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West Asian quagmire
The conflict in West Asia has sharply escalated, with Israel opening a second front to rescue two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah.
The conflict in West Asia has sharply escalated, with Israel opening a second front to rescue two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by the Syrian and Iranian-backed militant group, Hezbollah. Israeli troops are in Lebanon for the first time since withdrawing from southern Lebanon in 2000, and Israeli forces are pounding Lebanese targets from the land, sea, and air, destroying key bridges and striking Beirut’s lone international airport. Israel was already broadening its military offensive into the Gaza Strip to search for a corporal seized by Hamas gunmen two weeks ago.
This is the sort of situation that observers always feared might occur: Palestinian extremism provoking Israel into using massive military force, worsening the strife and pulling adjacent regions into the cesspool of violence. Captured soldiers are known to be Israel’s Achilles heel, and abducting Israeli soldiers is a longstanding Hezbollah strategy. In fact, military intelligence has warned for more than a year that Hezbollah is planning such an operation.
While Israel has every right to defend itself, any demonstration of that resolve should be balanced as to avoid playing into the hands of extremists. Instead, the best way to defuse the crisis may be to secure a reasonable prisoner swap and a comprehensive ceasefire, involving not just an end to the rocket fire out of Gaza but a cessation of all attacks against Israelis. In return, Israel could withdraw from Gaza and end targeted killings. There is little love lost between the Palestinian radicals in Syria and Lebanon and the Hamas pragmatists in Gaza. The result is that the former are committed to upsetting any initiative that would produce anything less than the destruction of Israel and the creation of an Islamic State of Palestine. The need of the hour is to stop the fighting, but a more modest suggestion could be its moderation by implementing the Geneva Conventions.
