Israel Matzav:

One of my sources, Harvey in Efrat, claims to have it from 'reliable sources' that Israel is going to declare war tonight. Here's what Harvey is telling me (for the record, I have known Harvey for 35 years - we were roommates at a youth group convention in 1971, and his sources are generally from within the IDF and are usually reliable):
RUMORS FLYING THAT EHUD OLMERT WILL BE DECLARING WAR TONIGHT ...

Keep an eye on Carl for latest updates on the "matzav" (situation) in Israel.

Amarji, Syrian heretic:

The Israelis, who up until recently have been under the illusion that it is possible to weaken and isolate the Assads regime indefinitely and at no cost to themselves, are finally beginning to see, I think, that the Assads are born inherently starved for attention and cannot accept being isolated and asked to behave and be quiet. This could only mean that things are bound to heat up between the two countries.

But if this could initially serve the interests of the Assads by helping them to rally the people around them, and not only in Syria but across the region as well, on the long run, this confrontational policy is bound to backfire, especially if Israel insisted on targeting Syria and not Lebanon in retaliation for whatever provocation that takes place against it. Why? Because such confrontation will only expose the inability of the Assads to defend the country and the sorry state of Syria’s army, despite the massive expenditures in this regard. ...

Syria's situation, then, is the converse of Israel's: tactical strength but strategic weakness. Amarji's post title may be a reference to this now-famous Cox & Forkum cartoon. Amarji's conclusion: 'Regimes like the Assads with their inability to comprehend the ever-changing global and regional dynamics in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, followed by the collapse of the peace process itself, are helping to facilitate the break up of the region and its ultimate dissolution into ethnic ghettoes whose only role in the global economy will be to fill some very small and particularistic niche both as producers and consumers, regardless of whether there are designs to this effect or not.'

Big Pharaoh: Many Lebanese blame Hezbollah.

I just visited the Free Patriotic Movement forum and I read a lot of angry or at least disapproving comments towards what Hezbollah did.

I will copy and paste some of the comments as they were on the forum

this is totally wrong … HA shouldnt done it . its not the good time , its the tourists season in Lebanon and HA ruined evthg , im sure that Israel will take it to red alert situation .

now the israelees destroyed 3 or 4 bridges. mabrouk. i think that iran should build them for us ...

Read the whole thing, and scroll down for updates.

Sandmonkey: "It has begun." Go to the post for updates. Sandmonkey knows the Israeli blogs better than I do.

April 2006: Michael J. Totten offers some friendly advice to his Hezbollah buddy.

Let me give you some personal advice, Hussein. Maybe we can be on the same page for a change. Get out of the “suburbs” and go hang out in Beirut once in a while. Don’t tell people who you work for. Just strike up conversations in restaurants, coffeeshops, and bars. Lebanese are friendly, so that’s easy. Ask Sunni, Christians, and Druze what they think of Hezbollah. Listen to what they have to say. Remember that you have to live with these people. I suppose you could turn your guns on them. We all know you can beat the Lebanese military in a one-on-one fight. Who knows, though? There's always a chance the Israeli Defense Forces might intervene against you on Lebanon’s behalf. How much would that suck?

About this much.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah revealed that he did not know of this morning's attack prior to its occurrence. According to a mid-level Hezbollah party member, the Hezbollah leadership was not expecting the attack to come right now, not expecting such a harsh Israeli response, and is currently scrambling to come to a plan.

Commentary.Syria and Iran are in this together, so if one is involved the other will be too. One thing I've noticed in reading these posts is a change in the perception of Israel: there's a growing respect for the Jewish state, while the terrorists are held in pure contempt. Big Pharaoh puts it bluntly.

One final note: In just the 20 minutes I've spent composing this post, I've noticed the word "WAR" come to dominate the headlines of my RSS feeds. So by the time you are reading this, it may already be old news.

Let's see to it that the good guys win.