Liveblogging the War: Monday August 7th
In the aftermath of the bloodiest day of the war for Israel, the IAF struck 150 targets overnight, including Hizbullah strongholds in Beirut, as well as in the Baalbek region in the northeast, bridges, roads, bunkers, and rocket launch sites.
The IDF continued to battle Hizbullah terrorists as they attempted to advance deeper into Southern Lebanon. Fighting has been especially fierce in Houla, where terrorists ambushed an IDF unit, as well as in Bint Jbail. The IDF has so far managed to kill 14 terrorists. Elsewhere in Lebanon, the IDF forces discovered an arsenal of 60 mortars – in a village of course.
In other news, the IAF struck a weapons storehouse in Gaza, UN Security Council deliberations ended with changes likely to be made to the draft text of the resolution, and the Reuters photographer accused of doctoring the photograph claimed he was”trying to remove dust marks and that he made mistakes due to the bad lighting conditions he was working under.” U-huh.
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
9:16PM: 2 IDF soldiers have been killed by an anti-tank missile in southern Lebanon.
9:09PM: Now the IAF are saying that the Hizbullah drone shot down apparently did not contain explosives.
9:07PM: Israel’s Northern Front Commander has stated that the IDF has killed 450 terrorists since the start of fighting (the identity of 250 of whom are known).
8:13PM: Just on Israeli television: One of the Hizbullah terrorists we captured, who was involved in the abduction of our soldiers, was interviewed. He did not shed any light on the whereabouts of our abducted soldiers, but did confirm that Hizbullah fighters are trained in Iran.
Also reported on Israeli television: The unmanned Hizbullah drone shot down in Israel by the IDF contained explosives, and was to be used in a terror attack.
7:30PM: Today’s rocket tally currently stands at 160.
6:53PM: Oops: The Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has now retracted his claim that 40 people were killed in Houla today (hat tip: Andy).
“The massacre in Houla, it turned out that there was one person killed,” Siniora told reporters. “They thought that the whole building smashed on the heads of about 40 people… thank God they have been saved.”
(Notice how he still referred to it as the “massacre.”)
It turns out that 50 people were in a bomb shelter all along.
Meanwhile, according to unconfirmed reports, Green Helmet Guy was seen cursing as he had to turn around and drive back to Tyre.
6:33PM: Here we go again: For the second time in as many days, a photograph doctored by (ex) Reuters photographer Adnan Hajj has been discovered, and subsequently “killed.” (sounds like ‘disproportionate force’ being used against the photo by Reuters -ed.)
Props to Rusty Shackleford for exposing the fraud this time around.
Photographer Adnan Hajj denied deliberately attempting to manipulate the first image exposed by LGF, offering up this laughable excuse:
“The photographer has denied deliberately attempting to manipulate the image, saying that he was trying to remove dust marks and that he made mistakes due to the bad lighting conditions he was working under,” said Moira Whittle, the head of public relations for Reuters.
I am eagerly awaiting his excuse for this latest fraud. Possible excuses:
“I was still trying to remove dust marks..hey, it is very dusty over here in Lebanon, with all the deserts and rubble, and stuff. And the lighting is still very bad, after all the Zionist planes bombed the electricity plants.”
“It was the Jooooooooooos.”
“My dog at the photo, so I had to try and reproduce it.”
6:17PM: Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has referred to today’s IDF strike on the village of Houla – in which 40 people are thought to have died – as a “massacre.”
The IDF have responded in a statement, saying that “the village is filled with Hizbullah members hiding in the homes…The IDF called on the residents via leaflets to head north for their own safety.”
5:52PM: 90 rockets have landed in the north since this morning, 53 of which landed in Kiryat Shmona.
5:28PM: Here is more on the reservists who were killed yesterday. 2 of them were the brothers of work colleagues of mine, just to give you an idea as to how small this country is, and how connected we all are.
By the way, you can always view the Israeli casualties at the MFA site. Needless to say, I truly hope it is not going to be updated again.
4:50PM: Speaking of doctored photos, what do you make of this one? (thanks to Imshin for drawing my attention to it).
Night strike : An Israeli warplane flies past the moon over the southern port city of Tyre. (AFP/Hassan Ammar)
But if it is photoshopped, what is Hassam Ammar trying to say? That Israel is like the Death Star? That we are using futuristic weapons against the hapless palestinians and Lebanese? Curious minds need to know!
