And someone else would see a complete defeat. The truth's likely somewhere in the middle. Over at Captain's Quarters, they examine the premise that for all the praise at first - Arabs are seeing Hezbollah's battle with Israel as a real 'lose-lose' situation.
Arabs Increasingly See Lebanon As A LossI don't think it had the effect Hezbollah thought it would, that's for sure.At the imposition of the UN Security Council cease-fire resolution, the West almost unanimously considered the war in Lebanon a disaster for Israel. Most analysts insisted that Israel's failure to destroy Hezbollah amounted to a humiliation and worried about the energizing effect Hassan Nasrallah's victory would have on radical Islam's popularity in the region. These analysts would be surprised to learn that Arabs increasingly view Hezbollah's war as a disaster as well -- but a disaster for Arabs:
Oh, well. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch of people.
J.