Israel attacks Lebanon!

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 13 Jul 2006 04:08 pm

Have you guys seen this?

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... 60,00.html

Israel attacks Beirut airport
From:
By staff writers and wires

July 13, 2006

Mideast fighting / AP
Strike ... Israeli warplanes target a bridge in Lebanon / AP

ISRAELI warplanes have bombed two runways at Beirut's Rafiq Hariri International Airport, as part of a series of raids in retaliation to the abduction of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah.
Witnesses said there were at least two raids on an eastern runway while Lebanese anti-aircraft batteries frantically fired at the invading planes.

The bombing of the airport, recently named after former premier Hariri who was assassinated in February 2005, came after nearly 24 hours of Israeli bombardments, up to then concentrated on bridges linking south Lebanon with the rest of the country.

Lebanese police have said 27 people, including 10 children, were killed in the raids.

Lebanese guerrillas have fired rockets at a coastal town in northern Israel. Israel said one woman had been killed.

The military action started after the capture of two Israeli soldiers by the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement in a border operation.

The Hezbollah raid on an army patrol on the volatile border was branded an "act of war" by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who moved quickly to authorise an "aggressive and harsh" Israeli response.

At least eight Israeli soldiers, along with a Hezbollah fighter, two Lebanese civilians and a Lebanese soldier were killed in the deadliest 24 hours of fighting since Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon six years ago.

Israeli helicopters carried out three successive dawn raids north of the port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, police said, without immediately mentioning whether there were victims.

A Lebanese soldier was killed overnight when Israeli war planes took out a bridge south of Beirut.

The White House held Syria and Iran responsible for the flare-up, as world powers urgently appealed for restraint.

Swap

Hezbollah, whose militia was instrumental in forcing Israeli troops out of Lebanon in May 2000, said it was demanding the release of Arab prisoners in return for the soldiers.

"They will only return home through indirect negotiations and an exchange of prisoners," Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said, saying the abduction was aimed at drawing international attention to the plight of "thousands of Lebanese, Palestinian and Arab detainees."

But Mr Olmert insisted there would be no negotiations.

"This was an act of war without any provocation on the sovereign territory... of the state of Israel," said Mr Olmert, facing the most serious test of his leadership since his government took office in May.

After an emergency meeting, the Israeli Cabinet gave the green light to unspecified retaliatory action against Lebanon, which has been mired in its own political crisis since the murder of Mr Hariri and is still rebuilding after the devastating 1975-1990 civil war.

"Israel must respond with the necessary severity to this act of aggression... Israel will respond aggressively and harshly to those who carried out, and are responsible for, today's action," a cabinet statement said.

Army chief Dan Halutz vowed on Israeli television to "take Lebanon back 20 years."

Israel has already called up a rapid-reaction force of 6000 troops headed for the northern border, where many residents had headed for bunkers to escape Hezbollah mortars and rockets.

The Lebanese government - which includes a Hezbollah minister - denied any involvement in the Hezbollah action and demanded an urgent UN Security Council meeting.

Prime Minister Fuad Siniora also called up a host of world leaders "to ask them to help Lebanon in the face of the aggression and in order to contain the situation."

Yemen also called for an emergency meeting of the 22-member Arab League.

The White House, which considers Hezbollah a terrorist outfit, condemned the capture of the soldiers and pointed the finger at Israel's two main foes, Iran and Syria, which both bankroll the fundamentalist Shiite movement.

"We call for the immediate and unconditional release of the two soldiers. We also hold Syria and Iran, which directly support Hezbollah, responsible for this attack and for the ensuing violence," said national security spokesman Frederick Jones.

UN chief Kofi Annan urged all sides to show restraint and to protect civilians.

News of the captured soldiers was greeted with celebratory gunfire across the southern suburbs of Beirut - a Hezbollah stronghold - while some residents handed out candy to passing motorists .

"Long live Hezbollah, death to Israel," chanted youths.

The governing Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, whose military wing is one of three groups holding another soldier captive in Gaza, said the latest abductions showed the "weakness of the Israeli army."

Israel has been on high alert for possible retaliation following its threats to kill Hamas leaders in Damascus and since it sent warplanes over a Syrian presidential palace in a show of force last month.

Gaza

Yesterday's flare-up on the northern border came shortly after Israeli tanks and troops pushed a new offensive in Gaza, killing 23 people, including nine members of the same family in an air strike on the home of a Hamas leader.

Early today it also fired missiles at the foreign ministry in Gaza, witnesses said.

Israel has launched wave after wave of air strikes in Gaza in a bid to secure the release of an Israeli corporal and to stop rocket attacks.

Gilad Shalit was captured in an attack by three groups including the armed wing of Hamas - which is branded a terrorist movement by Israel and the West.

