Israel Attacks Beirut's Airports as Violence Escalates

Posted on July 13, 2006

Isreal is stepping up its attacks on Lebanon, as the violence in the Middle East appears to be escalating. Israel attacked Beirut's airports in response to a launch of rockets by Hezbollah militants against the Israeli city of Haifa.

This entire conflagration started when militant members of Hamas tunnelled under the border from the Gaza Strip to attack an Israeli army post. They killed two Israeli solders and kidnapped a third soldier. But instead of sending in the Israeli equivalent of Special Forces to rescue the young soldier and extract revenge, new Prime Minister Olmert decided to take a different path and moved troops into Southern Gaza. It escalated from there.

The United States stood up for Israel at the U.N. Security Council meeting, as we usually do. Meanwhile, however, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was on the phone to the Israeli Prime Minister's office strongly advising Israel to de-escalate the situation. That made sense: defend Israel publicly, but privately ask them what the heck they think they are doing and demanding they back off. But, in a surprise move, the Prime Minister's office reportedly told Condi to "back off." In other words, there's a new sheriff in town and he's no Ariel Sharon. When Hezbollah militants from Lebanon decided to fire rockets into the port city of Haifa, well, that was it. Israel really couldn't ignore that without looking weak. The rest of the moderate Arab world is quite unhappy with Hezbollah for kicking the situation up a notch. President Bush, caught flat-footed at a news conference in Germany, kept trying to talk about the roasted pig dinner they were about to enjoy even when reporters tried to get him to comment on the situation.

Eventually, Bush said Israel can defend itself but that he was worried about the fledgling democracy in Lebanon. I'd say the White House is furious with Olmert's original actions, which gave Hezbollah an opening. Now the U.S. is stuck defending Israel's actions, as the rest of the world demands that Israel stand down. Meanwhile militant wings of Hezbollah and Hamas are pledging a full-blown war with Israel, against the wishes of the Lebanese and Palestinian governments. Not that militants ever listen to governments, theirs or anyone else's.