The Israelis overflew Syrian President Bashar Assad's palace in Latakia when Hamas killed two Israelis and kidnapped one. Now, Hezbollah kills Israeli soldiers and kidnaps them.
What will the Israelis do to Syria, now (not to mention Lebanon, the Palestinian camps in Lebanon and Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza)?
What are the Syrians and Hezbollah thinking? Goad Israel into an attack? Prove that there isn't much that Israel can do without going into all out offensive war? Get Israel back for Israeli overflights and the 2003 bombing of the Damascus Palestinian refugee camp?
They definitely aren't winning any support in Lebanon, the West, or the rest of the world.
I've been asked a few times to attend rallies in support of the people of Gaza. There's no way I would go to one of those. If Gazans don't want to be attacked in a massive Israeli campaign, they'll return the kidnapped soldier. Nothing better illuminates Palestinian eliminationist ideology than independent Palestinians doing everything in their power to destroy Israel.
And Hezbollah? This militia is just ridiculous. Westerners are scared out of their minds of being kidnapped by Muslims after all the headchopping that's gone on in Pakistan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Even domestically, Americans are vigilantly anti-kidnapping. Nothing sets Midwesterners more on edge than an Amber Alert. You'll never get anyone to have sympathy for you by behaving like criminals.
The interesting part is that Syria is powerful enough to call Israel's bluff. Assad's realized that, not only is the West incapable of taking out the Syrian regime, but that Israel can't either. That truly changes things.
Syria's alliance with Iran is really paying off.
Update: Just to make things a bit clearer. Israel's very capable of destroying a good portion of both Lebanon and Syria from the air. They're also capable of taking hundreds of Lebanese civilians hostage (or just killing them) to counter Hezbollah's stupid act.
Israeli blogger Yael K routinely comments on Lebanese blogs. She's a very moderate and normally peace-advocating blogger. This is her response to Hezbollah's attack: "I am not going to say anything more because right now I am having the very non-rational and certainly non-peaceful response of "go in and bomb the living F*** out of Lebanon. Bomb the living F*** out of Gaza. No holds barred" as a pretty minor statement of my feelings at the moment."
I don't want to be caught in an Israeli bombing campaign. I don't want to live without electricity and water. I don't want to live with the fear of war.
Most importantly, I want to watch Fairouz in Baalbak this weekend. She's not going to be singing if Israel is bombing Hezbollah and Palestinian positions in the Bekaa.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Kidnapping Israelis
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7 comments:
Central Park is quite lovely this time of year.
Israel should declare all out war on Lebanon and Syria.
I 'm glad i visited beirut and baalbeck few years ago....
Well, it was a nice country; too bad you don"t deserve it.
I just wanted to drop a quick note and thank you for your coverage of this action. I have taken great comfort in reading several Lebanese blogs since the hostage taking and seeing that while a great deal of water and lands divides our nations, we have a great deal in common. It is completely reassuring that while Hezbollah controls South Lebanon, in the least a solid minority of Lebanese completely reject Hezbollah.
I hope this entire conflict can be stopped quickly, though sadly until there is no more Hezbollah and the tacit support from both Iran and Syria, similar conflicts will always arise.
Cheeers,
Anthony in the United States
What the hell were Hezbollah thinking? There are lots of Lebanese who reject Hezbollah outright and are probably paying the price for Hezbollah's actions right now. The Chinese use the same word for crisis and oportunity. This indeed is a crisis but it is also an opportunity to once and for all rid Lebanon of the pest known as Hezbollah.
That settles the arguement then. Muslims can now be officially classified as the dumbest people on earth. Maybe it's the absence of pork from their diet or something. Anyone from a billion miles away would've seen this coming.
Fairuz? who is fairuz ? Fairuz is a lovely dream who lived in country of mobs and animals..Each one of these creatures stucks a label on his anus :Sunni,shiite,Maronite,Pro-syrian,Pro-iranian and Pro-hell and what is Lebanon? what is civilization?what is humanity?Nothing . Nobody claims that Israel is the cause but stupidity and ignorance !!
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