I was surprised to see so many Lebanese excited about the possibility of a new war between Lebanon and Israel yesterday. Taking aside politics and the fact that Israel admitted defeat in its 2006 adventure into Lebanon, there’s nothing good about war and we shouldn’t get too excited about the prospects of a new one. I refuse to live in a basement not because I am afraid of Israel but because I want to have a normal peaceful life and I assume and hope most Lebanese want the same.
In all cases, here’s a reminder to Lebanon’s young generation and to those who forgot already of what we had to endure back in 2006:
– Nearly 1,200 Lebanese were killed in the 34-day Israeli war on Lebanon, out of which 37 soldiers only. More than 5000 were wounded as well.
– Approximately 1 million Lebanese (30% of the total population) were displaced.
– Israel fired at least 3 million cluster bombs old munitions supplied by the US with a failure rate as high as 50 per cent, in the last 3 days of fighting.
– Israel destroyed bridges along Lebanon’s main north-south coastal road, including the Mudeirej bridge which took more than 6 years to fix.
– Al-Manar TV and Al-Nour radio compounds were bombed. Rafic Hariri Airport runways and fuel depots were also bombed and the airport was closed of course.
– Most of Dahieh was bombarded and destroyed.
– Lebanon faced an acute fuel-crisis that threatened to shut hospitals down.
– The Jiyeh power station bombing resulted in the leak of an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 tonnes (more than 4 million gallons) of oil into the eastern Mediterranean. This environmental disaster increased the risk of diseases and cancer and endangered the habitat of fish and sea turtles. Israel has to pay us $64 million in damages as pet the UN.
All of Lebanon was targeted by Israel and we still weren’t able to recover economically from the 2006 war. Moreover, the death toll from the land mines and unexploded Israeli cluster bombs is still rising. Between 2006 and 2008 nearly 40 people were killed and over 270 injured by cluster bombs. No one ever wins in a war, and civilians always end up paying the heaviest price (Look at Syria) so let’s do our best to keep Lebanon away from a new war, or at least work to prevent a new round of violence instead of getting excited about it.
Someone should remind Strida
is the objective of this reminder to teach the young Lebanese to behave like chicken next time their sovereignty gets attacked by Israel?
It would have been a good reminder for the Israeli armed forces who used excessive force to achieve nothing but damage and destruction.
Yesterday operation proved that Israel Armed Forces are pathetic and worthless, operation conducted in the middle of the day, at a time when they were on high alert, against their elite forces, while Hezbollah is fighting on the syrian front.
I, as a Lebanese, am proud of it.
Josef,
They’ve achieved nothing but damage and destruction but this ruined the country for 10 years ahead even though they admitted they didnt win the war. The point is to keep the drums of war away from Lebanon as much as possible because there’s always another way out in my opinion.
keep the drums of war down, kif ya3neh ? i still dont get the message from your post. what do you want people to do exactly ? and from whom do you want it ? and whats the difference will it make in case they changed how they feel. lol next time they will try to be less “excited” lol this post deep inside is pathetic
The purpose is to understand how bad wars are and not get too excited for a new one because it will drain us down and weaken the country for years to come. It makes a lot of difference when the people understand the risks of a war and learn from his past experiences but it seems we chose not to learn from any in Lebanon starting from the civil war and onwards.
This whole war mentality can be applied even to Tripoli fights and any place where there’s tension we jump to weapons and guns.
WAR IS BAD ? YOU DONT SAY ? ya 7abib albi wallah everyone knows that. w kamen what ” young generation ” its only been 8 years, so are you directing your message to the 10 yr olds visiting you blog haha :P.
Our sovereignty? Or Golan’s sovereignty? What did Golan do for us in 2006?
who enjoys war or is excited about his home being brought down to rubble ?(even if ppl say shit on tv, its a media war ) 3eb tishmat bil 3alam 3alli sar bi tamouz.
bizo,
I am saying it exactly because some people think its fun and go check Twitter and Facebook. That’s exactly why I posted this and NO no everyone knows it unfortunately. As for the younger generations, those who were 10 during the last war are 18 now so here you go 🙂
I agree with Najib here, throughout its existence, Lebanon has been at with with itself or with some other country or militia. It has never done the country any good and Lebanon and the Lebanese n were never the same. Friend or foe, It’s time to give peace a chance.
At war with itself **
Finally, someone said it . The problem is that everyone is focusing on one aspect: If you are against war you like isreal. My grandparents got stuck for 30 days underground during 2006 war with more than other 30 people eating tuna cans. It’s a memory along with another 11 years of bombing memories i would like to forget.
Whats crazy is that we are cheering for war behind our computers forgetting that people die in wars, just because we are a pro party not because it makes sense,
So whether you like Hezbollah or no, no one wants a war including southern people. Those people showing up on tv saying yes we dont care and celebrating are a bunch of very well selected group.
Thank you for writing this post Najib! So many people need to be reminded of this apparently!
hezballah is to blame as the starters of war .We all know we have an enemy in the Southern border but no need to make them react or give them the signal to react
Im with najib, thumbs up. Boukra laam ye23do bala electricity w no water, w no works khalina nshouf l comments 😉 :p
LEBANESE and proud 😉
Najib I get ur point, we shouldn’t be excited about wars, it’s not fun.
But please remember that Israel started this shit this time, and it’s crazy to even argue that hizballah didn’t have the right to retaliate back.
Anyways judging by the outcome so far, I’m proud of what they did. Would you have ever imagined that Israel has 2 soldiers dead and who knows how many injured and they haven’t done shit about it. You might laugh at this, but their is a balance of power now between us and Israel
A reminder to Lebanese that Mazere3 shebaa is a LEBANESE OCCUPIED LAND.
First thing’s first, Hezbollah attacked Israeli troops on occupied Lebanese land.
Second, That attack was an ‘eye for an eye’ revenge for January 18 attack in Syria attributed to Israel.
I’m really proud of hezbollah. Allah y2awion.
& joe is nasty little sample of how we always have the mentalities of separate groups. forever fragmented. And i do understand why bcz not all of us are affected the same way by israel, again the ppl cheering for war do that out of hate for what israel , if you were affected the same way ud understand. they dont mean it, its part of media/psychologic war, they are the most be directly hurt. And thats why i think this post makes no sense and is inspired by the instinct of what joe commented : )
Your message is lost to the donkeys on this blog Najib.
They prefer to live by the sword and die by the sword, yet they can’t clamour to get western visas fast enough.
donkeys ? much witty. much rich vocab 😛
Kol kharra bizo
inta kol 5ara ya bala 2adab
i’m sure Israelis are laughing off right now
Dear Najib, this whole Southern drama is nothing but a play by both Israel and Muslims to drive the Christians out
Don’t keep telling that i don’t tell the truth please ,ohhh and i’m sure after that comment i will be attacked a lot
Another thing ,there’s nothibg to be proud of in both wars and Operations like the Shebaa one ,noone won,neither this or that