BULLETIN No.142

Guardian Israel attacks Beirut airport
Daily Telegraph Israel strikes Lebanon Beirut's airport was hit as the Israeli government made clear that it holds Lebanon responsible for the abduction of two Israeli soldiers.
Lebanon invasion loomsReservists have been called up for an Israeli assault on Lebanon after Hizbollah gunmen kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others.
UPI Analysis: Iran, Syria use Lebanese militia
UPI Analysis: Israeli troops return to Lebanon
Stop Iran Now - Jerusalem Post
Ha’aretz – Editorial: 'No' to Lebanon War II
Israel's monstrous legacy brings tumult a step closer David Hirst: Overnight Lebanon has been plunged into a role it endured for 25 years - that of a hapless arena for other people's wars.
Washington Post The Future of Hezbollah Attacks Could Erode Faction's Support Pressure Building Against Shiite Militia By Anthony Shadid
Syria Comment Syria and Hizbullah on the Attack
Editorial The Mideast Erupts Israel is entitled to retaliate. And then what?
Los Angeles Times Despite Hezbollah's Ties to Iran and Syria, It Also Acts Alone The Bush administration was quick to pin responsibility on Iran and Syria when Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers this week.
Behind the Crisis, A Push Toward War By David Ignatius, In the Lebanon crisis we have a terrifying glimpse of the future: Iran and its radical allies are pushing toward war. We should not play their game.
Necessary Steps for Israel Confronting State Sponsors of Terror Is the Only Option
By Michael Oren, By eliminating the terrorist leaderships in Gaza and southern Lebanon and deterring Syria and Iran from prodding their proxies to war, Israel can restore a reasonable level of security to its citizens.
PostGlobal: Crisis in the Middle East
Why They Fight By Charles Krauthammer, In 1948, Israel acquired life. The fighting raging now is about whether that life should and will continue to exist.
Financial Times Leader A new Middle East disaster in the making It is hard to underestimate the dangers of the present escalation in hostilities in the Middle East
World powers split over strikes The world's big powers were at odds over Israel's strikes on Lebanon
COMMENT: Only adeal with Hamas can bring peace to Israel What the PLO refuses to contemplate - a temporary settlement - is something Hamas would probably be ready to consider, writes Shlomo Ben-Ami, former Israeli foreign minister.
New Republic Attacked by the Editors Hamas's real casualty is wishful thinking. There are crises that complicate and crises that clarify. The crisis along Israel's southern and northern frontiers is of the latter sort.
National Review MICHAEL LEDEEN: It’s war, and it now runs from Gaza into Israel, through Lebanon and thence to Iraq via Syria. “The Same War”
The Nation Civilians Under Attack Marwan Bishara writes that Israel's use of military force in Gaza, and now Lebanon, to intimidate a civilian population for political ends--to pressure the Palestinian Authority or undermine the Hamas government--is the very definition of state terrorism.
New York Times Israel’s Invasion, Syria’s War By MICHAEL YOUNG America and its Security Council partners may be able to use the crisis in Lebanon to further their security goals in the Middle East, and to help Lebanon climb out of its political morass.
THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN The Kidnapping of Democracy What we are seeing in Iraq, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon is an effort by Islamist parties to use elections to pursue their long-term aim of Islamizing the Arab-Muslim world.
Al Hayat Hezbollah and Deterring Israel Abdel Wahab Badrakhan - Israel could have handled the crisis in Gaza more rationally, but the arrogance of power blinded it. It will undoubtedly be heading toward another disastrous adventure if it tries to respond to Hezbollah's new challenges. The US, the EU, Russia and the UN went too far in ignoring Israeli crimes and violations, turning a blind eye to the assassinations, the destruction of homes and humiliation of the Palestinian people and the violation of their rights.
Weekly Standard Israel's Enemy is America's The bloody history of Hezbollah. by Dan Darling
Getting Serious About SyriaIt's time to stop sending mixed messages to the Assad regime.by Jeffrey Azarva
New York Times Israel’s Invasion, Syria’s War By MICHAEL YOUNG America and its Security Council partners may be able to use the crisis in Lebanon to further their security goals in the Middle East, and to help Lebanon climb out of its political morass.
Israel Blockades Lebanon; Wide Strikes by Hezbollah
News Analysis: Voices of Peace Muffled by Rising Mideast Strife
The Overview: Israel Blockades Lebanon; Wide Strikes by Hezbollah
News Analysis: Sign That Crisis Is Regional, Not Just Israel vs. Palestinians
Schiff Israel must take care not to open a third front with Syria
ANALYSIS: Nasrallah replaces Meshal
Daily Telegraph Israeli crisis is an Iranian smoke screen Con Coughlin asks if there is a better way for the Teheran ayatollahs to divert attention from their nuclear-enrichment programme than by provoking a fresh Middle East crisis between Israel and its neighbours?
Washington Institute Hizballah Opens a Second FrontMichael Eisenstadt describes Israel’s strategic options now that Hizballah has joined the fight on a new, northern front and brought Syria and Iran closer to open hostilities.
