Newscoma Has Moved: No End in Sight?

Monday, July 24, 2006

No End in Sight? Some new things have developed in the last 24 hours regarding Israel/Lebanon: Apparently Britan has broken with Bush over Israel

Britain dramatically broke ranks with George Bush last night over the Lebanon crisis, publicly criticising Israel's military tactics and urging America to 'understand' the price being paid by ordinary Lebanese civilians.
The remarks, made in Beirut by the Foreign Office minister, Kim Howells, were the first public criticism by this country of Israel's military campaign, and placed it at odds with Washington's strong support. The Observer can also reveal that Tony Blair voiced deep concern about the escalating violence during a private telephone conversation with the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, last week.

Syria has issued it's own warning:

Israeli jets have blitzed Lebanon and Hezbollah fired off more deadly rockets in a new bout of tit-for-tat attacks as the conflict continued to spiral despite international efforts for a ceasefire.As a host of top European diplomats descended on the region,Syria fueled fears the fighting could spread, issuing a stark warning that it would intervene if Israel invaded Lebanon.

And Bush is opposing an immediate cease-fire.

President Bush has opposed an immediate cease-fire, saying the root cause of the conflict — Hezbollah's domination of south Lebanon — must be resolved. His administration has said international peacekeepers might be needed in Lebanon once that issue is dealt with.
An Israeli military helicopter crashed Monday near the Lebanese border, and the military said there were two casualties. It was not immediately clear if the crash was related to fighting around the biggest Lebanese border town, Bint Jbail.

Israel said its troops captured two Hezbollah guerrillas, the first in the current conflict. "The two prisoners are located in Israel and will be held here with the aim of interrogating them," Brig. Gen. Alon Friedman told Israel Army Radio.

Fierce fighting raged as Israeli troops moved deeper into Lebanon to besiege Bint Jbail, dubbed the "capital of the resistance" due to its intense support of Hezbollah during Israel's 1982-2000 occupation of the south.

Is there no end in sight? And from a military stand-point, how is this country going to handle this because that's what worries me the most.

¶ 7/24/2006 07:00:00 AM

Comments:

All this begs the question about whether we are in WWIII now. My cousin the commander of the USAF Honor Guard thinks yes. He says the "war on terror" is over and we've moved into a newer, bigger war. Very scary stuff.

# posted by

Kathy T. : 7/24/2006 08:53:00 AM

This is my question:
shouldn't Lebanon be worried about its' citizens??? THEY need 2 rid themselves of Hezbolla... we have warned the world- u'r with us or against us. Lebanon supports terrorists... it's a choice they made!!!
:o

# posted by

starbender : 7/24/2006 11:59:00 AM

Starbender,

What choice does Lebanon have? They don't have the manpower or political will to destroy Hezbollah. The only thing they could do is start a civil war between North and South Lebanon, causing the deaths of possibly hundreds of thousands of civilians. Unless the world community is going to help Lebanon rid themselves of Hezbollah, there isn't really a thing they can do about it.

# posted by

Sean Braisted : 7/24/2006 02:38:00 PM

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