500 Hezbollah Terrorists have been killed in this war with Israel.
Of the 2,000 Hezbollah Terrorists as their hard core fighters. 500 of them are killed in 30 days of fighting.
This story is from our news.com.au network
From correspondents in Jerusalem
August 02, 2006
ISRAELI Tourism Minister Yitzhak Herzog said today as many as 400 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in three weeks of fighting in Lebanon.
He was speaking minutes after another minister said 300 Hezbollah guerrillas had been killed.
A spokesman for the Shiite group had said 43 fighters had died in the conflict. “Four hundred of its dead have been counted by us, 400 terrorists killed by the Israeli army,” Mr Herzog said in an interview.
Hzbollah today denied claims by an Israeli minister that the Israeli army had killed hundreds of its fighters in Lebanon.
Hezbollah said the statement by Justice Minister Haim Ramon - that Israeli forces had killed 300 Hizbollah fighters - was aimed at raising the morale of Israeli troops fighting in southern Lebanon.
A Hezbollah statement read out on the group’s al-Manar television station did not say how many Hezbollah fighters had been killed in the war with Israel.
Israeli ASSUMES that 400 were killed due to bombing raids on "SUSPECTED" hizbollah hideouts. 90% of those were civilians... knowing Israeli record in targeting innocent people, I am pretty sure.
These numbers given by IDF have been fluctuating since the war began. It can be just the regular armed civilians martyred while protecting their land. Not everyone with a gun is a Hezbullah fighter.
The Hezbullah made it clear that they will proudly reveal the indentities of the martyrs on their websites as it considered a blessing and a proud moment for the organization. So I have no reason to believe that Hezbullah are concealing the actual figures for the fighters morales. So far they have reported around 40-50 martyrs.
Even if the 500 number is accurate, where in the article does it claim that they were all from the hard core of Hizbollah's forces? In fact, where has it ever been stated that Hezbollah have even committed their core forces into this war so far?
Earlier it was claimed that there were 10,000 Hezbollah fighthers, 9000 of which fled to north when IDF started bombing. Out of the remaining 1000 militia 100 were killed in first one or two weeks… now we have 2000 out of which 500 are dead…
Hezbollah is quite secretive about deaths. It is pretty safe to assume we will never really know how many died. given the firepower advantage, ranges would be 3 to possibly 10 times the Israeli casualties, depending on the bombing results. Hizbullah will not issue a press release, so we will alwys be speculating. They will be inclined to deny high casualties, as that is not in their best interest. They have been set back many years, and the country of Lebanon has been set back decades. That is reasonably certain.
Impossible to tell, however today Israel dropped leaflets over leb. claiming only 93 Hezbi fighters were killed.
It seems the 500 figure is for Internal consumption, lest the Israeli people feel their efforts have been for nothing....
Given the rate of resistance, it seems plausible that within a decade Hezbollah will be capable to reciprocate accurate responses to damage done to civil infrastructure.
With accurate missiles/artillery, Hezbollah should be able to take out Israeli bridges, water purification systems, power plats, runways, etc.
It's clear Russia has given Iran and Syria the green light to distribute technology (is this a trial test for new Russian systems?), and so what we may be witnessing is a balancing of power in the region by Russia.
What is for certain is that this is not the Hezb. of 2000.
As for Lebanon being set back decades, yes...Israel is punishing Lebanon for Hezbollah's rather tame act of kidnapping two soldiers. How on earth crippiling Leb. helps Israel is beyond me...any fool knows that would have little impact on Hezb, and indeed may rally the average Lebanese around the Hezbi cause...which is exactly what we are seeing.
You say that with implicit pride. As if it's what they "deserve" (i.e. countries economy). Regardless of the justification of either party, you have to agree that noone has a right to destroy and cripple the whole NATION, when they claim themselves that they are "fighting hezbollah and NOT lebanon."
As for setting Hezbollah back "many years"... sure they might be able to destroy their arms, but keep in mind that Hezbollah is based on a well thought out ideology, and not an illegal occupation (like their counterparts). Hence, Hezbollah will never be destroyed. They will never cease to exist.
As for all of this forced separation, I don't buy it. We must separate Hamas military wing from the poltical wing. No. We must separate the Hezbullah political wing from the military wing. We must separate the people of Lebanon from Hizbullah the most powerful military force in Lebanon.
These are constructs in your mind. That does not mean that others have to respect these artificial barriers. These barriers are constructed for the protection of Hamas and Hizbullah. No one is bound to honor them. The goal of a military campaign is to go to the "critical mass", the source of the power, and if this is the finances and property and wealth of Hizbullah, then so be it.
Assymmetric warfare works both ways. Hizbullah will play to it's strengths, and Israel to hers. Don't expect a war to always be fought on your terms. If Lebanon expects to be treated like a sovereign State, it must act like a sovereign State.
One thing is for sure, this fight is not over. A year from now, five years from now, ten years from now, this fight will resume. That is the worst possible outcome.
Yes. Israel is based on the principles of Zionism. Perhaps the only country formed on the basis of a distinctly racist and discriminatory system, that even orthodox jews oppose. Even so, Israels military wing, the IDF and its soldiers, do not carry the same passion for Zionism as Hezbollah fighters do for their ideology.
This is evident even from Israeli publications like Haaretz, that openly admit that Hezbollah are fearless in comparison to IDF. This clearly shows the degree of trust Hezbollah has on their beliefs.
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The goal of a military campaign is to go to the "critical mass", the source of the power, and if this is the finances and property and wealth of Hizbullah, then so be it.
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So you're telling me that Israel is only attacking the financial property and economic wealth of Hezbollah? Okay, wouldn't you admit that majority of Hezbollah's wealth comes from Iran and Syria? What kind of economic damage can you truthfully incurr on Hezbollah by bombing Lebanon? There is NO JUSTIFICATION, no matter which angle you take.
At first they attempted to mask their ethnic cleansing of Shia's by claiming they were bombig "hezbollah strongholds", but now they're bombing sunni and christian majority towns as well. It's like, they use one excuse, and then they have to run and find a new one.
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Don't expect a war to always be fought on your terms.
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Agreed. But there are clearly outlined rules of war, and what constitutes a war crime. Israel has repeatedly ignored human rights violations. Also, people tend to have a general idea of what constitutes moral and immoral acts. In war, it would be fair to target soldiers of the opposing force, since they are essentially who you are battling. Hezbollah's "killings" have been 70% IDF, whereas Israel has been 70% women and children. So I'm not expecting Israel to fight on Hezbollahs terms, but the least they could do is follow certain guidelines.
However, this would be hard to imagine, since their number one supporter and supplier happens to be the only nation in history to have ACTUALLY USED nuclear arms on people. These are classy folks we're dealing with eh?
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If Lebanon expects to be treated like a sovereign State, it must act like a sovereign State.
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Oh God. All these neo-conservatives keep asking the middle east to adapt a "free democratic" governing system. So Lebanon decides to become a model nation by having equal representation of all sects, religions etc. Their MP's have all been democratically voted in. The people of Lebanon have had the freedom to decide on who they wish should make their social decisions.
And yet, according to your standards, it is not a sovereign state. Take a look at Zionism and its principles, and you'll realise what a racist ideology it is. Notice how ethiopian jews aren't allowed to live as freely as European jews, yet the ethiopian jews happen to be in large numbers in their army.
