Therefore, if Israel is foced to strike at “civilian” villages or towns that house Hizb military assets in odrer to defend itself from attacks coming from those villages, it is Hizb that is committing the war crime, not Israel.

Hizb knows that in a straight-up fight they have no chance against the IDF. Therefore, their only recourse is, essentially, to take hostages to prevent Israel (which, unlike the Hizb, is civilized) from defending itself. If these villages actually cooperate in allowing themselves to be militarized, then they are just as culpable as Hizb and are legitimate targets for retaliation.

Even if Hizb has forced themselves on the town, Israel will have no choice but to target them, and they will be completely justified in doing so.

Israel has to stop worrying more about the enemy than about its own soldiers. In Jenin, for example, the IDF stupidly decided upon a ground attack specifically to prevent “civilian” casualties. They paid for it with the lives of 28 soldiers who walked into a booby trap set by the very “civilians” they were trying to spare. There was nothing “moral” about this; on the contrary, I submit that in time of war it is downright immoral to worry more about the enemey than about your own troops. They should have used artillery or airstrikes to flatten the place, like any sane army would have done.

I think there is.

It’s just a hard one to digest.

If somebody is attacking you, you can do your best to avoid hitting those who aren’t involved. However, you have to defend yourself. Defending yourself sometimes entails very hard hits on these targets. Your responsibility as far as morality goes, is to do your honest and utmost best to avoid hitting non-combatants or causing unnecessary damage to their homes or infrastructure. But there is often no option available to you other than to take aggressive steps in order to come out ahead.

!!!!

“Do we have a right to bomb a village from which emanate attacks?”

Does the Palestinian village Asirya al-Qibliya have the right to bomb Itamar? imeu.net/news/...

It’s lovely when the methods of these guerilla and terror groups upset our imaginary barriers of civil and barbaric warfare. Do we have a right to bomb a village from which emanate attacks? If there is no such inherent right, how can one fight the enemy that uses civilians as cover? What is proportionality and is there such a term when it comes to war?

What do you propose, Xisnotx?

and how is this determined — if over 50% of the village votes to allow Hezbollah to operate?

Since presumably Christian villages Hezbollah operated from aren’t pleased about the militia’s presence, does that mean they get to retain their civilian status?