According to chief of staff and military command estimates, a total of 520 to 600 hizb'allah fighters were killed (estimates are varying from 520, over 550, to 600). Estimates of IDF commanders are generally reliable, even though chieff of staff & commanders are being criticized nowadays. This still makes a ratio of 1 - 5 to 1 - 6 dead fightsmen resp. soldiers. So much as regards the counting of points and the balance sheet. Now, as regards the overall victory and more important: its perception, then we must admit that for Israel, resp. IDF, not achieving her military goals is being seen as a failure. By the arab-muslim world, but also by the whole world, and finally also by Israel herself, being to much accustomed to enormous military dominance. Israel overestimated herself and underestimated hizb'allah. Israel will learn and evolve. A zero-error track record would have been abnormal, anyway.

That is exactly why Israel should come to term with Hizbullah to exchange the prisoners & give back Lebanon its SHEBAA farms. Note, Shebaa is a Lebanese town, therefore Sheebaa farms are Lebanese land not Syrian. After this is done, Hisbullah has to fulfill the promises made to the other Lebanese parties that it will give up its weapons and become a political party.

Thank you for being truthful even though truth is bitter. And now you should express respect for you enemies and maybe this will lead to end of hatred and establishing of friendship. I believe that if Israel stops calling them extremists and terrorists and all other contemptious terms, Israel will find them to be more receptive and easy going. Its time for Lebanon and Israel to meet on level field and hold civilised talks. There is no need for further wars. Israel will get security once it gives respect.

These are good points. But another point also needs to be made: the US and Israel have failed to win because, bowing to world opinion, they have not delivered mass death and destruction to their enemies. I mean this seriously. Israel had the air power to flatten and de-house every enemy village and center. The US failure to apply WW II bombing in Afghanistan--but with even more devastating weapons--allowed Binladen and Mullah Omar and their most senior henchmen to escape.

The israeli army should come back to the old fashion way of fighting its enemies, that is the way that the Hagannah of the late Menachem Begin fought in the 1940's against the Brits. I am sure that Begin must have turned in his grave seeing the tactics used by the Israeli chain of command during this 34-day fight against the Hizbullah terrorists in South Lebanon. In order to achieve the mission of eradicating the Shiite militia, the Israeli HQ should revise the tactics or else they will expose themselves to another disillusion. It may then be too late for the state of Israel.

And that is what the future holds for the zionist "project". If the Jews have the brains they are reputed to have--I wonder if that is not vastly overrated--they will admit the fallacy of zionism, dissolve their illegitimate government, and do what was supposed to have been done in 1948: establish a UN Trusteeship to be in effect until the Palestine question can be sorted out. Otherwise the ultimate outcome will be a 21st century Holocaust, for the liberators of Palestine will show no mercy whatever. If I were a Jew in Palestine now, I would be actively seeking refuge elsewhere, before it is too late. The IDF will always come out second-best from now on. It is no longer fighting unmotivated ragtag Arab armies. Hizbullah and its like are very disciplined, security-conscious, up to snuff on intelligence, and determined. Recognize your coming defeat, bring in the UN Trusteeship, and you will be surprised at how world opinion will become radically more pro-Jewish. In addition, peace will reign in the Holy Land.

having the advantage in fighting in their own land, and the wish to register the win they scored 6 years ago Hizbllah was in a better mood and morals for this war. And don't be misled to say that most Israeli army was reservists, No, the best units in Israeli army got defeated as well, special commandos got lost, suffered heavily, tanks destroyed by tens, Even the best Israeli Unit, 269, which tried to kill or take a hostage of any of hizbllah leaders 2 days ago, suffered a defeat and casulties without succeding in doing anything, Now, by the time Israeli army is trying to re-grounp, and drawing new plans to have a second round with hizbllah army, hizbllah is also regrouping and preparing for new surprises which I think will take Israel in their 3rd defeat against the same army since 2000. Unless someone smart in Israel will not take the whole country into unguaranteed war.

