According to some reports, Israel has sent ground troops into Lebanon, although apparently not very deep and only for a short time. Ralph Peters says that the Israelis may be losing the fighting spirit that has propelled them to victories in their other wars because they are, so far, unwilling to send ground troops into Lebanon to take on Hezbollah fighters directly. But, according to this article, the Israelis are working their way through a plan that includes, eventually, some kind of ground war. It appears that the Israelis are trying to cut Hezbollah off from their paymasters and suppliers in Damascus and Tehran, and then move in to destroy them. This may or may not involve them in direct conflict with the Syrians. There is an argument to be made, and David Warren makes it, that attacking Syria now would be a good idea in order to defeat Hezbollah by toppling one of its benefactors and ending Syrian influence in Lebanon for good. The reason the Israelis may be reluctant to do that is the possibility that it could lead to war with Iran, as well. This might make sense in any event since some people, like Edward Luttwak writing in the Jerusalem Post, believe that the Hamas and Hezbollah operations were planned and ordered by Iran.

Iran's quarreling and competing leaders finally decided to reject the US-European offer of an energy reactor, aircraft spare parts, economic cooperation and more in exchange for giving up uranium enrichment with which they could make nuclear weapons.

Many had hoped that in spite of their extremism Iran's leaders would accept the offer, if only to avoid sanctions - which are sure to come even if in the end China and Russia refuse to vote for them in the UN Security Council. The United States and Europe are united this time, and they can do much by themselves to cut off Iran from world banking, prohibit the travel of Iranian leaders, and stop exports to Iran of everything but food and medicine.

Instead of passively awaiting the inevitable sanctions, Iran's leaders decided to start a Middle East crisis of their own by organizing attacks against Israel. Their aim is to discourage the US and the Europeans from starting another crisis against themselves - financial markets and everyday politics in Europe especially can only tolerate so much conflict.

That gambit could also bring another benefit. Iran's claim to Muslim leadership is now being badly undermined by conflict in Iraq, where Iran supports the Shi'ite militias that are killing Sunnis. Every bloody day of bombings and executions in Iraq reminds Arabs that the Persian leaders of Iran are not Arabs, and it reminds Sunni Muslims everywhere that the Persians are not Sunnis. Attacking Israel overcomes all divisions among Muslims and gains Arab gratitude for Iran's help.

IRAN'S MOVE was prepared in a series of meetings with its local allies, both Hamas of Palestine and the Hizbullah of Lebanon. Khaled Mashaal, the overall Hamas leader who remains safely in Damascus under Syrian protection, traveled to Teheran at one point, where he received some $50 million in cash.

Although an offshoot of the strictly Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, whose financial supporters in Arabia loathe the Persian ayatollahs, Hamas evidently decided to cooperate in Iran's scheme. It was already cut off from Western funding because of its refusal to recognize Israel and it was already diplomatically isolated.

Read the whole thing.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, after spending much of the last three years demanding U.S. withdrawal from the country, it is now the Sunnis who are clamoring for the American military to stay, according to this article in the New York Times. Apparently, they have begun to realize that the only thing keeping Iraq from imploding into an all-out civil war is the presence of American troops. Perhaps if the Sunnis can convince their armed insurgents to stop their attacks against American troops and the fledgling Iraq forces, and if they can help get rid of the foreign jihadis who do at least some of the suicide bombing, then the American troops can get down to the business of disarming the Shiite militias and getting the Iraqi Army to be a better-trained and disciplined force. This may require our presence in Iraq for many years to come, but if we are not taking casualties, that fact will become one of political indifference here at home, much in the way our presence in Bosnia is today.