This article sounds like it was written by an excited 21 yr old journalist breaking his first story. It's implications are beyond conceivable and the reality on the ground is completely ignored. The West will pry Lebanon and Syria apart, Iran will be attacked in the fall by the US (hence: our rapid withdrawal from Iraq), Israel will NEVER agree to '67 boundaries (which has the backing of both the US congress and senate, albeit quietly) and Jeruslem will not be divided. Hezbollah's elimination simply means less of a threat from terrorist attacks over the Lebanese border. Hamas would also feel the pressure but in the end, Israel will never agree to the conditions of the Palestinians so none of this matters in the big picture.

Majority of of Arabs, Suni or Chiaa support Hizballa and Nasrallah know that very well. Hizballah are not scared at all, au contraire, it's Egyptian and Saudi regimes who are scared and hoping for Hizballah moderation to save the face!!! I know, I am a Lebanese scene watcher :o)

It is difficult to find support for this idea in the article: "Behind his back we see the emergence of a magnificent alliance between the presidential palace in Damascus and Lebanese leaders. Bashar and Hariri, along with the Turks and Saudis". The media has been full of news of the close or getting closer relation between Iran & Syria, Turkey. It has also been ascerted that Hizbollah has become even more under direct control of Iran after the demise of Mughniyeh . To believe that there is a secret alliance to neutralize the terrorist organization is to believe that there signs of an immediate collapse in the financial & weapon support Iran is providing to Syria & Hizbollah not to speak of business with Turkey. Iran may be facing increasing economic woes but its source of petrodollars is not yet dry & by a big margin. So the conditions for a dramatic reversal of alliances do not appear to be on the horizon. When Syria changes side as part of its traditional racket for funds: that will be the sign.

The author was on-point for most of the article until he fell into the delusional belief of the "holy" Arab Initiative. While the "carrots" he mentioned being dangled in front of Israel are tempting, it's the hammer hidden behind the back of the Arabs that is of concern. - a return to 1967 lines? It wasn't defensible for years leading up to 1967, why would it be tomorrow? Because Arabs are so honest? Hardly! - a final solution to the refugees? Yeah, sending them all into Israel unless they personally choose otherwise. I wonder how many will be able to make that choice without outside coercion? And what type of life will anyone have with an influx of poor, backward people full of hate and blame? Everyone will suffer, especially Israeli Arabs! - Immediate acceptance by Muslims States? So what? The real danger is from the non-State entities which are not bound by this initiative but if Israel retaliated would place Israel in violation. Arafat played this convoluted equation through the Oslo Accords, too. Just as in 1994, today the Arabs cannot be trusted but the Left believes them implicitly, to the detriment of everyone.

Just look at what your Barak said yesterday. He will target the Lebanese state if war broke out with Lebanon and exchange of fire hits tel Aviv. That tells me that Israel is still blind and would not know how to hit Hizballah .. so go after the innocent civilans and government buildings. Nice from a nuclear state that portrays it's neighbours as the terrorists.

Be AFRAID nasrallah, BE VERY AFRAID... You PIG!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very good article, it shows what kind of worm nasrallah and the WORTHLESS SCUM like him are all about... They hide behind women and children. Please, more articles like this. Play them for the cheap fiddles that they are....You gotta luv it !!!!!

will have a sobering time very soon. the only thing the "saudis' are good at is to incubate and support loser jihadis. The Hezb has a couple of victories under its belt that NO Arab "leader" can even dream of. Israel's defeat in Lebanon in the hand of the Hezb and IDF's humiliating withdrawal from Lebanon is just one example.

israel. useless waste of electrons.

meanwhile, israel remains scared of nasrallah.

We should have guessed that Peri's whole fiction article was aimed at demanding Israel's surrender to Saudi demands. The problem is that this article is devoid of any connection to reality. Iran has one interest: gain enough control of oil resources to be safe from American/Saudi attack. The Syrian Awali won't succumb to the fanatics of Saudi Arabia, as long as they have Iran as an ally. With Mubarak on his death bed, with the Americans on the run in Iraq and Afghanistan, and with Al-Quaeda's increasing popularity in the Muslim world, the Saudis are in no place to do anything to Hezbolla. Peri should realize that Iran has no real interest in Israel. Instead, Iran will keep the Lebanese front hot until they are able to topple the American puppets in Saudi Arabia.

first hizballa is the strong part of lebanon second saudiarabia will not be out of any arab movement if it is peace or war

I don't know who Israel thinks its Allies are but by far the majority of the worlds population acknowledges Hezbollah as having driven war mongering Israeli's out of its own country Lebanon. If Hezbollah can acquire sufficient defensive firepower then that hopefully will deter Israel from further aggression.