3:28PM: Your’ve got mail: Palestinian Prime Minister/Hamas terrorist Ismail Haniyeh reportedly received an interesting letter:
At least four Palestinian clerks working in the Palestinian Prime Minister’s Office in Ramallah, lost consciousness Monday after opening a package thought to contain a poisonous substance. The package arrived at the Palestinian government building in Ramallah, sent to the office of Nasser al-Din Shaer, Ismail Haniyeh’s deputy prime minister. Sources in the office said that the package was sent from an address in Tel Aviv. They refused to pass on details about the address.After the clerks lost consciousness, panic gripped the employees working in the office. This is due to the fact that Shaer himself is practically the only Hamas leader in the West Bank that wasn’t arrested in the wave of recent arrests made by the IDF and the Shin Bet. Shaer said that the poisonous package was an Israeli attempt to hurt the Palestinian prime minister and his deputy, noting that the package was addressed to Haniyeh.
I’ll await further information before agreeing to the accusation that this was Zionist Death MailTM. Besides, there is this important piece of information.
However, it must be mentioned that Prime Minister Haniyeh does not usually come to Ramallah, and hasn’t been in the city at all since his appointment to the position out of fear that Israel will hurt, or arrest him.
And given that Fatah and Hamas are at each other’s throats, there is a good chance the sender is closer to home.
3:16PM: Since this morning, over 60 rockets have landed in Israel.
2:50PM: Hizbullah have claimed that some of their rockets hit the IDF northern headquarters.
12:23PM: The IDF have killed 5 Hizbullah terrorists in Bint Jbail.
12:22PM: An IDF soldier has been killed and 4 others were wounded in bitter clashes with Hizbullah terrorists in Bint Jbail.
9:05AM: Heh.
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: General
hey Aussie Dave – does this mean Israel has finally taken its gloves off (still with one hand tied behind its back, no doubt)?
I’m am so sorry for your loss. I pray everyday for the safety of the Israeli people. I hope that by some miracle, the UN and Europe wake up from its impotence.
i’m getting confused – wasnt there *already* a battle in Bint Jbail last week or the week before?
“I’m am so sorry for your loss. I pray everyday for the safety of the Israeli people. I hope that by some miracle, the UN and Europe wake up from its impotence.”
funny how Israelis are portrayed as victims..
I’ve seen a video on Aljazeera TV after the Israeli attack on Qana. Where more than 90 innocent kids were killed.
There was a lebanese guy..standing by tens of covered bodies. He grabbed a flower from a near tree then he threw this flower on the bodies. He said..look at these bodies..they are all kids..kids who don’t know what does war mean..kids who were innocently playign with their toys. Israelis by this act wanted to push us to become monsters..but we wont..because we are humans.
Same on you to have the nerve to talk about this..Shame on your IDF..Shame on everyone who support Isreal..Shame on the whole world for watching and enjoy this “show”.
P.S I would consider the attackers as terrorists..hezbollah were defending their country..
Your last line is the most telling – “Hezbollah were defending their country.” This goes to show that you are not at all concerned about the welfare of innocent civilians if they are Israelis. But I am curious..what are Hizbullah defending against? I seem to recall THEY attacked Israel! And many Lebanese want them to get the hell out of Lebanon already.
A major difference between Israel and Hizbullah is that we lament the loss of innocent life, whether it be Lebanese or Israeli. We are not deliberately targeting civilians. Hizbullah on the other hand are deliberately trying to kill and maim as many innocents as possible.
Shame on you for supporting terrorists.
Yes, there was. And there are still battles there, just like there are still rockets falling on Israel.
I really can’t tell. I certainly hope so.
“attack on Qana. Where more than 90 innocent kids were killed. ”
nobody quoted 90 – it was initially 58 , but then downgraded to 28.
but the photos dont lie – i real total looks to me as if it were around 10 or 15, most of them being hezbollah fighters.
I also feel truly sorry for the innocent Lebanese civilians. But I am angry that the Hizbullah had to use those people to protect themselves, so they can continue shooting at Israeli civilians indiscriminately. The absolute disregard for the lives of their own people is beyond human understanding. They are despicable.
It’s sad that most of the casualties are the women and children used as human barricades by the heroic men of Hizbullah. What an atrocity for the Lebanese civilians that these are the people “defending” their country.
