************Israel fired on the Lebanese village of Qana today. Israel said that Qana was a Hezbollah "launching site" and are reporting they have video proof that rockets were fired at Israel from Qana. For a week, Israel has warned the residents of Qana that the village would be targeted due to the Hezbollah presence and encouraged the civilians to leave the area. From the Washington Post...
The village that was hit, Qana, lies about 15 miles inland from Tyre, in the rocky border hills where Hezbollah, a militant Shiite Muslim movement, has earned widespread support among the largely Shiite population.
Meir said Israel has video footage showing rockets being launched from Qana on northern towns, such as Nahariyah, and that its veracity was being checked before it could be published.
The Israeli military said that Lebanese villages south of Tyre were warned days in advance -- by leaflets, media alerts and, in some cases, telephone calls -- to leave the area.
And this from the AP
On Thursday, the Israeli military's Al-Mashriq radio that broadcasts into southern Lebanon warned residents that their villages would be "totally destroyed" if missiles are fired from them. Leaflets with similar messages were dropped in some areas Saturday.
A senior official in the Israeli air force said the village had been warned "several times" that it would be attacked because "hundreds of rockets have been fired from inside the village in the past two weeks, from the backyards, from the squares ... from as close as 50 to 60 meters from this building."
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the operation, said Hezbollah guerrillas often fire near buildings then use those buildings as cover but that he did not know if that was the case this time.
But those facts are near the bottom in the articles. Both articles open with similar statements...
The AP.... Israeli missiles hit a three-story building where many people were taking refuge in the basement. The Lebanese Red Cross said 56 people were killed, including at least 34 children, while Lebanese security officials put the toll at 57 dead. Eighteen people from two families were found in a single room of the building, where dozens of people had been taking refuge from the fighting
The Washington Post... In an attack that the Israeli military said was aimed at destroying Hezbollah rocket launchers, Israeli warplanes blasted a group of buildings in a southern Lebanese village Sunday, killing more than 50 people, most of them women and children, according to Lebanese officials and on-scene interviews by Lebanese television reporters.
The media is quite aware of the modus operandi of the terrorists - hide among the civilians, use mosques as weapons caches, dress as civilians, use children as fighters. But they continue to play along with the terrorist propaganda. Every article they print that plays up the civilian deaths just adds fuel to the propaganda fire. The aims are clear - enrage the world against those fighting back and the terrorists win. We've seen first hand the effects of this in Afghanistan and in Iraq.
Today's propaganda has had the effect the terrorists wanted. Arab countries are outraged. The Lebanese government is outraged. The UN is outraged. Calls for an immediate ceasefire are flying across the globe. But the outrage is so misplaced. The outrage should be directed toward the terrorists. The terrorists have the blood of innocents on their hands - both Israeli and Lebanese. As long as the media plays along with the propaganda game the terrorists will continue to win - and not just the propaganda wars.
UPDATE: This article from the Israel News Agency says it so much better than I did. Charles Krauthammer's quote is priceless and should be featured in every article that spews forth terrorist talking points... "Creating human shields is a war crime. It is also a Hezbollah specialty."
UPDATE II: Great article from The Herald Sun in Australia with pictures of the cowardly Hezbollah terrorists setting up in a neighborhood...
The images, obtained exclusively by the Sunday Herald Sun, show Hezbollah using high-density residential areas as launch pads for rockets and heavy-calibre weapons. Dressed in civilian clothing so they can quickly disappear, the militants carrying automatic assault rifles and ride in on trucks mounted with cannon.
The photographs, from the Christian area of Wadi Chahrour in the east of Beirut, were taken by a visiting journalist and smuggled out by a friend.
UPDATE III... Below is a map that show the Israeli cities that have been hit by rockets from Qana. For a video of how the terrorists hide in homes in villages click here...
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