Hassan Nasrallah (who I will never honor with a title) is lying through his teeth to the press.
First, he says that the IDF is not in Lebanon. Really? Tell that to the Lebanese fleeing the battle sites.
Then he says this:
Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah Secretary-General warned Israel during a press conference in Lebanon: “I advise the Israelis to learn from past experiences. If the Israeli Chief of Staff threatens to set Lebanon back 20 years, I am telling him that Lebanon is not what it used to be”.
“If the world wants a conflict we are ready and the world wants calm we are ready. If Israel chooses conflict it should expect surprises,” added Nasrallah.
Which makes me wonder exactly what Hezbullah has been importing from Iran.
This is going to be a costly war. Make no mistake. The age of Entebbe is over. The age of the Six-Day War is behind. The good news is that the IDF is still one of the best armies in the world, and Hizbullah is still pretty much a bunch of terrorists with some Iranian Revolutionary Guards sprinkled throughout.
But there will be casualties. Word is that Olmert is going to declare war tonight. Immediately following that, I predict a UN resolution condeming Israel.
I’ll respect your request not to see bloodthirsty comments here, and leave it at this: outrages, whether it’s bombings, kidnappings, missile attacks whatever, will stop when, and only when, sufficient damage is done and sufficient prospective damges is immediately pending to people responsible, that, in the opinion of the people responsible or their successors, makes such actions seem counterproductive.
It’s why buzzing Baby Assad’s palace will focus his mind — as long as he believes that the next step is more than a buzzing. If it’s just a warning, it’s easy to ignore.
At least arguably, the incursion into Gaza is a political benefit for Hamas. Under the best of conditions, Gaza will be a pit — more than an order of magnitude more inhabitants than the area can support. Even a sane, noncorrupt administration can’t solve that — and now there’s a distraction and somebody other than the hamassholes for the locals to blame.
The sun will come up tomorrow. Immediately following that, I predict a UN resolution condeming Israel.
Gaza could have actually supported itself, with food at least… if Hamas hadn’t destroyed all the greenhouses Israeli settlers had built.