Nations move to evacuate expatriates from Lebanon

[ProSense]

Nations move to evacuate expatriates from Lebanon

By Alaa Shahine 1 hour, 6 minutes ago

BEIRUT (Reuters) - European and Arab nations and the United States moved on Saturday to evacuate expatriates and tourists from Lebanon as
Israel bombarded the country.

An Italian convoy of vehicles left Beirut on Saturday while the United States,
France, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Poland, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said plans were under way to ferry their citizens from Lebanon to
Syria or Cyprus.

Britain said it was sending two Royal Navy ships to the Middle East amid contingency planning for a possible evacuation of British nationals. A defense ministry spokeswoman said 3,500 to 4,000 British families and 10,000 dual nationals were registered in Lebanon.

A Spanish military transport plane carrying 116 Spaniards and 10 other people landed at an air force base near Madrid on Saturday, having taken off from Damascus earlier. The passengers were driven to Syria from Beirut on Friday.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060715/ts_nm/mideast_foreigners_dc_4

Israel Can Win All the Wars, but That Doesn’t Settle Anything

Gwynne Dyer, Arab News

“The objective of the operation is clear to no one — not the government, not the prime minister, not the Israel Defense Force with all its commanders,” wrote journalist Hagay Huberman on Thursday in the conservative Israeli newspaper Hatzofe. “No one tried to think 20 steps ahead. When an operation is called a ‘rolling operation’ they mean that the operation continues to roll independently and then we will all see where it leads.”

In just a few days, the situation has spun completely out of control. Beirut airport’s runways have been cratered by Israeli fighters, rockets have landed on Haifa, Israel’s third-biggest city, and the Israeli Army has crossed into southern Lebanon. Israeli troops were there for eighteen years after Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, and they took hundreds of casualties and killed several thousand people before they finally withdrew. Now they’re back, for God knows how long.

Less than a year ago, the IDF also pulled out of the Gaza Strip. They’re back there now, too, blasting away at houses and government offices and police stations, not because they really think that that will help them find their kidnapped soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, but because they cannot think of anything else to do. The whole game plan has unraveled, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has run out of strategies. He is just responding by reflex — and the habitual Israeli reflex, when confronted with a serious challenge, is to lash out with overwhelming force.

That’s understandable, because Israel’s great asset is exactly that: Overwhelming force.

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http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=85406&d=16&m=7&y=2006