We interrupt this journal...

I rarely post twice in one day, but current events have me feeling a little icky about leaving up a snarky, light-hearted post while my country is in the process of calling up its military reserves.

What follows is a collection of facts I have picked up from many of the Israeli news services.  I am not posting links because too many of them are pulling down stories nearly as fast as they are posting them.  I'm assuming this has to do with military censors.

In case you hadn't heard (meaning in case you rely on NPR, CNN or Reuters for your news), this morning at a little after 9:00 AM Israel time, the sovereign state of Lebanon committed several overt acts of war against Israel. 

Technically, the attacks were carried out by Hizballah, but as they are part of the current Lebanese government, and are allowed to maintain full military control over much of southern Lebanon... the unprovoked attacks were the responsibility of the Lebanese government. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Here is what has happened so far today:

At about 9:15 AM a barrage of Ketyusha missiles and mortar shells were fired at both military and civilian targets in northern Israel, with one rocket scoring a direct hit on a civilian house in the community of Shtula. There are no firm numbers of wounded yet... but 6 - 8 seems to be the numbr I have seen most often.

Under cover of this missile/mortar assault, Hizballah crossed the border and kidnapped two IDF soldiers, possibly killing one in the process.  The soldiers have not been publicly identified, but sources in Lebanon are stating that they are Druze.  I am pleased to see that the Israeli government is treating the kidnapping of IDF soldiers... ANY IDF soldiers... as an act of war.

Within minutes of the attack/kidnappings, a large Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was detonated under an IDF tank which was operating along the border, destroying the tank.  The condition of the tank crew has not been publicly disclosed.

Almost immediately the  IDF infantry forces were ordered over the border to search for the missing soldiers while Israeli artillery and warplanes destroyed bridges and roads to keep Hizballah from moving the hostages further into Lebanon.

There are several Israeli news outlets that were initially reporting either 7 or 8 Israeli soldiers killed in this morning's attack, but some of the reports have since been pulled... and the one remaining report of casualties is now saying that 5 IDF soldiers were killed.  My guess is that most of the mainstream news services are waiting until the families have been notified... but it would appear that these 5 are probably the tank crew.

UPdate:  The Jerusalem Post is now reporting 7 IDF soldiers killed in the initial attack.  May their families be comforted.

Prime Minister Ohlmert has officially declared the attack an act of war and is holding Lebanon directly responsible.  IAF jets have overflown Beirut several times today to emphasize this point, and IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz has issued a statement that if Lebanon does not act quickly to eliminate the Hisballah threat and return our soldiers, Israel will turn back Lebanon's clock  by 20 years... a reference to the almost complete lack of infrastructure that existed in Lebanon after Israel was forced to invade in 1982

Shortly after noon Israel time, IDF reserve units began receiving emergency call-up orders (tzav shmoneh), and at present at least a full division of reservists have been mobilized.

At the same time, communities in the north of Israel that are within shooting range of Hizballah weapons have been instructed to go into their bomb shelters and reinforced rooms.

Lastly, after watching today's events unfold exactly as many of Israel's conservatives said they would... I feel compelled to respond to a question put to me by one of the more smug commenters  a few days ago.  He was responding to my statement that unilateral withdrawal under fire sends a message to Israel's enemies that terror is working and pushes the Arab electorate into the arms of those who advocate armed struggle over diplomatic solutions.

This smug young attorney said: "The "weakness in retreat" theory was also used to argue against leaving South Lebanon. Would you rather we stayed there? "

As much as I would love to simply answer yes and leave it at that... nothing is ever quite that simple here in the middle east. 

Instead I'd like to temper my answer by saying that I don't think we should have stayed in Southern Lebanon forever.  But, as much as it pains me to be proven right (again)... I feel that a unilateral withdrawal under fire does seem to have sent our enemies the worst possible message.

I think the time has come to make sure we send them the right one.

If that means turning the famed cedars of Lebanon into matchwood... so be it.

If that means setting Lebanon's electrical grid and physical infrastructure back to 1986... so be it.

If that means effecting regime change in Syria via f-16... so be it.

If that means destroying entire Iranian cities to force them to stop producing nuclear weapons they have promised to use to destroy us... so be it.

If that means targeting terrorists who deliberately choose to operate out of Gaza apartment buildings... so be it.

If that means that the life of every Arab in the region is made so miserable that human rights organizations around the world scream in unison for Israel to stop... so be it.  They certainly don't scream when Israelis are killed, mained or kidnapped... so as far as I'm con erned, they can take their thinly veiled Jew hatred and throw a nice party over at the U.N.

It has finally come to the point where Israel has to make the stark choice of who will get to enjoy peace... our citizens or theirs. 

I choose ours.