Arutz Sheva is reporting that IDF forces have interupted terrorists from setting a time bomb at Itamar in Samaria, and the sappers have been called in to defuse it.

(IsraelNN.com) Army soldiers several minutes ago prevented an attack on the community of Itamar in northeastern Samaria when they spotted three Arab terrorists laying an explosive device. The terrorists fled, and soldiers discovered a time bomb along the security fence. Sappers have been called to neutralize the device

Hizbullah continues to fire rockets, and due to the Israeli’s preparedness and civil defense measures (something we could use more of in the US,) civilian casualites are minimized (59 light to moderately wounded today.)

 

The destruction to Israeli property is certain to be great, and once this front in the war stabilizes the Israelis are going to need as much aid as the Lebanese, if not more. The continual rain of rockets might not be creating any one spot of great damage, but like a hurricane passing, the damage will be spread over all the towns of the north. It won’t be as photogenic or as sensational in any one spot as some scenes from Lebanon, so don’t expect the sensationalist press to carry many scenes of the damage in Israel, but it cannot be small. From Arutz Sheva:

Three Hizbullah-fired rockets exploded in Haifa a short time ago, the first time the port city was hit since Sunday morning’s IDF bombing of Hizbullah rocket launchers in the village of Kana, where dozens of civilians were killed. In neighboring Acre (Akko), one eyewitness said that a rocket explosion in an open area left a crater several yards deep. No casualties were reported. Hizbullah terrorists have fired more than 130 rockets on northern Israel, with the Upper Galilee bearing the brunt of the explosions.

IDF is showing footage of rockets being driven in and stored in homes of Qana (Kana) village, over 150 rockets were fired from there over the past 20 days per Jerusalem Post, and more here at Arutz Sheva.

Some 150 rockets were fired from the Lebanese village of Qana over the past 20 days, Air Force Chief of Staff Brig.-Gen. Amir Eshel said on Sunday evening. Speaking to reporters, Eshel added that Hizbullah rocket launchers were hidden in civilian buildings in the village, showing a video footage of rocket launchers being driven into the village following launches.

At Counter Terrorism Blog, they are following the re-arming of the Islamofascist Islamic Courts warlords in Somalia, they are potentially being armed by Eritrea.

In Afghanistan the Taliban is threatening to behead a kidnapped Lebanese engineer, they appear out-of-sync with the latest Jihadi agitprop script, the Lebanese are currently victims, and this won’t play well in Iran. Look for a reprieve. 

Underlining the instability and danger NATO-led forces will face, a Taleban spokesman, Qari Muhammad Yousuf, told Reuters late on Saturday that militants had kidnapped an engineer working for a US company in the southern province of Zabul. The fate of the engineer would be decided by the Taleban Council within the next 24 hours and he is likely to be killed for helping and working with the “infidel occupying forces in Afghanistan”, Yousuf said, referring to U.S.-led coalition troops. He identified the man as a Lebanese national named Khalid, and said he was captured on Friday on the main road of southern Zabul province that lies between the capital, Kabul, and Kandahar province

My earlier comments regarding the C and D team Taliban and assorted rabble of paid mercs operating in Southern Afghanistan stand, and are amply demonstrated:

Meanwhile four Taleban rebels were killed when the bombs they were planting on roads exploded in southern Afghanistan. Three militants were killed when a bomb went off prematurely in Arghistan district of Kandahar province late Saturday while another died in a similar incident in Shahwali Kot of the same province on Sunday, Ahmadi said.

Afghan security forces also captured five Taleban insurgents following an attack on a police checkpoint in Dand district of Kandahar province, Ahmadi said. Two policemen were wounded in the Taleban attack, he added.

To echo my comments in previous two update posts regarding the real reasons for the violence in Afghanistan, an article from the Australian:

A MAJOR part of the violence in southern Afghanistan is due to opium poppy cultivation and drug trafficking, the commander of NATO forces in the troubled country said Saturday.

“I’m convinced that much of the violence is only caused by the drugs-related activities in the south,” said British General David Richards, who on Monday assumes command for all the international troops based in violence-plagued southern Afghanistan.

There was an inextricable link between opium and the violence seen, for example, in southern Helmand province, he told a press conference.

And this from VOA:

The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan says coalition and Afghan forces have killed at least 26 suspected Taleban militants in the two days before NATO takes over security in southern Afghanistan. A coalition statement says six Taleban insurgents were killed and eight captured during a clash Sunday in eastern Paktika province.

Late Saturday, coalition and Afghan forces killed at least 20 suspected Taleban in Uruzgan province. The insurgents were trying to ambush coalition forces. In southern Kandahar province, four suspected Taleban died in two separate incidents when land mines they were planting on roads exploded.

Three militants blew themselves up in Arghistan district late Saturday, while the fourth died Sunday in Shahwali Kot north of Kandahar city. NATO is to take over security operations from the U.S.-led coalition Monday in six key southern Afghan provinces.

The number of NATO forces in Afghanistan will nearly double to around 18,000 by mid-August. U.S. forces will provide combat support for NATO in the south and continue their own hunt for terrorists, including al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

One of the challenges for NATO will be curbing Afghanistan’s booming opium trade, which is thought to be funding insurgent activity and contributing to widespread corruption in the region.

This goes hand in glove with my theory that both Al Qaeda and the Taliban are on their financial last legs — it takes cash to keep a terror operation going, there’s food, pay, and the armaments, as well as the quarterly travel budget.

Note to the Karzai government: Quintuple army wages during Opium season (combat pay,) put up bounties for smugglers and Opium seized, then wholesale the Opium to the medical pharmaceutical industry to finance the legitimate government instead of the terrorists.

That’s why it’s extremely important to stop these dangerous ideologies at their financial sources, thank you New York Times. All of the “Visualize World Peace” bumper stickers in the world won’t stop this as long as funds flow. Funds flow through mostly criminal activities, several of which those folks sporting “visualize world peace” bumper stickers finance (Drugs, porn, smuggling, and Social charities that in the end fund terrorism.) Be careful who you send that next ”relief check” to Starchild Willow Smith. Shortly we will see a flood of “Save Lebanon” charity pleas… but will that money go to feeding children, or will it go to more rockets?

I know that the whole constellation of Islamofascist terror groups is hard to keep straight, but it’s easier if you segregate them into two camps: There are the Sunni/Wahabbist sects, Al Qaeda, Taliban, Muslim Brotherhood, etc. usually comprised of Arabic or Pashtun people, and there are the Shiite Hezbollah, sects, usually comprised of Shiites, Persians, Hazara. Right now there seems to be some back and forth positioning for lead between the two. It was bound to happen, as we have now eradicated most of the firebrands from the Sunni side of the street the Shia side has picked up the torch (to badly torture two metaphors.)

Strong evidence is emerging that the terrorists responsible for the Mumbai train bombings came cross-border from Pakistan, see this article at the Hindustan Times:

India has said that there was a strong evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in the Mumbai train blasts and cross-border terrorism as a whole.

National Security Adviser MK Narayanan said that Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashker-e-Taiba had international influence and it was important for the US to understand its “ramifications”.