Via CNN: Rockets again hit Israeli city of Haifa
Several suspected Hezbollah rockets hit the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Monday.A large cloud of smoke could be seen coming from near the port area of Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city. Another landed in the sea.
And as to Israeli goals, here is some indication of what they may be:
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Monday that Israel intends to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon to stop the rocket attacks from Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim militia that holds seats in the Lebanese government.“We intend to complete this operation. We have no intention of allowing anyone to stop us before we complete the creation of a buffer zone,” Peretz said.
How such a buffer zone would be maintained, however, is a big question. Even if the IDF can effectively clean out southern Lebanon of Hezbollah, what will keep them out over the long term? It seems rather unlikely that the Lebanese military will be able to do so. That seems to leave long-term occupation. However, such occupation will not stop the ability of Hezbollah to launch attacks the occupation force (history clearly indicates the truth of this fact).
A buffer zone would make it far more difficult (although not impossible) for Hezbollah to launch rockets at Haifa–but, of course, Hezbollah had not hit Haifa with rockets until the current hostilities had broken out.
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