DISPATCHES FROM MOON OF ALABAMA, BY "B"
This article is part of an ongoing series of dispatches from Moon of Alabama
Pompeo and Netanyahu: two criminal peas in the same imperial pod. But who is more odious? Impossible to tell.
Yesterday Israel claimed that Hezbollah soldiers had crossed its northern border but were pushed back:
Israeli forces on Monday exchanged fire with Hezbollah militants along the volatile Israeli-Lebanese frontier, as Israeli civilians living in the area were ordered to remain indoors amid the heaviest fighting between the bitter enemies in nearly a year.
The fighting occurred in an area known as Chebaa Farms, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and is claimed by Lebanon. Residents of southern Lebanon near the border reported Israeli shelling that continued for more than an hour.
The fighting came as Israel was on heightened alert for a possible attack by Hezbollah, after an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed a Hezbollah militant last week. Israel has carried out dozens of airstrikes in Syria in recent years, targeting what it says are Iranian weapons shipments bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had promised that his organization would take revenge for each of its soldiers killed in Israeli attacks in Syria. Knowing that some hit will come the Israeli army was put on high alert and additional forces were moved towards the border area.
But the long nervous guarding of the border while waiting for Hezbollah's hit must have induced some hallucinations. There was no Hezbollah there:
Hezbollah said its fighters were not involved in any fighting along the border with Israel.
In a statement following the clashes, the group said all claims by Israeli media about an infiltration attempt by Hezbollah into Israel "are not true at all, and are attempts to invent illusive victories."
Hezbollah said the group's retaliation for its member killed by an Israeli strike in Syria "is definitely coming, and the Zionists should remain waiting for the punishment for their crimes."
The Israeli army claims it has footage of the incident:
Israeli defense officials scoffed at the terror group’s denial, saying the infiltration attempt had been filmed by military security cameras and that the operatives who took part in it were armed. The Israel Defense Forces said it was considering releasing the footage from the incident.
But a day after the incident no footage has been released. The Israeli press is suspicious about the army's claim:
This alleged attempted attack was somewhat peculiar, occurring in the middle of the afternoon when visibility is highest and in an area that — even when border tensions aren’t running high — is under constant surveillance as it has regularly been the site of Hezbollah attacks on Israeli troops. Under those conditions, success would be unlikely. According to the military, the Hezbollah operatives never fired a shot during their infiltration.
...
Israel, for some reason, has not sought to disprove Hezbollah’s denial by releasing its security camera footage of the Hezbollah operatives, which would at least prove if armed men indeed infiltrated into Israeli territory from Lebanon.
Commentators seem to believe Hezbollah's statements more then their own army's pronouncement:
In this day and age, everything is filmed. So where is the footage of the infiltrators crossing into Israel? Where is the drone footage of the area at the time of the incident?
...
Neither side has released anything, and the Israeli public is now questioning whether anything actually happened.Responding to skepticism that already was emerging Monday evening, Amos Yadlin, former head of IDF Military Intelligence, said he believed the IDF more than Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who he said is a liar and manipulator.
But the IDF does not get off scot-free. It has manipulated events in the past, and journalists and the public are justified to question what happened on Monday.
What most likely happened is that some nervous Israeli soldiers shot at some moving twigs. The question is who or what moved those twigs.
Keeping the Israeli army on alert is a cheap way for Hezbollah to gain an advantage.
After an uncontrolled reopening from a lockdown Israel was hit by a much larger second outbreak of Covid-19.
Its current level of 186 average new cases per 1 million population is nearly as high as the current U.S. count.
The racist Israel government will never get the Covid-19 epidemic under control unless it coordinates with the Palestinian government so that both can take common measures. But instead of doing that it destroys Covid-19 test facilities the Palestinians have build and hinders their procurement of equipment and medicines. There are many daily contacts between the Jewish population and the Palestinian people. Israel's government seems not to understand that one can not control an epidemic for only one half of a population.
The Israeli government is now haggling with the parliament over new restrictions. The experts are desperate. The people are furious with Netanyahoo. There have been regular demonstrations in front of his home as well as clashes with the police.
The current Israeli coalition government is unstable and could easily break apart.
Under these circumstance Hezbollah has the time on its side. There will probably more moving twigs and more nervous soldiers who will shot at them. The "Hollywood army", as Nasrallah has called the Israeli Defense Forces, can then claim more victories.
But after a few weeks its soldiers will lower their guard. They will become more careless and make mistakes. That will be the right moment to take revenge.
Hezbollah does not expect that it will cause a war:
"The atmosphere does not indicate a war ... It's unlikely, the atmosphere of war in the next few months," [Hezbollah deputy leader] Sheikh Naim Qassem said in an interview with pro-Damascus television station al Mayadeen.
