Israel's Attack on Lebanon and Hezbollah

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Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz on Thursday praised the successes of the IDF in its recent attacks against Hizbullah.

In a press conference with Defense Minister Amir Peretz, he noted that although the IDF had paid a heavy price in the battle in Bint Jbeil on Wednesday, but it had exacted an even greater price. Still, he insisted, it was Israel's goal to minimize its own losses.

He reported that the IDF knew of hundreds of Hizbullah operatives who were killed, although he would not name them.

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Former U.S. president Clinton calls for NATO forces to be deployed in Lebanon (AFP)

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And rocket sites in the area do not justify dropping bombs on whatever else happens to be there.


Actually - it does. At least according to the Geneva Convention.




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No it doesn't. It allows for the accidental hitting of non-combatant forces when targetting enemy forces. It doesn't allow for the deliberate destruction of everything anywhere near enemy forces no matter what it might be. This wasn't hit by shrapnel or something; it was direcly hit by what was apparently a targetted missile.

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Would your position change, if the UN forces were providing logistical support to Hezbollah?

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Do tell.

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At a recent UN press briefing, the following question was asked... A couple of days ago, in a press release by UNIFIL, there was a very proud statement by UNIFIL that a Chinese engineering unit has repaired a road, in order to make it passable for the locals. Now, assuming that that road was made impassable by military activity for military purpose, my question to you is: when does UNIFIL actually become part of the warfare by undoing something that was done on purpose and, in effect, could you provide us the mandate under which UNIFIL was active there? Was UNIFIL mandated to repair a road that was damaged under warfare?

The original statement was from the July 25th UNIFIL press release.

[Sniper]

In addition to the much talked about Khiyam incident, the following was also reported by UNIFIL yesterday...

Another UN position of the Ghanaian battalion in the area of Marwahin in the western sector was also directly hit by one mortar round from the Hezbollah side last night. The round did not explode, and there were no casualties or material damage. Another 5 incidents of firing close to UN positions from the Israeli side were reported yesterday. It was also reported that Hezbollah fired from the vicinity of four UN positions at Alma ash Shab, Tibnin, Brashit, and At Tiri.

... and today ...

There were three incidents of firing close to UN positions in the last 24 hours from the Israeli side. It was also reported that Hezbollah fired from the vicinity of four UN positions at Marwahin, Alma Ash Shab, Brashit, and At Tiri.

[2/325Falcon]

Some of the right-wing bloggers are linking to a report on CTV.ca of an e-mail from the now deceased Canadian UN observer. The e-mail is dated July 18 and has some interesting info.

CTV.ca e-mail.

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This is all the information of a non-tactical nature that I can provide you. I cannot give you any info on Hezbollah position, proximity or the amount of or types of sorties the IAF is currently flying. Suffice to say that the activity levels and operational tempo of both parties is currently very high and continuous, with short breaks or pauses. Please understand the nature of my job here is to be impartial and to report violations from both sides without bias. As an Unarmed Military Observer, this is my raison d'etre.

What I can tell you is this: we have on a daily basis had numerous occasions where our position has come under direct or indirect fire from both artillery and aerial bombing. The closest artillery has landed within 2 meters of our position and the closest 1000 lb aerial bomb has landed 100 meters from our patrol base. This has not been deliberate targeting, but has rather been due to tactical necessity.

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I have no idea how accurate this is or what biases CTV.ca may have, so others with more info please post it. The site also has a story about the UN observer's widow claiming it was intentional.

Widow's story.

[Copernicus]

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Some of the right-wing bloggers are linking to a report on CTV.ca of an e-mail from the now deceased Canadian UN observer. The e-mail is dated July 18 and has some interesting info.

CTV.ca e-mail.

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This is all the information of a non-tactical nature that I can provide you. I cannot give you any info on Hezbollah position, proximity or the amount of or types of sorties the IAF is currently flying. Suffice to say that the activity levels and operational tempo of both parties is currently very high and continuous, with short breaks or pauses. Please understand the nature of my job here is to be impartial and to report violations from both sides without bias. As an Unarmed Military Observer, this is my raison d'etre.

What I can tell you is this: we have on a daily basis had numerous occasions where our position has come under direct or indirect fire from both artillery and aerial bombing. The closest artillery has landed within 2 meters of our position and the closest 1000 lb aerial bomb has landed 100 meters from our patrol base. This has not been deliberate targeting, but has rather been due to tactical necessity.

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I have no idea how accurate this is or what biases CTV.ca may have, so others with more info please post it. The site also has a story about the UN observer's widow claiming it was intentional.

Widow's story.

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A truly unfortunate occurrence. I think the most important part of the widow's story link is PM Stephen (you can call me Steve) Harper's questioning why the post was still manned given the intensity of the shelling around them.

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"Precision guided bombs"...do you know how there precision is defined? In terms of PROBABILITY of hitting the intended target. That probability != 1 for any weapons that Ive ever read about.

Do you know how close the 3 missile launch sites are to the UN observation post? Do you know how the presence of multiple weapons sites affects the probability of accuracy in hitting anyone of them?

Until someone presents a plausible motive for an intentional strike, its BS imo.

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There's another issue too, which is ten or so people hundreds of miles away are reviewing hundreds and hundreds of satellite and aerial reconnaisance pictures and setting the bomb's course, given the amount of work (and pressure given the number of missile attacks) sooner or later the wrong building is going to get picked. It's part of war...

(the USA made such a mistake in Kosovo with the Chinese embassy, although a great many conspiracists claim it was "intentional")

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There are huge differences from the Chinese embassy.

Here we had numerous phone calls, multiple assurances from the political arms of Israel, a 10 hour or so bombardment. This is NOT a case of a stray missile. If it is an accident it is a horrendous one.

The argument that Hez forces were in the area also does not hold water, as the UN was assured by the phone calls to the Israelis that they bombardment would ease and care would be taken.

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AC, wake up, this is a war... Israel is not going to allow rockets to be fired by hizbllah, whereever they are coming from...

The UN is currently reevaluating its troop/observer locations and is likely to consolidate, based on the latest press briefings.

UNIFIL locations and convoys are being hit by both sides...

[ACPlayer]

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AC, wake up, this is a war... Israel is not going to allow rockets to be fired by hizbllah, whereever they are coming from...

The UN is currently reevaluating its troop/observer locations and is likely to consolidate, based on the latest press briefings.

UNIFIL locations and convoys are being hit by both sides...


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OK, and I agree that war is war.

However, why assure the UN repeatedly that they will be OK? During a day long bombardment with many phone calls?

Sorry, but IMO, that does not meet any kind of reasonable test, war or no war.

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However, why assure the UN repeatedly that they will be OK? During a day long bombardment with many phone calls?

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I don't think that anyone can answer this, until the investigative report is released... btw, it is worth noting that the 4 people killed in that observer post were the only people there, meaning there are no actual witnesses (presumably) to state with authority what actually happened.

Can we agree to wait on the report on this one?...