Recent reports from the Middle East about Hezbollah putting command posts and weapons in civilian areas may shock some, but such actions are nothing new in the history of warfare, says Barry Strauss, professor and chair of the Department of History at Cornell University.
Strauss says:
“The report that Hezbollah is positioning weapons and command posts among the Lebanese civilian population is disturbing, but in the history of warfare, it’s nothing new.
“As long ago as the Trojan War, an army holed up within the city walls and exposed civilians to the horrors of siege warfare rather than surrender to the enemy. And the Greeks did not hesitate to slaughter civilians when they took the city. Unfortunately it is all too common for war to expose civilians to its horrors.”
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