Reports: Total Destruction of Beirut Nothing Short of a Hezbollah Illusion

Last night, CNN's Anderson Cooper gave the following report after spending several days in Beirut where Hezbollah minders took him only where they wanted:

On camera: We're not allowed to enter Hezbollah territory really without their permission. They control this whole area, even after the sustained Israeli bombing campaign. We've arranged with a Hezbollah representative to get permission to come here. We've been told to pull over to the side of the road and just wait.

Voice-over: We'd come to get a look at the damage and had hoped to talk with a Hezbollah representative. Instead, we found ourselves with other foreign reporters taken on a guided tour by Hezbollah. Young men on motor scooters followed our every movement. They only allowed us to videotape certain streets, certain buildings. Once, when they thought we'd videotaped them, they asked us to erase the tape. These men are called al-Shahab, Hezbollah volunteers who are the organization's eyes and ears.

On camera: You still see their CD's on the wall still. Hezbollah representatives are with us now, but don't want to be photographed. We'll say -- we'll point to something like that and they'll say, well, look, this is a store. The civilians lived in this building. This is a residential complex. And while that may be true, what the Israelis will say is that Hezbollah has their offices, their leadership has offices and bunkers even in residential neighborhoods. And if you're trying to knock out the Hezbollah leadership with air strikes, it's very difficult to do that without killing civilians. As bad as this damage is, it certainly could have been much worse in terms of civilian casualties. Before they started heavily bombing this area, Israeli warplanes did drop leaflets in this area, telling people to get out. The civilian death toll, though, has angered many Lebanese. Even those who do not support Hezbollah are outraged by the pictures they've seen on television of civilian casualties.

Voice-over: Civilian casualties are clearly what Hezbollah wants foreign reporters to focus on. It keeps the attention off them. And questions about why Hezbollah should still be allowed to have weapons when all the other militias in Lebanon have already disarmed. After letting us take pictures of a few damaged buildings, they take us to another location, where there are ambulances waiting.

On camera: This is a heavily orchestrated Hezbollah media event. When we got here, all the ambulances were lined up. We were allowed a few minutes to talk to the ambulance drivers. Then one by one, they've been told to turn on their sirens and zoom off so that all the photographers here can get shots of ambulances rushing off to treat civilians. That's the story -- that's the story that Hezbollah wants people to know about.

Voice-over: These ambulances aren't responding to any new bombings. The sirens are strictly for effect. When a man in a nearby building is prompted to play Hezbollah resistance songs on his stereo, we decide it's time to go. Hezbollah may not be terribly subtle about spinning a story, but it is telling perhaps that they try. Even after all this bombing, Hezbollah is still organized enough to have a public relations strategy, still in control enough to try and get its message out.

Why is this important? Because of the truth, and this map shines a light on it. It shows just what in Beirut has been hit by the Israelis and that 99% of Beirut remains completely untouched. In the map below, the areas damaged in fighting are in grey.

UPDATE 07/28 @ 12:27: Check out this new map which shows the southern suburbs of Beirut in addition to the city limits, pictured above.

Comments

[Papa Ray]

Did you mean to say another color instead of grey? My monitor shows no "grey", the area around the Hez. command posts looks a light tan on my screen.

Papa Ray

[Paul M]

That's an eye-opening map - if it's true, as I'd like to believe. What's the authority for it?

[Rob]

Excellent post. Israel's friends need to continually expose the way in which misleading stories and images are created

[Asher - Dreams Into Lightning]

I finally found the damaged areas - those little bitty dark grey circles and ovals.

Second to Paul M; I'd love to print this out and show it to people, and I want to be ready when they ask where I'm getting the information.

[Paul M]

Asher - me too. That's why I asked. I'm still waiting for an answer. I did also realize, after my last comment, that the map doesn't show the southern part of Beirut at all - which is where the airport is.

I'd very much like to be able to whip this map out to show around, but it doesn't feel quite kosher (you'll pardon the expression).

