Hezbollah: 'Assad best bet against Syria partition'

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem made the remarks in an interview with Reuters published on Wednesday. 

“There is no solution in Syria without Assad, and however much the different sides try to prolong the crisis and to complicate the solution, they can't produce a solution without President Assad,” he said.

"With President Assad the solution can be logical and rational in finding political parameters that can give the opposition its share and the government its share, and there could be coordination which allows for putting things back in order and reviving authority in Syria”, he said.

Certain countries are seeking to partition Syria and Iraq where the Daesh Takfiri group has been operating over the last few years, the Hezbollah official added.

"So far the forces that want the unity of Iraq and Syria are able to prevent the idea of partition,but we should remain worried about... the possibility that some countries might push these two countries or one of them into partition," Qassem added.He further noted that Hezbollah has prevented Daesh from expanding into Lebanon.

“This is a major achievement… these great achievements deserve every sacrifice," he said.

Read more: PressTV-'Assad best bet against Syria partition'

Terrorism - Suriname: Bouterse and Hezbollah possible threat to US national security

Recently  the BBC reported that Dino Bouterse, the son of Suriname President Desi Bouterse, is also being charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorist organization Hezbollah. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration claims that they have evidence showing that Bouterse was paid millions of dollars for a Hezbollah military base in Suriname and for providing them with weapons. The DEA claims that Hezbollah was planning attacks on the U.S. and the Netherlands. The Netherlands is the former colonial ruler of Suriname.

In August, Dino Bouterse was handed over to U.S. officials by Panamanian authorities. A U.S. federal indictment alleges that Bouterse worked with Edmund Quincy Muntslag a.k.a "Blue" to smuggle cocaine into the United States starting in or about December of 2011. In late June, Bouterse was caught smuggling a suitcase filled with 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of cocaine and brandishing a anti-tank weapon aboard a commercial flight from Suriname to the Caribbean. Bouterse is facing a life sentence for the drugs and weapons he was caught with. On top of that he is facing a 15 year sentence for aiding terrorist organization Hezbollah.

The DEA claims that they have recorded meetings between Bouterse and undercover agents posing as Hezbollah fighters. The meetings took place in Panama and Greece. During these meetings Bouterse accepted a $2 million payment, with the promise that he would help Hezbollah fighters establish themselves in Suriname, give them Suriname passports, supply them with surface-to-air missiles and other weapons. He even promised that he would provide them with a list of weapons that they would be able to order via him. This isn't the first time that Bouterse has been arrested for international crimes. In 2005, he was sentenced to serve eight years in a Suriname prison after being found guilty of trafficking drugs, weapons and stolen cars. After serving only three years of his sentence, he was released for good behavior.

"Alleged criminals like [Dino] Bouterse and his facilitators pose a direct threat to the safety and security of the United States," said Michelle Leonhart. Leonhart is the Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

In 2010, Bouterse's father, Dési Bouterse was elected president of Suriname. After the election, Bouterse' father named him the director of Suriname's Counter Terrorist Unit. In a nasty twist of fate, the DEA also has hard evidence proving that President Bouterse was in direct contact with the regions top convicted drug trafficker, Roger Khan. The satellite phone records of Khan show President Bouterse's cell phone number listed numerous times. The phone calls took place towards the end of 2005 until mid-June of 2006.

Read more: Bouterse and Hezbollah possible threat to US national security - Minneapolis Community Activism | Examiner.com

Europe’s Carrot-and-Stick Approach to Israel Includes Blacklisting Hezbollah - by James Kanter and Jodi Rudoren

At the end of a week when the European Union slapped Israel with financing restrictions to push it to resolve its conflict with the Palestinians, major European powers on Friday stepped up pressure to give Israel one of its long-sought demands: designating the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

The timing of the carrot-and-stick actions was coincidental, but they illustrated the bloc’s strategy of pushing forward with its own efforts to rein in Israeli actions that undermine the Middle East peace process — and to maintain good relations with Israel, understanding its unique security needs. 

The approach has leading member states like Britain and France making a renewed effort to navigate deep divisions within the Union over the Middle East peace process, in which the United States’ role has long eclipsed that of the Union. 