But just to be fair..have you, by any chance, seen an IDF soldier hiding behind an Israeli woman’s skirt while he shoots bombs and rockets at the Lebanese civilian population? Get back to me on that ok?
ANd for the record, if I were a Lebanese woman and those were the “men” supposedly defending me, I would much rather do the defending myself. I’d probably be safer that way. And if anyone of those “men” so much as touches my child, I would blow his brains off.
I suggest you not believe everything you read or see, especially that provided by Muslims. To Lie in war is encouraged in the Koran, it accounts for being a good muslim in the Jihad. The jews (or even zionist) do not seem to share such a belife and so far to date have not been caught doing so. Reuters NOW admits altering Beirut photo. The photographer who sent the altered image is the same Reuters photographer behind many of images from Qana, which have also been subject of suspicions for being staged. Only after the blogs accused Reuters of distorting the photograph to include more smoke and damage did they question what was going on. In the message, Reuters said that “photo editing software was improperly used on this image. A corrected version will immediately follow this advisory. We are sorry for any inconvience.” Everyone should be asking the following “This has to cast doubt not only on the photographer who did the alterations, but on Reuters’ entire review process. If they could let such an obvious fake get through to publication, how many more faked or ‘enhanced’ photos have not been caught?”….
How many died at Qana, 90, 60, 30, 15? Did Hizballoh purposely put these children in harms way? Did they collapse the building? What about the missing time between the strike and the collapse? Why did so many other people leave the building but the disabled Children were left behind? The witnesses say that it collapsed immedietely and no rockets were fired by the IDF has video of these rockets being fired so how trust worthy are these witnesses? How is it journalist were on the seen first and rescuers second? Where was any attempt in rescue? There is more evidence in a cover-up here than all the 9-11 conspiracy theories out together. Why would the same people who believe 9-11 was a CIA job not even question the motives of Hizballoh. As we saw with Jenin, Darfur, Kashmir nothing being close to the truth is relayed by Muslims. So what is the TRUTH and must everything coming from the mouths of this culture be questioned. Lying seems to be rapant, Baghdad Bob, Iran and its nuclear program, Eygpt and it protocols of Zion documentry to blood libel that Jews use childrens blood to make pastries. Pakistans duplacity with Al-Qaeda. It seems you can’t trust anything from this culture/religion. Let me leave so with this
“A photographer who would blatantly falsify an entire ‘news’ image would certainly not be above posing and staging photographs of rescue workers???”
The problem with that moon photo is the lighting on the plane. If it is lit at all, it should be from the same direction as the moon – which is possible in late afternoon. But it looks to me as though it is lit from above, which means it was photographed at mid day. One would need a higher resolution copy to be certain.
Uh, you are wrong about the number of children killed in Qana it was 30 million. Dwarfing the Jewish holocaust.
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Back to reality.
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The Hizbollah story of Qana is unraveling further.
A French language Lebanese publication, citing an unnamed source in Hezbollah, has claimed that the organization placed a rocket launcher on the roof of the notorious building in Qana to provoke an Israeli attack and brought invalid children inside to serve as victims and blacken Israel’s name.
The wheels are coming off.
Now I ask you, what kind of people use handicapped children as human shields?
the israeli death star photo looks like a photoshop job as well.
if your telephoto lens magnified the moon to that level, then surely the foreground jet would *also* be magnified?
Seen this:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/747043.html
It sounds like the IDF general just wants to pound Lebanon in response to Israeli deaths. Childish/bullying? Idiotic/self-defeating tactics?
What’s the short term or long term benefit for Israel/against Hezbollah of hitting democratically-elected government infrastructure?
This article also intersting:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/746677.html
I haven’t heard much about the Arab-Israelis’ views on this conflict. Anyone know any good blogs?
