Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Lebanon Taking Its Lumps

They may be taking a lot more than that soon if Israel has its way. 

Related: Syrian War Leaking Into Lebanon

Slow Saturday Special: Lebanese Unite Behind Hezbollah

And just who would be trying to divide them?

"Blast kills 18 in Hezbollah stronghold; Attack bloodiest in Lebanon tied to Syrian war" by Zeina Karam and Bassem Mroue |  Associated Press, August 16, 2013

BEIRUT — A powerful car bomb tore through a bustling south Beirut neighborhood that is a stronghold of Hezbollah on Thursday, killing at least 18 and trapping dozens of others in an inferno of burning cars and buildings. At least 280 people were wounded. It was the bloodiest attack yet linked to Syria’s civil war.

The blast is the second in just over a month to hit one of the Shi’ite militant group’s bastions of support, and the deadliest in decades. It raises the specter of a sharply divided Lebanon being pulled further into the conflict next door, which is being fought on increasingly sectarian lines pitting Sunnis against Shi’ites.

Syria-based Sunni rebels and militant Islamist groups fighting to topple Syria’s President Bashar Assad have threatened to target Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon in retaliation for intervening on behalf of his regime in the conflict.

RelatedHezbollah forces to remain in Syria

Then I guess they will see more of this:

Thursday’s explosion ripped through a crowded, overwhelmingly Shi’ite area tightly controlled by Hezbollah, turning streets lined with vegetable markets, bakeries, and shops into scenes of destruction.

Dozens of ambulances rushed to the site and firefighters used cranes and ladders to try to evacuate terrified residents from burning buildings. Some fled to the rooftops of buildings and civil defense workers were still struggling to bring them down to safety several hours after the explosion.

The blast appeared to be an attempt to sow fear among the group’s civilian supporters and did not target any known Hezbollah facility or figure.

Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV and Red Cross official George Kattaneh said the death toll was at least 18.

The army, in a statement, said the explosion was caused by a car bomb. It called on residents to cooperate with security forces trying to evacuate people trapped in their homes.

Syria’s conflict has spilled across the border into its neighbor on multiple occasions in the past two years.

Fire from Syria has hit border villages, while clashes between Lebanese factions backing different sides have left scores dead.

But direct attacks against civilian targets were rare until Hezbollah stepped up its role in Syria. Since then, its support bases in southern Beirut have been targeted.

It's an attempt to expand the war beyond Syria.

Rockets have been fired at suburbs controlled by the group on two occasions, wounding four people. On July 9, a car bomb exploded in the nearby Beir al-Abed district, wounding more than 50 people.

Thursday’s explosion, however, was the bloodiest single attack in south Beirut since a 1985 truck bomb assassination attempt targeting top Shi’ite cleric Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah in Beir al-Abed left 80 people dead.

It came despite rigorous security measures taken in the past few weeks by Hezbollah around its strongholds, setting up checkpoints, searching cars, and sometimes using dogs to search for bombs.

It also came a day before Hezbollah’s leader was scheduled to give a major speech marking the end of the month-long 2006 war with Israel.

The explosion occurred on a commercial and residential main street in the Rweiss district, about 100 yards away from the Sayyed al-Shuhada complex where Hezbollah usually holds rallies.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, who has lived in hiding since his group’s 2006 month-long war with Israel, made a rare public appearance at the complex on Aug. 2, where he addressed hundreds of supporters.

He was to speak again on Friday from a location in southern Lebanon, but his speeches by satellite are often transmitted to followers at the complex.

Panicked Hezbollah fighters fired in the air to clear the area and roughed up photographers, smashing and confiscating some of their cameras following the explosion.

Won't win them any points with my jewsmedia, which is why they pointed it out.

Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar called the blast a ‘‘terrorist’’ attack and called for restraint among the group’s supporters.

Meaning it was a covert intelligence operation.

He suggested the group’s political rivals in Lebanon were responsible for creating an atmosphere that encourages such attacks.

