Colin Parkinson
Army.ca Myth
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I am thinking it's time to split this into a new thread titled "Paging Hezbollah, Paging Hezbollah......"
I certainly hope they don’t have a repeat of the early 1980’s….Describing action as “raids” implies an intent to go in, achieve an objective, and get out. Guess we will see.
Israel begins Lebanon ground incursion with ‘limited’ raids on Hezbollah
The mobilization took place as the Israel Defence Forces issued evacuation orders for several areas in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where their Friday bombardment killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallahwww.theglobeandmail.com
Will this, from Foreign Affairs a few days ago, help?I'm curious, and wondering if anyone here who is more learned in the region has any thoughts or articles to recommend. My question is this: Lebanon is in theory a sovereign state, yet they have Hezbollah operating with seemingly absolute impunity within their borders. Does this mean that the Lebanese government is:
a. Powerless to remove Hezbollah;
b. Partially to completely complicit with Hezbollah; or
c. A combination of the above.
Are the Lebanese government, military, and civilian police heavily infiltrated by Hezbollah? If so, would that make Lebanon a vassal state of Iran?
I had heard that Hezbollah used a lot of foreign (Iranian) funds to provide health care and education in the region, therefore buying loyalty at the grass roots level, but I'm not certain how far up the food chain their power/influence goes.
Had the international community through the UN pressured Hezbollah and given the UN forces more rigorous ROE to enforce the demilitarized zone, then likley this would not have happened. Of course the UN will blame everyone but itself. The UN failed in Gaza and Lebanon.
The locals - Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, etc - were all there, full UN members, in 1948. They all voted against partition and they all went to war ... and lost. I seem to recall reading somewhere that one reaps what one sows.The problem you have there is that Israel is a creation of the American UN of 1945. That UN created Israel and imposed it on the local map.
Since then the locals have taken over the UN, along with a large number of like minded autocrats, and have been using the Roberts Rules of Order against the US, the UK and Israel.
Contrary to popular wishes, no progress is made.
The locals - Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, etc - were all there, full UN members, in 1948. They all voted against partition and they all went to war ... and lost. I seem to recall reading somewhere that one reaps what one sows.
Lebanon is complicated. Lebanon was carved out of Syria by France as the Ottoman Empire was itself carved up following the First World War. Lebanon is quite diverse with Christians (Maronite and Eastern Orthodox), Sunni, Shia and Druze populations. Politically, Lebanon has a confessional system where each religion (confession) has a proportionate number of seats in Parliament. The Civil War had a number of causes, but part of the accords that ended the war was a bit of redistribution of seats. Christians and Muslims each have half of the seats, but of course the Sunni and Shia are competitors and there are also divisions in the Christian population. The President must be Christian, the Prime Minister must be Sunni and the Speaker of the Parliament must be Shia.I'm curious, and wondering if anyone here who is more learned in the region has any thoughts or articles to recommend. My question is this: Lebanon is in theory a sovereign state, yet they have Hezbollah operating with seemingly absolute impunity within their borders. Does this mean that the Lebanese government is:
a. Powerless to remove Hezbollah;
b. Partially to completely complicit with Hezbollah; or
c. A combination of the above.
Are the Lebanese government, military, and civilian police heavily infiltrated by Hezbollah? If so, would that make Lebanon a vassal state of Iran?
I had heard that Hezbollah used a lot of foreign (Iranian) funds to provide health care and education in the region, therefore buying loyalty at the grass roots level, but I'm not certain how far up the food chain their power/influence goes.
It’s happening right now and there have been ground impacts in Tel Aviv.Thanks Edward, very much appreciated. And, over the last few days, this calculation has now fully changed with the death of Nasrallah, the US keeping a second Carrier task force in the region, and the news this morning from BBC that Iran is preparing a ballistic missile strike on Israel. Both sides are possibly now fully locked in a game of chicken, and neither can afford to blink.
Perhaps its time for the West to take the gloves off. No more pussyfooting around trying to achieve "diplomatic" solutions. It seems that Iran only understands brute force and maybe needs the equivalent of a "Glasgow kiss"It’s happening right now and there have been ground impacts in Tel Aviv.
Fully agree - Israel is not shy about exacting revenge when their citizens are murdered.Shit. This is gonna be ugly. Iran volley fired ballistic missiles for TOT, and some look to have gotten through. Also an active shooter attack in Tel Aviv with several dead and two shooters believed to be neutralized.
Dead Israelis = Israel’s gonna beat the shit out of Iran in some way shape or form.