Both sides are at fault. I think that criticism of Israel and how they have handled the situation is needed. I think Hezbollah was definitely the catalyst but Irael’s response was poor judgement on the part of it’s leaders without understanding the long-term implications of military action. They were focusing on a short-term solution and in the process have made Hezbollah much more powerful than they were even before with the collective punishment of Lebanon. How will the people of Lebanon who fled feel when they can no longer return home because their homes were wiped off the face of the map. Israel has every right to defend themselves but they were trying to kill a fly with a bazoka and that is just not going to work. Many Isreali’s have died and same with Lebanese and that is the price of war. Israel played right into Hezbollah’s hands and they had of known that was a big possibility when they wen’t to war. While they may want to prevent Hezbollah from resupplying and have told citizens tp leave areas they were going to bomb those actions seem like half-hearted attepmts to limit casualties when the roads and infrastructure prevent much of the population from leaving in the first place. I feel bad for all the parties involved and I wish it was as simple as removing Hezbollah but after the dust has settled, Israel will of forced the moderates who lived in the south out because of the war and all that will be left are those who are more likely to support Hezbollah and the rest of the population will go along with it because of the memory what Israel has done in this conflict. They have created a new generation of Hezbollah fighters, which may increase the chances of Hezbollah gaining even more influence in government that it had prior and if that happens then their actions in this conflict will have been for nothing because they will have made their long-term problems much worth at the expense of destroying the short-term capacity of an organization that can easily rebuild.
What is interesting to note is that this Israelie general can not go and do what he wants on his own…because he must answer to an elected government that may or may not decide to follow this course of action. Compare this to Hezballoh who seems to do what ever it wants. Lebanon is a democracy…hardly, you either have control over your soveriegn border or you don’t. Clearly they do not…Hizbollah controls that southern border and both the southern and eastern region of the country. Imagine this, Texas governor decides to launch airstrikes on Mexico using Texas air national guard because drug gangs supported by mexican troops kill a Texas law enforcement officer. What would be said by the world community? Part of the scenerio happened in that a Texas Officer was killed, so does the state government have the right to destroy Mexico (Texas by iteself could take out Mexico). Either a democratic nation is in control or it is not. In the case of Lebanon it is not. It is not a democracy. The Lebanese army should be fighting Hizballoh but it is not, it is supporting Hizballoh…therefore the Israelie general is right.
Let’s consider some options that Israel has, that would be far more effective at destroying Hezbulah, but are not being used due to the civilian losses they would bring.
1. Carpet bomb all of South Lebanon without any pre-warning to the population.
2. Carpet bomb all of South Lebanon with notification.
3. Hit specific targets without pre-warning.
Israel has opted to do the least damage to civilians, by hitting specific targets, but warning in advance (thus allowing Hezbulah to vacate the target as well).
As far as creating future generations of Hezbulah fighters.
You are putting Western values on the Middle East. As Ehud Barak has said “we live in a tough neighborhood”.
What is respected in the Middle East is strength.
Pulling out of Lebanon in 2000 and pulling out of Gaza last year (which I supported) was interpreted as weakness by the Arab world. The results of this interpretation were rocket attacks kidnappings, and arming to the teeth. Israel takes into account civilian death toll because we are a moral people. Israel also has to win this war, or the perceived weakness will cause more wars in the future, not less.
Sorry, I forgot to sign the above response.
Stan
Pur is so naive. The second article is very telling.
If the Christians in Northern Lebanon marched in such a way what would happen? Resumed civil war is my bet. Also if any minority group in a predominately muslim country did the same they would be slaughtered. Could you imagine the coptic christians in Eygpt doing the same and what would be the muslim’s response, or how about the jews in Iran, or christian’s in Pakistan or Indonesia. The fact is only in Israel or western world countries is a dissenting opinion even tolerated. These other minorities know that life is bad enough without stirring up trouble, they don’t wish to invite a real whole sale massacre. One which the media would have little interest in reporting. Only in today’s warped world can people not understand that Islam’s culture has but one purpose, the destruction of all other culture and anyone who does not submit.
AussieDave:
I have some more info on the drone that was shot down over northern Israel earlier:
http://sevenstripes.com/blog/2006/08/07/hezbollah-explosive-laden-drone-attack-foiled/
Amongst other info on my blog, they are Iranian made.
ahmed – “I’ve seen a video on Aljazeera TV after the Israeli attack on Qana. Where more than 90 innocent kids were killed. ”
this is a lie. 36 people were officially killed, so says Lebanese government and the Red Cross. 18 of whom were children. it is still awful and tragic, no one likes to see innocent people killed in war. but 90 children were not killed. it is a lie. you are either ignorant of the facts, or a liar.
