Empire can help and protect him he is as stupid as he is duplicitous.
Kosovo Serbs see EU mission as 'occupation
EU Business reports:
The EU police and justice mission aimed at helping Kosovo's transition to independence is a form of "occupation," Kosovo Serb leader Milan Ivanovic said Saturday.
"In essence, the mission has the characteristics of an occupation and it will be accepted neither by Serbia nor by the Serbs in Kosovo," Ivanovic told AFP hours after Brussels approved the mission's deployment.
European Union nations have agreed to send a 2,000-strong mission to train and mentor police, judges and customs officials in the mainly ethnic Albanian southern Serbian province which is expected to declare independence Sunday.
Ivanovic said Kosovo's Serbs -- who make up around 120,000 of the province's 1.8 million people and want to remain part of Serbia -- "will oppose this mission by all legal means."
"The EU mission is not welcome. We will boycott it and use all methods of civic resistance," Ivanovic said.
In Belgrade, Serbia's Minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, described the EU decision to send its mission to the province as "shameful."
"The decision is shameful for the European Union as it practically recognizes the independence of Kosovo," Samardzic told Tanjug news agency.
"With such a decision, the EU is accepting the politics of secession as a solution for solving minority issues," Samardzic said.
Accusing the EU of following in the footsteps of Washington, Samardzic described it as an "unreliable international organization inclined to violating international law... and prone to serving US foreign policy interests."
"That is why Serbia will have to, in the nearest future, question its relations with the European Union and its member countries which might recognize the independence of Kosovo," Samardzic said.
Serbia, fiercely opposed to the independence for Kosovo, has warned it might recall its ambassadors from countries recognizing the breakaway province.
And Serbian nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Thursday that by sending the mission, Brussels "is brutally violating international law and (UN Security Council) Reolution 1244."
That resolution confirmed Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo but established the province as a UN protectorate in 1999, after NATO bombed Belgrade to end a conflict between Serbian forces and Kosovo Albanian separatist militants.
Ivanovic said the EU mission was "neither legal nor legitimate," inisting it was "adopted against the UN chapter and fundamental principles of inviolability of borders."
"We will continue to respect UN Resolution 1244 ... Serbia is a member of the UN and not the EU and this decision is a violation of Resolution 1244," Ivanovic said.
The EU green light for sending the mission to Kosovo does not mean that staff will be immediately despatched to the UN-run province. The EU is coordinating the deployment with the United Nations and Kosovo authorities.
In the days after Kosovo declares independence the so-called EULEX Kosovo mission will begin a 120-day countdown to taking over policing duties from the United Nations.
-------
Commentary: considering the mind-boggling hypocrisy of the the Empire (EU.US.NATO) and the fact that every single action taken after the declaration of independence of Kosovo will be illegal, I see no other option for the Serbs than to resist by all available means, thereby turning northern and eastern Kosovo into a second Waziristan. And make no mistake, EU cops and NATO soldiers to not have the balls to fight a Serbian guerrilla movement. I do not think that this Serbian insurrection will happen immediately, but that is where this situation is heading.
Exactly as with the Palestinians, the Empire has categorically refused any kind of meaningful negotiations with the Serbs and the results will be the same. I would add that Serbia is not ruled by an Abbas type figure, but by Kostunica who is acutely aware that his political future depends on being firm on Kosovo so I would not count on him to oppress the Serbs the same way Abbas and his goons oppress the Palestinians.
The Kosovo policy of Clinton and Bush will go down in history as a mind boggling combination of hypocrisy, imperialism, arrogance, ignorance and sheer idiocy and, in this case, the Europeans are at least as much to be blamed as the USA.
The EU police and justice mission aimed at helping Kosovo's transition to independence is a form of "occupation," Kosovo Serb leader Milan Ivanovic said Saturday.
"In essence, the mission has the characteristics of an occupation and it will be accepted neither by Serbia nor by the Serbs in Kosovo," Ivanovic told AFP hours after Brussels approved the mission's deployment.
European Union nations have agreed to send a 2,000-strong mission to train and mentor police, judges and customs officials in the mainly ethnic Albanian southern Serbian province which is expected to declare independence Sunday.
Ivanovic said Kosovo's Serbs -- who make up around 120,000 of the province's 1.8 million people and want to remain part of Serbia -- "will oppose this mission by all legal means."
"The EU mission is not welcome. We will boycott it and use all methods of civic resistance," Ivanovic said.
In Belgrade, Serbia's Minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, described the EU decision to send its mission to the province as "shameful."
"The decision is shameful for the European Union as it practically recognizes the independence of Kosovo," Samardzic told Tanjug news agency.
"With such a decision, the EU is accepting the politics of secession as a solution for solving minority issues," Samardzic said.
Accusing the EU of following in the footsteps of Washington, Samardzic described it as an "unreliable international organization inclined to violating international law... and prone to serving US foreign policy interests."
"That is why Serbia will have to, in the nearest future, question its relations with the European Union and its member countries which might recognize the independence of Kosovo," Samardzic said.
Serbia, fiercely opposed to the independence for Kosovo, has warned it might recall its ambassadors from countries recognizing the breakaway province.
And Serbian nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Thursday that by sending the mission, Brussels "is brutally violating international law and (UN Security Council) Reolution 1244."
That resolution confirmed Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo but established the province as a UN protectorate in 1999, after NATO bombed Belgrade to end a conflict between Serbian forces and Kosovo Albanian separatist militants.
Ivanovic said the EU mission was "neither legal nor legitimate," inisting it was "adopted against the UN chapter and fundamental principles of inviolability of borders."
"We will continue to respect UN Resolution 1244 ... Serbia is a member of the UN and not the EU and this decision is a violation of Resolution 1244," Ivanovic said.
The EU green light for sending the mission to Kosovo does not mean that staff will be immediately despatched to the UN-run province. The EU is coordinating the deployment with the United Nations and Kosovo authorities.
In the days after Kosovo declares independence the so-called EULEX Kosovo mission will begin a 120-day countdown to taking over policing duties from the United Nations.
