Violation of international law

I don’t know the best way to respond to Kumea’s frustration about the Middle East crisis. The way I see it, this war is between Israel and Hezbollah, and the sad realization is that Hezbollah is in Lebanon, involving innocent civilians – which is a direct violation of international law.

I found Mr. Fouad Ajami's attempted explanation enlightening partly because I’m learning the turmultuous history of that region. Below is the excerpt from his essay:

Pity Lebanon: In a world of states, it has not had a state of its own. A garden without fences, was the way Beirut, its capital city, was once described. [...]

That raid into Israel, the capture of the two Israeli soldiers, was a deliberate attack against the new Lebanon. That the crisis would play out when the mighty of the G-8 were assembled in Russia was a good indication of Iran's role in this turn of events. Hassan Nasrallah had waded beyond his depth: The moment of his glory would mark what is destined to be a setback of consequence for him and for his foot soldiers. Iran's needs had trumped Hezbollah's more strictly Lebanese agenda. [...]

But the Lebanese have been given to feuds among themselves, and larger players have found it easy to insert themselves into that small, fragile republic. Now the Lebanese have been given yet again a cautionary tale about what befalls lands without sovereign, responsible states of their own. [...]

Lebanon's strength lies in its weakness, went an old maxim. And the Arab states themselves were for decades egregious in the way they treated Lebanon, shifting onto it the burden of the Palestinian fight with Israel, acquiescing in the encroachments on its sovereignty by the Palestinians and the Syrians--encroachments often subsidized with Arab money. Iran then picked up where the Arab states left off. Now that weakness of the Lebanese state has become a source of great menace to the Lebanese, and to their neighbors as well.

No one can say with confidence how this crisis will play out. There are limits on what Israel can do in Lebanon. The Israelis will not be pulled deeper into Lebanon and its villages and urban alleyways, and Israel can't be expected to disarm Hezbollah or to find its missiles in Lebanon's crannies. Finding the political way out, and working out a decent security arrangement on the border, will require a serious international effort and active American diplomacy. International peacekeeping forces have had a bad name, and they often deserve it. But they may be inevitable on Lebanon's border with Israel; they may be needed to buy time for the Lebanese government to come into full sovereignty over its soil.

Currently, still nothing good is coming out of these hostilities.

• Following the deaths of four UN observers in an Israeli air strike, Australia has withdrawn 12 UN peacekeepers, describing the prospect of sending an international force to Lebanon right now as a "suicide mission"
• A poll of Israelis published by Israel's Maariv daily newspaper suggests 82% back the continuing offensive and 95% say Israel's action is justified [...]

Foreign ministers from key countries - including the US, UK and regional powers - attended emergency talks on the crisis in Rome on Wednesday.
They did not call for an immediate ceasefire, vowing instead to work with the "utmost urgency" for a sustainable truce.

I don’t mean to point fingers, but Lebanon can’t seem to control its minority groups and militias; therefore, there’s no security and control in its state. Israel’s action is not accepted either. I only hope that there’ll be some type of peace treaty between the two factions. Ugh!