WASHINGTON -- There is crisis and there is opportunity. Amid the general wringing of hands over the seemingly endless and escalating Israel-Hezbollah fighting, everyone asks: Where will it end? The answer, blindingly clear, begins with understanding th...

The Guardian is reporting that the United States has given Israel a window of seven days to complete its operation in Lebanon aimed at rooting out Hezbollah terrorists: The US is giving Israel a window of a week to inflict...

Lebanon is a much more compressed space, one side showed clearly that they were not interested in peace and the UN peacekeepers are much more adept at having sex with pre-teens than deterring attacks.

The end game I see shaping up is a continued isolation and degradation of Hezbollah military capability by air. This will reduce infrastructure and isolate the terrorist groups. But as pointed out above, it will not defeat the terrorists. They can re-build, re-stock and re-establish communication when the air strikes seek. But I think that after the air strikes, we are likely to see significant ground resources put into Lebanon by Israel. Then the isolated groups of Hezbollah terrorists will be dealt with extreme prejudice (aka killed, not captured). A generation of troops will be more than decimated. Because Hezbollah seems to be trying to prevent families from fleeing southern Lebanon and keeping the UN from facilitating the families to leave, there will undoubtedly by some heavy civilian casualties.

After Hezbollah's military and personnel capabilities are severely eroded, I suspect we will see a combination of UN/Lebanese governments occupying the Hezbollah areas in South Lebanon. How effective they will be is questionable, but they will at least have a chance.

Alternatively, Israel may expand this into Syria, but I suspect this is less likely. A key indicator to watch is the US army in Iraq. If they start drawing their troops into larger units, as opposed to conducting anti-insurgency patrols, then the move into Syria becomes more likely.

Wow.

Note to Israel (and the U.S.): Airpower is not particularly well suited to anti-guerilla operations in an urban setting. I realize it's convenient for you, but it kills a lot more civilians than it does enemies.

If you want to fight guerillas, you have to do it on the ground, and you have to lose some troops to do it.

The attitude that the deaths of Lebanese women and children are preferable to the deaths of Israeli soldiers is stunningly immoral.

Somewhere over a rainbow someone may look down and see the unhappy land of Lebanon and beyond.
In Washington noted conservative discontent Danielle Pletka is not happy: “I don’t have a friend in the administration, on Capitol Hill or a...

What is Hezbollah's exit strategy?