Posted on 07/12/2006 7:50:34 PM PDT by callmejoe
(Israel) Government okays massive strikes on Lebanon
By Amos Harel, Aluf Benn and Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies (snip)
The Israel Defense Forces began preparing Wednesday night for a widespread aerial assault on Lebanon, after the cabinet approved a "severe" response to Hezbollah's attack on the northern border on Wednesday, which ended with eight soldiers dead and two kidnapped. . .
The response will include a series of aerial attacks against Hezbollah, and particularly against the batteries of rockets aimed at Israel that the organization has stationed along the northern border. . .
. . . Hezbollah is likely to respond to the Israeli attacks with massive rocket launches at Israel, and in that case, the IDF might move ground forces into Lebanon, both to create a temporary buffer zone in the southern part of the country and to destroy Hezbollah's network of outposts and rockets along the border. The goal of any such operation would also be to ensure that this network could not be rebuilt.
Residents of northern border communities have already been ordered into shelters, and Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered the Home Front Command to prepare for the defense of dozens of other communities that were not vulnerable to Hezbollah fire in the past, but are now reachable with the long-range rockets Hezbollah has deployed in recent years.
"We may be facing a completely different reality, in which hundreds of thousands of Israelis will, for a short time, find themselves in danger from Hezbollah's rockets," said a senior defense official. These include residents of the center of the country.
The army also began preparing for a limited call-up of the reserves, since this might be necessary if a ground operation in Lebanon is approved. Thus far, however, no call-up has been approved. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
Is it that time already?
"So I ask you this -- When do you think they'll take the 20 minutes to wipe out Syria seeing how they're involved here, too?"
If they tip any of those rockets with chem or bio (say hypothetically from WMD moved from Iraq to Bekaa in 2002/2003 or existing Syrian stockpiles or Iranian material supervised by the IRGC officers in south Lebanon) . . . then you will see something extreme like that.
Israel will not react well at all if someone is foolish enough to do that. They have a bad history with chemicals used against civilians.
Religion of peace my arse BUMP!
This news does have a "hold your breath" feel to it, doesn't it? Israel will not play around the way we seem to be doing in Iraq--their (Israel's) survival is always formost in their thinking (though Sharon seemed to be willing to give the store away for a while).
The Bible exhorts us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and so I shall...but the enemy, bolstered in its belief in a false god and in sensing American "weakness" by our unwillingness to do what is necessary in Iraq, seems possessed of a haughty spirit and bent on bringing down upon itself God's wrath.
Israel needs to airlift troops into the north, and then squeeze Hizbollah from north and south. A complete a$$ kicking that will leave the sweaty bigmouth hizbollah utterly humiliated.
Have you read this yet?
Hope I'm wrong, but I'm thinking, "Here we go."
Yes but heaven forbid Syria has a "mini" nuke or something ready to use once they can scream "provocation" and get half of EU blaming the Israelis. I don't agree with all of Israel's actions but they're effectively being attacked from two sides now & they can't tolerate that for a second if they're to survive.
"20 minutes to wipe out Syria"
But, wait. Won't that make them really mad?
Yep, the gloves have come off. The Hizbollah idiots are going to get hammered.
Hezbollah missile installations are the immediate threat but the real targets lie inside the villas of exclusive suburbs of Damascus and Tehran bristling with security, and equipped with indoor swimming pools and underground garages for fleets of luxury automobiles bought through extortion, money laundering, and general corruption. Those are the nerve centers and from where the orders and paychecks ultimately come.
I like the flag!
yes
It could very well be that Syria has a nuke or two (maybe some or all of Saddam's WMD's). But I'm not sure Syria will be addressed by Israel. Didn't they say they hold the Lebanese government responsible--it was the US that impugned Syria and Iran?. This could well be a way for the US to exert pressure diplomatically to keep Syria out of the mix while Israel mops up the Hezbollah, Hamas, etc.
If one nuke goes off in the Middle East, many will go off.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/ShTickers.html
06:23 Katyusha rockets land in Mount Meron area, no injuries reported (Israel Radio)
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