Tel Aviv : les généraux remettent les pendules à l’heure, — et le Pentagone remet Condi à sa place

“Qui commande en Israël ?” demandions-nous d’une façon assez ingénue, dans un récent F&C. La réponse nous était apparue assez évidente, — mais peut-être s’agissait-il de mauvais esprit. Non, pourtant. La réalité de la situation se confirme avec une régularité d’horloge, comme une offensive de Tsahal

Il y a donc eu l’annonce d’un cessez-le-feu de 48 heures après le massacre de Cana. Le Daily Telegraph nous explique ce qui s’est passé ensuite, c’est-à-dire comment les généraux israéliens ont très mal pris la chose.

« The Israeli prime minister ordered the halt to the air campaign after Sunday's bombing of a house in the Lebanese town of Qana which killed more than 50 civilians including dozens of children. His directive came after a meeting with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who was forced to cancel the Lebanese leg of her tour after the bombing enraged leaders in Beirut.

» But Mr Olmert's decision appeared less than co-ordinated with his senior officers who fear they are battling against the diplomatic clock to crush Hizbollah.

» On Sunday night, many of them were insisting the air campaign would continue, even as the State Department announced in Washington that it would temporarily end.

» The air force chief, Brig Gen Amir Eshel, vowed after the Qana bombing that he had no intention of ending sorties. Indeed, Israeli warplanes were still in the sky until minutes before the ceasefire, delivering their last payloads at 1.35 am yesterday before the 2am deadline.

» Senior officers in the northern command were reported to have been taken by “complete surprise” by the ceasefire decision, with some learning of it through journalists. »

Bref, les généraux étaient complètement ulcérés. Ils ont donc pris les mesures qui s’imposaient, réduisant à peu de choses les ordres du Premier ministre Olmet, c’est-à-dire les ordres de Condi Rice. C’est-à-dire, — traduisons encore en nous référant à la réalité de la chose qui fait de Tsahal une annexe du Pentagone, — que le Pentagone a remis Condi à sa place.

Cela donne ceci (d’après une bonne analyse de la situation de AP) :

« Israeli warplanes struck deep inside Lebanon early Tuesday, witnesses reported, hitting an area that is a stronghold of Hezbollah guerrillas. The strikes came hours after Israel’s Security Cabinet approved widening the ground offensive in Lebanon.

» The jet fighters struck Hermel, 73 miles north of the Israeli border in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. Warplanes fired at least five air-to-surface missiles on the edge of the town, targeting a road linking eastern Lebanon to western regions and the coastline. It was not clear what was hit and whether there were any casualties.

(…)

» The latest bombings came despite a 48-hour Israeli suspension of air raids in Lebanon, prompted by an airstrike Sunday that killed at least 56 people, more than half of them children, on the southern Lebanese village of Qana. The pause, which ends early Wednesday, was to give time for an investigation into the Qana attack, but Israel said its warplanes would still hit targets that presented an imminent threat, and at least three strikes were launched Monday. »

Mis en ligne le 1er août 2006 à 13H38