War with Hezbollahstan

The IDF is now fighting on a second front:

Israel bombed and shelled southern Lebanon and sent ground troops over the border for the first time in six years Wednesday after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers. The fighting killed eight Israeli soldiers and three Lebanese.

Hezbollah's brazen cross-border raid opened a second front for the Israeli army. The army is now fighting Islamic militants in both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, where it is looking for another soldier who was captured more than two weeks ago by Hamas-linked militants.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the Hezbollah raid an "act of war" by Lebanon and threatened "very, very, very painful" retaliation. The Cabinet, meeting in the wake of the military's highest daily death toll in four years, decided to continue the army operation and call on the international community to disarm Hezbollah, according to participants.

Residents of northern Israeli towns were ordered to seek cover in underground bomb shelters as Hezbollah, an anti-Israel guerrilla group that essentially runs southern Lebanon, launched rockets across the border throughout the day.

Two Lebanese civilians and a Hezbollah fighter also were killed in the border violence, and at least 23 Palestinians were killed in Gaza. Still, jubilant Hezbollah supporters and Palestinians in Lebanon fired guns in the air and set off firecrackers at the news of the soldiers' capture.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said he would free the Israeli soldiers only in a prisoner swap, adding that he was open to a package deal that would include the release of the soldier held in Gaza.

[...]

Hezbollah fighters began their attack Wednesday by firing a barrage of rockets at communities in northwestern Israel. The guerrillas then crossed the border and launched a surprise attack on two Israeli Humvees, killing three soldiers, wounding two and capturing the two others, the Israeli army said.

Israel quickly sent armored vehicles over the border on a rescue mission, but one of the tanks rolled over a large mine, killing the four soldiers inside and sparking a battle that killed another soldier, the army said.

It was the single highest number of Israeli military deaths on one day since the army's offensive in the West Bank town of Jenin on April 9, 2002, which left 14 soldiers dead.

Israel also sent warplanes deep into southern Lebanon targeting bridges, roads and Hezbollah positions. One blast hit a major junction along the main north-south coastal highway, wrecking the road and wounding two people. Two civilians were killed in the attacks, Lebanese officials said. Another airstrike targeted a Palestinian guerrilla base south of Beirut, Lebanese security officials said.

On a map, Israel's targets are in Lebanon. But in reality, they're in a Hezbollah statelet over which the Lebanese government has no control. Damascus (or maybe even Teheran) is the de facto capital of Hezbollahstan, not Beirut:

Israel says it is holding the Lebanese government responsible for the safe return of the two soldiers. The attack puts the Lebanese government in a difficult position as it includes a member of Hizbullah, even though many Lebanese legislators support the disarming of the party.

[...]

But analysts say that Israel must look past the Lebanese government in this instance.

"Israel's problem is that there is no identifiable body that it can hold responsible," says Avi Segal, an international-relations and war-strategy expert lecturing at Ben-Gurion and Hebrew Universities. "It's easy to talk about a state, but go find Hizbullah, go find Hamas."

"It's not clear that Lebanon is the answer," says Gen. (ret.) Giora Inbar, the former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) commander for southern Lebanon. "We need to first see what is the address, and it appears to be in Syria, with its connections to Hizbullah and Iran. I don't suggest conquering those countries, but we need to make connections, to negotiate."

Damian P.

Posted by damian at July 12, 2006 08:57 PM