Vengeance Is Mine

Israel hits back hard at Lebanon's Shi'ites. Getting tough could help Shamir, but will it hurt the peace talks?

Peace talks or no, the Middle East is once again showing its true color: the blood red of vengeance. The escalation of violence began Feb. 14 when Arab guerrillas infiltrated an Israeli army camp and hacked three soldiers to death. Two days later in southern Lebanon, Israeli Apache helicopters fired three missiles on the motorcade of Sheik Abbas Musawi, leader of the Iranian- backed Hizballah. The long-planned strike killed not only Musawi but also his wife and six-year-old son. From there, hostilities spiraled rapidly. Hizballah launched scores of Katyusha rockets into Israel's self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon and into the...

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