Hezbollah Exploding Pagers!

Yes it must have been a lovely city if they compared it to Paris

silverlining48

Babs I think Lebanon has 1.5 million Syrian refugees, as well as many Palestinians from previous wars, it’s a small country and as you say, really struggling.
I remember Beirut used to be termed the Paris of the east.

DH went there before any of the troubles began and said it was beautiful.

No it's not better to remain silent. Speaking or on here writing, is how we think, it is not better not to think.

Babs I think Lebanon has 1.5 million Syrian refugees, as well as many Palestinians from previous wars, it’s a small country and as you say, really struggling.
I remember Beirut used to be termed the Paris of the east.

eggplant

M0nica

eggplant the very topics we should always discuss are the ones that are the most unpleasant and difficult, because those are the topics that, literally, mean life and death to somany people aand could also eventually be life or death to us.

We discuss from the comfort of our homes or holiday location after a quick flick through the papers.

It's an insult really to families involved. Better to remain silent.

You may discuss these issues that way, but do not assume everybody does.

My thoughts, as well as being with innocent Palestinians, and innocent Israelis waiting for news of hostages, are with Lebanon. Poor Lebanon. Politically the country is a mess, it suffered years of sectarian unrest and a civil war aided by Israel that nearly decimated the whole country, and is presently bankrupt with people unable to use more than a couple of hours electricity a day and often without water. They also play host to hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, some estimate a million. And we complain!
This is a conflict they could very much do without and as usual western countries will do nothing to help and Arab countries hogtied to western governments will do nothing to help either. First a third world strip of land that some Arabs refer to as a prison - Gaza - subjected to untold horrors, and now Lebanon.
And meanwhile Israel, western governments, and Iran, play the same old geopolitical games.
Is beyond contemptible.

M0nica

eggplant the very topics we should always discuss are the ones that are the most unpleasant and difficult, because those are the topics that, literally, mean life and death to somany people aand could also eventually be life or death to us.

We discuss from the comfort of our homes or holiday location after a quick flick through the papers.

It's an insult really to families involved. Better to remain silent.

eggplant the very topics we should always discuss are the ones that are the most unpleasant and difficult, because those are the topics that, literally, mean life and death to somany people aand could also eventually be life or death to us.

David49

Wyllow3

The killing might stop, but would it stop the expansion of Israel into Gaza and the West Bank as permanent occupied territories? Which has been a major trigger point since 1967?

Long, complicated and very sad history, because of course Jewish people deserve a homeland/State and were granted one by the Brits in 1948, but the Palestinians were left stateless

Settling West Bank territory make it worse but Arabs have been fighting Israel since 1948 and the British before them, the Ottomans before that, back further there never has been self rule.

✔
1948: The state of Israel declared independence on May 14. The next day, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon declared war on Israel. Lebanon had the smallest army of the Arab nations.

www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/17/beyond-hezbollah-the-history-of-tensions-between-lebanon-and-israel

I’m no expert eggplant but I post what I find of interest on the subject. It’s called information. Sometimes it encourages discussion too.

David49

Elegran

ronib

If someone said that they wanted to annihilate you Monica what might be a possible strategy for negotiation?

Both sides in the Israel/Palestine conflict want to to eliminate the other. That sounds like a basis for equal negotiation.

Where have you seen that Israel wants to kill all Palestinians, that’s a lie.
Israelis want to live without to be attacked by terrorists, if the attacks on Israel stop the killing would stop.

Exactly the case David49👍🏻

JaneJudge

eggplant

My only reaction is profound sadness.

Min too. It is all horrific

Utterly horrific Jane. I can't understand why people feel the need to set themselves up as some sort of experts on the situation and/ or post updates form the papers.

What is going on there, is utterly beyond our comprehension.

eggplant

My only reaction is profound sadness.

Min too. It is all horrific

Yes, they do. One reads time and time again of terrorists living and operating out of quiet suburbs.

Boko Haram in Nigeria go in for massive kidnappings of innocent school children. Many ofthe African terrorist groups kidnap and force children to fight for them. Hostage taking incidents arise all the time

Which happens in many/most war zones, in most the terrorists dont used the civilians as human shields or civilian deaths as .propaganda.

People in Gaza are only alive because of massive international aid.

I tend to agree Monica. But of course governments seem very tied into the arms industries so I don’t know if your argument will ever be accepted as a valid way ahead.

ronib

If someone said that they wanted to annihilate you Monica what might be a possible strategy for negotiation?

Each side wants to annihilate the other. If both decided that is a pointless exercise that leads only to poverty and misery, they would have a way forward.

Each is as bad as the other and both have populations who, at some time, have voted for their current extremist government, and show no desire for any alternative government..

I think the best thing would be for everyone to stop supplying arms and supplies to both sides, stop trying to provide humanitarian aid, that only acts to prolong the fighting and leave the two sides to negotiate or annihilate each other as they see fit.

It is a nihilist argument I know, but sometimes things go so far, it is the only and the best solution.

Where are the Arabs to move so Israel can take more land, where are they supposed to go. Israel have treated the Palestines with contempt.

Wyllow3

I know - forever a highly valued area because if its geographical position and the three religions laying claim - but it would have been a bright idea to set up 2 states instead of one and the remainder contested!

Judging by the rest of the Arab world it wouldn’t stop fighting, it’s all about power, none are democracies.

I know - forever a highly valued area because if its geographical position and the three religions laying claim - but it would have been a bright idea to set up 2 states instead of one and the remainder contested!

Wyllow3

The killing might stop, but would it stop the expansion of Israel into Gaza and the West Bank as permanent occupied territories? Which has been a major trigger point since 1967?

Long, complicated and very sad history, because of course Jewish people deserve a homeland/State and were granted one by the Brits in 1948, but the Palestinians were left stateless

Settling West Bank territory make it worse but Arabs have been fighting Israel since 1948 and the British before them, the Ottomans before that, back further there never has been self rule.

And more.

“ A top Hezbollah commander with a $7m bounty on his head for bombing the US embassy was killed in an Israeli airstrike, sources said.

Ibrahim Aqil, Hezbollah’s operations manager, died in the attack on central Beirut, Hezbollah officials told AfP news agency, adding that three people had died and 17 were injured.

The IDF confirmed it had carried out a “targeted strike” in Beirut on Friday afternoon without providing any further details.

A thick cloud of smoke could be seen rising over the Lebanese capital, after residents in the southern city’s Dahiyeh suburbs reported a loud blast. The strike hit a residential apartment building near key Hezbollah facilities, security sources told Reuters.

It came on an intense day of fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah, who launched 140 Soviet-era Katyusha rockets across its border into northern Israel.”

“Israel has said it destroyed 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers in one of the most intense bombing raids into Lebanon since the war began.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said fighter jets also struck additional “terrorist infrastructure sites” consisting of some 1,000 barrels, from which missiles are fired, that were ready to be used in the “immediate future” against Israel.

No one appears to have died in Thursday night’s strikes, which were focused away from major population centres to avoid further escalation.

Shortly after the attack, the IDF instructed residents of seven communities along the Lebanese border, as well as communities in the northern Golan Heights, to minimize movements, avoid gatherings, control community gates and stay close to shelters.”

Source: The Telegraph today.

Spot on Elegran. I can see no end to this until more mature heads really look at the situation and identify compromises. I'm not holding my breath.