Breaking : Israeli aircraft attack eastern Lebanon

[tocqueville]

7 minutes ago

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft fired several rockets at a target in a Hizbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon early on Saturday morning, a Lebanese security source said.

It was not immediately clear what the Israeli aircraft were firing at in the village of Bodai.

It was the first Israeli aerial attack since a U.N. truce ended 34 days of fighting between Israeli forces and Hizbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.

At least 1,183 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis were killed in the war that erupted after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060819/ts_nm/mideast_lebanon_attack_dc

[Olney Blue]

1. Toqueville, say it isn't so. Oh no.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

2. Ahhhhhh Fuck. This Sucks.

I hope it's isolated, doesn't jumpstart the conflict again, and that it isn't another civilian strike.

[Kutjara]

3. Well, that ceasefire was nice while it lasted.

Back to war as usual.

[deminks]

4. Damn.

[stepnw1f]

5. stupid

[mom cat]

6. Damn idiots ... just like ourr damn idiots.

[greatauntoftriplets]

7. Shit.....

Here it blows up again.

:cry:

[breakaleg]

8. this is bad.

[Junkdrawer]

9. Don't worry. This doesn't break the truce. Now, if Hezbollah lauched...

an unprovoked rocket attack in retaliation....

[IChing]

10. No irony there huh?

Make it stop please?

[Junkdrawer]

13. You do know that that's how it would be reported. For now...

all three cable news channels are 24x7 JonBenet.

[IChing]

11. No irony there huh?

Make it stop please?

[tuvor]

12. Winning hearts and minds the world over, Israel is.

[Solo_in_MD]

14. Everybody take a deep breath

Lets see if it gets second sourced or somehow confirmed. Note that three breathless M$M reporters talking to the same guy doesn't count. Given the rush in the media to be the first, accuracy often takes a back seat. For example IAF doesn't use a lot of rockets, and they are used in volleys. So for starters it probably was not rockets. Also like to see what the IDF says, not that their word is golden, but it would be of interest.

[BrotherBuzz]

18. The report says aircraft fired rockets

What's that, a volley of six or eight rockets? :shrug:

[Solo_in_MD]

19. Found this on another site

From another sites:


- Israel says it did no strikes - it did not deny overflying Lebanon.
- The Lebanese paper reports strikes and anti-aircraft fire,
- Al-Jazeera reports anti-aircraft fire and no strike.

My Synthesis: Israel is doing aerial reconnaissance. There might have been some SA fire. There most likely was not any return fire.


As for rockets, they are launched from pods, which really have not changed much since Vietnam era. If you remember the movie Apocalypse Now, you will have the visual. Horribly inaccurate, spray and pray kind of things. Good for massed troops in the open, bad for precision targeting. Assuming they were AH-1 helos which can be fitted with the seven-tube LAU-68 and the 19-tube LAU-61

My guess is that it would have been Hellfire missiles or Israeli equivalents like Spike, not rockets

[BrotherBuzz]

20. This ia the same region Israel attempted to insert commandos twice before

and repelled both times. Indeed it is a wait and see, but I can believe it might have been a third failed attempt at inserting special force types in the valley. Anti-aircraft fire from the ground did the repelling and Israeli rockets fired for cover while beating a hasty retreat.

[Solo_in_MD]

21. I would believe missiles over rockets

and it would not be the first time IR counter measures (flares) were mistaken for weapons.

No telling if it was a commando raid or not, but right now I would doubt it.

[rman]

22. Does it matter that much how the weapon is called?

Not everyone is equally well informed about military weapons. Plenty of people call automatic rifles "machine guns". No point dwelling on semantics.

If the article would have stated "missiles", would you still believe it was reconnaissance?

[Solo_in_MD]

25. I might have have given it more credibility

The M$M has a well deserved record for inaccuracy. The more accurate an article is about very easy details, the more credibility I give it. In addition to the missiles vs rockets other common mistakes in the media and on discussion boards WRIT to this conflict seem to be:
- All hand held SAMs being called Stingers
- All rockets being called Katyushas
- All UAVs are armed
- Everybody or Nobody has real time video
- C4I or even C&C is perfect

Other real doozies in my day...
- Cessna 150 with a student pilot aboard had multiple engines.
- Revolvers referred to as machine guns
- high speed diesel powered Sunfish sail boats
- The entire concept of assault rifles
- All sort of mix up on high tech stuff
Its a much longer list, but that is what comes readily to mind before my coffee kicks in


Specifics in this case: rockets do not have any guidance post launch, missiles do. Rockets are generally HE, missiles have a number of different warheads. Smart bombs are not missiles, though they can use similar terminal guidance technology.

