More on what Israel's objectives are in Lebanon. Yesterday on the news I heard that Hezbollah had given the Lebanese gov. a promise not to do anything to create tensions with Israel during the summer tourist season, which the Lebanese economy is reliant upon ("Lebanon's travel and tourism industry is expected to generate $4.4 billion in revenues in 2006 [...] 'The tourism industry is expected to generate 175,000 jobs in Lebanon in 2006, or to account for 10.6 percent of the total employment in the country', the report said." Beirut Daily Star, 29 June 2006). And many in the Lebanese gov. aren't happy about the provocation.
I think that Anthony Shadid has a decent article in today's Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/13/AR2006071301743.html
The Future of Hezbollah Attacks Could Erode Faction's Support Pressure Building Against Shiite Militia
By Anthony Shadid Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, July 14, 2006; Page A01
BEIRUT, July 13 -- The radical Shiite movement Hezbollah and its leader, Hasan Nasrallah, hold an effective veto in Lebanese politics, and the group's military prowess has heartened its supporters at home and abroad in the Arab world. But that same force of arms has begun to endanger Hezbollah's long-term standing in a country where critics accuse it of dragging Lebanon into an unwinnable conflict the government neither chose nor wants to fight.
[...]
Lebanese critics as well as allies of Hezbollah insist that the Israeli response was disproportionate. But at the same time, in meetings Thursday, Lebanese officials began to lay the groundwork for an extension of government control to southern Lebanon. Hezbollah largely controls southern Lebanon, where it has built up a network of schools, hospitals and charities.
"To declare war and to make military action must be a decision made by the state and not by a party," said Nabil de Freige, a parliament member. He belongs to the bloc headed by Saad Hariri, whose father, Rafiq, a former prime minister and wealthy businessman, was assassinated in 2005, setting off a sequence of events that forced the Syrian withdrawal. "It's a very simple equation: You have to be a state."
After a cabinet meeting Thursday, the government said it had a right and duty to extend its control over all Lebanese territory. Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat said the statement marked a step toward the government reasserting itself.
Other government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, went further, calling it a first move in possibly sending the Lebanese army to the border, a U.N.-endorsed proposal that Hezbollah has rejected. The officials described the meeting as stormy and contentious but said both sides -- Hezbollah and its government critics -- were especially wary of public divisions at a time of crisis.
"It is becoming very clear that the state alone must bear responsibility for the country's foreign policy," said Samir Franjieh, a parliament member who is close to the Hariri bloc. "But our problem now is that Israel is taking things so far that if there is no help from the international community, the situation could get out of hand."
[...]