| Author | Message | | Guest | | Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2002 5:28 am Post subject: Israel Plans to Hit Lebanon & Hezbollah when US Attacks |
| Excerpt from an article by Amir Oren in Ha'aretz, December 27, 2002
The Monroe Doctrine, formulated 180 years
ago, with its slogan, "America
for the Americans," opposed European
colonization or intervention on both
the northern and southern American
continents. Named for America's fifth
president, it complemented the diplomatic
doctrine of the first president,
George Washington ("Europe for the
Europeans" - meaning America should
stay out of their wars). The division of
labor between Bush and Sharon
allots Iraq to the Americans and the
territories and Lebanon to the Israelis.
For Sharon and the defense establishment,
the order of priorities is:
Lebanon first, then Gaza and Iraq not at
all - unless a very extreme
scenario materializes.
In recent days, and without any prior
coordination, IDF commanders in the
various branches have all spoken in favor
of a military initiative by Israel, to
be conducted in tandem with the American
campaign in Iraq, designed to
eradicate the threat posed by Hezbollah's
weapons. In their view, Israel
should not have to endure a situation of
prolonged exposure to the threat of
thousands of missiles and rockets whose
range covers the northern half of
the country, when the fingers on the
trigger belong to Hassan Nasrallah,
Bashar Assad and the Ayatollah Khomeini.
According to these officers, a concentrated
operation focused on Hezbollah
is necessary - and not one that is a repeat
of "Operation Accountability" or
of "Operation Grapes of Wrath," in which
the flight of the refugees (and the
fighters) northward was damaging for Israel
and allowed Hezbollah to
recoup. The objective of a new operation,
say its advocates, must be to free
Israel and Lebanon from the military grip
of Hezbollah. The aim should be
the implementation of the final clause in
the Taif agreement, which calls for
the disarming of all the militias in
Lebanon, restoration of full sovereignty to
the Lebanese government and the
installation of Lebanese army troops on
the border with Israel.
An escalation in the north is practically a
forgone conclusion. If Hezbollah
does not open fire as a demonstration of
Arab strength while the Americans
are fighting the Iraqis, then someone in
Israel will surely propose a
preemptive strike, or a provocation of
Hezbollah that would invite a first
strike that in turn would invite a
full-blown operation.
Even those who propound such an operation
and who expect that the air
force, the infantry brigades and other
forces would carry it out successfully,
are not complacent about it. Six-hundred
Hezbollah fighters spread out in
five sectors will no doubt prove to be a
bitter enemy, "like the Chechen
underground, or even tougher," say Israeli
officers who are Lebanon
veterans and have also fought in the
territories during the past two years. A
probable scenario, for the Iraq and
post-Lebanon period, is the mobilization
of reservists to serve as a stationary
force in the West Bank, while the
regular divisions head south to contend
with the Hamas leadership and
other targets in Gaza.
Even those who see a "window of
opportunity" for such military actions are
well aware that this window is situated in
the wall of the White House and
that the person who lives and works in that
building can open and shut it as
he pleases.
The need to help George Bush keep an eye on
Sharon, lest he go too far in
Lebanon, will push the Labor Party into the
government - the party whose
people (Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and
Ehud Barak) oversaw the
operations of 1993 ("Accountability"), 1996
("Grapes of Wrath") and 2000
(the withdrawal). Two days ago, even before
Judge Mishael Cheshin issued
his ruling barring Mofaz from running for
the Knesset, Sharon's office was
delighted to promote this possibility by
implying that room could be made
for Amram Mitzna at the Defense Ministry. | |  | | Guest | | | | Guest | | | | Guest | | | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