--more--"

"Beirut attack suggests shift to civilians; Hezbollah leader vows he will go to Syria" by Loveday Morris and Suzan Haidamous |  Washington Post, August 17, 2013

BEIRUT — Hezbollah’s leader said Friday he is prepared to go to Syria personally to fight extremist Sunni Muslims whom he blamed for the deadliest bombing in Beirut in at least eight years, an attack that analysts said could herald a new ‘‘dark era’’ of sectarian bombings targeting Lebanese civilians.

The car bomb, which killed at least 21 people, was the second in a little more than a month to hit the militant Shi’ite movement’s staunch support base in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs. But unlike the first, which caused no deaths, the explosives-packed car that detonated Thursday evening outside a shoe store and a pastry shop appeared intended to cause maximum civilian casualties.

Looks like "Al-CIA-Duh" or some other service to me.

While Lebanon is no stranger to explosions, since the country’s 15-year civil war ended in 1990 they have largely taken the form of targeted assassinations, with the civilian lives lost as collateral damage. But since Hezbollah has begun sending fighters to Syria to help President Bashar Assad battle a largely Sunni opposition, the civil war there has taken an increasingly sectarian turn and reprisal attacks on the Shi’ite movement in Lebanon have multiplied.

Analysts cited Thursday’s bombing as evidence that Iraq-style sectarian bombings have now reached Lebanon.

Related: Occupation Iraq: Divide and Conquer 

See why I no longer believe the Jewish narrative of sectarianism among people who have coexisted for centuries?

‘‘This is no longer targeted assassinations of political and militant figures with clear political ends. It’s actually targeting the civilian population,’’ said Imad Salamey, an associate professor of political science at Lebanese American University. ‘‘We are seeing the Iraqization of Lebanon, a spillover from Iraq to Syria to Lebanon.

“This is massive, a potentially dark era, and God knows how it can be limited.’’ 

I'm doing the best I can by calling out whom I think is truly behind such atrocities.

In a televised speech from a secret location Friday, Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah showed no sign of retreating from his decision to send fighters to Syria, a demand of the Syrian rebel groups that have threatened his movement.

‘‘If you believe that by killing our women, and killing our children, and killing our innocent, and destroying our areas we might back up from our vision and our stand, you’re delusional,’’ he said, adding that preliminary investigations by Lebanese authorities had found ‘‘takfiri’’ Muslim groups responsible, a term for Sunni extremists.

That's what they call Al-CIA-Duh, huh?

Nasrallah said that if it is confirmed that the bombing was a retaliation for Hezbollah’s role in Syria, he is prepared to double the number of fighters there.

‘‘If the battle with these takfiri terrorist people requires me and all of Hezbollah to go to Syria, we will all go to Syria,’’ he said. ‘‘If we have 100 fighters in Syria they will become 200, If we have 1,000 they will become 2,000, and if we have 5,000 they will become 10,000.’’

I wouldn't worry too much. Syrian forces are basically wiping up after winning several victories over the last months.

Near the blast site in the neighborhood of Ruwais on Friday, investigators gathered evidence from the tangled wreckage and the number of deaths climbed to 21 as more corpses were pulled out, according to the National News Agency. The toll made it the deadliest bombing in Lebanon since former prime minister Rafiq Hariri’s assassination in 2005. A Hezbollah lawmaker told local media that 24 people had been killed, which would make it the most lethal since Lebanon’s civil war.

Hariri's assassination was done by Mossad. Even his son knows it.

A policeman at the scene who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media said an initial investigation had found that two people were in the vehicle when it stopped in the middle of the street. The driver fled and the passenger was killed in the explosion, he said.

--more--"

One week later:

"Car bombs kill 29 at Lebanon mosques; Sectarian fallout from Syria’s civil war spreading" by Bassem Mroueand Zeina Karam |  Associated Press, August 24, 2013

TRIPOLI, Lebanon — In scenes reminiscent of Lebanon’s devastating civil war, charred bodies lay in the streets Friday after twin car bombs exploded outside of packed mosques, killing 29 people and wounding hundreds.

The coordinated attacks in this predominantly Sunni city — the deadliest fallout from Syria’s civil war to hit Lebanon — raised sectarian tensions to dangerous levels amid fears the country was slipping into a prolonged cycle of revenge.

