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Israel's dilemma after Qana
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Israel's dilemma after Qana
The carnage at Qana overshadowed outrage at last week's Israeli strike on the UN observation post in the southern Lebanese village of El Khiam. This attack left four unarmed UN military observers dead and had already generated widespread international criticism. However, according to eye-witnesses, Hizbullah was also active in deploying its hardware in the vicinity of the UN post. Similar tactics have seen militants using the cover of hospitals and mosques to launch rocket attacks, effectively using the civilian population as human shields.
According to some military analysts, this merely reflects what has become an increasingly common tactic of insurgent groups involved in asymmetric warfare in urban environments. Militant groups routinely opt to deploy in areas where they will be able to conceal their presence among the civilian population. Even the so-called 'collateral damage' - the standard euphemism for unintended civilian casualties - can pay dividends in terms of propaganda coups.
Beyond the obvious human cost of Qana there is growing concern that the terrible images will prove to be a powerful recruiting tool for militant Islamist groups ranging from Hizbullah and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to Al-Qaeda itself. Widespread anger across the Arab world is likely to escalate the longer the present conflict continues and the higher the civilian death toll. Inevitably, both Hizbullah and Hamas have vowed to avenge the deaths at Qana and criticism of Hizbullah within Lebanon is increasingly muted as support for the militants rises.
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© 2006 Jane's Information Group
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