The groups have demanded the release of 1000 Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and other prisoners but Israel has refused to negotiate.

The latest abductions and killings of Israeli soldiers are likely to raise embarrassing questions about Israel's military, which considers itself one of the strongest in the world.

A columnist in Israel's Haaretz newspaper called the Hezbollah attack "a ringing failure for the IDF," an acronym for the Israeli army.

In January 2004, Israel and Hezbollah carried out a swap through German mediation that saw hundreds of Arab detainees released, the return of the bodies of three soldiers, and the freeing of an Israeli businessman.

This is gonna get out of control real fast, very worrying. Expect fuel prices to jump because of it too, not good.

Cletus · Post by **Cletus** » 13 Jul 2006 04:49 pm

It's always going to be this way while Israel exists.

I blame the americans.

Pat · Post by **Pat** » 13 Jul 2006 06:03 pm

I predict carnage.

Ambrose Burnside · Post by **Ambrose Burnside** » 13 Jul 2006 06:06 pm

About time

cloud · Post by **cloud** » 13 Jul 2006 06:08 pm

Ambrose Burnside wrote:About time

You took the words out of my mouth

K.T.Shoe[BMs] · Post by **K.T.Shoe[BMs]** » 13 Jul 2006 09:17 pm

Israel always use violence as the solution - an eye for an eye

Scullibundo · Post by **Scullibundo** » 13 Jul 2006 10:38 pm

They've tried negotiating before (OSLO pact). It's hard to negotiate with people who want to wipe you off the fact of the earth. I'm not saying their actions weren't extreme, it's awful they resort to this. But there is no way the blame is solely on Israel.

Pointy Cat · Post by **Pointy Cat** » 14 Jul 2006 12:02 am

The Arab nations around Israel (including Palestine) only have themselves to blame. They continually make things worse for themselves with their mind boggling actions. The sooner they accept Israel and its borders the better for their people.

Peppermint Lounge · Post by **Peppermint Lounge** » 14 Jul 2006 11:11 am

Nah. The Israelis if anything should be targeting Hezbollah only as it's apparently Hezbollah's killing and abduction of three Israeli soldiers that prompted their response. Instead Israel are taking their aggressions out on all of Lebanon through attacking their international airport and other civilian structures resulting in civilian deaths. It's a grossly disproportionate response with the US inexplicably supporting Israel's every move. All it will do is fuel US/Israeli hate among Arab/Muslims and escalate terrorism.

mech · Post by **mech** » 14 Jul 2006 11:45 am

K.T.Shoe[BMs] wrote:Israel always use violence as the solution - an eye for an eye

Um, what about the violence used to abduct the solider that started this whole thing?

You guys should have a look at http://www.michaeltotten.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - He lived in Lebanon for a while, and it's just an awesomely interesting blog about the middle east (mostly).

But I do agree with Pep here.

K.T.Shoe[BMs] · Post by **K.T.Shoe[BMs]** » 14 Jul 2006 05:05 pm

Peppermint Lounge wrote:Nah. The Israelis if anything should be targeting Hezbollah only as it's apparently Hezbollah's killing and abduction of three Israeli soldiers that prompted their response. Instead Israel are taking their aggressions out on all of Lebanon through attacking their international airport and other civilian structures resulting in civilian deaths. It's a grossly disproportionate response with the US inexplicably supporting Israel's every move. All it will do is fuel US/Israeli hate among Arab/Muslims and escalate terrorism.

Absolutely!

The problem I see with Israel is that for like 2 to 3 soliders, they reacted so drastically! Killing innocent civilians, and taking out international airport? Comon

What makes it worst is that the US never stand up to Israel, and the reason for that? ... some of the richest people in the US are Jews, and they're the people that put people like Bush in the Whitehouse.

At least the Russians and the French protested against Israel's actions.

Scullibundo · Post by **Scullibundo** » 14 Jul 2006 05:13 pm

K.T.Shoe[BMs] wrote:
Peppermint Lounge wrote:Nah. The Israelis if anything should be targeting Hezbollah only as it's apparently Hezbollah's killing and abduction of three Israeli soldiers that prompted their response. Instead Israel are taking their aggressions out on all of Lebanon through attacking their international airport and other civilian structures resulting in civilian deaths. It's a grossly disproportionate response with the US inexplicably supporting Israel's every move. All it will do is fuel US/Israeli hate among Arab/Muslims and escalate terrorism.
Absolutely!

The problem I see with Israel is that for like 2 to 3 soliders, they reacted so drastically! Killing innocent civilians, and taking out international airport? Comon

What makes it worst is that the US never stand up to Israel, and the reason for that? ... some of the richest people in the US are Jews, and they're the people that put people like Bush in the Whitehouse.

