Two Men Captured From Israel-Lebanon Border, Sound Familiar?

It happened again, just slightly different this time.

Two men were captured by Israeli soldiers near the town of Blida on Lebanon's southern border with Israel on Friday. The two brothers, Tarraf Tarraf and Hassan Tarraf, claim they were beaten and interrogated by soldiers asking them about possible links with Hezbollah.

Rewind to three summers ago when Hezbollah snatched two Israeli soldiers near the border with Israel, triggering an Israeli attack on Beirut's Airport and the eventual start of Lebanon and Israel's summer war of 2006. So, should we expect a more violence to come? Maybe, but not just yet.

This happens often enough on the Israeli-Lebanese border to quell any fears of an immediate escalation of violence. This past July a shepherd from Lebanon was arrested and eventually handed over to United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon without serious repercussions. But this development is likely to embolden support for Hezbollah domestically, and somewhat surprisingly, in Latin America too (I'll be getting to that).

Hezbollah released a strong statement challenging the United Nations Security Council after the incident, asking what their response to the "flagrant" violation of Resolution 1701 would be and calling on the Lebanese government to take appropriate and firm action against the "aggressive act."

The resolution, which demanded Israel to withdraw all its forces from Lebanon, also demanded the disarmament of Hezbollah. Israel's army claims the men were simply arrested for "crossing the border," but the specific circumstances of the capture and release haven't been finalized.

Still, Israel's stance is firm. Brigadier General Michael Ben-Baruch told The Jerusalem Post just a few days before the event, "No village will be immune. We will give [Hezbollah] about a 12-hour warning and then strike back," referring to a possible large-scale confrontation with Hezbollah.

Lebanon's President Michel Sleiman announced his plans to send a letter of protest to the United Nations once he learned more about the incident.

Whatever the reason, the episode occurred just one day before Lebanon announced the appointment of an ambassador to Syria, a country that has held an influential role in Lebanon ever since winning independence from France.

Hezbollah, financially supported by Syria, has been able to keep their weapons and buy more following Lebanon's civil war; and the "Party of God", which is a direct translation of its name, is known to maintain close and direct relations with Syria's leadership, invoking interest as to the timing of the historic ambassadorial development.

Many in Lebanon and across the Arab world believe, whether happily or not, that Hezbollah was able to fight Israel better than previous Arab attempts, possibly justifying their refusal to disarm. In fact, so does a study recently completed by the U.S. Army Strategic Studies Institute, an impressive accomplishment for Hezbollah.

Hezbollah in Latin America

The report by the army's strategic studies institute highlights Hezbollah's growing strength in Latin America, where it is purported millions from Arab descent live and thrive. Back in October, following the 2006 war with Israel, two small bombs were found outside the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. The two bombs were meant to detonate and scatter small fliers with information referring to Hezbollah featured on them. Two Venezuelans were arrested, but to this day Hezbollah has denied any involvement.

Adam Szubin, the director of Treasury's Office for Foreign Assets Control, claims that Venezuela is "employing and providing safe harbor for Hezbollah facilitators and fundraisers."

Then there are the reports that Venezuelan minister of the interior, Tayek al-Ayssami, has been recruiting young Venezuelans of Arab descent for training missions in Lebanon with Hezbollah. If in fact these reports are true, the active coordination of U.S. enemies may be a growing trend with more serious and dangerous prospective threats to American global interests than already exist.

During the Israel-Hezbollah War in 2006, Chavez removed Venezuela's ambassador to Israel and called the U.S. a terrorist nation for supporting Israel. Several months ago Colombian authorities broke up an international drug and money-laundering ring that included three men suspected of shipping funds to Hezbollah guerrillas, confirming American fears that the group is active in Arab communities on the South American continent.

New Tang Dynasty Television, a nonprofit Chinese language television broadcaster based in New York City, covered the story in a report posted on YouTube here.

Last fall, I remember being in a cab in New York City driven by an Argentinian immigrant who spoke to me in broken Arabic about the history of Arab immigrants in South American countries. With boastful banter, he listed famous Arab-Argentinians such as Argentina's former president, Carlos Menem, whose parents immigrated from Syria and many other regional leaders. The Former President of Colombia Julio Cesar Turbay's grandparents were also Arabs who arrived to trade following the fall of the Ottoman empire. In Ecuador, both Presidents Jami Mahuad, and Abdala Bucaram were of Arab descent.

