Monday the 14th August marked the beginning to the end of the
5-weeek long fierce battle involving the Israeli forces and the
Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. Like every other War all the two sides
employed every thing available at their disposal to ensure success at
the end of the Conflict so this is why it is no wonder when both sides
claimed victory at the end of hostilities. War like game although very
serious this time all the parties involved would use all necessary
military hardware available to win the conflict so they may be seen as
victor instead of vanquished at the end of the game. It is a serious
challenge therefore before one wages war he has to make sure that he is
going to be victorious against his foe although is not definite. With
this in mind when the Israeli Forces launched their assault in Southern
Lebanon on the 12th July after the capture of their two
soldiers by the Hezbollah Forces no body expected the kind of response
even the Hezbollah did not anticipate such retaliation which came with
full force meant to dismantle the Organisation that would force them to
submit and surrender to this most advanced air bombardment seen carried
during the five week old conflict. As they were unopposed in the Air no
body could challenge the might of their air raids the people in Southern
Lebanon had no alternative but to resign to their fate seeing their
houses being demolished unable to do anything and the whole World sat
and just only watching on their Television screens.. As this conflict
raged many people and onlookers even their foes (The Israelis) were
surprised at the resilience of the Hezbollah for their continued
defiance and resistance despite the excessive bombardment seen as
disproportionate. The Hezbollah kept on sending barrages of Katyusha
rockets to Northern Israel which forced nearly one million to go
underground so as to take cover from the attack. While the Israeli
forces carried more than 4000 sorties from the beginning of the conflict
using smart bombs the Hezbollah always defended very much on such
rockets which frightened the populace especially those residing in Haifa
and other towns in the Northern Israel. Altogether it sent out more than
3,000 of such rockets which forced the people within the range to
migrate from their areas where they lived to other places or took cover
in the bunkers which was so scary alarming and devastating
psychologically. The psychological impact of the Israeli bombardment and
the continued Hezbollah barrage rocket attacks had such profound effect
on the civilian population on both sides. While the battle continued to
spread with no end in sight so also the propaganda among the two sides
continued unabated with each side accusing the other of the one
responsible for starting or causing this war which lasted for almost
five weeks. Since this fierce War of attrition began both sides tried to
inflict the maximum damage they could on each other so as to be seen as
the one gaining and not losing. As the Israelis continued with the
merciless bombardment killing more than one thousand people mainly
civilians the Hezbollah continued with their rocket barrages sending
them incessantly on average more than two hundred a day landing in
Northern Israel forcing people to take cover all the time. At the
beginning of the War the Israeli jets continued with the bombing
campaign aimed at scaring and dispersing population causing maximum
damage and destruction that would help destroy the Hezbollah rockets
fired constantly against the Israeli civilian population but there was
no let up or sign of relenting in this fierce challenging campaign which
lasted for almost five weeks.. While the Hezbollah remained defiant
incessantly sending barrages of rockets a time sending more than 350 to
Northern Israel scaring the ordinary people the frightened Lebanese
population on the other hand tried to escape from the South to areas of
safety due to the almost continuous 24-hour bombardment by the
Israelis. The bombing of Qana Village which killed more than 50 people
mainly women and children became the turning point in this fierce
conflict which made the Israelis relent for a while to suspend their Air
campaign for 48hours.However they resumed the campaign within
twenty-four hours of the suspension as they did not like to be seen as
weak which drew attention of the whole world making Hezbollah to gain an
upper hand in the propaganda campaign. Initially the US and Britain the
main backers of the Israelis did not want halt the hostilities so as to
enable the Israelis inflict maximum damage on the Hezbollah forcing it
to crumble however the Charismatic Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah
remained defiant in Televised broadcast to his people on the Hezbollah
Channel this is why the campaign continued for over a Month. In the end
as the Air campaign remained quite ineffective unable to destroy the
Hezbollah rockets the Israelis decided to launch a ground offensive
bringing another 30,000 soldiers to help strengthen the existing forces
under the Air cover. However the Hezbollah Leader Rhetorical and as ever
defiant reminded the Israelis that there coming to Southern Lebanon is
like digging their graves over there which indirectly had psychological
impact not only on the Israelis but all its friends. Seeing the way
things were getting out of hand diplomatic manoeuvre aimed at bringing
this conflict to an end started at the United Nations in earnest. A
draft Resolution was quickly adopted which however did not take
consideration of the Lebanese objection. In the end after intense
diplomatic wrangling a concession was reached and a new Resolution 1701
was adopted and the Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan
announced the Ceasefire would come into effect on Monday the 14th.Immediately
after the announcement the two opposing side embarked on the final
campaign fierce enraging battle which led to the loss of 24 Soldiers by
the Israeli the highest number ever lost since the beginning of the
conflict which displaced more than I million Lebanese and forced almost
similar number of Israelis to go underground for the fear of the usual
Hezbollah rocket attacks. Apparently the ceasefire is holding and the
civilian population in Lebanon and Israel are all going back to their
homes and even the the Lebanese forces have crossed the Litani River to
take over from the Israelis who have started withdrawing under the peace
agreement. As for the Lebanese who lost their houses due to the Israeli
bombardment the Hezbollah promised to help the population rent
accommodation before final arrangement could be made to help them
rebuild their houses. A diplomatic coup and political manoeuvre an
initiative which is making the Hezbollah more and more popular among the
ordinary Arab population in the entire Region and Muslim World as a
whole. One thing for sure is the invincibility surrounding the Israelis
forces have been broken by the resilience of the Hezbollah during the
five week conflict a myth which could not be challenged or broken by the
combined Arab Army collectively or individually. At the same time the
Hezbollah’s prestige has been enhanced everywhere not only in the Region
but the whole Muslim World even the Israelis themselves were wondering
as to how they managed to bear the brunt of anger of such powerful
forces especially the sorties carried by the Air Force during the period
of the bombardment thinking that they dismantled the rockets fired by
the Hezbollah almost every day which turned out only to be wishful
thinking. Therefore the only alternative left is to try the diplomatic
solution as the Hezbollah rockets continued could not be contained as
they continued to land in Northern Israel scaring the people running for
cover and safety in the bunkers daily causing much inconvenience like
the Lebanese could not escape the Israeli bombardments either at home or
on the way with no choice to resign to their fates. So militarily the
Hezbollah could not be crumbled or humbled by the might of the mighty
invincible Israeli forces that could not be challenged by the combined
Arab forces so this is why both sides the Israelis and the Hezbollah are
claiming victory in this conflict which is the essence of the War. In
the end the Hezbollah’s resistance and reliance on God has confirmed the
saying in the Quran: Those unto whom men said; Lo people have gathered
against you therefore fear them but (instead) increased in faith and
said Allah is sufficient for us. Most Excellent is He in Who we trust.
So they returned with grace and favour from Allah and no harm touched
them. They followed the good pleasure of Allah and Allah is of infinite
bounty. It is only the devil who make his partisans fear (men).Fear them
not but fear Me if you are true believers.