It may continue to do so. Analysts said the moves by Europe were unlikely to be a game changer in the region, a conclusion seemingly underlined on Friday when Secretary of State John Kerry announced possible Israeli-Palestinian talks in Washington as early as next week. 

On Friday, the Union went ahead with publishing new guidelines banning the financing of, or cooperation with, institutions in territories seized by Israel in the 1967 war, despite an intense Israeli effort to stop them, including phone calls by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a half-dozen European heads of state and consultations with envoys from the British, French and German missions in Israel. 

“We can’t accept the guidelines as they are now,” said a senior Israeli official who described himself and other officials as being engaged in “the European war” this week over the guidelines “They are imposing things we cannot accept.”

Read more: Europe’s Carrot-and-Stick Approach to Israel Includes Blacklisting Hezbollah - NYTimes.com

Egypt cuts relations with Syria, shuts embassy

Egypt's Islamist president announced Saturday that he was cutting off diplomatic relations with Syria and closing Damascus' embassy in Cairo, decisions made amid growing calls from hard-line Sunni clerics in Egypt and elsewhere to launch a "holy war" against Syria's embattled regime.

Mohammed Morsi told thousands of supporters at a rally in Cairo that his government was also withdrawing the Egyptian charge d'affaires from Damascus. He called on Lebanon's Hezbollah to leave Syria, where the Iranian-backed Shia militant group has been fighting alongside troops loyal to embattled President Bashar Assad against the mostly Sunni rebels.

"Hezbollah must leave Syria. This is serious talk: There is no business or place for Hezbollah in Syria," said Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president. Morsi's address, particularly his call on Hezbollah to leave Syria, and the fiery rhetoric used by well-known Muslim clerics this weekend point to the increasing perception of the Syrian conflict as sectarian. At least 93,000 people have been killed since turmoil there began more than two years ago.

Read more: Egypt cuts relations with Syria, shuts embassy - World - CBC News

Middle East - Lebanon: Hezbollah pledges to assist Assad in Syria conflict

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Tuesday that his group was ready to take a greater role against the Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. Hezbollah has in the past supported regime troops operating near the Lebanese border.

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group said Tuesday that Syrian rebels will not be able to defeat President Bashar Assad’s regime militarily, strongly suggesting that Syria’s “real friends” including his Iranian-backed militant group would intervene on the government’s side if the need arises.

The powerful Shiite Muslim group is known to be backing Syrian regime fighters in Shiite villages near the Lebanon border against the mostly Sunni rebels fighting to topple Assad. But the comments by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah were the strongest indication yet that his group was ready to get more substantially involved to rescue Assad’s embattled regime.

“Syria has real friends in the region and in the world who will not allow Syria to fall in the hands of America or Israel or the Takfiris,” he said, referring to followers of an al-Qaida like extremist idology.

Read more: Hezbollah pledges to assist Assad in Syria conflict - SYRIA - FRANCE 24

Syrian opposition accuses Hezbollah of fighting for Assad

Syria's main opposition bloc on Sunday accused the Lebanon-based Shiite Hezbollah militia of sending fighters into Syria on Saturday to attack three Sunni villages inside Syria's Qusayr border region which lie in the central province of Homs.

Opposition activists quoted by the news agency Associated Press provided no evidence but said that 12 Shiites, five Syrian rebels and 7 Sunni civilians had been killed in the incident.

In Lebanon, a Hezbollah spokesman said three Lebanese Shiites were killed in clashes in Syria while acting in "self defense", without specifying whether they were Hezbollah members.

Read more: Syrian opposition accuses Hezbollah of fighting for Assad | News | DW.DE | 17.02.2013

Middle East: Syria threatens to retaliate for Israeli airstrike

Syria threatened Thursday to retaliate for an Israeli airstrike and its ally Iran said there will be repercussions for the Jewish state over the attack.

U.S. officials said Israel launched a rare airstrike inside Syria on Wednesday. The target was a convoy believed to be carrying anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militant group allied with Syria and Iran.

