Lebanese bloggers: "incendiary bombs on villages", "Massacre in Tyre"

[allemand]

"Banned" Weapons Used Now

Phosphorus incendiary bombs, which are "banned" weapons (some are saying that they're not banned) and are poisonous, have been used by the IDF on some southern villages, al-Habariyye and Qlayle. Hizbullah has also hit the Golan Heights.

Update: Tyre has been hit severely. A 12-story high building for the Lebanese Civil Defense have been shelled. Tens of dead and wounded reported. Also a residential building in Tyre has been destroyed, with reported of about ten dead already.

http://lebanesebloggers.blogspot.com/

Massacre in Tyre

Breaking news: Israeli fighter jets have bombed a residential neighborhood in Tyre near a highscool. LBC's correspondent in the city described a state of chaos, and bodies lying everywhere. He estimated tens may have been killed.

"A catastrophy befell Tyre. These are defenseless civilians. There are no fighters here. People are asking for the bombing to stop," Haidar Haweela is reporting as I type this. He added that "a 12-story building has been hit and rescue workers cannot reach people in high floors. The building hosues a civil defense office. People are trapped under the rubble. There are people waving from the 8th floor wanting to be rescued.

"I saw an American citizen in the neighborhood who lives here who cursed Bush and blamed it him for he massacre."

http://www.beirutbeltway.com/beirutbeltway/2006/07/massacre_in_tyr.html

:cry:

[ovidsen]

1. Too bad the comments had to be zapped

But I can see why. The flame wars got ridiculous.

Still well worth checking out.

[Joanne98]

3. That's why I posted all the comments. I knew they'd get zapped

They were the best part too. Damn!

[liberaliraqvet26]

2. MSNBC will be reporting this after the break...

Im sure theyu will ask the AIPAC whore Walid Phares for comment

[Tom Joad]

4. This is nothing less than a mass terrorism financed by US taxpayers.

Israel, is a terror state.
Let's hold it accountable, not subsidize its failures to abide by international law.

[allemand]

5. Reuters: Death toll rises to 16 in Tyre, more feared trapped under rubble

BEIRUT, July 16 (Reuters) - The death toll from an Israeli air strike on a building in south Lebanon rose on Sunday to 16 civilians with more feared trapped under the rubble, an official source said.

Dozens more were wounded from the raid that flattened a multi-storey building housing civilians and civil defence workers in the port city of Tyre.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1680406.htm

[autorank]

6. The product of neocon "thugocracy."

This is just the stupidest way to handle any situation. OK, lets see, we're upset so, yeah, right, lets go out and kill people and destroy were they live...yeah, that will really help. We have no humanitarian foreign aid left to speak of. I guess what we have no supporting a virtual dictatorship in Egypt and this assault is "de-humanitarian aid." "

Hey, it's Bushco, commin' at you with all the ordinance we've got." Our new motto, god help us.

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. K & R - Another General Discussion thread on this - LINK:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1640085
thread title: Lebanese bloggers awesome reporting

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. I fear these bombings are an attempt to incite a wider war. They are

horrible on their own, and they are an inducement to war on a much more massive scale.

[allemand]

9. Lebanese government: Israel using incendiary bombs against civilians (AFP)

President Emile Lahoud accused Israel on Sunday of using banned weapons against Lebanese civilians in its military offensive against the country.

Lahoud said Israeli forces have fired "phosphorus incendiary bombs, which are a blatant violation of international laws, ...against Lebanese civilians." (...)

In an extraordinary meeting earlier Sunday, the Lebanese government also accused Israel of using banned weapons against Lebanese civilians. (...)

Military sources told Agence France Presse that Israel had used phosphorus incendiary bombs and implosion bombs, which suck up the air and collapse buildings.(AFP)

http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/0/0ECB74B32C97055CC22571AD00526087?OpenDocument

[allemand]

10. Update: 19 civilians killed, 56 wounded in Tyre air strike

NINETEEN civilians were killed and 56 wounded in an Israeli air strike today on a building in the southern Lebanese port town of Tyre, hospital sources said.

They had been in a building housing a Lebanese civil defence office that was topped by a radio transmitter, police said.

