Lebanon under fire: Death rains down on the 'Land of Cedars'

With the recent barrage of Israeli air strikes on Lebanon, we can now say 'even the cedars are bleeding', writes Dorcha Lee

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in the southern village of Kfar Rouman, seen from Marjayoun, south Lebanon, on Wednesday. Photo: AP/Hussein Malla

By Wednesday evening, Lebanese authorities reported that 620 people had been killed and more than 1,800 injured in Israeli air strikes. As in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, they did not reveal how many of the casualties were Hezbollah fighters. 

On the other hand, the IDF spokesman, Rear Admiral Hagani, would have us believe that all the target hits were legitimate Hezbollah positions. This begs the question, is Israeli intelligence so good that it can identify such a large number of civilian houses in Southern Lebanon hiding Hezbollah rockets, and yet fail to predict Hamas’s capability to launch its devastating attack on October 7, last year?