Qana once again

I'm too upset to write about this, I'm just gonna quote the news.

First of all lets remember that the very same village of Qana has witnessed such a massacre ( video ) in 1996 when the Israeli army targeted a UN compound killing more than 100 civilians.

Back to the present, July 30, 2006:
The news :

More than 40 people, including 20 children, have been killed in an Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese town of Qana. Displaced families had been sheltering in the basement of a site which was crushed after a direct hit. ( BBC )

The excuse: Arabs are dumb, they've been warned and they were supposed to leave!

He [ Capt. Jacob Dallal, an Israeli army spokesman ] said the army dropped leaflets several days ago telling civilians to leave Qana.
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr disputed allegations that Hezbollah was firing missiles from Qana.
"What do you expect Israel to say? Will it say that it killed 40 children and women?" he told Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV station. ( Fox News )

They warned them, huh? Now who should we blame?

In response to reports about the strike on Qana, a spokeswoman for Israel's military said the target was a site used to launch rockets into Israel and blamed the deaths on Hezbollah. ( Washington Post )

In Syria there's a very common expression that says: "They made up a lie and they believed it!".
And to get the picture, here's what we, guys in the Mideast, woke up to watch:

Video broadcast by Arab TV showed the limp and bloodied bodies of woman and children who appeared to be wearing night clothes. Many of Video broadcast by Arab TV showed the limp and bloodied bodies of woman and children who appeared to be wearing night clothes. Many of these bodies were under rubble in the basement of the building. these bodies were under rubble in the basement of the building. ( CNN)

And as I'm writing this I'm watching the lebanese civil workers - live on Al-Arabyia - still trying to get some bodies out of the collapsed building. (it's 3:30 PM Damascus time).

N.B: I'm not gonna post the pictures here. I can't look at them anymore, but it's all around the web.

Technorati tags:
Israel, Lebanon, War, Hezbollah, Death, Massacre, Qana, UN, Middle East.

Glory isn't about killing.

Ok, I'm sick of this.
People here are watching the death tolls ( on both sides ) just as they were watching the world cup scores.

Do you really think you should be happy when some Israelis are killed? psychos.
I know everybody wanna know how the hell this big political game's gonna end up, but think of the humanitarian side guys ...

Technorati tags:
Israel, Lebanon, War, Hezbollah, Death.

صح النوم يا سعودي

استيقظ للتو وزير الخارجية السعودي سعود الفيصل، أو أنه كان مشغولاً لدرجة تمنعه من مشاهدة الأخبار.

وهنا القصة كاملة:

"...وظهر له ملاك الرب في المنام، وقال: يا سعود، ستظهر وتصرح وتدين وتشجب المغامرات غير المحسوبة في الشرق الأوسط ..."
وهكذا كان. واستمرت الحرب، وقتل من قتل، أصيب من أصيب ونزح من نزح.

" وبينما كان يأخذ قيلولةً في واشنطن، ظهر له ملاك الرب في المنام، وقال: يا سعود، ستظهر وتصرح وتطالب وتنادي الإدارة الأمريكية بالعمل فوراً على وقف إطلاق النار، مع وقف العمل بالمنام الأول وأي منام سابق يتعارض مع هذا المنام".
وهكذا كان. وستستمر الحرب وسيقتل من سيقتل، ويصاب من سيصاب وينزح من سينزح.

العبرة:
إذا وجدت نفسك بلا تأثير، ولا مفعول، سجل موقفاً على الأقل

Technorati tags:
Saudi, Lebanon, Israel, Hezbollah, Saud Al Faisal, السعودية, لبنان, اسرائيل, حزب الله, سعود الفيصل

URGENT: Syrian volunteers needed.

The Syrian red crescent in cooperation with Bank Audi and a group of other Syrian companies have launched an initiative to organize the services provided to Lebanese refugees in Syria.

A call center have been setup, functional 24/7 on number: 011 9338

A pretty good number of schools, convents are now open to receive Lebanese families ( call 011 9338 ).

Guys, there's a huge need for volunteers, please call the same number for further details.

Donations are also welcome, a special bank account for the initiative has been setup:
Audi Bank 007625 461 001 002 01
( you can still call 011 9338 for more info on this ).

Technorati Tags:

Lebanon, Conflict, War, Syria, Damascus, Red Crescent, Refugees, Lebanese, Donation, Volunteers

CNN Vote Update

Here the latest results on CNN vote (scroll down to quickvote, on the right ) we talked about.

We're doing better now guys, keep up the good work.

Technorati Tags:

Lebanon, Israel, Conflict, Hizbollah, CNN, vote, act

Today, we are all Lebanese.

Today, we are all Lebanese.

Lebanon has been sentenced to death. On Wednesday 12 July, she was put in prison, and now she's being tortured.

