On July 30th the Israeli Air Force launched an air raid on several houses in Kafar Qana in south Lebanon, from which missiles were fired toward Israel. As a result of the air raid, as "Lebanese officials" stated, 60 people were killed. Western media pounced on the story, and it seemed as though each news channel broadcasted the harsh images.
Though this seemed indeed to be a horrible tragedy, the picture is not complete. Later it was learned that the number was exaggerated by Lebanese sources that wanted to show to the world a different picture than the truth. Hezbollah fighters wanted to cast off the blame of using civilians as "human shields", while they fired missiles from within local population centers.
According to information from the Red Cross only 28 people were killed in Qana and only 16 children. Though these numbers are still high, they are much less than the original deaths count of the so-called "Qana Massacre".
Just for comparison, in the last few years, the death toll of Israelis in suicide terrorist attacks is in the hundreds; these victims were killed in restaurants, discotheques, busses and at family events. Many times there were tens of casualties in one single attack. These murderous events do not get widespread attention, because the Israeli government doesn't tend to cynically use their citizens as a propaganda tool, showing their bloody bodies to the entire world.
According to some journalists with integrity, who were present in Kafar Qana, the difference between the numbers of casualties given by the Red Cross to the one given by Lebanese sources is because Hezbollah showed the same bodies several times, in order to increase the impression of the disaster.
Local Hezbollah activists had an interest to present as many bodies to the foreign media as possible. Just as an example: Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese PM, claimed that there were 900 Lebanese killed due to the war up until the 3rd of August. But he included also the hundreds of Hezbollah fighters that were killed. Paradoxically, both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have an interest to inflate the number of civilians killed, and to deflate the number of Hezbollah's fighters that were killed. And this is in order to hide "Hezbollah's Civilian Strategy", meaning, the use civilians as a human shield for terrorists.
The Kafa Qana incident raises the question: why, despite Israel's repeated warnings to the citizens of south Lebanon to leave the place, didn't they do so? Who had an interest to convince them to stay? They felt they were safe amidst the bunkers that Hezbollah has built in the last 6 years.
Iran and Hezbollah have a very clear "civilian strategy" regarding this well-planned war against Israel and the West. Iranian intelligence personnel have learned well Israel's Combat Doctrine in Gaza, they learned that the IDF has a hard time fighting amidst a civilian population due to fear of hurting innocent people.
The Israeli government knows that the world has gotten used to hundreds of Israelis being murdered by Arab terrorism, but any military mistake where civilians are injured and killed is received with worldwide condemnation.
Iran and Hezbollah understood this issue, and so, they developed a strategy of using civilians as human shields. This issue was also understood in Iraq and Afghanistan, who used it against the Americans. Scores of people are killed in places like Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia in local conflicts, but none of them get the coverage as one incident where Americans and Israelis are involved. Therefore, Iran and Hezbollah established a cynical strategy of fighting from within the civilian population, in order to protect their fighters from a counter strike.
The Civilian Infrastructure in South Lebanon
What happened in south Lebanon with help from Iran and Syria will happen in any place where terrorist organizations and guerilla movements are operating. Since Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000, due to the central government's weakness, the Hezbollah took control over the area. With Iranian money and with money from Hezbollah's fund-raising efforts, Hezbollah rebuilt civilian infrastructure, to win the support of the people, and also military infrastructure underneath it, in order to attack Israel safely, using civilians as human shields, and at the same time gaining use of the civilians being killed as propaganda against Israel.
So to be clear on this subject, the large number of civilians being killed is not because of an excessive use of force by Israel and/or Israel not taking enough measures to protect civilians, but rather because it was carefully and intentionally planned to be so by Hezbollah, and then usded for its false propaganda.
Bunkers were built under private houses, kindergartens, masques, public facilities and schools. In some cases, the bunkers were 8 meters deep and were equipped with tactical warfare equipment, ammunition, military equipment and bugging equipment.
Some of these bunkers are connected by underground trenches with hidden openings. Tens of Hezbollah posts were built alongside the border with bunkers for continuous underground inhabitance, even during perpetual bombing.
Just as an example, in Beirut's Shi'ite quarter, bunkers that are suited even for a nuclear war, were built with the aid of massive Iranian investment. The meaning of this is that Iran is building up Hezbollah as a special force in her strategy, should Iran get nuclear capability. Considering this strategy we can believe that Syria and Iran are preparing themselves for a full-blown war with the West- opposing the position of many Arab states such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and others.
