A sign of what’s next

Last night’s Israeli raid on Hezbollah facilities in Baalbek was a sign of things to come. The Israeli Defense Force has a doctrine that Israel cannot afford to lose a single war. They believe that a defeat, or even the absence of a victory, would invite attack from all of Israel’s enemies. So, the Israelis will not accept a cease-fire until they have scored an unequivocal triumph. I think this is what explains Israel’s decision to launch such a daring raid last night and why we will see more such activity over the next few days.  

Ehud Olmert knows that, whatever he says about Israel’s success in destroying terrorist infrastructure, if Hezbollah can fire a record 220 rockets into Israel in a day, a cease-fire now would be viewed as a victory for Hezbollah.  

Meanwhile, the reputation of the French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy took another blow when, days after he declared that Iran is “a great country, a great people, and a great civilization which is respected and which plays a stabilizing role in the region,” the Supreme Leader in Iran pronounced that the “American regime must expect a hard slap and a destructive punch by the Islamic nations for its support of Zionist criminals.” And then there’s this: The German newspaper Die Welt is reporting that Iran has freed Osama bin Laden’s son and sent him to the Syrian-Lebanese border to recruit terrorist cells. One dreads to think what a country intent on destabilizing the region might do next.