MIDDLE EAST/Propaganda war: Israeli leaflets are raining down on Lebanon - some are cartoons mocking Hizbullah, others are warnings to stay away from the group's stronghold.
In a crude drawing, leaflets dropped by Israeli planes over Beirut depict Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as a cobra dancing to the tune of the flute-playing leaders of Iran, Syria and Palestinian group Hamas. The cartoon shows two bombs near Nasrallah's head, while the foreign leaders sit cross-legged on a map of Lebanon. Typed in Arabic and signed the "State of Israel", the flyers are attempts by Israel to turn the Lebanese against the guerrilla group it is fighting.
Other flyers warn residents that if they go near Hizbullah installations, with daily bombardments it would be at their own risk. They warn against helping Hizbullah fighters engaged in "terrorism" against Israel.
But the caricatures appear to have little effect on people's opinions.
"The cartoon flyer is cute. Usually these are threats to destroy Beirut and since we are seeing people blown up on TV all the time, this seems like comic relief," said Nazha Merebi, a graphic designer. "I didn't like the warnings to people to leave the south though, because where does Israel expect people to go when it has cut off the roads?"
Residents scared by strikes and Israeli warnings have fled but roads are unsafe.
The Lebanese are no strangers to grim warnings falling from the sky. Even before the 1975-1990 civil war, Israel dropped flyers warning people not to assist Palestinian guerrillas attacking Israel from southern Lebanon.
"It was 1969. I was 11 years old and going to school when we saw the flyers coming down and ran towards them," said Younes Audi, who grew up in southern Lebanon. "I remember they were sky-blue and read: 'He who sows the wind reaps the storm.'" Those who in Beirut during the 1982 Israeli invasion recall: "Expel the saboteurs from your country."
Thousands of pink and yellow flyers dropped from the air over the past week now litter Lebanese cities like confetti, some sticking in trees or falling in to the sea.
"We all know from the experience of the past few days the massive strength of Israel and its readiness to use this power against the terrorist elements," read another of the flyers.