Israel's war is with Lebanon's civilians, not Hizbollah. Nearly every person killed has been a civilian. Power stations, bridges and petrol stations have been targeted. Israel has warned residents to get out of certain villages, but bombed roads to make it difficult - and refugee convoys have been picked out for deadly air raids.

And getting out of the country is impossible now too. The airport has been destroyed, the sea ports are blockaded, and the border posts and highways have been razed to the ground.

Lebanon is held hostage to the angry Israeli war machine. And now more than ever, Syrians bloggers, just like every Syrian stand by her.

Another generation of Lebanese will know nothing but war. We can't let this happen, Again.

This post has been supported by the group of Syrian bloggers at Syria Planet. Please feel free to re-post this statement, and tell one of us, so we can all add your name to this list.

Sasa, The Syria News Wire
Yazan Badran, My Stupid Corner
Ammar, My Many MY's
Ayman Haykal, The Damascene Blog
Omar Salaymeh, Earth to Omar
Annie (in French), Blog.Syrie.Be
Aleppous, Aleppous
Stellar, Rollercoaster Journey
Abu Fares, Abu Fares Says
Ahmad, ضـ ـيـ ـا ع
Ihsan, Bits & Bites of Syria
Oz, Between Syria and France
Shady Zayat, مبعثرة
Fares, Free Syria
Soraya, Syrian to the Bone
Omar Faleh, Deconstructed Life
Ayhm Jzzan, ayhm2006
Sharks, Getting Started
Yaser, roneceve
Bridget, My Adventures In Syria

Blogs under siege

Make sure you get all the details and updates about the war in Lebanon,

Check these two blogs:

Lebanese Blogger Forum

The Lebanese Bloggers

Act
Do Something About it
check
Save Lebanon

STOP THIS MADNESS

Technorati Tags:

Lebanon, Beirut, Israel, Madness, Hezbollah, War, blogs, coverage.

CNN Vote

CNN is taking a vote on whether the Israeli response is justified. At the moment the bigger percentage of the vote goes for "yes", help turn it into NO by taking the quick vote.

Look for the QUICKVOTE box to the right of the news in the page.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/13/mideast/index.html

And spread the message!

Originally posted by arch.memory @ Lebanese Blogger Forum

Technorati Tags:

Lebanon, Israel, Conflict, Hizbollah, CNN, vote, act

Thank you Rima Maktabi

Thank You, and all the 'al arabyia' team covering the Israeli madness night.
Thanks to all journalists corresponding from Beirut under Israeli fire.

I'm speechless, I spent a horrible night just watching news at home in Damascus. I can't even imagine the case in Beirut.

I don't know what to say to you, all of you guys in Lebanon, as whatever I would say would sound silly and irrelevant regarding the god damn events you're facing.

I JUST HOPE THIS MADNESS STOPS SOON

MADNESS here, here and here


Technorati Tags:
Lebanon, Beirut, Israel, Damascus, Al Arabyia, Rima Maktabi, Hezbollah, War

War, ladies and gentlemen

Watching TV in the middle east isn't fun at all. Switching channels looking for updates of the status in Lebanon is more than news-addiction this time, things got serious. This is war ladies and gentlemen, reports says 47 died at least, one airport and more than 20 bridges are out of service not mentioning the Israeli casualties. What the hell is going on?

I think most of you are now familiar with the story, for sure you have a lot more details, we all know what's going on, but why?

Hizbollah's operation was a quick, concentrated and successful one, 2 soldiers where captured and 3 killed. Secretary general Mr. Nassrallah in a press conference, clearly pointed out the aims of this operation and put it in context where it looks – at least to an Arab observer – fully rightful and explainable. Considering the historical successes of Hizbollah in winning the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel through “indirect negotiation and trade”.

Now let's get to the reaction, what are the Israeli aims of this continuous aggressive large-scale operations?

It is too dreamy to think that these attacks could release the kidnapped soldiers – and I'm not just quoting Nassrallah here – considering the fact that it took the Israelis 16 hours of attacks to get the bodies of soldiers who died under Hizbollah's fire when their tank tried to cross the borderline yesterday.

So, if not for revenge, why is Israel targeting civil and economic infrastructure, destroying the airport, blockading ports and threatening to target roads to Syria?

I believe the sole aim of this unexplainable aggressive reaction is to transform the problem into an intra-Lebanese conflict, by making Lebanese people, who still has in mind the old black days of Israeli occupation and who's darkest nightmares of economic difficulties ( mostly for tourism industry ) just became true, blame Hizbollah for the situation, stand against it's acts and close eyes on the original problem they were trying to highlight: The Lebanese prisoners in Israel.

More on this issue:

from The Washington Post

from CNN

from Reuters

from Elaph ( Arabic )

Technorati Tags:

Lebanon, Israel, Conflict, Hizbollah