Gamesmanship, Brinkmanship, I just hope that Syria and Hezbollah understands that Israel plays to win, otherwise there won’t be much of Syria or Lebanon left. Israel won’t hesitate to bomb targets in civilian areas, and Israel has never shown itself to be shy about advocating a Total War theory in defense of their country.

What I suspect is happening here is more a cold war type deal, where the combats will continue at a relatively low intensity with Iran and Syria funding proxies and trying to reach a point where the MAD theory applies so they’re safer from Israeli retaliation.

The problem here, Israel doesn’t have effective proxies to respond with, leaving it no choice but to respond as a personal actor against Syria and/or Iran. Which, through no fault of Israel’s, makes it look more like an aggressor. and I suspect if a significant event happen, Israel won’t be afraid to dare Iran or Syria to retaliate and make significant strikes into their country, world opinion be damned.