War Against Lebanon Is Over, WTF Was The Point?

[Caana-Nuug]

Israel has declared that it has stopped its assault on Lebanon & will pull out its troops in two weeks or as soon as a peace keeping force sets up camp in Lebanon.

After a month of non-stop bombardment against Lebanon from air, land & sea, Israel has suddenly stopped. Israel's initial attempt of trying to eliminate Hezbullah has not worked, hezbullah is still a powerful group not be reckoned with.

Why do you think Israel has agreed to a cease-fire & a pull out now when they have not really crushed hezbullah?

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Israel began to realize sometime during the campaign that the destruction of Hizbollah was not attainable without the ethnic cleansing south of the Littani, which they were not willing to do. At least not yet.

Israel is hoping that a UN force with a chapter 7 mandate, combined with the Lebanese Army, will sufficiently disarm or neuter Hizbollah that it will no longer be a threat to Israeli security.

Why did Hizbollah agree to this? I suspect Hizbollah was badly hurt and was concerned about how much longer they could maintain meaningful pressure on Israel through rocket attacks. If the attrition of weapons and supplies continued, people might start perceiving Hizbollah as losing, and for Nasrallah perception is everything.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Interesting link

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0815/dailyUpdate.html

[afdhere]

actually, israel achieved its goal: any group messes with us, from any country, we will fu'ck that entire country. it will keep israel free from crap for a while, but unfortunately for its neighbors... it won't be the last time.

i don't think israel is interested in "eradicating" hezbullah. israel is simply interested in being left alone. that is all. you don't see israelis going after the muslim brotherhood of egypt. or the wahabbis of saudi arabia.

afdhere

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Afdhere
Good analysis. And you are quite right. Israel has abided by its treaty with Egypt to the letter. And Israel does not conduct operations against the Jordanians or Saudis, because they don't conduct operations against Israel.

Alas, the Palestinian problem is different, and to date has not lent itself to such an easy solution.

[afdhere]

mac,

well, the palestinians have had some hope after arafat passed on. but they had to go and elect a terrorist group (hamas.) now it is going to be harder... more than ever... to achieve peace.

afdhere