�C�est la Victoire du Sang: It�s the Victory of
Blood,� Hezbollah flag spotted in South Lebanon
There�s a sign at the entrance to Bint Jbeil that says:
�Bint Jbeil -- Capital of Freedom.� The cheery greeting contrasts dramatically
with the vast devastation that lies just beyond.
Bint Jbeil was a bustling hamlet in Southern Lebanon that
became the central battlefield in Israel�s� war of aggression. It withstood the
IAFs withering aerial bombardments as well as a month-long siege which left
most of the town in complete ruins. Bint Jbeil is where a small group of
committed nationalists stood up to the mighty IDF in �toe to toe combat and
forced them to withdraw. Its where the sluggish wheel of Middle East history
shifted ever so slightly, challenging the dominance of Israeli military power
as the sole agent for change in the region. The results of the battle have
already sent shockwaves through the area�s political landscape.
Bint Jbeil has been called Nasrallahgrad, in honor of the
leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, and the Russian city where the
�costliest battle in human history� was fought from Aug 1942 to Feb 1943. Just
as the Russian army faced the German Wehrmacht in a year-long siege, so too,
Hezbollah fought from the wreckage of their battle-scarred city for 28 days
without yielding an inch of ground. In the end, their determination upset
the overconfident IDF and turned the invasion into a hasty retreat.
On July 26, Israel suffered its heaviest one-day loss during
the conflict. In a bold, daylight ambush, Hezbollah killed nine members of the
elite Golani Brigades, destroyed a Merkava Tank and armored troop-carrier, and
stopped the IDFs advance on the city. The news of the casualties stunned the
Israeli public who were expecting triumphant reports from the front. This was
not the cakewalk-war their leaders had promised. Hezbollah was geared up for
combat and the Israeli High-Command was suddenly thrown into disarray. The
guerilla-militia�s daring tactics and sophisticated weaponry, particularly
their Russian-made anti-tank missiles, took Israel completely by surprise and
created a palpable sense of self-doubt among the IDF leadership. Chief of Staff
Dan Halutz and Defense Minister Emir Peretz never completely regained their
footing.
One Hezbollah cadre described the fighting this way: �We saw
the IDF taking up posts here and here [pointing to the ranges which overlook
the town from east and south]. We knew they would eventually come down. We
prepared an ambush near the jail behind the trees. They arrived in a very small
force, maybe 20 or 30 soldiers. They walked right in front of us, and then we
opened fire. We hit many of them and they began running like madmen, trying to
drag their killed and wounded. We continued to shoot at them until they were
gone.� (YNET News �An Israeli in Katyushaland�)
Another Hezbollah fighter added, �Houses and stores were
leveled to the ground, but we arose from the rubble like lions, not caring
about the shooting of guns, tanks, and bombs . . . The �invincible army� became
a laughingstock.�
Sketchy accounts of the battle have appeared in the Arab
media and circulated on the Internet, patching together a picture of fierce
street-by-street gun-battles which (according to Jane�s Weekly) sometimes
included hand-to-hand combat. The well-disciplined Hezbollah fighters held
their ground despite the nonstop aerial attacks and artillery bombardment.
No one knows exactly how many Hezbollah fighters were
involved in the hostilities, but estimates range from 100 to 200. Their
forces were broken into small cells which operated independently of a central
command. Although the fighters are superbly trained for guerilla-style warfare
their overall instructions are quite simple and straightforward, �When you see
the Israelis, attack them.�
This strategy had a profound effect on the war�s outcome.
Hezbollah does not play defense. They swarm their enemy inflicting as much
damage as possible and then return to hideouts. Their daring and aggressive
tactics kept the better-armed Israelis constantly off balance. In a matter of
weeks, they had killed 118 IDF regulars and blown up an estimated 20 Merkava
Tanks. That's why Israel decided to cut its losses and leave.
The defeat has ignited a firestorm of anxiety and vitriol in
the Israeli press. The front-page recriminations appear on a daily basis and
most of the newspapers have already called for the resignations of Olmert,
Halutz and Peretz. But the IDFs lack of preparedness is only part of the story.