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Commentary: considering the mind-boggling hypocrisy of the the Empire (EU.US.NATO) and the fact that every single action taken after the declaration of independence of Kosovo will be illegal, I see no other option for the Serbs than to resist by all available means, thereby turning northern and eastern Kosovo into a second Waziristan. And make no mistake, EU cops and NATO soldiers to not have the balls to fight a Serbian guerrilla movement. I do not think that this Serbian insurrection will happen immediately, but that is where this situation is heading.
Exactly as with the Palestinians, the Empire has categorically refused any kind of meaningful negotiations with the Serbs and the results will be the same. I would add that Serbia is not ruled by an Abbas type figure, but by Kostunica who is acutely aware that his political future depends on being firm on Kosovo so I would not count on him to oppress the Serbs the same way Abbas and his goons oppress the Palestinians.
The Kosovo policy of Clinton and Bush will go down in history as a mind boggling combination of hypocrisy, imperialism, arrogance, ignorance and sheer idiocy and, in this case, the Europeans are at least as much to be blamed as the USA.
Bosnian Serbs play up secession threats over Kosovo
By Olja Stanic
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb nationalists stepped up threats on Thursday to secede from Bosnia if Kosovo declares independence from Serbia on Sunday.
"In case Kosovo proclaims independence, we shall request independence for the Serb Republic as well," Branislav Dukic, the chairman of SPONA, an association gathering several Bosnian Serb war veterans groups, told a news conference.
Under the Dayton accords that ended the 1992-95 war, Bosnia comprises two loosely connected autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat federation, with little love lost between them.
While Muslims and Croats want a stronger state, the Serbs want to preserve full autonomy of the region they won in the war with help from their political and economic backers in Serbia.
Dukic said his association would ask the regional parliament to declare the Serb Republic's independence without referendum "if the European Union recognizes independent Kosovo unilaterally and against international law".
"If Kosovo's illegal parliament may declare independence, there is no reason why the Republika Srpska legal parliament would not have that right," Dukic told Reuters.
Dane Cankovic of the "Choice is Yours" nationalist movement, which advocate the Serb Republic's secession, said the movement would stage peaceful protests if Kosovo becomes independent and then pressure the Serb parliament to do the same.
"We want to remain in neighborly relations with Sarajevo and Zagreb and in fraternal relations with Belgrade," Cankovic told Reuters.
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb nationalists stepped up threats on Thursday to secede from Bosnia if Kosovo declares independence from Serbia on Sunday.
"In case Kosovo proclaims independence, we shall request independence for the Serb Republic as well," Branislav Dukic, the chairman of SPONA, an association gathering several Bosnian Serb war veterans groups, told a news conference.
Under the Dayton accords that ended the 1992-95 war, Bosnia comprises two loosely connected autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat federation, with little love lost between them.
While Muslims and Croats want a stronger state, the Serbs want to preserve full autonomy of the region they won in the war with help from their political and economic backers in Serbia.
Dukic said his association would ask the regional parliament to declare the Serb Republic's independence without referendum "if the European Union recognizes independent Kosovo unilaterally and against international law".
"If Kosovo's illegal parliament may declare independence, there is no reason why the Republika Srpska legal parliament would not have that right," Dukic told Reuters.
Dane Cankovic of the "Choice is Yours" nationalist movement, which advocate the Serb Republic's secession, said the movement would stage peaceful protests if Kosovo becomes independent and then pressure the Serb parliament to do the same.
"We want to remain in neighborly relations with Sarajevo and Zagreb and in fraternal relations with Belgrade," Cankovic told Reuters.
Haaretz reports on joint Syrian-Iranian investigation in Mughniyah murder
Source: Syria detains suspects in Mughniyah killing
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press
A joint investigation into the Damascus assassination of Hezbollah deputy leader Imad Mughniyah is well under way and suspects have been arrested in the Syrian capital, a Lebanese security source said Friday.
Mughniyah was killed late Tuesday night when his car exploded in an upscale Damascus neighborhood in an incident that was not only a blow to Hezbollah, but also to Syria's much-vaunted internal security services.
The source said the investigation by Syria, Iran and Hezbollah showed that Mughniyah was killed by a car bomb parked close to his car. It was detonated remotely as he walked past after leaving a building he had been visiting.
Early reports said the bomb had been placed inside Mughniyah's car.
The suspects arrested in connection to the killing have been mostly Palestinians residing in Syria, the Lebanese source said.
Hezbollah and its main backer Iran have accused Israel of killing Mughniyah, who was also among the United States' most wanted men. Israel has denied any involvement.
The source added that Hezbollah has appointed a successor to Mughniyah. "A successor to Imad Mughniyah has been appointed, which is natural," said the source, who requested anonymity. "That's how Hezbollah works, they move quickly to choose successors of fallen leaders."
The source said the appointment was made hours after the announcement of Mughniyah's death in a car bomb in Damascus on Tuesday. He did not identify the successor, but said he was not one of the two names being circulated in the Israeli media.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki agreed with Syrian officials during a visit to Damascus on Thursday to set up a joint team to investigate the killing, Mottaki's deputy Alireza Sheik-Attar said on Friday.
Attar, speaking during Friday prayers, said that the team would investigate the circumstances surrounding the car bombing in Damascus, in order to "discover the identities of those who carried out this filthy crime."
Also Friday, the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper "Al-Akhbar" reported that investigators from the organization would also launch a probe into the incident. According to the report, there has been progress in the investigation.
The newspaper also reported on "hysteria in Tel Aviv," referring to the travel advisory issued to Israeli citizens traveling abroad by the Counter-Terrorism Bureau. On Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah blamed Israel for the assassination and vowed to retaliate.
Iranian FM meets with Hamas, Islamic Jihad in Damascus
Mottaki held separate Friday meetings at the Iranian Embassy with Damascus-based Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal and Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, said the Iranian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Later in the day, Mottaki held a one-hour meeting with Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa to discuss the Mughniyah assassination.
"We discussed the terrorist crime that led to the martyrdom of one of the most senior commanders in the Lebanese Islamic Resistance (Hezbollah), martyr Imad Mughniyah," Mottaki told reporters after his meeting with al-Sharaa.
