Excerpts: Hizbullah threat.Drought in Syria.Hizbullah escalating tension
July 28, 2009

+++NAHARNET (Lebanon) 28 July '09:"Israel Expects Escalation of Tension with
Hizbullah, Trains for Urban and Guerilla Warfare"
QUOTE:"Senior military officials believe that Hizbullah has fully rebuilt
its network of bunkers and arms stockpiles in South Lebanon, but has located
them in almost entirely inside Shiite villages"
EXCERPTS:Israeli officials have expressed fears that Hizbullah will try to
escalate the tension on the Lebanese border by organizing civilian
demonstrations as part of an effort to launch a popular uprising against the
Jewish state.
Haaretz newspaper said that Defense Minister Ehud Barak met on Monday(27
July) with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and told him that Israel was
concerned by the developments on the border and latest Hizbullah statements
and moves.. . .Senior Israeli army officials are highly concerned about the
possibility of a serious incident on the Lebanese border in the near future,
Haaretz said.

It said tensions with Hizbullah have risen lately, especially since one of
the party's alleged arms depots blew up almost two weeks ago in Khirbet
Selm. In response, defense officials have held several high-level
consultations on the situation.

However, Israeli army officials believe Hizbullah will most likely try to
strike Israeli targets abroad rather than attacking the Jewish state from
the southern Lebanese border, according to Haaretz.

Senior military officers believe that Hizbullah has fully rebuilt its
network of bunkers and arms stockpiles in south Lebanon, but has located
them almost entirely inside Shiite villages rather than in open areas, the
newspaper said.

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post said that the Israeli army is creating a new
training regimen for infantry troops to prepare them for a combination of
urban and guerrilla warfare by building special training centers in military
bases across the country.

Shortly after the 2006 war, the Israeli army built a replica of a Hizbullah
"nature reserve" - a forested area where the group had dug bunkers and
deployed rocket launchers - to train troops. Now, the military is building
an urban warfare center - consisting of a mock Lebanese village - which it
plans to connect to the replica of the nature reserve, according to the
Post.

+++SAUDI GAZETTE 28 July '09:"Water crisis uproots Syrian farmers",By Khaled
Yacoub Oweis
QUOTE:"drought now covers 60% of Syria's land mass"
. . .Syria’s worst drought in decades has displaced hundreds of thousands
of people and raised calls for a coordinated water policy for the Middle
East as the region faces a dryer climate and water supplies depleted by
damming and water well drilling.
. . .estimated 200,000 to 250,000 Syrian farmers and their families who in
the past three years have been forced to abandon their land due to drought,
according to a recent United Nations study . . . (A famer)) now lives in a
tent with his two wives and 15 children next to the main garbage dump in
Damascus.. . . . Farmers from areas as close as 30 km to Damascus have
deserted their land for tents, or shantytowns.
Syria is a major farm commodities producer in the region. Sales of wheat,
olive oil, cattle and fruit and vegetables contribute 20 percent of its $45
billion GDP, and about half of its 20 million population earn their income
from agriculture.
The country’s rivers and 420,000 ground wells, half of which were dug
illegally over recent decades, have been drying up and drought and
mismanagement of water resources have hit agriculture hard, especially in
the Hasakah region bordering Iraq.. . .
A recent United Nations study said the drought now covers over 60 percent of
Syria’s land mass and 1.3 million people have been affected so far, with
regions around Damascus, Aleppo and Hamah receiving the bulk of the
displaced.
Leading economist Aref Dalila said a misguided agricultural policy,
including subsidising wheat production over the last two decades has
contributed to the present crisis.
Dalila, who served 7 years in jail for criticizing the government’s economic
policy and was only released last year, said the state allowed wheat farming
in semi-dry areas reserved for pasture and encouraged the drilling of
illegal wells that damaged the water table. “Syria strove to become a wheat
exporter, which is rare in the third world. Now we are forced to import
wheat and animal feed. Pasture and water have diminished,” he said.
The topic is politically sensitive. The government, controlled by the Baath
Party since it took power in a 1963 coup and banned all opposition, has
touted its management of agriculture as a “strategic” triumph.
. . .The situation has become so bad that the government recently asked
for international aid and provided cash assistance to farmers’ families to

+++NAHARNET(Lebanon) 28 July '09::"Escalation of Tension with Hizbullah,
Trains
for Urban and Guerilla Warfare"
SUBJECT: Hizbullah "effort to launch a popular uprising against the Jewish
state"

EXCERPTS:Israeli officials have expressed fears that Hizbullah will try to
escalate the tension on the Lebanese border by organizing civilian
demonstrations as part of an effort to launch a popular uprising against the
Jewish state.
Haaretz newspaper said that Defense Minister Ehud Barak met on Monday with
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and told him that Israel was concerned
by the developments on the border and latest Hizbullah statements and
moves.. . .
===========================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA