The Israeli security zone in Lebanon was that kind of a place – slightly makeshift, slightly madcap, part killing field, part theater of the absurd, a place where everything goes and everything went.
When Israeli soldiers locked the border gate behind them on Wednesday, it marked the fulfillment of Prime Minister Ehud Barak\’s campaign pledge to \”bring the boys home.\”
Hezbollah will turn its attention to resisting normal relations with Israel if Syria and Lebanon reach a peace settlement with the Jewish state, according to the Shi\’ite group\’s leader.
King Hussein\’s latest medical crisis — and his abrupt replacement last month of Prince Hassan with his eldest son, 37-year-old Prince Abdullah, as heir to the Hashemite throne — worry Israelis more than they like to admit.
The attacks marked the heaviest cross-border violence since a cease-fire in 1996 ended with Operation Grapes of Wrath, Israel\’s 16-day campaign in Lebanon against Hezbollah.
A new coded message has entered the chilly lexicon of Israeli anxiety. \”Heavy fighting is taking place in Lebanon,\” intones the news reader. Hundreds of mothers and fathers with soldier sons serving across the northern border know immediately what that means. There are casualties, but the families have not yet been notified.
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