Breaking: Israel Attacks Hezbollah Infrastructure, Engages Lebanese Army
What is going on in Lebanon is not a terrorist attack or an air strike. It is an actual war, like the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War. Something on a scale that has not occurred in at least some of our readers' lifetime. Israel has not yet issued a general call-up, but it is no longer pretending that there's a difference between Hezbollah and the country that funds, supports, and supplies it. Already last night, Israel began to cut off Hezbollah's supply lines - supply lines that bear a curious similarity to civilian infrastructure:
Beirut's main airport was forced to close after Israeli fighter jets hit all three of its runways, leaving huge craters and making them unusable. Other airfields also were attacked Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said, but details were not immediately available. Israel said it targeted the airport in the capital's suburbs because it was used to transfer weapons and supplies to Hezbollah, the militant group that captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in raids earlier this week. Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat called the airport strikes a "general act of war," saying they had nothing to do with Hezbollah but were instead an attack against the country's "economic interests," especially its tourism industry.
Now JPost and Ha'aretz pass on news of Israeli airstrikes against Lebanese military bases:
Israel Air Force warplanes blasted runways at the main Lebanese army air base in eastern Lebanon near Syria's border Thursday evening, Lebanese police said. Jets dropped two bombs on the runway at the Rayak air base in the eastern Bekaa Valley, damaging it, police said. There were no reports of casualties. Rayak, 50 kilometers east of Beirut and about seven kilometers west of the Syrian border, is home to the country's main military air base and is military headquarters in eastern Lebanon. Shortly afterward, the IAF also bombed the small military airport of Qulayaat in northern Lebanon, security sources and witnesses said.
No doubt Israel will be condemned roundly for this aggression against the Lebanese military. That the Lebanese military was already taking potshots at Israeli forces yesterday will, we suspect, somehow get lost in the news coverage (no doubt accidentally, in the rush to make the print deadline!)
Beirut's main airport was forced to close after Israeli fighter jets hit all three of its runways, leaving huge craters and making them unusable. Other airfields also were attacked Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said, but details were not immediately available. Israel said it targeted the airport in the capital's suburbs because it was used to transfer weapons and supplies to Hezbollah, the militant group that captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in raids earlier this week. Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat called the airport strikes a "general act of war," saying they had nothing to do with Hezbollah but were instead an attack against the country's "economic interests," especially its tourism industry.
Now JPost and Ha'aretz pass on news of Israeli airstrikes against Lebanese military bases:
Israel Air Force warplanes blasted runways at the main Lebanese army air base in eastern Lebanon near Syria's border Thursday evening, Lebanese police said. Jets dropped two bombs on the runway at the Rayak air base in the eastern Bekaa Valley, damaging it, police said. There were no reports of casualties. Rayak, 50 kilometers east of Beirut and about seven kilometers west of the Syrian border, is home to the country's main military air base and is military headquarters in eastern Lebanon. Shortly afterward, the IAF also bombed the small military airport of Qulayaat in northern Lebanon, security sources and witnesses said.
No doubt Israel will be condemned roundly for this aggression against the Lebanese military. That the Lebanese military was already taking potshots at Israeli forces yesterday will, we suspect, somehow get lost in the news coverage (no doubt accidentally, in the rush to make the print deadline!)