In most cases, as shown by even Lebanese T.V, missiles are fired from amidst residential areas, schools and mosques.
The Western Dilemma
Western countries are concerned for their international image. Some Muslim countries and terrorist organizations don't have that concern. The problem is that for terrorists, any civilian casualties are a big success, while for Western countries, any civilian causalities are a huge failure which, supposedly, motivates the terrorists to strike again.
Nevertheless, even for the West, hurting civilians is sometimes inevitable, as was shown in 1999 when NATO bombed Yugoslavia indiscriminately. On May 13th NATO killed 100 people in the village of Korisa in an air raid. After the attack NATO's spokesman said that the attack was against "legitimate military targets."
Because of Israel's concern for human life, the IDF undertook an operation that requires patience and stamina, although the Israeli citizens are exposed to thousands of missiles falling on major cities. Unlike what is usually done in situations like this, the IDF announced in all Arab media for inhabitants to evacuate their village prior to an attack- sometimes even a week before, in order to give the populace enough time to evacuate calmly.
After that, the IDF scattered hundreds of thousands of leaflets in Arabic, which were even read on Lebanese radio by the south Lebanon station Al Mashriq. Lebanese broadcasting companies even announced which roads are safe for travel, so that evacuees wouldn't be hurt by IDF air raids.
The third stage was to fire artillery into the outskirts of villages. Only after all these warnings did the IDF attack the bunkers that were built, as was already mentioned, amidst civilian infrastructure, which were under complete control of Hezbollah.
Hezbollah tried to convince Lebanese citizens they were completely safe. Through Hezbollah's TV network, they gave southern Lebanese the feeling they were completely safe under the rule of Hezbollah and that "Israel will be defeated if she sends ground troops to southern Lebanese villages." Some left, while some believed the Hezbollah and stayed- just like what happened in Kafa Qana.
Hezbollah knows very well how to use the international media. Here are some examples:
- Although many journalists reported that the Hezbollah is firing missiles from amidst civilian infrastructure, and also U.N. posts, not many of these reports got to the public.
- On August 3rd CNN reporter to Beirut, Nick Robertson, said that his July 18 report was staged by Hezbollah's Media Officer.
- Mrs. Emma Banino, the Italian minister in charge of connections to the EU said on July 31 that "it is clear that Hezbollah set up the post near civilians, in order to turn them into human shields."
- Time reporter, Christopher Allbrieton said that "Hezbollah holds a copy of all the journalists' passports. They have already badgered a few of us."
- Elizabeth Palmer of CBS said that "Hezbollah is determined to show only what he wants to be seen.
- Tom Gross, a former reporter for the Sunday Telegraph wrote on August 3 that "foreign media has become a propaganda tool for Hezbollah."
- On August 6 Reuters admitted that a photo published on the August 5, that showed heavy smoke billowing after a night air raid on a suburb of Beirut was modified with a computer program. Reuters apologized and called for that picture not to be used anymore. The photographer was suspended. Later, Reuters has announced it has withdrawn 900 photos by its Lebanese photo stringer. There are repeated acts of manipulating the images in order to produce photos that make Israel look worse.
- German newspaper Die Welt stated that "Hezbollah had turned the Iranian Embassy into its headquarters. The Hezbollah moved there on July 15 after the attack on Beirut. Iran gave the Hezbollah a whole floor guarded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards."
- The German newspaper Tags Speigel of Berlin published a letter by a Shi'ite doctor from Lebanon that claims that the Hezbollah had set up weapon storage places under schools and apartment buildings. The Doctor added "that the Hezbollah used the populace as a human shield, and when they die it uses them for propaganda."
- The German newspaper Die Sueddeutsche Zeitung said on August 2 that Hezbollah staged the media charade in Qana to maximize the Horror Effect. The headline was "hezbolliwood," as it was said that the Hezbollah brought bodies from other places to be photographed by the media.
These examples show that the Western media falls into Hezbollah's trap time after time. Precautions should be taken so that Western media will not serve as a propaganda tool for a terrorist organization and for the countries that support it like Iran, Sudan, North Korea, and others.
Dr. Yohai Sela is a researcher of politics, society, and media in the Middle East.
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