The blasts marked the second such attack in just over a week. A deadly car bombing targeted an overwhelmingly Shi’ite district south of Beirut controlled by the militant Hezbollah group on Aug. 15, demonstrating the alarming degree to which the country is being torn apart by the civil war next door.

Friday’s attacks shocked residents of Tripoli, which has been the scene of frequent clashes between supporters and opponents of President Bashar Assad in recent months. But the city, Lebanon’s second largest, has not seen such bombings in decades.

The blasts were clearly intended to cause maximum civilian casualties, timed to go off at midday Friday outside the Taqwa and Salam mosques, which are known to be filled with worshippers at that time on the Muslim day of prayer.

All the hallmarks of a false flag and covert western intelligence operation, be it Mossad or CIA-Duh assets of Saudi Arabia.

‘‘Lebanon has officially entered the regional war which has been raging in Syria and Iraq,’’ said Randa Slim, a scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.

The two explosions went off about five minutes apart. The force of the blast at the Taqwa mosque propelled a car onto its roof.

President Michel Suleiman cut short a visit abroad and returned to the country to follow the situation. He described the attacks as a ‘‘massacre’’ aimed at sowing strife among Lebanese.

Hezbollah was quick to condemn the bombings and in a strongly worded statement, expressed ‘‘utmost solidarity’’ with the people of Tripoli.

However, residents of the city — long known as a hotbed for Sunni fundamentalists — were quick to point fingers at the Syria-backed group, blaming it for bringing destruction to Lebanon because of its open involvement in the Syrian civil war. In an ominous sign, a prominent Salafist sheikh, Dai al-Islam Shahhal, said Sunnis in Tripoli would take security in their own hands, raising fears about armed vigilantes.

The grand mufti, Lebanon’s top Sunni cleric, urged calm and unity in a televised address, but there was little of that to be seen in Tripoli on Friday.

Do I really have to make by point anymore regarding sectarian splits?

The open participation of Hezbollah on behalf of the embattled Assad regime has sent sectarian tensions soaring in Lebanon, a deeply divided country that never fully recovered from its own devastating civil war, which ended in 1990.

During that conflict, which pitted Christians against Muslims, tit-for-tat car bombings were common and contributed to the estimated 150,000 people killed during the 15-year conflict. Since the end of the war, there have been numerous car bombings targeting politicians and journalists, but attacks intended to cause civilian casualties have been rare.

And jwho benefits from that?

--more--"

"Israeli jets hit Lebanon after attack" by Isabel Kershner |  New York Times, August 24, 2013

Ah, one of the tough guys of the AmeriKan media.

JERUSALEM — Israel responded overnight Thursday to a rocket attack from southern Lebanon, bombing what military officials described as a “terrorist site” between Beirut and Sidon.

Captain Eytan Buchman, a spokesman for Israel Defense Forces, said Friday that the Israeli Air Force had made “a successful hit” on a target in Naameh, after four rockets were fired into the country from Lebanon for the first time in nearly two years. The rocket fire Thursday set off sirens in Western Galilee and raised tensions in the region.

A militant group called the Brigades of Abdullah Azzam, an Al Qaeda in Iraq offshoot, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Reuters.

Meaning it was a false flag attack, Saudi agents trying to widen the war.

Ramez Mustafa, a Lebanon-based official with a different group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said the strike caused no casualties. The warplanes hit 19 miles south of Beirut.

Yeah, right, somehow it's always the Palestinians firing off the rockets no matter where they come from.

--more--" 

Of course, Israel violates U.N. Security Council resolutions nearly every day with over-flights in Lebanon, but it's no big deal to the pooh-bahs running the planet.

"Arrest made in Lebanon mosque bombings; Death toll rises to at least 47 in mosque blasts" by Ryan Lucas |  Associated Press, August 25, 2013

BEIRUT — Lebanese security forces arrested a suspect on Saturday in connection with the devastating double bombing the day before that killed at least 47 people in the northern city of Tripoli, the state news agency said.