Hezbollah has thousands of highly motivated and ferocious fighters who fully
grasp the intricacies of asymmetrical warfare and how to minimize the
comparative advantages of Israel�s superior firepower. This victory belongs to
them. They are the ones who liberated their country from foreign invasion.
Even so, the cost of victory has been enormous. Bint Jbeil
felt the full-force of Israel�s wrath and has been reduced to a wasteland of
scattered rubble and bombed-out wreckage. Most of the buildings have been
either leveled completely or are so severely smashed that they are
uninhabitable. The Israeli Air Force pummeled the city mercilessly for weeks,
leaving vast swaths of the downtown area in a flattened heap of dusty rubble
and twisted iron. Israel�s vicious �scorched earth� reprisal will take years to
repair and, for the time being, Bint Jbeil is a barren desert lacking food,
clean water or electrical power. The townspeople are at the mercy of the
humanitarian agencies that are only able to offer sporadic help.
The damage is so vast that some of the city�s people were
not even able to find the homes that they had lived in their entire lives. The
magnitude of the devastation reflects the frustration that Israel must have
felt in failing to achieve any of its stated objectives. Their rage is mirrored
in the Dresden-like waste and debris which now extends in all directions from
the city�s center.
Still, there are small signs of Hezbollah�s victory. The
tattered yellow banners emerge from mounds of broken brick which dot the
downtown area and offer a festive contrast to the pock-marked landscape.
There�s also a strong sense of national pride that hasn�t been diminished by
the daunting task of reconstruction.
Lebanon has paid dearly for Israel�s rampage; the civil
infrastructure has been decimated, the environment polluted, the forests
burned, the factories bombed, and much of the country is in a complete
shambles. Israel has created a moonscape of ruin that stretches out across the
south and is peppered with tens of thousands of cluster-bombs that lie in the
tall grass waiting to kill the next generation�s children. This is Israel�s
gift to its northern neighbor, death and disfigurement for hundreds of people
not yet born.
Lebanon is still digging-out and will continue for some time
to come. An AFP reporter observed, �In their wake the Israelis left trails of
concrete wreckage a half mile long and the stench of corpses buried under
sun-baked rubble where once bustling markets stood.� Funerals are now the
primary form of public engagement.
Israel, however, has lost even more than Lebanon. Its prized
�deterrents� have been shattered and the IDFs image of �invincibility� has
vanished overnight. Their withdrawal is generally seen as capitulation and an
admission of defeat. The humiliation has outraged Israelis from across the
political spectrum and created the likelihood that Olmert may restart the war
just to salvage his waning political career.
Israel�s current strategy looks distressingly similar
to its occupation of Gaza. Olmert has stubbornly defied the UN and maintained
his naval blockade as well as his control of Lebanese air space. He insists
that Israel has the right to carry out paramilitary operations in Lebanon if
they are in Israel�s security interests. This violation of Lebanon�s
sovereignty is a reminder that the hostilities could resume at any time and
explode into a full-blown war.
For now, Israel has been beaten and that fact may have a
profound effect on developments in the region. As British MP George Galloway
said, "[Israel�s loss signals] a shift in the 40 year-old paradigm of the
Israeli-Arab conflict that is puncturing the belief in a permanent and
unchallengeable Israeli military superiority over its neighbors and the hubris
this has induced in Israeli leaders. . . . The Israelis were given a severe
mauling by Hezbollah fighters when it came to boots on the ground . . . But
make no mistake, with the victory of Hezbollah, a terrible beauty is born.�
(George Galloway, �Hezbollah�s
Victory has transformed the Middle East.")
Will Israel recognize the shifting dynamic in the Middle
East and relinquish its dependence on military power as its main
implement foreign policy? If so, then there might be a chance for a
negotiated settlement and grand bargain involving all the parties. That would
make the blood payments on both sides worth the sacrifice.
If that�s the case, we�re bound to look back on Bint Jbeil
as a turning point, where the clash between the Israeli Goliath and Hezbollah
guerillas created the opportunity to resolve long-held grievances and move the
region towards a lasting peace.
Mike
Whitney lives in Washington state. He can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com.