The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #93626   Message #1813529
Posted By: freda underhill
18-Aug-06 - 11:11 PM
Thread Name: BS: Is Hezbollah Winning?
Subject: RE: BS: Is Hezbollah Winning?
you're right bobad, I've found several other articles that refute that link too - including this one from the washington post:
Hezbollah Raid Opens 2nd Front for Israel

(excerpt) BEIRUT, July 13 -- The Lebanese Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah infiltrated the Israeli border Wednesday in a brazen raid, capturing two Israeli soldiers, killing three others and prompting Israeli attacks on the airport in Beirut and bridges, roads, power stations and military positions across the hillsides of southern Lebanon...
.............

But it's interesting that these sort of border operations by both sides have happened in the past few years without escalating to war. SinceIsrael's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, there have been hundreds of violations of the "blue line" between the two countries. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) reports that Israeli aircraft crossed the line "on an almost daily basis" between 2001 and 2003, and "persistently" until 2006. These incursions "caused great concern to the civilian population, particularly low-altitude flights that break the sound barrier over populated areas". On some occasions, Hizbullah tried to shoot them down with anti-aircraft guns.

In October 2000, the Israel Defence Forces shot at unarmed Palestinian demonstrators on the border, killing three and wounding 20. In response, Hizbullah crossed the line and kidnapped three Israeli soldiers. On several occasions, Hizbullah fired missiles and mortar rounds at IDF positions, and the IDF responded with heavy artillery and sometimes aerial bombardment. Incidents like this killed three Israelis and three Lebanese in 2003; one Israeli soldier and two Hizbullah fighters in 2005; and two Lebanese people and three Israeli soldiers in February 2006. Rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel several times in 2004, 2005 and 2006, on some occasions by Hizbullah. But, the UN records, "none of the incidents resulted in a military escalation". (info quoted from a Guardian article by George Monbiot Israel responded to an unprovoked attack by Hizbullah, right? Wrong )