Free Republic

Washington DC, Aug. 03, 2006 (CNA) - Recent reports indicate that Hezbollah is using Christian villages to shield its attacks against Israel. According to Christian Solidarity International, Hezbollah is hiding among civilian populations, mostly in southern Lebanese towns, such as Ain Ebel, Rmeish, Alma Alshaab. Launching attacks behind human shields is in violation of the Geneva Convention's provision for the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, which prohibits the use of civilians as military shields. This is not a new strategy for Hezbollah. Col. Charbel Barka, a former South Lebanese Army commander, says Hezbollah is repeating what it did...

BEIRUT: Lebanon's top religious figures called on the international community to end its silence over the Israeli hostilities in the country. Vice president of the Higher Shiite Council Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan called Monday for an international investigation into the Qana massacre.During an emergency meeting of the council Monday, Qabalan called for an immediate end of Israeli hostilities against Lebanon and urged all the Lebanese to unite and support the resistance.Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani met Monday with Iranian Ambassador Mahmoud Rida Shibani, who condemned the Qana massacre and the "international silence over the continuous Israeli hostilities."Earlier in the day,...

BRUSSELS — The Israeli military is using chemical weapons during its bombing of Lebanon, a Belgian-Lebanese professor claimed during a press conference in Brussels on Thursday.The press conference was organised by the secretary of the Tripoli archbishop, Monsignor Jean Abboud. The Belgian professor of Lebanese origin, Bachir Cham, is the head of a hospital in Lebanon."The bodies don't look like they normally do. After an explosion there were no traces of blood loss or subcutaneous haemorrhages [bruises]," Cham said via mobile phone direct from Beirut."The hair and sometimes the beard and the moustache remained intact. I found no traces of...