...
"There is no change of rules of engagement and the deterrent equation with Israel exists and we are not planning to change it," Qassem said.
The Israeli government is not in a position that allows it to wage a war against Hezbollah and to absorb the hundreds of rockets per day that would rain down on Israel's forces. That would be the end of Netanyahoo's government.
That gives Hezbollah the chance to select the kind and timing of its revenge for the greatest political effect. One wonders what Nasrallah has in mind.
Posted by b on July 28, 2020 at 16:58 UTC | Permalink
Another slice of that interview with Hezbollah deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, is given here, almost as a source of fun:
‘We won’t reveal our response, let Israel speculate’: Hezbollah’s No. 2
Hezbollah has seen lately how jittery the Israelis have become waiting for its response to some bravado-induced foolishness of Israel. We saw how the IDF put cardboard cutouts in their armored vehicles on the border, rather than be killed by the expected attack.
It's a grim business, but it's almost funny. It's certainly contemptible on the part of Israel, and Hezbollah appears to be relishing this humiliation of the imperial occupier, revealed increasingly to have no clothes (except cardboard perhaps).
~~
You would have to be an Israeli spook - or else one from the US - to be able to make your mouth work around the words to say that Nasrallah is a "liar". These people deserve nothing.
Posted by: Grieved | Jul 28 2020 17:48 utc | 2
I recall the Zionists camouflaging cameras to look like rocks. So, I'll bet Hezbollah has made a few trees and shrubs move via remote control as b suggests; maybe a human silhouette pops up like they do at firing ranges then quickly drops down again. I wonder what the poll result would be from this question asked of the Zionist population: Do you feel you've made a prison for yourself within Occupied Palestine?
Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 28 2020 18:01 utc | 3
Thanks b... netan''yahoo'' seems to be holding out okay... nothing seems to take him down.... he seems like a master of distraction.. something is happening over here, so lets distract with some bullshit over here... that seems to work well for him.. you would think the people of israel would want to get rid of him, but apparently not!
Posted by: james | Jul 28 2020 18:14 utc | 4
Speaking of Hezbollah, Gareth Porter claims new evidence indicates that elements of the Argentinian govt and not Hezbollah bombed the Jewish Community Center in 1994https://thegrayzone.com/2020/07/26/police-spys-testimony-official-us-israeli-amia-bombing/He documents strong anti-Jewish forces in the govt as well as them obtaining building schematics shortly before the bombing. Also, two different sources believed that the bomb exploded inside rather than outside the building as required for the Hezbollah narrative.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jul 28 2020 18:16 utc | 5
From SouthFront: "A few hours after the incident on the Lebanese-Israeli contact line, rockets struck US-operated military bases in Iraq. The strike on Camp Speicher, located near Tikrit, caused a large explosion on the site. At the same time, at least three rockets targeted another US-operated military base – Camp Taji, located near Baghdad. According to local media, one rocket hit an Iraqi helicopter while another landed in an artillery weapon depot. The third rocket landed in the area of the 2nd Air Force Squadron but did not explode."
Posted by: Maracatu | Jul 28 2020 19:57 utc | 6
Hezbollah and Sheikh Nasrallah especially are masters of psychological warfare. Just by saying that they'll avenge the death of a soldier killed by Israelis often enough and loudly enough gives Israel the heebie-jeebies and locks that country into a rigid mind-set that in the long term will be destructive. Instead of apologising to Hezbollah and making compensation to the soldier's family, and other families of dead Hezbollah soldiers, there can be no moving forward for Israel. The country will continue on its road to ruin through more spending on arms and surveillance, and less on social welfare if it still exists in Israel.
Posted by: Jen | Jul 28 2020 20:19 utc | 7
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"b" is Moon of Alabama's founding (and chief) editor. This site's purpose is to discuss politics, economics, philosophy and blogger Billmon's Whiskey Bar writings. Moon Of Alabama was opened as an independent, open forum for members of the Whiskey Bar community. Bernhard )"b") started and still runs the site. Once in a while you will also find posts and art from regular commentators. You can reach the current administrator of this site by emailing Bernhard at MoonofA@aol.com. 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Good for Nasrallah and his army , it is time to teach Netanyahoo the bastard rule of engagement.
It is a time to stop hitting Syrian territory, I think the Syrian army should also retaliate especially in these difficult time for Israel. Revenge , revenge , the Arabic tradition, revenge even after 40 years , the Arabs never forget , nor never forgive . I hope that will hold true for the Syrian government.
Posted by: Bobby | Jul 28 2020 17:37 utc | 1