RANGE OF TERROR ROCKETS INCREASES

Israel: Hizbullah Increases Rocket Range - Matti Friedman (AP)
Senior Israeli defense officials said Thursday that Hizbullah has dramatically increased its arsenal of rockets and their range.  The officials said Hizbullah has acquired new Iranian rockets with a range of 186 miles that can hit anywhere in Israel's heavily populated center.

See also IDF: Islamic Jihad Producing Longer-Range Rockets - Hanan Greenberg (Ynet News)
The Islamic Jihad terror group has recently begun manufacturing rockets with a 12.5-mile range, similar to the Grad (Katyusha) rockets already in use by terror organizations in Gaza.  The new rockets are armed with a much deadlier warhead that carries double the amount of explosives carried by Kassam rockets.   Armed groups in Gaza have also recently obtained two new types of Iranian-made mortar shells, some of which can travel up to 6.2 miles.

SEE ALSO: Defense officials: Hizbullah has rockets that can reach Dimona (JPost)

HEZBOLLAH LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD KIDS

Hezbollah: Looking For a Few Good Kids (BackSpin)

Time magazine takes a startling glimpse into the world of Hezbollah recruiting:

The two phases in the development of a Hizballah fighter are like Boy Scouts and Boot Camp. During the first phase, Hizballah recruiters keep an eye out for young Shia Muslim students in both Hizballah-run schools and the national school system. They look for energetic kids, violent kids, and smart kids,from the age of seven into the late teens, and begin taking them on field trips and workshops where they are given a through ideological indoctrination, and then as they get older, a brief introduction to the AK-47 assault rifle.

Why not Teach Kids Peace?

ISRAELI SOLDIER SUSPECTED AS HEZBOLLAH SPY

Soldier suspected as Hezbollah spy (JTA)
An Israeli soldier is suspected of supplying classified information to Hezbollah in exchange for drugs.

Police announced Monday that a noncommissioned officer serving as an infantry tracker along the Israel-Lebanon border was arrested last month on suspicion of spying for the Lebanese terrorist group.

According to authorities, the soldier gave Hezbollah information on Israeli troop deployments along the frontier in exchange for its expedition of cross-border drug deals.

Two other Israelis in custody are suspected of being involved in the alleged drug smuggling.

No personal details were immediately available on the arrested soldier other than that he lives in the Galilee area. Israel's military trackers generally are Bedouin Arabs.

HEZBOLLAH LEADER: ISRAEL CAN BE "ELIMINATED"

Hizbullah Leader: Israel Can Be "Eliminated" - Benny Avni (New York Sun)
Echoing Iran's threat to wipe Israel off the map, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Monday that the targeting of Israeli civilian centers has made it possible for the Jewish state to be "eliminated."

"Can Israel be eliminated? Yes and a thousand yeses, Israel can be eliminated," he said. Hamas and Hizbullah "are betting on Iran," said former Israeli Foreign Ministry official Jonathan D. Halevi. "People in the region assume that as soon as Iran gets a nuclear bomb it will become a regional superpower, which makes it a hot commodity."

See also Hizbullah: Mughniyeh Was "Leader of Two Victories" Over Israel (Al-Bawaba-Jordan)
At a rally in southern Beirut on Monday in honor of slain military commander Imad Mughniyeh, Hizbullah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah called Mughniyeh the "leader of both victories," referring to the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 and the July 2006 war.

SYRIA STILL SUPPLYING HEZBOLLAH WITH WEAPONS

Peres to Lavrov: Syria still supplying Hizbullah with arms (JPost)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Israel on Thursday, after reportedly saying in Damascus that a touted peace conference in Moscow would deal with the Golan Heights - only to be told by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he is not even convinced of the utility of such a get-together for the Palestinian track.

Israel has roundly rejected past attempts to revive the idea of an international peace conference dealing with the Golan. According to the Prime Minister's Office, Lavrov raised the conference idea with Olmert, who remained noncommittal even on the Palestinian track....