An Israeli helicopter fired two missiles at the building, they said. (...)

One of the missiles destroyed the top two floors of the building while the second hit the entrance where the civilians were huddled. Rescue workers were continuing to comb the debris and feared the toll might rise even further.

http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/story/0,20797,19814115-5003402,00.html

[Joanne98]

11. Lebanese blogger Doha/ with comments......

UN Delegation Support Lebanese Government

http://lebanesebloggers.blogspot.com/2006/07/un-delegation-support-lebanese.html

Veejay Nambia, one of the UN delegation representatives, standing alongside UN Middle East mediator, addressed the Lebanese people by saying that the UN calls for three things:

The end to killings of innocent civilians and destruction of infrastructure, on both sides.
The full support of the Lebanese government and the Prime Minister Seniora for his call to an immediate ceasefire.
The return of the captive Israeli soldiers as a solution towards ending this conflict.
Sounds reasonable. Looking forward for these ideas to be translated on the ground.

Update: AlJazeera is claiming that the rockets which hit Haifa today were Syrian-made rockets. Why is Lebanon being punished?

"Nobody knows how many rebellions, besides political rebellions, ferment in the masses of life which people earth."

posted by Doha @ 2:11 PM 34 comments

[Joanne98]

12. Comments (part one)

34 Comments:
At 2:36 PM, francois said...
support lebanon
vote on this link

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/13/mideast/index.html


At 2:42 PM, John said...
I truly hope the delegation is successful. Yet what I didn't hear in this was the disarming of Hezbollah as called for by UNSC 1559. I cannot see Israel budging until that part is agreed to. Seems to be in the best interest of both Lebanon and Israel if Hezbollah is disarmed. I hope this is all over soon because the innocents on both sides do not deserve this.


At 2:42 PM, Jad J said...
lets hope the captured soldiers did not cross the borders towards syria :(


At 2:51 PM, RAA said...
Doha,
Thank you for opening up the comments on the blog. One of the basic fundamentals of free speech is the ability to tolerate unpopular and even provocative speech. I much rather exchange ideas than missiles. Even at this dire hour we must continue to uphold our principles


At 2:51 PM, nuggs said...
This is interesting.

Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Manar television said All Hizballah’s systems are operated by Lebanese, the sons of Lebanese.


At 2:55 PM, crosspatch said...
But it appears that Iran is the one really in charge:


Iran's top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised Hezbollah Sunday and said it would not give up its weapons.



At 2:55 PM, peace_head said...
Crossing the fingers for the delegation, but i'm totally pessimistic:

1. Hezbollah will not release the soliders out of its own good will.

2. Israel will not budge unless the soliders will be freed.

So who will free them?

The lebanese army, at the risk of another civil war? doubtfully.

Syria? they stand everything to gain from the strengthening of Hezbollah.

If only king hussein was here to fix the situation, like he did in the 1970's... watch the israeli-jordanian border. nothing. nada. peace and quiet.


At 3:09 PM, box said...
it angers me to hear people who support the "story" without any basis - such as:

"i hope they didn't take the soldiers into syria." gee - next stop iran - and gee - then, US war with iran! if only US/israeli psyops had better writers. no adequate "casus belli."

i don't find the lebanese defenders of lebanon's southern border to be terrorists. i'm sorry. i don't see it. and if they're backed in order to do so, i still don't see the problem in that. does israel expect lebanon to not protect its border? outrageous demands like "move to the nitali river," which, of course, is far inland of the border, suggest that israel resents any OTHER country to protect itself from israel. (please spare me the "explanations" as to why this is a just demand - that's a preemptive "shhhhh.")

bottom line: the israeli agenda is unclear and suspect. i pray the UN does not allow this aggression to be legitimized in any possible way.


At 3:17 PM, 1earth said...
"Update: AlJazeera is claiming that the rockets which hit Haifa today were Syrian rockets. Why is Lebanon being punished?"

Lebanon isn't being punished. It's facing a counter-attack. Lebanon declared war on Israel when those rockets were fired by those "sons of Lebanon" from Lebanon, with that aggression against Israel given tacit permission from the democratically elected Lebanese government.


