Who else but Hezbollah?
"Affirming support for Syria, Hezbollah chief says group still potent" December 07, 2011|New York Times
BEIRUT - Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Shi’ite militant group Hezbollah, made a rare public appearance yesterday in Beirut, reiterating his support for Syria’s government and claiming that his group was better trained and armed than ever.
“I want to deliver a message that is not new, but final and conclusive to all those who are conspiring and hoping and betting on change,’’ Nasrallah said. “This resistance in Lebanon will survive and you will not be able to defeat it through your psychological, media, political, and intelligence wars.’’
Hezbollah, the single most powerful actor in Lebanon, has faced a growing challenge amid the eight months of tumult in Syria, whose government, alongside Iran’s, remains the group’s most strategic ally. Nasrallah’s support for President Bashar Assad has damaged Hezbollah’s standing among protesters in Syria, and the group’s opponents in Lebanon have become bolder amid predictions that decades of rule by the Assad family may be coming to an end.
Nasrallah said his appearance was meant to send a clear message to those “who believe they can threaten us.’’
“We will never let go of our arms,’’ he said. “Our numbers are increasing day after day, and we are getting better and our training is becoming better, and we are becoming more confident in our future and more armed. And if someone is betting that our weapons are rusting, we tell them that every weapon that rusts is replaced.’’
For weeks, Hezbollah had seemed to be less strident in its public support for Assad, but Nasrallah’s statements yesterday were unambiguous.
He called Assad’s government “a resistance regime’’ and lashed out at Assad’s opponents, in particular the opposition group organized in Turkey, the Syrian National Council, accusing it of working with the United States and Israel to try to “destroy Syria.’’
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"5 UN peacekeepers hurt in Lebanon; No one claims responsibility for roadside bomb" December 10, 2011|By Bassem Mroue, Associated Press
BEIRUT - A roadside bomb struck a vehicle carrying United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon yesterday, wounding five French soldiers and a Lebanese bystander, officials said.
It was the third bombing this year targeting the international force known as UNIFIL, which is deployed to keep peace along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The explosion came amid fears that violence in Syria might spread into the tiny Mediterranean nation, which was dominated by Damascus for three decades until Syrian troops withdrew in 2005.
Foreign Minister Alain Juppe of France called on Lebanese authorities to bring those responsible to justice and to guarantee the security of the peacekeepers....
Israel violates no-fly zone almost everyday and.... nothing.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack and called it deeply disturbing.
The militant Hezbollah group, which enjoys wide support in southern Lebanon, also condemned the bombing. It said in a statement that such acts of violence “target Lebanon’s security and the stability of its south in particular.’’
Meaning they didn't do, and I have a pretty good idea who did (cui bono?).
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"Israelis, Muslims at odds over bridge work near holy site; Area’s control is sore point since takeover after 1967 war" December 13, 2011|By Matti Friedman, Associated Press
JERUSALEM - Also yesterday, Lebanese army officials said militants fired a rocket from Lebanon toward Israel but it fell short, seriously wounding a Lebanese woman.
The rocket was launched nearly two weeks after rockets fired from Lebanese territory hit the Jewish state in the first such attack in two years. There was no claim of responsibility in either attack.
No claim of responsibility means it was an intelligence agency operation.
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"Death toll rises to 25 in collapse of Beirut building" January 17, 2012
BEIRUT - Using bulldozers and their bare hands, Lebanese workers pulled bodies from the rubble of a collapsed five-story residential building yesterday, bringing the death toll to 25, officials said.
Most of the dead were foreign workers living in Lebanon. The owner of the building was arrested yesterday, a day after the building suddenly disintegrated into a pile of twisted metal and broken concrete....
Building collapses in Lebanon are rare, and officials said the cause was not yet clear. It is possible that cracks in the old building were made worse by heavy rain or the effects of several nearby construction sites. Some residents reported hearing a small blast earlier this week, which turned out to be the snap of a pillar in the building....
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"Hezbollah leader could get US military trial" September 26, 2011|Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is considering a military trial in the United States for a Hezbollah commander now detained in Iraq, US counterterrorism officials said, previewing a potential prosecution strategy that has failed before but may offer a solution to a difficult legal problem for the government.
While the United States hasn’t made a decision, officials said a tribunal at a military base may be the best way to deal with Ali Mussa Daqduq, who was captured in Iraq in 2007. He has been linked to the Iranian government and a raid in which four American soldiers were abducted and killed in the holy city of Karbala in 2007.
No military commission has been held on US soil since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. President George W. Bush tried holding a few suspected terrorists at military bases inside the United States, but each detainee was ultimately released or transferred to civilian courts.
President Obama has said that because of changes to the military commissions that give prisoners more rights, he supports them as an option in the fight against terrorism. Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group that the United States has branded a terrorist organization.
But a tribunal for Daqduq would probably draw criticism from liberals, who say a civilian court should be used, as well as from conservatives, who do not want suspected terrorists brought to the United States regardless of the venue.
The officials who discussed the deliberations spoke on condition of anonymity because no decision has been made.
Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, would not discuss the administration’s plan for Daqduq.
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