An Israeli intelligence officer led me to this concealed yet sweltering viewpoint near the border fence overlooking Lebanon where Hezbollah guerrillas were busy fortifying positions for the next round of conflict, a round that will almost certainly be bloodier and more destructive for both sides than the last. A small green valley covered with Mediterranean scrub stood between us and the Party of God.
“Four years ago you could easily see Hezbollah positions and bunkers from here,” she said. “Now you can’t. Hezbollah pretends to respect United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, but that’s just their public face. Their posts are now hidden in houses and mosques.”
The rest.
SDA flashback.
Indeed.
// The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten has summarized an Israeli military briefing by Israeli Chief of Staff Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi […] US cables quote Ashkenazi telling the US congressmen, “I’m preparing the Israeli army for a major war, since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite.” […]
The new, major war will be a total war on civilians, Ashkenazi boasted: “In the next war Israel cannot accept any restrictions on warfare in urban areas.” //
War..War will never change. People die.
I recall a couple of canadian gals reporting similar views….
From Michael Totten’s work…
“There’s a small chance the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 was the last one, but that isn’t likely. None of the outstanding issues that sparked it have been resolved.”
and, until there’s a clear winner, that’s not likely.
From dissy’s linked article:
The general’s plans are driven by fear of growing stockpiles of rockets in Hamas-controlled Gaza and in Hizbullah-controlled Southern Lebanon, the likely theaters of the planned major new war. Ashkenazi does not seem capable of considering that, given a number of Israeli invasions and occupations of those regions, the rockets may be primarily defensive.
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Juan Cole is a communist.
He has no business describing Hizb’allah( a terrorist organization) as having any responsibility whatsoever for the “defense of Southern Lebanon”.
That is a job for the Lebanese Army.
There is zero difference between the former Afghan Taliban government hosting al-Qaeda(terrorists) to stage attacks on America and the Lebanese government hosting Hizb’allah(terrorists) to stage attacks on Israel.
Invasions occur because these governments host terrorists to stage proxy attacks.
These governments need to understand that hosting a terrorist proxy to make war on another nation is going to get the same response as making war directly without a proxy.
“I visited the Lebanese town of Maroun al-Ras while touring Hezbollah’s post-war rubblescape after the 2006 war and was amazed to find a nearly unscathed mosque surrounded in every single direction by pulverized buildings. The Israelis obviously felt it was important to flatten the area for whatever reason, but they did it while sparing the mosque. If they didn’t care about saving the mosque it almost certainly would have been smashed like everything else.”
this about says it all for me.
“The Israelis obviously felt it was important to flatten the area for whatever reason, but they did it while sparing the mosque. If they didn’t care about saving the mosque it almost certainly would have been smashed like everything else.”
My guess would be that since the j00’s believe that we all worship the same god, That destroying a mosque would be almost a sin?
I would have to agree with Israeli Chief of Staff General Gabi Ashkenazi. All of Israelis war have been wars of survival of the state, but the next one will be more so, if that is possible.
Israeli artillery, deployed to counter battery Kasim rockets, has been hobbled with these ROEs. This is why the Hamas Heros deliberately fire them from residential areas.
During Operation “Cast Lead” a single air-launched rocket detonated a rocket factory in the basement of the Gaza University…the building was totaled..Goldstone cynically labled this as deliberate destruction of the University.
Canada (British government actually)had a similar problem with the Fenian Raids of the 19th century.
The diffference was that the US had Andrew Jackson as POTUS who reacted by dispatching Generals Grant and Meade to Buffalo to resolve the tensions.
The Fenians only succeeded in inspiring canadian Confederation…..our history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenian_raids
In Israel’s short history pressure and attack has only made Israel stronger. It’s like if the muzzies wanted to destroy Israel…they would have been smarter to leave it alone and it would have gone away.
In fact just prior to 1967, there were more immigrants than immigrants to Israel….a trend swiftly reversed by returning Israels…..It is estimated the ranks of the Israeli Army swelled by a signifigant factor with trained returnees.
My guess would be that since the j00’s believe that we all worship the same god,..yada yada
You know that part in Genesis where Moses comes down from the mount with some stone tablets and the writing on the tablets say:
Genesis Chapter 20
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.
???(the First Commandment)
That pretty much cancels real Jews and Christians from believing we all worship the same god.
marc in calgary at 3:29 PM: “…until there’s a clear winner, that’s not likely.”
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Which is why Israel should just get the job done. For over half a century they’ve been accused of having designs on a vast area of the Middle East, and despite giving back territory gained in wars started by the Arabs, nothing has changed. They might as well do what they are accused of wanting to do and get it over with. Hell, in two or three generations they could undo the damage done to the brainwashed Arab street, and then let them have their independence.
I wonder if there’s a bomb or two aimed at Tehran, at the push of a button? That would solve a lot of problems.
Lousy Hezbollah. They never stop, do they?
What is Israel supposed to do when their neighbours plan to attack them all the time?
beagle at 3:48 PM: “The Israelis obviously felt it was important to flatten the area for whatever reason, but they did it while sparing the mosque.”
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Given that Hamas and Hezbollah hide armaments inside mosques and shoot at Israel from inside them, it’s high time Israel flattened a few of them, IMHO. They are going to be accused of every sin in the book anyway, so why not?
this about says it all for me.
No one is at all surprised that you’d fail to register stories of Hizb’allah storing rockets and explosives in schools, mosques, homes, hospitals etc.
