Comment by vlovich123
Comment by vlovich123 3 days ago
The concept of legitimate targets is from the Geneva convention.
> A fundamental premise of the Geneva Conventions has been that to earn the right to protection as military fighters, soldiers must distinguish themselves from civilians by wearing uniforms and carrying their weapons openly
Hezbollah fighters clearly aren’t doing this and this is whether the fundamental argument around how Israel behaves comes from - what is a legitimate target and rules of engagement when the fighting force blends itself into the general populace? For all the criticism, Israel by some accounts does seem to do better than the US in similar circumstances when they were in Iraq and Afghanistan in terms of protecting civilian populations. And for all their criticism (some well deserved some not) they could certainly be even more indiscriminate in their targeting.
> Hezbollah fighters clearly aren’t doing this
What do you mean? I am not in any way supporting Hezbollah but their soldiers are definitely "wearing uniforms and carrying their weapons openly." Hamas and Hezbollah are not the same. Hamas is more decentralized though so that doesn't happen as often in that case. Hezbollah soldiers are also salaried and more properly equipped by Iran/Syria.
The biggest difference between Hezbollah and Hamas is that in Hezbollah's case, their soldiers are more motivated by money rather than ideology. They treat it more like a "professional" job, work for promotions, and dress accordingly. It's a significantly more top-down structure too.