Youseff Ibrahim in the New York Sun sees a historic moment in the war raging on Israel's borders. Iran's "tentacle" Hizbullah enjoys no support among Sunni Arabs, and Syria is a pariah:

The right address for Israel's wrath was and remains Damascus. The right targets are Syria's civilian and military airports, Syria's missile system — as well as Hezbollah's missile network, supplied by Syria and Iran over the past six years — Syria's limp air force, and the summer and winter palaces of President Assad, for good measure.

Hitting Lebanon and stopping there is like beating the Lebanese messenger for a package put together by Iran and sent from Syria, with Mr. Assad as facilitator.

"Here you have actors who are basically pariahs who are trying to find their way back in. They're doing it the way they know best — brinksmanship," the director of the International Crisis Group's Middle East program, Robert Malley, told the Washington Post yesterday. "They want to change the rules of the game."

And they shouldn't be allowed. Indeed, the Syrian and Iranian moves are an error that only makes them and their Muslim fundamentalist allies vulnerable. Opportunities like this are rare.

If you subscribe to the NYS, there's additional interesting analysis here.  

Hat tip: Ed Lasky

Thomas Lifson  7 14 06