Surprises

[bigtree]

"Hezbollah has stood fast and absorbed the strike(s) and now is going to initiate and will deliver surprises that it promises." Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, July 21


"surprises" . . . as promised. Just plain murder:


07.25.06

Teenage girl killed in rocket attack

VIDEO - A 15 year-old girl was killed Tuesday afternoon when a rocket fired from Lebanon hit the northern Druze village of Mrar, near Carmiel in the Galilee region.

According to reports, the rocket landed near the village’s mosque. One man was seriously injured in the attack, a girl sustained moderate injuries, and two boys were lightly injured. Some 20 people suffered from shock.

Last week a rocket landed in Nazareth, killing two Arab-Israeli brothers. Hizbullah Chief Hassan Nasrallah apologized for the attack, saying that he regards those killed as shahids (martyrs).

Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, speaking at the scene of a rocket attack in south Haifa, said Hizbullah was creating a "honey trap" for Haifa residents.

"They give us a few hours of quiet, so people begin going out onto the streets and walking around like in Switzerland. Even I went today to buy two cakes," he said. Yahav called on citizens to remain in protected structures.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3280954,00.html

Among the latest deaths in Israel, Tuesday July 25:

• Officials reported that Israeli missiles hit a house in the southern town of Nabatiyeh, killing seven people including at least one child.

IN ISRAEL:

Forty-one Israelis have been killed, including 24 members of the military, according to authorities. More than 30 soldiers have been wounded, and more than 300 civilians, according to rescue officials.

[northzax]

1. eh, it's a tragedy and all

but they are being systematically bombed back to the stone age, have been ordered to leave their homes under pain of death and watch everything they own be destroyed.

I'd be shooting rockets off too.

[bigtree]

2. frustration? revenge? both reprehensible, especially from leaders

who declare themselves unharmed.

If it is a strategy, like Israel's reprisals, then it is antithetical to any of the Hizbollah leader's stated goals. In any case, it's just plain murder.

[malaise]

7. No they must lie back and take it

while Condi has birth pangs. Still that fifteen year old did not deserve to die.

[cali]

10. They've been shooting off rockets for years n/t

[northzax]

13. and will be for years

as long as the region is gripped by devastating poverty, political instability and the only people that locals see as standing up for them are Hezbollah.

Look, it's like the Mafia in little Italy back in the day. Sure, people knew the Mafia weren't the best guys, but they were the only people who were doing anything to help anyone in the neighborhoods they worked in, so they were bastards, but they were 'our bastards.' eventually, as there were other opportunities, and other defenders, and the violence of the mafia waned. Every bomb that falls creates another sympathizer for Hezbollah as a rocket is shot off in return. The instinct to rally around the flag and follow the only people fighting is strong. And demographics are not on Israel's side here, in the long run.

[cali]

14. It's a bit more complex than that

I certainly agree that every bomb that falls creates more support for H'zbollah and increased anger and hatred toward Israel, but the fact is that H'zbollah has been looking to provoke something like this for a long time, and Israel was like the proverbial bull- both the one with a red cape in front of it, and the one in the china shop.

[northzax]

15. right, and I hope that Israel pursues a permanant solution

militarily, that is. I want to see the entire area razed, the people killed, the ground turned radioactive and salted, permanently inhabitable at any cost. otherwise, in a couple of years, there will be more rocket attacks, and Israel will simply have to do it all over again.

the only military answer is complete and total annihilation, and somehow, I don't think Israel has the fortitude to do that. So we will be back here in a couple of years. You cannot bomb a people into stability.

And remember all those protests in Beirut about getting Syria out of Lebanon? How much of a schmuck do you think those people feel like today, as Israeli bombs fall on their heads anyway? Protest to get the military out of your state, and look what happens, someone else bombs the fuck out of you. nice thanks, huh?

[bigtree]

3. kick

[Bandit]

4. Funny, I'm not surprised at all

Violence begets violence. No surprise there...

[leftofthedial]

5. what can we do to help both sides kill one another faster?

I believe all the murderers in the region are like alcoholics who will have to hit bottom before they can recover. In this case, the "bottom" is the point at which the death and destruction becomes unsustainable.

All of civilizations efforts at "peace" so far have merely ensured that the violence can escalate and can sustain itself. Voila! Perpetual war and strife, which is good for the warmongering business that is the soul of capitalism.

[Jacobin]

6. I wonder who arms Israel?

Some rogue state?

:eyes:

[bigtree]

8. what has that to do with Hizbollah lobbing rockets into Israel?

Of course, the U.S. arms Israel. That doesn't excuse the killing of innocents in Israel by rockets fired by Hizbollah.

All of the grievances (legitimate and otherwise) one could line up against Israel's actions, present or past, would not justify the recent attacks into Israel ordered by the Hizbollah leadership.

[Jacobin]

9. I hear lots of whining

about who arms Israel's foes.

Just thought I'd do a snarky post on the other side.

I don't give a rat's ass about either side of this clusterfuck.

I just wish the religious fanatics on all sides would all blow themselves up and we could be done with them.

[neverforget]

11. I agree with the religious fanatics to blow themselves up but I'm afraid

they will take the rest of us with them.

[bigtree]

12. as long as we're wishing, why not wish for an explosion

of peace?

More killings, more deaths threaten to spread the conflict. I very much doubt that they will be able to contain and restrict the violence to 'sides.'