Israeli soldiers were in Lebanon when captured, not Israel

Victor

MiddleE wrote:

...Tue., May 30, 2006 [/B]

Now, three months later, I wonder if he is still as confident after the ass kicking the IDF got from the Lebanese dirt farmers. Hezbollah certainly did. Israel certainly did not.

It has been three years since the withdrawal from southern Lebanon, in the spring of 2000

MiddleE

Victor wrote:

Why It's very simple really.

Yes.

It has been three years since the withdrawal from southern Lebanon, in the spring of 2000

No problem.


Quiet grows from Lebanon withdrawal
H A A R E T Z ...Tue., May 30, 2006 ...By Amos Harel This article and interview was with

Brigadier General Meir Caliphi , who yesterday completed a posting as commander of the Galilee Division,

saying how quite his three years had been on the Lebanon border on 30th May 2006. The point of the post was to show that from an Israeli point of view, it was all quite on the northern front. Now it suits them to claim that it was not so quite and that Hezbollah were always stirring it.

The truth is even stranger. Aside from the Sheeba Farms - Lebanese land not returned in 2000 and held by Israel - it was the Israelis who were infringing on Lebanese territory sovereignty. They over flew drones and aircraft daily. Hezbollah responded with anti-aircraft fire. One 12 year old was killed by AA shells. The UN kept detailed records of these events.

Trust that clears up the ion

MiddleE

MiddleE wrote:

Quiet grows from Lebanon withdrawal
H A A R E T Z ...Tue., May 30, 2006 ...By Amos Harel

Now, three months later, I wonder if he is still as confident after the ass kicking the IDF got from the Lebanese dirt farmers. Hezbollah certainly did. Israel certainly did not.

Last year, February 18, at the annual meeting of the annual Jerusalem meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Israel's then Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly pounded the podium and passionately supported Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon.

'Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon is a model which Israel would apply to Gaza and Samaria.'

he said. Olmert went on to say Hezbollah 'terrorists' now stationed in former Israeli army positions throughout Southern Lebanon had accumulated 15,000 missiles and mortars in Lebanon. Continuing to pound on the podium, he said,

'they have never, never, never used missiles against Israel on the northern border since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May, 2000.'

(It was later pointed out that 5 Katyusha rockets had been fired into northern Israel in the period to 2004, a declassified Israeli army document showed).

On July 12, the border quiet was interrupted by Hezbollah in a raid on an Israeli military post which resulted in the capture of two Israeli soldiers. Three others died in the attack. Five other soldiers were killed that day, four instantly, and one later, when a tank struck a mine. This however, according to Haaretz newspaper, occurred six kilometres inside Lebanese territory.

The Hezbollah attack was staged to capture soldiers to use for a prisoner-exchange with Israel, a strategy adopted by both sides in the past. According to Human Rights Watch, targeting and capture of enemy soldiers is allowed under international humanitarian law. Hezbollah immediately announced that it wanted a prisoner exchange.

In the three weeks since that day, news reports, based on statements from various government officials from Israel and the United States, infer Hezbollah began attacking northern Israel with rockets, and it were those attacks that prompted the much repeated mantra by not only Israel, and the U.S., but leaders from a number of other countries, and the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, that Israel has a right to defend itself.

However there is no evidence Hezbollah intended, or indeed started, a sustained rocket attack on Israel. Indeed on July 12 CNN reported Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah calling for 'direct negotiations' aimed at freeing prisoners from Israeli jails in exchange for the two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah.

The abduction, Nasrallah told a news conference, is 'our natural, only and logical right,' CNN reported. 'We want our prisoners released,' Nasrallah said, and asserted that the abduction had focused the international community on the plight of prisoners, both Hezbollah members and Palestinians, in Israeli jails.

There are reportedly 9,000 prisoners being illegally held in Israeli jails, including women and under-age children, that have never faced charges or trial. Some have been held for more than thirty years.

Nasrallah said that an Israeli military operation 'will not accomplish the return of the Israeli soldiers' and that 'direct negotiations' are the only way to win their return, reported CNN.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said (on July 12) the attack and abductions (by Hezbollah) were an 'act of war' and blamed the Lebanese government, which he said would be held responsible. (Reported by CNN July 12).

Hezbollah not to blame for war, reports show
Friday 4th August, 2006

lebogurl1988

no can bet the lebs:D

MiddleE

Now belatedly and from a surprising source there is evidence of Israel's intent to attack southern Lebanon on any pretext.

