Oh No

It's spreading: Israel hits Lebanon after troops snatched.

Update: This is what I thought would happen next. Please, please, let it be the end of it.

Israel bombed and shelled southern Lebanon and sent ground troops over the border for the first time in six years Wednesday after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers. The fighting killed eight Israeli soldiers and three Lebanese.

Let's hope this sputters out. Juan Cole said today apropos of US response to Osama Ben Laden, or was it Israeli response to Palestinian rockets the Mumbai bombings - cowboy diplomacy never works. I could say the same to Hizbollah - what are you thinking? Of course Israel shouldn't bomb Lebanese infrastructure, but if you provoke them, they will. So why is Hizbollah provoking them? Washington is looking for a good excuse to invade Syria and/or Iran, what is the purpose of giving them one?

Those kind readers who have written to express concern for my family in Mieh-Mieh - thank you. I am quite certain they are safe in this latest go-round, insh'allah. It would have to get much, much worse before my village is threatened. Let's hope it doesn't. The latest bridge blowups are bad enough, and the civilian deaths (which were listed as two at the time this was first written). Update: It's getting much worse since I wrote this. I assume my family members have gone to ground and are in safe places, God willing.

Update: For those of you concerned about the personal safety of my relatives, even the airport bombing is still not a direct hit. Remember, the Lebanese have taken this before. My mother's plane circled Beirut airport for an hour while Israel bombed Beirut in 1996. I am concerned for Lebanon. I am saddened at the news of the dawn raids (July 13) that killed 22 27 civilians, including seven twelve members of a family in a village in the far South. I am not yet concerned for my relatives. Let us be ugly and frank about ethnicity here: my village is Christian. The Israelis have had its coordinates for over a generation. They have never before bombed Christian Lebanese so I am not yet frightened. I am disgusted and bitter but I am not frightened for my own family. Yet.

I am sorry for the Lebanese families who grieve today. Don't ask me to say anything about anybody else right now, I am a flawed, selfish woman and my heart has only so much room this evening.

Last update: California, where I live, is ten hours behind Lebanon. The raids were at dawn, at a time when I was putting my own children to bed. Now I'm headed for bed, but day has just begun in Lebanon. I am grieved and frightened that my morning will bring only worse news. This is all so very senseless. See Steven Gilliard's comment.

Comments

[Stephen Frug]

"Juan Cole said today apropos of US response to Osama Ben Laden, or was it Israeli response to Palestinian rockets - cowboy diplomacy never works."

This reminded me to click over to Cole's site... and it turns out he actually said it regarding the recent bombing in India.

What a horrific state of affairs when there were so many terrible possibilities to choose from...

[Leila]

Thanks, Stephen, I updated to reflect the change. Then updated again - Israel bombed the airport, and killed 22 civilians in the South, all reported hours after I first posted this.

[Stephen Frug]

My sister-in-law is in Beirut (she works for an international aid organization), was supposed to leave today -- and, of course, is now trapped, with the airport destroyed and no way out.

So I empathize as well as sympathize. What a horrific mess.

[scory]

Thanks for your comments at the News Blog (which lead me here) and best wishes to you and your family.

I hope and pray that this cycle of violence can be de-escalated, and some kind of constructive process to tension reduction can be begun.