I think that for us who are thousands of miles away from where all this is happening, it is quite easy to pontificate and say that Israel was supposed to do this, or that, etc. But we don’t have to live with rockets raining down on us every day by the hundreds, and in civilian areas no less. We don’t see the sufferings of the innocents who are the sole targets of the Hizbullah. Israel made the choice that every sovereign state must make when it’s citizens are threatened and killed. The mandate of the army is to protect the citizens, and that should be their priority. I don’t get why the Europeans make such a stink when they would do the same thing, or even more, in a heartbeat. Why should Israel’s response be any different? Also, diplomacy is not a language terrorists understand,and they have made it clear that their sole objective is to remove the “Zionist regime” from the map. Israel has to use force, and it has every right to do what it must to protect its people. I think the argument that Israel, by this so-called aggression, is just allowing a new breed of terrorists to grow is a moot point. Let’s be honest, Israel will not be gaining any fans in the arab world, not then or now, or anytime soon, so whatever she does, or doesn’t do, won’t matter in the long run. Arabs hate the Jews, that’s the fact of the matter. This hatred is indocrinated practically from birth.
What needs to happen is for Hizbullah to be weakened sufficiently and the international community must wake up to its responsibility in disarming these extremist groups. The UN has done nothing to in the middle east. If anything, they are part of the problem. Why was the resolution 1559 passed and yet not implemented in the region? No wonder Israel is disgusted with them. The problem is that Israel is fighting for her life alone,solely with the US as an ally. Israeli boys who should be living their lives are being sent off to war. Honestly I have no sympathy for the extremists and their sympathizers who are only too willing to give up their lives for a leader, who by all accounts, has done nothing for them. You can blow yourselves up to kingdom come, hell, who cares? Israel being used as a scapegoat for the misery of the Arab people MUST stop.
I am sick of all the stupid speeches and useless debates that the UN and mostly the Europeans like to engage in. Lives are at stake here, both in Israel and in Lebanon. If all the western world can do is talk and argue, then we are all doomed. And Israel, as usual, stands alone.
If you are interested in Nasrullah’s plans for Israel read:
The Sayings of Chairman Nasrullah
Think you missed the point. Israel is not only a jewish country, a fifth are arab-israelis, most of whom live in the north and haifa. Yet we don’t hear about how the arab-israelis are supported/their stories told/their views fought for.
And do you have evidence showing the WHOLE of Islam (not just the extremists we are spoonfed through the media. So how many people is that?) is intent on the destruction of all other culture/thought? That must include my old colleagues too…
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I discuss the coming fall of the Syrian regime at: Syria Has a Problem. Its days are numbered.
There is a blonde Lebanese in there too!
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I believe the point was made, that arab-Israelie’s have more freedoms than that of their arab bothers from Eygpt to Saudi Arabia. I also know that the arab-Israelie’s, most of whom are Druze, would be slaughtered as heritic’s by most Islamic extremist. As for the whole Islamic population, I have seen zero condementation from them for acts of terror carried out in their faiths name. I could take pages to list those from just the last ten years but let me highlight just the big one’s…9-11, Beslan, Madrid, London, New-Delhi, and recently Bombay. Even when it happens in islamic countries like Eygpt and Saudi Arabia we see no major condemenation from the general public. We saw more outrage from cartoons published in a danish newspaper than all these events combined. So yes I say that there is something very wrong with this faith/culture, either these people don’t care that such things are happening in their name or they support it.
You miss the point. Jews/Muslim are religious categories…arab is an ethnic group. Just as all Israelies who are of the Jewish faith are not from the same ethnic group. Many are middle-eastern, some are europeon/Russian and some are even african (black). All groups consider themselves Israelie’s and Israel considers them all citizens. So your divisionary tactics won’t work here. By the way not all arabs are muslim…some are Christian. Ask those Christians still left in the West bank how they honestly feel about their muslim neighbors. I think I can imagine since many of them have fled since the Israelie’s gave the PA control in the mid-1990′s. Here is a little fact for you “In 1995, Bethlehem was 62% Christian, but today is less than 20% Christian. Before 1995, Bethlehem had a majority-Christian municipal council, but when the Palestinian Authority took over the town, Yassir Arafat replaced the municipal council with a predominately Muslim council, and Christian Arabs fled Bethlehem in droves after a radical Islamic wave began inciting against them.” Now contrast that to Israel where the muslim population has slightly grown verses the West Bank/Gaza were the Christian population has all but disappeared. Interesting the same anti-Christian attitude and Muslim take over can also be seen in Lebanon.