Iran-backed Hizballah offensive closes in on Israeli border

More bad news for the Lebanon Civil War.

DEBKAfile - Exclusive: Iran-backed Hizballah offensive closes in on Israeli border: "Iran-backed Hizballah offensive closes in on Israeli border

May 10, 2008, 12:05 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile’s military sources report: Hizballah’s advance on two key Lebanese locations Saturday, May 10 had immediate effect on the strategic balance between the Iran-backed Shiite group and Israel. Sidon in the south, Lebanon’s second largest city, which provides Hizballah with control of a continuous coastal strip from its southern Beirut district all the way to Tyre.

The second point is on the northern slopes of the Hermon range. After Hizballah seizes control of this enclave and the Syrian 10th and 14th armored divisions step over the border into Lebanon, the two forces can join to form a strong military line opposite Israel near the Litani River.

Our military sources report that the vanguard of the 10th Division has already moved across to the Lebanese side of the border.

Hizballah’s victory in taking over western and central Beirut therefore has had the effect of adding another link to the pro-Iranian chain encircling Israel. In many ways it is a more damaging setback for Israel’s national security than the Palestinian Hamas' seizure of the Gaza Strip

Yet Israel’s prime minister, defense minister and foreign minister are all too busy with the political fallout of the bribery case against Ehud Olmert to lift a finger to arrest Lebanon’s decline to a Tehran satellite before it is too late - any more than Hamas was stopped from developing into a major military menace.

Equally inert are the two presidents who are pledged to support the Siniora regime, George W. Bush and Nicolas Sarkozy. The United Nations, which maintains 15,000 armed peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, backed by marine forces off the shores of Beirut, has no thought of stopping the Iranian-Syrian-backed terrorist militia from capturing the country."
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Fighting rages in Mt. Lebanon, Damour south of Beirut and northern town of Tripoli

May 12, 2008, 5:45 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile reports: In the second winning round of its war on the pro-Western Siniora government, Hizballah pounded the Druze strongholds of anti-Syrian Walid Jumblatt in the Mt. Lebanon hills east of Beirut all day Sunday, April 11. When the Druze leader asked his rival Talal Arselan to broker a truce deal, Hizballah laid down an ultimatum: Druze militias must turn in their heavy weapons to the Lebanese army and disarm their troops or the attacks go on.

In the northern town of Tripoli Hizballah allies continued to fight pro-government Sunni loyalists.

Shiite gunmen continue to man roadblocks on Beirut highways including the airport road even through Hizballah agreed Saturday, May 10, to take its armed men off the streets after the army surrendered to its two key demands.

DEBKAfile’s sources report that Hizballah fighters mingle with Shiite Amal men in order to camouflage their continuing street presence. Lebanese soldiers still do not venture into the districts conquered by Hizballah in four days of fierce fighting. The crisis which has claimed 44 dead and 128 wounded is therefore far from over. Arab League foreign ministers met Sunday in emergency session called by Saudi Arabia and Egypt Sunday night. Damascus, which sent a low-level delegate instead of its foreign minister, vetoed the proposal to send an Arab peacekeeping force to hold Hizballah in check.

Israel’s deputy defense minister Vilnai said the Lebanese situation is worrying but there is no cause for Israel to intervene.

In obedience to Hizballah demands the Lebanese army revoked two government measures Saturday: the Shiite group’s independent telecommunication network will not be shut down and the pro-Hizballah Brig. Gen Wafiq Shqeir would keep his job as Beirut international airport head of security. The general was accused of waving through illegal Iranian arms shipments for Hizballah.

In a broadcast speech, Saturday, May 10, the pro-Western prime minister Fouad Siniora asked the army to defuse the crisis after Hizballah seized control of western Beirut, besieged the government center and attacked pro-government Sunni centers across Lebanon. Government loyalists found no support from Sinora’s powerful backers, the United States, France or even Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The pro-Western government was therefore forced to back down.

This meant its acceptance of Hizballah’s communication system in central, southern and eastern Lebanon and its direct link to Syrian and Iranian command centers in Damascus; and the Shiite group’s Beirut headquarters online communications link to its Revolutionary Guards bosses in Tehran.

Triumphant, the Hizballah chief Hassan Hasrallah will be a more dangerous enemy than ever. The army rather than the government laid down the condition that Hizballah withdraw from the Sunni districts of Beirut and the rest of the country and remove its armed men from the streets.

Even so, a government minister remarked that the deal awaits approval by Hizballah leaders and the Iranian ambassador in Beirut. It is far from certain that the Shiite terrorists will give up the territory they gained in the last four days.