Palestinian-Hizbullah alliance attacks Israel

Two days after a Sidon explosion blamed on Israel killed an Islamic Jihad official and his brother, Northern Israel came under attack by rockets launched from the land-of-do-as-you-please in Hizbullah land, Lebanon. The attacks prompted swift retaliation from Israeli fighter jets, with air raids targeting PFLP-GC bases in the Bekaa and in Naameh south of Beirut, as well as Hizbullah positions in Southern Lebanon. One Palestinian militant was reportedly killed. Tayyar.org is reporting that a Hizbullah fighter was killed as well.

Israel held the Lebanese government responsible, vowing a "severe response" to future attacks.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Sunday that his country would be making a formal complaint to the UN Security Council "on the aggression from Israel into Lebanon early this morning."

"We believe that this attack shows the very real need for the expeditious implementation of Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1680 that call for the disarming of all the militia in Lebanon."

"The state of Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for any terror attack emanating from its territory, and will respond severely to such attacks," it added.

The rockets fired early Sunday morning are the first since last December to target Northern Israel. Unlike other non-Hizbullah attacks, these were launched with more precision, successfully hitting an Israel army base and wounding an Israeli soldier. This is an alarming indication that Hizbullah will be outsourcing its operations to willing pro-Assad Palestinian militant groups. The Party of God, as Nasrallah pointed out in a recent speech, can no longer initiate attacks on Israel without suffering a domestic backlash. The fact that their weapons are on the discussion table, and despite their attempt to portray them as sophisticated and effective weapons against perceived Israeli threats, they no longer enjoy the kind of mainstream backing that existed before the Hariri assassination. So for the time being it seems that Hizbullah will offer its anti-Israeli expertise and logistical support to Assad proxy-fighters. And whenever Israel retaliates, as happened today, Hizbullah will use that as an excuse to engage its own fighters.

The head of the Damascus-based PFLP-GC Ahmad Jibril confirmed in an interview with Al-Balad quoted By AFP (the Arabic online version has not been updated yet) that his group has been coordinating its militant activities with Hizbullah.

PFLP-GC leader Ahmad Jibril, in an interview published Sunday in the Lebanese daily Al-Balad, said his group was coordinating its anti-Israeli military actions with Hezbollah.

"The Israelis know we are closely linked with Hezbollah. We have long fought under their banner and our positions have been bombed many times after operations which were carried out by Hezbollah against Israel," he said.

Jibril, who revealed his group has 11 bases in Lebanon, also reiterated his opposition to the Security Council call for the disarmament of Palestinian fighters in the country.

By supporting and facilitating the actions of Palestinian fighters, Hizbullah not only pit itself against the national consensus, but also the National Dialogue (which called for the disarmament of Palestinian fighters operating outside the camps within six months), and consequently, the Lebanese army, which is being targeted by the Palestinian militias. Hizbullah has yet to acknowledge the murder of the Lebanese soldier by Fateh-Intifada thugs but it wasted no time condemning the murder of the Islamic Jihad leader, quickly pointing the finger at Israel and claiming it was proof Lebanon has been "infiltrated" by the enemy (source: LBC Saturday news bulletin).

Watch this space for more updates on the situation. (Picture above shows Palestinian Fateh fighters in the Ain El Helweh refugee camp in Sidon taking positions following the Israeli raids!)

UPDATE. Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for the firing of the rockets into northern Israel. In a statement reported by AFP, they claimed the attack was in retaliation for the "assassination  by Israel of the martyr leader Mahmoud Majzoub." Islamic Jihad, which is backed by the Assad regime, issued this challenge to the Lebanese government:

As for those who call for the disarmament of Palestininans in Lebanon, we say that our arms are sacred and no-one can disarm us.

Meanwhile, UNIFIL has said that it brokered a ceasefire agreement for a ceasefire between Hizbullah and Israel after a series of tit-for-tat attacks across the border in Shebaa.

Comments

[The Perpetual Refugee]

Do you think this escalation has anything to do with the upcoming release of the Brammertz report? Jumblatt has been warning about it for a while now.

God help us.

[TheRaccoon]

I really do wonder what Syria wants now. Why the sudden escalation in bellicosity?

[Yaman]

Look, I condemn these groups too and I agree that their ideologies are twisted, but you keep mentioning "supporting by the Assad regime" as if Islamic Jihad works on behalf of the Syrian government to support the Syrian government, when this is clearly absurd. Even if Syria supports it financially, I don't think it's valid to say that Islamic Jihad is a tool of the Syrian govt.

[vox p]

"The state of Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for any terror attack emanating from its territory, and will respond severely to such attacks," it added."

Let them hold Nasrallah responsible instead.

[Aimei]

How are they not a tool if they financially support them? They support them just for fun, for the hell of it? It is not just out of sheer generosity from the Assad regime...I just don't get that logic.

[Lazarus]

aimei,

although i think there is more to the relationship than just financial support, yaman's point is accurate; financial support does not imply being a tool. otherwise, all groups/governments/countries that receive financial support from other entities are tools as well. or aren't they?

thanks,

[Amir from Tel Aviv]

Hi guys,

When is Brammertz report
expected to be released ?

[lira1500]

Amir, I believe the 15 June is a reasonable date

[Yaman]

vox p: They're not capable of that. Collective punishment is the norm of Israeli foreign policy.

Aimei: I did not mean to imply that they are supported out of "sheer generosity." Of course not, the Syrian government is only generous with its terror. They support them because they too have an interest not in Islamic Jihad/Hezbollah/Hamas ideology--but because when these groups carry out violence in Israel or in Lebanon, it works in the interests of the Syrians no matter what. That said, it doesn't mean that any of those groups are loyal to the Syrian government, but it certainly is not off the table that they would act based on information from Syrian "intelligence." But, like I said, I know it works well for political demonization esp in the current climate, but it is not intellectually honest to say that these groups are simply Syrian tools.

[Anon in Beirut]

Hands up anyone who thinks there is any chance of dissarming the Palestinian bases outside the camps now? (if there was any chance before is debatable I guess, but there was more chance of it happening Saturday than there is today).

Awfully convienient timing isn't it? With the issue of the armed camps still in the headlines and the upcomming dialogue session on Hizbullah's arms.........

I wonder if the Israeli's realise how much they have done to help the armed Palestinian's outside the camps and Hizbullah prevent dissarmament?

[Amir from Tel Aviv]

Thanks Lira.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3256258,00.html
.

[Aimei]

Yaman-

Agreed.

[Amir from Tel Aviv]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5019908.stm

Lebenon : I'm proud of you !!!
.

[Joseph]

Anon You make a good point. Somehow the timing of Israeli raids comes abit off when you think the arms of Hizbullah and other groups are being jeopardized and increasingly becoming an issue on the world stage; Such raids give these groups a cause for defence, and a reason to arm themselves. Not in favor of Lebanon as a whole.

[Solomon2]

Let them hold Nasrallah responsible instead.

Yes. Was it not Kofi Annan himself who suggested that Lebanon be split and Hizbollahland officially recognized as a separate country?