Syria also came up during a meeting Lavrov held with President Shimon Peres, with Peres saying that Damascus was continuing to transfer weapons to Hizbullah in Lebanon, and that this transfer of weapons called into question the sincerity of Syria's signals regarding peace negotiations.

IN THE WEST BANK, IDF FIGHTS TERROR AND PROPS UP ABBAS

Israel's War on Terror in the West Bank - Tim McGirk (TIME)
Just because fewer Palestinian terrorists are slipping into Israel from the West Bank doesn't mean that they have stopped trying.  Says an officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF): "Our people sleep comfortably in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv because the IDF is putting in a huge effort, day and night, in the West Bank to prevent terror."  Last year more than 6,650 suspected Palestinian militants were rounded up, among them, claim Israeli intelligence officers, 279 potential suicide bombers.

IDF troops, in effect, prop up Mahmoud Abbas. Without the presence of Israeli troops, his advisers concede, the West Bank would soon fall to Hamas militants, just as Gaza did last June.  Israel's domestic intelligence service, Shin Bet, claims that in 2007 it foiled 29 suicide attacks.

SEE ALSO: Fatah Military Wing Tells Abbas to Fire Fayad, Band with Hamas - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)

Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, called on Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday to fire Prime Minister Salaam Fayad and "form a new government that would not abandon the armed struggle," in a leaflet distributed in Ramallah. It also called on Abbas to stop all contacts with Israel.

Several Fatah officials have accused Fayad of refusing to give their representatives enough jobs and salaries in the PA government.   They are also angry with Fayad because of his decision to stop paying salaries to thousands of Fatah members.

SEE ALSO: Hizbullah Becoming More Visible in West Bank

A Hizbullah flag, along with Hamas banners, adorned the home of a Palestinian man who was killed after gunning down eight Israeli students in Jerusalem last week. Hizbullah has long operated behind the scenes in the Palestinian territories, funneling millions of dollars to militant groups for attacks against Israel, according to Israeli and Palestinian security officials. Hizbullah's influence has become increasingly visible in the West Bank since last month's assassination of its military chief, Imad Mughniyeh.

On Thursday, mourners marching in a funeral procession for four Palestinian militants killed in Bethlehem chanted, "Hizbullah is coming." The bodies of local Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed Shehadeh and another militant were wrapped in Hizbullah flags. Shehadeh had converted from Sunni to Shiite Islam in a show of support for Hizbullah, said his cousin, Khalil. (AP/International Herald Tribune)

BRITAIN BANS LIKUD MEMBER, ALLOWS HEZBOLLAH

Britain Bans Likud Member, Allows Hizballah

(LGF)

Britain has barred Israeli Likud member Moshe Feiglin from entering the country—even though he wasn’t planning to: Feiglin banned from entering Britain.

The reason: The 7/7 London bombings.

The UK’s Home Office has banned Likud central committee member Moshe Feiglin from entering Britain.

A letter sent to Feiglin from the office of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, and published in this week’s Jewish Chronicle, says the minister has excluded him from the country, even though he had no plans to visit.

“I am writing to advise you that following the London bombings in July 2005, the home secretary announced a list of particular activities that would normally lead to a person being excluded or deported from the UK on the grounds that their presence in the country is not conducive to the public good,” the letter reads.

The unacceptable activities listed in the two-page letter include “writing, producing, publishing or distributing material; public speaking including preaching; running a Web site and using a position of responsibility” to “foment or justify terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs; seek to provoke others to terrorist acts; foment other serious criminal activity or seek to provoke others to serious criminal acts and foster hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK.”

And once again, the British authorities’ justification for this absurd ban is that Feiglin publicly criticized Islam—which is now apparently enough to get the Brits to issue a ban. In other words, what we have here is yet another case of absolutely craven dhimmitude and appeasement.

But being a member of Hizballah, and spreading their antisemitic hatred and sick violent propaganda in Britain? No problem!

