London Times: Britain fears assault on Hezbollah will backfire

[DeepModem Mom]

Britain fears assault on Hezbollah will backfire
By Bronwen Maddox, Foreign Editor

BRITAIN fears that Israel’s assault on Hezbollah is failing to cripple the guerrilla group and that continued bombardment will bring huge civilian casualties in Lebanon for little military gain.

The rising concern that any further Israeli military action could intensify the crisis, expressed by senior officials yesterday, strikes a much more urgent tone than the American position, which accepts a continued Israeli campaign to crush the Shia militant group....

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A senior British official said: “Our concern is that Israeli military action is not having the desired effect. We’re not seeing the level of impact .” Hezbollah was “still highprofile in southern Beirut”, even if its claims to have lost only three fighters underplayed the damage done. “We’re not seeing any large-scale destruction of Hezbollah rockets,” the official added, “and we don’t know where they are.”

Israel claimed yesterday to have destroyed half of Hezbollah’s rockets, which the guerrilla group has been firing steadily across the Lebanese border. “We have already destroyed around 50 per cent of the rockets and missiles that Hezbollah had,” General Alon Friedman told army radio....

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....the need for Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, to appear tough at home might tempt him to continue even when the military value was slight, officials suggested....

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2277822,00.html

[KoKo]

1. Ahhh....So "Senior British Official" thinks not enough Lebanese have been

killed and is worried about the Backlash on Israel for not being agressive enough. :eyes: Oh My.... I guess not enough Iraqi's have been killed either ...making US and GB look "weak."

[w4rma]

2. It sounds like the British heads are turning against the bombardments.(nt)