Mottaki also discussed Mughniyah's death with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday, accusing Israel of retaliating for its "losses" in the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
The Iranian foreign minister said he "imagined it could exact a heavy price by assassinating one leader of the Lebanese resistance."
Mottaki flew to Damascus on Thursday from Lebanon, where he attended Mughniyah's funeral and offered condolences to the man's family and associates. Underlining Iran's close ties to Shiite Hezbollah, Mottaki sat between Mughniyah's father and a senior Hezbollah official.
Moallem: Perpetrators to be found soon
On Thursday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said investigations were underway into who was behind the car bomb that killed Mughniyah. He added that he expected the perpetrators to be found soon.
"Syrian security forces are continuing investigations into this terrorist crime and we hope you will hear results soon," Moallem said at a joint press conference with Mottaki. "We as a state will show with full proof the party involved in this crime and who stands behind them."
Moallem said those who killed Mughniyah "assassinated any attempt to revive the peace process," hinting for the first time that Israel might be involved.
Meshal said Thursday that Mughniyah's death would not deter the militant Palestinian group from continuing its resistance against Israel.
"We accept the challenge and we are not afraid at all," said Meshal at a wake for Mughniyah at a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus.
During Friday prayers in Baghdad, Sheik Suhail al-Eqabi read worshippers a statement that was issued Thursday by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr regarding Mughniyah's death: "The dirty hands have stretched out to get [Mughniyah] and he was sent to paradise where he became a martyr of world Islamic resistance."
Al-Sadr on Thursday declared a three-day mourning period for the death of Mughniyah.
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Commentary: looks like Syria is fully cooperating with Iran and Hezbollah in the investigation of Mughniyah's murder. By accepting to cooperate Syria is tacitly also accepting that it remains on the list of possible suspects. Still, even if Syria is not guilty of complicity, the issue how Hezbollah so completely failed to protect one of its top officials is rather baffling. Had Mughniyah been killed in an airstrike such questions would not have been so crucial, but he was killed in a car bombing. According to the latest info, his car was not booby trapped, but Mughniyah drove by another car filled with explosives. This means that his killers had advance knowledge of his planned route, something beyond imaginable for a person who was a the top of both Israeli and US "wanted terrorist" lists. Even if Mughniyah himself was reckless, his security detail should have firmly prevented him from any routine travels.
Then there is the question of the detonation mechanism. If somebody had succeeded in planting explosives inside Mughniyah's car seats, the bomb could have been triggered mechanically by Mughniyah or a driver. But if Mughniyah was killed by a car he drove by there must have been a spotter triggering the device, which means that whoever committed this assassination had to be extracted from Syria *after* killing Mughniyah (unless, of course, satellites were involved in the tracking of Mughniyah's movements in which case the only country who could possibly be responsible for the killing is the USA).
It will be interesting to see what theory the Syrians come up with and, even more so, how many details they will provide to support their explanation.
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press
A joint investigation into the Damascus assassination of Hezbollah deputy leader Imad Mughniyah is well under way and suspects have been arrested in the Syrian capital, a Lebanese security source said Friday.
Mughniyah was killed late Tuesday night when his car exploded in an upscale Damascus neighborhood in an incident that was not only a blow to Hezbollah, but also to Syria's much-vaunted internal security services.
The source said the investigation by Syria, Iran and Hezbollah showed that Mughniyah was killed by a car bomb parked close to his car. It was detonated remotely as he walked past after leaving a building he had been visiting.
Early reports said the bomb had been placed inside Mughniyah's car.
The suspects arrested in connection to the killing have been mostly Palestinians residing in Syria, the Lebanese source said.
Hezbollah and its main backer Iran have accused Israel of killing Mughniyah, who was also among the United States' most wanted men. Israel has denied any involvement.
The source added that Hezbollah has appointed a successor to Mughniyah. "A successor to Imad Mughniyah has been appointed, which is natural," said the source, who requested anonymity. "That's how Hezbollah works, they move quickly to choose successors of fallen leaders."
The source said the appointment was made hours after the announcement of Mughniyah's death in a car bomb in Damascus on Tuesday. He did not identify the successor, but said he was not one of the two names being circulated in the Israeli media.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki agreed with Syrian officials during a visit to Damascus on Thursday to set up a joint team to investigate the killing, Mottaki's deputy Alireza Sheik-Attar said on Friday.
Attar, speaking during Friday prayers, said that the team would investigate the circumstances surrounding the car bombing in Damascus, in order to "discover the identities of those who carried out this filthy crime."
Also Friday, the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper "Al-Akhbar" reported that investigators from the organization would also launch a probe into the incident. According to the report, there has been progress in the investigation.
The newspaper also reported on "hysteria in Tel Aviv," referring to the travel advisory issued to Israeli citizens traveling abroad by the Counter-Terrorism Bureau. On Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah blamed Israel for the assassination and vowed to retaliate.
Iranian FM meets with Hamas, Islamic Jihad in Damascus
Mottaki held separate Friday meetings at the Iranian Embassy with Damascus-based Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal and Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, said the Iranian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Later in the day, Mottaki held a one-hour meeting with Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa to discuss the Mughniyah assassination.
"We discussed the terrorist crime that led to the martyrdom of one of the most senior commanders in the Lebanese Islamic Resistance (Hezbollah), martyr Imad Mughniyah," Mottaki told reporters after his meeting with al-Sharaa.
Mottaki also discussed Mughniyah's death with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday, accusing Israel of retaliating for its "losses" in the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
The Iranian foreign minister said he "imagined it could exact a heavy price by assassinating one leader of the Lebanese resistance."
Mottaki flew to Damascus on Thursday from Lebanon, where he attended Mughniyah's funeral and offered condolences to the man's family and associates. Underlining Iran's close ties to Shiite Hezbollah, Mottaki sat between Mughniyah's father and a senior Hezbollah official.
Moallem: Perpetrators to be found soon
On Thursday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said investigations were underway into who was behind the car bomb that killed Mughniyah. He added that he expected the perpetrators to be found soon.
"Syrian security forces are continuing investigations into this terrorist crime and we hope you will hear results soon," Moallem said at a joint press conference with Mottaki. "We as a state will show with full proof the party involved in this crime and who stands behind them."
