BULLETIN No.148

International Crisis Group Israel/Palestine/Lebanon: Climbing Out Of The Abyss
WSJ Come Back, Bashar . . . Let Syria deal with Hezbollah. By EDWARD N. LUTTWAK
NRO JAMES S. ROBBINS: What we see are the outlines of a new international alignment in the Middle East. “Let’s Be Friends with Syria”
KR Syria at the Center of Diplomatic Efforts to End War in Lebanon
Syria Emerges Front and Center by Patrick Buchanan
THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Talking Turkey With Syria
Getting the Syrians on board with putting an international force in Lebanon would be very hard, but it's worth a shot.
News Analysis: Why Syria Has Much to Lose if Hezbollah Is Finally Halted
Aljazeera Why is Syria not doing something about this conflict?? For me it ... Why is Syria not doing something about this conflict?? For me it seems that the war is aimed at Syria and maybe Iran is coming closer, but why not fight now?!?
Syria Comment
Damascus Moves Back into the Center as Lebanon is Turned into a Failed State
U.S. Plan Seeks to Wedge Syria From Iran

Independent The Middle East: What happens next?
Israel withdraws unilaterally? Diplomatic settlement? Israel snared in counter-insurgency? Lebanese government falls? Israel invades Lebanon? We analyse the options.
Ha’aretz – Annan: UN base was 'apparently deliberately targeted'
Washington Post In Lebanon's Crisis, a Chance for U.S. to Broaden the Stakes By Robin Wright
A Way Forward By David Ignatius
Jerusalem Post Analysis: The IDF's new definition of victory By ANSHEL PFEFFER French and Saudi troops firing on Hizbullah; That's the current idea of an Israeli victory.
New York Times The Enemy of My Enemy Is Still My Enemy
By BERNARD HAYKEL The rise of Hezbollah makes it all the more likely that Al Qaeda will soon seek to reassert itself through increased attacks on Shiites in Iraq and on Westerners.
Los Angeles Times Hezbollah Is Nobody's Puppet By Reza Aslan
If the Bush administration thinks this is a proxy war, it's making a tragic mistake.
Christian Science Monitor In Middle East, US diplomacy by proxy Syria is a key to the crisis, but Secretary Rice, now in the region, delivers the US message via others.
CFR Multilateral Intervention in the Middle East: An Uninspiring Legacy
Al Hayat On the Eve of the Most Difficult Stage Abdel Wahab Badrakhan - CIearly at this point of the war, Israel cannot consider itself victorious. The only thing it has demonstrated is that it is a terrorist State that does nothing except commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against any future for peace and co-existence in the Middle East. Because this war concerns the US, just as it concerns Israel, the next imminent phase of hostilities will be open to all possibilities, including the most dangerous and the most foul.
The Times When terror becomes error Rosemary Righter Iran and Syria are delighted at the mayhem in the Middle East — but they have overplayed their hand
Daily Telegraph Worldstage
Der SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH LEBANESE PRESIDENT EMILE LAHOUD 'Hezbollah Freed Our Country'
Der Spiegel INTERVIEW WITH ISRAEL'S FOREIGN MINISTER"There Can No Longer Be a Hezbollah"
Ha’aretz – Annan: UN base was 'apparently deliberately targeted'
Schiff The war so far / No goals attained
Benn Was there a proper decision process?
Military Intelligence Chief: Syrian army now at its highest state of alert
Four peacekeepers killed in IAF strike on UN base Nasrallah: We will hit targets south of Haifa
Hezbollah: Strong Israeli response surprised us
Editorial There are no free wars
What would count as success
Rice, Olmert agree on need for multinational force in Lebanon
Analysis: Is the criticism of IDF's military intelligence justified?
Nasrallah vows to begin firing missiles deeper into Israel
New Republic Why Israel fights Once again, the Jewish people finds itself facing a totalitarian ideology with aspirations to rule the world. by Yossi Klein Halevi
Yedioth Ahronoth Poor intelligence Better military intelligence would have facilitated opening stage of ground offensive
Congressional Research Service "Israel-Hamas-Hezbollah: The Current Conflict" (pdf), July 21, 2006
Debka After Losing Bin Jubeil, Hizballah Avoids Frontal Encounters, Switches to Guerrilla Tactics Print
New Republic Roll Back by Dennis RossWhat the United States stands to gain from Israel's war with Lebanon.Con Coughlin says 'ask the US Marines what happens to troops in Lebanon'