Seymour Hersh: U.S. Helped Plan Israeli Attack, Cheney "Convinced" Assault on Lebanon Could Serve as Prelude to Preemptive Attack on Iran
Monday, August 14th, 2006

Journalist claims US helped plan campaign
Dan Glaister in Los Angeles ...Mon, Aug 14, 2006

US: The US government was closely involved in planning the Israeli campaign in Lebanon, even before Hezbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid in July. American and Israeli officials met in the spring, discussing plans on how to tackle Hezbollah, according to a report published yesterday.

The veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh writes in the current issue of the New Yorker magazine that Israeli government officials travelled to the US in May to share plans for attacking Hezbollah.

Bush 'viewed war in Lebanon as a curtain-raiser for attack on Iran'
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington ... 14 August 2006

Report: US helped Israel plan Lebanon offensive
By Tom Regan ...csmonitor.com ...posted August 14, 2006

A special report in The New Yorker says the Bush administration was closely involved in the planning of Israel's retaliatory attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and US officials hoped that by helping Israel destroy or disarm the militant Islamic group, it would make it easier for the US to launch a preemptive attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

MiddleE

MiddleE wrote:

Now, three months later, I wonder if he is still as confident after the ass kicking the IDF got from the Lebanese dirt farmers.

Correction to my post.

The ass kicking was correct but it was not from Lebanese dirt farmers. I called them dirt farmers to portray the difference between the professional IDF soldier and Hezbollah.

Like David and Goliath BY ERIC S MARGOLIS ...13 August 2006

Why have Hezbollah's mujahideen proven such fierce and skilled fighters? Many are well-educated university graduates, often around 30-40 years old. They are dedicated to driving Israeli troops from Lebanon and aiding the Palestinian cause

Hezbollah's Shia traditions of self-sacrifice, fearlessness and heroism in battle play a key role. So, too, does the concept of noble martyrdom in righteous battle. The Israel Defense Forces has suffered grave casualties in southern Lebanon, notably near the strategic hilltop town of Marjayoun, incurring scores of casualties. Hezbollah claims to have knocked out 13 of Israel's superbly armoured Merkava tanks. Nearby Bint Jebil, which changed hands numerous times, is being hailed as 'Hezbollagrad' after the legendary World War II battle at Stalingrad. Many Hezbollah officers are highly skilled veterans of the 1980's war. By contrast, IDF ground forces seem to have forgotten almost all the bitter lessons previously learned in Lebanon.

The 1980's occupation cost Israel nearly 800 soldiers and billions of dollars. Hezbollah fighters stand out among Arab military forces for proficiency in small unit combat tactics. Their squads are experts in moving and firing, setting up interlocking fields of fire, laying ambushes and anti-tank mines and pre-registered mortar fire plans. In this sense, Hezbollah mujahideen are showing the same tenacious and deadly combat skills as North Vietnam's renowned light infantry in the Indochina Wars.

Hezbollah's men wear modern body armour and helmets. They have supplies of munitions cached all over the area, and networks of bunkers, caves and trenches that partially neutralise Israel's command of the air. Subjected to intensive, round-the-clock bombing by Israel's Air Force and shelling by heavy guns, Hezbollah's fighters have never wavered or retreated, and continued to resist with ferocity. No professional western troops could do better.

One of Hezbollah's few advantages is intimate knowledge of southern Lebanon's fractured terrain of steep hills, dry stream beds, twisting roads and deep ravines. Israel's vast number of tanks and armoured vehicles cannot be employed to full force in such terrain as they were in the deserts of Sinai and barren Golan Heights.

Far from being what Israel and the US call a 'terrorist group' Hezbollah is an integrated political, social, cultural and military movement that represents Lebanon's Shia, who make up 40 per cent of that nation's people. Recent polls show 87 per cent of Lebanese now support Hezbollah. Even Al Qaeda, which used to brand the Shias traitors to the Arab cause, now hails Hezbollah as a vanguard of Arab liberation. Israel has admitted military failure in Lebanon by effectively replacing its northern commander.

Sorry if this quote is a bit long, but I could not resist. The rest of this article is as good. The Zionists had no chance.

David and Goliath

lebogurl1988

all i know is that no can bet the arabs they are strong in their that why god help them.

Ciaran500

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=249JaIaubVw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egreenhillzone%2Eco%2Euk%2Fforums%2Findex%2Ephp%3Fshowtopic%3D4712%26st%3D150%26

George Galloway tears into Sky News for their bias on the reoprting.