You heard it here first

byHabib Battah
Jan 30, 2013

Israeli jets over Beirut yesterday, hours before the convoy attack

So it seems those Israeli jets I’ve been blogging and tweeting about all week seem to have had a purpose other than pure intimidation.

According to the AP, they bombed a shipment of SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles last night in Syria reportedly en route to Hezbollah.

Yet while the AP article notes Hezbollah is “committed to Israel’s destruction,” (which is debatable I think) it fails to mention that Israel is also committed to the destruction of Hezbollah or any resistance to the Israeli Air Force’s domination of our skies.

In fact, the article notes that if Hezbollah attained the missiles: “it would change the balance of power in the region and greatly hinder Israel’s ability to conduct air sorties in Lebanon.”

Don’t the Israelis realize that most Lebanese people do not want to see Israeli air sorties over Lebanon and that its in fact their frequent air strikes and intimidation over our skies that attract people to resistance movements?

Habib Battah

Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 15 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.

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Who Am I?

Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 15 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.