Featuring the works and commentary of Andrew Bruss

Friday, December 3, 2010

Lebanon Gave Advice On Defeating Hezbullah


Hezbullah's anti-tank corps.

And Wikileaks is to thank for yet another declassification of sensitive, endangering information. This time, the leaks pertain to information passed on to the US by the Lebanese Defense Minister on how Israel could defeat Hezbullah in the next round of fighting.

Defense Minister Elias Murr told officials that Israel should avoid bombing Christian infrastructure to avoid losing their public support. The Minister reportedly said, “If Israel has to bomb all of these [infrastructure targets] in the Shiite areas as a matter of operational concern, that is Hezbullah’s problem.”

The cables also said that the Lebanese army would not get involved in the next war and that their hope was to survive for three weeks “completely intact” so they can “take over once Hezbullah’s military has been destroyed.”

For his part, Minister Murr’s office has denied that he made the comments.

Given the historically violent relationship between Shia and Christian demographics in Lebanon, these comments are sure to inflame the already high tensions between Hezbullah and the government coalition backed by the son of slain former-Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.

The investigation into Hariri’s death is likely to incriminate members of Hezbullah and the group has made clear they will not tolerate the indictment of their members.

Analysts have speculated that Hezbullah would respond to charges by either attacking Israel, or overthrowing/boycotting the Lebanese government. The declassification of these cables is can be counted on to make a bad situation worse.

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