Breaking: Israel bombs Hezbollah’s Beirut HQ (Update: Hezbollah threatens “open war,” attacks “beyond Haifa”) (Update: Hezbollah drone severely damages Israeli ship)
posted at 12:33 pm on July 14, 2006 by Allahpundit
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Sorry I’m late to this today. Fox is reporting three large explosions in the city. An IDF officer told Haaretz this morning that it was coming:
A senior General Staff official told Haaretz that the IDF is planning to bomb Hezbollah headquarters in a densely populated area of south Beirut on Friday.
The IDF said it has dropped leaflets warning civilians of the impending attack and that many of them have left the Shi’ite Dahiya quarter of south Beirut, where thousands of people live in multi-story residential buildings.
“We will atack more significant targets than we have attacked until now,” the officer said.
Updates on the way…
Update: I hope Olmert’s not writing checks he can’t cover when he says that the operation will continue until Hezbollah is disarmed. I love that he’s using a UN resolution as justification, though. Dan Gillerman, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., hit the same note this morning during the UNSC’s emergency session.
The text of Resolution 1559 is here:
The Security Council,…
Mindful of the upcoming Lebanese presidential elections and underlining the importance of free and fair elections according to Lebanese constitutional rules devised without foreign interference or influence,…
3. Calls for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias
Lebanon calls the Israeli attack “barbaric,” the Vatican “deplores” it, France says it’s “completely disproportionate.” Ahmadinejad tells Iranians that Israel doesn’t have the stones to attack it.
Update: Fox just broke in to say that Sheikh Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, is believed to have been in the building when the IAF hit it — and that the building has collapsed. Can that be? Wouldn’t Nasrallah have gone to ground days ago?
Israel threatened to kill him as recently as yesterday.
Update: An amazing moment at the Security Council session as Gillerman accuses the Lebanese ambassador of secretly being on his side:
Addressing the council, Mr Gillerman said the Lebanese government had brought the Israeli actions on itself, by allowing Hizbollah to remain armed and keep de facto control over southern Lebanon, enabling it to cross the border to seize two Israeli soldiers.
He told Lebanon’s special envoy, Nouhad Mahmoud: “You know deep in your heart that if you could, you would be sitting here right next to me right now because you know that we are doing the right thing and that if we succeed, Lebanon would be the beneficiary.”
He’s not blowing smoke. Walid Jumblatt, leader of Lebanon’s Druze population, has urged Israel not to bomb Beirut — but he’s a bit more agnostic on attacking Hezbollah’s stronghold in the south. Says Jumblatt:
“[Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah does not obey the government of Lebanon. We (in the government) don’t agree with his acts. But we cannot in Lebanon force him to accept any resolution unless he accepts it himself,” said Jumblatt, speaking to the WorldNetDaily and ABC Radio’s John Batchelor on Batchelor’s national radio program.
The Lebanese government is looking to capitalize while Hezbollah is under the gun:
Since the fighting with Israel started Wednesday, calls for Hezbollah to relinquish its weapons have gathered urgency…
[I]n meetings Thursday, Lebanese officials began to lay the groundwork for an extension of government control to southern Lebanon…
“To declare war and to make military action must be a decision made by the state and not by a party,” said Nabil de Freige, a parliament member… “It’s a very simple equation: You have to be a state.”
After a cabinet meeting Thursday, the government said it had a right and duty to extend its control over all Lebanese territory. Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat said the statement marked a step toward the government reasserting itself.
Anecdotal evidence suggests they have popular support.
Update: CNN says Hezbollah TV — yeah, they have their own channel — is reporting that Nasrallah is fine. The building, however, has gone bye-bye.
Update: Hezbollah TV is broadcasting a message from Hezbollah, although it’s not clear if it’s live or taped. According to CNN’s translator, he says, “If you want an open war, you’ll have an open war.”
Reader Eddie G. e-mails to ask how CNN can be airing this when Hezbollah TV is banned in the U.S. From what I saw, there was no actual audio of Nasrallah; the only sound you heard was CNN’s translator. Is that enough of a distinction? Not sure.
