Tonycurzonprice's Favorite Links on 33-day-war from Diigo

Riviera vs Citadel: the battle for Lebanon Nadim Shehadi - openDemocracy

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 14:51:11 -0000

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The end of eighteen years of Israeli occupation of the area south of the Litani river in May 2000 was a victory for the Citadel, but it also threatened to undercut its legitimacy by depriving it of a cause to struggle for; this made the issue of the Shebaa farms – a strip of territory on the Lebanese-Israeli border which Israel continued to occupy – a cause to maintain the project.

UN Security Council resolution 1559 of September 2004, sponsored by France and the US, can be understood as an assault on the Citadel in response; it called for the disarmament of all local and foreign militias, including Hizbollah, as well as a halt to Syrian interference in internal affairs.

In the short term, Hizbollah – representing the Citadel project – has emerged victorious from recent events, not so much because of the military outcome but because of the political messages that flow from it. The Israeli military campaign and the US support for it has – wholly against their professed intentions – certainly vindicated much of the Citadel's argument and dealt a heavy political blow to the Riviera

The Riviera wants to revive the model of pre-war Lebanon, centred on Beirut as a cosmopolitan open society which relies for its prosperity on trade and services.

Tags: 33-day-war lebanon

Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Dedefensa.org

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 10:17:06 -0000

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For example, instead of dismissing Nasrallah's boasts, many commentators around the world kept repeating and endorsing his claim that his fighters fought much more bravely than the regular soldiers of Arab states in previous wars with Israel.

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Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Lebanon: who won the war? Eric Silver - openDemocracy

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 14:15:40 -0000

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

failing to achieve what they thought they were fighting for: the disarming of Hizbollah and the release of the two soldiers whose abduction on 12 July provoked them into battle.

An unusually apologetic Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah's secretary-general, admitted in an interview with the Lebanese NTV on 27 August that he would not have ordered the cross-border operation if he had known the scale of Israel's response.

The majority of the Lebanese people feel that a major catastrophe has befallen them, throwing their present and future up in the air."

he Lebanese army has deployed in the south for the first time in three decades. 12,000 government troops were in place by early October.

but Hizbollah has lost much of its swagger. It has ceased to dominate Lebanon's fragmented political map

but the disenchantment has set in there too

Berri went to Saudi Arabia in early October to solicit political and financial assistance for his country. Israeli analysts hope this will help strengthen democratic, anti-Syrian voices among the Shi'a, Lebanon's largest community. Berri is urging Hizbollah to concentrate on charity and welfare.

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Posted by: tonycurzonprice

Israel’s strategic victory in Lebanon David Ucko - openDemocracy

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 12:46:49 -0000

Comments:

Conventional wisdom is conventional military can't win against "freedom fighters" posted by tonycurzonprice

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

Israel fell victim to the strategic fallacy typical of western militaries: that a conventional military superiority can be used to defeat insurgencies.

gathered strength and support through the Israeli Defence Force (IDF)'s heavy-handedness

war resulted in the acceleration of rocket attacks on Israeli villages, it also tarnished the country's reputation, not only in the Arab world but globally, resulting in further condemnation of its military and foreign policies.

A quick comparison between the situation now and that prior to the invasion reveals both how much has changed and why Israel may take at least some satisfaction over its performance in the

safeguard, it is believed, against renewed Hizbollah attacks on Israel and a guarantee that the west keeps its eye on developments in the region

Lebanese army has also mobilised southwards to cover all "blue-line" villages where Hizbollah had previously operated freely.

tie its withdrawal from Lebanon to the formulation of rules of engagement that would allow it to engage Hizbollah, should it deem such action necessary.

The UN and Lebanese presence in southern Lebanon is there precisely to ensure that Hizbollah does not launch any further attacks on Israel.

breach of the ceasefire would in the international arena corrode any good faith it might have accrued as a side-product of IDF heavy-handedness.

If, on the other hand, Hizbollah succumbs (even if only for the time being) to the pressure to respect the ceasefire, this could translate into a political advantage for a currently beleaguered Ehud Olmert and for Israel more generally.

what about image? Surely the thirty-three-day war in Lebanon has damaged Israel's reputation, regionally and internationally?

Israel has made the most of a bad war and that, possibly, it has obtained benefits through war that would not have been possible otherwise.

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Posted by: tonycurzonprice