[Publius6961]

BUMP!

[elhombrelibre]

Syria is still stirring the pot. See the link below.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1695740/posts

[justshutupandtakeit]

Many of us have made this point.

[Dark Skies]

What about the last myth, the idea that Israel cannot digest casualties anymore?

That statement always amazes me. When a country is fighting for its very existence, it can digest casualties until it runs out of soldiers.

[eureka!]

marking for later

[The_Media_never_lie]

Interesting!

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.

also Keywords 2006israelwar or WOT [War on Terror]

----------------------------

[dervish]

"despite a month spent in shelters in the North"

The exposure of this vulnerability is the way Israel lost this war. A terrorist surrogate army shutting down 1/3 of a military powerhouse country is a win for the terror army and empowers Israel's enemies.

On the up side Israel now has an opportunity to fix this vulnerability and act more assertively against this threat in the future. Also this bombardment exposed the folly of returning any land. Contrary to popular belief size does matter.

[sit-rep]

bttt

[RobbyS]

Stand off. But everyone knows this is only round one. Of course, everyone is often wrong. The inevitable requires effort.

[FreeReporting]

The problem with assessing Hizbullah's performance in this conflict is that we have no starting lines.

- We don't know how many operatives (for want of a better word) they had to start with and how many they ended up with. I am sure that they took full advantage of Israel's warnings to civilians to flee spots about to be attacked and that those killed were in actual battle.(They probably used the warnings to set up their propaganda movie-sets, such as in Qana, leaving only woman and disabled children or their already-dead bodies to be discovered in front of the cameras). What is certain is that all the men who were killed are numbered among 'civilian dead' in Lebanon.

The best indicator we have here is that Nasrullah has begun recruiting from the young children of the slain fighters. It seems that a substantial blow was dealt to the fighting force.

Mr. Ottolenghi's point one: linking Gaza and Lebanon seems to have worked in the propaganda department. The Gazans, lacking any terroristic leaders of their own (mild sarcasm) have taken Nasrulla as their hero and are naming children after him.

However, the ultimate test is whether Hizbullah would engage the IDF any time soon again. The answer here, judging by Nasrullah's surprise that the capture of two soldiers ended in as big a conflict as it did, is that he has no appetite for further war at the moment.