From this morning's Times:
Israelis living within a few miles of the Gaza Strip have been subjected to rocket attacks for years. Even though these are increasing, a death toll of eight since 2000 has meant that the Qassam rocket has grabbed few international headlines. But the missiles flying over Israel’s northern border are another matter. A single Hezbollah rocket, possibly one of its souped-up Katyushas, killed eight people in Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, yesterday. Iranian-made Fajers can travel far enough to unsettle Tel Aviv, which is on rocket alert for the first time.
To allow Iran, Hezbollah’s puppet master and a regime that believes Israel should be wiped off the map, and Syria such deadly influence in the region is a recipe for disaster. The Lebanese people are clearly not enamoured by the presence of Hezbollah guerrillas in the south of their country. But their Government needs help and political cover from the international community if it is to evict them.
Its cause domestically is not helped when Israeli bombs stray off target and kill Lebanese civilians, though any attempt to equate Israel’s efforts to hit terrorist targets with Hezbollah’s targeting of Israeli civilians is wildly misplaced. As Mr Bush and Condoleezza Rice both said yesterday, Israel needs to be acutely mindful of the consequences to innocent life and civic infrastructure, and therefore local politics, of its bombs. But Dr Rice was also right to say that an immediate ceasefire would not resolve the underlying problems, even though it would be desirable. Realpolitik demands action against Hezbollah — it is hardly in the long-term interest of either Lebanon or Syria to have a heavily armed extremist group in their midst.
And for Hezbollah read Iran and Syria:
With the battle between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah raging, key Arab governments are taking the rare step of publicly blaming Hezbollah, underscoring their growing fear of the group's main sponsor, Iran.
Saudi Arabia, supported by Jordan, Egypt, several Persian Gulf states and the Palestinian Authority, chastised Hezbollah for "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts" at an emergency Arab League summit in Cairo on Saturday.
The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said of Hezbollah's attacks on Israel, "These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them."
It is nearly unheard of for Arab officials to chastise an Arab group engaged in conflict with Israel, especially as images of destruction at the hands of Israeli warplanes are beamed into Arab living rooms. But the willingness of those governments to defy public opinion in their own countries underscores a shift that is prompted by the growing influence of Iran and Shiite Muslims in Iraq and across the region.
The way some officials see it, Arab analysts said, Israel is the devil they know, but Iran is the devil that could win.
"There is a school of thought, led by Saudi Arabia, that believes that Hezbollah is a source of trouble, a protege of Iran, but also a political instrument in the hands of Iran," remarked Adnan Abu Odeh, a Jordanian sociologist. "This school says we should not play into the hands of Iran, which has its own agenda, by sympathizing or supporting Hezbollah fighting against the Israelis."
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