Update: IAF strikes Palestinian Econonomic Ministry 

Update: Syria vows to support Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

Update: Editorial from Jerusalem Post regarding the lack of leadership in Europe and their current ambivalence. 

Update: Tony Snow’s comments regarding Lebanon’s call to President Bush:

The White House said Friday that United States President George W. Bush would not press Israel to halt its military operation in Lebanon.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said, when asked whether Bush had agreed to a request from Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora that he rein in the Israelis, “No. The president is not going to make military decisions for Israel.”

Snow told reporters that Bush had spoken by telephone to Lebanon’s prime minister among other Middle East leaders.

He said Bush believed the Israelis have the right to protect themselves, but should limit “so-called collateral damage not only to facilities but also to human lives”.

Snow said Siniora had suggested a cease-fire, which Washington favored, but thought would be hard to pull off.

“It is unlikely that either or both parties are going to agree to that at this juncture,” Snow said.
 

 Update: Hezbollah drone damages Israeli warship. Update: four Israeli soldiers missing from warship.

Update: Suicide bomber in India kills Pakistani Shiite Leader, riots follow.

Update: Israeli attack on Nasrallah’s home, Turkish Daily. Note the photo. 

UPdate: Worldnet Daily saying that some fire has been detected from Syria, article here. 

Update: State department travel warning for Lebanon. Blogs report Ships positioning in area to evacuate US Citizens.

Inspired by Iran and Syria, Hezbollah invaded Israel, killed some soldiers, and kidnapped two. Since then they have been raining rockets into Israel, and worked with Iranian Guards to fire an Iranian made Raad Missile into Haifa.

Whatever Hezbollah gets, Hezbollah deserves, and they begged for it. The puppet master, whether it be Assad or Amadinejad, is sitting back gloating, For whether it’s Assad, or whether it’s Amadinejad (most likely,) they both get what they wanted: a more Militant Israel, which shores up support for those two tyrants whose popularity has been steadily flagging in their home countries. It also distracts from Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and puts Europe on notice via the price per barrel of oil.

This is a coordinated attack between Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria, as there were meetings right before this started between all four. A good 8 point run-down can be found at the Counter-Terrorism Blog.

1- According to Israeli Channel 10, Hezbollah was able to hack into the Israeli Army’s computer systems prior to the attack.

2- For the first time, Israel mentioned the possible intervention of Iranian Revolutionary Guards based in Lebanon in the war. The danger is that they have long range rockets capable of travelling more than 200 kms and reach Tel Aviv.

3- That’s why Yossi Peled, ex Israeli Commander of the Northern area, stated to Yediot Aharonot: ” Tsahal’s mission is today to strike at Hezbollah with such force that the movement won’t survive. Even though Iran is hiding behind Hezbollah, we must focus on the immediate threats against Israel. And those are coming from Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria.”

More on the connection to IRAN here. More on the connection to Syria here.

Overnight in America, Israel continued the assault against both Hezbollah, and Hamas. They also know who is behind these latest acts of war from Hezbollah and Hamas, and have strategically cut arteries and runways by which Syria might attack. From Yahoo News & AP:

Lebanon – Israeli warplanes punished the Lebanese capital on Friday, blasting the airport for a second day, knocking down a bridge, igniting fuel storage tanks and cutting the main highway to Syria

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel bombed the offices of Hamas lawmakers, destroyed a bridge and fired a tank shell that killed one Palestinian on Friday as part of a Gaza Strip offensive aimed at forcing militants to release a captured soldier.

Yahoo/AP video

The only questions remaining at this point is will Syria and Iran go overt instead of covert, and if so what will the rest of the world do? Meanwhile, it’s time for reporters to stop calling this “The cycle of Mideast Violence” since it’s apparent to even Saudi Arabia now that the violence always starts from one side, no matter what accomodations are made. The cute catchphrase implies equal responsibility, and we  know who is responsible.

My worries? The dark promises of surprises and worse to come from Iran and Syria, and those missing WMD’s. If Syria and Iran let that Djinn out of the bottle, the reprisal will be much greater than they think. In Iraq and Afghanistan, we have waged very unconventional and controlled warfare. If these tyrants loose WMD, then it will likely become hell to pay in the Mid-east for anyone south or east of Israel.