French troops 'came close to shooting down Israeli jets'

[Chemical Ollie]

My buddy, who was a UN soldier in Lebanon during the late 80's, told me why every UN soldier of any nation hates the IDF: "Those trigger-happy bastards shoot at anything they can and don't have any respect who they target, as long as it's not their own". He has personally been bombed by Israel, and has personally carried a Swedish body bag to the freezer, a rookie killed by IDF on his first week abroad. And he would had loved to have a UN mandate to hit the arrogant bastards back. But I guess a US veto would stop that.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Sirotnikov
I mean - its really really difficult tracking all those invisible Iran - Hezbullah weapon transfers and it really isn't politically correct for france to track Syrian weapon transfers (Syrian being such good friends to Chirac).

Chirac was a personal friend of Hariri's.
Since Hariri's murder, he has a strong anti-Syrian stance. This partly explains why Syria is even more diplomatically isolated these days than it used to be.
To say that Chirac is friends with Syria, in 2006, is simply false.

Did you guys know by the way that Hezbullah is again in charge of the southern quarter of Beirut, and has scared off the army and police? Yep - they have their own traffic controllers and policemen brigades and what not.

UNIFIL Is located only in southern Lebanon. Yes it's bureaucratic, that they can't go after Hezbollah in places where they're not mandated. But this bureaucracy prevents them from going where they're not supposed to be. Such as, for example, northern Israel.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Az
the violations against 1701 never was shooting at the french. Btw, would you suggest shooting at people just waving their guns?

There are two forces in Southern Lebanon that are potentially hostile to UNIFIL. The Hezbollah and the IDF. There's a precedent: the IDF has already shot at international military (the german ship) since august.

If there had been a story about the UNIFIL shooting down a Hezbollah patrol that just waved their guns (in order to impress those hapless UN wimps), you'd be the first one to say the troops would be fully justified in doing so.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Sirotnikov

Since when are spy planes a danger to any forces?

Particularly the french?

If the French suspect we are going to fire at them, they should seriously re-thinking their relationship with Israel. This is a poor pre-text.

Israel's already killed four UN observers, including a Canadian, in the last 6 months.

[KrazyHorse]

So yes, Israeli planes are a real danger to UN observers.

Get your asses back on your side of the line and we won't have any problems.

[Drake Tungsten]

Only the French would be scared by a diving plane...

[KrazyHorse]

Well, them and the crew of the USS Arizona, say...

[Drake Tungsten]

I think the crew of the Arizona was more worried about the bullets, bombs and torpedos.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Well, them and the crew of the USS Arizona, say...

Those planes were flying low and level.

[KrazyHorse]

USS St. Lo then

[Az]

There are two forces in Southern Lebanon that are potentially hostile to UNIFIL. The Hezbollah and the IDF. There's a precedent: the IDF has already shot at international military (the german ship) since august.

due to a lack of communication, and a misunderstanding - the MoD apologized, the German and Israeli ministers had a friendly chat, a stronger link of communication has been established with the Germans - sanity prevailed.

If there had been a story about the UNIFIL shooting down a Hezbollah patrol that just waved their guns (in order to impress those hapless UN wimps), you'd be the first one to say the troops would be fully justified in doing so.

I wouldn't care about "justified". I simply be glad about a bunch of *******s dead.

[Lonestar]

I have to agree with many others, the IDF is going out of it's wya to be *******s to other well-armed countries, and perhaps they think they can get away with a Liberty style incident with the French. Let's be honest here, the iDF is *not* a1st World military, it's a bunch of undisciplined goons moderately more capable than even less disiciplined goons in surrounding countries.

[KrazyHorse]

Shhhh. We're supposed to let them think that their ragtag band of conscripts are the biggest badasses on the planet.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Az

due to a lack of communication, and a misunderstanding

The ship was in international waters.

Israel needs to take a ****ing pill and realise that when it comes to dealing with Euro militaries they aren't even in the same league.

Be careful or you might get swatted.

[Barnabas]

I dont think they would have attacked french forces, but if they carry some attack on say, supposed terrorists smuggling weapons from syria into lebanon, then it would undermine the authority of the UN forces, so israel should refrain from entering lebanon.

No one believes USS liberty was an accident, pretty much like no one believes the usa bombed by accident the chinese embassy in 1998