Moallem said those who killed Mughniyah "assassinated any attempt to revive the peace process," hinting for the first time that Israel might be involved.
Meshal said Thursday that Mughniyah's death would not deter the militant Palestinian group from continuing its resistance against Israel.
"We accept the challenge and we are not afraid at all," said Meshal at a wake for Mughniyah at a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus.
During Friday prayers in Baghdad, Sheik Suhail al-Eqabi read worshippers a statement that was issued Thursday by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr regarding Mughniyah's death: "The dirty hands have stretched out to get [Mughniyah] and he was sent to paradise where he became a martyr of world Islamic resistance."
Al-Sadr on Thursday declared a three-day mourning period for the death of Mughniyah.
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Commentary: looks like Syria is fully cooperating with Iran and Hezbollah in the investigation of Mughniyah's murder. By accepting to cooperate Syria is tacitly also accepting that it remains on the list of possible suspects. Still, even if Syria is not guilty of complicity, the issue how Hezbollah so completely failed to protect one of its top officials is rather baffling. Had Mughniyah been killed in an airstrike such questions would not have been so crucial, but he was killed in a car bombing. According to the latest info, his car was not booby trapped, but Mughniyah drove by another car filled with explosives. This means that his killers had advance knowledge of his planned route, something beyond imaginable for a person who was a the top of both Israeli and US "wanted terrorist" lists. Even if Mughniyah himself was reckless, his security detail should have firmly prevented him from any routine travels.
Then there is the question of the detonation mechanism. If somebody had succeeded in planting explosives inside Mughniyah's car seats, the bomb could have been triggered mechanically by Mughniyah or a driver. But if Mughniyah was killed by a car he drove by there must have been a spotter triggering the device, which means that whoever committed this assassination had to be extracted from Syria *after* killing Mughniyah (unless, of course, satellites were involved in the tracking of Mughniyah's movements in which case the only country who could possibly be responsible for the killing is the USA).
It will be interesting to see what theory the Syrians come up with and, even more so, how many details they will provide to support their explanation.
Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei's condolences to Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei wrote a message Thursday to pass on condolences to Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah over the martyrdom of the assassinated Lebanese warrior Hajj Imad Mughniyeh.
The text of the message in full follows:
Bismillah-e Rahman-e Rahim
Dear brother Hojjat-ol-Islam Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
The martyrdom of the dedicated and diligent brother Hajj Imad Mughniyeh was a great accomplishment and a prosperous culmination for the man himself as his heart was brimming with the love of diligence in the path of God; at the same time, it was a source of pride for the Lebanese nation which is rearing and offering such great men to the span of freedom seeking and combat against oppression.
Though a heartrending loss for all noble men and all those who knew him, not least his parents, his wife and his dear children, the life and death of the eminent, diligent freeman and his likes is an epic which would awaken the nations, produce examples to youths and show to every one the path to bright horizons.
The bloodthirsty, criminal Zionists must mind that the pure blood of such martyrs as Imad Mughniyeh would generate hundreds of other Imad Mughniyehs and would double the resistance against oppression, corruption and transgression.
Such men as the great martyr sacrifice their lives, well-being and temporal gains in the path of support for the innocent and combat against the oppression and arrogance. This is a sublime merit to which all the fair-minded individuals would pay homage.
May Allah's Consent be on him as well as on all those who are dedicated to the path of truth.
I offer my congratulations and condolences over the great martyrdom to you and his respected family as well as the prideful youths of Hezbollah and resistance and the overall Lebanese nation.
Greetings to him and you and Mercy of Allah
Sayyed Ali Khamenei
Feb 14, 2008
The text of the message in full follows:
Bismillah-e Rahman-e Rahim
Dear brother Hojjat-ol-Islam Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
The martyrdom of the dedicated and diligent brother Hajj Imad Mughniyeh was a great accomplishment and a prosperous culmination for the man himself as his heart was brimming with the love of diligence in the path of God; at the same time, it was a source of pride for the Lebanese nation which is rearing and offering such great men to the span of freedom seeking and combat against oppression.
Though a heartrending loss for all noble men and all those who knew him, not least his parents, his wife and his dear children, the life and death of the eminent, diligent freeman and his likes is an epic which would awaken the nations, produce examples to youths and show to every one the path to bright horizons.
The bloodthirsty, criminal Zionists must mind that the pure blood of such martyrs as Imad Mughniyeh would generate hundreds of other Imad Mughniyehs and would double the resistance against oppression, corruption and transgression.
Such men as the great martyr sacrifice their lives, well-being and temporal gains in the path of support for the innocent and combat against the oppression and arrogance. This is a sublime merit to which all the fair-minded individuals would pay homage.
May Allah's Consent be on him as well as on all those who are dedicated to the path of truth.
I offer my congratulations and condolences over the great martyrdom to you and his respected family as well as the prideful youths of Hezbollah and resistance and the overall Lebanese nation.
Greetings to him and you and Mercy of Allah
Sayyed Ali Khamenei
Feb 14, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Serbia's statement to the UNSC
UN Security Council must urgently condemn Pristina’s intent to unilaterally declare Kosovo independence
Belgrade/New York, Feb 14, 2008 – Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic pointed out tonight in his address before the UN Security Council in New York that the Security Council must urgently act to condemn the clear intent of the authorities in Pristina to unilaterally, illegally, and illegitimately declare independence from the Republic of Serbia as well as to reaffirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia, including Kosovo.
The Serbian government website brings Minister Jeremic’s address in full:
Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
There was a time when the final authority of the United Nations Security Council was not fully respected, when its ultimate legitimacy was discounted, and when its capacity to act was restricted. That time was the Cold War, and that time has passed.
Today, we no longer view international politics as a winner-take-all contest.
The Security Council—and the United Nations system as a whole—is once again the crucible of human hope for peace and security, the focal point of trust, and the center of our confidence in the concord to come.
Today, we embrace the global diversity of views. We believe it makes us stronger as a world community. And we judge that the world is a better place, full of the possibility that comes with the secure knowledge that our destiny is inexorably tied to one another’s.
