Hezbollah

WASHINGTON --The Bush administration will inform Congress tomorrow that Israel might have violated agreements with the United States when it fired U.S.-supplied cluster munitions into southern Lebanon during its fight with Hezbollah last summer, the State Department said yesterday. The finding, though preliminary, has prompted a contentious debate within the administration over whether the United States should penalize Israel for its use of cluster munitions against towns and villages where Hezbollah had placed its rocket launchers.

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli government investigation into Israel's war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon harshly criticizes Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for many of the military campaign's failures, raising doubts about his ability to stay in power amid increasing calls for his resignation. The much-anticipated report, which was released yesterday, accuses Olmert of "serious failure" for leading the country "hastily" into an over-ambitious, ill-conceived and costly conflict that left more than 1,000 civilians and combatants dead, most of them in Lebanon.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Hezbollah and its allies paralyzed Lebanon yesterday, sending thousands of demonstrators to seize control of major roads, brawl with government supporters and choke the seaside capital in the acrid smoke of burning tires. The swift seizure of the country's roads took many here by surprise and marked a major escalation in Hezbollah's campaign to overthrow Lebanon's U.S.-backed government. At least three people died and more than 100 were wounded as clashes flared around the country.

THE NEW GOVERNMENT of Iran seeks looser rules for its citizens, more trade and better relations with most of the world. Notably that includes Iraq, with which Iran fought a horrible war throughout the 1980s and whose foreign minister it has recently entertained. Logically, this should also extend to the United States.But don't look for close and friendly relations soon. President Mohammad Khatami, the leading moderate, spoke warmly of the American people and called for cultural exchanges.

JERUSALEM -- New tensions grew in Israel yesterday after rockets fired from Lebanon slammed into a town near the country's northern border after a week of growing attacks between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas.The early-morning salvo, which left an Israeli woman slightly wounded and damaged a synagogue, was a clear violation of the April 1996 cease-fire that ended a 17-day Israeli military campaign. The attack came in apparent retaliation for an aggressive new posture shown by Israel in a week in which 13 people have been killed, including seven Lebanese civilians.

THE editorial ''Going backward in the Middle East'' (Aug. 24) faults Israel for planning to build a dam in a location which would be ''provoking Syria to intransigence.'' Perhaps the writer does not recall what happened in April 1996.Despite having the conciliatory government of Prime Minister Shimon Peres in power in Israel, Syria unleashed its proxy army of Hezbollah terrorists against northern Israel.The Peres government was prepared to relinquish most if not all of the Golan Heights in exchange for peace.

THE AWFUL barrage in southern Lebanon that killed at least 90 persons huddled under a Fijian soldiers' hut in a U.N. compound was a victory for Hezbollah terrorist gunners. They had fired Katyusha rockets and mortars from 300 yards away, luring supposedly smart, radar-directed, Israeli return fire to the greatest possible atrocity.Hard as it is to think of progress on the peace front during the barrage, progress was made.Prime Minister Shimon Peres met with Palestinian Authority chief Yasser Arafat.

THE UNDERSTANDING that the United States announced for an end to shooting between Israel and Lebanon was a triumph for Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Although Mr. Christopher hardly wants to help Sen. Bob Dole in the November election, his arduous shuttle diplomacy showed the energy a 70-year-old can bring to a seemingly intractable problem.As a result, Hezbollah guerrillas will not shoot at Israel from Lebanon. Israel and its Lebanese allies will not shoot at civilians. Both governments undertake that no civilians will be targets.

QANA, Lebanon -- Israeli artillery raked a United Nations peacekeepers camp filled with refugees yesterday, turning their haven into a deathtrap for at least 100, many of them women and children.The carnage brought a sharp international outcry, and Israel said last night that it will agree to a U.S. call to stop bombarding Lebanon if Hezbollah guerrillas halt the shelling of northern Israel.A dozen heavy shells crashed in midafternoon through the tin roofs of the refugee shelters at the U.N. camp.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- The crimson flag of Hezbollah wrapped the "martyr's" coffin yesterday, and the whole box was sheathed in plastic. Lowered into the ground amid chants of "God is Great," the coffin will be dug up and reburied -- without the plastic -- in southern Lebanon when the Israeli bombardment ends.The occupant of the coffin, a Hezbollah fighter named Ahmad Cherri killed by a rocket from an Israeli jet, was a "fair" fatality, according to convoluted rules of the conflict in south Lebanon.

KANNAMACHI, Japan - It seems that whenever Israel responds to violent overtures from groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, leaders of the international community are quick to assign equal condemnation to Israelis and Palestinians regardless of whether one is legitimately acting in self-defense. Whether it is the result of latent anti-Semitism, the desire to avoid inflaming fundamentalist Arab passions or simply an unrealistic belief in equality, world leaders are focusing too much on buzzwords.

