Actually Israel does as regards to Hezbollah.
The UNIFIL reports have always said there were the odd skirmish, mostly prompted by Israeli Invasion of Lebanese Airspace, which occured "almost daily". Most skirmishes happened around the Shebaa Farms area, which Lebanon still claims.. ie: Occupied Territory (and therefore, as far as Hezbollah are concerned, within Lebanese Territory), or within Lebanon.
There are only 6 countries in the world that count Hezbollah a "Terrorist Organisation". The EU recently told the US to take a run and jump when they were requested to count them as such.
The reasons are:
They have always acted like, and have always maintained they are, a resistance force.
Until this Israeli attack, Hezbollah have always operated inside Labanon and have always attacked only military targets.
They have always condemned attacks by anyone; Islamic or Otherwise, that killed Innocents deliberately. Including 9/11.
They have banned all their members from going to Iraq and condemed all the attacks in Iraq that have not been aimed at occuping forces directly, by which they mean "Military". They have condemned kidnapping of civilians there and called the purpetrators Barbaric and traitors to Islam.
This all started because 2 soldiers were kidnapped on the face of it.. but is it really?
The Hezbollah attack was staged to capture soldiers to use for a prisoner-exchange with Israel, a strategy adopted by both sides in the past. According to Human Rights Watch, targeting and capture of enemy soldiers is allowed under international humanitarian law.
Both Israel and Hezbollah have used this tactic many times in the past against each other, and then negotiated peacefully around the issue with no problems. Indeed, Brigadier General Meir Caliphi recently said the only real activity from Hezbollah was when Israeli planes invaded Lebanese airspace and they fired anti-aircraft guns. Only two civilians sustained minor injuries as a result of the shelling, he said.
He went on to admit that this was partly because:'It may go against military logic,' Caliphi admitted, 'but I think that it is important to continue with the policy of restraint. So long as we can keep the quiet here.'
They saw that in Jenin we were willing to ravage a refugee camp in order to gain quiet, even if we did not use F-16 aircraft. They know the implications to their region,' he said. The Brigadier General had no qualms about saying that any incursion by Hezbollah could result in an attack on the Lebanon government, and also said Syria could be a target.
There is something that has not been mentioned that is different though, and it has nothing to do with Hezbollah and everything to do with Mossad and Lebanon.
So just maybe, they just dont want their Agent questioned regarding the Assasination of a certain Prime Minister?Last month Lebanon's daily newspaper, The Daily Star, reported that in June this year the Lebanese Army's intelligence agency uncovered an Israeli spy cell in Lebanon which had managed to carry out several assassinations across the country. Mahmoud Rafeh, was named as the leader of a 'Mossad-linked terrorist network,' and it was reported that he had admitted carrying out assassinations and spying for Israel. Judicial sources told The Daily Star Rafeh admitted receiving a list of names of Lebanese and Palestinian political figures to be assassinated on orders from Israel.
During interrogation, said The Daily Star report, Rafeh admitted to the killing of Islamic Jihad member Mahmoud Majzoub and his brother Nidal in May. He also claimed the killing of Hezbollah officials Ali Hassan Deeb and Ali Saleh on August 16, 1999 and August 2, 2003, respectively, and that of Jihad Jibril, the son of the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command leader, Ahmad Jibril, in May 20, 2002. However, he denied any involvement in a string of assassinations in Beirut last year including that of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and having any knowledge of who was behind the attacks. Before the current war began on July 12, Military Investigating Magistrate Adnan Bolbol had been expected to begin questioning witnesses in the Mossad case in July, sources told The Daily Star.
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