Mr. President,
Since the democratic overthrow of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000, the citizens of our country have regained their freedom and started enjoying the benefits of peace. We have toiled unceasingly to provide a prosperous future for all, under the roof of a united Europe. And we have done so while working hard to advance reconciliation with our neighbors—a cornerstone of our policy to break with the legacy of the Balkans’ recent past.
For the first time in history, the region is well within reach of the point of no return.
Our success to date has been a great victory for all who believe that belonging to Europe is good for Serbia, good for the Balkans, good for all the nations of the Old Continent.
And yet, Excellencies, we have been informed of a deliberate intention to dramatically set back progressive development throughout the region. If allowed to stand, the adverse consequences for not only the Western Balkans, but the world community as a whole, will be grave.
The imminence and scope of this threat brings me here before you this afternoon, as does the expectation that by working together, we can avert a disaster of unfathomable proportions.
Mr. President,
We have received reliable information that the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of our southern province of Kosovo and Metohija, under interim UN administration, intend to unilaterally and illegally declare independence from the Republic of Serbia in the coming days.
Such an illegitimate declaration by the authorities in Pristina would brutally violate Security Council Resolution 1244’s reaffirmation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a member-state of the United Nations, in this case, the Republic of Serbia, which includes—quite explicitly, according to the text of the resolution and our own Constitution—our province of Kosovo and Metohija.
Mr. President,
The Security Council, together with each and every member-state of the United Nations, has a Chapter VII obligation—a binding obligation—to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia. This is the plain language of Resolution 1244, and we expect, Mr. President, the Security Council to honor the demands of international law, the requirements of international justice, the principles of the United Nations Charter, and the very language of this Council’s Resolution, as you consider how to respond to the hostile intent of the authorities in Pristina.
Mr. President,
The Republic of Serbia shall not tolerate such an illegal act of secession. If forced to react to events beyond our control, our Government and National Assembly will declare the actions of the authorities in Pristina null and void. And we shall undertake all diplomatic, political, and economic measures designed to impede and reverse this direct and unprovoked attack on our sovereignty.
I must add, Mr. President, that as a responsible member of the international community committed to the peaceful and negotiated resolution of disputes—and as a dedicated aspirant to membership in the European Union—the Republic of Serbia will not resort to the use of force. For violence cannot bring a peaceful settlement to the Kosovo crisis. That is why even in this troubled hour, we repeat our call upon the authorities in Pristina to publicly and unambiguously commit to the process of seeking a compromise solution to the future status of our southern province.
Together, acting with forethought and prudence, Pristina and Belgrade, with the support of this Council, can still avoid setting a precedent that will do irreparable harm to the international system. The precise nature of this precedent must be spelled out.
The unilateral and illegal declaration of independence of Kosovo from Serbia by the authorities in Pristina would constitute nothing less than the forcible partition of a sovereign member-state of the United Nations. The direct and immediate consequence of this act would be the destruction of the first principle of the United Nations, namely the sovereign equality of all member-states.
Such a precedent, imposed on the world community, would echo far, far away, into every corner of our globe. For we would discover that the rushing river of self-determination has become an uncontrolled cascade of secession.
We all know that there are dozens of Kosovo-s throughout the world, just waiting for secession to be legitimized, to be rendered an acceptable norm. Many existing conflicts would escalate, frozen conflicts would reignite, and new ones would be instigated.
Mr. President,
Let me be very clear. The Republic of Serbia shall never accept any violation of its territorial integrity. We shall never recognize Kosovo’s independence. We shall not waiver, we shall not yield, should this cowardly act proceed unchecked. Not now. Not in a year. Not in a decade. Never. For Kosovo and Metohija shall remain a part of Serbia forever.
Make no mistake, Excellencies, the Kosovo Albanians are about to throw down the gauntlet. They have committed themselves to a course of action that would constitute an unprecedented, express and deliberate violation of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the powers of the Security Council itself.
Mr. President,
This is what we believe is required.
First, that the Security Council take effective action to ensure that all provisions of the United Nations Charter and Resolution 1244 are fully respected. Therefore, the Security Council must urgently act to condemn the clear intent of the authorities in Pristina to unilaterally, illegally, and illegitimately declare independence from the Republic of Serbia. Additionally, the Security Council must reaffirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia, including Kosovo.
Second, that the Secretary-General and his Special Representative in Kosovo exercise their authority in this matter. Special Representative Joachim Ruecker must receive clear and unambiguous instructions to make swift use of his reserved powers, as enumerated in the Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-Government in Kosovo, and, in the event of a declaration of independence by the province’s Assembly, proclaim this act to be null and void. He must also be instructed to dissolve the Kosovo Assembly, on the grounds that declaring independence is not in conformity with Resolution 1244. He has this power. It has been used before. He must be make full use of it once more.
Third, that the international security presence in Kosovo, identified by the acronym KFOR, continue to abide by the legal framework for its operation, in conformity with paragraph 9 of Resolution 1244, and remain status-neutral. Continuing to adopt this approach ensures that all residents of our southern province will remain receptive to its mission to safeguard their lives and property.
KFOR must, Mr. President, demonstrate particular sensitivity toward the Kosovo Serb community, as well as to the clerics of the Serbian Orthodox Church and their monasteries, some of which have been placed on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage Sites, and alarmingly, on its List of World Heritage in Danger. These holy sites stand at the foundation of Serbian identity. They are not simply buildings or mere monuments. They constitute an essential link to the living tradition of Serbia today.
The Republic of Serbia is confident that KFOR has the capacity to prevent a repeat of the ethnic cleansing against the Serb population that took place in the latter half of 1999 and in March 2004, and to protect my nation’s religious heritage against further destruction and cultural cleansing.
Fourth, Mr. President, that the European Union too continue to fully respect all the provisions of Resolution 1244—in particular those related to the authority vested in the Security Council (paragraphs 5 and 19).
Let there be no doubt: the Republic of Serbia welcomes as a matter of principle any demonstration of Europe’s deepening commitment to the Western Balkans. And for that reason, we welcome the EU’s desire to increase its presence in our southern province.