Earlier this month, British authorities granted permission to Ibrahim Mousawi, chief foreign new editor for Hizbullah’s Al-Manar television station in Lebanon, to enter the UK to participate in a number of political events.

Accused of anti-Semitism and incitement, and recently banned from entering Ireland, his television station aired a 29-part “documentary” in 2004 in which it depicted stereotypical Jews hatching a plot for Jewish world control and domination.

Following the 9/11 attacks, Al-Manar alleged that 4,000 Jewish employees did not turn up to work at the World Trade Center that day and that the attack was masterminded by Israel.

HEZBOLLAH HAS 30,000 ROCKETS

THE U.N. DID A GREAT JOB OF DISARMING THEM AD STOPPING THE FLOW OF WEAPONS.

Israel Says Hizbullah Has 30,000 Rockets - Edith M. Lederer (AP/Washington Post)
Israel has said Hizbullah is rearming and has an arsenal that includes 10,000 long-range rockets and 20,000 short-range rockets in southern Lebanon, according to a report from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

MOROCCO NABS TERROR CELL TARGETING JEWS

Morocco nabs terror cell targeting Jews (JPost)
Morocco said Thursday it has dismantled a terrorist network that raised funds through holdups and jewelry thefts in Europe and was plotting to assassinate Cabinet ministers, army officers and Jews in the North African kingdom.

Thirty-two suspected terrorists were arrested in the operation, including Muhammad Mirwani, who heads the unauthorized "Umma Party", and Hizbullah's Al-Manar satellite TV correspondent in Morocco, 'Abd Al-Hafid Sriti.

IRANIAN GUARD LEADER PREDICTS ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION

Iran Guards Predict Israel Demise (BBC News)
Iran's Revolutionary Guards leader Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Jafari wrote to Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah, following the killing of senior Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh, to extend "congratulations and condolences for the martyrdom."
    

"We will soon witness the destruction of the cancerous scum of Israel at the strong, capable hands of Hizbullah," he wrote.

In response, Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said: "We are not harboring any illusions about the Tehran regime's true intentions, nor its extremist agenda."

See also Israel Complains to UN over Iranian General's Remarks - Roee Nahmias (Ynet News)

ISRAEL MAY DECLARE TWO KIDNAPPED SOLDIERS DEAD, HAVE DEAL FOR ANOTHER

Shalit Deal: 230 Terrorists to Hamas (IRIS)
Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement on the identities of 230 Palestinian prisoners to be freed as part of a deal to secure the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, Army Radio reported Monday morning.

According to the report, disputes remain regarding 120 additional prisoners the group is demanding be freed in the first stage of the deal - prisoners Israel has thus far refused to release.

Progress in the negotiations was reportedly made after a decision by a special ministerial committee to relax the criteria for defining a prisoner with "blood on his hands." Initially, Israel was only willing to release 44 prisoners on the Hamas list.

Report: Israel to declare Lebanon hostages dead (JTA)
A German magazine said Israel plans to declare dead two soldiers who were abducted by Hezbollah.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's administration will soon go public with its assessments that Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, two army reservists seized by Hezbollah in a July 2006 border raid, are dead, Germany's Der Spiegel magazine reported over the weekend.

Israeli officials said there was no formal change to Jerusalem's policy that Goldwasser and Regev should be considered alive unless proven otherwise, and the soldiers' families dismissed the Der Spiegel report as speculative.

Germany has been key to efforts to mediate an Israeli-Hezbollah prisoner swap under which the soldiers would be returned home.

Hezbollah has refused to give any information on the condition of Goldwasser or Regev.

Israeli security sources believe that one or both of the men may have been killed during their kidnapping, given the amount of ordnance used against their convoy as it patrolled the Lebanese border.

Der Spiegel regularly runs stories about the Middle East and is believed to have high-placed government sources in Israel.

