Recently I came across:

Hezbollah not to blame for war, reports show

which provides an alternate viewpoint of Hezbollah, some known (if not in mainstream media) and others quite new (at least to me). I hope to do a bit of additional fact-checking on the info, shortly. Here are some of the highlights:

• Israel routinely violates Lebanese airspace (source: UNIFIL)
• Hezbollah responds to such with anti-aircraft fire
• Capturing and using “hostages” has been employed by both sides in the past
• Hezbollah immediately after the capture of the soldiers called for an exchange
• 9000 Palestinians and others are held in Israeli jail today, without recourse
• This includes that oft-repeated category: women and children
• Only six of the 192 U.N member nations classify the Hezbollah a terrorist organisation
• Of course that six includes the usual suspects: Israel, U.S, Britan, Australia
• The Hezbollah arose as a response to the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon (1982)
• Hezbollah has condemned the Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York
• They have also called the killing of Nicholas Berg in Iraq a “despicable act”
• Israel has carried out more bombings and assassinations than all terrorist groups in the world combined

Here is a segment of the page:

Brigadier Caliphi said the Hezbollah was well aware of Israel’s ability to respond forcefully if the rockets deployed in southern Lebanon were fired against Israel.

In an extraordinary admission he said any attack would bring havoc to the Lebanese civilian population, and in a reference to proportionality, he inferred any response would be one hundred times that inflicted.

‘If rockets fly over the north, it is better that 100 mothers in Beirut mourn than one mother in Haifa. The Hezbollah know that in such a case, we will take off our gloves and it does not want to be viewed as responsible for bringing disaster on Lebanon’s citizens,’ he said.

Then in an even more extraordinary admission, he threatened another, ‘Jenin.’

‘They saw that in Jenin we were willing to ravage a refugee camp in order to gain quiet, even if we did not use F-16 aircraft. They know the implications to their region,’ he said. The Brigadier General had no qualms about saying that any incursion by Hezbollah could result in an attack on the Lebanon government, and also said Syria could be a target.

And:

Last year, February 18, at the annual meeting of the annual Jerusalem meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Israel’s then Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly pounded the podium and passionately supported Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.

‘Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon is a model which Israel would apply to Gaza and Samaria.’ he said. Olmert went on to say Hezbollah ‘terrorists’ now stationed in former Israeli army positions throughout Southern Lebanon had accumulated 15,000 missiles and mortars in Lebanon.

Continuing to pound on the podium, he said, ‘they have never, never, never used missiles against Israel on the northern border since Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in May, 2000.’ (It was later pointed out that 5 Katyusha rockets had been fired into northern Israel in the period to 2004, a declassified Israeli army document showed).