Congrats to Michael Totten for doing such a great job that few in the mainstream media seem capable of doing.
Louise, and I do believe that the same masquerade is taking place in Gaza.
Anybody in Ontario wants to see this, just head over to Caledonia with a pair of decent binoculars and check out the left-over “houses” on the DCE.
Your tax dollars at work.
I think the extreme backward bending by the IDF to avoid “civilian” casualties along the border is very nice, very humanitarian, very much not what the Arabs are going to do.
Possibly that’s why the Arabs are straining at the leash again? Just sayin’.
Very interesting, and very disturbing. Thanks Kate!
Well… All this “nice nice”, isnt gertting anyone antwhere.. Time for the west to raise those warheads out of the bunkers, point them east and say Ok a–holes, lets dance.. Gonna happen anyhow, later means bigger response from them.. Sounds harsh, but I think we all know there isnt much choice.
beagle>
“this about says it all for me.”
I’m with you beagle, right on, the Israelis do their best to respect Islam while protecting themselves.
It’s not like they use predator drones 10,000 miles away and drop missiles on civilian neighborhoods in a nation they are not at war with like Obamba does in Pakistan.
Happy Infidel at 7:20 PM, hear, hear, and I hope one of the first casualties is the UN.
That was a great article and I enjoyed reading it and all the comments. Damn religions eh?
So how frickin lucky are we to be living in Canada with some minor irritants in comparison???
But DVC…As the saying goes”We all have a dog in this hunt”.. Actually thats not the saying, but it imparts the right thought..
The bulk of those Hamassers are not of Lebanese descent … they are in fact largely from Gaza, Jordan, Syria and such places.
The only reason the are in Lebanon is to use the crippled state as a base to launch an armed assault on Israel … as was their intention when they destroyed Lebanon in the first place.
They are solely responsible for the existance of the refugee camps that have existed there since the 1975.
And yet ….. somehow …. they are not held to account.
Agree on that thought there HI….
We are damn lucky to live in Canada and at the risk of inciting some lesser life forms, we need to support the right side in this conflict. And if that means turning some undesirable place into a glass parking lot, so be it.
Lesser life forms..Gee, thanks alot… Im human too…
The Islamists have turned history upside down to perpetrate their lies of Israeli legitimacy. Even denying them a historical role. That even of Europe let alone thousands of years of occupancy. Even without the Bible before I was a Christian & Atheist, I knew that history was on the Jews side. I very much approved them RE-Settling with Europian Jews, a land they has been trodden under by the Roman, Sassinids, Ottoman Turks, Byzantines et all. With many others since the Temple destruction.That World leaders believe this Muslim bevy of lies is incredulity beyond belief. The main lie being they have been there since before the Israeli’s .If this is not an indication of how truly the West has been infiltrated. I don’t know what is. Read any book from the 19th century back. Mo one except a few Jews & wandering Bedouins lived there for millenia. It was a complete desert.
The Bible just puts the icing on what we know archaeologically & by witness historically.
Not a word about Jerusalem in the Koran, yet they claim that as well. Tired of the sea of deceit.
The islamists of course want one thing only. Death to all joo’s. Noting but blood satisfies this group of thuggee.
Anyone who doubts that has not been paying attention.
JMO
Lol… DVC… This whole issue is terrible to think about, but,the islamists, just seem to be escalating it.. The alleged, mysterious, “moderate muslims”, have eyes and ears, but the silence from them is becoming insructive..They seem (except for a very few, so few they stand out)to want the upshot of this entire fracas.. which, has to be an all out war.It looks like we are going on the defense, and not on the offense,as if we want to give them a “fair fight”… How stupid is that… Struck “dumb” by political correctness?.. I dont know, I am sure far better minds than mine are working on this, but I wish we would hurry up with the solution.. When I get home from work and get on the web, my heart damn near explodes with anger from what I read from around the world.. Guess I need more “nice nice” sites. Maybe a Liberal party membership would help.
Revnant Dream >
No doubt Biblically and through Archeological evidence the land originally belonged to the Canaanites. Many prominent Archeologists now believe that the Israelites were not ONLY nomadic tribesmen that integrated into the land and culture, but actually the Canaanites themselves after their civilization fell apart.
There is no relevancy to the claims of the western left and the Arab world that the Israelis have no ancestral claim to the land. It’s simply more garbage fed to the masses to justify the killing of Israelites on behalf of Islam.
http://history-world.org/canaanite_culture_and_religion.htm
Revnant Dream at 9:17 PM: “I very much approved them RE-Settling with Europian Jews…”
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Something we rarely hear about is the massive migration of Jews from Arab countries in the years following the establishment of the state of Israel. Hundreds of thousands left to escape persecution or were forcibly expelled. Arab countries don’t want this to be known as it wouldn’t be so easy to blame it all on Europe and the Holocaust.
My only question is how long before this scenario is played out in a neighbourhood near you? France, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, are within a generation. Canada? perhaps two?
Israel has payed for its Real Estate in blood three times since its modern incarnation. Any “civilian” within half a kilometre of Hezbollah installations will earn their premature upcoming union with Mohammad.
Hezbollah and the Arab’s don’t give Israel much choice? I guess it’s time to get ready for war and smack em down hard — there will be very little choice if they are hiding in mosques, schools, hospitals etc. I was wrong about one thing though: I thought Israel would have taken care of the matter a long time before this. It is only a matter of time.