The National News Agency identified the suspect as Sheik Ahmad al-Ghareeb and said police took him into custody at his home in the Miniyeh region outside Tripoli. It said Ghareeb, who has ties to a Sunni organization that enjoys good relations with Lebanon’s powerful Shi’ite Hezbollah militant group, appears in surveillance video at the site of one of the explosions.

Then why would he have done this then?

The coordinated explosions Friday outside two mosques in Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni city, raised already simmering sectarian tensions in fragile Lebanon, heightening fears the country could be slipping into a cycle of revenge attacks between its Sunni and Shi’ite communities. For many Lebanese, the bombings also were seen as the latest evidence that Syria’s bloody civil war — with its dark sectarian overtones — is increasingly drawing in its smaller neighbor.

Now whose narrative is that? Whose agenda is advanced? Who benefits?

Lebanese police officials said Saturday that 47 people were killed and more than 500 wounded in the attack. Some 300 people were still in the hospital a day after the attack, 65 of them in critical condition, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

In Tripoli, armed civilians set up checkpoints on Saturday near the two mosques hit in the attacks, while Lebanese security forces patrolled the streets.

A team of forensic specialists was sifting through the mangled wreckage at the blast sites. Some residents used shovels and brooms to clean up shards of glass and shrapnel that littered the pavement in front of nearby shops.

The explosions were clearly intended to cause maximum civilian casualties as they struck at midday Friday outside the Taqwa and Salam mosques, which are known to be filled with worshippers at that time on the Muslim day of prayer.

Local television stations aired footage of the frantic first moments following the explosions: bodies scattered beside burning cars, charred victims trapped in smoking vehicles; bloodied casualties emerging from thick, black smoke; and people shouting and screaming as they rushed victims away.

While there has been no claim of responsibility for the attacks, many here link them to the civil war next door in Syria, where a Sunni-led insurgency is fighting to oust a regime dominated by President Bashar Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam.

The hallmark of a covert intelligence agency false flag -- as we are being led to believe by war-promoting liars that Hezbollah did it.

Hezbollah has openly declared its guerrillas are fighting alongside Assad’s forces against the Syrian rebels, who enjoy both sympathy and support from many in Lebanon’s Sunni community.

Hezbollah’s overt role in the Syrian civil war has sent sectarian tensions soaring in Lebanon, and street clashes have erupted on numerous occasions in recent months. Preachers at both of the mosques targeted Friday are virulent critics of both Hezbollah and Assad.

Recently, small-scale clashes have taken a turn toward Iraq-style car bombings.

And WE KNOW WHO LIKES TO DO THOSE! 

Just over a week ago, a car bomb targeted an overwhelmingly Shi’ite district south of Beirut controlled by Hezbollah, killing 27 people.

--more--"

"Lebanon charges 5 in deadly blasts" by Ryan Lucas |  Associated Press, August 31, 2013

BEIRUT — The three Lebanese have ties to the Islamic Unification Movement, a Sunni organization that enjoys good relations with Lebanon’s powerful Shi’ite militant Hezbollah group as well as the Syrian government.

Seeing as my jewspaper claims such things it must be the exact opposite as to who is really responsible.

The official identified the other defendants as Mohammed Ali, a Syrian officer, and Khodr al-Aryan, a Syrian civilian. The two have been charged with preparing the explosives for the attack, the official said. He did not specify whether the officer was with Syria’s military, intelligence, or security forces.

Lebanon has been deeply divided by the civil war in Syria, where a Sunni-led insurgency is trying to oust a regime dominated by President Bashar Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam.

Yeah, we know.

The Syrian rebels enjoy the backing of many Lebanese Sunnis, while the Syrian government has the support of Lebanon’s Shi’ite community, including Hezbollah.

So says the divisive AmeriKan jewsmedia.

--more--"

"2 Turkish pilots abducted in Lebanon; Gunmen seek release of nine hostages in Syria" by Loveday Morris |  Washington Post, August 10, 2013

BEIRUT — Gunmen abducted two Turkish Airlines pilots in the Lebanese capital on Friday, Turkish and Lebanese officials said, in an apparent escalation in a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings linked to the war in Syria.

