“I don’t expect any significant qualitative change to Hezbollah’s military capability beyond a few days of disruption,” he said.
And war is no easy choice. After all, it was Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 that allowed Hezbollah to become dominant in the first place.
“Old Bibi would never do it. New Bibi is hard to tell,” said Assaf Orion, a retired Israeli brigadier general and a fellow at The Washington Institute, referring to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“War is a bad option, but it doesn’t mean it’s impossible.” So much, then, for Israel’s intention.
But what of Hezbollah’s likely response? How is the terror group likely to respond to what Israeli military analysts are gleefully characterising as its “humiliation” and – in several cases – the literal “emasculation” of its fighters?
In Tehran, the group’s masters will almost certainly be demanding patience, or what the Ayatollah calls “heroic flexibility”.