Israel's Attack on Lebanon and Hezbollah

[Sniper]

Arnf... while it was clearly an Iranian tactic to shift the focus of the G8 from What to do about Iran, to What to do about the Mideast crisis... it will ultimately backfire, as the loud talk coming from Iran will only lead to the reality that Iran must be dealt with.

[jman220]

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I'm going to avoid the perennial exchange (/altercation) of viewpoints on who the real victims are.

My question is, at what point does Israel fear military defeat? Are they heavy favorites in any regional ground war involving Syria, Iran and perhaps others? If they can't win on the ground, are they able to threaten nuclear destruction? I know they "have the bomb" but I have no idea--does that mean long range missles? many of them? bombs and bombers?

Leave aside, if possible, the possibility of outside intervention from US, Russia, etc. or if not possible to, please explain.

edit: subquestion: would Israel have much difficulty taking over/ taking out Syria entirely if they decided to go for it?

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Israel has twice before been attacked by the entire Arab World, and has repelled them handily. And this time, it is extremely unlikely Egypt & Jordan would be involved (they were last time).

[jman220]

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Regardless of what Israel has the right to do or not etc., isn't Israel/US again being outsmarted by Iran? Iran tries to increase the anti-Israel and anti-US sentiments in the arabian populations to make it hard for the other Arab countries to side against them. In addition this situation makes it easier for Russia, China etc. to more strongly support Iran etc. vs Israel. Israel steps right into their trap, it seems like. Maybe it is an unavoidable trap though?

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Yes, however it is an unavoidable trap. This was planned far in advance, and makes all the recent anti-semitic rhetoric of Iran of late make more sense.

[derosnec]

Loving the pro-Israeli (or at least anti-Arab) bias in the media. Some things never change.

(disclaimer: I'm Lebanese-American and my parents still live in Beirut)

[Arnfinn Madsen]

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Arnf... while it was clearly an Iranian tactic to shift the focus of the G8 from What to do about Iran, to What to do about the Mideast crisis... it will ultimately backfire, as the loud talk coming from Iran will only lead to the reality that Iran must be dealt with.

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Maybe they must be dealt with, but they are succeding in making such an attack being an attack on all arab and also increasingly a hostile act vs China and Russia. US is dependant upon Arab oil, US has extensive trade with China, Russia supplies Europe with energy, Iran also probably has the power to mess up Iraq. Do you think it is going to be easy for Bush to push the button for an attack on Iran facing that scenario? They are maneuvering so that it gets tougher and tougher for the US to attack, maybe already the consequences outweigh the benefits. Maybe Israel can attack, but then Iran's positions only strengthens further. I think Hizbollah would never fire those missiles if Iran did not think they have the upper hand (and I think they have).

This whole thing is getting f'ed up. The whole momentum in the situation should be changed, the focus have to be on improving the relation between the Palestinians and the west, Russia and the west and China and the west. Then Iran just becomes a significant oil producer, but not a regional player deciding the agenda. Your leadership and their advisors seem to not understand how to build relations in general, and leave the stage open for all others to dominate. Military power can't make up for that complete failure. Hopefully it is just a personell issue and thus will improve after 2008, and hopefully that is early enough to get the world back on track.

[Fly]

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Loving the pro-Israeli (or at least anti-Arab) bias in the media. Some things never change.

(disclaimer: I'm Lebanese-American and my parents still live in Beirut)

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1. How would you report the events differently?

2. How should Israel have responded to the cross border raid which resulted in the death of 6 soldiers and kidnapping of two more? (imagine u were Israeli PM)

[Yuv]

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Loving the pro-Israeli (or at least anti-Arab) bias in the media. Some things never change.

(disclaimer: I'm Lebanese-American and my parents still live in Beirut)

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1. How would you report the events differently?

2. How should Israel have responded to the cross border raid which resulted in the death of 6 soldiers and kidnapping of two more? (imagine u were Israeli PM)

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8 soldiers were killed. 3 in the patrol vehicle that was attacked, 4 in the tank and one soldier from the rescue mission, who was killed by a sniper.

2 more, as you said, are still in captivity.

The notion that Israel should negotiate a "prisoner trade" is insane. The Hizbollah, or Hamas (who still hold Gilad Shavit, a 19 year old israeli soldier in Gaza) cannot be rewarded for killing and kidnapping soldiers. If we release prisoners on their demand we will be rewarding terrorist for their actions. That is utterly unacceptable.

[NapHead]

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Loving the pro-Israeli (or at least anti-Arab) bias in the media. Some things never change.

(disclaimer: I'm Lebanese-American and my parents still live in Beirut)

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You sir, need to open your eyes a little wider. Hezbollah crossed an international border and killed 3 soldiers and took two more captive and then transported them back across the border back into Lebanon. Those are the facts. There isnt a responsible government anywhere in the world where this wouldnt be considered outrageous act of aggression.

I find it laughable that the Lebanese government is now asking the UN to impose a ceasefire after it has refused to implement UN Resolution 1559 which called for the disarming of all militias almost 2 years ago. The Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohamad Issa, actually said "there are no militias in Lebanon". You can't have it both ways; either Hezbollah is a militia or it is the defacto government representative in military affairs in the South, in which case the government bears full responsibility for any actions they undertake and should be brought to bear the consequences of those actions.

If the media coverage of this seems biased to you, perhaps it is because they dont suffer from the same myopic world view that you do.

[Howard Beale]

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Loving the pro-Israeli (or at least anti-Arab) bias in the media. Some things never change.

(disclaimer: I'm Lebanese-American and my parents still live in Beirut)

[/ QUOTE ]

1. How would you report the events differently?

2. How should Israel have responded to the cross border raid which resulted in the death of 6 soldiers and kidnapping of two more? (imagine u were Israeli PM)

[/ QUOTE ]

8 soldiers were killed. 3 in the patrol vehicle that was attacked, 4 in the tank and one soldier from the rescue mission, who was killed by a sniper.

2 more, as you said, are still in captivity.

The notion that Israel should negotiate a "prisoner trade" is insane. The Hizbollah, or Hamas (who still hold Gilad Shavit, a 19 year old israeli soldier in Gaza) cannot be rewarded for killing and kidnapping soldiers. If we release prisoners on their demand we will be rewarding terrorist for their actions. That is utterly unacceptable.

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Population Israel: 6,352,117
Population United States: 298,444,215 CIA Word Factbook

In U.S. terms 8 dead Israeli soldiers equals 376 U.S. soldiers. Think about what the U.S. would do if a terrorist organization crossed our borders and killed 376 soldiers.

[Yuv]

It seems that 4 Israeli soldiers are missing (which sadly means they are most very likely dead) after Hezbollah's attack last night on an Israeli navy boat.

This thing won't end soon. Ugh.