The brazen kidnapping, on the main highway from Beirut’s Rafiq al-Hariri International Airport, is the latest in a string of security breakdowns triggered by Syria’s civil war.

The kidnappers, who forced the pilots out of their minibus at gunpoint, demanded the release of nine Lebanese hostages held in Syria in exchange for the men, Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported.

Turkey’s support of the Syrian rebels has proved controversial in Lebanon, where the country is deeply divided by the conflict. 

Yes, the training and supplying of terrorists through Turkey and Lebanon is no big deal.

Families of the nine Shi’ite Lebanese pilgrims who remain captive after being kidnapped by rebels in the Syrian province of Aleppo in May last year have staged protests outside the Turkish Airlines office in Beirut and its embassy.

Speaking to Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper, Daniel Shoab, a spokesman for the families of the pilgrims, denied that they were directly involved in Friday’s abductions.

A little-known group calling itself Zuwar Imam al-Rida released a statement claiming responsibility.

Another hallmark of a covert intelligence agency operation, folks. Little-known groups!

It said the men would not be released until the Shi’ite pilgrims are freed.

The men were kidnapped at around 3 a.m., according to the Lebanese Interior Ministry. They had flown in on a flight from Istanbul, which was scheduled to land at 2:45 a.m. Eight armed men in two vehicles intercepted the minibus as it headed to a hotel on Beirut’s seafront.

Other crewmembers were allowed to go free, and the driver was questioned by police, the ministry said. The airline identified the pilot as Murat Aktumer and his co-pilot as Murat Agca.

It was not the first kidnapping of Turkish nationals in Lebanon.

Two were briefly held last year after the kidnapping of a member of a prominent Lebanese clan member in Syria.

At that time, threats against the citizens of Persian Gulf countries that also back the Syrian rebels prompted Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to warn their nationals against travel to Lebanon.

--more--"

Also seeKidnappings among woes of war affecting Lebanon

"Arrests made in pilots’ kidnapping

BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities have arrested three people in connection with last week’s kidnapping of two Turkish Airlines pilots in Beirut, the state news agency said Saturday. Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces referred the three suspects in custody to court, the National News Agency reported. It did not identify the three nor say when or where they were arrested. Gunmen snatched the two Turkish pilots last Friday from a van near Beirut’s international airport. Turkey quickly issued a travel warning urging its citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to Lebanon and those already there to leave. The kidnapping appears to be linked to the civil war in neighboring Syria. A previously unknown group claimed responsibility for the abductions, and linked the fate of the two Turkish pilots to that of nine Lebanese Shi’ites who have been held by Syrian rebels for more than a year."

That's rather odd, isn't it?

Related:

2 Turkish pilots freed in hostage deal
9 Shi’ite pilgrims released in Syria
Syrians release 13 female detainees

It was not clear whether the women were part of a complicated hostage swap last week brokered by Qatar and the Palestinian Authority that saw Syrian rebels release nine Lebanese Shi’ite Muslims, while Lebanese gunmen simultaneously freed two Turkish pilots. The agreement illustrated how far Syria’s civil war, now in its third year, has spilled across the greater Middle East. It also appeared to represent one of the more ambitious negotiated settlements to come out of the war, in which the rival factions remain largely opposed to any bartered peace."

All of a sudden I LOVE swaps!

Just when things were looking up:

"Syrian troops hit rebels near Lebanon border; Attack appears aimed at closing supply route" by Bassem Mroue and Diaa Hadid |  Associated Press, November 17, 2013

BEIRUT — Hundreds of Syrian men, women, and children have crossed the border into the Lebanese town of Arsal seeking refuge from the fighting, the town’s former mayor Bassel Hojeiri said by telephone.

‘‘We have a major crisis,’’ Hojeiri said about his hometown, already thronged with thousands of refugees from the past two years of violence in Syria. ‘‘Most of those who fled came yesterday from Qara.’’

The Lebanese army said in a statement that troops captured nine Syrians as they tried to cross into Lebanon carrying weapons and grenades. It said an Algerian was also detained near the border and had no legal permit to stay in Lebanon....

