Israel is already back on the offensive according to Yahoo News
BEIRUT, Lebanon – Israeli commandos raided a Hezbollah stronghold deep inside Lebanon Saturday, sparking a fierce clash with militants that left one Israeli soldier dead. Lebanon called the raid a “flagrant violation” of the U.N.-brokered cease-fire, while
Israel said it was aimed at disrupting arms smuggling from Iran and Syria.
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Well, isn’t that just special as the Church Lady might say. Dead Israeli commando, a firefight with Hezbollah, and a Lebanese Foreign Minister helpless to do anything about it:
Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said he had complained about the assault to U.N. envoys Terje Roed-Larsen and Vijay Nambiar during talks in Beirut about the truce.
“We asked them to convey a question to Israel: how is it going to stick by resolution 1701 while it is trying to breach it at any moment?” Salloukh told reporters.
The problem? The one everyone predicted when this ceasefire was put in place. There is no way to monitor the Syrian/Lebanese border. Since the resolution demands that Hezbollah not be allowed to re-arm, anytime Israel feels that arms are being smuggled in from Syria this is what will happen:
The security sources said commandos in two vehicles unloaded from helicopters were on their way to attack an office of senior Hezbollah official Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek in the village of Bodai when they were intercepted. After the gunbattle, the Israelis pulled out under cover of fierce air strikes.
Israel said the raid aimed to disrupt arms supplies to Hezbollah from Syria and Iran. Both deny arming the group.
“Special forces carried out an operation to disrupt terror actions against Israel with an emphasis on the transfer of munitions from Syria and Iran to Hezbollah,” Israel’s army said.
Bodai is 15 km (9miles) northwest of the ancient city of Baalbek and 26 km (16 miles) from the Syrian border.
Prediction: this won’t be that last Israeli raid to halt alleged arms shipments. It seems “cease fire” is just another name for war, perhaps on a reduced scale, but war nonetheless. The only question is how long before larger scale operations resume? Not long, is my guess.
