The Iranian Connection

Surprise, surprise. Iran is behind Hezbollah. Haaretz reports:

A senior Iranian official admitted for the first time Friday that Tehran did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hezbollah.

Of course, we also know that Iranian President Ahmadinejad thinks that the only way to achieve a lasting piece in the Middle East is to destroy Israel -- although a cease-fire will do for now. Here's what he said yesterday at the 10th Islamic Summit Conference in Malaysia: "Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented."

(France, which recently cozied up to Iran, was aghast. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, the one who did the cozying up, said that he "totally condemn(s) these words". Too late, France.)

These missiles may be used to defend Lebanon, as Iran allegedly wishes, but there's a fine line between defence (defending Lebanon) and offence (destroying Israel), isn't there?

Iran is realistic enough to know that Hezbollah, its surrogate, has been weakened and that a cease-fire may be in its short-term interest. But what then? Will Iran continue to supply Hezbollah with ever more dangerous weapons? Is Ahmadinejad all talk, or is he actually serious about destroying Israel? If the former, his rhetoric still has force throughout the region and beyond. If the latter, how far will he go to arm Israel's other enemies, the ones that will be charged with carrying out his wishes?

This isn't about Hezbollah or Lebanon. It's about Israel. It's about the threat to Israel's existence posed by the likes of Iran and Syria. The bloodshed, particularly the killing of innocent civilians, is horrible. There may be no way to justify it beyond simple utilitarian theory. But think what Israel is up against here. Think what its enemies will do to destroy it, now and in future. A cease-fire may be coming, it may be inevitable, but Iran will continue nonetheless to do what it's doing, using surrogates like Hezbollah to wage its war against Israel. And it will only get worse.

If not now, soon enough.