Israel vs Hezbollah Thread #3

[Derek Ortt]

there is no proof that this was deliberate at all. In fact, CNN is reporting that Israel has said that Hezbollah may have been the ones to strike the observation post. Far too many questions to make a categorical statement, IMO

My question is why were the peace keepers (who did not keep the peace) even kept in the war zone?

[feederband]

U.N. says 2 observers die, 2 missing in bombing
Attack "apparently deliberate," U.N. head says
Israel says it has killed senior Hezbollah leader
U.S. ships medical supplies to Beirut

Kind of like freindly fire...The bomb was dropped on purpose but it did not hit the intended target ..Or the they had the wrong intelligence on the target...We dropped bombs on our own guys...In the war theater of operations no where is safe.

[kevin]

there is no proof that this was deliberate at all. In fact, CNN is reporting that Israel has said that Hezbollah may have been the ones to strike the observation post. Far too many questions to make a categorical statement, IMO

My question is why were the peace keepers (who did not keep the peace) even kept in the war zone?

My guess would be that the Security Council would have to pass a resolution withdrawing them...

[Janice]

They said on CNN today that the scary thing is that when the Lebanese fire those missles, they could go anywhere. I wonder if they are old missles or they don't know how to fire them? They said a lot go off target.

[stormie_skies]

They said on CNN today that the scary thing is that when the Lebanese fire those missles, they could go anywhere. I wonder if they are old missles or they don't know how to fire them? They said a lot go off target.

Janice - they aren't smart missiles - in fact, most of the missiles Hizbollah uses are maybe one step up from the pathetic things the Hamas militants make in their garages. They can only fly 3-4 miles, tops, and you can only aim them in a general direction - once they take off, theres no controlling them.

Most of the ones they fire don't hit anything at all.

[vbhoutex]

They said on CNN today that the scary thing is that when the Lebanese fire those missles, they could go anywhere. I wonder if they are old missles or they don't know how to fire them? They said a lot go off target.

Janice - they aren't smart missiles - in fact, most of the missiles Hizbollah uses are maybe one step up from the pathetic things the Hamas militants make in their garages. They can only fly 3-4 miles, tops, and you can only aim them in a general direction - once they take off, theres no controlling them.

Most of the ones they fire don't hit anything at all.

I am not so sure about your statistics on what the missles can do stormie. Hezbollah has been using Iranian missles and they have been making it to Haifa if I remember correctly. I think(but admittedly don't know)that the distance between the launch sites and Haifa is more than 3 or 4 miles.

[Regit]

They said on CNN today that the scary thing is that when the Lebanese fire those missles, they could go anywhere. I wonder if they are old missles or they don't know how to fire them? They said a lot go off target.

Janice - they aren't smart missiles - in fact, most of the missiles Hizbollah uses are maybe one step up from the pathetic things the Hamas militants make in their garages. They can only fly 3-4 miles, tops, and you can only aim them in a general direction - once they take off, theres no controlling them.

Most of the ones they fire don't hit anything at all.

I am not so sure about your statistics on what the missles can do stormie. Hezbollah has been using Iranian missles and they have been making it to Haifa if I remember correctly. I think(but admittedly don't know)that the distance between the launch sites and Haifa is more than 3 or 4 miles.

Haifa is about 20-25 miles from Lebanon.

[stormtruth]

there is no proof that this was deliberate at all. In fact, CNN is reporting that Israel has said that Hezbollah may have been the ones to strike the observation post. Far too many questions to make a categorical statement, IMO

My question is why were the peace keepers (who did not keep the peace) even kept in the war zone?

It was almost certainly an Israeli bomb. Israel has even hit their own troops in this conflict and have killed many civilians. They aren't very accurate with their bombs just like we aren't always accurate with ours.

The UN observation post has always been there and Israel knew it was there but hit it by accident because their bombings are not always very accurate.

Annan said in his statement that the post had been there for a long time and was marked clearly, and was hit despite assurances from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would not be attacked.

"I call on the goverment of Israel to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident and demand that any further attack on UN positions and personnel must stop," Annan said in the statement.

source for above quote

[nystate]

My question is why were the peace keepers (who did not keep the peace) even kept in the war zone?

More than likely they were observers. I spent a month on a multinational observer base near the Gaza strip, so I know what these places are like. Soldiers are there just to keep an eye on things and make sure that both sides are living up to the terms of the last cease-fire negotiated. Israel knows where all of these posts are; I'm surprised and angered that they seemingly attacked one. If it was a mistake, someone needs to be fired. If it was deliberate, heads need to roll (not literally!).

[stormie_skies]

They said on CNN today that the scary thing is that when the Lebanese fire those missles, they could go anywhere. I wonder if they are old missles or they don't know how to fire them? They said a lot go off target.

