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    Media Paints Israel as "Victim" as Hezbollah Responds to Fresh Israeli Airstrikes 📂 Archived Message

    Posted by sashimi on August 7, 2021, 12:13 pm

    Robert Inkalesh, 6 August 2021

    Lede: The rocket fire reportedly shocked the Israeli military establishment and
    sparked further aggression against targets in Lebanon's south; and, in defiance
    of all evidence, Western mainstream media quickly took to painting Israel as the
    victim.

    GOLAN HEIGHTS - Sirens blared in the upper Galilee and Golan Heights, as rockets
    rained down on Israeli-held territory in the disputed Shebaa Farms area this
    morning. There were no immediate reports of casualties, but a state of fear did
    seem to emerge in the largest escalation between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah
    in 15 years.

    Lebanese Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for the firing of the 19 rockets
    into northern Israel in response to a series of Israeli air and artillery
    strikes carried out earlier this week on southern Lebanon. The rocket fire
    reportedly shocked the Israeli military establishment and sparked further
    aggression against targets in Lebanon's south; and, in defiance of all evidence,
    Western mainstream media quickly took to painting Israel as the victim.

    This morning's rocket fire, specifically targeting open areas, was the first of
    its kind conducted by Hezbollah since the conclusion of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon
    war, which ended with the implementation of United Nations Security Council
    Resolution 1701. Lebanon's prime minister-designate, Najib Mikati, confirmed
    following today's incident that he stands firmly for the continued
    implementation of the ceasefire resolution, while the nation's caretaker prime
    minister, Hassan Diab, had days ago complained to the UN about Israel having
    violated it.

    Hezbollah announced that its retaliatory rocket fire had specifically targeted
    open areas in the towns of Al-Jarmaq and Al-Shawakir in northern Israel as a
    clear message to Israel triggered by its aggression against Lebanese territory
    in the previous days. Following the attack, Israel again carried out attacks on
    Lebanese territory and it was reported that bomb shelters were open in Israel's
    Kiryat Shmona, in anticipation of further retaliation from Lebanon.

    Although promising a response to Hezbollah, both "overt and covert", the Israeli
    military has indicated that it is not seeking a war with Lebanon over rockets
    falling in open areas. UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force based in southern
    Lebanon, claimed that the rocket fire had come from areas outside of its
    jurisdiction, urging calm on both sides and warning of a "very dangerous
    situation".

    Speaking to "al-Mayadeen TV," the deputy secretary general of Hezbollah, Sheikh
    Naim Qasem, clarified that "with regard to the events that took place today in
    Lebanon, Israel attacked yesterday and bombed an area in Lebanon, and Hezbollah
    has publicly committed that an attack on Lebanon means that it will be met with
    an appropriate response," also stressing to Israel that it "must understand that
    Lebanon is not an open arena for settling its accounts in, and not a place to
    test its capabilities."

    A familiar media bias
    The focus of Western mainstream media has been heavily centered on Hezbollah's
    rocket fire into Israel, with some outlets claiming that Israel had retaliated
    against Hezbollah and not the other way around. Israeli violations of Lebanese
    sovereignty, sometimes numbering into the thousands each month, have been
    largely ignored by the international community and Western press.

    Hezbollah claims rocket attack on Israeli positions near Lebanese border, Israel
    retaliates https://t.co/oSRHlXM3Lm pic.twitter.com/oAiYCjAw4I
    - FRANCE 24 (@FRANCE24) August 6, 2021

    There has also been little action taken by the international community against
    Israel for its frequent use of Lebanese airspace to launch unprovoked attacks on
    Syria, the latest of which took place just two weeks ago. Hours following
    Israeli airstrikes carried out on Aleppo, Syria on July 20, rocket fire from
    Southern Lebanon triggered sirens in Israel's north, which was followed by a
    series of strikes against Lebanese territory.

    The rockets, which landed in open areas, were said to have been fired by
    Palestinian armed groups responding to Israeli attacks on worshippers in
    Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Unnamed armed Palestinian groups were also
    blamed for firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon during Israel's 11-day
    assault against the Gaza Strip back in May.

    When the recent round of tensions escalated this Wednesday, Palestinians were
    also said to have been behind the seemingly random rocket fire into Israel's
    Kiryat Shmona. Besides triggering an immediate response from Israel, the rocket
    fire also served as a justification for days of Israeli attacks on Lebanese
    territory, which Lebanon's President Michel Aoun said showed "aggressive intent"
    from Israel.

    The secretary general of Hezbollah, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, has vowed that the
    group would respond to Israel for the killing of Ali Kamel Mohsen and Muhammad
    Qassem Tahan. Mohsen was killed by an Israeli airstrike on the Damascus
    International Airport in Syria last year, while Tahan was shot dead at a border
    protest in May. According to Nasrallah, each member of Hezbollah or Lebanese
    citizen that Israel kills will be avenged with an equal retaliation upon the
    enemy, Israel.

    Recent events indicate that the Lebanon-Israel conflict has entered a new phase
    of escalation, with growing fears of an all out war between the two sides.
    -- https://www.mintpressnews.com/media-paints-israel-as-victim-as-hezbollah-responds-to-fresh-israeli-airstrikes/278179/

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