In Israel, a lawmaker close to hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stopped short of confirming involvement in the strike. But he hinted that Israel could carry out similar missions in the future.

Read more: Syria threatens to retaliate for Israeli airstrike - The Globe and Mail

Syria’s Collapse Would Reverberate in Mideast

If Assad’s regime is toppled, the ensuing power struggle might bring with it revenge killings by or against his minority Shiite Alawite sect, which controls the military and the economy, said Aaron David Miller, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

Assad’s closest allies, Iran and Russia, would be the likely losers if power shifts to Assad’s rivals. Lebanon, Jordan and Israel would benefit if Syria’s new leadership ceases to provide a conduit for arms and assistance from Iran to terrorist groups in Lebanon and along the Israeli border, officials and analysts said. 

Whoever the winners, the major concern is, “When is the retribution going to come?” Miller said.
Many Sunnis will want to take revenge against Alawites and Christians who backed Assad, said David Schenker, director of the program on Arab politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“You can have a violent and bloody situation at home that creates continued refugee flows into Jordan and Turkey, and instability and sectarian tension in Lebanon,” where the Shiite Hezbollah militia, long backed by Syria and Iran, will face an emboldened Sunni and Christian population.

Read more: Syria’s Collapse Would Reverberate in Mideast - Businessweek

Israeli leaders calculating number of fatalities Israel will suffer in case of conflict with Iran

Amid Israel's scramble to develop weapons to counter the threat of a massive missile bombardment by Iran, Syria and their proxies, top officials are playing a macabre numbers game about how many fatalities the Jewish state might suffer.

Israeli military doctrine has long been to take the offensive whenever possible and keep the fighting well away from the cities and towns of the Jewish state.

The age of the missile has changed that. Missiles can vault over border defenses and hit civilians with destructive power that the home front has never had to endure in any of Israel's wars since 1948.

The number of missiles, of all calibers, supposedly in the hands of Iran, Syria and their proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, has risen astronomically -- from 10,000 to at least 100,000, theoretically enough to obliterate swathes of urban Israel.

The military is working on the assumption there will be a sustained missile bombardment, lasting several weeks.

For more: Israeli leaders play macabre numbers game - UPI.com

Arab News: Hezbollah’s Spy Plane Leaves Israeli Air Force Red-Faced

Forf the complete report from the Arab News click on this link

Hezbollah’s Spy Plane Leaves Israeli Air Force Red-Faced

Hezbollah announced on Sunday it had sent a drone over “northern Palestine” (Israel) in retaliation for repeated violations of Lebanese airspace by Israel, deemed “Zionist attacks on Lebanese sovereignty”. Hezbollah also warned that it could carry out more such flights. After several hours of complete silence from the Israeli military about the incident, the army finally confirmed the overflight of its territory. “This morning, an Iranian UAV (unmanned air vehicle) operated by the Hezbollah terror organization infiltrated into Israel over the western Galilee,” a military spokesman said. The Israeli army said the spy plane, launched from southern Lebanon, flew along Israel’s Mediterranean coast as far as the resort of Nahariyah before returning north to Lebanon. Hezbollah said the flight lasted 20 minutes, a claim corroborated by the UN peacekeeping force in the region, UNIFIL.

“We must know immediately how it’s possible for such a rudimentary device to pass through the Israeli army’s heavy air defenses, in which billions have been invested,” said opposition Labour MP Eitan Cabel.

Hezbollah's Terrorist Threat to the European Union

www.heritage.org

"Hezbollah's Terrorist Threat to the European Union
by James Phillips
Testimony

Testimony before the House Committee
on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Europe

Delivered June 20, 2007

Hezbollah ('Party of God'), the radical Lebanon-based Shiite revolutionary movement, poses a clear terrorist threat to international security. Hezbollah terrorists have murdered Americans, Israelis, Lebanese, Europeans, and the citizens of many other nations. Originally founded in 1982, this Lebanese group has evolved from a local menace into a global terrorist network strongly backed by radical regimes in Iran and Syria and funded by a web of charitable organizations, criminal activities, and front companies."