Hezbollah Not an Amateur Terrorist Group

CounterterrorismBlog has this on Hezbollah.

The Hezbollah fighters are well trained, and according to an anonymous senior military source, using ammunition and equipment such as armor piercing rounds, body armor, night vision gear and laser sights. Hezbollah also possesses mortars, RPGs, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, anti-tank missiles and possibly surface to air missiles to accompany their arsenal of short and medium range missiles capable of striking into the heart of Israeli territory. Hezbollah is using infantry tactics and fighting at the squad and platoon level.

This isn't a garden variety militia, but a well trained fighting force, the Iranian version of the Foreign Legion. This is highlighted by Olivier Guitta, who points out some interesting facts from the Arabic version of an Asharq Al-Awsat article which explained the Iranian's involvement in training Hezbollah and supplying the group with its rocket arsenal:

200 Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been stationed in Lebanon since 1990. They have married Shia Lebanese women, mostly "Hezbollah widows" and have changed their names to Lebanese names. They installed over twenty fixed rocket bases in the Bekaa Valley and provided Hezbollah with mobile bases to launch rockets. Furthermore a secret elite force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard composed of about twenty men is watching the Israel Defense Forces' every move with very sophisticated high-tech material and then deciding on the targets to hit inside Israel.

What we are seeing today is the direct result of the state sponsorship of a terrorist entity after it has gone unchecked for over two decades. Hezbollah has evolved from a terrorist, paramilitary group into the most effective fighting force in Lebanon, capable of conducting professional operations and using sophisticated weapons. The training camps in the Bekaa Valley are not only churning out fighters for Hezbollah, but train other terrorist organizations, exporting the dangerous tactics being used today in Lebanon, much like the training camps in Afghanistan served as a breeding grounds of today's crop of terrorists.

So, what perspective does that put on the idea of Proportionate force? Did I also mention the bit about the bunker network?

Hezbollah also has built an extensive underground networks, including "fortified underground bunkers some 40 meters (roughly 120 feet) underground, along with mass weapons caches" and communications systems. All of this was built under the nose of the Israeli military and intelligence services, as well as the peacekeeping forces of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Yeah, sounds like proportionate force hasn't been applied yet.

Israel will have to have an incursion into Lebanon if it truly wants to rid themselves, even temporarily, of this threat. I don't believe there is a way to remove Hezbollah permanently unless the Lebanese prevent their reformation after Israel destroys their present facilities.

You certainly understand that the UN won't be doing anything at all. Considering they haven't done anything in the time they have been there. Kofi Annan is demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Annan's proposal contained several suggestions: Firstly, that the two kidnapped soldiers be transferred immediately from Hizbullah to the Lebanese government. Secondly, that an international force be placed on the Lebanese side of the border in order to increase security. Thirdly, that Lebanon take control over its sovereign territory as required by UNSCR 1559. Fourthly, that an international committee be convened to determine a timetable for the quick implementation of Security Council decisions and the disarmament of Hizbullah.

The secretary-general also proposed that the UN help with the rehabilitation of Lebanon. He emphasized that UNIFIL's (UN Interim Force in Lebanon) mandate is coming to an end at this time, and that the UN must decided whether to cease interim force activities, strengthen the force, or replace it with another force.

Interesting, but I'm highly skeptical that the enforcement of UNSCR will be coming into play. There isn't anyone to enforce it, considering that Hezbollah is likely to resist or just go underground and the fact that the UN is pretty much useless when it really comes down to enforcing anything. That part about using "force" always seems to stop them.

Oh, and let's not forget that the EU is still trying to decide if Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. You'd think that would be obvious.

Europe's reluctance to designate Hezbollah, results in part from France's resistance to cutting off its own ties with Hezbollah which also is one of Lebanon's principal political groupings. The French have gone along, however, with designating Hizbollah's Security Chief, Imad Mughniyat as a terrorist. But Hizbollah's Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah and the Hizbollah organization itself are not on the EU list. French courts seem to have a somewhat different vision of Hizbollah. In December 2004 France's highest administive court, the Conseil d'État, led the way in Europe to shutting down broadcasts from Europe of Hizbollah's Al Manar Television Channel. The Court ordered Eutelsat to stop broadcasting Al Manar programming which it held violated France's laws against incitement to hatred and public endangerment. In March 2005, EU broadcasting regulators agreed also to ban all al Manar satellite broadcasts from Europe.

Odd, isn't it?