(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — A New York Times report revealed Israel’s plan to kill Lebanese civilians and target southern Lebanese towns in the event of another conflict with Hezbollah.
A senior Israeli military official told the U.S.-based newspaper that if civilians are killed, it should not be considered Israel’s fault.
“The civilians are living in a military compound,” the official said on the condition of anonymity because he was discussing “delicate” intelligence matters.
The official adds that a future battle with Hezbollah is “inevitable” and could quickly spread to other Lebanese towns, causing mass civilian causalities. Israel blames Hezbollah for using civilians as “human shields.”
“We do not intend to stand by helplessly in the face of rocket attacks,” the official said.
Israel has also blamed Hamas for using civilians as “shields,” despite a former statement by the head of the civil and international law branch at the Israeli Defense Forces, which read: “We are a small country. If you said you can’t put an artillery piece within 30 kilometers of a village, we couldn’t operate.”
United Nations statistics show that last year’s 50-day conflict resulted in more than 2,100 Palestinians dead, most of them civilians. 70 Israelis were killed, according to the UN.
In 2006, Israel killed almost 1,200 Lebanese, a third of whom were children. An additional 4,000 were injured, and almost one million displaced. According to Amnesty International, Israel deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure.
The Israeli military says Hezbollah is placing military sites in southern Lebanese towns, such as Shaqra, which has a population of about 4,000. The New York Times report said the Israeli Defense Forces identified about “400 military sites” in the village.
“At the end of the day, it means that many, many Lebanese will be killed,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser now at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv. “Where is the world? Why does it not stop the buildup?”
The United Nations Security Council issued a report in March expressing “deep concern” over recent episodes of excessive Israeli force, including the killing of a Spanish peacekeeper by Israeli fire in January and “the presence of unauthorized weapons” there.
Israeli also often violates the Lebanese border in the air and on the ground, according to frequent reports from the Lebanese National News Agency.
Hezbollah has come under fire in recent years by some Lebanese political groups for its involvement in the conflict in neighboring Syria. According to the New York Times, before the 2000’s, most Lebanese viewed Hezbollah as a legitimate group that was simply resisting occupation.
But since then, Lebanese political factions have been split on Hezbollah’s role in Lebanon’s domestic politics.
Hezbollah argues that the Lebanese Army is not capable of defending the country from Israel.