We need to emphasize more carpetbombing and bunker busters. That with a leadership that is more concerned withour safety than looking good to the erabians will win the next war! When Nixon began carpetbombing the Viet Cong, they began their retreat and rushed to the table to talk. It was the failure of US politicians who showed yellow stripes like our three stooges do to support th Pentagon which led to the humiliation. We cannot afford such a humilition, and if our politicians can't do it, step out and we will elect some who can!

Not necessarily. If you go into battle unprepared of course as in this case Hizbullah fought better. All the top brass involving from Olmart to army heads are to blame for this devastating loss on the battlefield. Israel has the best army in the world from intelligence, equipment & the best soldiers, However they were all used improperly. I hope we will learn from our mistakes.

Some good points from Ron. I think that it is good to be sensitive to losses and not throw way soldiers lives for nothing. But if the decision is made to go to war we should keep in mind that people will die. I think that the IDF is oversensitive to casualties and that impedes it effectiveness. Up until I was released 2 years ago due to age, I was in the IDF reserves and fought in more than 1 battle. I was always aware that I was a soldier and may be killed. But because I felt that I was really defending my family and country I was willing to bear the consequences.

Hezbollah has a grass roots support among the shia population, can easily melt away in case of a concentrated IDF attack and has plenty of weapons courtesy of Iran. There are 2 ways to defeat Hezbollah. 1 would be through a prolonged multi-year campaign of Special operations, assassinations of Hezb. leaders and propaganda. 2nd way would be the Chechnya solution, akin to the Russian re-conquest of the Kavkaz terrorists. This would most likely be impossible due to the political climate that Israel is always in. Also I'd like to add that the initial national goal of defeating Hezb. within 2 weeks or 30 days was a simply impossible goal to achieve from the beginning. Hezbollah is an advanced insurgency, you cant defeat an insurgency (especially such an efficient and capable one) in 30 days or less. Impossible.

Your article would have been much more interesting if you had presented some intelligent and thoughtful ideas as to how Israel should have fought the war instead of only criticizing.

to say hizbollah fought better is to put it mildly, just think for a second if the likes of nasrallah were to one day come to rule one of the countrys that border "israel" i dont think that "israel will last more then a few MIN. at most no matter how powerful "israels" airforce is how many nucllear weapons it has & how many superpowers back it up. thank you p.s. conclusion ISRAEL must extend out its hand in freindship to its neighbors & return back their land it is not that hard GAZA IS A PRISON & not a FREE land

Quote.. "Hizbullah commanders and fighters were willing to sacrifice their lives in order to complete missions,"..Unquote In actual fact they were willing to sacrifice any lives-especially civilians in Israel and the lebanese (who actually proved to be better than body armour.) I would question as to how a moral army can fight an immoral one I would say forget the rules of war-the other side did... fight using the rules of survival

In yesterday's Jerusalem Post, Edward Luttwak, whom I respect, wrote a very significant article which disputes the thesis of this article. While he sees the failures, he makes a very good case that the Israelis outfought Hezbollah. In historic comparisons, he shows that Israeli casualties were small compared to other examples in history, including the Yom Kippur and Six Day wars. He also points out that past wars which were looked at as losses at the time are now regarded as victories. This is not a defense of Israel's current leadership whom I believe should be replaced. It is a questioning of a lot of the current "rush to judgment".

instead of engaging in house to house fighting in lebanese villages, what about using infantry forces to engage an enemy, and then, once engaged, use air power and artillery to pound the source of fire and surrounding areas. repeat many times. civilian casulties would be much higher, but the job of a goverment is to protect its civilians first, its soldiers next, and civilians on the other side only after that.

This has to be the 50th IDF bashing article about the outcome of the Lebanon shootout. The articles are totally singleminded about the reasons of the IDF's poor performance, and it's getting really tiresome. So for the last time: Dear armchair strategist Ron: a/ Regular armies take orders from commanders that take orders from politicians. b/ regular armies have rules of engagement, that prohibit targeting of civilian population. Guerillas do not. The ruthlesness of Hitz-blah was not fully anticipated. It will not happen again. Actually mind-boggling, how they first fight from densely populated civilian areas, causing inevitable collateral damage and than dispense packs of dollar bills to the survivors, collecting their eternal grattitude. Ron, every failure brings wisdom. Your article is too late and frankly - just a load of sickening drivel. Sorry.