At 3:18 PM, yaman said...
By "Syrian rockets" do you mean they were fired by Syria, or made by Syria and fired by Hizballah?


At 3:19 PM, John said...
Israel has no problem with the Lebanese Army on the border, yet it does object to Hezbollah for obvious reasons. Who elected Nasrallah to run Lebanon? Is Lebanon a democratic country or not? If it is than the government must control the borders and not a private militia. This would be like having Ireland's borders with Northern Ireland patrolled by the IRA.

[Joanne98]

13. Comments (part two)

At 3:19 PM, John said...
Israel has no problem with the Lebanese Army on the border, yet it does object to Hezbollah for obvious reasons. Who elected Nasrallah to run Lebanon? Is Lebanon a democratic country or not? If it is than the government must control the borders and not a private militia. This would be like having Ireland's borders with Northern Ireland patrolled by the IRA.


At 3:20 PM, sp said...
There's no problem having lebanese defenders on Israel's border. There's a problem having lebanese "defenders" that don't answer to the Lebanese government. Israel just wants Hezbollah pushed back and the lebanese army to take their place and ensure that they don't renter that area as a military force.


At 3:24 PM, Aisah_6 said...
Which "root cause" was responsible for this attack?
Lets be politically incorrect and admit the truth. The terrorists are the biggest problem in Lebanon as in rest of the world.
Until Lebanese speak up and act to rid themselves of the radical, hate-spewing zealots among their ranks they risk all Lebanese being 'painted with the same brush'.
As always, it is the extreme fringe minority that will be involved. What about the silent majority of who are moderates?
This would be a good time for them to come out in big numbers to proclaim their opposition to such acts. And also to actively involve themselves at various levels of their community to rid themselves of this scrouge before it destroys them all.


At 3:26 PM, nuggs said...
box said the israeli agenda is unclear and suspect

Maybe it is unclear because you believe everything that comes out of an Israeli's mouth is "psyops and propaganda"
Hard to understand what the other side wants when every viewpoint is a lie or misinformation.

box said i don't find the lebanese defenders of lebanon's southern border to be terrorists. i'm sorry. i don't see it. and if they're backed in order to do so, i still don't see the problem in that.

doha said lJazeera is claiming that the rockets which hit Haifa today were Syrian rockets. Why is Lebanon being punished?

doha, I would argue alot of the reason you are paying for it is because many Lebanonese agree with box and they have allowed Hezbollah free reign in your country. The same way Israelis are paying for their support of their government.


At 3:34 PM, 1earth said...
Nobody would give a second thought to Lebanon having it's "defenders of Lebanon" right on the border if those "sons of Lebanon" stuck to defending Lebanon and not raiding Israel!


At 3:37 PM, benj said...
same way Israelis are paying for their support of their government.

In fact the Isrealy also divided on the issue. In the sence we are not much different then Lebanese. Fringe radicals just want to punish all Arabs in blind anger. Extreme left hope that complete pacifism and abolishment of use of force would bring peace. And quite many people feel that the real enemy is Syria, but governmnet too weak to deal with it. The Sharon loss did a huge blow for Israel. While not very smart and not brilliant strategist Sharon had spine and political intuition. He could resolve this situation faster and with less pain for everyone.

[Joanne98]

14. Comments (part three)

At 3:45 PM, nuggs said...
Doha,

Could you clarify that statement:
...the rockets which hit Haifa today were Syrian rockets

I too am wondering if you ment Syrian made or launched from Syria, it could mean an expansion of this war.


At 3:54 PM, John said...
I believe he meant Syrian-made, not fired from Syria. At least that's what The Jerusalem Post is reporting.


At 4:00 PM, Lazarus said...
nuggs says - Hard to understand what the other side wants when every viewpoint is a lie or misinformation.
Sadly this is true in more places that Lebanon and Israel. My prayer is that these two countries can defeat that disease and maybe teach the world the cure.
We're still here Doha & Raja. Thinking of you and hoping (praying) all this ends soon.

I don't have any where else to ask this and I hate to bring it up here. But:
What is the chance the two Israeli soldiers have been killed? And if so, will the Israelis accept the bodies and honour the cease fire?


