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Hezbollah envoy: War on Israel to widen
By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press WriterMon Jul 24, 8:45 AM ET
Hezbollah's representative in Iran struck a defiant tone Monday, warning that his Islamic militant group plans to widen its attacks on Israel until "no place" is safe for Israelis.
Hossein Safiadeen also reinforced earlier threats by Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah to widen the scope of attacks, which have included unprecedented missile strikes deep into northern Israel.
"We are going to make Israel not safe for Israelis. There will be no place they are safe," Safiadeen told a conference that included the Tehran-based representative of the Palestinian group Hamas and the ambassadors from Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian Authority.
"You will see a new Middle East in the way of Hezbollah and Islam, not in the way of Rice and Israel."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Beirut on Monday while en route to Israel. Rice met with Lebanese Prime Minister Faud Saniora about the surge in fighting along the southern border in the last two weeks.
Rice told him, "Thank you for your courage and steadfastness."
Safiadeen's comments reflected the deep opposition within Hezbollah to the efforts to broker a truce, including apparent attempts by Arab powers to pressure Syria into ending its support for Hezbollah, leaving Iran as the group's lone major backer.
Iran and Syria are the main sources of funds and equipment for Hezbollah, which was founded in the early 1980s and took inspiration from Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Syria said Sunday it was willing to work with the United States and others to press for an end to the worse Arab-Israel battles in 24 years but set conditions that Israel is unlikely to accept. Those conditions include a broader regional peace initiative that would discuss the return of the Golan Heights, which was captured by Israel in 1967.
Arab powerhouses Egypt and Saudi Arabia also were pushing Syria to end its support for Hezbollah fighters, Arab diplomats in Cairo said.
Safiadeen told The Associated Press he "had no news" about Syria considering withdrawing its support for Hezbollah, which touched off the crisis July 12 with a cross-border raid that captured two Israeli soldiers.
"We will expand attacks," he said. "The people who came to Israel, (they) moved there to live, not to die. If we continue to attack, they will leave."
Israel claims Iran has supplied Hezbollah with long-range missiles, which have hit the port of Haifa and other places. Iran denies the charges but does not hide its high-level support for Hezbollah.
"This war will be remembered as the beginning of the end for Israel," Safiadeen said.
Nasrallah said in remarks published Monday that an Israeli ground invasion would not prevent Hezbollah from firing rockets into northern Israel.
"Any Israeli incursion will have no political results if it does not achieve its declared goals, primarily an end to the rocketing of Zionist settlements in northern occupied Palestine," Nasrallah told As-Safir newspaper. "I assure you that this goal will not be achieved, God willing, by an Israeli incursion."
Responding to reports about diplomatic efforts to end the fighting, Nasrallah said the priority was to end Israeli attacks on Lebanon, but he added that he was open to discussing initiatives.
Those attending Monday's conference included a top Foreign Ministry official and Gen. Mirfaisal Bagherzadeh of the powerful Revolutionary Guards.
The Palestinian ambassador, Salah Zavavi, said he believes the chances for a comprehensive political solution have passed. Israel also is battling Hamas-backed militiamen in the Gaza Strip claiming to hold an Israeli soldier missing since an ambush last month.
Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections last month but has been snubbed by Israel and many Western countries as it refuses to recognize Israel and renounce violence.
"The resistance groups will not accept a political end to this," Zavavi said. "They will not put down their weapons."
Born-again allies, France and US unite over Lebanon
By Jon BoyleMon Jul 24, 1:15 PM ET
France and the United States worked together to oust Syria from Lebanon and, despite tactical differences due to divergent agendas in the region, they agree who is to blame for the current crisis -- Hizbollah.
The born-again allies, their rift over Iraq a thing of the past, want to isolate and disarm the Shi'ite Muslim group, whose backers Iran and Syria underscore the wider strategic issues at play in the latest round of Middle East conflict.
Israel began its assault on Lebanon after Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12. Some 373 people have since died in Lebanon. At least 37 Israelis have been killed in Hizbollah rocket attacks and clashes.
Both Washington and Paris have accused Hizbollah of provoking the Jewish state and leaving Lebanon -- a French-speaking Middle East state with historical ties to France -- to bear the brunt of Israel's riposte.
"The Americans have never been interested in Lebanon as such, (they) have always reacted regarding Syria and regarding Israel," said Olivier Roy, head of research at the France-based CNRS institute.
"For the French, Lebanon is the priority. They have come to the conclusion that now Hizbollah is playing against Lebanon's political and territorial integrity."
Commentators agree the assassination of President Jacques Chirac's friend Rafik al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister killed by a car bomb in February 2005 blamed on pro-Syrian agents, abruptly changed the French leader's view of Hizbollah.
Chirac met grieving relatives in Beirut on the day Hariri was buried and his killing led directly to the anti-Syrian entente with the Americans at work now.
"With the current war, clearly Hizbollah provoked the Israelis, knowing that the Israelis were going to strike Lebanon," Roy said.
"And that plays into Syria's hands, so it shows that the problem right now is Hizbollah's military power. So for different reasons, the French and the Americans have come together again."
