Is war in the offing?

No better way to divert the world attention from the UN report on Hariri murder than to kindle some bloody gunplay.


Michael Freund
Op-Ed/JPost
04 August '10

Two days ago, Lebanon deliberately lit a match that threatens to engulf the entire region.

In a wanton act of murder, Lebanese military snipers pointed and aimed their rifles at IDF soldiers on a routine operation to clear away bushes along the fence on the Israeli side of the border. With their prey in their sights, the gunmen pulled the trigger, killing IDF Lieut. Col. Dov Harari and badly wounding Capt. Ezra Lakia.

Israeli forces quickly returned fire, reportedly killing two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist, in what is perhaps the worst incident between the countries since the 2006 Lebanon war. Make no mistake – this was not one of those periodic incidents which occasionally take place between countries where it is hard to ascertain the who, how or what that occurred.

As OC Northern Command Maj.- Gen. Gadi Eizenkot made clear in remarks to reporters, this was nothing less than a premeditated and belligerent act by our northern neighbors. Employing unusually blunt language to describe the incident, Eizenkot said that, “It was a planned ambush by a sniper unit…this was a provocation by the Lebanese army”.

Indeed it was. And what is particularly worrisome is the peril that it portends for the Middle East as a whole. This sinister and cynical episode may or may not spiral out of control. Either way, it demonstrates that some nefarious forces are at work, and that conflict may very well be in the offing.

(Read full story)

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