Mideast crisis – Blog from Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — Israel knows it cannot wipe out Hezbollah, but it does plan to change the military situation on the ground by weakening the militant organization through aerial attacks and by creating a buffer zone extending a half mile into Lebanese territory. The buffer zone will be cleared of everything, "even trees," a security official told me. When I asked him what would happen to any villages that may be in this area, he answered, "Everything will be flattened."
Knowing that it's only a matter of time until a diplomatic solution is reached, the Israeli Army is working fast to try to eliminate as many rocket launchers as it can inside of Lebanon through aerial and naval strikes. Both Defense Minister Amir Peretz and the military brass want to avoid a massive ground invasion, which would cost many soldiers' lives. Remember that in the first hours after two soldiers were captured and eight were killed, the Army sent in a tank to chase the captors. The tank did not get far inside Lebanon before it drove over a road mine, killing four Israeli soldiers. It took two days before the military could retrieve the bodies, as Hezbollah fighters fired on anyone who came near.
Israeli officials know that they can't prevent Hezbollah from firing on Israel except through an agreement, but they also want to prevent Hezbollah from crossing the international border and capturing soldiers in the future. The solution, the generals concluded, is to create a buffer zone in Lebanon a half-mile deep that is "clean of Hezbollah." In other words, a cleared area in which Hezbollah would be unable to re-establish guerrilla posts along the border. Israel would not have to physically occupy the zone with military installations, since it would be able to keep it clear through artillery power from the Israeli side of the border and through air power.
To create the buffer zone, the Israeli Army is moving in special forces to clear the area of mines before bringing in bulldozers, which will "flatten the area and remove any sign of a Hezbollah outpost and even trees so that Hezbollah can't enter again," said an official. On Wednesday, Israeli special forces with mine-sniffing German shepherds crossed into Lebanon to look for road mines before the bulldozers come in to destroy buildings and take down trees. Fighting broke out between the Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters.
The security official said the operation "would only take a few days if no one gets in the way, but it won't take a few days because there are people there" who will resist, referring to Hezbollah fighters. He added that Israel has no intention of setting up permanent Israeli military infrastructure inside the zone, as Israel did in the 1980s. That infrastructure was dismantled when Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000.
July 19
JERUSALEM — I got a press release yesterday from AHAVA (a Hebrew acronym for 'People for Saving Animals in the Middle East'). The Kiryat Tivon-based organization knows no borders. Not only are its volunteers distributing dishes of water and food around the streets of the north of Israel for thirsty cats that were left behind by their families who did not expect to be gone so long. Now, they are trying to save dogs in Beirut and cows in Marjayoun in southern Lebanon.
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