Meaning the Al-CIA-Duh insurgency is being chased out of Syria!

--more--"

"As fighting flares, Syrians take cover in Lebanon; Thousands flee as clashes intensify in mountain area" by Ryan Lucas |  Associated Press, November 18, 2013

BEIRUT — Thousands of Syrians poured into Lebanon over the past two days, taking shelter in wedding halls and makeshift shacks after fleeing heavy fighting in a rugged mountain region across the border in western Syria, UN and local officials said Sunday....

Since the heavy fighting in Qalamoun began Friday, some 10,000 Syrians have fled across the border to the Lebanese frontier town of Arsal, former mayor Bassel Hojeiri said. The new arrivals have crammed into wedding halls and improvised shacks, Hojeiri said.

Some families left so quickly that they arrived in Lebanon ‘‘without anything except the clothes on their backs,’’ said Dana Sleiman, who works for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

She said at least 1,000 Syrian families crossed into Lebanon over the weekend, but many had not yet registered with the United Nations, so more precise figures weren’t available.

Sleiman said some of the new arrivals settled into tin shack slums that dot eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, and they were being offered thick plastic to reinforce their shelters against the cold.

The UN refugee agency was also distributing blankets, mattresses, food, diapers, and hygiene kits to the refugees.

The new refugees join an estimated 1.4 million Syrians — 800,000 of whom have registered — who have already found shelter in Lebanon, according to Lebanese officials.

The massive influx has proven a burden for Lebanon and has helped stoke the country’s already simmering sectarian tensions.

--more--"

The concern for refugees is touching; however, it doesn't mask the agenda-pushing quality of the focus. When I get full features on Palestinians and their 70-year catastrophe maybe I'll start believing in the altruistic sincerity of my jewspaper. Until then, pffft!

"Suicide blasts near Iran Embassy in Beirut kill 23" by David Hadid and Hussein Malla |  Associated Press, November 19, 2013

BEIRUT (AP) — Twin suicide bombers detonated explosions outside the Iranian Embassy in a mainly Shiite district of the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, killing 23 people, including the Iranian cultural attaché, apparently in retaliation for the Lebanese group Hezbollah’s support of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The bombings appeared to be another strike in an intensifying proxy battle over Syria’s civil war that is rattling its smaller neighbor Lebanon. An al-Qaida-linked Sunni extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying more would follow unless the Iranian-backed Shiite Hezbollah withdraws fighters that have helped Assad’s military score key victories over Syrian rebels.

You have been warned.

The midmorning blasts hit the upscale neighborhood of Janah, a Hezbollah stronghold, leaving bodies and pools of blood on the glass-strewn street amid burning cars. More than 140 people were wounded, officials said....

Hmmmmmm!

Iran’s Foreign Minister blamed Israel for the attacks. Hezbollah and Syrian officials indirectly blamed Saudi Arabia, the Sunni Arab kingdom that along with fellow Gulf nation Qatar has been a major backer of Syria’s rebels. 

The usual suspects.

‘‘Each of the terrorist attacks that strike in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq reek of petrodollars,’’ a Syrian government statement said, in a clear reference to oil-rich Gulf Arab countries.

An al-Qaida-linked group, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attacks, saying they would continue until Hezbollah withdraws its forces from Syria.

The authenticity of the claim could not be independently verified, but it was posted on a militant website and on the Twitter account of Sirajuddin Zurayqat, a spokesman of the Azzam Brigades.

(Blog editor just shrugging his shoulders at the obvious false flag. Terrorists with Twitter accounts and websites in this age of NSA surveillance?)

The group is active in southern Lebanon and has issued claims in the past for rocket attacks into northern Israel. It has also claimed a July 2010 bombing of a Japanese oil tanker in the Persian Gulf and a 2005 rocket attack that narrowly missed a U.S. amphibious assault ship docked at Jordan’s Aqaba Red Sea resort....

Yup, yup, yup.

The explosions occurred hours before Lebanon and Iran were supposed to play a World Cup qualifier football match. Lebanon’s state-run news agency NNA said the match will be held later Tuesday but without spectators.

