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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel won't hesitate to launch ground operations against Hezbollah
2006-07-21
(KUNA) -- Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that Israel will not hesitate to launch a full ground attack to eliminate Hezbollah. He told reporters that the operations will not end until Hezbollah operating centers in northern Israel are demolished. Peretz's statements coincided with the heavy fighting between Hezbollah operatives and Israeli soldiers in southern Lebabanon.

Meanwhile, the Israeli bombardment of the southern suburbs of Beirut resumed at 9:15 pm local time after the capital witnessed a respite today. Two large explosions were heard in the southern parts of Beirut with no clue if the bombardment came from Israeli Jet fighters or battleships.
Posted by:Fred

#25  When I think of the coming envasion, I see a strategy best served by a thrust on the right, off tackle, cut left to the sea and seal off escape to the north. Then go rat hunting. Winning the attrition game is paramont.
Posted by: wxjames   2006-07-21 22:55  

#24  pihkalbadger, I've seen USS Liberty brought up numerous times. I always think of it as evolution in action (play spy in war zone, refuse to identify yourself, ignore signals to go away).

p.s. My little history expert. Eisenhower administration ended 6 years before the Liberty incident.
Posted by: gromgoru   2006-07-21 21:52  

#23  Phase 2:
When Israel invades in force, Hizbollah will launch Tel Aviv range missiles from border areas in northern Lebanon. The launchers will then scurry back into Syria, posing a dilemma on Israel. Israeli's will perceive the status quo as unmanageable, and will exercise the "Sampson Option." Anyone who matters will support that default escalation, in that it will prevent Iran from ever possessing Euro-blackmail missiles (if not ICBMs, with warheads).

I wonder: has Condi Rice ever heard the weekly "Death to America" chants at Teheran University? I hope what she is sayingis diversionary, otherwise I don't like what I am hearing from her. But, she could surprise. The term "armistice" is not in the WOT dictionary.
Posted by: Anginens Threreng8133   2006-07-21 21:50  

#22  "overtired pilots, whod been busy the previous few days destroying the air forces of several arab nations, and had gotten little rest"

I guess the torpedo-boat crews were tired as well.
Posted by: Fordesque   2006-07-21 20:42  

#21  The Israelis knew exactly what they were attacking and why. Whether they knew whose, might be debatable, but I doubt it.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2006-07-21 20:38  

#20  Which reinforces my point. A mustang and Bf109 look similar because they are both fighters. It would be the same as mistaking a Mustang for a C-47.
Posted by: ed   2006-07-21 19:17  

#19  The Liberty, as an intelligence ship, is built on a merchant hull, not a destroyer hull. They look nothing alike.

To a sailor. For pilot who has not been trained at ship identification and is travelling at 300 Mph they look alike. Hey in WWII bomber crews time and again fired on Mustangs, Thunderbolts and Spittfires taking them for Messerchmitts and Focke Wulfs. The only ones who were, more or less, never subject to friendly fire were the Lightnings.

Posted by: JFM   2006-07-21 19:09  

#18  The Liberty, as an intelligence ship, is built on a merchant hull, not a destroyer hull. They look nothing alike.
Posted by: ed   2006-07-21 18:34  

#17  the Liberty incident occurred precisely because the Israeli navy was weak in 1967. It relied on air alone to deal with offshore threats, and when overtired pilots, whod been busy the previous few days destroying the air forces of several arab nations, and had gotten little rest, saw a warship, outside of normal tradelanes, having been assured the 6th fleet was nowhere nearby, and after what appeared to be naval shelling on the coast, they tragically, mistakenly, fired on what they THOUGHT was an Egyptian destroyer.