Update: Speaking of open war, Michael Oren, author of “Six Days of War,” opines in WaPo:
[I]n countering Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel has little choice but to strike at those who authorize the attacks: the heads of those organizations. Both Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza and Hasan Nasrallah in Lebanon appear indifferent to their own people’s safety…
By contrast, punishing the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples collectively, as Israel has been doing, only strengthens their support for terror while creating painful ethical problems for Israelis. And negotiating with the terrorists for their hostages’ release merely encourages them to kidnap more Israelis…
Israel has no realistic option but to convince [state sponsors of terror] that the price of promoting aggression is prohibitive. If Israeli soldiers and civilians are the targets of Iranian- and Syrian-backed terror, then the Iranian and Syrian militaries must become targets for Israel.
Update: Not only is Hezbollah threatening to attack Haifa, they’re threatening to attack “beyond Haifa.” And Israel thinks they might be able to do it.
Update: An unmanned aerial vehicle loaded with explosives crashed into an Israeli ship a little while ago, severely damaging it.
Where did Hezbollah get a UAV from?
Update: Defense Tech calls the drone a “suicide bomber on steroids,” and says there’s basically no way to defend against it. Haaretz says the ship is being towed back to Israel and is still burning.
Hezbollah fired a missile at a second Israeli ship a little while ago — but the attack didn’t go quite as planned. It hit a boat, but the boat wasn’t military.
And it wasn’t Israeli, either.
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ROFL hahaha using the Useless Nitwits against themselves. That’s just GREAT!!!
RH
RobertHuntingdon on July 14, 2006 at 12:50 PM
I can’t imagine Nasrallah decided he’d hang around and go down with the building. Israel’s been telegraphing this punch for too long. He wouldn’t have been there unless he has a death wish.
And we all know that martyrdom is glorious for thee, not so much for me.
Pablo on July 14, 2006 at 1:02 PM
Go get ‘em Israel. One thing about Israel is that they don’t pussyfoot around. All you have to do is keep on provoking them and they unleash their bombs in full force without giving a damn what the useless United Nations has to say. All those countries who are against the Israeli retaliation have not had to live every day with a steady bombardment of rockets, suicide bombers, etc. So I say again - go get ‘em Israel!!
OBX Pete on July 14, 2006 at 1:31 PM
Hit’em again! Harder! Harder! And while you guys are at it, send a shot across Iran’s bow as well!
Dread Pirate Roberts VI on July 14, 2006 at 1:34 PM
CNN reports (via banner ad) that Nasrallah will be making a televised speech shortly.
As for Gillerman, did you check this exchange with Riyad Mansour?
This guy’s en fuego!
Gillerman sounds Irish, doesn’t it? McHebrew? Hey, whatever works.
Pablo on July 14, 2006 at 1:48 PM
I wonder if muslims are subjecting themselves to selection pressures that will tend to pacify them in the long run–especially if the rest of us help them along. Given especially that the muslims who do most of the dying are young and probably childless, it seems that global jihad ought to have the effect of reducing the frequency of genes that influence such factors as religious credulity, fear, altruism, and the sort of shame that leads a suicide bomber to follow through on a stupid vow.
I think a process like this may have been operative in the West for a long time, with results somewhat detrimental to our ability to make war. The American Civil War and World Wars I and II are examples of Western wars that killed tens and hundreds of thousands of warlike young men. The Southern men still alive after the Civil War are depicted as feckless in Gone with the Wind. I’ve read a suggestion that the depiction is accurate and that, in general, wars with a high enough rate of casualties reduce the courage, initiative, and health of a populace through their direct effects on the frequency of gene variants that have a bearing on these attributes.
Such effects, if they’re real, make the U.S.’s use of Iraq as a “magnet” or “flypaper” for jihadis a good strategy for long-term success, at least regarding its likely dysgenic effects on muslim peoples. These conjectures also indicate the strategic importance, especially in the West, of paying scrupulous attention to our own casualties, as we have lately. Warlike young men seem comparatively rare in contemporary Western nations; it seems we should not only continue to be very careful to wage wars in ways that minimize casualties, but contrive ways to ensure that our volunteer soldiers go on to have large families after they’ve finished their service.
