Watching the IDF (catch all)

[Jedburgh]

They were never able to hold ground against the units I have talked to.

To disparage any irregular force because of their inability to "hold ground" against a professional army is to completely miss the point.

Hezballah was able to inflict casualties on the IDF, take out some armor, and continue to launch rockets into Israel until the very end of the conflict. And since Israel withdrew once again - without achieveing its objectives, in the end, that's all that matters.

Regarding the "defeat" of Hezballah, I think Tequila put it quite clearly:

It is far easier to rebuild military potential than political legitimacy. Hizbullah has the latter in Lebanon. Even if every single Hizbullah commander dropped dead and every supply dump exploded tomorrow, Hizbullah could train new leaders and rearm with Syrian and Iranian aid. The overall strategic picture would not change even given a militarily crippled Hizbullah, because unless its ideology or backers changed, it can always rebuild its military capabilities.

The statement "Nasrallah saying "we won," means about as much as George Bush declaring victory." is really a false analogy: President Bush has been roundly mocked for his statement, both here in the US and abroad, while a significant chunk of the region's populace perceives that Israel was humiliated during their summer excursion.

FYI, there is quite a bit of discussion on this subject in the Hezballah TTP thread and the Hezbollah: A Win For 'The Best Guerrilla Force in the World'? thread.