If the media can not get basics right in a war zone, how can I trust any of the specifics they say? As I said up thread, based on what all was said at the time, it looks like there was aerial recon underway, and maybe some surface to air fire. Beyond that there was nothing else that could be found credible.

BTW, BrotherBuzz was right about there being a commando raid laid on. Haaretz is carrying and article on it http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/752185.html However still no confirmation of air strikes.

[BrotherBuzz]

28. Sketchy, but Commandos inserted then repelled, but missle used

Israeli Commando Dies in Lebanon Raid

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah fighters battled Israeli commandos who landed near the militants' stronghold deep inside Lebanon early Saturday, killing one soldier, in the first large-scale violation of the U.N.-brokered cease-fire between the sides.

Hezbollah said its guerrillas foiled the raid after a gunbattle, and the Israeli army said one soldier was killed and two were wounded, one seriously.

Witnesses said Israeli missiles destroyed a bridge during the raid — the first major violation of the U.N.-imposed cease-fire that took effect Monday following 34 days of fighting.

The Israeli army said the special forces operation aimed "to prevent and interfere with terror activity against Israel, especially the smuggling of arms from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah." It said the commando team completed its mission.

<more>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060819/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_lebanon

All missiles are rockets, but not all rockets are missiles

[zulchzulu]

15. Perfect timing since the Jon Benet Ramsey story was getting "complicated"

No need for that story any more...

More blood, more bombs, more fear, more doom and gloom...they are there for us...

Thank You Mainstream Media!

[Roy]

16. Strange... The writer don't why or where... no word from Israelis...

but they know that it is anHezbollah stronghold.

Was it part of the cease fire agreement that Hez strongholds can be targeted on a whim?

[WiseButAngrySara]

17. Anything new? I have heard only non-stop Jon Benet, and what you

are reporting took place approx. 2 hours ago! I hope it is a false alarm, but I'm not holding my breath. If Lebanon had fired, I'm sure we would be hearing about it.

[Junkdrawer]

23. MSNBC Report...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah fighters battled Israeli commandos who landed near the militants’ stronghold deep inside Lebanon early Saturday, killing one soldier, in the first large-scale violation of the U.N.-brokered cease-fire between the sides.

....

Witnesses said Israeli missiles destroyed a bridge during the raid — the first major violation of the U.N.-imposed cease-fire that took effect Monday following 34 days of fighting.

The Israeli army said the special forces operation aimed “to prevent and interfere with terror activity against Israel, especially the smuggling of arms from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah.”

The army said that such operations would be carried out until “an effective monitoring unit” of Lebanese or multinational troops was in place to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its arsenal.

....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14420157

[malaise]

24. Another link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5265934.stm
<Snip>

Israel mounts fresh Lebanon raid
Israel carried out an overnight raid inside Lebanon aimed at disrupting an arms transfer, the Israeli army says.

One soldier died and two were injured in the Bekaa Valley operation, it said. Lebanese sources earlier told Reuters agency that three militants also died.

The incident came hours after UN chief Kofi Annan warned of a "fragile" situation on the ground.
---------
Of course the IDF said...ah well.

Scroll down on this link and View a 360-degree panorama of destruction taken in Beirut
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5262832.stm

Add link

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

26. From the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5266688.stm

The commandos were airlifted from a cornfield, witnesses say Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora has accused Israel of a "naked violation" of the five-day-old ceasefire, after a raid by Israeli commandos deep inside Lebanon.

The operation came hours after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned of a "fragile" situation on the ground.

But Israel insisted it had not breached the ceasefire.

"We had specific information of arms transfers taking place and we acted to prevent that violation, so that violation is not from the Israeli side - we were responding to a violation of the resolution by Hezbollah," said Israeli spokesman Mark Regev.

Israel has said it will continue to carry out such actions until an expanded international military force is in place to prevent Hezbollah's re-armament.

The resolution which stopped the conflict said Israel should end all offensive military action and Hezbollah should end all attacks.

[eccles12]

27. Israel just says anything to justify their wanton behavior and the world

is supposed to accept what they say. There was no "attack" by Hizbollah. It was an attack by Israel and unprovoked at that. There should be no support for Israel as long as it insists on this kind of behavior.