Juan Cole

Bush: Lean on Syria I cobbled the Bush-Blair exchange on Israel and Lebanon, accidentally caught at the G8 on mike, together fromWaPo and ABC News. BUSH to Blair: “I think Condi is going to go (to the Middle East) pretty soon.” BLAIR: “Right, that’s all that matters, it will take some time to get that […]

Israel Widens Airstrikes; 140 Civilians Dead since Weds; Nasrallah Threatens Haifa with Worse Attacks Israel may be planning a ground incursion into southern Lebanon, according to The Guardian. Photos of Lebanon courtesy Al-Safir. An Israeli air strike on a south Lebanese town on Sunday killed 8 Canadians and wounded 6; several were from a single […]

Iraqi PM, Parliament Condemn Israel; Massive Bombings in Tuz Khurmato, Mahmudiyah Guerrillas in Mahmudiyah killed 42 Iraqis in a market bombing early Monday. On Sunday, a horrible cafe bombing in Tuz Khurmato killed 25. This link to Reuters also rounds up the rest of Iraq’s violence on Sunday. There were mortar attacks on the British […]

Israel Kills Children in Convoy Bombing; Dozens Dead; Hizbullah bombs Akka, Haifa; Wounds, Kills Civilians The Guardian reports of Israeli’s continued war of attrition on Lebanon on Saturday: ‘ Israel steeply escalated its military campaign against Hizbollah in Lebanon yesterday with a series of air strikes that left more than 35 civilians dead, including a […]

50 Kidnapped in Baghad There were large numbers of bombings and assassinations in Iraq on Saturday. The most horrible incident Was the abduction of up to 50 Iraqis. The USG Open Source Center paraphases briefly highlights from the Iraqi press for July 15: Al-Adalah runs on page 2 a 1,200-word text of a statement by […]

Global Protests at Indiscriminate Israeli Bombings of Lebanon The Associated Press puts the Israeli offensive against Lebanon on Friday succinctly: ‘ Israel again bombarded Lebanon’s airport and main roads in the most intensive offensive against the country in 24 years. For the first time, it struck the crowded Shiite neighborhood of south Beirut around Hezbollah’s […]

30 Dead in Mosque Bombings, Other Violence Civil War violence left at least 30 dead in Iraq on Friday, says AFP. It writes, ‘In Baghdad, where a massive security crackdown is on since last month, at least seven worshippers were killed after Friday prayers in a bombing outside a Sunni mosque, a security official said. […]

Condi told by Olmert to Back off? Steve Clemons reports that the Israelis have told US Secretary of State Condi Rice to back off her calls for Israel to exercise restraint in its responses to Hizbullah.

Iraqis Condemn Israeli Attacks Both Sunni and Shiite clerics and politicians condemned the Israeli attack on Lebanon on Friday. The Friday sermons were thunderous. Money and resources will likely flow to Hizbullah and the Palestinians. More later.