EPAPeople stand at a bombed apartment complex in Beirut, photo from yesterday
NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 07:03
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Eliane Lamper
Foreign editor
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Kaja Bouman
Foreign editor
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Eliane Lamper
Foreign editor
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Kaja Bouman
Foreign editor
After a week of heavy bombings and assassinations of senior Hezbollah leaders, the Israeli army has launched a ground offensive in southern Lebanon. Israel calls it a “small-scale operation” and says it will carry out “targeted attacks” in villages near the border with Israel where Hezbollah is said to be based.
“Lebanon is facing one of the most dangerous phases in history,” Lebanese Prime Minister Mikati said yesterday in a meeting with UN organizations. “This cycle of violence will not end well for anyone,” also warned Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, UN special coordinator in the country.
Israel shares little about the situation on the ground, so as not to provide the enemy with information. It is not clear how far Israeli soldiers have moved into the neighboring country. According to the army itself, they are at most within “walking distance of the border”. Hezbollah denies this and says the army has not yet crossed the border with Lebanon.
Fourth raid
A goal of the Israeli army is to drive out Hezbollah from the border so that displaced residents can return to their homes in northern Israel. Tens of thousands of Israelis have left in the past year because of Hezbollah’s rockets, fired from the border area in solidarity with Hamas and the Palestinians. Israel fired back a multitude of rockets.
The fact that the focus is now shifting to Lebanon “also has to do with Gaza,” says researcher Lior Volinz of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, who specializes in the Israeli security industry. “Israel does not want a ceasefire and at the same time it appears that the goals in Gaza cannot be achieved through military means. There is little left to gain.” Hamas has not been destroyed and the hostages have not been released.
NOS
This is now the fourth time that the Israeli army has attacked the neighboring country by land. The first time was in 1978 and then in 1982, during the Lebanese civil war. Israel then aimed to expel the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from the country and occupied part of southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah was founded in response to that occupation and played an important role in the withdrawal of Israeli forces in 2000, after eighteen years. In 2006, a new war ensued in the south after Hezbollah militants entered Israeli territory and attacked soldiers there. That war lasted a month.
Full American support
Israel invokes the right to self-defense, which is echoed by the US, its main ally. The US previously called for de-escalation, but now it is once again backing Israel.
“Israel is now going as far as they can afford, with full American support,” said assistant professor Marina Calculli of Leiden University, who specializes in Middle East politics and Hezbollah.
It was Hezbollah that started the attacks on Israeli territory, but Calculli notes that Israel has been violating Lebanon’s sovereignty for years. As of 2007, the UN has more than 22,000 violations documented. “Israel also regularly breaks the sound barrier in Beirut to show its strength.”
Hezbollah said on Monday it was “prepared” for a ground offensive and that it would be a “long battle”. The Lebanese army, which is small compared to the militant movement, is said to still be stationed in the south. “The army will probably fight with Hezbollah and provide logistical support,” Calculli expects. “They’ve done that before.”
Many on the run
No matter how big the Israeli offensive will be, the war will have major consequences for the people of Lebanon. All civilians south of the Litani River must leave their homes, the Israeli army said yesterday.
According to the Lebanese government, a million Lebanese, a fifth of the population, may have already fled the violence. The UN estimates that this concerns about 200,000 people. Meanwhile, more than a thousand people have been killed in bombings in the country in the past two weeks, the Lebanese Ministry of Health says.
In June, correspondent Daisy Mohr accompanied the UN mission in southern Lebanon:
Tension at the border, on patrol in southern Lebanon
