The kidnapping of military personnel
Naturally we are all delighted at the release by the Iranians of the 15 British naval personnel who were detained for 13 days. But many questions remain including: Were the British really in Iraqi or Iranian waters or, to put it another way, were they in waters that the Iranians think are theirs (see this interesting blog posting)? Why were the British detained and held rather than simply warned and released? Why were the British personnel seemingly so publicly compliant? Was some sort of deal done for their release?
Meanwhile let us not forget the position of two kidnapped Israeli soldiers over whom the Lebanon war of 2006 was fought and arguably lost.
On 12 July 2006, Hezbollah launched diversionary rocket attacks toward Israeli military positions near the coast and near the border village of Zar’it. At the same time, a Hezbollah ground contingent crossed the border into Israeli territory and attacked two Israeli armoured Humvees patrolling on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, near Zar’it, killing three, injuring two, and capturing two Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
The fate of these two Israeli soldiers is still unknown. They may even be in Iran. They may be dead. Hopefully they are still alive and will soon be released to join their families. The Israeli response to the kidnapping of these soldiers was a massive over-reaction, but that does not excuse the continued detetention of these soldiers.
April 5th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Don’t forget the Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hizbollah just before the Lebanese events, 20-year old Cpt. Gilad Shalit. He too is still being held captive — in territory under the control of a government (the Palestinian Authority) with which Israel is supposed to be at peace. There are other Israeli captives as well, some believed to be held in Iran, most notably airman Ron Arad, missing since the 1980s — but photographed alive and in captivity in Lebanon. The official website for all three Israeli soldiers captured in 2006 (all captured by terrorist groups operating out of territory which Israeli forces had evacuated) is here: http://www.banim.org/en/index_en.html