really is tiresome to see pundits seeking attention via oversized provocative statements. "The guerillas won"? Israel did fail to meet key objectives, but some are still winnable, and we need to follow through with courage and focus so that they are in fact won. That is the first issue of the day. First among these: Lebanon as a whole will be held accountable for what happens there. This includes: 1) holding hostages 2) weapons transfers. So, no release of the blockade without the release of the 2 soldiers. And keep telling Kofi unapologetically that the IDF will work with a free hand as long as Syria is transferring weapons ... there is no cease fire yet ... please no more wimpy talk about "it was just an intelligence operation, but we had to return fire..." Let's also say frankly Hez failed to meet its objectives. Where is Kuntar? Who holds Shebaa Farms? Was Lebanon "defended"? Did Hezb hide its hand (long range missiles, C802s) so it could use them when it wanted? While willingness to die is an asset [note the authors insult to say many IDF and obviously reservists don't have this zeal], remember it is the IDF's job to make sure the other guy dies for his cause (remember Gen. Patton!) Pundits buy (and then sell!) the enemy's propaganda when they claim how they want to be martyrs. So yes, let us self-criticize and prepare for the next round, for unequivocal victory. But first let us win the objectives that are still winnable. And not propagate the enemy's propaganda.

Bitter but wise words - for future.

we didnt wait for this .. we already celebrating the victory of muslims over you.. It was the real war that your stupid IDF face since 1948 and all the other wars were drama done by our leaders who were more faithful to US than us ...Nowadays we have hero called Nasrallah who teached you the lesson

reluctantly i agree with most of his column.

You might be right, Gaza is a roof-less prison, not a free land. You neverthelless can't make us responsible for everything. You can accuse us of having occupied land which is not ours, but now that it's given back, you make us responsible for the Palestinan elite's unability to set up reliable institutions, erase corruption, democratize knowledge, information, and education, and making a democracy work. Look at Arafat, he never achieved to fulfill the step from the status of a guerilla fighter (with some huge terrorist stains) to the one of a statesman. Moreover, NEVER forget: 1) In 1948, the whole world community agreed on a 2-state solution. Israel accepted, but not the Palestinians, nor any neighbouring country. 2) In 1967, after the 6-day war, Ben Gurion offered to all neighbouring countries all conquered territories agains immediate peace. All involved enemies refused. So, once again, don't make us responsible for everything. It would have been hard to find a more moral ennemy than Israel. Another ennemy would have wiped out time ago, and Israel never lacked the material means to do so.

that the whole purpose of Hizbollah is destruction. Your drivel about peace is born of ignorance or weak attempts at manipulation - and will not work. Ask yourself why Hizbollah was pushed north and not south? Ask if Israel is still around? Ask who has the better quality of life? Ask who's allies randomly attack completely uninvolved civilians the globe over? You and yours are forever the losers.

unlike our enemies we can admit our mistakes , make amends and do not repeit the mistake in the future . This is how Jewish people survived for 4000 years.

So I dont understand why this guy is criticizing the IDF. If you had read other articles posted on this site, you would have realized that the IDF was simply stopped in its tracks before being allowed to carry out their missions. The government would not allow the IDF fight the war as they wanted. Nonetheless, the IDF has scored one of the most successful military victories against a guerilla group in history. Hopefully when round 2 comes, and I know it will, the IDF will tell the "leaders" where they can go and do what they do best - kick terrorist ass.

Your sick fantasy will never happen. Just because the Israeli standards are so much higher than your Arab standards and they consider a small victory a defeat doesn't mean Israel was defeated. Look around Lebanon and look at the damage Hezbollah took and realize it was only a small fraction of Israel's capabilities. Dont expect such restraint in Round 2.

Or are they as "easygoing" as when they blew up a cafe full of people? A club full of people? A hotel full of people? A market full of people? But you are right. Lets forget all the things they did that made us start calling them terrorists. After all, they are so "EASYGOING"!!!! Lets just shake hands with them and be friends! (And hope they dont try to kill us again)

Well said, Ron! It is true. And with that knowledge, through hard work of all, we must become better!