Does Lebanese Ambush Take Israeli Professionalism For Granted?

Over at Contentions, J. E. Dyer believes given that the deliberate killing of the Israeli during the Lebanese ambush of the IDF was ordered by the Lebanese army, there must have been an assumption that Israel would make sure matters did not get out of control:

Among the obvious points to make about this incident, there’s one that may not be quite so obvious. Monday’s dangerous and irresponsible action involved a national army attacking the territory of another nation. It could be considered an act of war. And if it was indeed planned by elements of the Lebanese army acting as agents for Hezbollah, then it appears as though the Lebanese were counting on Israeli restraint and professionalism to keep the event a photo-op and not let it spiral out of control. They counted on Israel, in other words, to treat the attack as it does Hezbollah’s terror attacks.


I’m reminded of something I heard almost 20 years ago from a Navy admiral, a submariner who had been involved in discussions with his counterparts in the Soviet submarine force in the early 1990s. After the 1992 collision of USS Baton Rouge with a Russian submarine, the admiral recounted an informal disclosure from a senior Soviet submariner about undersea safety. The Soviet officer acknowledged that the Soviets’ expertise and equipment were inferior to ours. A Soviet submarine – even a nuclear-powered submarine carrying nuclear missiles – operated more blindly than one of ours and with less of the submariner’s special brand of seamanship. “That,” said the Soviet officer, “is why we rely on you to prevent collisions.” [emphasis added]

I'm not so sure.

If indeed the Lebanese were relying on anyone to to contain the situation, they may also have been relying just as much on the UN to reign in Israel--something that they have been completely unable to do when it comes to Hezbollah rearming in Southern Lebanon.

Also, considering the fact that the last time Hezbollah provocatively tweaked Israel's nose by kidnapping two Israeli soldiers--a war resulted. Is it likely that the Lebanese army would have forgotten that?

Still, if the Lebanese thought that the episode was over--they are mistaken:

The Israeli government has requested that Lebanon court-martial the commander of the Lebanese unit that fired at IDF troops across the border in a deadly confrontation that occurred earlier in the week, Army Radio quoted from the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar on Friday.

According to the Lebanese paper, Israeli officials were supposed to have threatened to "take revenge" against the Lebanese commander for the death of Lt. Col. (res.) Dov Harari if Lebanon did not adequately resolve the issue. The report also said Israel threatened that if the issue was not handled satisfactorily the IDF would then view the Lebanese Armed Forces along the border as an enemy force and the IDF would respond to any future attacks with "an aggressive response without precedent."

Just keep in mind that the report has not been confirmed.

Still, Israel should take a strong stand against the Lebanese ambush, and perhaps should go so far as to demand an all out investigation of the entire episode--including what part was played by the media that was already there before the Lebanese attack and also the influence Hezbollah had on what happened.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Lebanon.