Forward Bush Backs Israel's Right To Defend Itself, But Stresses Need To Protect Lebanese Democracy
New Republic Attacked by the Editors Hamas's real casualty is wishful thinking. There are crises that complicate and crises that clarify. The crisis along Israel's southern and northern frontiers is of the latter sort.
The Risks of Israel's Two-Front War - Scott MacLeod, Time
MEMRI Jul 14 SD# 1205 - Iran and the Recent Escalation on Israel's Borders (2): Reaction in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria
WSJ States of Terror Syria, Iran and their proxies wage war on Israel
CFR Israel and the Doctrine of Proportionality
Ha’aretz ANALYSIS: Helpless Lebanese pay the price for their weakness Syria can claim that without it, there is no Lebanese government that can bring order and quiet to Lebanon
East of Beirut Faisal al Yafai A needless fight followed by an overreaction. Is Damascus next?
UPI Analysis: Changing game rules in Lebanon?
Daily Star Perilous crisis presents rare opportunity for Lebanon
Nasrallah has dismissed international law By Chibli Mallat
Leader The state of Lebanon The incomplete achievement of Lebanese sovereignty, symbolised by the extension of the pro-Syrian president's term till next year, is a major cause of instability in the Middle East.
Israel's next war has begun And neither Hamas nor Hezbollah is the ultimate target. by Yossi Klein Halevi
Editorial Halt the slide to warLast year's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, after 38 years, has solved nothing. The Hamas government should exercise its responsibility and stop rockets being fired into Israel, having previously halted the suicide bombings that claimed so many innocent lives inside Israel. But Israel should accept that it needs a Palestinian partner, however unpalatable it may be.
Can military strength bring about a diplomatic solution?
The end of the Third Way The unilateral Third Way is the understanding that the demographic clock is ticking, that the Jewish state is under an existential threat, and that occupation has no future.
Israel holds Lebanon government responsible for Hezbollah attack
Jerusalem Post War and peaceHizbullah and Hamas must be dealt direct, heavy blows from which they will not quickly recover.
US: Syria, Iran responsible for attack
Israel attacks Beirut airport; Israeli town hit...
Hezbollah Fires Rockets at N. Israel
Hezbollah: Prisoner Will Be Returned Through Talks, Not Violence
Israel's Next War Has Begun - Yossi Klein Halevi, The New Republic
Washington Times Tensions in Lebanon test U.S. diplomacy
Christian Science Monitor A second front opens in Israel's conflict Hizbullah militants captured two Israeli soldiers Wednesday in an attack Israel has called an 'act of war.'
How Israel was pulled back into the peril of Lebanon
Los Angeles Times The Nation of Hezbollah The militants' raid is a sign that it sees itself as an independent force in Lebanon and beyond
Israel prepares for two-pronged conflict
Hizbollah's boldattack raises stakes in Middle East conflict
News Analysis: Sign That Crisis Is Regional, Not Just Israel vs. Palestinians
MEMRI Jul 13 SD# 1204 - Iran and the Recent Escalation on Israel's Borders
Forward Israel Blames Attacks on Syria-Iran Axis By MARC PERELMAN
Independent American policy in Middle East caught in 'a perfect storm'
Washington Post Hezbollah Raid Opens a Second Front for Israel Lebanese Shiite fighters seize two Israeli soldiers; Olmert calls attack "an act of war." Beirut airport is closed after Israeli warplanes strike runways.
Israel, Lebanon: Crisis Time
Stratfor
Hezbollah supporters watch from the wings The moment Hezbollah gunmen crossed into Israel on a mission to capture Israeli soldiers, the region was plunged into its most serious crisis in years
Israel bombs Beirut Israel’s heaviest air campaign against Lebanon since the 1982 invasion targeted the airport and Hezbollah TV station
Editorial Time out in the fighting Israel cannot and should not come to terms with a blatant violation of its sovereignty, along either the Lebanese or the Gaza borders.
Schiff No to the previous status quo The aim of the operations Israel is conducting is not only to free the captives or to punish, but also to prevent future kidnappings and bombardments.
Invitation for escalation It is worth noting not only the targets the IAF is attacking, but also those that it is not.
Syria: avoiding a possible third front Israel faces the danger of a third front if Syria steps in to assist the Lebanese guerilla group Hezbollah .
Rice urges Israel to 'exercise restraint' in Lebanon campaign
Bush asks Israel not to disrupt Beirut (Joseph Curl)
Jerusalem Post Analysis: Israel at war
Saudi Arabia criticizes Hizbullah
Yedioth Ahronoth A war Israel must win
Iran warns Israel not to attack Syria
Peretz: We’ll break Hizbullah
Hizbullah stronghold bombed
Israel's Lone Defender: The US

PINR "Tension Returns Between Jordan and Hamas" Full text of report
Overextended U.S. Weighs Its Options in the Mideast
Washington Post U.S. Options in Mideast Limited Bush administration faces three growing crises in the region, with few choices to defuse tensions Robin Wright
Washington Post On Iran, Giving Futility Its Chance By Robert Kagan Let's imagine, and this is purely hypothetical, that President Bush has already decided that he will not leave office in January 2009 without a satisfactory resolution of the Iranian nuclear problem.
Key Powers Give Iran Ultimatum on Its Nuclear Program