But in order for the EU-led mission to Kosovo to acquire the full international legitimacy so crucial to the fulfillment of its mission, it must first seek a mandate from the Security Council.
Excellencies,
We do not believe opportunities for negotiations are exhausted, because we believe it is never too late to work towards a solution that leads to regional peace and stability.
We do not believe it is ever too late to negotiate about the future—especially when it’s a future we all share.
Is it too late to talk of peace in the Middle East, in Africa, or anywhere else in the world for that matter? Should we just give up—and in the process resign ourselves to the defeat of principles that form the core of what binds us together?
Walking away is not a legitimate option, for it means that we, as a world community relegate ourselves to the fatalism of the past. It means that we are ready and willing to sacrifice geo-strategic priorities on the altar of the communal aspirations of Kosovo Albanians. And it means that we would consciously avert our gaze from the main goal: a European future for all the Western Balkans.
Mr. President,
We have gathered today primarily to address the question of the status of Kosovo. I am here to advise you clearly, and before history, of the status of the whole of Serbia as well.
I intend on setting the record straight, and I intend on being both blunt and undiplomatic.
My nation has suffered enough by being demonized for the 1990s. We are tired of seeing people hide behind the past to justify the abuse of our country today.
That is why we cannot allow a series of lies to be perpetuated into the history books that Serbia has been obstructionist, that Serbia never really negotiated, that Serbia is still a nationalistic country trying to oppress minorities. That Serbia is the cause of the present troubles.
Yes, Mr. President, I have heard these and many more such accusations. And I have heard them from people who should know better. Much better.
In back rooms and hallways, Excellencies, you have been told that every avenue has been exhausted. That a solution must be imposed, for negotiations have not born fruit.
What has transpired in the last two years has not been a negotiation. It has been an exercise in which the end result was made known to all in advance.
The last two years is a record of failure of those who wanted to impose solutions with callous disregard for the most elementary precepts of international law and democratic values.
The record of the last two years is also an indictment of a process that ought to have brought peoples together, but instead forced them apart.
Excellencies, Serbia will not accept responsibility for this abject failure. History will judge those who substituted polemics for principles, and diplomatic theatre for visionary statesmanship.
Mr. President,
I appeal to all the members of the Security Council, as well as all the member-states of the United Nations, to continue to respect, in this time of crisis, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia.
We say to you, with the certainty and fortitude of a unified nation: Serbia will never forget.
The preservation of a Serbia whole and free, integrated into Europe and engaged with the world, is the basic tenet of our national interest. This will not change.
We have made our choice. Now is the time for the Security Council to choose, and for the member-states to choose—to choose whether to join us in a defense of the principles we all revere.
For that is the issue before you: whether to destroy or to preserve the sacrosanct character of basic solidarity between sovereign states, the common denominator of the world community.
A moment such as this defines paths of nations. We are a nation, Mr. President, that has struggled over the course of many centuries to defend its freedom, to establish its democracy, and to build its just society.
So it has been, so it is, and so it will be. And so will be Kosovo. Ours to the end. Kosovo will remain a part of Serbia forever.
Thank you, Mr. President, for having given me the opportunity to address this Council at a time of great consequence for us all.
Belgrade/New York, Feb 14, 2008 – Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic pointed out tonight in his address before the UN Security Council in New York that the Security Council must urgently act to condemn the clear intent of the authorities in Pristina to unilaterally, illegally, and illegitimately declare independence from the Republic of Serbia as well as to reaffirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia, including Kosovo.
The Serbian government website brings Minister Jeremic’s address in full:
Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
There was a time when the final authority of the United Nations Security Council was not fully respected, when its ultimate legitimacy was discounted, and when its capacity to act was restricted. That time was the Cold War, and that time has passed.
Today, we no longer view international politics as a winner-take-all contest.
The Security Council—and the United Nations system as a whole—is once again the crucible of human hope for peace and security, the focal point of trust, and the center of our confidence in the concord to come.
Today, we embrace the global diversity of views. We believe it makes us stronger as a world community. And we judge that the world is a better place, full of the possibility that comes with the secure knowledge that our destiny is inexorably tied to one another’s.
Mr. President,
Since the democratic overthrow of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000, the citizens of our country have regained their freedom and started enjoying the benefits of peace. We have toiled unceasingly to provide a prosperous future for all, under the roof of a united Europe. And we have done so while working hard to advance reconciliation with our neighbors—a cornerstone of our policy to break with the legacy of the Balkans’ recent past.
For the first time in history, the region is well within reach of the point of no return.
Our success to date has been a great victory for all who believe that belonging to Europe is good for Serbia, good for the Balkans, good for all the nations of the Old Continent.
And yet, Excellencies, we have been informed of a deliberate intention to dramatically set back progressive development throughout the region. If allowed to stand, the adverse consequences for not only the Western Balkans, but the world community as a whole, will be grave.
The imminence and scope of this threat brings me here before you this afternoon, as does the expectation that by working together, we can avert a disaster of unfathomable proportions.
Mr. President,
We have received reliable information that the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of our southern province of Kosovo and Metohija, under interim UN administration, intend to unilaterally and illegally declare independence from the Republic of Serbia in the coming days.
Such an illegitimate declaration by the authorities in Pristina would brutally violate Security Council Resolution 1244’s reaffirmation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a member-state of the United Nations, in this case, the Republic of Serbia, which includes—quite explicitly, according to the text of the resolution and our own Constitution—our province of Kosovo and Metohija.
Mr. President,
The Security Council, together with each and every member-state of the United Nations, has a Chapter VII obligation—a binding obligation—to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia. This is the plain language of Resolution 1244, and we expect, Mr. President, the Security Council to honor the demands of international law, the requirements of international justice, the principles of the United Nations Charter, and the very language of this Council’s Resolution, as you consider how to respond to the hostile intent of the authorities in Pristina.
Mr. President,
The Republic of Serbia shall not tolerate such an illegal act of secession. If forced to react to events beyond our control, our Government and National Assembly will declare the actions of the authorities in Pristina null and void. And we shall undertake all diplomatic, political, and economic measures designed to impede and reverse this direct and unprovoked attack on our sovereignty.
