The Lebanese Army sipping TEA with the Israeli Army
The IDF(Israeli Defense Forces) released a video, a few days ago, shot by one of its soldiers in the lebanese southern town of Marjayun.
First, let's briefly remember what happened in that town. Israeli forces entered the town on August 10th, without resistance.
Marjayun being a christian town, there was no HA presence there, and the IDF entered it very quickly.
However, there was a Lebanese Armed Forces and Lebanese Internal Security barracks in the town.
These forces did NOT fight.
To get back to the Video released by the IDF, it shows the Israeli and lebanese soldiers having tea together, in a relaxed atmospheres, where Isreali soldiers were even taped smiling, and exchanging bits of conversation with the Lebanese.
All that, while fierce battles were raging elsewhere.
But the most important thing, is the LAF general's answer to the question as to why that happened: "We had our orders from the Ministry of Interior, not to shoot a single shot. We were in line with these orders"....
Now let's go back just a few days back in time, before the Israeli ground invasion began (there was only the IAF bombing from the air) and remember what the Lebanese Interior Minister, Elias Murr, said in a statement, which was a reply to the Israeli's intention of using the ground operations option:
"I have given strict and clear orders. If the Israeli Army comes into the lebanese soil, the Lebanese Armed Forces, I repeat, the Lebanese Armed Forces will intercept the invasion, and fight back."
I hardly think a tee-cup is "fighting back invasion".
Now, if I were Hassan Nasrallah, I would somehow feel backstabbed !!!!!!..... here's my interior minister declaring that he has given orders to the LAF to fight the israeli invasion on one hand, but on the other hand, I have taped proof that such orders did not exist. Quite on the contrary actually..
Was Murr's statement done not to raise HA's suspicions ?..
In all cases, 2 things are very clear:
- Orders not to fire a single shot against the Israeli Army do not mean to have a cup of tea with the latter
- The General, by not firing at the IDF, most certainly spared the lives of many men (Lebanese men).
First, let's briefly remember what happened in that town. Israeli forces entered the town on August 10th, without resistance.
Marjayun being a christian town, there was no HA presence there, and the IDF entered it very quickly.
However, there was a Lebanese Armed Forces and Lebanese Internal Security barracks in the town.
These forces did NOT fight.
To get back to the Video released by the IDF, it shows the Israeli and lebanese soldiers having tea together, in a relaxed atmospheres, where Isreali soldiers were even taped smiling, and exchanging bits of conversation with the Lebanese.
All that, while fierce battles were raging elsewhere.
But the most important thing, is the LAF general's answer to the question as to why that happened: "We had our orders from the Ministry of Interior, not to shoot a single shot. We were in line with these orders"....
Now let's go back just a few days back in time, before the Israeli ground invasion began (there was only the IAF bombing from the air) and remember what the Lebanese Interior Minister, Elias Murr, said in a statement, which was a reply to the Israeli's intention of using the ground operations option:
"I have given strict and clear orders. If the Israeli Army comes into the lebanese soil, the Lebanese Armed Forces, I repeat, the Lebanese Armed Forces will intercept the invasion, and fight back."
I hardly think a tee-cup is "fighting back invasion".
Now, if I were Hassan Nasrallah, I would somehow feel backstabbed !!!!!!..... here's my interior minister declaring that he has given orders to the LAF to fight the israeli invasion on one hand, but on the other hand, I have taped proof that such orders did not exist. Quite on the contrary actually..
Was Murr's statement done not to raise HA's suspicions ?..
In all cases, 2 things are very clear:
- Orders not to fire a single shot against the Israeli Army do not mean to have a cup of tea with the latter
- The General, by not firing at the IDF, most certainly spared the lives of many men (Lebanese men).
posted by Jean at 4:45 PM
9 Comments:
I agree with the two points u used to conclude ur article. Even if the general were acting in concordance with a wish to save his soldiers' lives by not actively engaging the IDF, he didn't have to act so cordially with the invading force. We should have simply handed control of the barracks over to the IDF and immediately left.
There is one important point though that you forgot to mention. After the tea, the general, his troops, and the residents of the village left Marjayoun in a convoy of nearly 1000 vehicles. The Israelis knew about the convoy because they had been informed by UNIFIL and I doubt that they wouldn't have talked about it over the tea. They went on to bomb the convoy however, causing the deaths of at least 4 people, two of them officers in the general's battalion. After the incident, the Israelis claimed they didn't know about the convoy and weren't probably informed. I think this video proves them wrong.
