The war is strengthening the fight-to-the-death groups and organizations. Hezbollah is a Middle East version of Vietcong: They can't be destroyed or wiped out because they swim in the waters of deprived and destitute Arabs and Muslims. Creating a no-man's buffer zone up to the Litani River will not provide more safety and security to Israel because once the ceasefire is in place, Syria and Iran will be arming Hezbollah with longer-range rockets capable of closing the distance.

Until the recent Israeli offensives, Hezbollah was a component within the coalition government, but in the post-ceasefire Lebanon, its hands will have been so strengthened and its militant prestige so boosted they will take over the center-stage in the next government. Like Hamas in Palestine, which has pushed out the moderates, Hezbollah will most likely dominate the next Lebanese government and demand a direct role in negotiations with Israel. One significant development in the Middle East in the last several months has been the rise of terrorist-guerrilla groups as legitimate leadership bodies. Their move to the center has been assisted by destruction and violence against innocent civilians. The strategy of punishing civilians to push out Hezbollah has failed. Hezbollah is using the same tactic by provoking as many Israeli bombings as possible by firing their mobile rockets to invite Israeli counterattacks. It seems both sides are seeking to use civilian casualties as a means of achieving political ends.

The United States and EU should work more forcefully through the UN to get Iran and Syria involved in the peace process, while forcing Israel to accept an unconditional and unilateral ceasefire. Asians are concerned that destruction of Lebanon will spread the seeds of instability into their midst. From southern Thailand to Malaysia to Mindanao and Indonesia, Muslims are fired up by the killings of innocent civilians in Lebanon. It's going to be a long, bloody war, not the short punitive action Israel might have wanted.