I must add, Mr. President, that as a responsible member of the international community committed to the peaceful and negotiated resolution of disputes—and as a dedicated aspirant to membership in the European Union—the Republic of Serbia will not resort to the use of force. For violence cannot bring a peaceful settlement to the Kosovo crisis. That is why even in this troubled hour, we repeat our call upon the authorities in Pristina to publicly and unambiguously commit to the process of seeking a compromise solution to the future status of our southern province.
Together, acting with forethought and prudence, Pristina and Belgrade, with the support of this Council, can still avoid setting a precedent that will do irreparable harm to the international system. The precise nature of this precedent must be spelled out.
The unilateral and illegal declaration of independence of Kosovo from Serbia by the authorities in Pristina would constitute nothing less than the forcible partition of a sovereign member-state of the United Nations. The direct and immediate consequence of this act would be the destruction of the first principle of the United Nations, namely the sovereign equality of all member-states.
Such a precedent, imposed on the world community, would echo far, far away, into every corner of our globe. For we would discover that the rushing river of self-determination has become an uncontrolled cascade of secession.
We all know that there are dozens of Kosovo-s throughout the world, just waiting for secession to be legitimized, to be rendered an acceptable norm. Many existing conflicts would escalate, frozen conflicts would reignite, and new ones would be instigated.
Mr. President,
Let me be very clear. The Republic of Serbia shall never accept any violation of its territorial integrity. We shall never recognize Kosovo’s independence. We shall not waiver, we shall not yield, should this cowardly act proceed unchecked. Not now. Not in a year. Not in a decade. Never. For Kosovo and Metohija shall remain a part of Serbia forever.
Make no mistake, Excellencies, the Kosovo Albanians are about to throw down the gauntlet. They have committed themselves to a course of action that would constitute an unprecedented, express and deliberate violation of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the powers of the Security Council itself.
Mr. President,
This is what we believe is required.
First, that the Security Council take effective action to ensure that all provisions of the United Nations Charter and Resolution 1244 are fully respected. Therefore, the Security Council must urgently act to condemn the clear intent of the authorities in Pristina to unilaterally, illegally, and illegitimately declare independence from the Republic of Serbia. Additionally, the Security Council must reaffirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia, including Kosovo.
Second, that the Secretary-General and his Special Representative in Kosovo exercise their authority in this matter. Special Representative Joachim Ruecker must receive clear and unambiguous instructions to make swift use of his reserved powers, as enumerated in the Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-Government in Kosovo, and, in the event of a declaration of independence by the province’s Assembly, proclaim this act to be null and void. He must also be instructed to dissolve the Kosovo Assembly, on the grounds that declaring independence is not in conformity with Resolution 1244. He has this power. It has been used before. He must be make full use of it once more.
Third, that the international security presence in Kosovo, identified by the acronym KFOR, continue to abide by the legal framework for its operation, in conformity with paragraph 9 of Resolution 1244, and remain status-neutral. Continuing to adopt this approach ensures that all residents of our southern province will remain receptive to its mission to safeguard their lives and property.
KFOR must, Mr. President, demonstrate particular sensitivity toward the Kosovo Serb community, as well as to the clerics of the Serbian Orthodox Church and their monasteries, some of which have been placed on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage Sites, and alarmingly, on its List of World Heritage in Danger. These holy sites stand at the foundation of Serbian identity. They are not simply buildings or mere monuments. They constitute an essential link to the living tradition of Serbia today.
The Republic of Serbia is confident that KFOR has the capacity to prevent a repeat of the ethnic cleansing against the Serb population that took place in the latter half of 1999 and in March 2004, and to protect my nation’s religious heritage against further destruction and cultural cleansing.
Fourth, Mr. President, that the European Union too continue to fully respect all the provisions of Resolution 1244—in particular those related to the authority vested in the Security Council (paragraphs 5 and 19).
Let there be no doubt: the Republic of Serbia welcomes as a matter of principle any demonstration of Europe’s deepening commitment to the Western Balkans. And for that reason, we welcome the EU’s desire to increase its presence in our southern province.
But in order for the EU-led mission to Kosovo to acquire the full international legitimacy so crucial to the fulfillment of its mission, it must first seek a mandate from the Security Council.
Excellencies,
We do not believe opportunities for negotiations are exhausted, because we believe it is never too late to work towards a solution that leads to regional peace and stability.
We do not believe it is ever too late to negotiate about the future—especially when it’s a future we all share.
Is it too late to talk of peace in the Middle East, in Africa, or anywhere else in the world for that matter? Should we just give up—and in the process resign ourselves to the defeat of principles that form the core of what binds us together?
Walking away is not a legitimate option, for it means that we, as a world community relegate ourselves to the fatalism of the past. It means that we are ready and willing to sacrifice geo-strategic priorities on the altar of the communal aspirations of Kosovo Albanians. And it means that we would consciously avert our gaze from the main goal: a European future for all the Western Balkans.
Mr. President,
We have gathered today primarily to address the question of the status of Kosovo. I am here to advise you clearly, and before history, of the status of the whole of Serbia as well.
I intend on setting the record straight, and I intend on being both blunt and undiplomatic.
My nation has suffered enough by being demonized for the 1990s. We are tired of seeing people hide behind the past to justify the abuse of our country today.
That is why we cannot allow a series of lies to be perpetuated into the history books that Serbia has been obstructionist, that Serbia never really negotiated, that Serbia is still a nationalistic country trying to oppress minorities. That Serbia is the cause of the present troubles.
Yes, Mr. President, I have heard these and many more such accusations. And I have heard them from people who should know better. Much better.
In back rooms and hallways, Excellencies, you have been told that every avenue has been exhausted. That a solution must be imposed, for negotiations have not born fruit.
What has transpired in the last two years has not been a negotiation. It has been an exercise in which the end result was made known to all in advance.
The last two years is a record of failure of those who wanted to impose solutions with callous disregard for the most elementary precepts of international law and democratic values.
The record of the last two years is also an indictment of a process that ought to have brought peoples together, but instead forced them apart.
Excellencies, Serbia will not accept responsibility for this abject failure. History will judge those who substituted polemics for principles, and diplomatic theatre for visionary statesmanship.
