(Ha'aretz) Amos Harel - On its 10th day, the ceasefire between Hizbullah and Israel seems to be relatively successful, at least for now. The UN's peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, will play a relatively marginal role in the new scheme of things, given Israeli and American frustration over its performance between wars. From Israel's perspective, U.S. involvement is a tie-breaker. The Americans have been very cautious about deploying "boots on the ground" in Lebanon after attacks on their soldiers in the 1980s. Their willingness to head the ceasefire monitoring apparatus indicates that Washington has understood that there is no chance of attaining a positive outcome without them. The consent Iran gave to Hizbullah to allow U.S. involvement, and its decision to sever the link between Lebanon and Gaza attest to the dimensions of Hizbullah's failure in this war. Iran is now trying to rebuild whatever remains of Hizbullah's firepower and battle formations. This requires quiet and time for recovery.
2024-12-08 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive