Bombing them into the wrong arms

While the Israeli army and air force break the Geneva Convention on a daily basis in Lebanon, Western tactics are unsurprisingly failing:

The ferocity of Israel’s onslaught in southern Lebanon and Hizbullah’s stubborn battles against Israeli ground forces may be working in the militant group’s favour.

“They want to shatter the myth of Israeli invincibility,” says Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a leading Lebanese expert on Hizbullah. “Being victorious means not allowing Israel to achieve their aims, and so far that is the case.”

Still, the intensity of the Israeli bombing campaign appears to have taken Hizbullah aback. Mahmoud Komati, the deputy head of Hizbullah’s politburo told the Associated Press, “the truth is – let me say this clearly – we didn’t even expect [this] response … that [Israel] would exploit this operation for this big war against us.”

The stakes are high for Hizbullah, but it seems it can count on an unprecedented swell of public support that cuts across sectarian lines.According to a poll released by the Beirut Center for Research and Information, 87 percent of Lebanese support Hizbullah’s fight with Israel, a rise of 29 percent on a similar poll conducted in February. More striking, however, is the level of support for Hizbullah’s resistance from non-Shiite communities. Eighty percent of Christians polled supported Hizbullah along with 80 percent of Druze and 89 percent of Sunnis.

Lebanese no longer blame Hizbullah for sparking the war by kidnapping the Israeli soldiers, but Israel and the US instead.

The latest poll by the Beirut Center found that 8 percent of Lebanese feel the US supports Lebanon, down from 38 percent in January.

Of course, if you’re an Israeli/Australian dual national and you fight for the Jewish state, you’re a patriot. If you’re a Lebanese/Australia and you fight for Hizbollah, you’re a terrorist. It’s good to see the Howard government supporting the good guys in the struggle.

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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