Informed Speculation

The Washington Post editorial page has, at least in the realm of American newspapers, become the de facto home of sensible liberalism. Case in point is today’s offering:

When Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon in 2000 after more than two decades of occupation, it also issued a warning: Any cross-border provocations by Hezbollah, the militant Shiite group, would elicit a severe military response. So there can be no surprise at the violent reaction to Hezbollah’s ambush of an Israeli patrol Wednesday, in which three soldiers were killed and two others taken captive by the guerrillas. And there can be no doubt that Iran and Syria, Hezbollah’s chief sponsors, bear responsibility for what has instantly become the most far-reaching, lethal and dangerous eruption of cross-border fighting in the Middle East in recent years.

Europeans and others in the international community are already criticizing as excessive Israel’s swift military response. Conspicuously they have said comparatively little about the volleys of dozens of rockets Hezbollah rained down on northern Israel yesterday.

But it is Iran (and Syria) that pull the strings. The WaPo sees a two-pronged strategy: isolate Hezbollah and take the diplomatic fight to Iran and Syria.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah offers few conventional military targets; its offices, training camps and safe houses are hidden from view. So the Israelis have opted to inflict general pain on their northern neighbor, destroying bridges, blockading ports, cratering runways at its brand-new international airport — and, now, threatening to attack Beirut itself. The idea may be to intensify popular Lebanese opposition to Hezbollah, which forms part of Lebanon’s governing coalition and controls cabinet seats. That has apparently worked; many Lebanese, including but not only Christians, are furious at Hezbollah for exercising what amounts to a unilateral foreign policy.

But even if Hezbollah is punished politically at home for its wild irresponsibility, the underlying problem — its benefactors in Iran and Syria — remains. That’s where American and allied diplomacy and influence should be focused. Tehran should be called to account in the U.N. Security Council not only for its program to enrich uranium but also for its support of Hezbollah. Damascus, which hosts Hezbollah and Hamas, should also come under renewed international pressure, including sanctions. In all the diplomacy, the false lure of “evenhandedness” must not be allowed to obscure the fact that Hezbollah and its backers have instigated the current fighting and should be held responsible for the consequences.

UPDATE 9:04 a.m.: Signs that the strategy may be working:

Lebanese critics as well as allies of Hezbollah insist that the Israeli response was disproportionate. But at the same time, in meetings Thursday, Lebanese officials began to lay the groundwork for an extension of government control to southern Lebanon. Hezbollah largely controls southern Lebanon, where it has built up a network of schools, hospitals and charities.

“To declare war and to make military action must be a decision made by the state and not by a party,” said Nabil de Freige, a parliament member. He belongs to the bloc headed by Saad Hariri, whose father, Rafiq, a former prime minister and wealthy businessman, was assassinated in 2005, setting off a sequence of events that forced the Syrian withdrawal. “It’s a very simple equation: You have to be a state.”

After a cabinet meeting Thursday, the government said it had a right and duty to extend its control over all Lebanese territory. Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat said the statement marked a step toward the government reasserting itself.