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Poor, suffering Lebanon

While Israel's response to the abduction of two of its soldiers by Hizbollah has been outrageously disproportionate and indeed terroristic, the militant outfit shares the blame for jeopardising the safety of Lebanese civilians through its trans-border raid of July 12. Over 50 of them have been killed and more than 100 wounded in the bombing attacks carried out by the Zionist state. There are likely to be many more casualties as Israel tries to enforce an air, sea, and land blockade of its northern neighbour. With the Beirut-Damascus highway already damaged, all the routes leading out of Lebanon might be closed in the next few days. If the terror tactics followed by the Israeli army in the past offer a guide, power plants and other utilities are likely to be targeted soon. The blockade is being enforced ostensibly to ensure that the kidnapped soldiers are not spirited out of Lebanon. However, every government in West Asia is well aware that the Zionist state is transmitting another, stronger signal as well. In displaying the military power to fight on several fronts at the same time, Israel is reminding the neighbourhood that it has what it calls a "deterrent force." The temporising Arab governments, which will almost certainly be pressed by their peoples to respond to this aggression, have made no secret of their annoyance with a militant outfit that has pushed them into a very difficult situation. In a marked departure from past practices, these governments found Hizbollah and Israel equally at fault while condemning the violence.

Given the region-wide implications of the crisis, it is no surprise that several Lebanese parties too are now trying to rein in Hizbollah. The cabinet has discussed plans for the deployment of the regular army in the southern districts that have been completely under the sway of the militant outfit. It is highly unlikely that Hizbollah, which is a part of the coalition government, will countenance such a deployment or accept a concurrent proposal for the disarmament of militias. The expectation that the militant outfit will remain intransigent has led some of its critics to accuse it of acting in the interests of countries other than Lebanon. They have observed that Hizbollah's actions at this particular juncture have been of benefit to the government in Damascus. Israel, which claims that Syria supports Palestinian militancy, recently delivered a grim warning when its fighter aircraft flew low over the house of the President Bashar al-Assad. There is absolutely nothing at this juncture to back up allegations and speculations that the Lebanese party carried out the kidnapping at the behest of its Syrian partner or that Iran instigated the move as part of a larger regional strategy. But there can be little doubt that Hizbollah's adventurism has drawn attention away from the just struggle the Palestinians are currently waging against an anti-human Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.

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