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Hezbollah Accused of Hiding Behind Human Shields in Lebanon War

A report put out by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center has accused the Syrian-backed Hezbollah movement of hiding out among civilians and launching Katyusha rockets from heavily populated locations. Hezbollah launched an un-provoked war against the State of Israel over the summer from the south area of Lebanon. The report says that out of the 1084 civilians that Lebanese authorities claim were killed, 650 of them were militants.

Among other findings presented in the report were ?fire cards? for Hezbollah Katyusha rockets which gave weapons operators specific instructions on how to direct their line of fire into civilian populated areas in Israel. The report also shows testimonials given by captured Hezbollah terrorists who admit to renting houses in Lebanese villages to store weapons, transporting weapons under the guise of a white flag and traveling in civilian cars so as not to be targeted by Israeli air force fire.

When presented with the findings of the report, Amnesty International said that most of the information was already known to the organization and that Hezbollah did not deny operating from heavily populated villages. However, a Hezbollah spokesman has been quoted as saying that the information was ?totally untrue? and that it was part of "a campaign to vilify Hezbollah.? The report came in response to the generally misconcrued idea that Israel was responsible for what has come to be known as the Second Lebanon War.