What happened next, in this little-reported incident in late January, goes to the heart of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon. The convoy was waved on and travelled unhindered to its final destination: Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese army said the transportation and storage of ammunition belonged to the "resistance". Once inside Lebanon it was subject to a ministerial policy statement of the Lebanese Government, which considers the "resistance" to be legitimate.
Gives ya kind of a warm feeling towards the so-called Lebanese (read: Hezbo) Government.
"As the Government of Lebanon has confirmed, the Lebanese Armed Forces has thus not been authorised to prevent further movement of the ammunitions, which had been a common practice for more than 15 years," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a letter to the Security Council in April. "Hezbollah publicly confirmed that the arms were destined for the group."
It's this uninterrupted flow of weapons, mostly made in Iran, under the nose of the Lebanese Government, that has allowed Hezbollah to stockpile some 12,000 Katyusha rockets. Over the past 29 days of conflict, Hezbollah has fired more than 3000 rockets into Israel.
Syrian-made rockets, including mid-range 220mm units, have also fallen on Nazareth and Haifa, Israel's third-largest city. The warheads were filled with ball bearings to maximise civilian casualties.
Aside from rocket launchers, armoured personnel carriers, night vision goggles, aerial drones and motorised gliders make up the hardware for a 3000-strong guerilla unit that some say is in fact a well-organised and fierce military force.
"The fact that Hezbollah is difficult to dislodge from their positions is not a surprise for the Israelis or anyone else," David Schenker, a specialist in Middle East affairs at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, tells The Australian. Schenker also worked for four years at the Pentagon as a Middle East specialist. "Hezbollah fighters are well trained and highly motivated and they are dug in," he adds.
Former CIA officer Robert Baer, who has followed the group since 1983, told US News & World Report he has "a lot of respect for Hezbollah's capabilities". Baer, whose book See No Evil inspired the film Syriana, spent a couple of weeks with Hezbollah last year, touring its facilities. "You've got some of the most experienced operatives in the world there."
| Addendum 4:30 pm CDT: link added. Thanks and glad someone got the message! :-) AoS. |