Kralizec on July 14, 2006 at 1:51 PM
The contemporary idolatry of the “virtue” of honesty is at the root of remarks like these, but public exposure of a covert ally is stupid.
Kralizec on July 14, 2006 at 2:02 PM
Oh the Israelis missed?
Lets try that again then ok?
Defector01 on July 14, 2006 at 2:07 PM
The contemporary idolatry of the “virtue” of honesty is at the root of remarks like these, but public exposure of a covert ally is stupid.
This is no time to be covert. This is the time for Lebanon to take itself back from Hezbollah, while Israel beats them to death. This is “shit or get off the pot” time.
Pablo on July 14, 2006 at 2:33 PM
Iran and Syria have miscalculated, I believe.
I do not know what they expected. Maybe they thought Olmert was weak and would buckle. As it stands now, I’m not looking for Israel to stand down as long as the USA continues to support it diplomatically and with aid.
Both Iran and Syria now face a dillemma, given that their expressed gambit (exchanging kidnapped IDF for terrorists in Israeli jails) appears to have backfired. Syria faces both Israel and the US forces on opposite sides of their country. Any Syrian forces in the eastern part is effectively pinned down, facing our troops. That gives a major advantage to Israel should it wish to advance on Damascus.
Iran faces a huge US force in the Gulf, in the Indian ocean, and in Iraq. Any conventional attack on Israel launched from Iran would have to run a US military gauntlet. Any use of an intermediate range ballistic missile capable of reaching Israel faces the Navy’s Aegis as well as an Israeli counterstrike.
And here is one more item: There are tens of thousands of Americans in both Israel and Lebanon that may need evacuation. They have no way to evacuate by commerical/charter jetliner since the IDF cratered the runways at Beruit Internation and the Lebanese AF bases. Should a decision be made to evacuate our people, the large number (I heard 25,000 this morning) will require major US military assets, including the 6th Fleet, the Iwo Jima Epeditionary Strike Group in the Red Sea, and/or troops and aircraft out of Germany.
If I were George W. Bush, I’d instruct Amb. Bolton to tell the Iranians and the Syrians that any interference with US forces evacuating Americans and any other foreign nationals will result in a strike against their capitals. I’d make it especially clear to the Iranians that we remember Khobar Towers and Beruit ‘83, and hold them directly accountable for both, and that we won’t hesitate to hit them with a devastating attack at the slightest sign of Hezbollah activities against us.
But then, I’m not the POTUS, I’m just another keyboard commando with some spare time on his hands.
;^)
georgej on July 14, 2006 at 3:02 PM
crazy.
Shmo on July 14, 2006 at 3:04 PM
It is about time that Israel takes out Hezbollah.
I’m a Catholic and have been constantly frustrated with the liberal Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano’s proclamations on foreign policy for the past several years, making himself out as if he speaks for the Catholic Church.
He is a liberal holdover of Pope John Paul II’s. Thankfully he resigned on June 22 and will be replaced by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Hopefully, we will have less of these idiotic anti-Israel appeasement statements.
januarius on July 14, 2006 at 3:26 PM
Ambassador Gillerman’s performance today has been every bit the equal to that of Adlai Stevenson during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
By comparison, the Secretary General’s opening statement fairly reeks of smarmy, self-serving drivel. Kofi Annan reminds us to wonder why on earth we even bother. Gillerman reminds us that there may yet be hope for the UN after all.
Bat One on July 14, 2006 at 4:00 PM
Best thing that could happen would be for the Government of Lebanon to start forcing the Hez to leave… actualy work with Israel on this, giving them intelligence info on just where Hez is at….
It would minimize damage to the country, and show that they are trying to be good neighbors….
With Saudi and Egypt backing, this strategy could defuse the whole situation rapidly.
Romeo13 on July 14, 2006 at 4:19 PM
Have Iran and Syria “miscalculated” or have GWB and his minions lured these imbeciles into painting themselves into a corner.
Who knows? But I suspect we’ll know the answer within the next two weeks.
