Israel vows to use disproportionate force in future Lebanon war | Australian Herald

Israel vows to use disproportionate force in future Lebanon war

Ynet news Saturday 4th October, 2008

Israel would use 'disproportionate' force to destroy Lebanese villages from which Hezbollah guerrillas fired rockets at its cities in any future war, an Israeli general said in remarks published on Friday.

'What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on,' said Gadi Eisenkot, head of the army's northern division.

Dahiya was a Hezbollah stronghold that Israel flattened in sustained air raids during a 34-day war with the Shiite group two years ago.

'We will apply disproportionate force on it (village) and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases,' Eisenkot told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

'This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it has been approved,' Eisenkot added.

Some 1,200 Lebanese and 159 Israelis were killed during the war, which was sparked by a Hezbollah cross-border attack against an Israeli army patrol.

The army's failure to halt daily barrages of rockets against Israeli cities during the war prompted a wave of criticism of military commanders as well as calls on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign over his handling of the conflict.

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