Hezbollah: Israel onslaught a surprise.

[demosincebirth]

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A senior Hezbollah official said Tuesday the guerrillas did not expect Israel to react with an all-out offensive after the capture of two soldiers, the first acknowledgment by the group that it had miscalculated the consequences of the raid two weeks ago.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060726/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_fighting_hezbollah;_ylt=AsdeDNJm0SNbyJ9V6b974cas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

[Kagemusha]

1. Just so I can get this out there... I don't believe that official.

Or put another way, perhaps they expected less, but I do not see their exhaustive preparations as evidence of actual surprise. Put a third way, for their longer term goals this is going far better than expected so far; they can't believe their luck that Israel would be so heavy-handed.

[Clarkie1]

2. Well, at least they will know what to expect in the future.

That's something.

Edit: Not that I necessarily believe anything they say in the first place. Just as likely this is damage-control on their part saying to the Lebanese "sorry guys, we just didn't know they would do this."

[Superman Returns]

3. and that folks

is the politics of the Middle East. Every Muslim ruler in the region has had more blood on their hands killing their own citizens than Israel kills in a day during this conflict. Some of these Muslim on Muslim massacres are tribal conflicts or battles between the modernized rulers and fundamentalist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood. This is the game of the Middle East. You show weakness, you lose your life. So what happens? Ask what what the Syrians did to Hama after Muslim Brotherhood members threatened to topple the "infidel" Allawite regime. Bascially, the town was leveled and destroyed, probably around 38,000 dead. That my friends is a massacre. Israel shows weakness against Hezbollah, its an invitation for further attack. They need to be taught a lesson.

[atreides1]

6. Kind of a Broad Brush there?

"Every Muslim ruler in the region has had more blood on their hands killing their own citizens than "

I guess that would include King Abdullah of Jordan and Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt. After all they are both Muslim leaders?

Besides, the Israelis haven't been in the neighborhood as long as the others.

[Igel]

4. Personal belief:

They were probably planning something. Who knows what--just not now.

[The Magistrate]

5. As Mr. Bera Said, Sir

"The future is hard to predict, on account of it ain't happened yet."

There is a reason military intelligence concentrates on determining what the enemy is capable of doing, rather than than on guessing what the enemy intends to do....