As for me, I’m willing to put up with the short term pain that would result from Nuking these assholes. It worked in ‘45.
there it is on July 14, 2006 at 4:56 PM
No hostage or prisoner has EVER been returned alive to Israel. The Arabs word is worthless in the western sense, there will be no negotiations. None for Syria or Iran either. Michelle is right, Israel is only targetting the symptoms, but each one eliminated is one less us ‘great satanists’ will have to fight later. Gillerman was good, but I thought Bolton was even better and noted how quickly CNN cut away from him.
Reality Check on July 14, 2006 at 5:40 PM
I just fount this, Allah…
Terrorists Develop Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
On “Mirsad 1″ Fight Over Israel
December 6, 2004
The answer to where did Hezbollah get a UAV from seems to be Iran.
DannoJyd on July 14, 2006 at 7:17 PM
We must all support Israel. This is but a small part of the Global War on Terror that all civilized people must fight if they wish to survive. Unfortunately, we have too many people in this country that do not understand this. 9/11 was too long ago. They have forgotten what this war is all about.
immigration inspectr on July 14, 2006 at 7:47 PM
I have a question that will reveal my ignorance. What has Israel’s position been toward our invasion of Iraq?
mikeyboss on July 14, 2006 at 10:40 PM
Romeo13 has it right, the elected govt and the people of Lebenon have gotta tell hezbollah to piss off. Imagine if the German people had told hitler and the nazis to take a hike. Now is their chance and history will be watching. Unfortunately it seems like they’re backing up hezbollah and their buddies over at hamas (who says the shiites and sunnis can’t work together?)
Tony737 on July 14, 2006 at 10:44 PM
Iran in particular is using proxies to divert attention from it’s nuclear agenda at a crucial time (duh …).
Well, the United States has one that is bigger and better than Iran’s (proxy that is …lol). We should play Iran’s game only better. Send Israel the means to destroy Iran, and let Israel blow Iran into the stone age, their missiles, their nuclear facilities, and their little dog too …… (Syria that is).
We should give Israel all the help it needs (if it needs any) to destroy their oil facilities, infrastructure, bridges, communications, anything that even thinks about being military, means of production of capital equipment, naval and port facilities espeically in the Straight or Hormuz, and any targets of opportunity that present themselves.
Let Iran’s plan backfire and have Israel give them punishment that will put those miserable Islamofacists into the stoneage - those that are left that is.
omegaram on July 14, 2006 at 11:59 PM
mikeyboss: you asked about Israel’s position about us invading Iraq. Short answer is, they love it. Here’s a little history, and why Israel has been so quiet about Iraq. As Muslims generally will have nothing to do with Jews, Israel has been supportive but absent with regard to Iraq. Co-operation would never have come if Israeli troops had joined in the coalition. During the first Gulf war,Hussein tried to involve Israel-he was firing the “scud” missles into Israel, trying to get them to retaliate; if they had,other Muslims might have taken up with Hussein.Amadenejad is trying to rally Muslims against Israel now. Israel showed great courage and statesmanship-they went to their bunkers and waited for the missles to stop falling. But I guarantee you, they have never forgotten. When Hussein was close to developing Nuclear capabilities, Israel acted, and took out the reactors. They didn’t do that just for themselves, but for the entire world.
Leaving Hussein in power in Iraq was a terrible, terrible mistake. I was angry with GHW Bush-it came out later that he had bowed to UN pressure to not depose Hussein.
Israel’s future is in God’s hands, same as always. I know that things are going to get tough, but the tough times won’t last forever. May God Bless Israel.
Doug on July 15, 2006 at 1:01 AM
Given the steep slide in the price of microprocessors on a per-megahertz basis, the rapid spread of software development skills around the world, and the easy dispersal of information via the internet, I think we should expect unmanned aerial vehicles, cruise missiles, and smart bombs to become widespread over the next several years. We have little choice but to keep advancing the state of the art in order to stay ahead of other nations. In these times, it seems a Democrat President’s or Congress’s disregard for development of new military technology could hurt the U.S. really badly, really rapidly. A four-year Presidential term in office is time enough for at least a couple of iterations of Moore’s law. We have to press ahead with learning how to use improved CPUs to our best advantage, because other nations already have the advantage in numbers of young men. We can’t let them have technological parity, as well.
Kralizec on July 15, 2006 at 4:05 AM