It’s something we’ve suspected all along and finally we have confirmation that Iran has been supplying militants across the Middle East including Lebanon and Iraq:

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran is supplying weapons to “liberation armies” in the Middle East, a top Revolutionary Guards commander said, offering the first official confirmation the country provides weapons to armed groups in the region.

Gen. Hossein Hamedani, deputy commander of a volunteer militia that is part of the elite Revolutionary Guards, did not provide specific details in the report on the state-run Borna news. The U.S. military has accused Iran of arming Shiite militias in Iraq, and Iran is widely believed to provide weapons to Lebanon’s militant Shiite Hezbollah group.

“Not only are our armed forces self-sufficient, liberation armies of the region get part of their weapons from us,” Hamedani said, according to the report on Borna’s Web site late Sunday.

In the past, Iran - a majority Shiite country - has denied arming Hezbollah, saying it only provided political and financial support. The Iranian government has also denied providing weapons or financial support to Shiite militants fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.

But the U.S. military has said it has evidence that elements of the Mahdi army, an Iraqi militia loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, have been armed by Iran.

Next on Americas “to do” list is a cross border Iranian raid.

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Not even Jordon or Lebanon want the Palestinians. So much for Arab brotherhood:

With reports about the Israeli proposals to the Palestinians replete with hints about progress on the issues of the refugees and border demarcation, Jordan and Lebanon have cause for concern - particularly with regard to the refugee question.

“The Jordanian option does not exist,” King Abdullah made a point of declaring last week in an interview to the French weekly L’Express. Abdullah is worried about what Abbas told Arab newspapers last month after visiting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Back then the Palestinian president said he could not demand that Israel accept all the refugees, but that this need not mean that none of them would return. “It is untenable for me to propose that five million refugees return to Israel, because they [the Israelis] will immediately tell me that I am out to liquidate the state. But it is also untenable for me to say that none of them will return. Compensation must be paid to those who return and to those who do not return, and also to the countries that hosted the refugees.”

For Jordan, whose population is more than 60 percent Palestinian, the problem concerns the country’s character and identity. Even before the second intifada, and more so in its course, when concern arose that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would cross the border into Jordan, the prime minister at the time, Ali Abu al-Ragheb, announced that his government would not grant citizenship to even one additional Palestinian. That approach is even more deeply ingrained today.

With nearly two million Palestinians and another 700,000 refugees from Iraq living in Jordan, the country is barely able to create its own national identity. The slogan “We are one family,” intended to show Jordan’s solidarity with the Palestinian problem, was changed to “Jordan first.” Publicists in Jordan have written that the slogan should really be “Jordanians first,” implying that the Palestinians who hold Jordanian citizenship are not truly brothers.

Read the complete article here.

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I’m still shocked over the five Lebanese prisoners Israel released last month for the bodies of two soldiers captured in 2006 by Hezbollah. One of the Lebanese prisoners, Samir Kuntar, is a horribly violent criminal. Read the story here. It didn’t seem like justice to release him (plus 4 others) in exchange for two coffins.

Yes it brought closure to the family of the two soldiers… but what about the family of the victims that Kuntar murdered?

It’s a situation where you either sympathize with Israel’s position (saving soldiers, dead or alive, at any cost), or, you see it as a blatantly imbalanced agreement that will potentially cause MUCH greater harm than good.

I stand next to the latter.

Now it’s Palestines turn to reap the benefits of Israels “generosity“:

Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister, has pledged to free more than 120 Palestinian prisoners, a move seen as a goodwill gesture aimed at bolstering Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah Palestinian leader.

The agreement came in a meeting between the two leaders in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the first since Olmert said he would resign over a corruption investigation.

Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian negotiator, said Abbas wanted the prisoner release -scheduled for August 25 - to include long-serving inmates, women and children as well as political leaders.

Erekat said Israel had agreed to release between 120 to 150 people and possibly more.

This sends the surrounding Arab countries one message: Kidnap our soldiers and citizens, and you’ll be rewarded.

UPDATE @ 1:32 pm:

“ …in an interview with Voice of Palestine Radio, Erekat confirmed that Olmert pledged to release at least 150 Palestinian prisoners from a list submitted to Israel by the PA.”

Fan-fucking-tastic.

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Gen. David Petraeus (of “The Surge” fame) found his way to Lebanon yesterday and met with the pro-American government heads including Lebanese President Michel Suleiman.  (Not those meany head Hezbollah.  I bight my thumb at you, sirs!)

The DEBKAfile reports Petraeus visited “to check out the strategic ramifications of Hizballah’s seizure on behalf of Syria and Iran of two strategic Lebanese peaks, Mt. Sannine and Mt. Barukh”.  (Quoted from an unknown military source.)

hmmm…Let me get this straight:  A four star general… commander of all U.S. forces in Iraq…  one month away from being promoted to Central Command Chief…  mastermind of the famous “Surge” (at this point, no one really argues that it didn’t have a positive effect in Iraq) made an unannounced visit to Lebanon to check out a few mountains?

Maybe they have a nice view.  Can’t blame a man for wanting a little vacation.

Anyway, the moral of the story is we can’t always trust our news sources.  Excuse me while get back to my daily dose of FOX.

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