Originally Posted by sunb!

I saw a photo last night of an ambulance in Lebanon. The ambulance was brand new last sunday and shot to pieces on monday. The bullet holes in the doors and the walls were pretty visible. The medical personell inside the ambulance was shot to dead.

Since when were civilian ambulances legal targets in war?

Sunb!

As Bulldogg said the Answer is never. I dont advocate killing civilians on either side. Although there have much more civilians deaths on one side than on the other.

Bulldogg

Unfortunatly I think your wrong, Hizbollah will walk away from this intact. I'd be much more supportive if I thought Isreal had any real chance of stopping Hizbollah, but Hizbollah is an insurgent force and as History has shown us in Vietnam and Iraq conventional bombing has little effect on insurgent forces, they will simply meld with the territory and reemerge once it stops. The Isrealis have tried this before in southern Lebanon and its never worked. And worse, the chaos and destruction in Lebanon will attracts only the worst elements in society, making the overall sitation worse not better.

Originally Posted by mmarsh

Sunb!

As Bulldogg said the Answer is never. I dont advocate killing civilians on either side. Although there have much more civilians deaths on one side than on the other.

I am aware that civilian (medical) targets are non legal targets in war, however I raised the question in response to the brutality that we see in the conflict.

I hate to burst any one's balloon ... but ... Hezbollah is not an insurgent force in the usually accepted form.

Hezbollah members are to be found in about every fourth house or so, in just about every community in Lebanon. Their weapons are so well hidden they are very difficult to find by outside searchers ... but ... are relatively easy to be accessed by the members. What makes it so difficult is that there are many fellow Lebanese that wholeheartedly support Hezbollah as 'protectors'. Hezbollah members seldom wear their (strange to us) uniforms ... parades and when actively carrying out operations are the most often areas where the Hezbollah uniform is seen.

THis is one of the main reasons that the Lebanese government has had such a hard time disarming the Hezbollah. Hezbollah membership is difficult to prove and finding their weapons is even harder.