DAILY ALERT

In-Depth Issues:

UN Says Somalis Helped Hizballah Fighters - Robert F. Worth (New York Times)
    More than 700 Islamic militants from Somalia traveled to Lebanon in July to fight alongside Hizballah in its war against Israel, a UN report says.
    Hizballah provided training and - through its patrons Iran and Syria - weapons to the Islamic alliance struggling for control of Somalia, according to the report issued by four experts monitoring violations of a 1992 UN arms embargo on Somalia.

Report: UN Troops Searching for Hizballah Weapons Tunnels - Jacey Herman (Jerusalem Post)
    In southern Lebanon, a UN convoy drives past with 15 officers belongs to the Belgium contingent.
    Sgt. Dimitri Brams says the Belgian mission is focused on disarming mines and cluster bombs - and treating the local population in a hospital they brought over.
    But Ebrahim Mehdi, the owner of a small cigarette stall, overhears the conversation and later tells me he's noticed the troops almost daily searching the area for tunnels where Hizballah guerrillas store their weapons and explosives.

IDF: Hizballah Units Returning to Border - Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
    Three months after a UN-brokered cease-fire ended Israel's war in Lebanon, IDF officers said Tuesday that Hizballah gunmen disguised as civilians were back on the border and collecting intelligence on IDF positions.
    "They [Hizballah] are still there," an officer in the Northern Command said. "We are watching them and they are watching us."
    "They cannot operate freely like they used to," the officer said. "There is UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces there and this does complicate things for them."
    "The Lebanese government does not want to repeat the events of this past summer," the officer said. "To ensure this they need to enforce their sovereignty in southern Lebanon."

Hamas Government Accuses Israel of Killing Arafat (Xinhua-China)
    On the second anniversary of Yasser Arafat's passing last week, the Hamas-led Palestinian government accused Israel of killing Arafat.
    Calls to investigate Arafat's death were also released by most Palestinian factions and political groups.

Useful Reference:

Videos from the 2006 General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities in Los Angeles (Jerusalem Online)
    View videos of:
    Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
    Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

Observations:

Doomsday Scenario: Iran Is Training Bin Laden's Successor - Con Coughlin (Telegraph-UK)

• According to recent reports received by Western intelligence agencies, the Iranians are training senior al-Qaeda operatives in Teheran to take over the organization when bin Laden is no longer leader. Bin Laden, 49, who is known to suffer from kidney problems that require regular dialysis, has not appeared on videotape for more than two years. Even if he is still alive, intelligence officials are working on the assumption that his ability to control the organization has been severely diminished, and that most of the day-to-day running is being undertaken by Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's Egyptian-born number two.
• Western intelligence officials now believe that Iran is trying to cultivate a new generation of al-Qaeda leaders who will be prepared to work closely with Teheran when they eventually take control.
• The Iranians are particularly keen to promote Saif al-Adel, who is wanted in the U.S. for his role in training several of the September 11 hijackers. Al-Adel, 46, a former colonel in Egypt's special forces, was also involved in the deaths of 18 U.S. soldiers in Somalia in 1993 and the truck bomb attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. He has, technically, been living under house arrest in Teheran since 2001 with hundreds of other al-Qaeda fighters following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
• The Iranians are now exerting pressure on al-Qaeda's leadership to make al-Adel the organization's number three, which, given bin Laden's poor state of health, would effectively make him number two and in a strong position to take control of the entire al-Qaeda network.
• "This is an important power play by the Iranians and the prospect of al-Qaeda and Iran forging a close alliance is truly terrifying," said a senior Western intelligence official. "We are looking at a Doomsday scenario here where al-Qaeda finally fulfils its ultimate goal of acquiring weapons of mass destruction....And unlike other terror groups, al-Qaeda is perfectly willing to use them."