Independent of the Golan Heights, the Assad regime considers the axis with Iran a long-term, strategic interest and not a tenuous-tactical marriage of convenience. For Assad to pry away from Iran, in return for the Golan Heights and US engagement, would require to de-Assadize himself. The Syrian leopard cannot change its stripes; it does, however, change its tactics. More about Syrian diplomacy at :

This doesn't even qualify as nonsense. Nothing will pry Syria away from Iran, nothing will stop Syria from supporting Hezbollah, & nothing will stop both Iran & Syria from taking complete control of Lebanon using Hezbollah as a proxy. Iran is running the show, if Iran judges that it is in their interests to start a war, Hezbollah will start a war. The way to defeat Hezbollah is to defeat Syria. If this means a war with Iran as well, so much the better. We have ZERO interest in any Saudi peace initiative. The Saudis have their own problems with Iran but this does not make them or any other Arab state an ally, they are still our enemies & seek our destruction. The only aim of this article was to support total surrender of Israel's interests, just typical Leftist subterfuge & obfuscation.

...that's why he's been living underground since the 2006 war....mit der feiss aroff und der kop in drerd ...

It's true that Israel, under the leadership of its former liberal govt., was inept at war and fearful of the world's opinion, but the current leadership is a little wiser. Netanyahu plays to the crowd of international manipulators by welcoming negotiation and dialogue with Israel's enemies, but it's a tactic to reveal the Arabs for what they really are and want. Israel is neither foolish nor suicidal. It clearly sees the transparent ploys of enemies and meddlers. Negotiations are welcomed with open arms, but shut doors. Concessions made are superficial and temporary. What Israel can't do to protect itself openly, it can do more effectively in secret. And well it should. Netanyahu is prepared to string things along until the American people get rid of Hussein Obama, who is as trustworthy as Arafat was. Arab nations only face setbacks, while Israel perpetually faces annihilation.

Smadar Peri either dreamy or drippy. hezbollah and Sayyed Nasrallah are not afraid of anything. Wake up honey and smell the coffee

Peri is one of those journalists who travels the Arab world and sits and talks with Arab leaders... both the front row and those behind the scenes. A little drippy, perhaps, but not dreamy at all. As for Nasrallah, any child knows that he fears Israel. That is why he is almost never seen in public, and has been forced into the undergroud - yes, it is indeed like a rat. Do you want another cup of coffee, Salma? Nasrallah woke up after he started the last war in Lebanon, and he found 25,000 IDF soldiers in his backyard. Yes, Salma, Israel suffered a horrible, terrible, embarrassing, cowardly defeat at the hands of the mighty Hezbollah. That is why there were 25000 Israeli soldiers in Lebanon at the end of the last war, and not a single brave, heroic, freedom-fighting and armed Hezbollah soldier on Israeli soil at all. Nasrallah is very afraid. His repeated attempts to overthrow the democratically elected government in Beirut have failed. Iran is being squeezed by the international community. Wake up and smell the coffee, Salma. The world is boycotting Hezbollah's masters in Iran, not Israel.

So this is the main reason for Peri's stupidity,she travels the Arab world and sits and talks with Arab leaders!! You're a brave man,Brian Cohen,You admit that Hezbollah is the difficult figure in the equation, it is enough that you compare this small organization with the most powerful entity in the Middle East !! 25000 "Israeli" soldiers in Lebanon were forced to leave, again dragging their tail between their legs.

Leftist or is she on the payroll of the enemy?...intersting how she speaks of something gloomy-the threat- and twists logic in order to encourage our national suicide. No, Smadar we are not that stupid...why accept surrender and anihilation? Why accept a multi-phased plan for the destruction of Israel from our enemies who wish to wipe us off the map into Holocaust 2 (within the last 100 years). This is garbage.... YNEt should take down this demoralizing, unfactual rehtoric.