The powerful group of business and political leaders of Arab descent is championed by Carlos Slim, the son of a Lebanese immigrant and the richest man in South America. Both of Slim's parents are Lebanese, arriving in Mexico City at the beginning of the 20th century. His father's name was Youssef Salim (not to be confused with Cat Stevens new name Youssef Islam) until he dropped the "a" in his last name and changed his first name to Julian. Slim, who is Mexico's most famous businessman, ranks as the second-richest person in the world and owns a 6.4% common-stock stake in The New York Times Company.

The success and influence of Latin Americans of Arab descent is not limited to the political and business spheres. Even Salma Hayek, who became one of Hollywood's leading Latinas, was born in Mexico to a Lebanese Father and Mexican mother. Then there is Shakira, whose full name is Isabel Mebarak (the same last name as Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak). Showing her Arab roots at a concert in Dubai, she sang the famous Lebanese songstress Fairuz's hit , demonstrating her likely inheritance of gyrating hips from her father's Lebanese side.

In light of Russia's recent donation of ten fighter jets to Lebanon, closer ties between Iran, Russia and Venezuela, and America's dependence on Venezuelan oil, it is likely that the fight against what the U.S. deems "terrorist organizations" may involve areas other than Baghdad, Beirut or Balkh.

Jeffrey Goldberg wrote a piece in 2002 for the New Yorker that chronicled the substantial minority of Arab Muslims living in Ciudad del Este, a city in an area known as Triple Frontier, where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina meet. He suggests that the terrorists, associated with Hezbollah and Hamas, hold celebrations on September 11th, weekend training camps in the rain forest that include weapons training and rely on both illicit and legitimate activities for fund raising.

His report, published six years ago, suggests that a base for terrorism in South America is likely to grow as Hezbollah stands to earn international recognition after being acknowledged domestically as a legitimate political entity. Poised to strengthen its standing even further following the parliamentary elections in May, Hezbollah's apparent growing presence in the West, particularly in South America, a region that the U.S. government and media has generally neglected since Iraq, Terrorism and the Near East entered center stage, may be demonstrative of their growing support globally.

Comments

[lbsaltzman]

The strength of both Hezbullah and Hamas is a direct outcome of Israeli state sponsored terrorism and warfare aimed against Palestine and Lebanon. Neither organization existed before the rise of Israel and the rise of crimes against humanity committed by the Israelis over the last six decades.

[arvay]

"Brigadier General Michael Ben-Baruch told The Jerusalem Post just a few days before the event, "No village will be immune. We will give [Hezbollah] about a 12-hour warning and then strike back," referring to a possible large-scale confrontation with Hezbollah."

Note especially the "no village will be immune" line -- a distinct threat to make war on civilians. As the world learned during WWII, attacking civilians only makes them more determined to resist. Israel is over 60 years out-of-date on this. It's amazing how people who like to style themselves as so smart can be so repeatedly stupid.

Given what happened last time, perhaps the Israeli government will review the way these impotent threats are issued. The sight of those marvelous, advanced Merkava tanks burning last time is still fresh in the minds of many and as the posting says, Hizbollah is only getting stronger.

More war is not the way out of this, it only brings catastrophe closer.

[mar8]

Ahmed,

There is much about your report that I find questionable. I don't believe the allegations involving Hezbollah in South America, just as I don't believe any of the trumped up charges against alleged Hezbollah supporters here in the U.S.....Every time there has been a Lebanese Shia committing a crime, there is usually a politicized allegation brought into the criminal charges of a connection to Hezbollah...

I would like to know what your Hezbollah in the news time line has to do with what you are trying to claim about them? I happen to know the man from Dearborn, Fawzi Assi, who was charged and subsequently sentenced in a plea agreement to ten years for allegedly attempting to take night vision binoculars to sell to Hezbollah members to help them resist the Israeli occupation of their Lebanese lands back in 1998... Is that considered as terrorism? What about pro-Israel supporters here in the U.S. who have sent night vision binoculars to Jewish settlers in the West Bank, are they being prosecuted as terrorist supporters under U.S. terrorism laws?

Hezbollah popularity is growing because Hezbollah is truly a resistant movement to U.S./Israel illegal acts in their region, and not a terrorist organization that threatens the U.S.....

[Ahmed Shihab-Eldin - Huffpost Blogger]

Mar 8,

The reports about Hezbollah supporters in Latin America seem to be few and far between, so I can understand your skepticism, but included the reports because they are relevant.

I claimed that Hezbollah was most triumphant in fighting against Israel, compared to any other Arab effort. They have, to their credit, been able to increase their power both militarily and politically in Lebanon following the war. An impressive accomplishment.

