Hezbollah, Party of God.
War and associated crimes are unfortunately nothing new. This, however, should in no way detract from their vile realities and destructive consequences.
The Middle Eastern crisis itself is by no means a recent development; attempts by Hezbollah to remove Israeli forces from Lebanon have been fervent since the 1980s when Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) began making military incursions into the lands of Lebanon. Hezbollah long represented themselves as a force of resistance against Israel and won much respect from Lebanese Shia Muslims as a result.
The current crisis resulted from ‘Operation Truthful Promise’, whereby the Hezbollah militia captured a number of Israeli soldiers in order to swap them for the remaining three Lebanese held by Israel forces. The retaliatory actions are in my eyes wholly unjust and irrational.
A little while before the conflict arose, the Israeli army’s chief of staff threatened to ‘turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years’. They are doing well. Lebanon has been brought to its knees, and not just militarily. Tens of thousands of refugees have been created in just nine days and evacuated foreign nationals have overwhelmed ports in Cyprus. Even worse is the realisation that 500,000 Lebanese civilians have been forced from their homes with no hope of similar evacuation to safety. Lebanon’s infrastructure has been decimated by Israeli air strikes. Roads and bridges have been bombed, making the distribution of water, sanitation and medical supplies for the displaced almost impossible.
What slaps me in the face is the blatant and unashamed bombing of civilian targets. The media is filled with such stories, and they can’t all be wrong:
CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported from Beirut, “We’re hearing stories, confirmed stories now about ambulances actually being attacked. Hospitals actually being bombed, so much so, that they can no longer function”. The BBC reported that families evacuating the village of Marwahin in South Lebanon were struck on an open road by an Israeli missile attack, killing 17, many of them women and children. Furthermore, three families fleeing Tyre at the command of the IDF were attacked by rockets fired from Israeli helicopters. All were waving white flags from their vehicles.
Officially, Israel claims to minimise civilian casualties, but states that it is a difficult task when Hezbollah purportedly use civilian homes for shelter. However, whilst it may well be true, it does not allow for Israeli forces to obliterate entire streets of civilian-owned property. Israel’s military rationale seems poorly thought out and I refuse to believe that the majority of targets have any conceivable relationship to Hezbollah. Nevertheless, the Human Rights Watch has been rightly quick to point out that Hezbollah are by no means the victims in the worsening crisis. They too have been targeting civilian areas. Some of the rockets launched against Haifa over the past two days contained hundreds of metal ball bearings that are known to be of limited use against military targets but cause great harm to civilians and civilian property. At least 2,200 are believed to have been fired thus far.
Whilst the Lebanese government is bold in disavowing Hezbollah’s actions, I have yet to see any clear preventative measures against Hezbollah’s increasing violence, nor any moves to disarm the militia. Israel, on the other hand, has officially announced support for peacekeeping and foreign military forces to intervene in the crisis, forces which sickeningly seem far too concerned with evacuating their own nationals rather than helping the thousands of civilians being killed around them. Moreover, this move by Israel seems politically motivated; their bombing raids across Lebanese cities are having little to no effect on Hezbollah’s reprisals.
The UN has, albeit diplomatically and coated in euphemism, acknowledged that indiscriminate shelling of cities constitutes a foreseeable and unacceptable targeting of civilians. Similarly, the bombardment of sites with alleged military significance, but resulting invariably in the killing of innocent civilians, is unjustifiable. In so saying, the UN too has yet to act, just as with NATO. Although I want to be positive about the future, I remain very sceptical. The UN passed resolution 1559 in 2004, which called for the disarmament of militias as well as the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon. Israel withdrew its forces but Hezbollah has ardently refused to disarm. No action was taken. More recently, one day after the call for a ceasefire by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on 20 July 2006, a UN-run observation post was hit by direct fire during fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militia. No action was taken.
The issue that makes this all the more frustrating is that the bombing raids over Lebanon not only have US support, but the military hardware and weaponry used was sold by US businesses. Condoleezza Rice, American secretary of state, seemed to further support the current war crimes in stating that a call for a ceasefire was not on her agenda unless it involved the disarming of Hezbollah.
Israel has also changed tact. The capture and subsequent trading of prisoners has been occurring for a long time, seeing hundreds transferred and freed by both sides. However, for whatever reason, Israel has chosen to do this no longer, and instead insists that there will be no direct negotiation with Hezbollah over the return of its soldiers, and no Palestinian prisoners released. All sides are for now taking hard line positions, but such a lack of movement can only serve to further intensify the current violence and will not get Israel’s soldiers back.
A ceasefire will undoubtedly be required, followed by peace talks. Tony Blair and Kofi Annan’s calls for the deployment of international forces in and around Lebanon will certainly help bring order to the crisis, but at this stage I’m sad to say I have little hope of it coming to fruition, at least in a form that would be close to effective. The allocation of troops in key areas and along borders is a resource heavy operation and a logistical nightmare. It seems, in such a politically and religiously charged conflict, all sides wish to save face and are thus deeply reluctant to take the first step toward peaceful action.
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Very interesting Craig. You have put a lot of feeling and thought into this subject. Well done