Human Shields

Michael Totten has another report from his visit to Southern Lebanon. This time he visits a Christian village that was used by as cover by Hezbollah during the war. He reports that when the villagers wanted to leave, Hezbollah fired on the civilians to force them to stay as human shields.

He told me that 18 days after the start of the war a large group of civilians decided it was time to leave Ain Ebel and flee to the north. They were no longer willing to stay while Israel fired back at Hezbollah’s rocket launchers. It was too dangerous, and Hezbollah insisted on staying and endangering those who lived there.

So they fled the area in a convoy of civilian vehicles. It was safer, they figured, to travel in a group than alone.

On their way out of the village, Hezbollah fighters stood on the side of the road and opened fire with machine guns on the fleeing civilians.

I was shocked, and I asked Alan to confirm this. Was it really true? Hezbollah opened fire on Lebanese civilians with machine guns? Alan confirmed this was true.

"Why?" I had an idea, but I wanted a local person to say it.

Because, Alan said, Hezbollah wanted to use the civilians of Ain Ebel as “human shields.” I did not use the phrase “human shields.” These were Alan’s own words.

Fortunately, Hezbollah didn’t kill anybody when they opened fire. One person was shot in the hand, and another was shot in the shoulder. This was enough, though, to do the job. The civilians turned around and went back to the village under Israeli bombardment.

That is, of course, only a very, very small part of the report. There is a lot more, including photographs. There is even a bit to laugh about in the encounter with French troops from the UN "peacekeepers". The reality on the ground in Lebanon both before, during and after the war is not at all what the media portrayed. The more I read what Totten is reporting, the more convinced I am that Israel tried very hard to fight the war clean. It was Hezbollah that turned it ugly. And the media reported Hezbollah's side of the story almost exclusively.