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Hizbullah Has Moved into Southern Lebanon Villages
(New York Times) Isabel Kershner - Muhaybib looks like a typical southern Lebanese village - a cluster of 90 houses and buildings punctuated by the minaret of a mosque. But when the Israeli military trains its lens on that Shiite village close to the border, it sees nine arms depots, five rocket-launching sites, four infantry positions, signs of three underground tunnels, three antitank positions and a Hizbullah command post in the center of the village. Maps and aerial photography provided to the New York Times by Israeli military officials this week illustrate that Hizbullah has moved most of its military infrastructure into the Shiite villages of southern Lebanon. Israel says this amounts to using the civilians as a human shield. But when the next war breaks out, Israel will not hesitate to strike at those targets. "The civilians are living in a military compound," a senior Israeli military official said. "While making every effort to limit civilian casualties as much as we can, we do not intend to stand by helplessly in the face of rocket attacks."