“They are treating us like animals”

'Unintentionally'? Not a chance.

Bombing civilians is deliberate. The evidence is all there, but you have to pervert your humanity, temporarily, to see it.

"The UK's Howell said: 'The destruction of the infrastructure, the death of so many children and so many people. These have not been surgical strikes. If they are chasing Hizbollah, then go for Hizbollah. You don't go for the entire Lebanese nation.'

In a radio interview today an Israeli spokesman was asked why a hospital was bombed. He said it was "part of the civilian infrastructure". He seemed to realise the admission was a mistake, cleared his throat as if to clarify/change but didn't say anything and it was on to the next question.

Civilians are a major part of the target. Israel knows they cannot destroy Hezbollah but what they can do is destroy society and its infrastructure. The Israeli general who talked of taking Lebanon back 20 years meant it. They will not tolerate any economic or military rival.

I don't think you'll find that analysis in any media at all, it is supported by the evidence, but the enormity of it is beyond the comprehension of a normal, decent human being. When Howell says "These have not been surgical strikes." I doubt if he realises that they have been spot on; he simply hasn't made the leap into the mind of the amoral and racist war criminal."

The evidence is all there.

Jul. 23, 2006. 02:47 AM | SIDON TO BEIRUT, Lebanon

The exodus from south Lebanon became frantic yesterday as thousands of civilians complied with an Israeli deadline to leave their homes.

They crammed families and few belongings into beat-up cars, vans and trucks, and embarked on gruelling journeys to the north. Before ordering them out, Israel spent days making it difficult for them to flee by bombing bridges and main roads.

They were reduced to spending hours on secondary roads under a scorching Mediterranean sun. Many motors, and tempers, overheated.

"They are treating us like animals," shouted Hayat Fayad, 42, while making a stop with her three children to grab supplies in Sidon, south of Beirut.

Beyond the city, a seemingly endless line of cars slowly snaked its way along the Chouf mountains, often coming to a dead stop. Sidon and Beirut are only 45 kilometres apart, but the drive yesterday was a two-hour ordeal.

Across south Lebanon, families piled into cars and pickup trucks — flying white sheets they hoped would protect them from attack — and clogged roads to the north after Israeli planes dropped leaflets on Friday warning residents to flee for safety beyond the Litani River, about 20 kilometres from the border.

More than 300,000 people live in south Lebanon and many have fled an intense Israeli military bombing campaign. Israel says it's targeting Hezbollah positions and infrastructure, but civilians make up most of the 396 Lebanese killed so far.

Since the start of the conflict 11 days ago, an estimated 500,000 Lebanese have been displaced. Another 150,000 have fled to Syria. The exodus gathered pace with Israel poised to use ground troops to create a buffer zone in south Lebanon.

Among those fleeing north were 100 Canadian citizens, travelling on four buses, who have been trapped in Sidon and points south.

* * *

When the heaviest bombing began, Windsor's Sonia Soufar, 31, and her three children — aged 4 to 13 — were visiting her sister in Lebanon's southernmost city of Tyre, which has seen the most severe civilian casualties in this conflict.

"We went next door and hid in the basement of a building that was under construction, a school," Soufar said yesterday, after the buses had offloaded in Beirut. "It was terrifying. The bombs were all around us."

The family spent the night there on the hard concrete and when they emerged, they found the entire building next door had collapsed into the street.

They tried to escape the city the next day but were attacked again on the road out of town. Bombs suddenly exploded on the street all around them and they left the car to run for cover in a nearby hospital.

The bombardments lasted through the night and the next day, she said, toppling many of the buildings around the hospital. The family then crammed into a car with some relatives and headed for Beirut. But she was too afraid to complete the journey.

"It was the scariest part of all," she said. "I thought we were going to be attacked the entire way."

What do you think? Is this how you treat human beings?