Lebanon a warm-up for U.S.-Iran clash: Russian dip

[Flabbergasted]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsOne&storyid=2006-09-06T143051Z_01_L06428282_RTRUKOT_0_TEXT0.xml&src=090606_1118_TOPSTORY_lebanon_threatens_blockade

By Oleg Shchedrov

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States used Israel's attack on the Hizbollah militia in Lebanon as a prelude to "settling accounts" with Iran, Interfax news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying on Wednesday.

Vladimir Trofimov, deputy head of the foreign ministry's Middle East department, was quoted making the comments the day before Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov begins a visit to the Middle East that will include Israel.

"If we look at Israeli and U.S. plans, they aim at removing the Hizbollah factor ahead of the forthcoming U.S. settling of accounts with Iran," Interfax quoted Trofimov as saying.


"This was a U.S.-Israeli conflict with the Islamic world, in which Iran has become a de-facto leader," he added. Trofimov, who has a record of making off-the-cuff remarks, was speaking at an informal round table discussion in Moscow.

Israel and the United States say Tehran supplies arms and cash to Hizbollah. President Bush has refused to rule out military action against Iran over its nuclear program.

Israel launched its offensive on Lebanon after Hizbollah killed eight soldiers and abducted two in a July 12 border raid. A fragile truce was brokered by the United Nations and came into effect on August 14.

Russia has acknowledged Israel's right to defend itself against Hizbollah attacks, but was critical of its offensive in Lebanon.

[JohnyCanuck]

1. The Next Phase of the Middle East War

The Next Phase of the Middle East War

by Michel Chossudovsky

September 4, 2006
GlobalResearch.ca

Israel's war on Lebanon is an integral part of a US sponsored "military roadmap".

The war on Lebanon, which has resulted in countless atrocities including the destruction of the nation's economy and civilian infrastructure, is "a stage" in a sequence of carefully planned military operations.

Lebanon constitutes a strategic corridor between Israel and North-western Syria. The underlying objective of this war was the militarization of Lebanon, including the stationing of foreign troops, as a precondition for carrying out the next phase of a broader military agenda.

Formally under a UN mandate, the foreign troops to be stationed on Lebanese soil on the immediate border with Syria, will be largely although not exclusively from NATO countries. This military force mandated by the UN Security Council is by no means neutral. It responds directly to US and Israeli interests.

Moreover, the timely withdrawal of Syrian troops, following the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has contributed to opening up a "new space". The withdrawal of Syrian troops served Israeli interests. The timely pullout was of strategic significance: it was a major factor in the timing and planning of the July 2006 IDF attacks on Lebanon.

In the aftermath of the Israeli bombings and the "ceasefire", UN Security Council Resolution 1701, drafted by France and the US in close consultation with the Israeli government, has paved the way for the militarization of Lebanon, under a bogus UN mandate.

Continued at:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20060904&articleId=3147

[Flabbergasted]

2. I was just studying the following article. Not too sure about it.....

http://english.alarabonline.org/display.asp?fname=2006%5C09%5C09-06%5Czopinionz%5C965.htm&dismode=x&ts=07/09/2006%2003:44:05%20%C3%95

(excerpt)

Preparing for War

In response, Israel’s representatives in the US formulated a series of policies to get around these objections.

In the first place, they, along with the Israeli secret police and their Lebanese collaborators, and with the approval of the US-dominated United Nations Security Council, successfully implicated Syria as the author of the February 14, 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Baha’eddin Al-Hariri, on the basis of recanted testimony from a single perjured ‘witness’. On that basis, the US-UN forced Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, thus hoping to isolate Hezbollah and other anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements. Once Syria was out of Lebanon, the US with Israeli approval secured a client regime in Beirut, a regime nonetheless that only had influence in the center-north of the country. Hezbollah remained the most influential force in Southern Lebanon and much of South Beirut and impregnable from any military machinations emanating from Beirut.

In 2004 the US and France co-sponsored UN Resolution 1559 which called for “the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias.” This extraordinary interference by the Security Council in Lebanon’s internal politics was clearly a set-up for Israel’s 2006 invasion.




The article was printed days before the Israeli Lebanese Offensive started....