Hezbollah Guilty of War Crimes, Says Christian Activist
by Chad Groening
August 4, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Christian human-rights advocate says there's ample evidence that the terrorist group Hezbollah is deliberately putting Christians in harm's way in Lebanon because they refused to go along with the group's anti-Israel agenda.Dr. Keith Roderick is the Washington representative of Christian Solidarity International (CSI), and secretary general of the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights. Roderick says Hezbollah is using Christian villages as staging areas for its rocket attacks against Israel. He says one Christian told him Hezbollah set up a launcher on the roof of his home.
"And they ignored him and launched the rocket," says the CSI spokesman. "So he went down as quickly as possible and gathered his family and fled to his cousin's home, which is some distance from there." Fifteen minutes later, he says, the man's house was bombed and destroyed.
The tactic of using civilians and their property in this fashion, says Roderick, is in direct violation of international law. "The Hezbollah are using civilians as shields for their military operation -- which of course is against the Special Protocol of the Geneva Convention, which prohibits the use of civilians to shield military operations," he explains. "I think that makes them subject to war crime charges." And the international community, he adds, has a responsibility to hold Hezbollah accountable for its actions.
Roderick says Hezbollah is also persecuting Christians by forcing them to pay taxes to build Muslim homes and businesses, while leaving Christian infrastructures in disrepair.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
