Hassan Nasrallah: Coward

COWARD

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- Hezbollah's leader on Saturday threatened more attacks on central Israeli cities, a day after guerrillas for the first time fired a rocket powerful enough to reach the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, speaking on Hezbollah's TV station, said he supported Lebanon's efforts to negotiate a peace deal, but suggested tentative promises for the guerrillas to disarm would be off if conditions aren't met.

Nasrallah also dismissed a new diplomatic effort by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to bring about cease-fire, saying the United States wants fighting to continue. His statement came as Rice arrived in the Mideast to visit Israel; a possible Lebanon stop has not been announced.

The bearded Shiite Muslim cleric, wearing his trademark black headdress, insisted Hezbollah fighters were winning the battle with Israel, now in its 18th day. Israel has not made a "single military accomplishment" in its offensive on Lebanon, he said, speaking on the group's Al-Manar television.

He claimed Israel suffered a "serious defeat" in ground fighting around a Lebanese border town after Israeli troops pulled back Saturday afternoon. Israel said they left Bint Jbail because they accomplished their mission of wearing down Hezbollah fighters after a week of heavy battles.

On Friday, a Hezbollah rocket hit outside the Israeli town of Afula, the farthest strike yet. Hezbollah said it targeted an Israeli military base, but the rockets fell in an empty field.

"The bombardment of Afula and its military base is the beginning ..., Nasrallah said. "Many cities in the center (of Israel) will be targeted in the 'beyond Haifa' stage if the savage aggression continues on our country, people and villages."

He was referring to his earlier threat to attack deeper into Israel than Haifa, which has been hit repeatedly in the recent conflict.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah was willing to cooperate with the Lebanese government. He did not mention a Lebanese peace plan calling for guerrilla disarmament specifically, but suggested Hezbollah would not disarm if the government backs away from conditions outlined in its proposal.

I guess he didn't mention United Nations Security Council resolution 1559 either.

Of course, why would anyone assume that an agreed upon UN resolution would be followed, unless it condemns or penalizes Israel or the United States?

Most notably, the proposals demand a prisoner swap with Israel and the resolution of Lebanese claims on border land that Israel controls. Israel has ruled out a prisoner swap but has not said whether it would be willing to reconsider its hold on the Chebaa farms area.

...In Beirut, drivers stopped their cars and pedestrians stood in front of shops and cafes to watch the address. Fireworks erupted in the southern neighborhoods of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, after Nasrallah finished.

Fireworks?

Good Lord.

When we go to war, we don't celebrate with fireworks.

And from Reuters, the news outlet that won't call a terrorist a terrorist:

Hizbollah's leader said on Saturday that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice aimed to impose conditions on Lebanon and serve Israeli interests in her mission to end war between his group and Israel.

..."Rice is returning to the region to try to impose her conditions on Lebanon again to serve her new Middle East project and to serve Israel," Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

"The Israelis are ready to halt the aggression because they are afraid of the unknown," Nasrallah said. "The one pushing for the continuation of the aggression is the U.S. administration."

"The political events and attempts to find an exit to the crisis that we are seeing today are blessings of the legendary steadfastness of the resistance in Lebanon, of the Lebanese people," he said.

"It's clear the Zionist enemy has not been able to achieve any military accomplishment," he added.

"As for the destruction of the infrastructure, the killing of civilians and forced migration of people and destruction of houses, this is not a military achievement.

"It's a barbaric accomplishment which must not be allowed to be invested politically," he said.

..."There are many cities in central Israel which will come into target range in the period after Haifa if the barbaric aggression on our country and people continues," Nasrallah said.

..."We are eager to cooperate with the government and with all political forces to present a unified Lebanon committed to what guarantees its national interests," he said.

Nasrallah sounds like he belongs at the UN. He would fit right in with the corrupt, terrorist-appeasing, anti-American, anti-Semitics there.

Where is Nasrallah?

Where is the coward hiding?

Where is he finding safe harbor?

He's so quick to send suicide bombers to their deaths in order to kill as many Israelis as possible, but this coward is afraid to show his face, other than on TV.
_________________________________

The New York Times, propanda arm of the enemies of democracy and freedom, has declared Hezbollah to be winning.

I suppose when the publication has nothing to leak to undermine the opponents of terror, time is spent cheering on the terrorists.

John Kifner writes:

NO exit?

As the bloodbath in Lebanon spilled past its second week — with at least 400 Lebanese dead and many more presumed buried in rubble; some 800,000 refugees, nearly a quarter of the population, on the run; and the fragile nation’s infrastructure shattered — there was no easy way out for either Israel or Hezbollah, the combatants locked in what each saw as a deadly existential struggle.

The very clear winner, for the moment at least, was Hezbollah and its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. (Unless, of course, Israel succeeds in its efforts to assassinate him.) As the only Arab leader seen to have defeated the Israelis — on the basis of their withdrawal in 2000 from an 18-year occupation — he already enjoyed wide respect. Now, with Hezbollah standing firm and inflicting casualties, he has become a folk hero across the Muslim world, apparently uniting Sunnis and Shiites.

The standoff stunned Israel, whose offensive came in response to a Hezbollah cross-border raid that resulted in the death of eight Israeli soldiers and the capture of two others. Central to the embattled nation’s sense of survivability is the idea of its invincibility. Its intelligence knows everything, the mythology goes, and no army dare stand against it. In truth, Israel has, in part, been lucky in its enemies, mostly Arab regimes with armies suitable mainly for keeping their own populace in check.

...It is the United States that may well come out the worst in this impasse, particularly in terms of its influence in the Arab and Muslim world. Already widely seen throughout much of that world as the lapdog of Israel, it is now viewed as publicly sanctioning the continued pounding of Lebanon, blocking efforts for a cease-fire and even rushing the Israelis more laser-guided bombs.

“I think this is a loser,” said Augustus Richard Norton, an expert on the Shia of Lebanon who teaches at Boston University. “Time is working against us, not with us. The options stink.”

Vali R. Nasr, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, said that “the reason it’s an impasse is that there is a lot riding on it for the U.S. and Israel.” He added: “It potentially puts into question the entire rationale of whether overwhelming military force can shape the region. The bar for victory for the U.S. and Israel is growing every day and for Hezbollah it is lowering every day.”

...On Friday, as crowds spilled out of a Sunni mosque in Cairo, capital of one of America’s key allies, they waved posters with the bearded, black-turbaned portrait of Sheik Nasrallah.

“Oh, Sunni! Oh, Shiite! Let’s fight the Jews,” the crowds chanted. “The Jews and the Americans are killing our brothers in Lebanon.”

Americans are NOT killing people in Lebanon.

Perhaps our Egyptian ally should point that out to its crowds.

As usual The New York Times is happy to declare victory for the terrorists.

It's sick.

"Quagmire and defeat."

"Hezbollah is winning."

"Things look bad for Israel, ... I mean the U.S."

Do you think it's possible that Nasrallah is hiding out at the New York Times Building?