Well, It’s A Start, Anyway

Amnesty International has issued a report condemning Hezbollah for committing war crimes during the recently concluded war in Lebanon. You read that right, they condemned Hezbollah.

The London-based human rights group said the guerillas fired nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel, killing 43 civilians, seriously injuring 33 others and forcing hundreds of thousands to take refuge or flee.

About a quarter of all rockets — some packed with thousands of metal ball bearings — were fired directly into urban areas, it added in a document called "Under fire — Hezbollah's attacks on northern Israel".

It was only because Israeli civilians fled their homes or took shelter in bunkers that prevented a higher death toll, it said.

"The scale of Hezbollah's attacks on Israeli cities, towns and villages, the indiscriminate nature of the weapons used and statements from the leadership confirming their intent to target civilians make it all too clear that Hezbollah violated the laws of war," said Amnesty's secretary-general Irene Khan.

"The fact that Israel has also committed serious violations in no way justifies violations by Hezbollah. Civilians must not be made to pay the price for unlawful conduct on either side."

Amnesty's claims come less than a month after it called for both sides to be investigated for "grave violations" of human rights law, accusing Israel of "indiscriminate and disproportionate" attacks on civilian infrastructure and war crimes.

It is at least a start toward holding terror groups to the same standards that others are routinely held to. I think Amnesty International has a long way to go to be truly neutral in its judgments, but this is a hopeful sign.

UPDATE: Jules Crittenden from the Boston Herald hopes it is a good start, too.