ANOTHER ISRAELI-LEBANON WAR?
Four armies on alert, Khamenei takes charge of Lebanese crisis
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 9, 2010, 9:29 AM (GMT+02:00)
Tags:
Iran
Lebanon
Nasrallah
Syria

Tehranthrew all its weight behind Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah
ahead of his contentious speech Monday, Aug. 9, by declaring that
"Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan are Iran's security belt," and sending
its National Security Council Director Saeed Jalili, who is also lead
nuclear negotiator, to Beirut Sunday to strengthen his hand. This is
reported by debkafile's Iranian sources.
Upon arrival, the NSC head went into conference with Nasrallah and the
spiritual leader's special aide Ali Akbar Velayati, who arrived in
Beirut last Thursday, Aug. 5 after the Lebanese-Israeli border clash,
and is still there.
Jalilee then took off for Damascus to give Syrian president Bashar
Assad a piece of his mind. According to our sources, in a conversation
that went on till early Monday, the Iranian official made it clear that
Tehran would not tolerate the deal Assad concluded with Saudi king
Abdullah to pull away from - or even reduce - Syrian relations with
Hizballah.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has clearly taken charge of the
Lebanese situation. He is maintaining control through two top officials
kept standing by in Beirut and Damascus as Nasrallah prepares to accuse
Israel of assassinating Rafiq Hariri, four-time prime minister of
Lebanon, in February 2005.
This is the gambit Nasrallah is using to blackmail the Hariri
government by a threat of civil war and/or a military confrontation with
Israel into disbanding the UN special tribunal and so avoid
surrendering indicted Hizballah leaders to the court.
With Tehran ranged solidly behind him at the highest level, the
Israeli, Lebanese and Syrian war planners have put their armies, along
with Hzballah, on the ready for trouble.
Iran made sure border tensions remained high after Lebanese army
snipers killed an Israeli officer in a clash last Tuesday, Aug. 5. As debkafile
reported at the time, a group of Iranian intelligence and commando
officers Friday openly toured the South Lebanese-Israeli borders and
studied Israeli positions, making sure they were seen on the Israeli
side.
They are still present at Hizballah's forward positions.
Sunday, Lebanese foreign minister Ali Al-Shami flew to Tehran to appeal
for help in toning down the ultimatum posed by Nasrallah for Prime
Minister Saad Hariri to disband the special tribunal established by the
UN and Lebanon to probe his father's murder and instead accuse Israel
before the UN Security Council. Al-Shami maintained that this move would
break up Lebanon's unity government and open the gates to a recurrence
of civil warfare and fighting with Israel.
His appeal to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fell on deaf ears. Instead,
Jalilee was put on a special plane to Beirut to strengthen the
Hizballah leader's hand. This was clear from his remark: "The power of
resistance and unity of the Lebanese Army does not let the Zionist
regime to even cut a tree. Earlier, the Zionist regime could advance to
the borders of Beirut fearlessly. Today the Zionist army gets a strong
response from Islamic Resistance…"
His words meant that, for Tehran, the Lebanese Army's 9th Battalion is
no longer a separate, autonomous entity but integral to Hizballah and a
partner in its radical mission.



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