DAILY ALERT

In-Depth Issues:

U.S. Says Syria Giving Terrorists Arms (AP/International Herald Tribune)
    U.S. Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad accused Syria and Iran on Wednesday of playing a negative role in Lebanon and said there is clear evidence of arms smuggling across the Syrian border to terrorist groups.
    "We condemn all efforts to destabilize Lebanon and expressed particular concern with regard to the arms transfers that are taking place particularly across the Syrian border," he said.
    Khalilzad said there was clear evidence of "arms transfers to terrorist groups" inside Lebanon.

Christian Zionists: Ahmadinejad Is New Hitler - Yitzhak Benhorin (Ynet News)
    Thousands of members of Christians United for Israel headed to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lobby Congress on behalf of Israel.
    The group's founder, the Reverend John Hagee, called on President Bush to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
    He also called for American divestment from Iran, which he compared to Nazi Germany as a threat to the Jewish people.
    Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Salai Meridor told the group, "We must make it clear to the Iranians that all options are on the table and that there is no way they will be allowed to hold nuclear weapons."

Stolen U.S. Vehicles End Up as Bombs in Iraq, FBI Says - Bryan Bender (Boston Globe)
    The FBI says dozens of stolen U.S. cars have turned up as car bombs in Iraq.
    Special Agent Ryan Toole of the FBI's Major Theft Unit in Washington said American-made vehicles are particularly attractive to terrorists in places such as Iraq.
    Forensics specialists there have identified some bomb-rigged cars as vehicles that were swiped off American streets.
    Terrorists desire a "vehicle like a [Chevrolet] Suburban because it can hold a lot [of explosives] but it also blends in," said Toole.
    That particular SUV model is popular, he said, because "it looks like an American security vehicle [in Iraq] and they can get closer to their target."

Molotov Cocktails Thrown at Israeli Bus (Jerusalem Post)
    Four Molotov cocktails were thrown at an Israeli bus south of Nablus on Wednesday.
    IDF soldiers discovered an additional three Molotov cocktails ready for use.

News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

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

Observations:

Hizbullah and Hamas Have Overplayed Their Hands - Mark Helprin (New York Times)

• Last summer Hizbullah overplayed its hand. Israel emerged shaken but with few casualties and an economy that actually grew during the hostilities. It took 4,000 of the vaunted Katyusha rockets to kill 39 Israelis, they did little material damage, and not one has been launched in the year since the war.
• Israel showed that upon provocation it could and would destroy anything in its path, thus creating a Lebanese awakening that has split the country and kept Hizbullah fully occupied. Though Hizbullah is rearming, it remains shy of Israel.
• Hamas, too, has overplayed its hand, which has provided the opening from which a Palestinian-Israeli peace may emerge. For the first time since 1948, a fundamental division among the Palestinians presents a condition in which the less absolutist view may find shelter and take hold.
• Mahmoud Abbas is weak in many ways, but he has decisively isolated the radicals. Hamas loyalists in the West Bank face a different demographic than they did in Gaza, and a different economy.
• Although Hamas leaders portray Abbas as a collaborator, it is they who may be held to account for keeping more than a million of their own people hostage to a gratuitous preference for struggle over success.

  The writer is a fellow at the Claremont Institute.