WASHINGTON - Rockets launched yesterday into northern Israel from a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon heightened fears that the border region is on the verge of a broader new conflict between Israel and Islamic militants. Mideast diplomats rushed to point out that the rockets were launched not by Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based radical militia that fought Israel to a bloody standstill in 2006, but by independent Palestinians. Others saw a chilling reminder that events in the volatile region can easily spin out of control and that serious fighting could erupt on Israel's northern border as the violence in Gaza intensifies.

Iran, the ultimate mischief maker with global reach, astounding patience, a shameless marriage to mayhem and terrorism, and interests that fall squarely in opposition to those of the United States, is making major diplomatic inroads under Washington's nose. It's amazing, really. Iran, after all, is regarded by most of the world as an outlaw country. Sanctions are in place on much of its military-industrial complex, and international loan guarantees are virtually impossible to come by. The Iranian economy is in tatters.

The images were jarring: A young woman standing in the embrace of the prime minister of Israel, her outstretched hand placed atop the flag-draped coffin of her soldier husband. A 46-year-old man in fatigues, freed from an Israeli prison, standing proudly beside the leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and smiling. Karnit Goldwasser will be a widow longer than she was a wife. Two years after her husband Ehud was abducted in a cross-border raid that started the summer 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon, the remains of First Sergeant Goldwasser were returned to her in a black box this week.

Life more complex than any one test As a high school English teacher, I agree with Walt Gardner that teaching to the test is an approach that needs to be fully understood ("Teaching to the test: Good teachers do it," Commentary, May 21). But I'm afraid that others in positions to influence curriculum and instruction might misinterpret his words and use them to support practices that shortchange our students. For instance, if school administrators believe, as Mr. Gardner does, that "it would be irresponsible for a teacher to provide students with practice writing descriptive or narrative essays that aren't the type to be tested," as it would not help them master "persuasive essays - the types of essays that are on the test," then they might limit the curriculum to one particular kind of writing - the kind on the test - at the expense of other forms of expression that might allow students to explore their voices and foster their creativity.

As the Bush administration sought last week to play down Hezbollah's success in boosting its power and legitimacy in Lebanon, the militant group's rising influence around the world has led some intelligence and counterterrorism officials to ask whether the Iranian-financed organization has grown more dangerous to the United States than al-Qaida. Though few believe Hezbollah would launch an attack in the West, continued hostility between the United States and Iran could significantly raise the threat level here, several former counterterrorism officials and analysts said - especially if the tensions evolve into full-blown conflict.

MENIEH, Lebanon -- After almost a week of street battles that left scores dead and threatened to push the country into open war, long-simmering Sunni-Shiite tensions here have sharply worsened, in an ominous echo of the civil conflict in Iraq. Hezbollah's brief takeover of Beirut led to brutal counterattacks in northern Lebanon, where Sunni Muslims deeply resented the Shiite militant group's display of power. The violence energized radical Sunni factions, including some affiliated with al-Qaida, and extremist Sunni Web sites across the Arab world have been buzzing with calls for a jihad to avenge the wounded pride of Lebanese Sunnis.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Fierce clashes broke out yesterday in the mountains east of Beirut between supporters of the Western-backed government and followers of Hezbollah, the militant group backed by Iran. The fighting, in the Shouf and Aley districts in the mountains overlooking the capital, Beirut, followed overnight clashes in the northern city of Tripoli that left at least two people dead and five wounded, according to security officials. Beirut, where there had been heavy fighting between Sunnis and Shiites since Wednesday, was calm yesterday.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Lebanon's political and military leaders struggled to pull the country back yesterday from a deepening civil conflict that has left at least 34 people dead in four days of violence between Iranian-backed militias and supporters of the pro-U.S. government. By yesterday evening, the government appeared to back away from the political decree that sparked the confrontation, while the Shiite militia Hezbollah gave up its control of West Beirut, which it had seized handily a day earlier in an offensive that stunned Lebanese and sent shock waves throughout the region.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- In one swoop, the Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah took over a large section of Lebanon's capital yesterday, altering the country's political balance and demonstrating a level of military discipline and efficiency that left the pro-Western government struggling to exert its authority. In a space of 12 hours, the Iranian-backed group dispatched hundreds of heavily armed Shiite fighters into the western half of the capital, routing pro-government Sunni militiamen, destroying opponents' political offices and shutting down media outlets loyal to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and to Sunni leader Saad Hariri's Future movement.