The war in Lebanon is asymmetric — Israel's winning from above, as Hezbollah makes a major strategic mistake below
Netanyahu's power grows
Added to this is the political element underwriting all of this Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now all-powerful, perhaps the most powerful and emboldened Israeli leader ever
Israel's "self defence"
The view in Israel is that given the atrocities Hamas committed on, a year ago today that Israel can cite that as authority to do whatever it wants in the name of "self defence"
Perhaps the most common phrase among many world leaders wanting to support Israel at the moment is that "Israel has a right to self defence"
But Israel and these leaders, are certainly taking "self defence" to a new level and well beyond the borders of Israel — in recent days Israel has been bombing Gaza, the West Bank, southern Lebanon, northern Lebanon, the Bek'aa Valley, parts of central Beirut and the southern suburbs of Lebanon
Israel has ordered people from about 135 towns in Lebanon to evacuate
Added to this list may soon be Iran — many people in Israel and the Arab world expect Israel will respond shortly to Iran's missile attack on Israel last week with a direct attack on Iran
Hezbollah's new leader 'lost contact'
Another crisis for Hezbollah is that its leadership is uncertain — Hassan Nasrallah had towered over Hezbollah, building it from a Shia militia into the strongest non-state army in the world
After Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli air strike, Hashem Safieddine emerged as the likely successor
Within two days Safieddine, too, was targeted by Israel in another air strike Now Safieddine's missing — Hezbollah says it has "lost contact" with him
Safieddine may well be dead — perhaps he's buried under rubble. Perhaps Hezbollah knows, 1. perhaps Safieddine is dead and Hezbollah does not want to admit that, at a time when they are suffering so many losses or 2. perhaps Safieddine is alive but does not want Israel to know that so he doesn't continue to be hunted
Rarely has the world seen such a sustained bombing campaign as Israel is executing now
And Netanyahu knows that the major supplier of the bombs, the United States, may give lip service to the need for moderation or a ceasefire but will not cut supplies of bombs
Israel has military supremacy in the Middle East at the moment and clearly wants to push ahead with its attacks as it senses that its enemies are on the run
