Wounded troops describe Bint Jbail battle as 'hell on earth'

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Wounded soldiers who took part in heavy combat Wednesday on the outskirts of the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbail recounted their experiences from their hospital beds at Haifa's Rambam Medical Center, which received 22 of the wounded casualties of the battle."

<snip>

"The wounded soldiers described the battle as a bitter one which took place in a built-up setting, one where enemy forces had organized a well-planned ambush. Soldiers faced gunfire from any and all directions.

"They shot at us from 180 degrees," said one of the soldiers. Most of the dead and seriously wounded are those from the initial wave of ground troops which tried to enter one of the homes in Bint Jbail. The soldiers who suffered light wounds are primarily those who arrived on the scene to retrieve the bodies of the dead and wounded soldiers lying in the battlefield."

<snip>

"It was hell on earth," Corporal Lior Sharabi said. "People risked their lives not only for the wounded but also for the dead bodies."

Sharabi added that Hezbollah fighters demonstrated impressive combat capabilities. "They are strong fighters, not like us, but better than Hamas," he said."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/743473.html

[Erika]

1. and who profits?

When that question is answered maybe the battles will stop.

[Igel]

6. Nasrallah.

It's the reason the battles started. It's entirely up to him to stop it.

At this point, though, he's riding an ideological crest of victory. And everybody's solution seems to be to feed him another victory. That's always proven successful. However, to be fair, his set of options seems to be "win", "win", and "win-win".

There was nearly no room for compromise in this situation a month ago, and it wasn't taken because those that would have had to step up to the plate were terrified of striking out and decided that sitting on the bench was safe, esp. if it was only Israelis paying any price. Moreover, a compromise would have been an Israeli win. Now, Lebanese are paying a price; Nasrallah doesn't give a damn, it makes his organization look brave and valliant. And his people's culture prevent blaming him: the greater the possible shame, the more it has to be entirely Israel's fault.

Now, there can only be a clear winner and clear loser. People with no relation to a reality-based community are working damned hard to make sure "lose" isn't among Nasrallah's choices.

The net effect, intentional or not, is to make damned sure 'win' isn't among Israel's options. They will not have to deal with the result, and again simply want a quick solution--the exact same solution that they were so joyous over in 2000, the one that led to the current problem.

Given this, why should Nasrallah want to stop? He's winning, and it's likely that the longer it goes on, the greater in size and number his wins will be. The only good news is that it may be that Iran is concerned: hard to tell, their call for a ceasefire also involved complete capitulation in exchange for allowing Hezbollah to rearm, but could also indicate a fear that Hezbollah will be damaged goods when it's all over.

[Kiouni]

2. not that i am for violence

but that is fairly impressive for a "terroist" group.

[MADem]

3. They're Revolutionary Guard trained.....

They aren't ragtag...they've got RG's giving them orders. A bunch of RG's were killed and shipped back to Iran this week...

[pelsar]

4. these are not your "run of the mill" terrorist group.

from what i know they are an army: they're using up to date night vision equipment, modern anti tank weapons (russia), the "last word in communication equipment, short and long range missles, and coordinating multiple attacks at once.....far stronger than the lebanese army.

but more than that, they also run s. lebanon as a completly independant mini state:
education, welfare, road repair work, garbage pickup, police, taxes etc.....the same for the neighborhood in Beruit thats been hit by bombs.

I get the impression that iran has/had plans way beyond s. lebanon for their hizballa....

[MADem]

5. When the PLO was in there, they did the same thing

Ran the madrasas, did the women's and orphans funds, handed out the baby food and diapers and formula and so on. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt; same deal. FATAH, Hamas, they all have done it that way. It's the trick to keeping the population grateful and unquestioning.

You'd think these governments would get off their asses and really focus on social programs themselves, and not leave it to the faith-based communities. It's asking, no, begging, for divided loyalty in a strongman environment.

As for Iran, they think they are "better" than the Arabs, more sophisticated, more worldly, more educated...not a bunch of desert princes...and they really do want to be top dogs in the region. They have the idea that over time they can be, if not THE superpower, "a" superpower, and one to be reckoned with.