The IDF left Lebanon to give the peace a chance.Personally I think it was big mistake but no one is perfect.The IDF are not coward as Hizbollah and deep in your heart you know it is true.IN the next war let Hizbollah fighters (if they are really courages) come out in the battlefield and not to hide within the civilians,or hospitals,etc,.and secondly dont cry to the world ISRAEL USING EXCESSIVE FORCE.Let the war goes to the end.Now you can go and take cup of strong coffee or mint tea with Israeli HALVA

What a revolting specimen of a human being But hes got the superhuman ability to make you want to vomit whenever you see his face I made the mistake of seeing his face this morning and its put me off my breakfast and lunch! Wake up Middle East With Hezbollah promoting Nasrallahs face everywhere you could find yourselves starved into submission!

All a cult leader needs is a photo op. The oppressed in the cult will view him as more powerful and that works to his advantage.

Not that I've been able to get there in many years, given the ban on Israelis going into Gaza and the fear of being kidnapped by Hamas (and by the way "on me" means I'll buy the first coffee, not that the coffee is spilled on me). Brave? I don't think so. I'm just admitting the obvious. Hezbollah is an Iranian funded and controlled armed militia that swears allegiance to Tehran, not Beirut. Despite repeated calls by the central democratically elected government in Beirut, Hezbollah refuses to disarm or to join the Lebanese army. Yes, I did indeed compare Hezbollah to the most powerful army in the Middle East. Unless you missed my cynicism and satirical comments, I'll say it clearly this time: Hezbollah started the last war with their illegal violation of the Israeli-Lebanese border. They killed several soldiers, and kidnapped and subsequently murdered several more. As part of the cover of their illegal military operation, Hezbollah then fired dozens of missiles at Israeli population centers. This drew Israel into a war with Hezbollah on Lebanese soil. Over 1000 Lebanese were killed, thousands of more injured, and billions of dollars in damage resulted. And you and other silly people claim that all of this was done in to order to draw the IDF into Lebanon in order for the IDF to leave "dragging their tail between their legs"??? Tell us, did Hezbollah accomplish anything else by starting this war? Oh yes, they released the brave child-killer Samir Kuntar. Wow. Several thousand dead and wounded Lebanese, thousands of homes destroyed and damaged - all in order to get a convicted child killer back into Lebanon. How is it that Hezbollah managed to get more Lebanese killed than Israelis? Why is it that Nasrallah admitted afterwards that he made a "mistake"? The Iranian controlled Hezbollah, which occupies southern Lebanon and threatens the stability of the country, does indeed reman the difficult figure in the equation. Forget about Israel for a moment. Take away Hezbollah from the equation, and suddenly things in Lebanon look much better, don't they? Anyhow, let me know if there's any decent kanafe in Gaza. I'm Israeli, so I like to have my cheesecake at the same time as my coffee... it that's ok with you.

Living where you are is making you distinctly out of touch with reality my friend As a matter of interest whose interests do you think that slob Nasrallah is defending? Lebanon? With defenders like that who needs enemies Palestinians? We wouldnt touch him with a bargepole Yup youve got it Nasrallahs is defending Nasrallah and above all his masters Iran So Peter - you love him? Have him....with the compliments of the overwhelming majority in the region

israelis are the worst analysts of lebanon. you have no idea what you're talking about. hysterical nuts.

If there was no Hizbollah? things would be better? really? like in 82? in few hours Beruit was occupied....hmm.. in 2006.. a retry of that was stopped and the israeli army was defeated and soldiers crying... i didnt see a lebanese fighter crying...Now israel cant invade anymore into lebanon..people of the world know that israel is the bad guy...buying politicains in the world will not take israel/jewish mafia/aipac not far not for long...

Let's get straight on Saudi Arabia. Follow what they do, not what they say. Read the history of their pact with the devil..Abdel Wahib. Follow the flow of funds from SA to virtually every jihadist group out there. Follow their funding of mosques abroad and the teachings of the preacheers installed, the books supplied, best yet, read the SA offical version of the Koran (available in unabridged English). They show zero tolerance for anyone other than their own ilk - so how can this really be a "peace" plan? and who will underwrite/keep the peace? UN? Arab League? Moslem Brotherhood? The advocates are, at best, naive; at worst, evil.