At least the Russians and the French protested against Israel's actions.

Don't start labeling Israel support as Jews in the Whitehouse. Saying things like that never lead anywhere productive.

It's a serious response because the Lebanese government essentially knew of the kidnappings and as such it's treated as an act of war. It is a fucking extreme response but you can only tell somebody to stop flicking you behind the ear before you show them you mean business.

Ambrose Burnside · Post by **Ambrose Burnside** » 14 Jul 2006 05:15 pm

Lebanon has a couple of Hezbollah MPs. Legitimising terrorists

Ambrose Burnside · Post by **Ambrose Burnside** » 14 Jul 2006 06:05 pm

For the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israel is facing hostilities on two fronts. The exceedingly volatile situation is liable to embroil other Middle Eastern states, culminating in a regional conflict similar to that of the 1967 Six-Day War.

Faced with such a prospect, Israel could yield to international appeals for restraint and allow tensions to subside. By doing so, however, it would accelerate a process in which Syrian- and Iranian-backed terrorist groups in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon can keep the country in a state of perpetual military mobilization, paralyzing it economically and deepening its diplomatic isolation. To deny the terrorists this victory, indeed to survive, Israel must take bold action to fundamentally alter the security situation on its northern and southern borders.

Paradoxically, Israel has been attacked from the two territories from which it unilaterally withdrew with the approval of much of the international community. Since the pullout of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000, Hezbollah terrorists have periodically fired rockets at civilian targets in Israel and ambushed soldiers across the U.N.-recognized border. Since the withdrawal from Gaza last year, Hamas and other Palestinian groups have fired more than 1,000 rockets into Israeli territory and have repeatedly attempted to conduct terrorist raids across the border.

Israel refrained from large-scale military reprisals for this aggression, confident of having won international goodwill through its withdrawals and fearful of being dragged back into the Lebanese and Gazan morasses. But Israelis have learned that unprovoked violence against them raises little outcry in the world and that failure to react to isolated acts of terror invites unremitting terror. Today a united Hezbollah-Hamas axis has emerged, financed and trained by Syria and Iran, with the goal of destabilizing Israel and frustrating its efforts to disengage from the conflict. In spite of the perils that this front poses to Israel, and the ethical dilemmas that fighting it raises, Israel can transform the situation into one that promotes both domestic and regional stability.

In countering Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel has little choice but to strike at those who authorize the attacks: the heads of those organizations. Both Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza and Hasan Nasrallah in Lebanon appear indifferent to their own people's safety. For propaganda purposes, they order rocket crews to operate in densely populated areas so that Israeli retaliation will inflict the maximum number of civilian casualties. But these leaders remain extremely reluctant to pay for terror with their own lives, a fact that Israel discovered when its policy of targeted assassinations compelled Hamas to agree to a cease-fire.

By contrast, punishing the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples collectively, as Israel has been doing, only strengthens their support for terror while creating painful ethical problems for Israelis. And negotiating with the terrorists for their hostages' release merely encourages them to kidnap more Israelis. Ultimately, Israel has no alternative other than convincing these leaders that terror incurs a personal cost.

But even targeted assassinations are no substitute for deterring the state sponsors of terror. Israel cannot hope for quiet along its borders as long as Hamas leaders continue to direct terror with impunity from Damascus and as long as Hezbollah receives orders from Syria and Iran.

Efforts by the United States, the United Nations and the European Union to dissuade Iran and Syria from activating their terrorist agents have consistently proved ineffective. Therefore Israel has no realistic option but to convince these states that the price of promoting aggression is prohibitive. If Israeli soldiers and civilians are the targets of Iranian- and Syrian-backed terror, then the Iranian and Syrian militaries must become targets for Israel.

By eliminating the terrorist leaderships in Gaza and southern Lebanon and deterring Syria and Iran from prodding their proxies to war, Israel can restore a reasonable level of security to its citizens. Such measures will also be implicitly welcomed by Israel's Jordanian and Egyptian neighbors, who are similarly threatened by these same terrorist groups. Only by establishing a new and more stable status quo along Israel's borders can Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proceed with his plan of redrawing those borders permanently, either unilaterally or in cooperation with a nonviolent Palestinian partner.

Candy Arse · Post by **Candy Arse** » 14 Jul 2006 07:25 pm

Here comes the oft-mentioned New World Order, and I don't mean the WCW kind.

GreyWizzard · Post by **GreyWizzard** » 14 Jul 2006 07:36 pm

awwww....

Pat · Post by **Pat** » 14 Jul 2006 08:14 pm

Ambrose Burnside wrote:Lebanon has a couple of Hezbollah MPs. Legitimising terrorists

Syria and Iran apparently FUND Hezbollah.

