By Maurice Ostroff

Contrary to the impression created by the media, Israeli bombing of Beirut has been confined to only 1% of the city. The targets have been confined to Hizbollah terrorist command centers in the south.

In an article “As bombs hit south, life goes on north of Beirut” in the Washington times Betsy Pisik wrote

But just north of Beirut, business remains strong in the lush resorts of the nearby Shouf Mountains. Nightclubs in the Christian suburb of Jounieh still rock to '80s disco and '90s Eurobeat, and Lebanese who weathered the country's horrific 15-year civil war still sip arrack and eat hummus late into the night.

Beirut, once the jewel of the Middle East, is wobbling back to its feet even as the Israeli army and air force pulverize its southern region.

In the Hamra area, home to students and the campus of the prestigious American University of Beirut, more shops reopen and traffic grows heavier by the day. Hotels that emptied at the beginning of Israel's assault on July 12 are raising rates again, even though most of the guests are foreign journalists.

In the Achrafiyeh neighborhood, which is predominantly Christian and Sunni, streets are peaceful and increasingly busy. The fabled night life, with its restaurants and nightclubs, is likely to pick up again by the weekend.

But in the glamorously rebuilt city center, shops selling luxury brands are not just closed, but swept clean. Fearing air strikes, the owners have taken the diamonds out of Cartier

Washington Times, July 26 2006

Hizbollah have plenty of bunkers where civilians could be protected. Instead they put the civilians on the upper floors above the bunkers while brave Hizbollah terrorists (oops I mean militants) sit protected below them with their missiles.

If Israel had not evacuated the northern half of the country sending civilians (mostly children) south, Hizbollah would now be decimating the Israeli population. Even in this senario our TV screens would not be filled with pictures of dead Israeli children. Jewish law does not allow the dead to be used in this way and the Israel government respects this.

The other day Hizbollah hit a hopsital, luckily the patients were in the bunkers underground. If it had been a hospital in Hizbollah controlled Lebanon hit by Israel, believe me there would have been many deaths and many pictures of the bodies in the international press. Thankfully Israel does not respond proportionatly and hit a lebanese hopsital in return.

Hizbollah wants the high death toll:

• To prove that the civilians there "need them" to get revenge against Israel (for this war Hizbollah started)
• To get international support for a cease fire that recognises Hizbollah has a right to exist... something NOT recognised by the security council, Israel and Lebanon before this conflict.

In June of this year (just before the current conflict) The Military Balance reported that "Hizbullah is under increasing pressure to disarm from international and, increasingly domestic groups".

This war was started by Hizbollah for political reasons and to prevent the realisation of the international communitys expectations that Lebanon would control ALL its teritory and not have a Syrian proxy controlling half the country. Had this not happened, and had Lebanon been able to dislodge the Hizbollah based Syrian occupation... perhaps we'd be hearing about peace treaties right now and not the Lebanese children Hizbollah are using as human shields as they fire at Israeli children.

Lebanon with an army of 72,000 isn't strong enough to tackle Hizbollah... people outside the middle east need to re-evalutate estimates of Hizbollah's strengths. Add in the Syrian officers who are assisting them and the Syrian missiles that have been given to them. Then remember that Syria's armed forced are the 3rd largest in the region (after Iran and Egypt) and that their budget is US$1.5 Billion. For Hizbollah they can always spare a little.

The Syrian connection to Hizbollah must be stopped (which Israel has done by cutting off roads preventing resuply), but to prevent more Lebonese dead, Lebanon with support from friends needs to take over the task over cleaning out Hizbollah... as the UN security council agreed in resolution 1559. Only when the Syrian backed Hizbollah is out of Lebanon can the Lebanese people be safe. Other wise we will get a short respite as Syria rearms Hizbollah, then Hizbollah will attack Israel again, hide beneath Lebanese children again, and wait for them to die - again. If we want a better future we must hope for a long term solution and stand united against terrorists who use children as human shields as they wish for their deaths in order to make more impressive statistics.

Related story: Photos that damn Hezbollah

Over the last 3 weeks as a new war has emerged in the Middle East we've been silent. The silence is not for a lack of things to say, but rather due to a visit to the region. The visit saw us leave an Israeli village 20 minutes before a Kassam Rocket fired by Hamas landed there. It saw us visit the Egyptian border and have 50 soldiers assigned to the research station we were visiting as 500 people broke down and crossed the Israel-Egypt border.

In the last three weeks we've met with commentators, analysts, drafted reservists and large numbers of refugees from the north of Israel. We've spoken to Palestinians and Israelis who want peace, yet recognise and insist Israel not stand idlely by as the Syrian backed Hizbollah terrorist group fires more misles at Israeli civilians. Stay tuned as we bring you up to speed.

Despite what the media (and Palestinian activists) seems to be saying about a crisis in Gaza, Red Cross officials have deemed the need for medical supplies to be "not urgent", and reports from the border show that between the 2-6 July, 239 trucks with suplies crossed into Gaza. This included 105 trucks of aid and goods which passed into Gaza on the
4 July alone.

The trucks have brought basic food items, including: wheat, corn, cooking oil, meat, fruit and milk. The transfer of medicines was also approved but the transfer was delayed by the Red Cross.

The following quantities of fuel and natural gas were transferred to the Palestinians: 1,480,000 liters of diesel fuel; 180,000 liters of gasoline; 407 tons of natural gas (for cooking).

This suggests claims of a crisis being talked up by Palestinian presure groups is no more than political propoganda.