January 20, 2004

Israel Hits Back for Hizbollah Border Attack

Israel said its warplanes struck two Hizbollah bases in Lebanon Tuesday in retaliation for a border attack by the Lebanese guerrilla group that killed an Israeli soldier a day earlier.

Israel held Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, responsible for Monday's incident, but an Israeli security source said the military response was limited to Hizbollah targets to avoid stoking tensions with Damascus.
[...]
Secretary of State Colin Powell criticized Monday's Hizbollah attack and pointed a finger at Syria, which both Washington and Israel accuse of supporting the guerrillas.
[Ah, Rooters...calling them "guerillas" now, instead of "militants." Anything but what they are, which is terrorists.]

"I think it's unfortunate that Hizbollah once again has caused this need for a response," Powell told reporters.

"I would hope the Syrians should once again understand that any support -- whether it is vocal support or allowing their leadership to stay in Damascus or whether it is serving as a trans-shipment point for weapons to Hizbollah -- is destabilizing in the region and is not in the interests of peace," he added.
[...]
Feingold [spokesman for the Israeli military] said Israel "considers Syria directly responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from Lebanon, and will not tolerate the current situation whereby the terror organizations attempt to escalate the situation in the north."
[...]
Syria denies it controls Hizbollah, whose guerrillas do not accept the United Nations' determination that Israel's troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000 was complete.

Israel last mounted air strikes against Hizbollah on Oct. 27 after the group attacked Israeli posts in the Shebaa Farms area. Hizbollah says the area is Lebanese territory, but the United Nations says it is Israeli-occupied Syrian land.

OK, I'm confused about the UN (like they aren't themselves!): did or didn't they deem Israel to have evacuated "Lebanese/Syrian" real estate?
Doesn't matter.
We all know by now that Israel is telling the truth and is in the right and that Assad of Syria (and de facto ruler of Lebanon) is lying and is deeply in bed with the Islamist terrorists, including but not limited to Hizbullah.
I just wish that Israel would just duke it out with them and get it over with.
Given Assad's intransigence, bellicosity and just plain cussedness, it could very well happen.
He's gotten on Powell's excrement list--that's clear--which is pretty hard to do.