If that's the case, I say Israel has every right to attack.

Pointy Cat · Post by **Pointy Cat** » 14 Jul 2006 08:53 pm

Hezbollah actually has 23 MPs and two ministers in the Lebanese government.

Attacking Lebanon for the actions of Hezbollah is totally legitimate. Hezbollah gets its support from nations opposed to Israel, such as Lebanon itself, but also Syria and Iran. Believing that Israel is going overboard is a different matter.

Froggy · Post by **Froggy** » 15 Jul 2006 12:18 am

Israel reacted like they did because the soldiers were taken from their own soil, imagine if Indonesia kidnapped some of our soldiers from darwin, I'd want the same response, although I think once bombing is equal, the continued offensive is over the top.

mech · Post by **mech** » 15 Jul 2006 02:25 am

I would be very interested to hear someone justify the anti-israel point of view in detail (K.T.Shoe[BMs] perhaps? Sounds like he's involved somehow?)

That site I mentioned before (michaeltotten.com) has great stories about the region, with what I find to be a very neutral point of view, fascinating stuff on the region.

Ambrose Burnside · Post by **Ambrose Burnside** » 15 Jul 2006 10:40 am

Pointy Cat wrote:Hezbollah actually has 23 MPs and two ministers in the Lebanese government.

Attacking Lebanon for the actions of Hezbollah is totally legitimate. Hezbollah gets its support from nations opposed to Israel, such as Lebanon itself, but also Syria and Iran. Believing that Israel is going overboard is a different matter.

Ah, I see. I got MP mixed up with Minister

Either way my point regarding Lebanon legitimising terrorists stands. Even more so now.

selfish · Post by **selfish** » 15 Jul 2006 11:56 am

so the palestinians have no right to a state either?

do we want a two-state solution to this or do we want a single state solution?

just wondering.

Ambrose Burnside · Post by **Ambrose Burnside** » 15 Jul 2006 12:43 pm

selfish wrote:so the palestinians have no right to a state either?

do we want a two-state solution to this or do we want a single state solution?

just wondering.

Israel were either pulling out, or already had. All they got in return was a

from the Palestinians who elected Hamas, and Hezbollah. In their eyes all the withdrawals were was a show of weakness from Israel, a "victory" that encouraged them into thinking that violence would win even more from Israel.

Before Palestine is granted statehood the following must be achieved first:

1) All Muslim countries must recognise Israel's right to exist
2) All terrorist groups must disarm (become regular political parties or disband altogether) and recognise Israel's right to exist

The same is true of course for Jewish terrorists too, with Israel replaced with Palestine

I don't think anything Israel has done recently is an "over-reaction". Not that you used those words selfish, but others have. Remember:

Since the pullout of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000, Hezbollah terrorists have periodically fired rockets at civilian targets in Israel and ambushed soldiers across the U.N.-recognized border. Since the withdrawal from Gaza last year, Hamas and other Palestinian groups have fired more than 1,000 rockets into Israeli territory and have repeatedly attempted to conduct terrorist raids across the border.

Israel refrained from large-scale military reprisals for this aggression, confident of having won international goodwill through its withdrawals and fearful of being dragged back into the Lebanese and Gazan morasses. But Israelis have learned that unprovoked violence against them raises little outcry in the world and that failure to react to isolated acts of terror invites unremitting terror. Today a united Hezbollah-Hamas axis has emerged, financed and trained by Syria and Iran, with the goal of destabilizing Israel and frustrating its efforts to disengage from the conflict. In spite of the perils that this front poses to Israel, and the ethical dilemmas that fighting it raises, Israel can transform the situation into one that promotes both domestic and regional stability.

In countering Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel has little choice but to strike at those who authorize the attacks: the heads of those organizations. Both Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza and Hasan Nasrallah in Lebanon appear indifferent to their own people's safety. For propaganda purposes, they order rocket crews to operate in densely populated areas so that Israeli retaliation will inflict the maximum number of civilian casualties. But these leaders remain extremely reluctant to pay for terror with their own lives, a fact that Israel discovered when its policy of targeted assassinations compelled Hamas to agree to a cease-fire.

Israel has done everything right. I don't get the anti-Israel sentiment going around, their moral high ground at the moment is up near Mt Everest.

skinner · Post by **skinner** » 26 Jul 2006 03:57 pm

So a couple of ambulances got hit the other day and this morning a UN building copped it killing 4 UN observers and one of them was Chinese and the Chinese are not happy at all, recalling the ambassador. Israel don't appear to be ending this any time soon either.

guttermouth · Post by **guttermouth** » 27 Jul 2006 09:55 pm

So when does a Lebanese become an Australian??? When they are in Lebanon getting bombed and they want to get out.