Friday, September 12, 2008

Lebanon faces real, immediate threat

Sept.12, 2008


Lebanon faces real, immediate threat


ISRAEL is on the move again targeting Lebanon's Hizbollah. It is only a matter of time that the Israeli military would launch strikes against Hizbollah targets in Lebanon in order to "avenge" its defeat in the war of the summer of 2006.
That Hizbollah has entrenched itself in Lebanese politics with the May deal with the government is yet another reason for Israel to attempt to cripple the group.
The Israeli military is bristling with indignation and fury that Hizbollah breached the image of Israeli invincibility and the Jewish state has not been able to hit back in the two years since then.
And now Hizbollah has consolidated its status as a legitimate resistance group and thwarted all efforts for its fighters to be disarmed.
A ministerial declaration adopted in early August allowed Hizbollah to keep its weapons, and underlined the right of Lebanon's people, army, and resistance — meaning Hizbollah — to liberate Israeli occupied areas and "defend the country using all legal and possible means."
The shift in the balance of political power in Lebanon was followed by a prisoner exchange with Israel that bolstered Hizbollah but sparked a sense of humiliation among many Israelis.
The Israelis are indeed worried and seem to be setting the ground for sweeping military action against Hizbollah and they hope would "avenge" the humiliation they suffered in the war of 2006.
They are claiming that Hizbollah is preparing for another confrontation with Israel, whereas, in reality, it is the thing that the group wants today while it is digging its heel deep into the Lebanese body politic. The Israelis are claiming that Hizbollah, with Iranian and Syrian help, has not only replenished its stocks of rockets and mortars but has also acquired anti-aircraft missiles. There is no independent confirmation that this indeed is the case.
We have been hearing increasing Israeli threats against Hizbollah for some time now, but the situation turns more alarming when we note that the Israelis are threatening Lebanon itself.
"The moment the Lebanese government confers legitimacy on Hizbollah, it must understand that the entire Lebanese state will be a target," Israel's Environment Minister Gideon Ezra said before the Lebanese cabinet move that consolidated Hizbollah's status as a legitimate resistance group . Since the Beirut government did not heed the "warning," Israel must be thinking that it is free to use whatever options it has to make good its threat.
The danger of a massive Israeli military blitz against Hizbollah is very much real, and it is anyone's guess what would follow the first Israeli bomb or missile that hits a Hizbollah target.