Israel enjoyed unprecedented support from its principal allies when it launched its recent offensive against Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice articulated the partisan view that the root causes of the crisis were to be found on the Arab and Muslim side, that Hezbollah was an arm of global terror and Islamic fanaticism and an agent of Syria and Iran.
However, the situation in which Israel now finds itself falls far short of the aims of its military operation, which were to destroy Hezbollah's military infrastructure in southern Lebanon and to remove the threat of rocket attacks on Israeli citizens. Because of these shortcomings, the operation has not only failed to reassert Israel's deterrent military power, it has undermined it.
The world is now contemplating a shift in the regional balance of power.
Hezbollah has announced that it will not disarm or withdraw its guerillas from its political heartland. Six years after Israel ended its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon, the Shi'ite south remains fiercely dedicated to the organisation. It is now inextricably woven into the social fabric of a region that is home to some of Lebanon's poorest citizens. It has underpinned its military presence with a vast social network that finances health care and education and other services.
Thus Israel is now confronted on its borders with two enemies with solid local support. The other is Hamas, which easily won Palestinian parliamentary elections earlier this year.
Little wonder the outcome has sparked a sense of crisis in the Israeli political and military establishment, or that there are calls for an official inquiry into the conduct of the war.