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New York Times:
Israel Plans to Occupy Strip Inside Lebanon — JERUSALEM, July 25 — Almost two weeks into its military assault on Hezbollah, Israel said Tuesday that it would occupy a strip inside southern Lebanon with ground troops until an international force could take its place.
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CNN:
U.N.: Israeli airstrike hits U.N. observer post — Sources: Condoleezza Rice floats plan to end conflict — BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) — An Israeli airstrike hit a United Nations post in southern Lebanon late Tuesday, killing at least two of the agency's observers, according to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.
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Associated Press:
8 IDF soldiers lightly wounded during fighting in Lebanon — Israel Defense Forces infantry and armored soldiers on Tuesday morning surrounded the Hezbollah stronghold in the south Lebanese town on Bint Jbail. — Military officials said Golani Brigade infantry troops had surrounded the village …
Guardian:
Palestinian groups agree deal for return of Israeli — Hamas leaders in Damascus are last obstacle to Gaza ceasefire — Conal Urquhart in Ramallah — Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have agreed to stop firing rockets at Israel and to free a captured Israeli soldier …
Jerusalem Post:
Nasrallah vows to begin firing missiles deeper into Israel — Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, looking extremely tired, defiantly vowed Wednesday that his guerrilla fighters would begin firing rockets deeper into Israel, beyond the northern port of Haifa, and said the Jewish state's …
White House:
President Bush and Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq Participate in Press Availability — Fact Sheet: Prime Minister Maliki's Meeting with President Bush — PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you all. Please be seated. — Mr. Prime Minister, welcome to the White House.
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Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:
Battle for Baghdad Boils Down to Grabbing a Slice at a Time
Battle for Baghdad Boils Down to Grabbing a Slice at a Time
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Political Animal
DefenseLINK:
Press Availability with Secretary Rumsfeld at the Pentagon
Press Availability with Secretary Rumsfeld at the Pentagon
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The Belgravia Dispatch
Scheherezade Faramarzi / Associated Press:
Hezbollah Says Israeli Response a Surprise — A senior Hezbollah official said Tuesday the guerrilla group did not expect Israel to react so strongly to its capture of two Israeli soldiers. — Mahmoud Komati, deputy chief of Hezbollah's political arm, also told The Associated Press …
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Scheherezade Faramarzi / Associated Press:
Hezbollah: Israeli onslaught a surprise — BEIRUT, Lebanon - A senior Hezbollah official said Tuesday the guerrillas did not expect Israel to react with an all-out offensive after the capture of two soldiers, the first acknowledgment by the group that it had miscalculated the consequences of the raid two weeks ago.
Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:
Steele Slams Party — WASHINGTON — A Republican in a competitive Senate race called his party affiliation "an impediment," said he'd "probably not" want President Bush to campaign for him and the GOP-controlled Congress should "just shut up and get something done."
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Ken Silverstein / Harper's:
Another Trip to the Curt Weldon Employment Agency — As I have previously noted here, being a friend or relative of Congressman Curt Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican, appears to be a surer path to gainful employment than a Harvard MBA. To review: one of the congressman's daughters got …
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Pacific Views
Clarice Feldman / The American Thinker:
The documents seized in the FBI raid on the offices of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) remain unread by Justice Department investigators, pending a federal Appeals Court ruling scheduled for August 27. Jefferson is anxious to overturn the ruling of federal Judge Hogan of the Washington, DC federal District Court, who allowed the raid.
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Wizbang
James Taranto / Opinion Journal:
Best of the Web — Funny Money? — A reader noticed something curious in a video from last night's "NBC Nightly News." Richard Engel, the network's Beirut bureau chief, is reporting from southern Lebanon, and at 1:07 in the video, as he's saying, "In Sidon, we found part …
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Christopher Hitchens / Slate:
Case Closed — THE TRUTH ABOUT THE IRAQI-NIGER "YELLOWCAKE" NEXUS. — Now that Joseph and Valerie Wilson's fantasies of having been persecuted by high officials in the administration have been so thoroughly dispelled by Robert Novak (and now that it seems the prosecutor has determined …