BULLETIN No.144

Heritage Iran and its Hezbollah Allies Escalate Their Aggressive Policies in the Middle East by James Phillips
CSIS CORDESMAN: IRAN'S SUPPORT OF THE HEZBOLLAH IN LEBANON
Washington Post Back From the Brink E. J. Dionne Jr.
The question in Israel's war with Hezbollah is not whether the Israeli government had a right to retaliate. It is whether there is a way of avoiding full-scale war in the Middle East.
UPI Analysis: What Israel hopes to accomplish By CLAUDE SALHANIFor the first time since Israel pulled out of Lebanon six years ago after its 18-year occupation of the south, the Jewish state is getting involved once
NYT Diplomacy’s Turn in Lebanon Stopping the fighting in the Middle East won’t be easy, but the dangers of escalation are too great to permit the major powers, or worried Arab rulers, to turn away.
Washington Post Hunker Down With History Richard Cohen The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake.
BBC Israeli jets in new Lebanon raids
Israel launches air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon, as the UN warns of a humanitarian crisis.
Nations start evacuations
Glimmer of hope for diplomacy
FT Bush doubts Lebanon peace plan
World leaders sought to build momentum behind a United Nations plan to send soldiers to the conflict zone in Lebanon, but George W. Bush raised doubts about the viability of such a move.
Weekly Standart Hunkered Down by Lee Smith
IT'S SUNDAY, day after what was so far the fiercest day of shelling, and everyone is exhausted for lack of sleep. I'd spent the night in the mountains, sure that it would be quieter than West Beirut, but since my refuge in the Metn overlooks the Beirut suburbs in the valley down on the water, every bomb rippled up the side of the mountain
Jul 18 SD# 1208 - Iran and the Recent Escalation on Israel's Borders (5): Reactions in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria
Jul 17 SD# 1207 - Iran and the Recent Escalation on Israel's Borders (4): Reaction in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria
Jul 14 SD# 1206 - Iran and the Recent Escalation on Israel's Borders (3): Reactions in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria
Jul 14 SD# 1205 - Iran and the Recent Escalation on Israel's Borders (2): Reaction in Iran, Lebanon, and Syria
Jul 13 SD# 1204 - Iran and the Recent Escalation on Israel's Borders
Ha’aretz – IDF refuses to rule out major ground invasion of Lebanon
Source: Israel will not let Hezbollah regain its fire power
Government to demand disarmament of Hezbollah Israel fears Hezbollah will use cease-fire to rearm
Condoleezza Rice: Cease-fire won't help
Marcus Take a deep breath When the attack on Hezbollah first began, there was a sneaking suspicion we were looking at an Olmert-Peretz ego trip orchestrated by Dan Halutz.
Israel destroys missile capable of reaching Tel Aviv...
UPI Analysis: What Israel hopes to accomplish
Outside View: Disastrous miscalculations By ALON BEN-MEIR
Yedioth Ahronoth Out with deterrence, in with attrition
Jerusalem Post The Region: The Arab mind-set By BARRY RUBIN Nobody should have any illusions about the Lebanese gov't doing anything positive to solve this crisis.
The Lebanese army and the Hizbullah question
Der Spiegel Israel's Costs and Rewards
PBS Israeli, Syrian Ambassadors Speak Out on the Middle East
Justin Raimondo Will We Go to War for Israel?
Israel Readies for Iran Showdown by Attacking Lebanon
Israel: Shaken Awake by War By David Grossman The country is fighting two-headed enemies, one preaching moderation, the other hate.
- Editorial: Who's to Blame in the Middle East?
Dar Al Hayat Proxy Wars
Mohamed Ashab - Israel is not qualified to wage proxy wars as long as it is one of the parties that starts them and is not in the least concerned with ending them. The paradox in the Israeli discourse is that it is addressed to the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples in ambiguous language.The responsibility of the Arab States at the ministerial meeting in Cairo lies in rescuing the whole region from the dangers that have resulted from Israeli calculations.
