DEBKAfile Exclusive Report January 12, 2011,
With backing from Tehran, Hizballah and its Christian ally Michel Aoun abruptly quit the Lebanese unity government Wednesday, Jan. 12, in a move that could pave the way for their seizure of power in Beirut. They struck as the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s prosecutor Daniel Bellemare prepared to hand over to the pre-trial judge “within hours or days” indictments naming Hizballah officials in the case of the former premier Rafiq Hariri’s assassination in 2005.
Hizballah is committed to defying those indictments and refusing to hand over its top officials for extradition by the government.
As the Lebanese crisis raced towards it climax, President Barack Obama, Saudi King Abdullah, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri held intense consultations in Washington and New York on a united front against Iran-backed disruptions in Beirut by Hizballah and its allies.
Iran’s supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said repeatedly that the STL and its rulings are “null and void” because they serve “foreign interests.”
As the US, France and Israel made military and diplomatic preparations to thwart a clash, Obama scheduled a meeting with the Lebanese Prime Minister for Wednesday night, Jan. 12, to decide how the US, France and its allies would act in a conflagration.
Over the weekend, the US president ordered US vessels to buttress the Sixth Fleet stationed in the eastern Mediterranean with the USS Enterprise carrier and its strike group with 6,000 sailors and marines aboard and 80 fighter-bombers. Already deployed there is the USS Bainbridge missile destroyer.
On Monday, Jan. 10, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a tour of the Persian Gulf, expressed concern over the situation in Lebanon. Clinton said: “I’m deeply worried about the efforts to destabilize Lebanon. We should do everything we can to make sure those warnings are not accurate.”
American military moves in the Mediterranean are intended to signal to Tehran and Hizballah that Washington will be prepared to use force to defend the Saad Hariri government in Lebanon and if necessary deploy aerial forces and the marines to avert a Hizballah takeover in Beirut. The French fleet was also ordered to bolster its naval strength opposite Lebanon.
But Hizballah got its move in first. Its resignation from the Hariri government showed that its leaders and Iranian sponsors were not fazed by the US-French military moves off the Lebanese coast and were moving ahead with their plans.
debkafile’s military sources add that a comment by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Tuesday, Jan. 11, fit into the picture taking shape in Washington, New York and Paris. He remarked to foreign journalists that 60,000 missiles and rockets, all of Iranian and Syrian origin, were now pointing at Israel.
Last week, Meir Dagan, at a ceremony marking the end of his tenure as head of the Mossad, said that only 10 countries in the world have firepower on a par with that of Hizballah.
According to our sources, it is definitely on the cards for an Iranian-Hizballah move in Lebanon provoking a US-French military response to evolve into a clash between Hizballah and Israel, providing an opportunity for the destruction of Hizballah’s might missile arsenal.
Ted I agree with you concerning “BlandOatmeal”. He is obviously anti-Semetic as has been pointed out in the past and he has stepped over the bounds of being a reasonable human being. As for Obama, this is another opportunity for him to kick Israel under the bus again and I believe he will. God will preserve Israel as He still has the other “lost” tribes to bring back to the Land before His Salvation returns, to destroy Islam and to rule with an iron rod. A very small percentage of Christians (>5%) undestand what I mean by that.
I meant to write Imam B. Hussein Obama.
I wish there were a better way, but the leftist diehards on the Left Coast who cravenly desire the American Presidents’ approval for everything Israel does, have to be stopped. This includes Ehud Barak’s servitude to Slick Willy, Sharon’s and Olmert’s servitude to Gog W. Bush, Jr., and Netanyahu’s tap dancing with the Imman B. Hussein Obama. So now it looks like it is going to happen the hard way. It will be the hard way for all here in Eretz Yisrael, and it will not be pretty. I really hope that as few Jews as possible will be killed in the learning of this lesson. Baruch HaShem we will come through this with much greater wisdom than we had before.
The Root of All The Evils – What Will America Say
In memory of the great Bible commentator the holy “OHR HACHAAIM” , here is what he had to say about the connection between isolation from the gentile and security:
“And Israel dwelleth in safety” – When? When she is isolated. And the word”and dwelleth” is a continuation of what is written above it, that ‘And said: Destroy’, that God commanded Israel to wipe out all the inhabitants of the land, and by so doing, ‘Israel dwelled securely – in isolation’ (Deuteronomy 33:28)
Yamit, we should be deserving of Divine pity but the fact of the matter is that Israel allowed longer range missiles to be positioned. The consequences are a reasonable predictability. And so said, just a day or 2 ago, the dummies who are in charge.
“…be careful what you wish for
’ Cause you just might get it.
And if you get it, then you just might not know
What to do wit’ it, ‘cause it might just
Come back on you ten-fold.”
Now you notice? This was always obvious and pointed out by a ton of us eons ago.
Wait and see if they actually do stand beside Hariri – talk is cheap, and motoring an aircraft carrier around isn’t the same as launching the planes off the decks.
Does anyone know what the Christian general Aoun is all about? Why is it to his advantage to hook up with the communists rather than Prime Minister Hariri? What do they hope to accomplish? As far as I am concerned this is a communist takeover like Gaza having been taken over by communists.
I am a backer of Saad Hariri, who seems to have walked a tight rope since he took office. Hezbollah’s position is indefensible, which is so what if we did it, if you try to make us pay we’ll get you back, which seems to be the mantra of all the extremist Muslims. The great Universal Judge in the sky will not allow them to succeed. They might as well pick out their cemetery plots.
The US, France and other nations say they will stand beside Hariri. Amen.
TB,
I find your comment to be superficial and insulting, if not anti-American. Get a life!
Meanwhile, here’s a real crackup from voanews.com:
Now I’ve heard everything — “The Jews control the UN!” Wow!
Mighty US woke up late on WW-1
the same happened on WW-2
And the same is going to happen in WW-3
The difference, They still don’t understand that WW-3 has already begun. Bid difference.
Hitler at least at the beinning, hid his plans for extermination, Ahamdinejad doesn’t even do that.
And it looks as if we are going to have a dorder with Iran.
Hope we will be still here to tell them all:”See, we told you!”
BO, I find your comment superficial and insulting if not antisemetic.
The Jews are still getting payback for their treachery against the Lebanese Christians in 2000. Before the Israeli sellout, Christians were a majority in Lebanon. Now, with no certain protector against the Syrians, Pals and Hizbullah, they’re fleeing the country in droves; and those who are left are joining the enemy for their own protection. Israel created the mess in Lebanon, by its own stupidity: They had a good deal, and threw it away. They did the same in Gaza. Helping Israel, is like giving money to someone with holes in his pockets.