International force not eager to take on Hezballah

Rowan Scarborough:

Hezbollah's display of coordinated attacks and small-unit action is surprising the world community and making Western nations think twice about agreeing to put peacekeeping troops between the militant Lebanese Shi'ite group and aggressive Israeli forces, military analysts say.
"It's not that they are fanatical," said retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert H. Scales Jr., a decorated Vietnam combat veteran. "But in many ways, they are quite deliberate. It shows reasonable command and control and training in small-unit action. ... In terms of enemy combatants, the most military competent enemy combatant is Hezbollah."
He said that persuading Western nations to send troops to southern Lebanon would be a "hard sell."
"Few nations want to confront Hezbollah because the terrorist group has an unquenchable lust for martyrdom fueled by a radical Islamic ideology," said retired Army Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, a military analyst. "I'm not optimistic about the so-called peacekeeping effort. NATO could do the mission, but the French will veto, and besides they already have their hands full in Afghanistan and the Balkans. The European Union is a good candidate, but because members have cut rather than increased their military budgets for more than a decade, they are unlikely to jump on the alternative."
A defense source said yesterday that the Israeli army is somewhat surprised by Hezbollah's fighting tactics and ability to keep launching scores of rockets into Israeli cities despite relentless aerial bombing.

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Hezbollah has been modernizing its militia of about 1,000 combatants since it was formed in 1982 and has accelerated its expansion since Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. Iran and Syria stepped up shipments of arms, particularly rockets, while Hezbollah dug in, creating bunkers and underground tunnels within Lebanon's tiny villages.
"Villages have become natural fortifications, and all roads go through these villages," said Gen. Scales.
Hezbollah has accumulated more than 13,000 rockets, some capable of reaching 200 miles inside Israel, according to reported estimates.
Couple Hezbollah's willingness to attack at any time with Israel's aggressive drive to destroy the terror group and it becomes an uninviting scenario for any country contributing peacekeeping troops. There is still the memory of Hezbollah suicide bombers blowing up a Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 American service members.
For any force to enter the 45-mile-by-15-mile hilly, forested area, there must be a cease-fire. That too is proving allusive. Some in the Pentagon doubt Hezbollah would ever cede its territory to foreigners or live by any agreement that prevented it from attacking Israel. The White House has downplayed the chance that any U.S. troops would return to Lebanon as peacekeepers.

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What seems to be dawning on people is that Hezballah's word is no good when it comes to a cease fire or disarmament. Any international force will have to either disarm or destroy Hezballah or defend it. None of those options are doable without substantial risk of combat, which suggest that it makes sense to let the Israelis finish the job. They at least have an interest in seeing that it is done right and they have the forces in place already to do it. In dealing with true believers like the Hezzies, at best all you will get agreement on is a hudna or temporary truce until they can rearm and renew the battle. As the current UN troops demonstrate, that organization is just not up to the task of enforcing its resolution requiring Hezballah disarmament.