Thursday, February 01, 2018

The Sicilian Expedition?

Israel would be making a huge error in treating Lebanon's armed forces as an ally of Hezbollah. Israel should treat Lebanon as a state under partial occupation and control by Hezbollah and focus on destroying that alien entity that cripples Lebanon's sovereignty as a state.

Don't go there Israel, and create an enemy when you have a mostly neutral force now that could be an ally if the Hezbollah threat is reduced enough for the Lebanese army to defeat:

The United States pledged continued support for Lebanon's military on Wednesday, calling it a potential counterweight to Iranian-backed Hezbollah, even as Israel said the two forces were indistinguishable and fair game in any future war.

Mind you, that is the opinion of one man and not the opinion of the Israeli government.

Israel made a mistake in 2006 by thinking it could punish the Lebanese government with air power enough to control Hezbollah. That policy of attacking a potential ally of Hezbollah while the main enemy is undefeated didn't work then and it won't work now.

Heck, it didn't work for the ancient Athenians, either.

Israel should hammer Hezbollah alone if it goes to war in Lebanon, in what would be a giant ground raid to cripple Iran's proxy army and rocket barrage force in southern Lebanon.

By all means, fight enemies. But don't create more enemies while you avoid fighting an actual proven enemy.