Monday - August 14, 2006

All Quiet On The Eastern Front

And so it looks like the fighting will wind down over the next few days ... unless Hezbollocks decides to keep to pattern and continues to fire rockets in spite of themselves. What are the odds that this “peace” will last more than 48 hours? It’s got to be a long shot.

At the very least, keep an eye on southern Lebanon over the next week. If Hezbollocks stays quiet and honors the ceasefire that means they just got their ass whupped badly. If, on the other hand, they decide to break the peace with rocket attacks that probably means they weren’t hurt bad enough. This will be a good barometer of how much damage Israel did to the terorist organization.

Of course, their leader Nostrallah and President Ahmawhackjob of Iran will declare a “great victory over the Zionist state” - which is typical bullcrap from these pencil-dick blowhards. Speaking of pencil-dick blowhards, I hear the Fwench are going to send a force to Lebanon as part of the peacekeeping force. Now that should be fun to watch. Let’s see how fast the Frogs can scurry for cover and surrender when the shooting starts ...

Lebanon Ceasefire Takes Effect
LEBANON (AFP) - Aug 14 1:12 AM US/Eastern

A UN-brokered ceasefire deal aimed at ending the month-long war in Lebanon entered into force at 0500 GMT on Monday. The hours leading up to the agreed hour for an end to the fighting were marked by intense fighting, with Israel launching a series of air raids across Lebanon and Hezbollah firing a barrage of rockets on the Jewish state.

At least 38 Lebanese civilians and four soldiers were killed by Israeli fire as warplanes kept up their deadly bombing, police and rescue workers said, while five Israeli soldiers were also killed in action.

Israel said it would stop the offensive at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) Monday in line with a Security Council resolution passed unanimously Friday calling for a full cessation of hostilities. The Lebanese cabinet, which includes two Hezbollah representatives, also agreed to respect the accord, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s personal envoy, Geir Pedersen, said after talks with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.

Earlier Sunday a Lebanese cabinet meeting on the question of disarming Hezbollah was postponed because the Shiite movement was standing by a refusal to give up its arms, a cabinet minister who declined to be named told AFP. “This is the moment of truth and they do not want to give up their arms. We preferred to accept a delay of the meeting to allow the discussions to continue,” the minister had said.

Israel meanwhile urged the world to apply the UN resolution firmly, warning that Hezbollah must be dismantled and the Lebanese army quickly deployed in the south. “The application of the resolution will depend on the will of the Lebanese government, but especially on the determination of the international community,” Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in Jerusalem.

“It is clear that Resolution 1701 foresees the dismantling of Hezbollah and not only the disarming” of the militant group, she said. “We want to see the Lebanese army deployed immediately in south Lebanon.” The agreement to halt fighting raised hopes of an end to the bloodshed which has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Lebanese and some 150 Israelis.

But with Hezbollah vowing to fight until the last Israeli soldier leaves Lebanon and Israel stressing that it will respond to any attack on its troops or rocket fire, it was unclear whether the cessation of hostilities would hold.

And the bloodshed went on as the clock ticked towards the agreed hour to end the fighting. In one of the deadliest raids, at least 15 people were killed, including three children, and 20 wounded by Israeli air strikes that hit eight buildings and a mosque in Beirut’s southern suburbs, emergency services said.

At least eight people were also killed and 30 wounded in Israeli air raids late Sunday near the ancient city of Baalbeck in eastern Lebanon, police said. In Israel a man was killed by a rocket attack in the north of the country as the Shiite militia fired a record 250 rockets at the Jewish state.

- More on the ceasefire from AFP...

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/14/2006 at 10:51 AM   
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