SYRIA ARRESTS PALIS IN MUGHNIYEH ASSASSINATION

'Syria arrests suspects in Mughniyeh assassination' (JTA)
Syrian security forces have arrested several Palestinians suspects in connection with the assassination of Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh, a Lebanese security source told Reuters on Friday.

MAYBE NOW HEZBOLLAH WILL THREATEN THE PALESTINIANS WITH REVENGE AS THEY DID ISRAEL WHEN IT SUSPECTED ISRAEL WAS BEHIND THE ASSASSINATION. NOT.

MUGHINIYA KILLED IN "WORK ACCIDENT?"

Kuwaiti Paper: Mughniya Was Killed In "Work Accident" (MEMRI)
The Kuwaiti daily Awan reported, from a knowledgeable Arab source, that Imad Mughinyua was killed as he was preparing a car bomb. The source said that Mughniya had prepared several car bombs for sending to Lebanon in order to prevent the March 14 Forces from holding a rally to mark the third anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri.

Hizbullah mastermind's true legacy By Caroline B. Glick
While it is a great thing that he is dead, it must be understood that
his death is insufficient

Saudis Let Go Terrorist Mughniyeh in 1996 Despite U.S. President's Pleas - Brian Ross (ABC News)
Former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke says that in 1996 the CIA learned that Hizbullah terrorist Imad Mughniyeh had boarded a commercial flight in Khartoum that was scheduled to stop in Riyadh.

"We appealed to the Saudis to grab him when the plane landed, and they refused," Clarke said in an interview broadcast Wednesday.

"We raised the level of appeals all the way through Bill Clinton who was on the phone at three in the morning appealing to the highest level in Saudi Arabia to grab him," Clarke said.
"Instead, the Saudis refused to let the plane land and it continued on to Damascus."

Imad Who? - Martin Kramer
At Hizbullah's official funeral of Imad Mughniyeh Thursday, where Hizbullah's leader eulogized him over a coffin decked in Hizbullah's flag, it is useful to recall the party's denial of his very existence over all these many years. Mention of his name to Hizbullah officials would draw a blank stare or blanket denial. Nasrallah's eulogy has placed Mughniyeh officially in the pantheon of Hizbullah's greatest martyrs. That his relationship to Hizbullah was ever a question is a testament to the discipline of Hizbullah in sticking to lies that serve its interests.

Hiding its clandestine branch makes it easier for Hizbullah to sell the movement to useful idiots in the West who insist that the movement hasn't done any terror in years, and maybe never did any at all. The truth is that Hizbullah has always included within it a clandestine terrorist branch, and it probably always will. Indeed, Nasrallah's threat in his eulogy - to commence an "open war" with Israel outside the Israel-Lebanon theater - alludes to the "global reach" that Mughniyeh helped to build. Hizbullah's official send-off to a most-wanted terrorist has exposed the core of Hizbullah that lies deep beneath the schools, the hospitals, and all the other gimmicks the party uses to get support. (Middle East Strategy at Harvard)

JEWS WORLDWIDE SHOULD BE ALERT FOR HEZBOLLAH "RETALIATION"

Jews worldwide urged to be on their guard after assassination (JPost)
More than 50 Hizbullah terror cells believed to be spread across the globe could be activated and used to strike at Israeli or Jewish targets in retaliation for Tuesday's assassination of Hizbullah arch-terrorist and operations officer Imad Mughniyeh in Syria, a senior defense official said Thursday.

As Hassan Nasrallah vowed "open war" to avenge Mughniyeh's death, the Israeli Counterterrorism Bureau issued a travel advisory on Thursday that made plain the seriousness with which it is taking the Hizbullah leader's threats. But Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said "Israel is a strong country" and that there was no need to panic.

FBI anti-terror units raised their alerts for fear of attacks on synagogues and other Jewish targets.

Sources in the US administration reiterated that there were no specific warnings of a terrorist attack; nonetheless, an FBI source said that the raised alertness of the Anti-Terrorism Unit, which operates in about 100 cities around the US, is not a routine step.

