Resetting for the Next Round, Part 3

Is it really surprising that the IDF finds fault with their troop preparations for fighting Hizbullah or dealing with the missile threat from Hizbullah? The IDF continues its counter battery fire against positions in Gaza.

Goldwasser and Regev's parents met with PM Olmert, and expressed their utter dissatisfaction with Olmert's handling of the situation. Olmert had said that he would not lift the blockade, and yet we get reports that Israel is going to be pulling back from its prior positions despite no word on the fate of the two Israeli soldiers held by Hizbullah. Mofaz says that the only way the blockade should be lifted is if Israel gets word on the condition of the two Israelis. Pressure is ratcheting up from within the Knesset to not pull back from the blockade unless Israel gains something - namely intel on Goldwasser and Regev, or further pressure and setbacks for Hizbullah. None of that appears to be the case.

Interestingly, France has said that it would enforce the ongoing efforts to prevent arms shipments from reaching Hizbullah in Lebanon by sea.

"We're going to make sure there are no deliveries" of arms by Hizbullah, Douste-Blazy said. "We have accepted" Annan's offer, he added.

Annan has been working to strike a deal in which French, Italian, Greek and later German ships would agree to patrol Lebanon's coast in place of Israeli military forces, which have been blockading Lebanon by sea to keep weapons from being shipped to Hizbullah.

Hizbullah isn't going to like this one bit.

IDF forces in Lebanon continue to uncover more tunnels and caches of weapons left by Hizbullah. Hizbullah had planned for war with Israel for years, and the ongoing finds shows the lengths to which it went in its planning and logistics. I hope Israel is learning that it must do more to interdict the supply lines and deal with Syria and Iran going forward because without those two countries providing material support to Hizbullah, the terror group would be left to its own devices.

The IDF eliminated another PIJ member in Jenin, which remains a terror hotbed despite IDF operations over the years to eliminate the terror cells operating there. Palestinians continue to fire rockets into Israel.

The UN has sent so-called human rights experts to visit Lebanon and Israel. No doubt they'll spend the bulk of their time in Lebanon decrying the situation there and laying blame for the destruction and carnage on Israel, despite the fact that Israel was forced to respond to Hizbullah's launching of a war against Israel in its invasion of Israel, capture of two Israelis, killing eight others, and the launch of thousands of rockets into Israel with the express purpose of terrorizing civilian populations and maximizing civilian casualties.

UPDATE:
Israel appears to have ended its air blockade on Lebanon, but the sea blockade will continue until the international peacekeeping force and Lebanese navy assume that role.

An Israeli official said Israel was willing to transfer supervision of Lebanon's coast to the United Nations but "the U.N. was not ready to receive" because of differences over who would be in charge of the operation.

Israel handing off these security matters to the UN would ostensibly free up those resources for use elsewhere.

UPDATE:
Israel is busy with commissions into what it did right and wrong in the leadup to the war in Lebanon and the ongoing fight with Hamas in Gaza. There's no such introspection and calls for investigations into Nasrallah's and Siniora's actions.

Here in Israel, the war will be investigated, those culpable will be identified, heads will roll. People want to know how we were surprised, why we had difficulty fighting, why the war's goals were not attained.

None of this will happen in Lebanon, which will continue on the same path, without commissions of inquiry, in the same mafia-like style and with the same Levantine hypocrisy, the same well-known powerlessness - and the same unwillingness to foster a relationship between Beirut and Jerusalem that would benefit both sides of the blue line.

And in a short time, after the current prime minister in Beirut has left the stage, most likely not naturally, but rather in the way most natural in Lebanon, Beirut may once again find itself - because of the irresponsible parties within it and the lack of a strong, central government, and because of some new Nasrallah that may crop up - under the boots of the IDF. Once again, years of development and progress will be erased... and the beat goes on.

Defense Minister Peretz thinks that the conflict in Lebanon shows that Israel will not tolerate any further attacks from Hizbullah, and that if the government took the same kind of action in 2000, then this war might have been unnecessary.

Meryl notes the difficulty in trying to separate Hizbullah from Lebanon and vice versa.

Meanwhile, IDF raids in Gaza have resulted in another AAMB member being killed in a gun battle. Three others were killed.

The sources said al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades member Rashid Zacharna died from his wounds after suffering severe injuries during exchanges of fire. According to the Palestinians, the other three killed in the incident were civilians.

Also, Goldwasser and Regev's families have demanded that Israel begin negotiations with Hizbullah to secure their release. I sympathize with the families' plight and worry for the safety of the soldiers being held by Hizbullah, I do not think prisoner exchanges are the way to go. Such actions only encourage future attacks, and undermine Israel's national security.

Technorati: terrorism, fatah, Gilad, Shalit, Olmert, Eliyahu, Asheri, Ashri, Abbas, Regev, Goldwasser, PRC, Hamas, Gaza, palestinian, Israel, hizbullah, hezbullah, hezbollah, lebanon, syria.