Conflict Blotter

A couple of items from today’s Hebrew press.
First, Yediot Aharanot reports on more madness by Ben Gurion Airport’s out of control security screeners. Leading Egyptian businessmen have said they will not visit Israel again. People I speak with at the Foreign Ministry are going bonkers over this issue, but seem powerless to do anything […]

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Washington Institute fellow Andrew Exum is just back from a trip to Lebanon and has written up his own take on Hezbollah’s doings north of the Litani. Andrew is a former Army Ranger platoon leader and incorporates his knowledge of military tactics into his analysis. I’ve pulled out a few passages below, but the whole […]

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Have a look at this rather bizarre clip starring notorious Hamas TV children’s character Nahool the bee. The clip ultimately arrives at a rather commendable end with a message about being kind to animals, although one might question the means used to deliver the message.
In any case, I mention this only because it’s my second […]

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I’m going to try to flesh out as best I can a limited picture of what I think Hezbollah is up to north of the Litani in southern Lebanon. Much of this was first reported by Nic Blanford back in February, but to my dismay, has not been followed up anywhere since then, although BBC […]

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My experience with Hezbollah this week has left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. I had heard this from other journalist friends who have recently returned from Lebanon, but discovered it for myself this week: their interaction with the press borders on fascist. In southern Lebanon it is very difficult to find people of any […]

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I’ve been in Beirut since Monday and this afternoon went to the Dahiya, the city’s Shiite southern suburbs, where Lebanese families are flocking to an exhibition called the House of Spiders (Beit al Ankaboot), an elaborate commemoration of Hezbollah’s fight against Israel last summer. Love ‘em or hate ‘em the Hezb puts on a […]

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Hamas PM Ismail Haniya’s claim in Thursday’s Guardian that the UK and Hamas have strengthened their ties seems credible . After all, the British government reversed its policy of boycotting Hamas when Alan Johnston was kidnapped and since then Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad has been to the UK twice, as has Haniya advisor Ahmed Yussuf. […]

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Here’s the declassified summary of the National Intelligence Estimate. Pretty much a waste of time and nothing we didn’t already know. The seven page document consists of five pages on how to read the NIE and just two pages rehashing what we already know: Al Qaeda is out to get us and thus “the United […]

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