Efraim Inbar, a professor of political science at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, says Israel's priority is to stop Hezbollah's rocket attacks on Israel and then disarm the group.Aljazeera net: What are the Israeli goals in Lebanon?
Efraim Inbar: The goals are simple: To remove the missile threat to Israel, to push Hezbollah out of South Lebanon and to try to damage its military capability as much as possible. The direct responsibility is with Hezbollah which has a clear intent to destroy Israel and is a declared enemy of Israel. The Lebanese government may be formally at war with Israel, but it does not pursue any measures against Israel. The problem with the government is that it is unable to extend its sovereignty to all the state, which allows Hezbollah to operate as an independent militia and to build a state within a state.
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Would Israel consider attacking Iran or Syria?
The government that can make a difference is not the Lebanese government; it is the regime in Damascus that can cut off support for Hezbollah.
I advocate attacking Syria – to some extent we are wasting ammunition in Lebanon. But I'm not sure the Israeli government thinks in those terms. It has been making statements that it does not want to escalate the situation by attacking Syria.
Iran is too distant and so I think w'’re more likely to leave the Iranians to the Americans – for now
al Jazeera