A new face to Hezbollah's
resistance By Syed Saleem
Shahzad
SOUTH LEBANON - The US ruling
political elite failed to understand (or
deliberately ignored) the real pulse of the
post-September 11, 2001, situation when they
decided to invade Iraq in 2003, despite repeated
opposition from top Pentagon and intelligence
officials.
The ongoing chaos in Iraq is
evidence enough of the dire consequences of this
miscalculation.
Now, Asia Times Online has
learned from contacts both in Lebanon and in the
region that Israel, too, has embarked on a
military adventure in defiance of warnings from
within its establishment of the need for caution.
As with Iraq, the consequences could be
dire.
An alliance of hawkish Israeli
politicians and military top brass is
determined to eradicate
Hezbollah once and for all from Lebanon, despite
warnings from Mossad, the Israeli intelligence
agency, Asia Times Online is told.
Those
arguing for restraint say that the Iraqi war has
changed the dynamics and mood in the Middle East.
The region is no longer the same as when Israel
could flex its muscles with impunity: there is now
a groundswell of anti-Israeli and anti-US
sentiment.
And Israeli intelligence
admitted to the ruling establishment before the
war began that it had failed to penetrate the
tightly knit folds of the ideologically and
religiously motivated cadre and leadership of
Hezbollah. Therefore, they opposed the war until
their proxy network could gather more information
on Hezbollah's military strength, manpower,
logistics and positions.
Israeli
intelligence dispatches warned that Hezbollah,
with Iranian backing, had grown way beyond a small
resistance group like Hamas in Palestine and would
fight with much more than small weapons and
suicide attacks.
The dispatches cautioned
that before going into any large-scale war, it was
essential to measure the full extent of
Hezbollah's war machine, otherwise it could turn
into a military catastrophe.
On Tuesday,
Israel sent 10,000 troops in armored personnel
carriers and backed by tanks into south Lebanon,
Israeli defense officials said. Thousands more
were gathering at staging areas on the Israeli
side of the border. Israel called up 30,000
reservists over the weekend.
At least 539
Lebanese have been killed in three weeks of air
and missile attacks, including 468 civilians and
25 Lebanese soldiers and at least 46 Hezbollah
guerrillas, although Israel claims that Hezbollah
casualties are much higher.
A total of 51
Israelis have been killed since the start of the
military campaign, 33 of them soldiers, according
to Israeli figures. Hezbollah claims to have
killed more soldiers than stated.
Given
the Israeli escalation, and Hezbollah's fierce
resistance, it is clear that the massive aerial
bombing (about 30 raids a day) has not inflicted
too serious a loss on Hezbollah. Israel targeted
the traditional strongholds of Hezbollah, such as
offices and mosques administered by them in south
Lebanon.
Mossad, according to Asia Times
Online contacts, warned of an extensive network of
underground tunnels and bunkers that Hezbollah
could use to stockpile arms in preparation for a
long guerrilla war. The problem was that it was
not able to identify their whereabouts accurately.
A boiling anger During this
correspondent's travels in south Lebanon over the
past few days, the indications have been that
dozens of Fallujahs could be in the making, as in
the Iraqi town that put up strong resistance to
US-led forces.
After Israel bombed the
border town of Qana on Sunday, causing more than
50 civilian deaths, a mass evacuation to the north
has been under way. Many of the empty houses in
any number of villages have now been occupied by
young men.
They are not Hezbollah, but
they definitely are sympathizers. They wear
different-colored shirts, but all have similar
green trousers. They call themselves "volunteers"
and avoid any long conversations.
In
Sarafan, a small town between Tyre and Sidon, Asia
Times Online spoke to a shopkeeper, Ahmad
Basbishi.
"Almost 60% of the population
has left the area," he said. "We are here for two
reasons. We do not have relatives out of this town
and so do not want to be roaming around like
beggars with our families in other cities. And
second, we do not want to give the Israelis easy
access to our land. Whatever strength we have and
whatever firepower we have, we will put it in
place and resist Israel if they try to occupy
south Lebanon again."
A group of
Palestinian refugees in Tyre put it in even
stronger terms.
"Let the Israeli forces
come on the ground and you will see how we
sacrifice our lives and butcher them. They have
snatched everything from us, and now they do not
even want us to stay alive," said Shadi Ibrahim,
one of the refugees.
"This is not a
question of Hamas, Islamic Jihad or Hezbollah.
Neither is it a question of [Hamas leader] Khaled
Mishal or Sheikh Osama [bin Laden] or [Hezbollah
leader] Hassan Nasrallah. This is a question of do
or die. And whoever leads the battle, we will be
with them."
Dr Jawad Mahmood Najam, who
runs a hospital near Tyre and Qana, gave another
perspective.
"During the mid-1990s civil
war and Israeli raids, all of our doctors ran
away. Nobody was ready to handle the casualties.
But this time things surprisingly turned out
differently. Not only have doctors and nurses
refused to go to safe places, they are also
working around the clock, even without monetary
compensation. I think this is because everybody is
now measuring the situation from a new angle and
understand that this is a serious battle."
In Iraq, after the US-led invasion, people
decided at the neighborhood level to form bands of
resistance. These turned into Islamic groups,
which in turn melted into the broader resistance.
The Lebanese street, certainly in the
south, appears much the same. But a trustworthy
organization - Hezbollah - is already on the
ground and people only need to join forces with
this broad resistance.
The next step,
therefore, is for this resistance of Lebanon to
become a part of the international anti-US Islamic
movement. The Israelis were warned.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Pakistan
Bureau Chief for Asia Times Online. He can be
reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
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