Break The Silence

Ancient of days! august Athena! where, Where are thy men of might? thy grand in soul? Gone--glimmering through the dream of things that were; First in the race that led to glory's goal, They won, and pass'd away--Is this the whole?- Lord Byron [Childe Harold (canto II, st. 2)]

Today is the 9th day of the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah and continuous bombardment which has ripped the country to pieces. In a recent interview the PM said that the safe return of the soldiers is priority number one for the Israeli government and even has pictures of the missing soldiers besides his desk to prove the point.

Now maybe I am mistaken but is there any substantial proof that the soldiers are alive? Now I would not want to be counted as a lunchbox analyst but seriously, prisoner swaps have occurred before, abductions have occurred before this is nothing new to be honest, and even some Israeli's are of this view.

However till date there is no proof of the welfare or state of the missing soldiers, considering the amount of military hardware and munitions used against Hezbollah strongholds I fear the worst.

If Israel is fighting a "war" against Hezbollah then why blockade the ports? Why bomb Tyre and other parts of the country including Beirut when they know that the Hezbollah stronghold is in the south?!

According to the Federation of American Scientists and a BBC Report Hezbollah's Katyushas are thought to derive mainly from former Soviet and Chinese stockpiles. A typical example is the Soviet BM-21 Grad missile, which was first deployed in 1963 and has a maximum range of about 25km. However recently missiles struck in the town of Haifa 35km (20 miles) south of the Lebanese border leading analysts to believe that Hezbollah may have longer range weapons systems.

Systems like the Fajr-3, with a 45-km range; the Fajr-5, with a range of some 75km, some analysts believe that Hezbollah also has the more potent Zelzal-2 which has a claimed range of 100+ KM and can carry a High Explosive War-Head.

In reality the furthest Hezbollah have penetrated into Israel has been Haifa thus limiting their offensive capability and also allowing the Israeli's to isolate potential launch sites, I.E theoretically speaking if Hezbollah have a Fajr-3 or Fajr 5 missile system and Haifa 35 Km south of the border and considering that Lebanon has a total land mass of 10,400 sq km so it is clear that potential launch sites would have to be close to the border rather then deep into the north of the country.

While the West continues to evacuate its citizens from the country many have asked the all important question! What about those who cannot leave those without resources or a foreign passport? It was moving to see images of people forced to say goodbye to their loved ones not knowing if this might be the last time they see each other.

In all this chaos and media activity, we are overlooking the fact that indigenous infrastructure has been crippled in Lebanon and Gaza, what is being done for the displaced, injured? Medical facilities are overstretched and what about water and sanitation, what about food security and child welfare?

Is it not time that the UN or the ICRC: International Committee of the Red Cross stepped in? At least entry of workers from the WHO or any other major organization should be on the cards or we could be looking at a major humanitarian crisis in the making.

While the response of many has changed across the world with Israel squandering public sympathy by tearing apart Lebanese cities, today some words of encouragement came from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour "Indiscriminate shelling of cities constitutes a foreseeable and unacceptable targeting of civilians... Similarly, the bombardment of sites with alleged military significance, but resulting invariably in the killing of innocent civilians, is unjustifiable"-BBC: Online.

It is unacceptable that on either side of the border while the martial orders do what they do best it is the citizens that a caught in the cross fire. Casualty figures rise day by day with the current being: 300 Lebanese, mostly civilians and 30 Israelis including 15 civilians.

The International community should act with one voice and exercise their powers of influence on either party to de-escalate the rising violence which threatens to destabilise the entire region.

"But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling, like dew, upon a thought produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions think."-Lord Byron [Don Juan (canto III, st. 88) ]