Hezbollah emerges as main beneficiary in prisoner swap

Naqoura – Lebanon’s Shiite movement
Hezbollah Wednesday emerged the main beneficiary from a swap of
prisoners between Hezbollah and Israel, a few hours before organized
rallies began celebrating the event.

Banners erected by Hezbollah on roads leading to the border crossing of Naqoura with Israel celebrated Hezbollah’s triumph.

The swap was scheduled to start between there 0600 GMT and 0800 GMT ( 09:00 and 1:00 local time ) , media reports said.

“Congratulations to our freed prisoners,” read a banner in the southern port city of Sidon.

“Our victorious resistance (Hezbollah) managed to free all Lebanese prisoners from the enemy’s prisons,” another said.

Hezbollah followers wearing yellow hats and carrying the movement’s
yellow flags were seen heading towards the Naquora border crossing
since the early hours of the morning. The prisoners were to be greeted
in a symbolic ceremony upon crossing into Lebanon.

Hezbollah named the swap “Radwan Operation,” after its slain
military leader Imad Mughaniyeh, also known by the code-name of Hajj
Radwan. Mughaniyeh, who was killed by a bomb in Damascus earlier this
year, is believed to have masterminded the capture of the two Israeli
soldiers being exchanged for the Hezbollah prisoners.

In the swap, mediated by a UN-appointed German diplomat, Israel was
to free five Lebanese prisoners and return the bodies of 199 Lebanese
and Arab fighters.

Hezbollah was to turn over Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, two
soldiers captured in July 12, 2006 cross-border raid that sparked a
devastating 33-day war with Israel.

The two soldiers are believed to have died in captivity from wounds they suffered during the raid.

Hezbollah officials refused to reveal any news on their condition since they were captured.

“Hezbollah might surprise the world, and announce that one of the
soldiers is still alive, but so far we do not know anything, it is all
speculation,” a Lebanese security source at the scene said.

A large convoy of Red Cross cars was seen leaving Beirut towards the Naqoura crossing to oversee the swap operation.

“Our job is to secure the swap deal which was reached between
Hezbollah and Israel,” said Christian Cardon, communication coordinator
of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“All the logistics have been set and our delegates on both sides of the border are ready,” he added.

Hezbollah promotes the swap as additional victory against Israel in
the war that started with the cross-border raid and was ended by UN
Security Council Resolution 1701.

In return for the two Israeli soldiers, or their bodies, Israel was
to release Lebanese prisoners Samir Kuntar, Khodor Zaidan, Maher
Kourani, Mohammed Srour and Hussein Suleiman in addition to the bodies
of 199 Lebanese and Arab fighters who were buried in Israel.

The freed prisoners were expected flown by a presidential helicopter
to Beirut Airport later for an official welcome, headed by President
Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Fouad Seniora and House Speaker Nabih
Berri.

Hezbollah is also is sponsoring a popular rally in the southern
suburbs of Beirut, a traditional hotbed for the group to celebrate the
swap. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah was expected to deliver
a speech.

Top Photo: A man stands in Rosh Hanikra border crossing between Israel
and Lebanon, in northern Israel, Tuesday July 15, 2008. Israel’s
Cabinet on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the emotionally charged
prisoner swap deal with Hezbollah

On the Lebanese side of the border a Hezbollah supporter prepares
coffin covers bearing the Islamist group’s green symbol in preparation
to receive the remains of militants due to be released by Israel today

Lebanese Army deployed to Shebaa Farms

The Lebanese army moved today into Bastara Farm, the only one of the occupied Shebaa Farms that the Israeli army evacuated when it pulled out of South Lebanon in 2000.

Lebanese army vehicles and bulldozers could be seen moving for the first time into the farm, which lies some 300 meters away from other farms, which Israel has occupied for more than 40 years.

A road has been reconstructed to link this new position to other Lebanese army posts in the southeast of the country.

Israel captured the 25-square-kilometers of land on the Israel-Lebanon-Syria border as part of the Syrian Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it along with the rest of the strategic plateau.

Lebanon today claims sovereignty over the territory with Syrian approval.

Army battles gunmen in North & South

An Army patrol clashed with gunmen in a vehicle speeding across the southern Jiyeh coastal town on Friday, wounding two people, a police report said.

Hospital sources identified the wounded as Mohammed Shawish and Fatima Matar.

Two other passengers who were traveling in the vehicle also were arrested and turned over to a police patrol, the report added.