Today Israel has a navy that controls the coast of Lebanon, though it consists of destroyers, not battleships. It is participating in the destruction of Hezbollah, the group that killed hundreds of US Marines in Beirut. Not by accident, but deliberately.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2006-07-21 17:28  

#16  The Israelis have no need to go north of the Litani. 20km will put 98-99% of the rockets out of range. The 1-2% can be dealt with aggressive recon and airstrikes. In addition to going to the Litani, I think it is imperative to destroy all buildings and improvements like roads and water systems in the muslim areas to make it as difficult for any of them to return.

If I had my way, I would scrape away any topsoil and turn the area into the world's largest Japanese rock garden.
Posted by: ed   2006-07-21 17:07  

#15  "the one of to hundrec marines perpetrated by your pals of Hizbollah."

Your understanding of the English language is as pitiful and woeful as your conception of current affairs, you are implying, that friends of hizbollah that are 'somehow' connected to me are procreating US marines.
explain your idiocy to the families of the slain, idiot.
Posted by: pihkalbadger   2006-07-21 16:10  

#14  JFM these nazi-arabists like to exploit a tragedy which is a travesty.
Posted by: SamAdamsky   2006-07-21 15:44  

#13  I have read history. A lot of it. Like the blowing of the American embassy in Beirut, plus the one of to hundrec marines perpetrated by your pals of Hizbollah.

Posted by: JFM   2006-07-21 15:22  

#12  I hope the Israelis will soften up ground operations bigtime from the sky and sea before sending troops into that sinkhole.
Posted by: SamAdamsky   2006-07-21 14:19  

#11  get a little clued up JFM read some history.
Posted by: pihkalbadger   2006-07-21 13:47  

#10  well, I dont know. My initial thought is that they wont go North of the Litani. OTOH I didnt think theyd do a ground offensive (Spec ops aside) at all, so dont go by me.

Or maybe this is part of a political game? The farther north they go, the more pressure for a ceasefire. Maybe this means theyve done most of what they need to do, and are ready for a ceasefire on their terms, one that insists on a UN force that has a mandate to disarm Hezbollah?
Posted by: liberalhawk   2006-07-21 12:03  

#9  I hope the Israelis kill every Muslim male they catch with a weapon in hand. No surrenders, no POWs, just KIA. Don't show any more mercy to them than you would to the Death's Head SS because that example is exactly who these scum seek to emulate. They won't learn until they get hit as hard as the Germans did, so it's long past time to start teaching exactly the same way the Allies taught the Germans. That's what it will take to win this war and the sooner Israel and the West acknowledge it, the fewer casualties we'll take in the fight.
Posted by: mac   2006-07-21 11:53  

#8  You mean the INS Golda Meier?
Posted by: mojo   2006-07-21 11:14  

#7  Good, I hope the Israelis do go all the way to clean out the rat's nest.
Posted by: Broadhead6   2006-07-21 09:05  

#6  LOL, JFM. Good one.
Posted by: cruiser   2006-07-21 08:14  

#5  Israel has not only battlehips but also a whole hidden fleet of aircraft carriers. In the fities an Israeli helicopter made an emrgency landing on an American carrier. When questionned by the Americans (let's remeber that the Eisenhower administartion was not that fond of Israel) the pilot just told: "I thought it was one of our carriers".
Posted by: JFM   2006-07-21 08:11  

#4   He told reporters that the operations will not end until Hezbollah operating centers in northern Israel are demolished.

The KUNA reporter is a wee bit challenged in the geography department. Or maybe he is predicting future reality...
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-07-21 07:58  

#3  Betcha it's a babelfishism for "gunship". Since the sentence is "Israeli Jet fighters or battleships".
Posted by: Mitch H.   2006-07-21 07:52  

#2  Borgboy,
No Yamato !
We dont have destroyers ot other big battleships but ewe have plenty of Saar shipes and other small fast ships with onboard cannons and missile fire power.
Posted by: Elder of Zion   2006-07-21 06:11  

#1  Never realized the Israelis possessed "Battleships". Mebbe they raised the "Yamato" from the depths?
Posted by: borgboy   2006-07-21 01:10  

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