[Achilles]

People who say 'it's just two soldiers' are either being terribly short sighted or deliberately obtuse. While I'm not defending Israel's actions persae I do think this needs to be considered in a realistic context.

Firstly, Hezbollah are not just terrorists. They are participatory in the the Lebanese government aswell as being a substantial paramilitary organisation with an annual income in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Secondly, this follows very closely on the heels of the Gilat abduction. Hezbollah, clearly aware of the Israeli position on that issue, made a strategic decision to widen the conflict in the hope that this will further their own aims. They knew innocents would suffer as a result, why are they not culpable?

Thirdly, this is not about prisoners. There will be no release of prisoners. If there was it would signal the beginning of Israeli Soldier Season.

It seems apparent that Israel wishes to make it clear that there will be an economic and humanitarian price imposed every single time something like this occurs. This seems to me to be a sensible policy for Israel to adopt in the circumstances. In fact I'm really not sure what else they could do if you consider the protection of their own citizens as their paramount concern.