The Israeli version of today's firefight on the Lebanese border is sharp, clear and unambiguous: IDF troops were operating on Israeli territory. Since the border fence at that point runs inside Israel, the UN forces (UNIFIL) had been told in advance that there would be IDF troops outside the fence. Lebanese forces opened fire, not on the troops which were cutting a tree, but on the officers who stood nearby, killing Lt. Colonel Dov Harrari.
The Reuters version is murky and ambiguous, and starts with Israeli artillery fire. On the other hand, Rueters assures us, the Israelis don't actually seem to be preparing a larger action.
There is no way both versions are true. Either the Israelis are lying, or Reuters is. (h/t Noah Pollak via Twitter).
Not to mention the questions about why there were reporters and cameras on the Lebanese side of the event. Are we to assume they just happened to be passing by?
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8 comments:
Hey, there are no "truths", only "narratives".
Still, if cornered I´d bet Reuters is lying...
This has Hisbollah written all over it in 20feet high typeface. There will be more provocations like this, Hisbollah are in serious trouble over the Harriri investigation and they'll do anything to divert attention away from it.... including dragging Lebanon into a war.
If Israel can weather the (almost certain) future provocations over the next few months it may well turn out that Hisbollah self-destructs without Israel needing to go to war.
Gavin
One to watch for is a continuation of the cognitice dissonance displayed so graphically with the videos in the flotilla incident. No matter how much Israel repeats that the attack was on Israeli soil the haters will persist in claiming that Israel stepped onto Lebanese soil & was thus at fault.
The picture of the crane lowering the soldier over the fence is like a candle drawing a moth... they just can't resist the enticing assumption that the other side of the fence is Lebanese soil. The pillock at the BBC was trying to fit Israel up on that one when interviewing the IDF spokeswoman.
Gavin
Hisbollah has a new narrative
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2010/08/hezbollah-accuses-israel-of-killing.html
as to the tribunal, if Hisbollah is implicated, then Iran is too since Syria has become friends with the Saudis recently, but whether the Syrians reciproke the feeling doesn't seem to be too clear. These guys are even more confusing than the wildest office feuds I've been through.
But what about UNIFIL watching over the killing and injuring IDF-soldiers? With whom are they siding? It seems Denmark is currently in command there, making up for the "blunder" of the cartoons?
Silke
Silke I wouldn't read too much into that. All it needed was for a sniper to be located close to the Lebanese troops and when he targeted the officers the IDF troops would have seen the LAF as the source of the shots and started shooting back... with the LAF responding. It is highly unlikely that the Lebanese Army was acting under military orders there... no sense in it.
That was Hisbollah... you can bet on it. They would have called the press & hoped to get propaganda videos from it.... Israeli aggression blah blah.
Gavin
Ya'acov, a lot of attractive coincidence to which we don't have answers.
What prompted Lebanon to try to kill Israeli observer officers rather than soldier trimming the tree?
And how did journalists know a "matzav" was in the offing?
A lot of questions that surround the incident. Its one of those flare-ups that should not happened but did.
Why is another Middle East mystery that may never be solved.
I don't see any mystery Norman. Look at it objectively and ask yourself why two officers 300metres from the activity at the fence were the only ones targeted by sniper(s)
If those snipers were LAF then they wouldn't have stopped shooting would they, and clearly they did stop after those first shots because they could have easily picked off a few of the troops at the fence if they could hit the officers 700metres away. Info on that here that looks pretty convincing;
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67253W20100804
The Israeli govt looks to be trying to calm things down but this is clearly a deliberate and planned killing, almost certainly by Hisbollah. Dead officers were guaranteed to provoke a retaliation more than dead privates, the plan was to get IDF and LAF shooting at each other & drag Lebanon into Hisbollahs fight. The wrong soldiers were targeted by the sniper for it to have been "flare-up".
Gavin
Gavin
EoZ has a list of links to Lebanon outfits which make quite a read and give one an idea how weird it all is.
it may have been snipers but this is the IDF's take, which I think is smart because it is the LAF's task in cooperation with UNO to keep the area "clean" - the sniper excuse would let them get off free once again. They are no irresponsible children who don't know what they do.
The IDF holds the LAF responsible for the incident that disrupted the calm in the region, and its consequences.
http://idfspokesperson.com/2010/08/03/laf-opens-fire-at-idf-force-on-northern-border-3-aug-2010/
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2010/08/utter-inability-to-tell-truth.html
here is a picture
http://lizaswelt.tumblr.com/
from Reuters the caption says that's how the tree cutting operation was guarded on the Lebanese side.
whatever else they wanted, they wanted to show off
Silke
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