There are a number of lessons that one should note regarding the Israeli/Hezbollah war. First of all, the notion among many that the American pro-Israel lobby has too much influence over US foreign policy should be put to bed permanently. While Israel didn't need much prodding by the US to go after Hezbollah, it is without a doubt that the US was the calling the shots. Israel had been prodded by US pressure over the last 6 years to not attack Hezbollah for its egregious violations of UN resolution 1559. Only when the US saw unleashing Israel on Hezbollah as a way to bloody the nose of Hezbollah (and in turn their Iranian benefactor), did the US government give Israel the green light. Even more disturbing was the pressure that US diplomats put on Israel to accept a ceasefire at the very moment that they were on the verge of a clear victory (same thing happened in 1967 and 1973).
The other lesson? That Iran and Syria have nothing to fear from their overt state sponsorship of terrorism. The "plausible deniability" defense that they depend on when using proxy terrorist forces is their "winning strategy" that they will surely use again and again (and that the West is only too willing to ignore).
Now that the USA has knelt down at the foot of Iran and Syria, they will surely teach us other "lessons" in the not-too-distant future.
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