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Ferocity of Hezbollah comes as a surprise
THE full extent of Hezbollahs resistance to Israeli ground troops in Lebanon emerged yesterday as returning soldiers and senior commanders admitted they were taken by surprise by the Shia groups ferocity.At the same time, a Hezbollah leader has made the startling admission that the group had underestimated Israels response to the kidnapping of its two soldiers. The truth is we didnt expect this response . . . that (Israel) would exploit this operation for this big war against us, said Mahmoud Komati, the deputy chief of the Hezbollah politburo. As they munched watermelon yesterday, sweating Israeli soldiers were visibly shocked by the stiff opposition they had encountered, describing their Hezbollah opponents as a guerrilla army with landmines and anti-tank missiles capable of crippling a Merkavah battle tank. It was really scary. Most of our armoured personnel carriers have holes, a paramedic told The Times after recovering three wounded tank soldiers. Its a very hard situation. We were in Lebanon before but it wasnt like this for a long time. A tank commander said: Its a real war. In the Galilee town of Safed, Brigadier-General Shuki Shachar, deputy commander of the northern forces, conceded that the foe was not an easy one. Hezbollah is a fanatical organisation. It is highly motivated to fight. I dont want to give grades to the enemy, but they are fighting. They are not escaping, he said. He insisted, however, that Israel was changing the balance after a belated recognition that the Shia group was dug in deeper than expected. After a few days we realised that Hezbollah prepared itself over the last six years with thousands of rockets, with hundreds of shelters, bunkers, with hundreds of rockets hid in houses of civilians inside south Lebanon, he said. His forces had never intended to conquer every square inch of Bint Jbeil but had now achieved their objectives of taking the high ground. Wherever the Israel Defence Forces decided to act, the general said, we have no problem to do so, no restrictions. ISRAELS TALLY In 14 days: 4 villages captured by Israel 40,000 shells have been fired 2,750 rockets and mortar fired into Israel 17 civilians killed 24 soldiers killed 381 Lebanese killed 75 soldiers injured Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-07-25 |
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