NEGOTIATIONS VITAL
That said, there are still clear differences of approach between Paris and Washington over how to respond to the war.
The U.S. administration wants any ceasefire in Lebanon to remove the threat to Israel posed by Hizbollah but has no plans yet to meet with the group or its Syrian backers.
France -- co-author with the Americans of the 2004 U.N. Security Council resolution that forced Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon -- says broad-based negotiations are vital.
"We talk to everyone. We are everyone's friend and, above all, we say the same thing to each side," Catherine Colonna, the French minister for Europe, told France Info radio on Monday.
While Washington has not criticised Israel for its attack on Lebanon, Chirac has denounced it as "aberrant."
Anxious to end the onslaught, France has called for a strong international force to take up position in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon expert Roland Jacquard, who has close links to the French establishment, said the country was already looking past the conflict to the rebuilding of Lebanon as part of its diplomatic push.
"We (France) will probably ask for some financial aid to rebuild Lebanon. I know that President Chirac has already asked some Arab heads of state," he said.
"I know that for the past three days French diplomacy has been very active with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Emir of Qatar and Syria," he said in a phone interview late on Friday.
France believes rebuilding the authority of an already weak Lebanese state -- as much as the country's physical infrastructure -- is the best way to neuter Hizbollah.
"(France's) concern is that Israel is in the process of destroying the Lebanese state. And the best way of countering Hizbollah is precisely to reinforce the Lebanese state, not destroy it," he said.
they did so, though the Iranian missile fell into the sea.Hizbullah: War on Israel to widen
Organization's envoy to Iran says his group intends on firing long-range rockets into Israel in order to make Israel not safe for Israelis
Associated Press
I believe that is the definition of terrorism?Hizbullah's representative in Iran struck a defiant tone Monday, warning that his Islamic group plans to widen its attacks on Israel until "no place" is safe for Israelis.
With missiles made and/or provided by Iran/SyriaHossein Safiadeen also reinforced earlier threats by Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah to widen the scope of attacks, which have included unprecedented missile strikes deep into northern Israel.
"We are going to make Israel not safe for Israelis. There will be no place they are safe," Safiadeen told a conference that included the Tehran-based representative of the Palestinian group Hamas and the ambassadors from Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian Authority.
"You will see a new Middle East in the way of Hizbullah and Islam, not in the way of Rice and Israel."
which has made the same impact as UN, US, etc.Rice in Beirut
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Beirut on Monday while en route to Israel. Rice met with Lebanese Prime Minister Faud Saniora about the surge in fighting along the southern border in the last two weeks.
Rice told him, "Thank you for your courage and steadfastness."
Safiadeen's comments reflected the deep opposition within Hizbullah to the efforts to broker a truce, including apparent attempts by Arab powers to pressure Syria into ending its support for Hizbullah, leaving Iran as the group's lone major backer.
Iran and Syria are the main sources of funds and equipment for Hizbullah, which was founded in the early 1980s and took inspiration from Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Syria said Sunday it was willing to work with the United States and others to press for an end to the worse Arab-Israel battles in 24 years _ but set conditions that Israel is unlikely to accept. Those conditions include a broader regional peace initiative that would discuss the return of the Golan Heights, which was captured by Israel in 1967.
Arab powerhouses Egypt and Saudi Arabia also were pushing Syria to end its support for Hizbullah fighters, Arab diplomats in Cairo said.
Safiadeen told The Associated Press he "had no news" about Syria considering withdrawing its support for Hizbullah, which touched off the crisis July 12 with a cross-border raid that captured two Israeli soldiers.
'Immigrants will leave'
"We will expand attacks," he said. "The people who came to Israel, (they) moved there to live, not to die. If we continue to attack, they will leave."
Israel claims Iran has supplied Hizbullah with long-range missiles, which have hit the port of Haifa and other places. Iran denies the charges but does not hide its high-level support for Hizbullah.
"This war will be remembered as the beginning of the end for Israel," Safiadeen said.
Nasrallah said in remarks published Monday that an Israeli ground invasion would not prevent Hizbullah from firing rockets into northern Israel.
"Any Israeli incursion will have no political results if it does not achieve its declared goals, primarily an end to the rocketing of Zionist settlements in northern occupied Palestine," Nasrallah told As-Safir newspaper. "I assure you that this goal will not be achieved, God willing, by an Israeli incursion."
Responding to reports about diplomatic efforts to end the fighting, Nasrallah said the priority was to end Israeli attacks on Lebanon, but he added that he was open to discussing initiatives.
Those attending Monday's conference included a top Foreign Ministry official and Gen. Mirfaisal Bagherzadeh of the powerful Revolutionary Guards.
The Palestinian ambassador, Salah Zavavi, said he believes the chances for a comprehensive political solution have passed. Israel also is battling Hamas-backed militiamen in the Gaza Strip claiming to hold an Israeli soldier missing since an ambush last month.
Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections last month but has been snubbed by Israel and many Western countries as it refuses to recognize Israel and renounce violence.
"The resistance groups will not accept a political end to this," Zavavi said. "They will not put down their weapons."