Jul 25 SD# 1211 - Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah: I Told Lebanese Political Leaders We Would Abduct Israeli Soldiers
MEMRI Jul 26 SD# 1213 - Lebanese Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt on Al-Arabiya TV: Do Lebanese Really Agree That the Battle of the [Islamic] Nation Should Be Launched From Lebanon?; I Was First to Warn of the Iranian-Syrian Alliance; I Have the Right to Challenge Nasrallah's Heroism
Washington Times Tehran likely to gain if Lebanon fighting continues (Katie Stuhldreher)
Djerejian Hezbollah's Staying Power
Ha’aretz Ma’oz Morality is not on our side The consensus that morality is on our side is based on short-range selective memory, an introverted worldview, and double standards.
Asia Times The war Hezbollah is really fighting With diplomacy making scant progress and with neither Israel nor Hezbollah showing any signs of backing off, the asymmetrical warfare drags on. Hezbollah could take the (moral) initiative by unilaterally stopping all rocket attacks on Israel, focusing on Israeli ground forces making incursions into Lebanon. Hezbollah might still be defeated, but its phoenix would rise from the ashes of Lebanon. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
Der Spiegel ISRAEL GOES TO WAR With an Iron Fist As Beirut is reduced to rubble under a barrage of Israeli bombs and residents of northern Israel flee constant Hezbollah rocket attacks, the prospect of a cease-fire seems remote. Meanwhile, the rest of the world looks on as the latest Middle East catastrophe unfolds
Editorial Lebanon as a Middle East turning point
Ha’aretz – Ze'ev Schiff: Tyre in Lebanon vs. Haifa in Israel
Israel to Occupy Area of Lebanon as Security Zone
D.C. argument / Operation time
Editorial The bigmouth policy
Eldar How to make a multinational force
Opening a window on intelligence
Firepower versus brainpower Instead of an army that is small but smart, we are catching glimpses of an army that is big, rich and dumb
Oren Litani operation with an Iranian flavor
Ma’oz Morality is not on our side The consensus that morality is on our side is based on short-range selective memory, an introverted worldview, and double standards.
IDF surrounds Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbail
Akiva Eldar: Peace in the Galilee depends on peace with Syria
UPI Outside View: What about proportionality? By ALON BEN-MEIR
Washington Times Law and war (Louis Rene Beres)
Der Spiegel Why Israel's Reaction is Right The natural reaction to the current violence in the Middle East is one of horror. It's time for a cease-fire, right? Not necessarily. Pacifism would only help the radicals. By Matthias Küntzel
In Lebanon strife, memories of past war for Israel
New Republic Assymmetric Warfare by Jonathan Chait Why Israel's use of "disproportionate force" is justified.
Rice Details Proposal to Deploy Lebanon Force Plan to use foreign military presence in buffer zone on border greeted skeptically by officials in Beirut; Israeli forces push deeper into southern cities.

New York Times Our Corner of Iraq By PETER W. GALBRAITH While the Bush administration professes a commitment to Iraq’s unity, it has no intention of undertaking the major effort required to put the country together again.
AEI Event The Future of the Iraqi Armed Forces
Washington Post Editorial A Slipping Last Chance Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visits Washington with little to show for his new government.
A widening sectarian rift pushes Iraq to the brink of civil war Al Qaeda is now actively pitting Sunnis against Shiites, fueling civil violence. By Fawaz A. Gerges
Center for American Progress Iraq – Getting Worse
Progress Report, 7/25/06 IRAQ: Transitioning From Bad To Worse
New questions about American military's 'aggression' in Iraq
Reports allege tactics for operations, interrogations led to continued prisoner abuse, wrongful deaths
Shiite Party Leader Outlines 4 Steps for Iraq to Curb Violence Establishment of People's Committees Needed to Restore Security, Hakim Says
When bombs stir a Shiite political revival By Augustus Richard Norton

BBC Iranian puppets Tehran's role in the ongoing Middle East crisis remains hazy
Iran Pulls the War Strings - Richard Chesnoff, New York Daily News

Weekly Standard Things Fall Apart The era of "Arab" unity may be coming to an end and the map of the Middle East may be about to change. by Lee Smith