At 4:08 PM, Sagi (Israel) said...
This is my first posting here, so greetings all. I'd like to share my ideas about the politics underlaying the situation.

So, why are we having this war, or rather - why NOW? While the kidnapping of two Isrealy soldiers by Hizbullah was a MAJOR provocation, and one that nobody expected Israel to ignore - it was hardly the first time since the IDF's withdrawal fron southern Lebanon that Nasrallah's acts provided Israel with a casus belli.

So again, why now? I believe there are two major reasons:

1) The Syrian withdrawal: As long as Syrian troops were stationed in Lebanon, there would've been little hope of its goverment attempting to disarm Hizbullah and taking responsibility for the Southern border. Further - as long as the Syrian occupied Lebanon, it was implicitly understood that they would be held reponsible for any war-like acts coming from there.

The Syrian leadership stands to gain practically nothing from a war with Israel while standing to lose quite a lot, and that's why Israel - while not exactly happy to have Syrian troops stationed in Lebanon - prefered this state to the current one: While Syria controlled Lebanon, it was held accountable for it: Anything major coming out of Lebanon towards Israel would've entailed an Israely attack on Damascus, which they could ill afford. The accountibility of centeralized regimes to any war-acts coming from their terriotory is key to stopping and avoiding wars: A country surrenders and stops fighting when its army cannot protect it any more. A militant group like Hizbullah, that's probably more strongly allied with Iran that its native Lebanon, can keep fighting with little regard to the country crumbling around it. A no-man's-land situation like the one currently existing in Lebanon is simply an unacceptable risk to Israel, especailly now, which brings me to reason 2 for the war:

2) The approaching Iran-US war: Perhaps I'm overly pessimistic, but I believe all signs point to this war happening within a couple of years at most: I'd be happy to share my reasoning, if anyone wishes to hear it, but it's immaterial to my point; When this war happens, it's almost sure to involve Israel: The only realistic way for distant Iran to engage Israel is with rockets and missiles. Ballistic missiles can be shot down - at least with some degree of success - and the difficulty and expense of manufacturing them limits their usage. Short and medium range rockets - like the ones being fired by Hizbullah right now - cannot be shot down and can be produced and fired in huge numbers. Simply put, Israel cannot afford a neighbouring country being used as a missile launching platform in the coming war - especially one that cannot be made to stop these launches by a standard military action (see above). Considering the possibillity of Iranian non-conventional warheads being provided to Hizbullah - the magnitude of the risk becomes one that no country will ever accept and will go to any lengths to neutralise.

For everyone's sake, I hope Lebanon's goverment will be able to survive and take full control of the country, and that the Israely goverment do its best to assist it after the shooting stops.

Wow. That came out much longer than I planned...

[Joanne98]

15. Comments (part four)

At 4:09 PM, Laurence said...
"Why is Lebanon being punished?"

Because they're being fired from Lebanese territory by Lebanese.


At 4:11 PM, tickler said...
I expect Israel would accept the bodies of their soldiers, if they are dead. Israelis mostly are realists. I don't imagine they expect to get all 3 alive, though they would be unhappy, as would anybody. They have accepted bodies before.

This is all a tragedy, what seems most tragic to me is the betrayal of Lebanon by Hezbollah. They have made it obvious how little they care about anyone else's point of view.


At 4:24 PM, Jad J said...
very well put Sagi... thats the best analysis comment i read so far!
and lets hope that our government can sign peace coz as someone just told me (quoting): "It's mind boggling that we have really good relations with Egypt and not with Lebanon"


At 4:33 PM, Sagi (Israel) said...
Here's hoping, Jadj... :)


At 4:42 PM, Omer (israeli) said...
Hey everyone,
News from Israel:
This evening 1000 left-winged activist's protested in tel-aviv calling to stop the war. They said they protest to stop the war and to make clear that the war is not a consensus like Olmet claims.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3276906,00.html

Stay safe.


At 4:53 PM, Jad J said...
thats a start...
can those 1000 start some sort of petition to allow Lebanese and israeli youth be allowed to meet... or do we still have to avoid each other in international airports so that our governments dont treat us like traitors!!!