[John Moore ( Useful Fools )]

It doesn't matter how little of Beirut has been hit - the psychological tactics of Hezbollah's asymmetric warfare is winning (although CNN's remarkable report - which I watched - for once deflates their claims a bit).

Bombing a big city, even with precision bombs, leads to media images that are harmful to the bomber. Israel needs to understand that the decadent democracies of the world cannot tolerate seeing what is needed from a military standpoint.

Unless Israel quickly (now) and sharply defeats Hezbollah, they lose and we (US) lose - a major defeat in the war against Islamofascism (and especially Iran).

I fear, based on the last two weeks, that Israel doesn't have a clue how to fight this war - that they don't realize that psychological warfare will strongly limit their tactics - ultimately forcing a cease fire whether their objectives are met or not. Olmert needs to understand that his latest signal - a one mile buffer zone - is idiotic and hands Hezbollah and Iran a victory greater than anything they ever wished for! Either Olmert needs to get smart really fast, or it's all over but the celebrations by Islamofascists all over the world!

Finally, the map appears to be in error. The area marked runways is not at an airport (based on looking at Google Earth imagery) - it is a seaport. The airport is elsewhere. This makes the rest of the map suspect.

[Eric Sluyter]

I am a pussy but I wish I had a pussy to breed more jihad warriors for the ummah (and a fag like me isn't talking about Uma Thurman...).

[shlemazl]

Thanks for this post. I have not realized this.

[g]

Cant expect more from a bunch of shit heads like the Hizb...
hope they all die

[Patricia]

I too am shocked CNN reported this, er, truth about Hezbollah. NBC also is investigating such claims. Could it be the anti-US media are turning against their heroic resistance fighers?

[harry]

Right, its just a mistake that the Israeli's bombed a U.N outpost with precision guided bombs. It's just a mistake that they are bombing individual houses. The stories from Americans fleeing the country are not true. I'm sure it is not true that the Israelis mowed down an American peace activist with a Caterpillar a few years ago. There is no mass grave in Lebanon with over 100 civilians bured there. Surely the Israeli's didn't drive hundreds of thousand of Palestinians from their homes and villages to take over Palestine. The Israeli's couldn't be the pigs they appear to be, could they?

[The Monster]

Harry:
The Canadian UN observer at the UN outpost had emailed colleagues earlier to the effect that there were IDF artillery hits mere meters away that were not due to deliberate targetting of the UN position, but 'tactical necessesity', which the recipient of the email explains meant that HA was on the receiving end. We've seen pictures of UN and HA flags flying side by side, as HA takes up positions next to UN. They turn mosques, schools, hospitals and homes into armories, firing Katyushas from the roofs of these 'civilian' buildings.

Anyone who thinks the IDF is wrong needs to go read Sanctuary and then come back and tell us what they could do differently. Anyone who hasn't read that article (including part 2) and still wants to prattle on about 'disproportionate response' should STFU.

[submandave]

John, I am not so quick to claim defeat in a battle in which we aren't even engaged. Those who were quick to do so during the Afghan and Iraq campaigns have, thus far, proven themselves premature in their despair.

Harry, please provide me with the horror stories from evacuated Americans you've apparently read, as I have not. Were they scared by the large explosions happening in the city? Undoubtedly, but neither their hearing explosions nor being afraid is necessarilly the same as confiemation of massive destruction across Beirut. I can't confirm the accuracy of the post's information, but it sounds right to me. Using extremely expensive precission munitions to indiscriminately blow up large portions of a major city is beyond stupid and completely outside the realm of any military logic at all.

[zaatar]

Israel is a terrorist nation and we should be ashamed of what we are doing.We have now become the modern day Nazis.

[Aussie Dave]

I would also love to use that map, but without any verification as to its source, it is useless. Please post the source if you can.

[Patricia]

"Israel is a terrorist nation and we should be ashamed of what we are doing. We have now become the modern day Nazis."

And now for the obligatory Nazi allusion.