With Whom Do You Ally?

Interesting. [Michael] Young assumes Israel will end its offensive before Hezbollah is smashed completely. Wouldn't his proposal for gradual disarmament permit Hezbollah to re-group?

Solomon, Israel is not going to smash Hezbollah. Israel is not even trying to smash Hezbollah. Israel tried to smash Hezbollah in 1996 and saw that an air campaign can't unroot a movement that has no physical address and is hiding among the locals. Israel is bombing the infrastructure in order to get the Lebanese government do what the IDF wasn't able to do in 1996 and is still not capable to do today. The problem is that the government won't move, for the simple reason that the government does not have the means to get rid of the yellow pest.

Then why not do what Italy did in WWII and ally with the liberators to seek out and destroy the oppressors? As for fear of alienating the Shia, once Hizbollah is gone won't the local population return to its previous pro-Israel stance and retroactively endorse such an operation?

Solomon, it's the government's fear(which from their perspective is totally justified), not mine. I am not afraid of alienating people who vote for Hezbollah. I do not believe that the Hezbollah can or will launch a civil war.

I guess that at this moment Hizballah is too busy ducking bombs to assassinate dissenting politicians. Tomorrow may be a different story. Why wait? Urge them to act now!