‘‘We tell those who carried out the attack, you will not be able to break us,’’ Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Mikdad told Al-Mayadeen TV. ‘‘We got the message and we know who sent it and we know how to retaliate.’’

So if a big boom takes out an AmeriKan or Israeli city you will know whom to blame.

Hezbollah’s Al-Rasoul al-Azam hospital called on people to donate blood, saying they need all blood types....

--more--"

"Iranian Embassy in Lebanon rocked by bombings; Attack is viewed as retaliation for supporting Syria" by Anne Barnard, Thomas Erdbrink and Rick Gladstone |  New York Times, November 20, 2013

BEIRUT — A double bombing struck the Iranian Embassy compound in Beirut on Tuesday, in the deadliest assault on Iran’s interests since it emerged as the most forceful backer of the Syrian government against an armed insurgency. The frontal attack struck a symbol of the country’s powerful influence in Lebanon and neighboring Syria.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, an offshoot of Al Qaeda that operates in Lebanon, claimed responsibility for the bombings, which killed at least 23 people, including an Iranian diplomat. Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant organization, pointed fingers at Israel and Saudi Arabia, and officials said it was unclear who had carried out the attack.

I also initially suspected Israel, but that may have been misplaced suspicion. Just making Obama's job harder, and maybe my hopes were not misplaced. Considering the current environment, Obama is almost JFK-like on the surface of things. He's certainly pissing off some of the same interests.

Regardless, it was quickly seen as retaliation against Iran and Hezbollah, Iran’s ally, for supporting the Syrian government.

Yeah, who cares who really did it (says the obfuscating propaganda pre$$), it's justified because it is retaliation! 

Regardless(?)....

The double bombing highlighted the risks and costs that Iran faces over Syria, which some analysts have called Iran’s Vietnam.

Oh, WOW! As in Afghanistan, the insurgency is once again a Jew World Order, globe-kicker plan!

Others say Iran has successfully turned its support for Syria’s president, Bashar Assad, into a powerful international trump card that strengthens its hand in negotiations over its disputed nuclear program.

That seems to be true seeing as Syria has won the war.

The attack occurred at a complex time for Iran. While the country’s support for Assad drains its popularity in much of the Arab world, a new, relatively moderate Iranian government seeks to transform its long-strained relations with the West....

Yeah, it SURE AS HELL DID, cui bono? 

Of course, as usual lately this will backfire. All it is going to do is GENERATE SYMPATHY for IRAN and give Obama a bit of a stronger hand in making a deal!

“Today’s event demonstrates the political and economic costs of Syria for Iran,” said Cliff Kupchan, an Iran analyst at Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy based in Washington....

Who would want to demonstrate such a thing?

Providing Syria with weapons and military advisers siphons billions of dollars from Iran’s struggling economy, but the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Revolutionary Guard Corps see the alliance as “the key to national security,” Kupchan said. Iran, he said, views Syria as an indispensable deterrent against Israel.

Related Sunday Globe Special: AmeriKa Building Barracks For Afghan Army 

And now we are going to build a Libyan Army from scratch. 

Good thing the AmeriKan economy is not struggling, huh?

After a while one gets tired of hearing the swirling steamer of a crockpot holler kettle.

But for some in the government of President Hassan Rouhani and others in the reformist camp, “the Vietnam analogy does work,” Kupchan said. “It’s an endless drain on Iran’s resources, to support a dictator who probably used chemical weapons and probably won’t be around in the future.”

RelatedSyria Still About Regime Change 

Always was despite the machinations of the mouthpiece media and propaganda pre$$.

Those differing views will play out in how Iran chooses to respond to what analysts called an unprecedented provocation.

If history is any guide they will DO NOTHING!

Iran is seen as a dominant influence in Lebanon, where it is secure in its alliance with Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful political, social and military force. The bombs raised the specter of continued attacks against Iranian diplomats in countries where the ripple effects of the Syrian war are most strongly felt: Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey.

Not only have the Iranians been warned, but continued attacks against diplomatic personnel is an ACT of WAR, right?

--more--"