Michael Totten: Aftermath of the War in Lebanon

Michael continues with another great post interviewing the real residents of south Lebanon.

He told me that 18 days after the start of the war a large group of civilians decided it was time to leave Ain Ebel and flee to the north. They were no longer willing to stay while Israel fired back at Hezbollah’s rocket launchers. It was too dangerous, and Hezbollah insisted on staying and endangering those who lived there.

So they fled the area in a convoy of civilian vehicles. It was safer, they figured, to travel in a group than alone.

On their way out of the village, Hezbollah fighters stood on the side of the road and opened fire with machine guns on the fleeing civilians.

I was shocked, and I asked Alan to confirm this. Was it really true? Hezbollah opened fire on Lebanese civilians with machine guns? Alan confirmed this was true.

"Why?" I had an idea, but I wanted a local person to say it.

Because, Alan said, Hezbollah wanted to use the civilians of Ain Ebel as “human shields.” I did not use the phrase “human shields.” These were Alan’s own words.

Michael's dispatches during the war, as well as compilations of blog entries from Lebanese and Israeli bloggers, are available in pamphlet format here for only $4 each.

The Jerusalem Post ran a large article on Tuesday about the pamphlets and Israeli bloggers.

Meanwhile, the JTA explains how the various Jewish streams are dealing with issues of potential and actual sexual abuse by Rabbis. (via Smooth Stone)

Yehuda