2006年VOA标准英语-Conflict in Southern Lebanon Continues Unabated

By Andre de Nesnera
Washington
27 July 2006

Smoke rises from extensive Israeli air strikes as Lebanese motorists speed away   
  
The conflict in southern Lebanon continues as Israeli forces battle Hezbollah guerillas. In this report from Washington, Senior Correspondent André de Nesnera looks at what Israel is trying to achieve and discusses Hezbollah's military capabilities¹.  

--------

The current conflict began about two weeks ago (July 12th) when guerillas belonging to the militant² group Hezbollah crossed from southern Lebanon into northern Israel. They killed eight Israeli soldiers and captured two others.

Hezbollah is a militant Shiite group controlling much of southern Lebanon. Its goal is the destruction of Israel. The U.S. and Israeli governments consider it a terrorist group. But at the same time, it is a political and social entity³. It holds seats in the Lebanese parliament, Cabinet positions in the Lebanese government and provides broad social services. 

Apartment buildings destroyed by Israeli air strikes in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon   
  
In response to Hezbollah's attack on its soldiers, Israel launched a massive air campaign, hitting suspected Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon - and by crossing the border to fight Hezbollah guerillas on the ground. Hezbollah retaliated⁴ by launching rockets into northern Israel. Fighting continues on all fronts and military experts say there is no end in sight.

Paul Rogers is a military expert at the University of Bradford, in England (north of Manchester). He says the Israeli military campaign has three goals.

"One is to try and damage the Hezbollah facilities actually in southern Lebanon - and that has been particularly intensive," Rogers says. "The second purpose is to try and pick out the longer-range Hezbollah facilities, both in terms of their main areas in southern Beirut and particularly some of the suspected longer-range missile launchers - and there are reports that the Israelis have hit some of those. The third point of the campaign is really to disrupt any kind of logistic support for Hezbollah in the coming weeks and months - and that has involved the destruction of bridges, fuel systems and the rest for quite large parts of Lebanon as a whole with very, very big side effects against Lebanese civilians⁶."
 

Rescue workers at site of building directly hit by rocket fired from Lebanon into Haifa, Monday  
  
Rogers says Israel is fighting a well disciplined and determined  force of about five thousand Hezbollah paramilitaries, backed by 20,000 to 30,000 auxiliaries⁷ - many of whom are former paramilitaries who fought Israel in the mid⁸ 1980s. Rogers says Hezbollah is also equipped with more than 12,000 Katyusha rockets - short-range unguided missiles which the militant group has been launching into northern Israel on a consistent basis since the conflict began two weeks ago.

Stephen Trimble with the publication Jane's Defense⁹ Weekly, says Hezbollah may have other missiles in its arsenal¹⁰.

"They haven't fired yet some of the more long-range missiles which they are believed to actually possess," Trimble says. "One is the 'Zelzal' rocket - it is a family of rockets that has a range from 120 to 400 kilometers - and an Iranian rocket called the 'Fajr' - it is also a family of rockets that has a range of somewhere between 40 to 70 kilometers, depending on the rocket that is used."

Trimble says Hezbollah also has unmanned aerial vehicles that could be modified with a warhead and used in attacks on Israel.

Paul Rogers from Bradford University says the two-week conflict has already provided some unpleasant surprises for the Israelis.
 

Israeli soldiers shell northern Lebanon from a position near the town of Kiryat Shmona  
  
"The biggest surprise of all was the attack on the Israeli missile corvette on the second day of the war, using quite an advanced sea-skimming missile fired from land," Rogers says. "The boat that was hit was one of the 'Saar-five class' corvettes, among the most modern and well armed of any missile boat in the world, with defensive¹¹ systems very much designed to protect it from just such a missile. It is not at all clear that the Israeli Defense Force even knew that Hezbollah had such missiles. The ship itself was badly crippled and may be out of action for a year."

Experts say Israeli forces inside southern Lebanon are also encountering far more resistance than was expected from Hezbollah guerillas.  The Israeli conduct of the war has prompted a commentator¹² (Yoel Marcus) in the newspaper Haaretz to write: "Two weeks after Israel set out to defeat Hezbollah, its military achievements are pretty limited."

Paul Rogers agrees.

"So the reality is as of now, two weeks into an intensive air war, Hezbollah is able to fire missiles as it was on day one," Rogers says. "So I think there is a genuine recognition that degrading Hezbollah's capability¹³ by air simply will not work - and the civilian⁵ casualties will be very high. So that does mean that major ground intervention¹⁴ will follow, at a much larger scale than is currently being done."

The Israeli government has decided¹⁵ not to expand its offensive in southern Lebanon. Officials say they just want to clear Hezbollah from the border area and create a security zone.

Experts say if the Israeli goal is to destroy Hezbollah's fighting ability, that may take some time and may not be a permanent answer. They say a lasting¹⁶, political solution to the Lebanese crisis must be found in order to prevent future wars and avoid a repeat of the current destruction and loss of life.  

1 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

3 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

4 retaliated   

v.报复，反击( retaliate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• When he once teased her for her inexperience, she retaliated. 有一次，他讥讽她没有经验，她便反唇相讥。 来自辞典例句
• The terrorists retaliated by killing three policemen. 恐怖分子以杀死三名警察相报复。 来自辞典例句

5 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

6 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

7 auxiliaries   

n.助动词 ( auxiliary的名词复数 )；辅助工，辅助人员

参考例句：

• These auxiliaries have made our work much easier. 有了这些辅助人员，我们的工作才顺利多了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• In English the future tense is often rendered by means of auxiliaries. 在英语中，将来时常用助动词来表现。 来自辞典例句

8 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

11 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

12 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

13 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

14 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。