My mission was to prevent armored Israeli reinforcements from chasing after the kidnappers," Hussein Ali Suleiman, a Hizbullah operative captured by the IDF, said when describing his role in the kidnapping last month of reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
Suleiman, 22, was captured several days ago by troops from the Golani Brigade operating in the southern Lebanese village of Ayta A Shayeb. Officers said that the operation was not related to the Hizbullah operative, who they said, surrendered to the troops after he realized that he was completely surrounded. Suleiman, a high-ranking officer revealed Monday, was part of the 100-man force that participated in the cross-border kidnapping on July 12.
A commander of an anti-tank rocket cell, Suleiman did not cross the border into Israel, but was part of an outer-envelope force that the Hizbullah deployed to prevent Israeli reinforcements from chasing after the abductors. Suleiman did not provide any new information regarding the condition of the Israeli soldiers being held by the Hizbullah.
(…)
In a videotaped segment of Suleiman's interrogation released on Monday by Military Intelligence, the Hizbullah operative revealed how he was recruited into the guerrilla group in 2000 and how he participated in a religious "brainwashing" seminar following which he was sent to Iran for tactical warfare training. He said that he was trained how to use a number of weapons, in the use of explosives and first aid.
So we have Iran offering weapons training to Lebanese Hezbollah operatives and this admission from an Iranian official that Iran has indeed been supplying missiles to Hezbollah (Jerusalem Post).
Iran admitted for the first time on Friday that it did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hizbullah. Secretary-general of the "Intifada conference" Mohtashami Pur told an Iranian newspaper that Iran transferred the missiles so that they could be used to defend Lebanon, Channel 1 reported.
The extent of Iran's intimate involvement in Hizbullah attacks is starting to emerge. According to the defense establishment, the reason Hizbullah has not fired long-range Iranian-made Fajr missiles at Israel is due to Teheran's opposition. Israel now understands that without direct orders from the ayatollahs, Hizbullah is not allowed to use Iranian missiles in attacks against Israel.
I think we can safely characterize Hezbollah as the Iranian Foreign Legion. I realize that it has now become the general prevailing opinion that Iran gave the green light to Hezbollah to launch an offensive against the Israeli state in order to take the heat off the Iranian nuclear program, but what if that is just not so?
Consider that Iran had just signed a pact with Syria a few weeks before the Hezbollah incursion into Israel which would cover Syria’s butt in event of a jam. But what if the real rationale for the Hezbollah offensive was to destabilize the Lebanese government so that the only viable political authority left standing was none other than Hezbollah? And with Hezbollah acting as the Iranian Foreign Legion controlling Lebanon implies that Iran now has an unfettered access to a de facto border with Israel – the state the Iranian president wants to wipe off the map.
I realize that there have been a few statement issues by Hezbollah officials expressing surprise at the fierceness of the Israeli response but with if that is just subterfuge? If we are to take the words of Hezbollah officials at face value (and considering their relationship with the truth is rather tenuous at best) - just how were they able to mobilize their resistance forces so quickly if so taken by surprise? And make no bones this is a well organized defense.
It is no secret that the Olmert government is one of the weakest Israeli administrations in some time, and furthermore, it’s saddled with a Defense Minister and Prime Minister who possess only a bare minimum military experience. It wouldn’t take an Einstein to figure out how the Israelis could be goading into taking an robust staunch - considering the Israeli response to the Hamas kidnapping of Corporal Shalit was to deploy two elite combat battalions. Just something to keep in mind as the UN Security council attempts to pass a ceasefire resolution without the complete demilitarization of Hezbollah as a fait accompli.
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