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Dr. Aaron Lerner is co-founder of , Independent Media Review and Analysis, an Israel-based news organization which provides an extensive digest of media, polls and significant interviews and events relating to the Israeli-Arab conflict.
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By Dr. Aaron Lerner
July 21, 2006
When one considers that thousands of IDF forces are scouring Southern Lebanon for Hezbollah weapons caches, going into areas Hezbollah has had over half a decade to prepare for this moment, the IDF casualty figures of the last few days are nothing short of miraculous.
And so, while some diehard Leftist Israeli media commentators continue to pepper their remarks with slogans regarding the "Lebanese quagmire" and that "resistance groups cannot be defeated" there is every reason to believe that in the coming days even more forces will enter to do the job that must be done in Lebanon.
Hezbollah's bunkers and weapons caches give them the ability to engage in head-to-head battle but they also serve to define the campaign in a way that the IDF can ultimately win.
You can run to fight another day with a rifle or explosives strapped around your waist, but it is quite another story to leave with the thousands of missiles in the weapons caches what with the skies being patrolled by Israel.
And with Israel dropping the immoral so-called "morality" of respecting human shields in the battlefield, the goal of clearing out bunkers and weapons caches (and documenting the successes for the media) becomes that much more possible -- even if they are positioned within "civilian" locations.
But would this spell the end of Nasrallah's career?
It would appear that regardless of Israel's wishes, Nasrallah always has the option to agree to integrate his forces into the Lebanese army and focus his short term efforts on expanding his political strength with an eye on future conflicts.
Israel would be hard put to stop such an initiative given that proposals to put even the most radical Palestinian terror cells on the PA payroll are greeted with approval around the world.
And once Nasrallah's forces are part of the Lebanese army, it is not his loss of face if the commander of the army orders them to release the Israeli hostages, against Nasrallah's better judgment.
Under these circumstances Israel might also find itself facing a situation in which Lebanese Hezbollah members it is holding are "grandfathered" into the Lebanese army, with Lebanon arguing that they are POWs and should be treated as such.
Would this be a victory? Would Israel restore its deterrence?
In many respects this will be as much a question of the ability of the Israeli media team as that of the IDF.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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