The army patrol had chased the car, a BMW-520, at 8:45 am because its passengers were “opening fire sporadically,” according to the report.

“When ordered to pull over, fire was shot at the patrol, which responded in kind, wounding Shawish and Matar,” the report explained.

The two were admitted to Labib Hospital in the southern port city of Sidon and the unidentified passengers were held for questioning.

A police official expressed belief that the clash was “not politically motivated.”

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army bolstered its troops in Tripoli and deployed in the contested districts of Baal Mohsen and Bab Tabbaneh with orders to “firmly confront” whoever sparks clashes.

A communique released by the army command also urged all factions to practice “self restraint and refrain from responding to the sources of fire.”

It said tackling such violations as opening fire would be handled by “the military forces.”

The deployment plan, according to the communique, followed an agreement between Tripoli’s spiritual and political leaders to “immediately halt violations that target security and safety of the population.”

Lebanon’s leaders make its citizens ashamed to be Lebanese

By The Daily Star

ditorial

Only a few decades ago, Lebanese citizens were able to declare their nationality with a sense of pride, knowing that their country had gained worldwide acclaim as the “Switzerland of the Middle East” with a thriving capital hailed as the “Paris” of this region. But the new generation of Lebanese are unfortunately not as lucky. They have to contend with a different set of unflattering images that have become closely associated with their homeland: war, conflict, crisis, deadlock, power vacuums, anarchy, lawlessness, stagnation, brain drain and economic decline, among others. Although millions of Lebanese have had to cope with the inevitable embarrassment that these negative images cause in social situations, the bulk of the blame for the prevailing state of affairs rests with a very small group of individuals: Lebanon’s reckless political class.

In recent weeks, the country’s political leaders have demonstrated that there is no limit to the extent to which they can mortify their fellow citizens. Take their absurd power struggle over the portfolios in the new cabinet: Many of them have gone on record demanding this or that post or insisting on a minimum number of ministers, but none of them has given any indication whatsoever about what they might do with those portfolios. Instead, our leading politicians, many of whom inherited their power, seem to believe that everyone will agree that they are fully justified in their own destructive sense of entitlement.

What’s most frustrating about the most recent episode of careless governance is that it comes at a time when Lebanon could be cashing in on unprecedented opportunities. The Doha Accord served to restore the confidence of foreign tourists, who would probably come in even greater numbers if they had reason to believe that the agreement won’t be sabotaged by its authors. The region is awash with petrodollars and investors who would love to put their money in Lebanon – if only they had some reassuring signs of stability and responsibility in Beirut.

It is easy to imagine how Lebanon could be restored to its days of glory if it had politicians who put the interests of the nation above those of their own. Instead, we have a crop of leaders who make us ashamed to be Lebanese.

4 killed 53 wounded in renewed clashes in north Lebanon

Tripoli – Clashes raged in Lebanon’s
northern capital Wednesday between minority and majority supporters ,
killing at least four people and wounding 53, according to police and
hospital records.

Reports also said four Lebanese Army soldiers were wounded by sniper fire in addition to a police officer.

The fatalities were identified as Youssef Trabolsi who was shot in
the head by a sniper’s bullet, Mohammed Bahij, a Palestinian, and Layla
al-Shami, who passed away from a heart attack suffered when a shell
scored a direct hit on her apartment.

The Zahra Hospital in Baal Mohsen district confirmed that a dead man was admitted to its morgue but refused to identify him.

The clashes, in which rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine
guns were used, pitted Baal Mohsen against neighboring Bab Tabbaneh.

Smoke billowed from apartment buildings in Bab Tabbaneh hit by RPGs
as fire engines and ambulances, sirens wailing, rushed to combat the
blaze and evacuate casualties.

Sniper fire from roof-top nests in Baal Mohsen blocked traffic
across several main streets in Tripoli and led the state-run Lebanese
University to freeze exams.

Education Minister Khaled Qabbani said other exams in Tripoli would
persist Wednesday, but students who fail to reach schools would be
given “follow-up exams” at a later date, which he did not set.

Army and police units were preparing for redeployment in the contested neighborhoods to contain the deterioration.

Lebanese leaders in final stages of talks on unity government

Lebanon’s
rival political parties were in the final stages of agreeing on the
makeup of a new unity government on Sunday, with a cabinet lineup
expected to be announced within the next 48 hours. Significant progress
was reportedly made between the two camps after a meeting between
Prime Minister designate Fouad Siniora.

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