Israel/Lebanon War Updates

Updated throughout the day.



This is what 'collateral damage' looks like. An injured baby from Srifa, Lebanon.
Photo credit: AP
- Harper to the rescue. Canada's PM, who is currently in Europe, announced that on his flight home, he'll stop in Cyprus to pick up some Canadians evacuated from Lebanon. Good PR move, especially since the evacuation has been painfully slow. The pace of American evacuation efforts is being compared to the Katrina reponse.

- News from the front: visit Electronic Lebanon. (I will be compiling a list of on the scene Middle East resources today. If you know of a link to include beyond the major newspapers, leave a comment or e-mail me.)

- Two children were the victims of a Hezbollah rocket attack in Nazareth on Wednesday.

- White House press secretary Tony Snow declared in today's briefing: 'It's not even a war.' Antiwar protesters in Israel disagree, as does Israel's Prime Minister:

"This is Hizbullah's criminal war against Israel and its residents," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his Cabinet on Sunday.

(Sidebar: Snow revealed that he still doesn't have the security clearance necessary to be privy to intel on the situation. Hmmm. He said these things take 'a few weeks'. He was appointed in April.)

- On Tuesday's Larry King Live show, an Israeli government spokesperson proclaimed: 'I already mentioned yesterday, we do not have any Lebanese prisoners inside Israel.' Untrue.

- 'Latest targets of air blitz: milk and medicine'. If the IDF has such precision technology, why is it taking out these targets?

The production facilities of at least five companies in key industrial sectors - including the country's largest dairy farm, Liban Lait; a paper mill; a packaging firm and a pharmaceutical plant - have been disabled or completely destroyed. Industry insiders say the losses will cripple the economy for decades to come.
[...]
Bisri confirmed that a plastics factory in Tyre, a tissue paper factory in Sidon, a paper mill and a medical supply company in Beirut's southern suburbs and Liban Lait in the Bekaa were all almost completely destroyed. Bisri declined to give the companies' names.

- It just always comes down to the politics of popularity, doesn't it?

Democratic and Republican congressional leaders are rushing to offer unalloyed support for Israel's offensive against Hezbollah fighters, reflecting a bipartisan desire to not only defend a key U.S. ally but also solidify long-term backing of Jewish voters and political donors in the United States, according to officials and strategists in both parties.
[...]
Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman punctuated the day with a speech to Christians United for Israel last night, declaring that "today, we are all Israelis."

If you're an American, send the picture of that baby I posted above to your congressperson (and Mehlman).

- some 500 members of the Edmonton Lebanese community and their supporters held a protest at the Alberta legislature today.

- Read the International Red Cross's latest press briefing about the war.

more to come...