Amid continuous Israeli air raids and ground operations in Gaza that left scores of Palestinian civilians killed over the past couple of weeks, fighters from the Lebanese resistance movement, Hizbollah, have killed seven Israeli army soldiers (UPDATE 6pm Cairo Time: number rose to 8 soldiers killed, reports Al-Jazeera), detained two soldiers, and injured others, according to Al-Jazeera. Hizbollah says three of its fighters have been killed uptil now.
The Israelis have called up a division of 6000 troops to the borders, according to Al-Jazeera, some of which, as I’m blogging now, have crossed into the Lebanese borders, and heavy fighting is going on.
Hizbollah played a great role in the past in securing the release of Palestinian and Arab prisoners from Israeli jails, by operations similar to that one today.
The Israelis have called up a division of 6000 troops to the borders, according to Al-Jazeera, some of which, as I’m blogging now, have crossed into the Lebanese borders, and heavy fighting is going on.
Hizbollah played a great role in the past in securing the release of Palestinian and Arab prisoners from Israeli jails, by operations similar to that one today.
UPDATE (5:30pm Cairo Time): Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah’s secretary-general, is now giving a press conference on today’s operations. He’s saying the operation was launched in 9:05am. “The aim is not escalation in the Lebanese south,” he is saying, stressing the aim of the resistance strikes are to liberate Lebanese and Arab prisoners in Israeli jails. Nasrallah also called up on Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq to halt their sectarian strife, and unite against the foreign occupiers of their country.
Except that what Hizbullah doesn’t think about is that the Israeli retaliation may prove much more costly than the “gains” from its raid. The Israelis are perfectly able to strike at Lebanese power stations, they have in the past, and do a lot of other damage that the Lebanese didn’t ask for.
In fact, considering that Hizbullah has acted in a way that puts a lot of people in danger: we all know Israel has no respect for human life, and other Lebanese didn’t necessarily want to stick their neck out. It’s not worth causing a fight if you can’t seriously fight back.
Issandr, Hizbollah has been active in resisting Israel since 1982… if you are in the business for that long, (and more importantly, that successful) then I think Hizbollah makes very calculated moves before they act. You can’t just say, “Hizbollah doesn’t think about” Israel’s retaliation or the damage. Of course they do!
This is a classic asymetric warefare between a monstrous conventional army and a guerrila group. Israel has Weapons of Mass Destruction, which the US and the IAEA do not give a shit about… so following your logic, the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance should not point a finger to Israel, or else it will use it’s WMD?!
Hizbollah has proved more than once they speak to the Israelis in the language they understand, and they managed to liberate their land and free scores of prisoners before. Now there’s Samir Qentar and other lebanese and Arab activists still languishing in Israel’s prisons? How do you propose we free them, if not by attacks like these against Israeli military targets?