Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has said he would not have ordered the capture of two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would lead to such a war.
“Had we known that the kidnapping of the soldiers would have led to this, we would definitely not have done it,” he said in an interview on Lebanese TV…”We did not think that there was a 1% chance that the kidnapping would lead to a war of this scale and magnitude,” Sheikh Nasrallah said.“Now you ask me if this was 11 July and there was a 1% chance that the kidnapping would lead to a war like the one that has taken place, would you go ahead with the kidnapping?
“I would say no, definitely not, for humanitarian, moral, social, security, military and political reasons. Neither I, Hezbollah, prisoners in Israeli jails and nor the families of the prisoners would accept it.” [source]
Nasrallah actually said something along these lines over a month ago but no one was listening at the time. Like it or not, this statement is an admission to a move that was purely adventurism on the behalf of Lebanon and the region. I do not think it was intended that way, in fact this was quite clear from the get go. Kidnappings and border skirmishes between Hizballah and Israel were nothing new and Hizballah acted based on the track record of an expected proportionate response. Before July these kidnappings between the two entities were the cost of doing business; it was an exchange to avoid losing face. That being said they should have let them go when Israel acted out of line and none of this excuses Israel’s brutal role in the conflict.
I’m not sure if Nasrallah is saying it was a mistake, if it was risky, that he regrets it or simply that Israel did not play fair. In my opinion, all of the above is true.
At least he is honest with his people, not like our leaders (or Olmert for that matter!) who still insist they never did something wrong or miscalculated (Saddam, anyone?). It is a stark reminder that Hizballah’s achievement have been, all through, the achivement of ordinary men who calculated and executed, and not an act of super-human miracle.
Indeed. I am not Shi’a, but I respect the man. He is more honest than any other Islamic or Arab leader than you can name.
There was no way that he or anyone else could know that Israel would resort to war crimes. I think a harsh response was expected, but nothing like what happened.
With all of that, Israel still doesnt have the soldiers, they didnt kill many Hizb’Allah fighters, and Hizb’Allah is as strong as ever.
This was a defeat for Israel on many different levels, and a defeat even though they killed well over a thousand civilians.
One never knows what a rabid dog will do when you confront it. In this case the rabid dog chose to feed on the blood of women and children, but this is not different than what it has done in the past.