about 2 months. This is far too long. for Israel. Gen Eiland is right = massive damage to LEBANON must be inflicted from the start Remember Gaza last war only stopped after the high rise buildings were attacked and demolished after mant WEEKS.Hitting little houses is a waste of time.... Masive destruction of the high rises in downtown BEIRUT is required THIS POLICY MUST BE CLEARLY ENUNCIATED NOW and repeated regularly so all understand. Also look what risk the release of the Kuntar types causes.To release such dangerous types for two coffins of bones is unforgivable Even that Shalit swap.was totally done wrongly.Look how terror is being run by those swapped.(even from Turkey) All in all -a very excellent article ,General.

Jews must support Jews to stand. Abbas already launched palestinian passports. Chevre,wake up !

So Israel destroys all of Lebanon's infrastructure...so then what? Who fills the vacuum? The last paragraph notes the ISIS takeover of Syria and then Jordan...so this carpet bombing of Lebanon might lead to his same conclusion. Thank goodness Mr. Eiland is the FORMER head of the National Security Council.

As all know, Lebanon is a state in name only. Neither its govt or army has useful influence over anything. The country remains effectively dominated by Hizbollah/ Syria/ Iran. That being the case, for Israel to attack Lebanon's army & infrastructure would equate to slaughter - and certainly will not sway Hizbollah. The only party to be severely impacted by world pressure would be Israel... not Iran or its Hizbollah proxy. Eiland's strategy re. Lebanon "state" is high-risk diplomatic madness: it will earn Israel ALONE bitter condemnation & embargoes. There will be no "side benefits". Far better to focus all-out IDF effort on complete decimation of Hizbollah - which has little constituency worldwide. (Meanwhile Eiland is completely on target regarding his recommended strategic approach with Syria in terms of the Assad vs. ISIS threat...)

The two thirds of Lebanon who are hostile to the Hezbollah are potentially peaceful neighbors of Israel once Hezbollah is made unable to exercise its grip on Lebanon. Wrecking Lebanon indiscriminately won't achieve this long term objective. Eventually the Sunni majority in the Muslim world will overcome the threat of the minority Shiites led by Iran. And Israel will have to live in coexistence with the majority.

Hezbollah are an official part of the Lebanese Government. As such if Hezbollah attacks Israel and conflict ensues, it is as though Lebanon officially is at war with Israel (in fact unless I am mistaken, they have been officially at war with Israel since 1948). As such, all Lebanese infrastructure is fair game.

knockout Lebanon state and you invite chaos and an ISIS equivalent. and an even greater threat to Israel.

fight to vanquish Islam!

Israel targeted civilians and civilians infrastructure in 2006. The whole world watched it on TV. The EU countries and even the US sent ships and, in the case of the US, Marines, to evacuate their nationals because civilians were under fire. Israel left over a million bomblets on the ground in Southern Lebanon and refused to provide maps as part of ending it. So for years, the bomblets killed kids. The US banned the export of the bomblets (cluster bombs) after watching how US made weapons were used and abused. And that was with Bush and Cheney in the White House.

Re. Giora Eiland op-ed: This is exactly what you call "Women's Talk!" In the two previous wars Israel hit Lebanon - currently suffering from Iran's Hizbullah, in its various infrastructures, and left the party almost intact. With such superficial talk now I won't be surprised if this mistake is committed again!

Conquer the whole of Lebanon. Tit for Tat has never worked. Dont Change Sheeps for Wolves anymore. Arn.Sweden.

The writer is wrong and his strategy of destroying Lebanon will backfire. Most Lebanese Christians and Sunni Muslims would be happy to see Hezbollah destroyed once and for all. For years now this terrorist group, which serves their master Iran, has been holding the Lebanese people hostages. They do not consider Lebanon as their country. The removal of Hezbollah will draw cheers from most Lebanese and many others in the Arab world. Destroying Lebanon will lead only to the rise of more jihadists that want to destroy Israel.

If hezbollah attacks Israel it makes much more sense to destroy Iran right away and to let the Iranians know about the risk in advance. This should be a no brainer.