It is being reported that fleeing civilians are being bombed by Israeli war planes.
This widespread indiscriminate murder of innocent Lebanese comes while Israeli officials promise on television that "great care" is given to the civilian population.
This from today’s Democracy Now broadcast:
"On Sunday an Israeli helicopter fired at a minivan carrying 16 civilians. Three people died. All of the passengers were fleeing the village of Tairi, which Israeli forces had ordered residents to evacuate. Reuters is reporting six Lebanese Red Cross paramedics were wounded late on Sunday when Israeli warplanes hit their vehicles. On Sunday Israel also bombed the southern port city of Sidon for the first time.
Thousands of refugees had been seeking shelter there. Early this morning the Israeli military shelled a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. One local hospital in the southern city of Tyre received 41 wounded patients on Sunday."
You conveniently do not mention that Hizbollah has spent 6 years building reinforced bunkers and tunnels in “civilia’ areas. Rockets and arms have been placed into safe houses which are visited as need be. The end result is that the civilian areas are attacked. What do you expect? Hamas & Hizbollah use civilians as a cover and this is the result. yes war is bad. yes I want Israel to stop, but the results are to be expected when a well trained, well equipped army launches hundreds of missiles on a daily basis. Take your complaints to your masters in Iran & Syria. The Israelis may be fools for doing Syria’s dirty work as Syria tries to get back its lost colony, but Syria and Iran have blood on their hands.
Comment by Joop — July 24, 2006 @ 10:17 pm
I do not dispute your claim that Syria and Iran have their own interests, and not the same interests of the Lebanese people. Same goes, of course, for the US and Israel.
The Lebanese people are caught in the middle, unfortunately.
But the targeting of civilians, after Israeli “warnings” to leave and seek safety, is unacceptable. Not to mention that Israel has bombed away all means to actually leave (i.e. roads) before Israeli bombing campaigns.
But waging a war against a people to “root” out Hezbollah will not solve anything. Do you really believe it will? Massive retaliation by powers in response to terrorism or guerilla warfare tactics by the weak has historically proved ineffective. In fact, it has the opposite effect of creating more opposition.
The injustice committed by Israel as it submits Lebanon to the harshest punishment, will have the effect of creating wider resistance. Anti-Americanism has surged since these military campaigns in Lebanon. Israel is now perceived with even greater contempt.
This is the same fallacy that the US practiced in Iraq. All reports and indications points to a US inspired Jihadist movement that parallels the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan when the US sponsored their resistance against the Soviet Union in the 1980’s. We created new terrorists because of our massive retaliation, just as political analysts and terrorism experts predicted.
You see people don’t appreciate your benevolent missions when you happen to blow up their family and crush their homes. It creates indignation, and new resistance movements to seek justice.
This is a cycle of violence that Israeli aggression will only serve to further. Take away all the rhetoric and what you have is terrorist acts committed by Hezbollah and Israel, though Israel’s crimes far outnumber Hezbollah’s. The Israeli government has killed civilians in a ratio of something like 50 for every one combatant. If you look at what Hezbollah has done there is really no comparison. Factor in the thousands of Lebanese injured and you have one of the biggest terrorist acts outside of what the US has done to Iraq.
How do you propose we root out Israeli government officials carrying out these terrorists acts? Please don’t say send American and British fighting jets to level the country.
Comment by insolidarity — July 24, 2006 @ 11:02 pm