Top Items:
Haaretz:
Report: Fierce fighting as IDF commandos launch raid deep in Lebanon — Israel Defense Forces commandos reportedly landed by helicopter late Tuesday night near the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek in what Lebanese security sources described as a major operation against suspected Hezbollah positions.
RELATED ITEMS:
Yaakov Katz / Associated Press:
IDF commandos capture Hizbullah members after battle — After several hours of intense fighting in and around the in the eastern Lebanon town of Baalbek, which was built by Iran for the express purpose of treating Hizbullah operatives, IDF commando forces on Wednesday morning took a number of Hizbullah operatives captive.
CNN:
Israel strikes deep into Lebanon — Peres estimates end of fighting in a matter of weeks — BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) — Israeli troops landed Tuesday near the eastern Lebanese town of Baalbeck, Lebanese security sources said, and the Israeli military engaged in fierce fighting with Hezbollah forces just across the border with Lebanon.
Hussein Dakroub / Associated Press:
Israel seizes guerrillas in Lebanon raid — BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel poured up to 10,000 armored troops into south Lebanon Tuesday, and separately sent commandos deep into the eastern Bekaa Valley where they raided a Hezbollah-run hospital and captured guerrillas during pitched battles, a major escalation of the three-week-old war.
Nadim Ladki / Reuters:
Hizbollah bombards northern Israel — BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hizbollah guerrillas bombarded northern Israel with rockets and fought up to 6,000 Israeli troops in Lebanon on Wednesday after Israel vowed to pursue the war until a strong international force arrived.
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard
Bill Roggio / Counterterrorism Blog: IDF Commando Raid in Baalbek, Deep in the Bekaa Valley; Hezbollah Members Captured
Josh White / Washington Post:
Marine Names Murtha in Defamation Suit — Congressman Discussed Killings Involving Serviceman's Squad in Haditha, Iraq — A Marine Corps staff sergeant who led the squad accused of killing two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, will file a lawsuit today in federal court in Washington claiming …
Discussion:
Blue Crab Boulevard, Red Hot Cuppa Politics, Demagogue, The Bullwinkle Blog, RIGHTWINGSPARKLE and Flopping Aces
Jason Apuzzo / LIBERTAS:
Mel Gibson, Conservatives & The Cult of Celebrity — The Gibson mug shot. — Disney has unsurprisingly cancelled Mel Gibson's Holocaust TV series that he had in development. [The Reuters article obnoxiously states: "The actor ... holds strong conservative Catholic religious and political views."
RELATED ITEMS:
Adrian Croft / Reuters:
Blair says Syria, Iran risk confrontation — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Syria and Iran on Tuesday that they risked a confrontation if they continued to support terrorism and export instability to Iraq and elsewhere. — In a speech urging a rethink …
RELATED ITEMS:
Jim VandeHei / Washington Post:
Democrats Scrambling To Organize Voter Turnout — Top Democrats are increasingly concerned that they lack an effective plan to turn out voters this fall, creating tension among party leaders and prompting House Democrats to launch a fundraising effort aimed exclusively at mobilizing Democratic partisans.
RELATED ITEMS:
Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
9/11 Panel Suspected Deception by Pentagon — Allegations Brought to Inspectors General — Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort …
CNN:
Cuban TV: Castro says health 'stable' — Illness forces Cuban leader to cede power temporarily to brother — HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) — Fidel Castro's health situation is "stable" and he is in "good spirits," according to a message attributed to him and read on Cuban television Tuesday evening.
RELATED ITEMS:
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
U.S. Wins Access to Reporter Phone Records — A federal prosecutor may inspect the telephone records of two New York Times reporters in an effort to identify their confidential sources, a federal appeals court in New York ruled yesterday. — The 2-to-1 decision, from a court historically sympathetic …
Washington Post:
Much Undone In Rebuilding Iraq, Audit Says — A flailing Iraq reconstruction effort that has been dominated for more than three years by U.S. dollars and companies is being transferred to Iraqis, leaving them the challenge of completing a long list of projects left unfinished by the Americans.
Keith Epstein / TBO.com:
Ex-Aide: Harris Hid Subpoena — More from this channel: — This feature requires the Macromedia Flash Plugin. Please visit http://www.macromedia.com/go/ getflashplayer to download this plugin. — WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris received a grand jury subpoena …
Discussion:
TPMmuckraker
Michael Janofsky / New York Times:
Unions Say E.P.A. Bends to Political Pressure — Unions representing thousands of staff scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency say the agency is bending to political pressure and ignoring sound science in allowing a group of toxic chemicals to be used in agricultural pesticides.
Ynetnews:
Long-range rocket lands near Jenin — Some of long-range rockets fired at Israel Wednesday land across Green Line, in West Bank area - most southern point Hizbullah has managed to hit so far. Police sappers believe rockets made in Syria — Ali waked — Some of the long range rockets …
Discussion:
Israellycool
David Ignatius / Washington Post:
Mideast Lessons From 1973 — Groping for a way to understand the ruinous mess in the Middle East, I find myself looking backward to an earlier ruinous mess, the Yom Kippur War of October 1973. — That long-ago war, like the current one in Lebanon, began with an Arab sneak attack …