There's a dirty little secret north of the border. Everybody knows what it is, but nobody wants to say it out loud. The secret is that Israel is very unpopular in Lebanon, even among political factions who are against Hezbollah. (No Lebanese will forget whose planes destroyed so much of its infrastructure in 2006. And if their memories should lapse, IAF overflights and sonic booms remind them.) The result is that the Lebanese Army won't do anything to harm Hezbollah, and won't do anything to interfere with its actions against Israel. George Bush's puppet Siniora "democracy" received a wake-up call from the Army and has responded by backing off its attack on Hezbollah. But the Siniora puppet government isn't responding to Hezbollah: it's responding to the Army and the people of Lebanon. To change this, Israel will have to do positive things for Lebanon and attempt to undo some of the damage done in 2006 (and of course in 1982).

lebanon is just a proxy for Syria/Iran. Forget them. They're long gone.

As Lebanon 2 showed.. nothing existed in that country which conceivably could be termed as 'government'.

Religious fanatics seem to get their way here just as they do in the Arab world. The constant threats of "we'll leave the government if ....." is just as sickening as Hezbollah although they only resort to spiteful rhetoric and do not use force. The destructive sometimes violent results results are the same, though. The government gives in.