Israeli warplanes launched two separate bombing runs against the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon today, destroying a Hezbollah base in the area and causing an as-yet-unknown number of casualties.
The attacks hit the outskirts of the village of Nabi Sheet, and reports claim they targeted a “qualitative weapons shipment” bound for Hezbollah. The base destroyed was a training base for Hezbollah, and proximity to the border fueled speculation of it being a weapons smuggling point.
The Shi’ite villages in the Bekaa Valley have recently been under regular attack by Syrian rebel factions associated with al-Qaeda, who treat any Shi’ite villages as “Hezbollah strongholds.” The villagers now have to worry about Israel attacking them as well.
Israeli officials refused to confirm the attack, as usual, but did say that they believe there are “efforts to move serious weaponry from Syria to Lebanon” recently.
Creating the Enemies We Now Fight Against
We’ve extensively documented that the U.S. and Israel created Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups in an attempt to fight other enemies.
Larry Johnson – a counterterrorism official at the U.S. State Department – says:
The Israelis are their own worst enemies when it comes to fighting terrorism. They are like a guy who sets fire to his hair and then tries to put it out by hitting it with a hammer. They do more to incite and sustain terrorism than curb it.
As one example, Israel helped create Hamas.
Veteran journalist Robert Dreyfuss writes:
In the decades before 9/11, hard-core activists and organizations among Muslim fundamentalists on the far right were often viewed as allies for two reasons, because they were seen a fierce anti-communists and because the opposed secular nationalists such as Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Iran’s Mohammed Mossadegh.
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In Syria, the United States, Israel, and Jordan supported the Muslim Brotherhood in a civil war against Syria. And … Israel quietly backed Ahmed Yassin and the Muslim Brotherhood in the West Bank and Gaza, leading to the establishment of Hamas.