IAF destroys 2 Hezbollah-bound trucks from Syria carrying arms

[sabra]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/739918.html

IAF destroys 2 Hezbollah-bound trucks from Syria carrying arms

Israel Air Force fighter jets destroyed two Hezbollah-bound trucks carrying weapons and ammunition. The trucks were attacked while driving through Lebanon's Bekaa section after having crossed the border from Syria.

The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that Hezbollah was smuggling weapons from Syria but added it did not regard Syria as a target for attack.

"In the last few days, the smuggling of weapons from Syria to Lebanon has continued," Major-General Gadi Eizenkot of the Israeli army command told a news conference.

"We don't see Syria or the Lebanese army as a target but at the same time we see the smuggling of weapons from Syria to Lebanon to be used in attacks against Israeli civilians."

[AlamoDemoc]

1. I bet, and time will tell, these trucks were carrying supplies of food...

and medicine for the stranded refugees. However, as usual, Israeli propaganda machine is way at front on this. I guess time will tell!

[Dead_Parrot]

4. Falafels of Mass Destruction. nt

[AlamoDemoc]

6. lol...that's funny

[cantstandbush]

19. "smuggling weapons?" Aren't they involved in war? No need to "smuggle"

The spin the neocons use is maddening. How about they are just re-supplying them with weapons like the US has been asked to do with jet fuel for Israel. WTF? no other people but Israelis and Americans have a right to exist on earth?

[Marie26]

28. They've actually admitted doing that.

From the same article: T"he French Press Agency reported that the IAF had hit four trucks, one transporting medicine from the United Arab Emirates, another carrying vegetable oil, which spilled over the road, a third with a cargo of provisions and a fourth that was empty.

Meanwhile Turkish diplonats in Beirut said that a Turkish truck carrying cooking oil was also destroyed by IAF fire in the Bekaa valley on Tuesday.

The UAE denounced the bombarding of what they said was one of their humanitarian convoys."

[Dead_Parrot]

2. So, the jets landed and the pilots searched the truck?

:shrug:

[Earth_First]

3. Hush you!

Way to go and ask appropriate questions...

[theHandpuppet]

5. Just what I was thinking, too

Of course, the pilots probably spotted the cache with their extra-special telescopic x-ray vision.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. LOL

A full inventory was made. Also on board were those pesky WMD...

:rofl:

[progressivebydesign]

16. C'mon it had writing on the roof of the trucks...

it said: DON'T LOOK IN HERE! THere are NO weapons in this truck!

[KeepItReal]

21. Maybe....if we gave Israel some Harrier jump jets they could have

Have to be some REAL gutsy pilots to pull that off though...

[INDIA]

41. I don't think that's "keeping it real" n/t

[yellowcanine]

36. No they sent Fristy the videotape and he verified that it was missiles.

"I speak not as a Senator but as a fuckwit that these are indeed Iranian made missiles with a range capability of 200 kilometers. Not only that, it is clear from the videotape that they could be fitted with chemical or nuclear warheads. And the workers who made them were Bangladeshis making an average of 10 cents an hour working 7 days a week 14 hours a day with no time off even for bathroom breaks. You can tell that from the shit stains on the missile tubes."

[acmavm]

7. Oh hush you all, or you'll be getting a tongue lashing from another

one of our resident opinion police on your non-rights to post what you believe.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1667875

[AnOhioan]

20. Go ahead....link to my post

The more who see it the better.

[Dead_Parrot]

22. That's a good thread...

Thanks, Ohioan.

[AnOhioan]

24. You are welcome

Glad people are reading it.

[Marie26]

30. Excellent thread.

Thanks for the link. :)

[Pavulon]

8. Would like to see the GCF

I would lay $20 it shows secondary explosions from weapon cookoffs.

You think they dropped expensive guided weapons on random trucks?

[daleo]

11. The U.S. pays for about $2 billion per year of those weapons

So, expensive is a relative concept.

[Igel]

12. That's precisely what the claims were based on.

Boom from the missile, and then a large boom! following hard on its heels.

But then again, empty trucks and sufficient amount of ether can do the same thing. Right?

[daleo]

13. Truck fuel can explode. n/t

[Dead_Parrot]

17. What, so the pilots saw the GCF before firing?

That's a good trick.

Considering the IDF blew up a truck full of kids a few days ago, they don't seem to be that picky about their targets. Or were they able to preemptively see secondary explosions from them, too?

The only difference between Hezbolah and the IDF, is that the IDF are better armed. Neither of them seem to care what, or who, they're shooting at.

[Marie26]

29. Seems like

they're bombing any shipments, and only bragging about the ones that carried explosives.

[Dead_Parrot]

31. Bingo.... nt

[DELUSIONAL]

10. That's their story -- I'll wait for confirmation from a neutral observer

[toopers]

14. The ME has no neutral observers!

EOM

[BillZBubb]

15. If IDF said it, it's a lie.

That's their modus operandi. No doubt a "clarification" will be coming later.