WORLD'S WORST MOTHER?

GLAD WE COULD MAKE YOU SO HAPPY. 

Mugniyah's mother pleased all her sons died in name of Jihad (YNET)
Hizbullah commander Imad Mugniyah's mother said Thursday that she is "pleased" that all three of her sons gave their lives for the Jihad way. In an interview on Hizbullah's Al-Manar television, Mugniyah's mother called on Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah not to fear, saying she regrets not having a fourth son to offer Jihad. (Dudi Cohen)

HEBOLLAH DECLARES OPEN WAR ON ISRAEL

Hezbollah leader declares 'open war' on Israel (AFP)
BEIRUT (AFP) - Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared "open war" on Israel in a fiery speech at the funeral Thursday in the Lebanese capital of a top commander killed in a car bombing he blamed on Israel.

"If the Zionists want war, then they shall have it," Nasrallah said in a speech broadcast at the funeral of Imad Mughnieh. "If you want an open war, then let it be an open war."

He added that the 2006 war between his militant group and Israel was not over and that his followers stood ready for combat.

"The July war is not over, it is ongoing and no ceasefire was ever declared," Nasrallah said "The blood of Imad Mughnieh will contribute to the disappearance of the Jewish state."

MORE ON ASSASSINATION OF HEZBOLLAH'S MUGHNIYEH

Hizbullah's Mughniyeh: Not Everyone Is Replaceable - Amir Oren
Mughniyeh's assassination will challenge the myth that "everyone can be replaced." This myth aims to keep Israel and other countries from targeting senior figures in terrorist organizations, under the theory that there is no point in taking such action if it further enrages the masses and stokes their determination to rally to the cause. Moreover, sometimes the successor is more effective and worse for Israel than his predecessor. The standard example is the killing of Hizbullah leader Abbas Musawi 16 years ago. If Musawi was trouble, his successor, Hassan Nasrallah, is worse trouble.

Judging from the behavior of Nasrallah and Mughniyeh, we can conclude that they doubted the assumption that they are replaceable. Whoever decided to murder Lebanese leaders Bashir Gemeyal and Rafik Hariri did not avoid such attacks because other leaders would have filled their spot. The murderers assumed, justifiably, that the quality of the original cannot be imitated. Mughniyeh belonged to the blacklist of arch-terrorists whose organizations will find it very difficult to replace them. (Ha'aretz)

Report: Nasrallah's Political Deputy Also Killed in Damascus Blast (Jerusalem Post)
Haj Hussein Khalil, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah's political deputy, also died in the Damascus blast that killed Imad Mughniyeh, the Iranian FARS agency reported Wednesday.

Dead in Damascus - Editorial (Wall Street Journal)

• Before Osama bin Laden took the spotlight, Mughniyeh was probably the world's most wanted and elusive terrorist, a man with an FBI price tag of $5 million on his head. He masterminded some of Hizbullah's deadliest attacks in the 1980s and 1990s, including:
  • The 241 U.S. Marines and 58 French soldiers who died in the 1983 truck bombings in Beirut along with 63 civilians, including 17 Americans, who died in the simultaneous bombing of the U.S. embassy there.
  • Robert Stethem, the Navy diver whose beaten body was left on the tarmac during the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847.
  • William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in the mid-1980s.
  • Twenty-nine people who died in the 1992 bombing of Israel's embassy in Buenos Aires and 85 more killed in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish Center in Buenos Aires.
• Mughniyeh died in a car bombing, probably orchestrated by the Mossad, though Israel denies it. It'd be nice to think the CIA was up to this, but we have our doubts.   

See also Mughniyeh Directed Execution of U.S. Peace Envoy in Beirut - Sara A. Carter and Bill Gertz
A classified Defense Intelligence Agency report stated that Mughniyeh "was in charge of the execution" of Marine Corps Col. William Higgins, who was captured by Hizbullah terrorists while serving the UN on a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon in 1988. (Washington Times)

Quote of the Day (BackSpin)

"It's very fitting that it was a car bomb.”