Mr. President,
I appeal to all the members of the Security Council, as well as all the member-states of the United Nations, to continue to respect, in this time of crisis, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia.
We say to you, with the certainty and fortitude of a unified nation: Serbia will never forget.
The preservation of a Serbia whole and free, integrated into Europe and engaged with the world, is the basic tenet of our national interest. This will not change.
We have made our choice. Now is the time for the Security Council to choose, and for the member-states to choose—to choose whether to join us in a defense of the principles we all revere.
For that is the issue before you: whether to destroy or to preserve the sacrosanct character of basic solidarity between sovereign states, the common denominator of the world community.
A moment such as this defines paths of nations. We are a nation, Mr. President, that has struggled over the course of many centuries to defend its freedom, to establish its democracy, and to build its just society.
So it has been, so it is, and so it will be. And so will be Kosovo. Ours to the end. Kosovo will remain a part of Serbia forever.
Thank you, Mr. President, for having given me the opportunity to address this Council at a time of great consequence for us all.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Daily Star's editorial about Imad Mughniyeh's life and death
Mughniyeh - like Hizbullah - was a product of outside aggression
By The Daily Star
In the wake of his death, Imad Mughniyeh has been described as both a dangerous villain and a courageous hero. The task of reconciling these diametrically opposed assessments will be left to a future generation of historians who no longer have to contend with the politicizing influences of the Arab-Israeli conflict. For now, all that we know is that Mughniyeh was undoubtedly involved in armed resistance for more than 20 years, and has been accused - but never convicted - of many operations that employed questionable and even condemnable tactics. But in the absence of a universally accepted history or formal judgement by a court of law, the exact extent and scope of his involvement in these activities remains a mystery.
Whether one chooses to condemn or praise Mughniyeh, it is worth recalling the context in which he arose to become one of the most wanted men in the world. Mughniyeh had not yet been born in 1948, when Israeli forces entered Lebanon and killed dozens of civilians in the village of Hula, and he was just a toddler when the Jewish state sent commandos to Beirut International Airport to blow up 13 passenger planes. During Mughniyeh's childhood and early adolescence, Israel systematically destroyed dozens of Muslim, Christian and Druze villages in Lebanon, making much of the South of the country uninhabitable and forcing scores of civilians to flee from their ancestral homes to the southern suburbs of Beirut. Whether one agrees or disagrees with Mughniyeh's response to the criminal brutality that he witnessed in his formative years, one cannot deny the role that these events played in making him the man that he eventually became: Mughniyeh, like Hizbullah itself, arose as a direct response to Israeli aggression.
Because of the legendary status that he had acquired within the ranks of the resistance, his killing was nothing short of an earthquake on the Lebanese scene. Already, several theories about the possible identity of his assassins have emerged, and each of the scenarios is equally sinister. If the assassination was in fact ordered by Israel, as both Hizbullah and Iran have alleged, then the act marks a major breach of Syria's security environment. A thorough investigation would need to be launched to determine how the assassins managed to carry out their plans, and nothing short of a complete shakeup of the Syrian security apparatus would ensure that such a penetration would not recur. It is also still too early to rule out other possible suspects, including Damascus, which may have sanctioned the killing to ward off international pressure over its role in providing safe haven to Islamist militants. The fact that pressure succeed in convincing the Syrians to expel Abdullah Ocalan in 1998 proves that this possibility is not without precedent.
No matter who the killers were, Lebanon is the country that stands to suffer the most in terms of destabilization. For that reason, Mughniyeh's assassination serves as a deadly reminder to the Lebanese of the inherent dangers that have plagued their country since Israel was imposed on the region.
By The Daily Star
In the wake of his death, Imad Mughniyeh has been described as both a dangerous villain and a courageous hero. The task of reconciling these diametrically opposed assessments will be left to a future generation of historians who no longer have to contend with the politicizing influences of the Arab-Israeli conflict. For now, all that we know is that Mughniyeh was undoubtedly involved in armed resistance for more than 20 years, and has been accused - but never convicted - of many operations that employed questionable and even condemnable tactics. But in the absence of a universally accepted history or formal judgement by a court of law, the exact extent and scope of his involvement in these activities remains a mystery.
Whether one chooses to condemn or praise Mughniyeh, it is worth recalling the context in which he arose to become one of the most wanted men in the world. Mughniyeh had not yet been born in 1948, when Israeli forces entered Lebanon and killed dozens of civilians in the village of Hula, and he was just a toddler when the Jewish state sent commandos to Beirut International Airport to blow up 13 passenger planes. During Mughniyeh's childhood and early adolescence, Israel systematically destroyed dozens of Muslim, Christian and Druze villages in Lebanon, making much of the South of the country uninhabitable and forcing scores of civilians to flee from their ancestral homes to the southern suburbs of Beirut. Whether one agrees or disagrees with Mughniyeh's response to the criminal brutality that he witnessed in his formative years, one cannot deny the role that these events played in making him the man that he eventually became: Mughniyeh, like Hizbullah itself, arose as a direct response to Israeli aggression.
Because of the legendary status that he had acquired within the ranks of the resistance, his killing was nothing short of an earthquake on the Lebanese scene. Already, several theories about the possible identity of his assassins have emerged, and each of the scenarios is equally sinister. If the assassination was in fact ordered by Israel, as both Hizbullah and Iran have alleged, then the act marks a major breach of Syria's security environment. A thorough investigation would need to be launched to determine how the assassins managed to carry out their plans, and nothing short of a complete shakeup of the Syrian security apparatus would ensure that such a penetration would not recur. It is also still too early to rule out other possible suspects, including Damascus, which may have sanctioned the killing to ward off international pressure over its role in providing safe haven to Islamist militants. The fact that pressure succeed in convincing the Syrians to expel Abdullah Ocalan in 1998 proves that this possibility is not without precedent.
No matter who the killers were, Lebanon is the country that stands to suffer the most in terms of destabilization. For that reason, Mughniyeh's assassination serves as a deadly reminder to the Lebanese of the inherent dangers that have plagued their country since Israel was imposed on the region.
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