Israel Matzav

Will Lebanon be next? IAF planes fly low over south

On June 25, 2006, Hamas terrorists kidnapped IDF corporal Gilad Shalit from the Kerem Shalom crossing point. Israel responded by bombarding Gaza's infrastructure from the air.

Seventeen days later, on July 12, 2006, Hezbullah abducted and murdered IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev HY"D (may God avenge their blood), and we had a two-front war in which all the attention was soon focused on Hezbullah and Lebanon. Could it happen again? Obviously, someone thinks so.

At least five Israeli warplanes on Sunday flew low over south Lebanon, already the target of an overnight reconnaissance flight, a Lebanese security official said.

"At least five aircraft over flew the Bint Jbeil region (south of Beirut) and headed for the port town of Tyre" farther north, the official told AFP.

The security official said an Israeli MK-type reconnaissance aircraft flew over the south all night until dawn broke.

Of course, Israel isn't really looking for a two-front war. Is Hezbullah Lebanon? Here's Hezbullah (which is now a part of the Lebanese government):

Hizbullah on Saturday called for speedy global and U.N. action against massive Israeli raids on the Gaza Strip that left at least 205 Palestinians killed.
"What is going on in Gaza Strip is an Israeli war crime and represents genocide," said a Hizbullah statement.

It also "calls for speedy U.N. action as well as action by the international community because silence is tantamount to complicity in this aggression," added the statement.

"The nations are requested to stand firm against the Israeli barbarism -- covered internationally and by America -- to halt the ongoing massacre," the statement said.

And here's the 'March 14 coalition' that nominally leads Lebanon.

The majority March 14 alliance described Israel's massive air raids on Gaza Saturday as "barbaric massacres."

A statement by the coalition supported a call by Prime Minister Fouad Saniora for an emergency Arab League meeting to adopt an Arab stance to "face up to Israeli terrorism."

"These barbaric massacres require a wide-scale Arab and international action to deter Israel and force it to stop its aggression," said the statement.

These massacres "also require restoration of Palestinian unity and an end to Palestinian divide," the statement added.

By the way, Egypt and Fatah are trying to avoid that meeting. But that's a topic for a separate post.

Will Lebanon try to make this a two-front war? If Hamas keeps losing as miserably as they have until now, I think we can bet on it.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:28 PM