In a slowly breaking story it seems that Israeli commandos and warplanes have been in a joint offensive operation in the Bekaa Valley according to Al Jazeera:
Media reports quoted Lebanese security sources as saying on Saturday that Israeli aircraft and commandos raided the village of Bodai, west of the ancient city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, at dawn.
Full story from Al Jazeera:
http://tinyurl.com/q4s6j
If this attack is confirmed , what does it mean for the ceasefire process? Will Israel be condemned for breaking a UN resolution and ceasefire? It is difficult to impossible to argue this action was defensive. Will Condi condemn the action?
Updated below:
Kofi Annan has now called the aggression for what it is: a breach of the ceasefire. At last we have someone who is willing to call the Israeli war machine:
A spokesman for Annan said in a statement: “The secretary-general is deeply concerned about a violation by the Israeli side of the cessation of hostilities as laid out in Security Council resolution 1701.”
It looks like the Lebanese could halt deployment of their troops until the UN deals with Israel. Elias Murr the Lebanese defence secratary:
He said: “We will not send the army to be prey in an Israeli trap.”
The Israelis are claiming they did it to interrupt an arms delivery in a story not everyone buys, but:
The ceasefire resolution talks about an end to weapons shipments to Hezbollah as part of a long-term end to the conflict – but does not require it under the immediate truce.
So that is no excuse to break a UN resolution.
When the full UN condemnation will come and how scathing it will be remains to be seen. Just imagine if Hezbollah had launched an attack in Israel to stop a cluster bomb delivery from us. John Bolton would be charging around on a pogo stick with his first hard on for half a century demanding immediate US invasion of Lebanon.
or reported in many places such as Abc: http://tinyurl.com/jos48
