Nasrullah's admissions
Sheikh Nasrullah, Head of Hizbollah, made some interesting and possibly far-reaching admissions in an interview he gave to a Lebanese journalist. He said:
1. He did not forsee the extent of Israeli military reaction to Hizbollah's killing of IDF soldiers and capturing of two hostages. He expected only a few days of Israeli artillery response as in previous such attacks.
2. If he had known the extent of the reaction he would not have given the orders for the cross-border attack.
3. Now he regrets having caused the war and the damage to Lebanese infrastructure that Israel exacted.
4. He will ensure that Hizbollah keeps the ceasefire and will not show guns openly in South Lebanon.
5. However, he retains the right to attack IDF troops if they remain in S. Lebanon.
6. But, he doesn't think there will be a "second round" of hostilities.
These admissions, if you believe him, that are in response to internal Lebanese criticism, tend to show that the claim that Hizbollah won a "holy victory" is so much bs (as everybody knows), and that the extent of damage that Hizbollah sustained was indeed large. Probably large enough to set them back at least a year or two in their plans. So that the war was a victory for Israel, but only just.
While the Israel Govt. did not attain its main goals of destroying Hizbollah, stopping the rocketing of N. Israel, and releasing the two kidnapped soldiers, these aims may yet be partially realized by the deployment of the international force UNIFIL2 and the Lebanese Army in S. Lebanon. Also by a possible prisoner exchange in the works, with Hizbollah releasing the 2 soldiers, Goldwasser and Regev, into the hands of a neutral third party (possibly the ICRC or German Govt.) and then Israel releasing Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners. Also, it is possible that in a pique of anti-Syrian feeling, the Lebanese Government might authorize the blockade of the Syrian border, mainly to thumb their noses at Syria. If these things come to pass as a result of the war and subsquent UN resolution 1701, then PM Olmert will declare a victory and will prevent a full Govt. Commission of enquiry into the shortcomings of the war. But, if he does that he will only further tarnish his image.
So much of what the Arabs do is faked, from the number of hostages claimed, to the media reports showing Mickey Mouse dolls in ruins that the Hizbollah media man carries around with him in a tote bag, to the reuse of dead bodies, to even the pretense of ambulance drivers being dead, etc. Now it has been revealed that the money being counted out to poor Shias who lost their houses, supposedly $12,000 each, was in fact counterfeit dollars. This was found by looking closely at photos of the dollar bills. It is well known that Hizbollah are one of the most accomplished counterfeiting organizations producing large quantities of US dollars in the world.
In a strangely similar move to Nasrallah's admissions, Ghazi Hamad, spokesman of the Hamas-controlled PA government, in an article described Gaza as "suffering under the yoke of anarchy and the swords of thugs." He wrote that following Israel's withdrawal and the initial positive expectations, "life became a nightmare and an intolerable burden," and "we should stop blaming Israel and fix our own screw-ups." It is noteworthy that during the fighting in Gaza in the past few weeks, since the killing of two IDF soldiers and the capture of one, 191 Palestinians, mainly terrorists, have been killed. Today three were killed by a missile fired from a drone while they stood armed on a Gaza street. Hamad admitted that the firing of Kasam rockets were not int eh Pal;estineians interest. So this has been a disaster for the PA, and hopefully they will get the message that the IDF will not stop its attacks until Gilad Shalit is released - Monday was his 20th birthday.
Meanwhile the release of the two Fox journalists with the support of Hamas PM Haniyeh, might be a harbinger for the release Shalit. If Hizbollah releases their prisoners, why would the Palestinians not release him too, indeed the two releases might be coordinated in order to obtain maximum PR value. The Palestinians do not want to be left out of the PR victory that Hizbollah will no doubt claim for the release of their prisoners. I know all this sounds too good to be true, but let's not always assume the worst, especially if Nasrullah and Hamad can be so uncharacteristically candid.
1. He did not forsee the extent of Israeli military reaction to Hizbollah's killing of IDF soldiers and capturing of two hostages. He expected only a few days of Israeli artillery response as in previous such attacks.
2. If he had known the extent of the reaction he would not have given the orders for the cross-border attack.
3. Now he regrets having caused the war and the damage to Lebanese infrastructure that Israel exacted.
4. He will ensure that Hizbollah keeps the ceasefire and will not show guns openly in South Lebanon.
5. However, he retains the right to attack IDF troops if they remain in S. Lebanon.
6. But, he doesn't think there will be a "second round" of hostilities.
These admissions, if you believe him, that are in response to internal Lebanese criticism, tend to show that the claim that Hizbollah won a "holy victory" is so much bs (as everybody knows), and that the extent of damage that Hizbollah sustained was indeed large. Probably large enough to set them back at least a year or two in their plans. So that the war was a victory for Israel, but only just.
While the Israel Govt. did not attain its main goals of destroying Hizbollah, stopping the rocketing of N. Israel, and releasing the two kidnapped soldiers, these aims may yet be partially realized by the deployment of the international force UNIFIL2 and the Lebanese Army in S. Lebanon. Also by a possible prisoner exchange in the works, with Hizbollah releasing the 2 soldiers, Goldwasser and Regev, into the hands of a neutral third party (possibly the ICRC or German Govt.) and then Israel releasing Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners. Also, it is possible that in a pique of anti-Syrian feeling, the Lebanese Government might authorize the blockade of the Syrian border, mainly to thumb their noses at Syria. If these things come to pass as a result of the war and subsquent UN resolution 1701, then PM Olmert will declare a victory and will prevent a full Govt. Commission of enquiry into the shortcomings of the war. But, if he does that he will only further tarnish his image.
So much of what the Arabs do is faked, from the number of hostages claimed, to the media reports showing Mickey Mouse dolls in ruins that the Hizbollah media man carries around with him in a tote bag, to the reuse of dead bodies, to even the pretense of ambulance drivers being dead, etc. Now it has been revealed that the money being counted out to poor Shias who lost their houses, supposedly $12,000 each, was in fact counterfeit dollars. This was found by looking closely at photos of the dollar bills. It is well known that Hizbollah are one of the most accomplished counterfeiting organizations producing large quantities of US dollars in the world.
In a strangely similar move to Nasrallah's admissions, Ghazi Hamad, spokesman of the Hamas-controlled PA government, in an article described Gaza as "suffering under the yoke of anarchy and the swords of thugs." He wrote that following Israel's withdrawal and the initial positive expectations, "life became a nightmare and an intolerable burden," and "we should stop blaming Israel and fix our own screw-ups." It is noteworthy that during the fighting in Gaza in the past few weeks, since the killing of two IDF soldiers and the capture of one, 191 Palestinians, mainly terrorists, have been killed. Today three were killed by a missile fired from a drone while they stood armed on a Gaza street. Hamad admitted that the firing of Kasam rockets were not int eh Pal;estineians interest. So this has been a disaster for the PA, and hopefully they will get the message that the IDF will not stop its attacks until Gilad Shalit is released - Monday was his 20th birthday.
Meanwhile the release of the two Fox journalists with the support of Hamas PM Haniyeh, might be a harbinger for the release Shalit. If Hizbollah releases their prisoners, why would the Palestinians not release him too, indeed the two releases might be coordinated in order to obtain maximum PR value. The Palestinians do not want to be left out of the PR victory that Hizbollah will no doubt claim for the release of their prisoners. I know all this sounds too good to be true, but let's not always assume the worst, especially if Nasrullah and Hamad can be so uncharacteristically candid.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:58 PM
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