...Last week, the Al-Arabiya satellite channel reported (click title to entry - thank you) that Ali Hassin Najam Adin and Mohammed Karaki and 12 Iranians were swapped for two diplomats and an Azeri nuclear scientist, who were sent to Azerbaijan. A spokesman for the Azerbaijan prison service said Thursday that all 14 will continue serving their sentences there.
Meanwhile, the Trend news service in Iran quoted a figure from the Azerbaijan justice ministry, Zafar Gabarov, as saying his government released Iranian citizens who will continue serving their sentences in Iran, but denied Lebanese prisoners were released....
While in Iran the reports are about Israel to change the attention of the issues. This is going to be out of hand and the debate in the USA is about a Mosque in Lower Manhattan. Where has the sanity in the USA gone?
Israeli plane violates Lebanon airspace
Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:52:50 GMT
The Lebanese Army says an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft has conducted another unwarranted overflight across the country's airspace in what appears to have become a continuing trend.
On Friday, the plane flew over the southern border town of Naqoura before veering toward eastern Lebanon, the Army said in a statement.
The drone entered Lebanese airspace at 6:05 p.m. (local time) and headed out more than eight hours later....
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=138666§ionid=351020203
Never send money into areas where terrorist organizations are known to thrive. Send food, medical supplies and educational materials. When will Congress ever learn?
...Lebanon has opened a bank account to receive donations towards supplying the country's army with new weapons.
Elias Murr, Lebanon's defence minister, said on Saturday that he and his father had already put $665,000 into the account, which was set up after a US congressman blocked $100m in military aid.
"I announce the launching of a fund to support and equip the army," the official news agency NNA quoted Murr as saying.
He said that there would be a plan to communicate with the Lebanese diaspora about supporting the fund.
Howard Berman, the chairman of the US House foreign affairs committee, said on Monday that he had suspended US assistance to Lebanon on August 2 amid growing concern in congress that weapons would find their way to Hezbollah fighters.
A day after the decision, clashes on the Lebanese-Israel borderled to the death of two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and an Israeli officer. Berman, a strong supporter of Israel, said that the incident reaffirmed the concerns of congress.
The US has given more than $720 million to Lebanon in military aid, including assault rifles, Humvees, missile and grenade launchers and night vision goggles, since 2006.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/08/2010814232417967579.html
US aid should never be about dumping money into the hands of political leaders in troubled areas of the world. It should always be about the people and the need for their well being, including, protecting them from extremists within the 'influence' of the political structure.
