“Oh, to be in Lebanon, now that Spring is gone”…and with Israeli armor crossing the Lebanese border on Wednesday, as the IDF’s air force and navy attacked a well known base of the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, in its bid to free two kidnapped IDF soldiers, it now appears that Israel may indeed be prepared to repeat its performance of the 80s with a general advance into the country.
The base at Naameh, only 10 miles from the Lebanese capitol of Beirut, has been a target of Israeli reprisal raids many times before…but with IDF tanks once again on Lebanese soil and Israel’s Chief of Staff threatening to “turn back the clock twenty years,” in reference to “Operation Peace of the Galilee,” the 1982 invasion of southern Lebanon, Wednesday’s incursion may well be the first steps of a much broader campaign.
This most recent round of violence comes only one year after Syria’s withdrawal of its forces from Lebanon, under intense pressure from the US and Briton, the Israelis having pulled out six years ago.
Also on Wednesday, the White House demanded the immediate release of the two Israeli soldiers, reportedly captured by Hezbollah guerrillas, and went on to blame Syria and Iran for the attacks.
"We condemn in the strongest terms, Hezbollah's unprovoked attack on Israel and the kidnapping of the two Israeli soldiers", Frederick Jones, a spokesman for the National Security Council was quoted as saying.
"We call for immediate and unconditional release of the two soldiers," Jones told reporters. "Hezbollah terrorism is not in Lebanon's interests. This attack demonstrates that Hezbollah's continued impunity to arm itself and carry out operations from Lebanese territory is a direct threat to the security of the Lebanese people and the sovereignty of the Lebanese government."
"We also hold Syria and Iran, which directly support Hezbollah, responsible for this attack and for the ensuing violence," Jones said.
Israel described the kidnappings as an act of war by Lebanon that would draw a "very painful" response, while Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the two soldiers had been seized to force Israel to release prisoners.
Israeli warplanes have already struck dozens of targets in southern Lebanon, many being civilian infrastructure, such as power plants and bridges, while mobilizing a reserve infantry division and Hezbollah has declared a full military alert, claiming its guerrillas destroyed two Israeli tanks that were attempting to cross the border into Lebanon on, two different occasions Wednesday but gave no report on casualties at Naameh.
Bush, having promised long ago to defend Israel at all costs, along with Wednesday’s remarks from the White House, has to make one wonder if this relatively minor incident will escalate into the next step in destroying the “Axis of Evil”. Could we now be realizing the long awaited answer to the question? “Will it be Iran or Syria first?” Maybe the answer has been Lebanon all along.
Now the question is, “If this situation escalates into a general assault, will Syria and Iran come to the defense of Hezbollah and the other Lebanese Islamist fighters, not to mention the frail Lebanese government itself?" And if so, will the US be obliged to “defend” Israel, as promised?
Time will only tell…but the thunder, heard today over Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast, makes me wonder if “Big Storm Come.”
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