Gulf News Lebanon is thrown to the wolves
If the Lebanese decide to soldier on, it will take them decades to emerge from the rubble.
Opinion: Lebanon needs protection
The call for an international force to protect Israel from outside attacks is bizzare.
Chrisitian Science Monitor Wider war in Mideast? Not likely. No coalition of Arab governments is willing to unite militarily against Israel.
DEBKAfile Exclusive reveals: Hizballah leader Hassan Nassrallah and top command are holed up in Hermel, the northern Lebanese panhandle bordering Syria More...
Debka Bush Wants the Hizballah-Israel War to Give Iran a Bloody Nose Print
RFE/RL Iran: Tehran Playing A Key Role In Israel-Lebanon Crisis
Israel's path to total war As the tide of war intensifies, it is increasingly obvious that Israel's hidden objective is to inflict such mortal wounds on the weak nation of Lebanon as to bring it to its knees and thus take a giant step toward its grandiose objective of a Pax Israelica. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
FT Israelis ponder breakdown of 'tenfold deterrence' strategy
Los Angeles Times Israel Signals Willingness to Accept Lebanon TruceOfficial says cease-fire possible if Hezbollah pulls back from border zone and frees two Israeli soldiers
Al Awsat The Proxy War : Amir Taheri
Ha’aretz Source: Israel will not let Hezbollah regain its fire power
A heavily armed militia attacks your territory. What are you meant to do? David Aaronovitch What Hezbollah has done — what Hezbollah is doing — is intolerable to sovereign governments
Being Hassan Nasrallah Anything except total defeat is victory. By BRET STEPHENS
Israel points Syria as assistant in Haifa attack Israeli Transportation Minister and former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz declared on Sunday that the missile which struck the northern Israeli city of Haifa was made in Syria.
From Arab Leaders, Sympathy for Civilians but Not Hezbollah
BAGHDAD, July 17 -- Nearly a week of fighting in Israel and Lebanon has prompted the two countries' Arab neighbors to express broad support for the civilians caught in the path of Israel's military assault and a measure of anger over the Hezbollah attack that triggered it.
Hizbullah winning over the Arab street Key Arab leaders have condemned the Shiite militant group, despite its growing popularity with their citizens.
Leader Stabilising LebanonA UN stabilisation force could give the Lebanese the chance at last to assert control over all their territory. But those setting it up should be under no illusion about the magnitude of the task.
IHT Playing Hamas' game Israel needs to be careful that its far-reaching military responses, however legally and morally justified, do not end up advancing the agenda of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Examining Hezbollah's Anti-Air Capability Stratfor
NRO ANDREW C. MCCARTHY: Israel is doing our heavy-lifting. “Course Correction”
MICHAEL RUBIN: Premature recourse to diplomacy backfires. “Eradication First”
JAMES S. ROBBINS: This showdown between Israel and Hezbollah had to happen sooner or later “Payback by Proxy”
Wider war in Mideast? Not likely. No coalition of Arab governments is willing to unite militarily against Israel
Push Made for U.N. To Go Into Lebanon
ST. PETERSBURG, July 17 -- U.N. and European leaders pressed Monday for an international peacekeeping force to be sent to Lebanon to defuse the conflict with Israel, an approach that ended in failure two decades ago when a U.S.-led foreign troop contingent was driven out by violence.

Assad and Bush The State Department's man in Damascus.

The Price Of Success In Iraq By Anthony H. Cordesman
Dar Al Hayat Turkey in the New Iraqi Stage
Sami Shorosh - Turkey is making a mistake if it thinks that normalizing relations with the Kurds will be at the expense of Baghdad. The Kurds are no longer represented in Iraq as an abstract case of nationality. Throughout the last three years, they have asserted that they are the strongest and most crucial guarantee for the preservation of Iraq's integrity and for bringing together the viewpoints of its different ethnic formations.