For more comments and analysis please feel free to visit:
http://blacksmithsoflebanon.blogspot.com
Come on, the general through his actions, saved 350 men from being annihilated. If you know anything about rules of engagement, you would know that since the army was not retaliate, not to shoot a single bullet, they are not seen by the Israelis as ennemies. As such while they must be watched over, they are not prisonners of war, and as such extending courtesy to a ranking officer and respecting the hierarcgy is actually quite normal.
Please don't fall for that. I think the general should be elevated to hero status in Lebanon and the Lebanese army.
be careful though, by your own logic, the google ads you have on top of you page which say "meet Jewish girls" should send you to jail quite rapidly ;-)
haha, good one anonymous.
Unfortunately, I do not have control over the ads on my site...
But anyway, it's a trap for israelis... the "jewish girls" are actually HA fighters in disguise ;)
Anyway, if you have been reading my posts, they would have no problem finding me a reason to throw me in jail ;)
to be serious for 2 seconds, the IDF said from the beginning that they would not target the LAF.
The LAF had also clear orders not to engage combat.
That is why I said Nasrallah must feel backstabbed... the interior minister lied about his support to HA on TV.
If the general was following the orders then he was just following the orders. If he violated the order then he should be praised as a rational person who saved dozens of lives from needless slaughter.
The lebanese army is no match for IDF. They are not Hezbollah. They were not digging tunnels for 6 years and purchasing anti tank missiles. IAF would have destroyed his force in 10 minutes suffering zero casualties itself.
If there was an order to send the soldiers to fight the IDF the defence minister should be dismissed for total disregard of common sense and lives of people under his command.
As to the tee thing what is this shit? We are just humans? The israeli soldiers were just doing their job. The lebanese soldiers were probably not doing their job but under given circumstances i can t blame them.
Come on. I hope one day we ll be drinking tea together anyway.
Blacksmith Jade said...
There is one important point though that you forgot to mention. After the tea, the general, his troops, and the residents of the village left Marjayoun in a convoy of nearly 1000 vehicles. The Israelis knew about the convoy because they had been informed by UNIFIL and I doubt that they wouldn't have talked about it over the tea. They went on to bomb the convoy however, causing the deaths of at least 4 people, two of them officers in the general's battalion. After the incident, the Israelis claimed they didn't know about the convoy and weren't probably informed. I think this video proves them wrong.
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The unshakable belief of posters from arab/islamic countries in the science of logistics and operation management always amazes me. A whole dozen of IDF soldiers were killed by friendly fire. This proves that IDF was deliberately increasing its casualties for some reason ??
nobody...
...The point isn't that the missile missed or that they made a mistake hitting the convoy, the issue is that they lied about them making a mistake. It isn't the Arabs that believe the IDF and its technology to be invinsible and error-proof ('we' just gave them a lashing in southern Lebanon), its the IDF itself that tries to spread this image in an effort to dissaude anyone from attacking Israel.
Here check this out and let me know what you think:
http://blacksmithsoflebanon.blogspot.com/2006/08/part-i-talking-to-israel.html
For more comments and analysis please feel free to visit:
http://blacksmithsoflebanon.blogspot.com
The Lebanese Interior Minister is Ahmad Fatfat. Elias El Mur is the Minister of Defence. So the Minister of Defence called for troops to confront the Israeli incursion. The Minister of the Interior asked his forces to stand down.
Just a clarification that makes a difference. And my personal opinion is that the Lebanses troops should be congradulated for having tea with the Israelis its what i would do. Let Nasrallah and co. (including Aoun) go fight their wars somewhere else. The time for peace has come.
There are reports that in conducting several commando operations inside Lebanon, IDF units dressed as Lebanese Army soldiers to get around town with large amounts of weaponry unnoticed. In one instance, in the city of Tyre, the infiltrating IDF unit was stopped at a Lebanese Army checkpoint where it was noted that they were driving Hummers...a peice of equipment the Lebanese Army does not possess. A gunfight ensued.
I'm sure there are other examples, like this one, of small scuffles and skirmishes.
Could be that the timing of the tea is not the ideal, however, the decision of not firing was a very wise one.
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