Lance Cpl. Eddie DiMarco, a survivor of the 1983 suicide attack on the US Marine barracks, on the death of Imad Mughniyeh.

NYT CAN'T TELL A** FROM ELBOW

The Dumbest Headline of the Day… Noah Pollak (Contentions)

…sits atop the New York Times‘ story on Mugniyah:

Bomb in Syria Kills Militant Sought as Terrorist

A militant who was sought as a terrorist? What the heck does that mean? Is the Times saying that Imah Mugniyah was not, in point of fact, a terrorist? Is there a person in the world who does not more perfectly deserve that appellation, or has the Times joined Reuters in refusing to use it? Sloppy thinking and sloppy writing. They go together.

Dumb Headline Alert  (BACKSPIN) 

How does the NY Times explain this headline?

Bomb in Syria Kills Militant Sought as Terrorist

UPDATE: Headlines in both the Houston Chronicle and the Globe and Mail give Mughniyeh the more respectable title of "Hezbollah official."

Notorious Hezbollah official wanted by U.S. killed

Leading Hezbollah official killed by bomb

But there's hope:

Hezbollah's most wanted terrorist died the way he lived

TOP HEZBOLLAH TERRORIST LEADER KILLED IN SYRIA

Top Hizbullah Terrorist Leader Killed in Damascus Bombing
Hizbullah says one of its leaders, Imad Mughniyeh, has been killed in a bombing in Damascus. (BBC News)

Imad Mughniyeh, head of special overseas operations for Hizbullah, was originally a member of Fatah in southern Lebanon and served in Force-17, Arafat's personal guard. In the 1980s he was responsible for planning the kidnapping of Western hostages in Lebanon and the attacks on the U.S. Embassy and Marine headquarters in Beirut that killed 241 Americans. He planned two bomb attacks in Argentina against the Israeli Embassy and the Jewish Community Center. In 2003 he was involved in attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq. (Daily Alert-1Dec03)

See also Hizbullah Terror Chief Was More Wanted than Nasrallah - Yossi Melman

Imad Mughniyeh first started as head of security for Hizbullah, afterwards leading their operational command, until he reached his current status of "super chief of staff." Mughniyeh was the number one wanted terrorist on Israel's list, ahead of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. (Ha'aretz)

See also Hizbullah Commander on U.S. "Most Wanted" List Killed (CNN)

See also Imad Mughniyeh: Rest in Pieces (BackSpin)

Imad Mughniyeh, a Hezbollah founder and one of the most wanted people on earthwas killed in a Damascus car bombing last night. Hezbollah blames Israel.

Mughniyeh's rap sheet here.

See also: 'Mughniyeh co-founded Hizbullah' (JPost)

See also: Analysis: The man linking Iran, Syria and Hizbullah (JPost)
It's hard to imagine a figure more dangerous, more sophisticated or more experienced than arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh. Until his assassination on Wednesday, Mughniyeh served as the mastermind behind Hizbullah's operations, an elusive figure linked to almost every attack executed by the organization since its inception in the early 1980s.

In fact, it is impossible to name even one large-scale attack executed by Hizbullah that Mughniyeh was not involved in - from airplane hijackings to embassy bombings to kidnappings and more.

See also: Good Riddance: Imad Mugniyeh by Max Boot (Contentions)

NORMAN FINKELSTEIN: ISRAEL MUST BE DEFEATED BY HEZBOLLAH

Norman Finkelstein: Israel Must Be Defeated (LGF)
Disgraced American wacademic Norman Finkelstein goes on Lebanese television, expresses his “solidarity” with Islamofascist terror group Hizballah, and says “Israel has to suffer a defeat.”

The term “useful idiot” was invented to describe creatures like Finkelstein.

HERE'S THE VIDEO.

(Courtesy of MEMRI TV.)