LEBANON PAST page 68 T HE DETRO IT J EWISH NEWS TEL—TWELVE MALL SOUTH FIELD 313-355-3660 10 Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060 along with tanks, mine- sweepers, bulldozers and all sorts of other heavy metal rolled into the security zone. Army Chief of Staff Ehud Barak warned: "A military clash in Lebanon is inevitable, and it's just a matter of time." At the same time, govern- ment and army officials gave reassurances that they had no intention of letting things get out of control, as had happened in the early 1980s. Thus, when the Israeli attack came, it was a relief that it came just in the air and at sea — no ground troops were involved, limit- ing the potential for Israeli casualties. But, with Hezbollah hitting back so hard, firing over 100 Katyushas into the security zone and the north in the first day of fighting alone, and killing two residents in Kiryat Shmonah, the army and the government - contin- ued to talk tough. No measures were pub- licly ruled out. Deputy Defense Minister Mordechai Gur, who earlier had been one of the voices calming people's fears of another Lebanon War, even said ground troops would go in if necessary. The "trauma" over the Lebanon War would not influence Israeli policy in this one, he main- tained. But Hezbollah, which has an estimated 4,000 mem- bers in Lebanon (only a tiny fraction of whom do the actual fighting) did not act or sound intimidated. In fact, it taunted Israel. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on the orga- nization's "Voice of Islam" radio station in Lebanon: "We're waiting for you, Israelis, to come and attack us on the ground, but you don't have the courage." This wasn't just bluff or bravado, said Yossi Olmert, an Arab affairs specialist and former head of the Government Press Office. "A large-scale Israeli mili- tary invasion is not some- thing (Hezbollah) has to be afraid of," he said. "It is in their highest political inter- est to pull Israel into (a ground war) in Lebanon, as part of Iran's policy." Hezbollah is a kind of strike force for Iran in Lebanon. Founded in 1985 by emissaries of the late Iranian leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, it gets its arms and money from Khomeini's successors, and continues to follow a Khomenist religious and political line. It seeks an Islamic state in Lebanon, and practices unending jihad against Israel. Hezbollah sees the peace process as an outrage. Its goal now is to torpedo that process by provoking Israel into war. Syria, the de facto ruler of Lebanon, has a more com- plex relationship with Hezbollah. Ariel Merari, director of the Political Violence Research Institute at Tel Aviv University, said Syria allows the organiza- tion to operate. It does so partly out of having to do battle with the fanatics, and partly because it hopes Hezbollah's Katyusha attacks will lead Israel to withdraw from the security zone and give up the Golan Heights. But this last strategy of Syria's "backfired," Mr. Merari said. "I find it hard to believe the Syrians wanted the situ- Hezbollah operates with the support of Iran and Syria. ation to deteriorate this much," he said. "Syria prob- ably underestimated the effect of Hezbollah's contin- ual attacks on the Israeli government and public opinion." stop could Syria Hezbollah — it could cut off the arms shipments that move from Iran through Damascus to south Lebanon, and the Syrian Army in Lebanon could take on the Hezbollah gunmen. This, however, would mean the deaths of Syrian soldiers and would complicate Syria's relations with Iran. So for now, it seems that Syria is stuck with a war it didn't want. Israel didn't want it, either. People here remem- ber how the Lebanon War was, at its outset, supposed to last a day or two, and go no deeper than 40 kilome- ters across the border. By the time Israel with- drew to the security zone, the war had gone on for three years, drawn Israeli soldiers all the way to Beirut, and killed 650 of them. The public will not stand for that happening again. But neither will they watch 150,000 northern residents duck Katyushas for too long. They counted on the Air Force to bomb Hezbollah into submission, before things get out of hand. ❑ .