Janice - they aren't smart missiles - in fact, most of the missiles Hizbollah uses are maybe one step up from the pathetic things the Hamas militants make in their garages. They can only fly 3-4 miles, tops, and you can only aim them in a general direction - once they take off, theres no controlling them.

Most of the ones they fire don't hit anything at all.

I am not so sure about your statistics on what the missles can do stormie. Hezbollah has been using Iranian missles and they have been making it to Haifa if I remember correctly. I think(but admittedly don't know)that the distance between the launch sites and Haifa is more than 3 or 4 miles.

After double checking, I was wrong a bit on the max travel distance on the average Hizbollah missile - some can go up to 12 miles, it depends on the size of the particular rocket. Most don't go quite that far.


There's a reason I said most, though. The majority of Hizbollah's arsenal of approximately 13,000 missiles are simple katyusha missiles, which are small, unguided missiles first used in WWII for bombardment attacks. These are the missiles I was referring to - they cannot be aimed and do little damage on their own.

Hizbollah does also possess around 400-500 Fajr-3 missiles - essentially upgraded katyusha's that have a longer range of approximately 30 - 40 miles. These are the rockets they have been using to strike Haifa & the warship they damaged.

It is also thought that they have a handful of rockets that can go up to 125 miles, but the number is very small and they haven't used them yet - for all we know, they may have been destroyed.

Here are a couple of sources to check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyusha

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/weapons/q0279.shtml

[rainstorm]

My question is why were the peace keepers (who did not keep the peace) even kept in the war zone?

More than likely they were observers. I spent a month on a multinational observer base near the Gaza strip, so I know what these places are like. Soldiers are there just to keep an eye on things and make sure that both sides are living up to the terms of the last cease-fire negotiated. Israel knows where all of these posts are; I'm surprised and angered that they seemingly attacked one. If it was a mistake, someone needs to be fired. If it was deliberate, heads need to roll (not literally!).

.

apparently, hezbollah knew where the un observers were as well. it was reported this morning on fox news that 257 un observers have been killed in lebanon since 1979, almost all from hezbollah attacks

[abajan]

It would be very interesting to see how the opinions of those so staunchly supporting the firing of missiles into civilian areas of Lebonan would change if they had family members living in those areas.

Hezbollah had no business whatsoever kidnapping Israeli soldiers. But it's clear (even to Prime Minister Tony Blair now, from my understanding) that Israel's response was excessive.

I've seen the damage in Lebanon and I've seen the damage in Israel. If any you had a choice of living in either country right now, where would you rather be?

[Janice]

Mideast crisis talks fail

Negotiations collapse over cease-fire, sources say
Condoleezza Rice "under siege" at Rome talks
U.N. angered by deadly Israeli attack
Violence intensifies in 3rd week of conflict

[stormie_skies]

It would be very interesting to see how the opinions of those so staunchly supporting the firing of missiles into civilian areas of Lebonan would change if they had family members living in those areas.

Hezbollah had no business whatsoever kidnapping Israeli soldiers. But it's clear (even to Prime Minister Tony Blair now, from my understanding) that Israel's response was excessive.

I've seen the damage in Lebanon and I've seen the damage in Israel. If any you had a choice of living in either country right now, where would you rather be?

I agree 100%.

And regardless of who you think is right or wrong militarily, we should all be praying for the Lebanese civilians. They are suffering untold hardships and loss through no fault of their own.

Given the strong opinions about religion on this site, it might be worth mentioning that some 40% of the Lebanese population is Christian, not Muslim....

[Derek Ortt]

Heard on the Glenn Beck Program driving into the office this morning that 14 Israeli soldiers were killed in battle today

[feederband]

Heard on the Glenn Beck Program driving into the office this morning that 14 Israeli soldiers were killed in battle today

Yes they have said that there have being fierce battles today....

[Aquawind]

Yes they have said that there have being fierce battles today....

Evidently their work is far from done..

[rainstorm]

It would be very interesting to see how the opinions of those so staunchly supporting the firing of missiles into civilian areas of Lebonan would change if they had family members living in those areas.

Hezbollah had no business whatsoever kidnapping Israeli soldiers. But it's clear (even to Prime Minister Tony Blair now, from my understanding) that Israel's response was excessive.

I've seen the damage in Lebanon and I've seen the damage in Israel. If any you had a choice of living in either country right now, where would you rather be?

you arent making any sense. look at the damage in germany and japan at the end of ww2 and look at the damage here. there was no damage here, and those 2 countries were totally destroyed. thats the point of war. israel will win by NOT being destroyed

[Derek Ortt]

missles into civilian areas is a part of war. It panics the population of the enemy, which can clog the roads as they try to flee, restricting troop movements. Classic military tactis and nothing wrong with it, IMO

[Derek Ortt]

seems as if Hezbollah was operating near the UN post, possibly making it a legitimate target