The Litani is not a defensive line. It is an alibi line. The idea that Hezbollah can be pushed back to the Litani and presented as a strategic success is not a security doctrine. It is a cartographic illusion: a line on a map mistaken for an outcome. The problem does not sit on the river. It is built as a network of command, funding, production, transit and regeneration. It moves, embeds and returns. The Litani does not stop it. It enables evasion.

Israel does not seek to govern Lebanon. It seeks to ensure that no armed militia remains on its border.

Striking bridges on the Litani is correct and necessary. A bridge used to move forces is a military target. But turning the Litani itself into the objective is a conceptual mistake. Israel is not fighting over a river. It is fighting to dismantle a capability.

Not containment. Not balance. Not management.

Any outcome that leaves Hezbollah armed is not stability. It is a countdown.

Israel has been there before. Eighteen years of control in the south did not produce security. They produced the conditions in which Hezbollah grew, institutionalized itself and expanded. The threat was not eliminated. It was reproduced.

A renewed Israeli hold in the area between the border and the Litani is not........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)