 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Special Interview Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Lebanon's night of terror
By Zeina KhodrThe "Bank of Targets" is what Israel called its deadliest offensive against Lebanon in three years. The 10-hour long night-time aerial blitz killed eight people, wounded 62 and left much of the country's electricity, telecommunications and road networks in shambles.
The financial cost of the assault is running into tens of millions of dollars. "The indirect economic damage is immeasurable, particularly because we were expecting a promising tourism season," Lebanon's Prime Minister Selim Al-Hoss said. The government intends to sue Israel for compensation at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
While Lebanon began the difficult task of rebuilding, the attack shattered optimism that followed the election of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak who promised to pull troops out of south Lebanon within a year. "This [attack] will undermine the peace process," Hoss said. Only a day before, Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad and Barak, in separate interviews, traded compliments about each other's ability to deliver peace. Some analysts suggested the raids could be "muscle flexing in advance of Syrian-Israeli peace talks" that had been expected to resume soon.
"Israel is sending a message to Lebanon and Syria that it will withdraw from southern Lebanon on its own terms," the daily An-Nahar wrote. "It wants to make clear it will not be forced to leave because of escalating Hizbullah attacks."
Lebanese firemen carry the coffins of two of their colleagues killed during Israeli air raids against civilian targets last week
(photo AFP)
Nizar Hamze, chairman of the political science department at the American University in Beirut (AUB), believed that "outgoing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu launched the attacks out of frustration." "Netanyahu wanted to create a troublesome atmosphere for Barak. But Barak benefited since he emerged as the savior," Hamze told Al-Ahram Weekly.
While some Israeli analysts believed the attack had Barak's blessing, Syria appeared willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, saying the aggression was ordered by Netanyahu to "place obstacles in Barak's way, as he tries to revive the peace process." But Lebanon had a different position. "Netanyahu could not have carried out the attack without Barak's knowledge and approval," Hoss said. French envoy Yves Ubin de la Messuzieres, who visited Beirut days after the attack, backed the Lebanese stand and stated that "Israel's response against Lebanon was unbalanced and exaggerated."
Thursday night, Israel unleashed its fighter jets hours after Hizbullah resistance fighters fired Katyusha rockets into northern Israel "in retaliation against the Jewish state's week-long raids on a southern village which wounded six people." Israel kicked off its attacks by firing missiles into the electricity switching station at Jamhour, some 10 kilometers east of Beirut, plunging most of the city into darkness. It was the first Israeli attack on infrastructure since "Operation Grapes of Wrath" that killed 175 people in April 1996. The plant's generator was destroyed and five people were killed. The victims were firefighters who were trying to put out the flames when Israel bombed the plant for the third time. Hours later, warplanes bombed the Bsalim power station northeast of Beirut.
Electricity is now being rationed in the capital and surrounding areas. Officials are estimating the damage to Beirut's power stations at over 30 million dollars, five times the figure after the 1996 attack. Jets also destroyed a telecommunications station in Jiye, south of Beirut, killing two guards. The raid cut lines to some 50,000 cellular phones.
Destruction
(Photos AFP)
Warplanes destroyed bridges connecting Beirut to the south. Four bridges were hit and two civilians were killed in one attack. An administrative office of Hizbullah was also attacked in Baalbak resulting in the injury of 35 people.
Israeli jets also broke the sound barrier over the capital sending many residents scurrying to bomb shelters. The loud bangs shook Beirut and the sky over the capital was lit with anti-aircraft fire from Lebanese army troops targeting the raiding planes.
Hizbullah responded to the bombings by firing more rockets at settlements in northern Israel, killing two people.
The choice of infra-structural targets and the ferocity of the attacks appeared designed to send a message to the government to rein in Hizbullah. "I think Beirut and Damascus got the message -- Israel will not tolerate cross border attacks," Netanyahu said. But Lebanon remained defiant. "Lebanon's position will not change," President Emile Lahoud said. "There will be no negotiations that do not include a resolution of Syria's demand for the return of the Golan Heights."
"The Israeli attack aimed at striking at the resistance and separating the Lebanese and Syrian peace tracks," House Speaker Nabih Berri said. "Israel, with this operation, is paving the way for the resumption of separate negotiations with Lebanon."
Hizbullah gave its own warning. "The only way Israel can protect Palestine from attack is by renouncing attacks on civilians and civilian installations in accordance with the April [1996] truce," Hizbullah's Secretary General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah said. The cease-fire bans attacks on or from civilian targets on both sides of the border but permits the resistance to launch operations against Israeli troops in south Lebanon. Officials and analysts here believe Israel wants to scrap the accord because it is restricting the movement of its army in the south. "Israel has Washington's backing because the US only called for restraint and the need to keep the situation in the south quiet," they said. "Israel does not want its troops in the south to come under attack as peace negotiations take place."
But Hoss said the government would continue to resist attempts to change the accord and back resistance groups as long as Israel is occupying Lebanese territories. Lahoud went further and said: "for every Lebanese martyred, an Israeli will be killed."
Hamze, of the AUB, believed the conflict has been contained for the time being as a result of international pressure.
But many observers are warning of more difficult days ahead. "There is still no agreement. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi's trip to Damascus days after the attack is an indication that regional powers are involved in this conflict," one Lebanese observer said. "Iran which supports Hizbullah along with Syria may have wanted to disrupt attempts to restart talks at a time Damascus and Tel Aviv were courting each other. France's anti-Israel position also shows an international power struggle here in Beirut."
