I just watched Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert state that they bombed civilian housing and infrastructure in an effort to turn the population against Hezbollah.
Of course this is a bit of a fantasy considering Lebanese politicians are united in anger at Israel.
And the population was recently surveyed and found to be widely behind Hezbollah, who was seen as their only protector against Israel. Transcript after the fold.
A transcript:
Announcer: Israel's military operations in Lebanon have largely succeeded in demolishing the Hezbollah's military infrastructure. Those were the words of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who spoke today to foreign news agencies. Olmert stressed that Israel will continuing fighting Hezbollah in South Lebanon until an international force is deployed in the area.
Olmert: I think Hezbollah has been disarmed by the military operation of Israel in a large degree. They can't be measured only by the number of missles that they still shoot. The infrastructure of Hezbollah has been entirely destroyed. More than 700 different ground positions, command positions of Hezbollah, were entirely wiped out by the Israeli Army. All of the population, which is the power base of the Hezbollah in Lebanon was displaced. They lost their property, they lost their positions, they are bitter, they are angry at the Hezbollah. And the power structure of Lebanon itself has been divided, and the Hezbollah is entirely isolated in Lebanon, in the Arab world, except for Iran and Syria.
Except it seems like this is not reality, as this recent article points out:
The survey by a respected research firm found 70 per cent of all Lebanese backed Hezbollah's initial provocative action in sending fighters across the border on July 12 to kidnap Israeli soldiers to be traded for the freedom of Lebanese prisoners.
There was a massive 96 per cent support among Shi'ites, but even among Sunni Muslims and Christians it was 73 per cent and 54 per cent respectively.
...
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said yesterday she was pleased (Lebanese Foreign Minister) Siniora had managed to get cabinet support for a peace plan that included the deployment of international troops and an in-principle agreement that Hezbollah should disarm.
The most significant factor was that the cabinet's support was unanimous, meaning it included the two Hezbollah ministers and Foreign Minister Faouzi Salloukh, an independent elected with Hezbollah backing. But Hezbollah reserved the right to review its stance after the composition of the international force was announced, and there is enormous scepticism the movement would really disarm, even if it decided the foreign force was not a front for the US and Israel.
While Siniora agrees with George W. Bush that the conflict can only be settled by resolving the "root causes", he does not agree with the Bush and Israeli definition of those root causes as Hezbollah's ability to menace Israel. Instead, Siniora agrees with Hezbollah that the underlying problems are Israel's occupation of the Shebaa Farms border region, its detention of Lebanese prisoners and its refusal to hand over maps of minefields it left when it withdrew in 2000.
It seems like the IDF has more likely succeeded in uniting the rest of Lebanon behind Lebanon.
When will the killing stop?