Israel Matzav

Hezbullah 'bunker specialist' falls to his death

Haj Jamil Salah, 51, a top Hezbollah operative who was in charge of the construction of underground bunkers in south Lebanese villages fell to his death on Monday while standing on the rooftop of a building in the village of Yaroun, close to the Israeli border. He was reportedly discussing with his men how far inside Israeli territory the rockets installed at the launch pads in the village could reach, when he fell. The Qatari newspaper al-Arab reported that Salah died in a mysterious manner.

Salah was responsible for the construction of vast networks of deep underground tunnels leading to reinforced concrete bunkers located in over 150 villages south of the Litani River, an area that Hezbollah is supposedly barred from operating in. The bunkers are built underneath houses in the villages, their reinforced rooms are large enough to hold personnel as well as stockpiles of missiles and vast supplies of food.

While the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 called for the disarming of the Hezbollah and barred it from operating in southern Lebanon, reality on the ground shows a different story. UNIFIL chooses to turn a blind eye and the Lebanese Army appears to be incapable of confronting Hizbullah operatives. It is for this very reason that Israel continues its air force forays over southern Lebanon.

Let's go to the videotape and then I will have a few comments.



I want to emphasize two points. First, note that the bunkers are being and have been built "underneath houses in the villages." This means that although Israel is permitted to do so under the Geneva Convention, which does not protect the civilians behind whom terrorists are hiding, in the event that Israel goes after those bunkers and tries to take out the terrorists, there will almost certainly be civilian casualties and Israel will certainly be condemned - unjustly - for 'endangering civilians.' If you add the possibility that because the bunkers are made from reinforced concrete, Israel would need to use 'bunker busters' or other specialized weaponry, you raise the possibility that Israel would endanger future weapons supplies of this nature - principally from the United States.

Second, as I am sure you all noticed, the first three paragraphs of this post were a direct quote from the reporter on the video. I want to take issue with the following statement: "UNIFIL chooses to turn a blind eye and the Lebanese Army appears to be incapable of confronting Hizbullah operatives." UNIFIL doesn't choose to turn a blind eye (although given the opportunity, it would). Under the toothless Resolution 1701, UNIFIL cannot act unless the Lebanese Army invites it to act. We have our incompetent foreign minister to thank for that. As to the Lebanese Army, it is not unable to act. It largely consists of Hezbullah and its sympathizers, and therefore whether it is able to act is irrelevant: It will not act no matter what.

UPDATE THURSDAY 10:38 AM

DEBKA reports on where this 'accident' took place.

Jamal Amin Salah, 51, a Hizballah operations executive, stood on the rooftop of a building at the Lebanese Yaroun village, less than half a kilometer from the Israeli border. He was discussing with his men how far inside Israeli territory the rockets installed at the launch pads in the village could reach, when he fell to his death.

Didn't 'Tzipora' say we had pushed Hezbullah back from the border?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:14 PM