Lebanese Army Fires On Israeli Aircraft
Good for them. It makes a mockery of those trying to enforce the UN Resolutions in Lebanon for Israel to constantly fly aircraft low over South Lebanon's cities. It is also massively damaging towards any hopes of peace between Lebanon and Israel. If Lebanon's government does nothing, they are alternatively portrayed as weak and irrelevant or pro-Israel lackeys. If the government fights back, they risk actually hitting something and igniting another conflict with Israel.
Regardless, those who insist on the government's sovereignty over all of Lebanon's territory can't merely criticize Hezbollah while ignoring the violations of the ham-handed neighbor to the south.
Comments (2)
Israel needs to stop being cocky all the time with it's military, and do what it needs to (reconnaissance) discreetly.
They can't just turn a blind eye on the logistics of HA.
Posted by Super Dude | October 25, 2007 2:50 PM
Posted on October 25, 2007 14:50
The solution is there in UNSC 1701: if Lebanon wants to reduce tensions, it need only return the "abducted" Israeli soldiers immediately and unconditionally. Besides, paragraph 15 goes beyond the Chapter 6 limitations and authorizes ships and aircraft to intervene in Hezbollah resupply, and proper surveillance is arguably part of that. Finally, countries subject to a UN peacekeeping operation are obliged under the UN Charter to have retaliatory action authorized by the U.N.
The UNSC dealt with the contradictions between the above and the current situation with a finessing letter earlier this year: the Lebanese were not to fire upon the Israeli aircraft, nor were the Israelis to attack Lebanese targets. Which essentially gave Hezbollah carte blanche to resupply as long as the Lebanese government would permit.
So what was the purpose of firing on the Israeli aircraft, then? Was it to scare them off, or to signal that Israeli attacks upon Hezbollah targets were now considered desireable?
Posted by Solomon2 | October 25, 2007 5:28 PM
Posted on October 25, 2007 17:28