Olmert said Israel is holding Lebanon directly responsible for the attacks, as Hezbollah is a member of the Lebanese government. But Lebanon has not dismantled the terrorist group as called for under UN Security Council Resolution 1559. He also made it clear that Syria too would pay a price given its ongoing control of the Lebanese government.
Israel’s Foreign Miniser, Tzipi Livni, in a statement said that “There is an axis of terror and hate, created by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas that wants to end any hope for peace. The world cannot let them succed.” The Foreign Minister said she had spoken with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during the day.
According to Fox News, the U.S. blamed Syria and Iran for the attack and kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers and called for their immediate release. The U.S. urged Hezbollah to release the soldiers. The White House called the raid “an affront to the sovereignty of the Lebanese government,” calling for Syria and Iran to end their support for the terrorists. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack has repeatedly said Israel has a right to defend itself. He added that Israel's latest response in southern Lebanon was justifiable.
"This was an unprovoked attack. This was an attack on soldiers who are on Israeli territory, Israeli soil, by a terrorist organization," he said.
The European Union called on Hezbollah to “unconditionally release the captured Israeli soldiers and cease all attacks on Israel.” U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for restraint but condemned “without reservations the attack” by the terrorist group.
The conflict in Gaza continues as well. The IDF sent a warplane to destroy the Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry in Gaza City late tonight. Earlier, the air force dropped a bomb on a house in Gaza city where Hamas commanders were meeting.
Also according to Fox, the Arab League is planning an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers.
Article comments
1 - Al Barger
Mark, I'm sure it's not from bad intention, but you're a little off-track just with your title saying that "Israel threatens war." Israel ain't threatening war, the Arabs are absolutely making war, and Israel is forced to respond.
2 - mschannon
Al,
Of course the Arab's have, in effect, declared war. But in the article, I noted that "Sources inside Israel say that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will issue a declaration of war this evening..." meaning moving from this nebulous situation to a full-fledged state of war. There's a big difference.
It's interesting that, so far, Olmert hasn't issued the declaration--at least I haven't seen it yet.
In Decaf Veritas
3 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Gentlemen,
Olmert is not a particularly smart fellow, but even he knows that Israel is already in a state of war with Lebanon. So declaring war would be just one more empty threat from a government filled with empty threats.
He did state that Lebanon had perpertrated an act of war and has shut down our northern neighbor as a result. The streets in town are kind of empty. All those guys in khaki with the M16's are on duty. Only the border guard is yet in town. So, in effect, Israel has gone to war.
4 - mschannon
Ruvy, do you realize if we traded goverments, neither of us would be any better. I've got a new update in pending. You probably already know, but the rhetoric is getting more intense and those asshole Europeans have backed away from their support last night.
Keep your head down and your powder dry. We'd hate to lose you.
Mark
5 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Mark,
Thanks for the kind wishes; there are other Israelis commenting here who deserve your prayers as well, and some of them may well live in harm's way. J-lem is well out of range of HizbAllah's Katyshas. Will wait for your update. I'm going to keep updating this second article unless developments take a different course entirely.