From the article: "What that means is, in plain English, 'We've got Hezbollah fighters running around in our positions, taking our positions here and then using us for shields and then engaging the (Israeli Defence Forces)," he said. That would mean Hezbollah was purposely setting up near the UN post, he added. It's a tactic Maj.-Gen. MacKenzie, who was the first UN commander in Sarajevo during the Bosnia civil war, said he's seen in past international missions: Aside from UN posts, fighters would set up near hospitals, mosques and orphanages.
So, there guerrilla groups have a tactic of luring conventional forces into hitting structures that will create international outrage. I assume that Isrealli technology includes devices that detect incoming rounds and fires back at calculated sources. You can imagine Hezbohnazis cheering with victory when reports emerge showing that Isreal has hit such targets. It's at that point that the Nadirs of the world proclaim another outrage an an army that merely wants to end external attacks on its interrior.
I am changing my mind, though, in favor of resisting these traps. It may very well be true that Isreal loses fewer troops, civillians, and material resouces annually by accepting Hezboh/Hama-nazi attacks than by confronting them with invasions aiming to stamp them out.
2 comments:
The fact is UN personnel at that location were in contact with the Israelis as they were being bombed. They said this place had been used for years. The Israelis knew where it was.
I agree though. If it was a trap, the Israelis should have been smarter. I don't think that was the whole story though.
Do you suppose that the Hezbohs knew of this location as a UN post?
Do you doubt the report from the UN official who described Hezboh as using this post as a stage for launching attacks?
Are you certain that the UN employees were communicating with the same Isrealis responsible for responding to Hezboh attacks? I'm not sure what the UN officials could specifically mean when they say that they were "communicating with Isreal", in the context of an ongoing war, which comprises hundreds of units of Isreali troops independantly and spontaneously making instantaneous decisions in response to attacks on them.
How many UN posts are the Hezbohs using in this way? How many of them have received munitions responses from the Irealis?
Should UN posts constitute sanctuaries for Hezboh troops firing on Isreali troops?
Should UN officials issue condemnations to Hezboh for using UN posts and civillian structures as stages for military attacks? Should such condemnations be as severe (or more so?) -- and receive as much press attention -- as condemnations against civillian and UN casualties resulting from Isreali actions?
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