At 5:03 PM, Omer (israeli) said...
I met a Lebanese in Italy many years ago. Very cool guy, he studied computer science in Rome. But i dont think will be seeing organized groups anytime soon.


At 5:07 PM, Suha said...
Everyone: here is an interesting bit from Washington Post. So, as Sagi so sagely said, the kidnapping of the soldier is not the real reason behind this (I do not agree with the rest of his analysis). This has been in the making for some time now, with US blessings. In fact, if the sources are to be trusted, this is a proxy war on both sides. Funny that semites on both sides end up paying the price.

Omer, thanks for the news.


At 5:16 PM, Josiah said...
box

//i don't find the lebanese defenders of lebanon's southern border to be terrorists. i'm sorry. i don't see it. and if they're backed in order to do so, i still don't see the problem in that. does israel expect lebanon to not protect its border? outrageous demands like "move to the nitali river," which, of course, is far inland of the border, suggest that israel resents any OTHER country to protect itself from israel. (please spare me the "explanations" as to why this is a just demand - that's a preemptive "shhhhh.")//

The issue is not that they defended the border, but that they ATTACKED the defenders of ISRAEL's border. Also, the group is (supposedly) not sponsored or led by the Lebanese government, but by one non-elected madman named Nasrallah. Lebanon's inability to control its own border and its self-appointed border guards is the big problem here.


At 5:18 PM, Michael said...
Is the bombing in Beirut still happening, or does it appear to have slowed down some?


At 5:19 PM, Josiah said...
and doha, thanks again for the updates and thanks for banning anonymous comments. I'm sick of people from Western Europe lecturing us about a situation about which they know very little.


At 5:27 PM, Sagi (Israel) said...
Hi Suha, would you elaborate some on what's wrong with my analysis? One of the reasons I posted it here is so I could get some feedback coming from people with a different point of view...


At 5:38 PM, Jad J said...
mark my words Sagi, although what u say is theoretically very true, but Iran will not be attacked. Not out of fear, but many other stuff that i would refrain from saying because it is one of those "conspiracy theory" that i've been researching for a long time (4 years).


At 5:42 PM, Omer (israeli) said...
Gives us the Theory, Jad j

[Joanne98]

16. Comments (part five)

5:42 PM, Omer (israeli) said...
Gives us the Theory, Jad j


At 5:51 PM, Jad J said...
nah... its still too early for that.. lets just focus on whats at hand then we'll discuss what information i have gathered together!

anyway, its about time i go to sleep, its been a long and stressful day, hope to see u all tomorrow on this blog, its really nice how it all ended up in here: too many points of views, but all reasonable and willing to listen to each other with less sarcasm and more constructive comments, i feel quite comfortable discussing issues with all of you in here To name a few Suha, Doha, Josiah, Omer, Sagi, Joe!
Be safe (what a pathetic wishful thing "Be Safe"... but thats the situation)


At 5:52 PM, Sagi (Israel) said...
4 years! Well, I admit my theory is based on more like 4 DAYS of research. :) But frankly, as long as Israel perceives a US-Iran war as a likely possibility, the results (Israel-Lebanonwise) will be the same...


At 5:53 PM, Sagi (Israel) said...
Be safe too, Jad. Night.


At 5:56 PM, Jad J said...
Oh... and Shmulik too !! Goodnight to you all !


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[Joanne98]

17. Sleepless Lebanon....

Sunday, July 16, 2006
Sleepless Lebanon
http://lebanesebloggers.blogspot.com/

Another sleepless night in the South and the Bekaa. More rocket attacks and deaths. Will keep the updates flowing through the evening.

Addendum: Here's a little piece of info shared by a fellow Lebanese in the diaspora:

Apparently "CNN Pipeline" (found on Cnn.com) is providing live transmissions from several lebanese channels for a little monthlhy fee ($2.95).
Some outside of Lebanon don't have subscriptions to LBC Sat or any of the other LebaneseTV channels, and this is the only way someone can get video images from Lebanon...I hope this information is helpful.


"Nobody knows how many rebellions, besides political rebellions, ferment in the masses of life which people earth."

posted by Doha @ 5:33 PM 1 comments

[rman]

18. k&r