Syria's army can learn a lot about morality from the IDF, Al-Jazeera host says
Faisal al-Qassem praises the Israeli army for taking great efforts to avoid shelling areas populated by civilians.
By JPOST.COM STAFFA sign with the logo of Al Jazeera Media Network(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Syrian army can learn from the Israeli army about morality in urban warfare and safeguarding the lives of civilians, a moderator on a popular Al-Jazeera news show has said.The conversation on the news show "The Opposite Direction" hosted by Faisal al-Qassem centered around Syrian President Bashar Assad's military tactics in the ongoing Syrian civil war. Along with the Israeli army, al-Qassem also praised the moral character of the French military."Why don't they learn from the Israeli army, which tries, through great efforts, to avoid shelling areas populated by civilians in Lebanon and Palestine?"Didn't Hezbollah take shelter in areas populated by civilians because it knows that the Israeli air force doesn't bomb these areas? Why doesn't the Syrian army respect the premises of universities, schools or inhabited neighborhoods?""Didn't they [the Syrian Army] ever hear about principles and morals of urban warfare? Didn't the Syrian army target many civilian areas despite the fact that no fighters were present there?" al-Qassem asked. "The Israeli army, if it wanted to break up a demonstration, would have used water cannons or rubber bullets, not rockets or explosive barrels as happens in Aleppo today. "I want to ask you on one important point. ... It's a shame to compare the National Syrian Army with the French during the French occupation, or the Israeli army. Shame!" the moderator added. Israel is currently in the middle of the eighth day of a military operation in the Gaza Strip that it launched to stop the continued firing of rockets from the Hamas controlled Palestinian enclave. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said that Israel makes great efforts not to harm civilian populations in Gaza and has accused the Hamas of using non-combatants as human shields.
On Sunday, Netanyahu said that Hamas was hiding in mosques, putting arms storehouses in hospitals, and placing their command centers near kindergartens. They are bringing a disaster to Gaza's citizens, he said, adding that Hamas is responsible for harm befalling the civilian population there.The difference between Hamas and Israel, he said, was that while Israel was using anti-rocket batteries to protect Israeli citizens, Hamas is using Gaza's citizens to defend their rockets.
