Monday, July 17, 2006

In Southern Lebanon

Reports sourced ultimately to the United Nations and anonymous IDF sources claim that some Israeli ground forces briefly crossed Lebanon's southern border. Hizbullah takes credit for driving them away, though who knows what really happened. The IDF is probably reluctant to cross the border is force because of all the landmines and the fact they wouldn't be welcome even by those not Hizbullah fighters. I knew a guy who has been to rural Lebanon recently, and who confirms that there are still lots of weapons in the hands of private citizens and employees of what for lack of a better term I will call rural notables who still fear as resumption of the country's civil war. If such uncontrolled people decided to support Hizbullah, Israel would pay dearly for every kilometer of Lebanese territory they gained. Meanwhile, The Lebanese Bloggers explain why Israel's evacuation warnings, while probably well-intentioned, are doing only limited good:
"I'm just hearing on TV the Israeli Army alerts to the civilians in the south. They're asked to evacuate to Beirut, because the southern border is considered now a war zone. The alert went to explain in Arabic that the reason for the shelling of the villages is because Hizballah is launching its attacks from there. It's scary listening to the alerts.

"The sad part is that when people try to evacuate, they are hit. Just got news of a car completely buried under the rubble after Israeli warplanes hit a bridge in the south. Three died."

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