IS THIS THE BIG WAR?

"War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of politics by other means."

A war has broken out in the Middle East. 'Israel has responded to the kidnapping of two soldiers by members of the Lebanon-based Hizbollah terror group by striking and blockading the country by land, air and sea' (Der Spiegel). Israeli aircraft attacked Beirut airport and killed 22 civilians in strikes on south Lebanon. Israel has also hit Hizbullah's Beirut television station. Hizbollah retaliated for "Israeli massacres" by firing 60 rockets at Nahariya killing one civilian. So Israel has opened a two front war, against the Hizbollah and the Hamas. Israel has also attacked the Lebanese Army. The situation is very much tensed.

Now the question is how far will Israel go? Israeli ambassador in Britain told in an interview with BBC TV that they will do everything to uproot Hizbollah. Israeli defense Minister Amir Peretz said, "We expected Hizbullah to break the rules, and now we intend to break them.

Israel blames Lebanon government for sheltering Hizbollah. The BBC reported that Israel struck 40 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, but an Israeli spokesman said "no targets are immune." (via Austin bay) Its like if you are not Hizbollah run for your life.

In another development US was the only one of the 15 U.N. Security Council members to veto an Arab-backed resolution demanding Israel to stop its military offensive in the Gaza Strip (also in Yahoo news). UN could bring out no more than a condemnation. France terms Israel offensives as 'disproportionate,' and joins Russia in 'condemning the escalation of the Middle East conflict.'

Is this going into an wider war involving Syria and Iran? The Israelis are blaming these two nations as supporters of Hizbollah and Hamas. Counterterrorism blog says that Hizbollah is provoking Israel for Iran and Syria. The reasons cited are:

1. Iran is concerned about the nuclear crisis and wants to deflate the issue away.
2. Syria is concerned about the Hariri murder investigation and wishes to postpone its results.
3. Hizbollah is concerned about the call for disarming its militias and therefore decided to flare up the conflict with Israel.
4. Finally, Hamas was sinking in crisis with Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah. Thus a Jihad against Israel was the solution.

One more thing is to be noted that Isralei president Moshe Kastav is being investigated for a Monica Lewinski like affair with his secretary. Is this war a ploy to shift the focus?

Michael Ledeen thinks that this is the big one and the same one which is going on. You cannot escape the mullahs. You must either defeat them or submit to their terrible vision.

Austin Bay questions: have the Egyptians, Fatah, Saudis, and Lebanese governments given Israel an implicit go-ahead? The strategem: Reduce these violent factions (Hamas and Hezbollah) and then every one will re-set the chess table.

I think that this is the part of a plan, the same plan which has triggered so much conflict in this region. Sometimes there is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.

"More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars." - (Franklin D. Roosevelt 1882-1945, Thirty-second President of the USA)

The blogosphere covering the war:

* Pajamas Media has the updates of the timeline of the events and a round up of other bloggers' reactions.

* Allison Kaplan Sommer of 'An unsealed room' is liveblogging from Israel.

* Lisa Goldman blogs from Lebanon condemning the politicians in failing the negotiations.

* Hotair has also timelines and updates.

* Kesher Talk reports from the Arab side- the way things look the other way around.

* A post in the Daily Kos: Imagine a world without Israel.

* Slate magazine has also a roundup of different blogs covering the war.