Let's wait till this thing is actually over before we declare winners and losers. (Something which isn't likely to happen in our lifetime.)

Originally Posted by Damien435

Let's wait till this thing is actually over before we declare winners and losers. (Something which isn't likely to happen in our lifetime.)

Study the Bible when it talks about the end times. There seem to be quite a few pieces of the puzzle falling into place.

Originally Posted by boris116

Could you imagine the Turkish forces participating inthe Peace Keeping UN force?

Sure... If Turkish forces aren't forced to clean Hezballah from Southern Lebanon, our government think about sending 1000 or 5000 soldiers there...

Why u ask it?

I don't think you really want the Turks in that region.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/16/wo...in&oref=slogin

Defense Minister Elias Murr said Tuesday that the government would not seek to disarm Hezbollah.
“The army is not going to the south to strip the Hezbollah of its weapons and do the work that Israel did not,” he said, showing just how difficult reining in the militia will most likely be in the coming weeks and months. He added that “the resistance,” meaning Hezbollah, had been cooperating with the government and there was no need to confront it.

Originally Posted by 2dold4this

Who won the scrap between Israel and Hezbola?

Israel lost a strategic battle with terrorists, unfortunately.

Originally Posted by phoenix80

Israel lost a strategic battle with terrorists, unfortunately.

What was the Israeli objective? I think they have accomplished that.

Originally Posted by oRTouCH

Sure... If Turkish forces aren't forced to clean Hezballah from Southern Lebanon, our government think about sending 1000 or 5000 soldiers there...

Why u ask it?

I am interested to know what do the Turks think about this opportunity in relation to:
1. former affiliation of these lands with the Turkish Empire
2. Secular Turkish state and the religious extremists of Hesbollah
3. Sunni Turks vs. Shia Lebanese of the South
4. Close Turkish ties with Israel

It is a very interesting situation, don't you think?
Thanks!

Originally Posted by Chief Bones

Dean
Keep your dreams alive. We all have them ... but ... I am not very hopeful that diplomacy will work out any better this time than it did the last two times that Hezbollah And Hamas received a diplomatic settlement with Israel.

HAMAS - Israel gave up claims to certain lands to Palestinian people. What happened? - Hamas went to the highest points of land and lobbed rockets into Israel and then began another round of bombings.

HEZBOLLAH - Israel pulled out of occupied lands in the southern part of Lebanon and turned control over to the Lebanese government with the agreement that Hezbollah would be moved out of the southern lands and disarmed. What happened? - Hezbollah went into Israel on armed raids, captured Israeli soldiers and then started terrorist attacks against Israel.

Every time that Israel has tried to give the UN (or) any other body a chance to craft a diplomatic solution that will allow Israel to live in peace, some terrorist group rises up and breaks the agreement almost faster than the ink can dry. The biggest stumbling block was/is/will be - Iran and Syria.

Iran, because they pull the strings and arm both Hezbollah and Hamas.

Syria, because they are responsible for getting weapons, ammo and other supplies to Hezbollah.

Until these two countries are dealt with and made to assume responsibility for their own actions, peace in the Middle East will be but a dream. SO - keep dreaming Dean.

The only reasons that I have more hope this time are as follows.
1. Some of the peacekeeping troops will be Muslims, and Hezbollah cannot fire on them with out losing some of their support.
2. The Lebanese army is supposed to take positions in the south, and again, Hezbollah cannot engage them.
3. Lebanon has finally seen the results of allowing the power vacuum to form in the south. In the end, it cost them most if not all of their major transport infrastructures, many villages and towns destroyed, and somewhere around 1000 dead.
4. If no real action is taken, we can look forward to a repetition of this scrap, but the next time, the butcher's bill will be far higher. The Lebanese government is the first to realize this.
In the past, Hezbollah did not have any real reason to follow the UN resolutions, so they did nothing. This time, there are concrete reasons that mitigate against Hezbollah's continuing its operations in the south, although it does remain to be seen if indeed the Lebanese Army in particular has the stones to go up against Hezbollah. The French Foreign Legion definitely can, but they will definitely need PR help to do the job right.
I am not a dreamer. There remain far to many 'ifs' in this equation. But this is the first time that concrete steps are being taken that may result in the neutralization of Hezbollah as a guerilla force. Personally, I remain very doubful that this will work, but like I said, this time, it LOOKS better than in ever has. But really, I remain of the opinion that this was merely round two of a three round fight. The difference is that for round three, the gloves will really be off, and Hezbollah will be crushed.

Dean.

I lost the link but I read that even Iran has admitted the defeat of Hezbollah. This will of course not stop Hezbollah from delcaring victory to everyone else. Even though they are wrong (at least IMO) there are plenty of nuts all over the Middle East who are all to happy to believe them. Hezbollah shall use this 'victory' to boast morale and use it as a recruitment tool to draw even more fallowers into their ranks.

This is round 2 and the IDF has won it. However Hezbollah is anything but destroyed. It has merely been pushed back. And will use this time out to regroup, reorganize and rethink. And in a few years or maybe even months they will start right back up again.