Adonis Diaries

“Justice rendered” and “Grapes of wrath”: Books or military operations?

In July 1993, during Yitzhak Rabin PM, and April 1996 (Shimon Perez PM), Israel launched two devastating military operations into Lebanon, destroying all Lebanon infrastructure, hydraulic and electrical systems, roads, bridges…

Over 500,000 Lebanese civilians in south Lebanon had to flee their villages and towns, and hundreds were killed…

In 1993, Timor Goksel (UN  contingent spokesman) clarified the reason for the vast Israeli military operation called “Justice rendered”:  “Hezbollah (resistance movement against Israel occupation of south Lebanon) has managed to kill too many (relative to previous periods) Israeli soldiers in short lapse of time…Hezbollah was leading a resistance  very much within the rules of the game: Israeli soldiers for resistance fighters killed in engagements…”

In the decade 1983-93, for every Israeli civilian killed by obsolete Katiousha rockets, 30 Lebanese civilians were harvested by Israel shelling of towns and villages. Now, since Israel soldiers were being targeted, deadly and punitive military operations were the response.

Israel main objective was to pressure the State of Lebanon (its army) to restrain Hezbollah zeal for resisting occupation.  Israel know that Lebanon never enjoyed any valid central power to confront any faction, much less a resistance more heavily armed and supported by Iran in organization and funding.

The Israeli military propaganda was that Israel was equipped with the latest technologies to automatically locate incoming rockets and respond within seconds and destroy rockets before impact…Reality proved to be very different: Israel just applied random violence on Lebanese civilians… The question in the high command was: “How Israel army was to pulverize 54 Lebanese towns and villages bordering Israel and force the civilians to transfer northward?”

In 1993, and for 7 days and nights, Israel bombed and ruined 70 villages and destroyed Lebanon infrastructure.  Over 140 Lebanese civilians were killed, over  350,000 fled, and only 9 resistance fighters fell martyrs in retaliation for two dead Israeli civilians.

This time around, Israel was retaliating against Lebanese and Not against any “Palestinian terrorists“.  The internal political climate in Lebanon rallied around Hezbollah’s right to resist the occupiers.

The US of Clinton had to hurry to Damascus to strike a cease fire agreement with Hafez al Assad.  Hezbollah won politically: The US agreed to recognize Hezbolla’s rights to resist occupation: fighting is among fighters!  Three weeks later, Hezbollah killed 9 Israeli soldiers in a single day:  The July 1993 operation was supposedly in retaliation for 7 Israeli soldiers killed between 1985 and 1993.

In October 1994, Hezbollah climbed a mountain and planted its flag on an Israeli bunkers manned by 70 soldiers of the “elite” Givati: The Israeli soldiers dispersed haphazardly in the adjacent forests.

And this exploit was filmed by “embedded” Hezbollah cameramen who showed the document the same night on Hezbollah’s TV station “Al Manar“.  An instant hit story around the Arab world. This valiant operation by Hezbollah came in retaliation of the Israeli bunker in Dabcheh shelling the large town of Nabatieh and killing an entire two families.

The “Grapes of wrath”Israeli vast operation in April 1996 had for purpose to pressuring Syria to “restraining” Hezbollah and consequently to alienating Syria from Iran.

The operation lasted 17 days and nights: 500,000 Lebanese civilians fled, 165 were killed, 13 resistance fighters fell, and again all Lebanon infrastructure destroyed, to be rebuild for the nth time.

In this operation, the UN contingent in the town of Qana warned Israel of the existence of Lebanese civilians in their compound: Israel thus shelled the compound with 13 mortar shells of the 155 mm caliber and killed 102 civilians!  Lebanese totally backed Hezbollah and even “right wing and isolationist” Christians donated money and acclaimed Hezbollah.

The US of Clinton had to hustle back to Damascus for another cease-fire deal.  The French headed the negotiation and US Christopher had to bow down to the new agreement: Israel has no longer any “rights” to targeting Lebanese civilians.

Since 1996  operation, Hezbollah escalated its operations from 200 on average to 1,000 in 1998.  By 1999, the number of Hezbollah’s operations climbed to 1,500.  In 2000, Israel was forced to withdraw without negotiation or any preconditions.

In June 2006, Israel tried one more time with an operation that lasted 33 days with full backing of Bush Junior.

Israel lost the war and the political clout and is reduced to count Hezbollah as a true army and at par as a determined and efficient deterrence force to consider in any later operations.

Note 1: details taken from “A history of Lebanon” by David Hirst, correspondent in Lebanon and the Middle-East for 30 years

Note 2:  You may read on genesis of Hezbollah https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/part-1-genesis-of-hezbollah-in-lebanon-accounts-of-robert-fisk/