[Endangered Specie]

18. I'm curious how one determines what a truck is full of

from 30,000 feet?

Im guessing the thing didnt have "WEAPONS TO KILL THE INFEDELS" written in Hebrew on top :shrug:

[everythingsxen]

23. I see a lot of....

Israel bashing in this thread, how those trucks couldn't have had any weapons....

I am not saying Israel is a shining paragon of truth and love...

I am saying that they are fighting against an enemy that hides among the civilian population (not that there is anything wrong with that, it's a legitimate tactic for a weaker opponent to use; I find it personally dishonorable and would prefer wars were solved as duels between samurai.. but that's neither here nor there) and hides it's weaponry in legitimate medical supplies and aid.

I do not doubt that Syria/Hezbollah/Iran will claim the truck was loaded with sugar plums and candy for the wounded children.

On the reverse I do not doubt Israel will claim that the truck was loaded with Zyklon B left over from a Nazi death camp.

Neither side is right, but each side does have it's own (semi-)legitimate viewpoint.

[Dead_Parrot]

25. Well, I'm carefully not saying they didn't...

...Because for all I know, they did. My concern is that even if it that is the case, the IDF did not know that at the time.

To pick a parallel from my own background (I'm British) when the IRA bombed a shopping mall in Manchester, the UK government did not respond by destroying Shannon Airport, Blocks of flats in Dublin and a dairy farm in Co. Cork. If they had, it would probably be seen as something of an over-reaction, even by Maggie Thatcher standards. Instead, they but more resources into the police and intelligence services - with mixed success, but that's the price you pay for being on the top of the heap.

Israel certainly has the right to defend itself against aggressors. But they also, as a western government and one of the theoretical "good guys", have a moral obligation to protect the innocent.

Even those who happen to live to live in a different country, and go to a different church.

[Marie26]

27. Good point

It doesn't matter so much if this is true or not. What really matters is that Israel's reaction to Hizbollah has been totally disproportionate & inhumane. Protect the innocent should be the rule, or at least the ideal. When we've gotten to the point where a democratic country simply shrugs at so many civilian deaths, we've become as bad as the terrorists. Goes for Israel & the US, too.

[LostinVA]

33. Excellent analogy re: the Manchester bombing

If you don't mind, I will appropriate that for my discussions with people about this matter!

[Dead_Parrot]

40. Help yourself...

In fact, you could look at any terrorist group for a parallel - Did Spain hit downtown Vittoria becasue of Eta? Did Mullaitivu airport get destroyed to hit back at the Tamil Tigers?

Grrr.

[Marie26]

26. Isn't it possible that this is true?

Of course the article is propaganda. But where is Hizbollah getting those 10,000 missiles from, anyway? Isn't it possible that Syria is actually supplying arms to this organization?

[godai]

32. Many excellent comments...Today's spin is 1/2 of the rockets ...

have been destroyed. How could anyone possibly know this? This may be how this fiasco is going to end. Israel will claim that they have neutralized all the rockets and the war is over and they won. It is just AMAZING to me that the justification for the billions of dollars damage in Lebanon is being accepted as right and appropriate. Seems to me that there is a lot of revenge against a basically defenseless country to punish them for not doing something which is impossible for them to do, disarm and eliminate Hezbollah.

I really appreciate the wide ranging comments that I see on DU. You certainly won't see this in the MSM.

[Tracer]

34. The 10,000 missiles.

I'd like to know if the IDF sent a team of mathemeticians into Lebanon to count them ... and then asked Hezbollah to allow the same number crunchers back in to re-count the destroyed missiles vs non-destroyed.

[IndianaGreen]

35. Apparently it was a relief convoy from United Arab Emirates

story was posted LBN. The story is from Agence France-Presse:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2398387

UAE accuses Israel of bombing aid convoy
(AFP)

19 July 2006

ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday accused Israel of bombarding one of its humanitarian aid convoys in Lebanon carrying medical equipment, medicines and other supplies.

The Emirati Red Crescent said that the bombing close to the Syrian border was “contrary to international conventions ... and to international humanitarian law as it puts the life of civilians in danger,” according to the WAM agency.

The convoy had suffered material damage, it said.

Emirati Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, speaking from Paris, “condemned these actions which show a non-respect by Israel for the most humanitarian of humanitarian principles,” the state agency added.

Khaleej Times Online

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

37. ...and therefore, the OTHER bombings (of civilian areas) are a-OK.

Nah, only a batshit crazy individual would come to that conclusion. Don`t you agree?

[coalition_unwilling]

38. IAF also kills dozens of terrorists disguised as children.

Way to go, Israel :sarcasm:

[MGKrebs]

39. It's the word "smuggling" that I have an issue with.

"Smuggling" according to whom? Whose law is being broken? Israel? Israel can make laws binding Syria and Lebanon? And enforce them too?