The Dresden syndrome

Lebanon is a small, relatively impoverished country. Why on earth does a Lebanese organization need long range strategic Iranian Zalzal missiles with a range of 200 km? The only possible reason is as an extension of Iranian military capability to attack Israel, in case Iran is under attack from the US and/or Israel. That is the only reason one can fathom, otherwise Hizbollah has no reason to possess such expensive and deadly missiles. Given that Iran is not under attack, and that so far no Zalzal missiles have in fact been fired at Israeli targets south of Haifa, it seems that Iran, that reportedly maintains operational control of these missiles, has so far not given Hizbollah permission to fire them.
This is a good sign, it means that Syria and Iran, seeing that the IDF is actively engaged in a powerful and destructive attack against Hizbollah, with no interference from other countries, do not want to become the next brunt of the IAF. This is the so-called "Dresden syndrome," from when the western allies totally destroyed Dresden in eastern Germany in WWII as a warning to the approaching Soviets. While naieve western correspondents wander around south Beirut looking at the destruction wrought by IAF bombs and proclaiming their liberal angst at seeing such destruction in "civilian areas," they entirely miss the point. It is necessary for Israel to destroy south Beirut, the Shi'ite/Hizbollah power center, in order to send a strong message to Syria and Iran - this could be Damascus or Teheran! By this destruction the IAF is preventing all of us from becoming involved in a worse and more dangerous conflict. And Israel is saying to them "don't tread on me!" - in other words re-establishing its deterrent capability.
I think the US and Pres. Bush know this well and so are quite happy to stand by and see Israel destroy Hizbollah as a proxy of Iran, and Iran must be given this message. Now the Security Council will get back to considering Iran's nuclear capability, and hopefully they will pass a resolution bringing sanctions against Iran for its opposition to the will of the international community. But, before that they will endevor to construct a situation in Lebanon, which is purely a western construct, that excludes Hizbollah from its former power base in south Lebanon, and excludes both Syria and Iran from any interference in Lebanese matters. This must be seen to be a net loss to the Shi'ite radicals.
How this will actually be accomplished is not yet clear. Both PM Seniora of Lebanon and Walid Jumblatt leader of the Lebanese Druse have come out and accused Hizbollah of deliberately starting this crisis on behalf Iran. It may be that Lebanon will become the intermediary in transferring the two captured Israeli soldiers back to Israel, and once Israel has finished its operations clearing Hizbollah from south Lebanon an international force will be set up to guarantee their continued absence from there, according to UN SC resolution 1559, that may include France that has historic ties with Lebanon and wants to see it whole and independent. In this way the current moves at the UN, the upcoming visit of Secty. Rice and the eventual ground action by the IDF in South Lebanon may come together in an acceptable solution.