The Israeli army fired artillery shells containing white phosphorus, an incendiary weapon, in military operations along Lebanon’s southern border between 10 and 16 October 2023.
The Israeli army fired artillery shells containing white phosphorus, an incendiary weapon, in military operations along Lebanon’s southern border between 10 and 16 October 2023.
If you believe the reports coming out of the Hamas aligned side, Israel has not once hit a legitimate military target. They were all civilians. Do you remember that refugee camp they hit yesterday? You know, the one with all the apartment buildings where Hamas leadership suspiciously died at the exact same time. That was all civilians.
Arab states in the immediate vicinity cannot fathom that Israel could be any more trustworthy than their own governments despite consistency on the Israeli side. To be honest, after having seen how it works myself, I don't believe anything coming out of that region but those channels coming out of the Israeli state itself. I do not understand why people take any of the reports of the Hamas or aligned organizations at face value but they do.
State or no state, Hamas was legitimately elected by the people of Palestine. They committed a horrendous attack against Israel justifying a defensive war. War is fucking ugly. There's no way around it without risking your own forces. This is not genocide as they are targeting military targets despite the narrative. Collateral damage is not inherently a war crime and people should learn what that means. Deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime. White phosphorous is only a war crime if they are signatory to the treaty banning its use which they are not nor are the United States or Russia.
The is a massive information war going on right now trying to pull public opinion to one side or the other and almost nothing can truly be trusted unless it comes from a primary source and even then they should be assessed for trustworthiness based on evidence and past performance.
This is also intended to take our attention away from Russia and Ukraine; just saying.
Do you believe UN reports about the "Hamas aligned side"? Or is that just some big conspiracy?
And by your own words: "Deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime." "Do you remember that refugee camp they hit yesterday?" I'll even concede and say sure, let's assume there were Hamas terrorists hiding in the refugee camp. Let's also assume there was terrorist-supporting infrastructure in the refugee camp. Guess what though. IT WAS STILL A FUCKING REFUGEE CAMP!
Let that sink in extra slow through your thick skull. Read through several times if you must. They knew there were innocent civilians in a refugee camp. They also suspected terrorists in said refugee camp. If you think the best and only option was to bomb that refugee camp, you're wrong and a monster. Or is it that you're simply a racist that thinks that every Palestinian is a terrorist simply for existing on the wrong "side"?
Let's say we find out that there's some terrorists hiding out in your city. Is the only solution to bomb the city? Yourself, your family, and your friends included? Let's say we narrow it down to terrorists hiding on your block. What's your solution? How much "collateral damage" (innocent civilian deaths) is acceptable to root out the terrorism that exists in your home town?
Edit: I would like to add that yes, this is distracting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I would also like to add that I recognize that I do not know nearly enough about this conflict to speak with authority on the subject. What I do know enough about though is that not every Palestinian is involved with nor supports Hamas. And not every Israeli is involved with nor supports the IDF. There are many Innocent people that have died, and are continuing to die from both sides of this conflict. And every one of those deaths is a tragedy. I wholeheartedly condemn Hamas' killings of innocent civilians, and I wholeheartedly condemn Israel's killings of innocent civilians. Both sides fucking suck and the people that are truly paying the price are the innocent people dying and losing loved ones. I don't know what the answer is, or even if there is a "right answer". Maybe a special ground operation would have minimized loss of life? I don't know. What I definitely do know is that I will never be okay with the deaths of innocent people.
Bombing a building filled with civilians just because some arsehole who help do (or did) a terrible thing is hiding in there certainly sounds like collective punishment ..
I think it also depends on how it’s used. Like if it’s used to create a smokescreen or to light up a battle field, it’s not a war crime. If it’s used as an offensive weapon, especially in an area with civilians, it almost certainly is a war crime since, regardless of whether it’s a chemical weapon, there’s no real way to aim it at military targets without it raining down on civilians. At that point, it becomes a Geneva Conventions violation and every country has ratified the core of the Geneva Conventions.
One attack on the town of Dhayra on 16 October must be investigated as a war crime because it was an indiscriminate attack that injured at least nine civilians and damaged civilian objects, and was therefore unlawful
It does sounds like they just fired it at civilian locations to bolster their military actions.
9 casualties does not scream indiscriminate. Additionally the other example has 48 Hezbolla members and 4 civilians listed as casualties which also doesn't scream indiscriminate.
Well gosh what with Russia throwing white phosphorous at Ukraine and no consequence then with Israel also appearing to do so it's as if international law only applies to countries that aren't nuclear states
Well yeah, everything gets complicated when 'laws' come with unwritten provisos such that they don't have enforcement except when major powers want to enforce them so they effectively only apply to certain countries
Unfortunately, 'complicated' seems to provide unwarranted respectability when 'toothless' and 'dysfunctional' would suffice
Yeah but nobody's stupid enough to risk it. Even if there's no chance they have nukes, our (US) government is big enough, "Christian" enough, anti-Muslim enough, and bat-shit crazy violent enough to not want to FA&FO.
yeah ... but if we place all of the brown people in a open air prison... cut off their water and electricity maybe a bomb or 10000... that will fix the problem
The fuck you talking about? The article is about Lebanon. You don't even distinguish between countries because they are all the same to you? That's ignorant if not racist.
Yeah no. If we are being held in prison and we know we are getting bombed anyway, we gotta use pipes to build defenses rockets. That will fix the problem.
Israeli authorities denied that they used white phosphorus in their military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
Seems like they're lying. All of that taken together seems like pretty damning evidence that they do use white phosphorous shells.
White phosphorus is not considered a chemical weapon because it operates primarily by heat and flame rather than toxicity, making it an incendiary weapon. Its use is governed by Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). Lebanon acceded to the protocol in 2017, but Israel has not.
Oh. So they're not bound by the treaty not to use it.
Hezbollah, despite being massively outgunned, is already holding back over 100,000 IDF troops at the border far too north of Gaza to be of any use against the Gaza resistance.
They're being very effective, even without stepping foot into Israel - which is a real fear for the IDF as it's the most well armed force that's actively fighting them.