About Fawzi, I was not accusing him of being a terrorist. The point of the timeline was simply to draw attention to a series of news stories involving Hezbollah since their significance has grown domestically and internationally.

As to pro-Israel supporters likely not being prosecuted as terrorist supporters is because unfortunately the definition of "terrorism" in the U.S. is limited to what has been convenient for their foreign policy strategy. Since Israel isn't viewed as an enemy, but rather ally, their systematic acts of terror are overlooked, if not justified. After all, torture, which the Bush administration has admitted to and tried to justify is most certainly one of the most inhumane forms of terrorism.

I intended to say Hezbollah's power threatens America's strategic interest, perhaps not America directly. Thanks for the comment. I've revised the post.

[WorkingClass]

Could Hezbollah and or Venezuela pose a threat to U.S. national security? Of course not. They are vilified because they stand in opposition to U.S. aggression around the world.

[chaos4700]

Pretty much nailed it on the head. Neither entity would benefit from attacking the United States, even if either entity /could/ mount any sort of serious, legitimate threat to us. The primary reason al Qaeda attacked us was because, as a truly extremist, radical criminal organization, they need both a bogeyman and swaths of war zone to justify their existence, philosophy and recruitment efforts. Not surprisingly, our military-industrial complex feeds upon the same sort ichor.

[Margaret49]

Slightly different this time? How about not even close?

I almost had to laugh at the first paragraph - where the author makes another tiresome and wholly obvious attempt at moral equality between Hisb'allah and the IDF.

here he tries to equate the ambush of an Israeli squad by armed Hisb'allah militants that had crossed the border to capture and kill several IDF patrolling legally on their own side of the border. - the ambush that started the last Israel / Lebanon summer war that killed many people . . with this arrest by the IDF of two Lebanese brothers who had crossed the border illegally into Israel.

I notice that the author, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, only says "near the border" - purposely avoiding to mention that they had crossed illegally into Israel - leaving the impression that the IDF possibly had crossed into Lebanon to capture them.

This kind of crap fake news-story (propaganda actually) would be funny if people's lives were not at stake and so many lives had not already been lost needlessly to Hisb'allah cross-border aggression.

[chaos4700]

Because Israeli troops have never crossed the border, right?

[Ahmed Shihab-Eldin - Huffpost Blogger]

Margaret49,

So you found my post laughable and I found your comment disappointing and inaccurate - so I'll briefly explain why.

I wrote "near the border" because that is where the arrest reportedly took place. In fact, most reports alleged the arrest was made on Lebanese soil.

Even The Global News Service of the Jewish People writes, "Israeli forces raided a village in Lebanon and captured two men.Troops arrested two brothers in Bilida, a village in south Lebanon, both in their 50s, Israel Radio reported late Friday."

What reports have you read (other than the Israeli Army's statement) that prove the Lebanese brothers had "illegally crossed the border" as you so confidently claim? Please do share.

You called my commentary a "fake news-story" and propaganda, so I'd like to calm your paranoia.

I was not trying to establish moral equality between Hezbollah and the IDF, since both have the blood of innocent civilians on their hands and more importantly, that was not the point.

The post is about saber-rattling, not blame. It is disappointing that the need and attempts to place blame or accusing someone of bias often overshadows the nuances of Middle Eastern discussion and debate.

I was going to include the effect the upcoming elections in Israel (and Lebanon) might have had on the incident but chose not to - though it is an interesting perspective.

Thanks for your comments. I'm sorry you missed the gist of my post - Hezbollah's global reach and increasing power.

[lbsaltzman]

A good reply to that rather tiresome fingerpointing that Zionist supporters like to engage in. It was Israel's invasion of Lebanon and occupation of the West Bank that directly led to the rise of both Hezbullah and Hamas. In the case of Hamas Israel gave them help in the belief that Hamas would be a counter balance to the PLO. Israel remains the single most destabilizing force in the Middle East. If Israel stopped pursuing its' aggressive policies and negotiated a just peace agreement with the Palestinians, Hamas and Hezbullah would gradually become much less important. As long as Israel engages in criminal behavior against both the Palestinians and the Lebanese all they do is act as a recruiting poster for those organizations.

[chaos4700]

Well honestly, we're reaping the whirlwind in the United States for a foreign policy that makes enemies of countries with whom we have no reason to demonstrate enmity. It's only natural that the countries we're hawkish toward -- Lebanon, Russia, Venezuela, Latin America in general for that matter -- would band together. It's the only way they can amass enough strength to push back against American hawkishness.