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Scott

wrote:
Scott wrote:

wrote:

Scott wrote:

As for the rocket attack of 27 Dec, Hezbullah denied launching the
attack or having any knowledge of it.

Nevertheless, the attack took place and whether that particular rocket
was launched by Hizbullah or Al-Queda or any other group, many have
taken place since that date prior to the current escalation of
hostilities, which unequivocably _were_ launched by Hizbullah.

I repeat that Israel didn't attack in response to rockets being fired

from Lebanon since the current wave of rockets was a response to

Israel's action not a cause of it.

Repeating a statement does not make it fact.

But I can support that with statements made by the Israeli PM. He gave
the reason for attacking Lebanon as the abduction of 2 soldiers and
promptly bombed bridges airports and civilian infrastructure. By any
reasonable measure that was an escalation - they were after all
soldiers not civilians who were abducted. Israel on the other hand has
abducted many civilians.

With respect, that has very little to do with your earler assertion
that Hizbullah rockets were only fired /after/ the Iraeli attacks which
as we have seen is not the case.

Everything occurs /after/ something else. What matters is the response
- is it proportionate. Rocket attacks have regularly taken place, for
example:

"In a serious breach of the ceasefire in the early morning of 28 May,
unidentified armed elements launched at least eight rockets from the
general area of Aynata across the Blue Line into Israel. Three
rockets impacted inside an IDF position on Mount Meron, in Upper
Galilee, some 8 kilometres south of the Line, causing material damage
and lightly wounding one soldier. Hizbollah denied any involvement in
the attack. Palestinian lslamic Jihad in Lebanon initially claimed
responsibility in retaliation for the killing of a leading member in
Lebanon and his brother on 26 May in a car bomb explosion in Saida.
The claim was retracted later that day".
[Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Force
in Lebanon].

The rockets being fired now are a response to the Israeli attack, they
cant in any sense be seen as a cause of it. The numbers which are
being claimed as fired don't match the numbers implied in the
Secretary-General's reports on the cease fire. In any case that
ignores Israeli violations - shelling and bombardments which also take
place.