Israel Strikes Hezbollah Headquarters
by John Little on 14/07/2006These are just the opening salvos in what, if Israel is smart, will be at the very least the complete destruction of Hezbollah’s leadership:
“Hezbollah’s secretary-general, family and bodyguards are safe and sound,” a Hezbollah statement said. Nasrallah’s residence and office were destroyed in the attack.It gave no word on casualties in the latest of several raids on Hezbollah’s stronghold of Haret Hreik.
In a speech aired live shortly after the attack, Nasrallah said the group would strike deeper inside Israel, which it charged with launching the operation in Lebanon to avenge its failure in preventing the abduction and killing of its soldiers by Hezbollah earlier in the week.
Hezbollah would also strike “beyond Haifa and what is beyond, beyond Haifa,” Nasrallah said. He made reference to a new strike on an Israeli naval boat in Lebanese waters. The warship was lightly damaged in the strike, and there were no injuries, the IDF said.
“You wanted an open war and we are ready for an open war,” the Hezbollah leader said. “You have chosen an all-out war with a nation which… has the capability, the experience and the courage.”
But amazingly, if reports are to be believed, Israel is going out of it’s way to make Hezbollah leaders feel secure:
IDF relaying message to Hizbullah, not interested in assassinations.Israel Defense Forces Chief of the General-Staff Lit-Gen. Dan Halutz said Friday that Israel is not interested in assassinating personalities but in sending a message to Hizbullah.
You’d think that, even if Israel had decided internally that assassinations were not on the table, they’d want to keep their enemies off balance. Sending them personal assurances is completely self-defeating and I can’t come up with an explanantion for this move that makes sense.
A reader comments:
The problem is that Hezbollah leaders sit in Lebanese parliament. I believe that after attacks at Hamas’s “politicians” Israel tries at this point to avoid attacking Hezbollah’s “politicians”. They try to weaken Hezbollah and finally to force Lebanon to disarm them by themselves.
That makes some sense but why telegraph it? I can think of more constructive ways of appealing to the moderates in Lebanon.
There’s a service I promoted quite heavily years ago (Micheal Totten even wrote about it) when it launched. It allows you to send pizza and burgers to the IDF. This seems like a good time to plug them again. Check it out.
Also Blogging:
Threats Watch
Michelle Malkin
Protein Wisdom
Cox and Forkum
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