The “peacekeeping” force, which is supposed to grow to 15,000 and be joined by similar numbers of Lebanese government forces, will patrol south Lebanon, where Hezbollah had previously established a well-entrenched military infrastructure.

Within Israel protests continue against the government’s handling of the war. Unlike the peace protests during Israel’s last full-scale assault on Lebanon in the 1980s, these are patriotic mobilizations, often led by reservists, demanding a reorganization of the military to fight such wars more effectively.

“We are in need of a strategic revolution,” Ze’ev Schiff, a columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz wrote September 1. “We have to determine that the first and primary front is the battle to prevent the existential threat.” This, he says, comes primarily from the government of Iran. “The Palestinian front and everything related to it must be the second front.”

At the same time, there are indications that in spite of its missteps Tel Aviv accomplished some of its goals in the war against Hezbollah.

The 35-day assault destroyed much of Hezbollah’s fortified infrastructure in southern Lebanon and Beirut and killed hundreds of its fighters, along with hundreds of other casualties and much damage to the country’s infrastructure.

In an August 28 speech Olmert pointed to the deployment in southern Lebanon of Lebanese government troops and “a strong international force, comprised of armies from European countries” as one of the war’s most important accomplishments, presenting a major obstacle to Hezbollah’s re-entrenchment in the area.

There are also indications that Hezbollah’s primary focus for now is not rearming for war with Israel, but seeking to shore up its popularity and deflect criticism within Lebanon.

Facing some pressure from those who lost loved ones and property in the war, Hezbollah has reportedly begun giving out an average $12,000 to each of the approximately 35,000 households in the south and in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which were hit the hardest by the Israeli assault.

On August 27, in an interview on NTV, a television news channel in Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said, “We did not think, even 1 percent, that the capture [of the Israeli soldiers] would lead to a war at this time and of this magnitude. You ask me if I had known on July 11…that the operation would lead to such a war, would I do it? I say no, absolutely not.”

Tel Aviv’s bombing did start following the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militiamen. But it was not until Hezbollah missiles start hitting Haifa in northern Israel that Tel Aviv unleashed a full-scale assault, including a ground invasion.

Meanwhile, the Israeli armed forces have conducted some 70 military operations inside Lebanon since the cease-fire was signed, the New York Times reported September 1. Tel Aviv has also refused UN demands to end its air and naval blockade of Lebanon.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home