Tuesday Wave

Wave of destruction, that's what Israel Radar calls the IAF's attack on Hezbollah yesterday. The IDF named the operation Northern Arrows. That name's not bad, and we think it probably sounds more menacing in Hebrew.  Whatever one calls it, the Israelis punched Hezbollah in the mouth yesterday, drew blood, and staggered them. 

Hundreds of aircraft hit more than 1600 targets south of the Litani and in the Beqaa Valley. We've seen multiple videos of Hezbollah bunkers blowing up, rockets shooting into the air, rocket fuel sounding like a steam train as it burned up, and buildings collapsing. Hezbollah was storing rockets in private homes. The Israelis released photographs of rockets tucked away in people's attics. They leveled these houses. The Israelis wounded a high-level Hezbollah commander and assassinated several clerics. The Israelis new exactly where to hit Hezbollah. My word, what else do they know?

So far Hezbollah has marginally intensified its rocket fire and attacked areas of Israel it hadn't previously attacked. Iron Dome is Iron Doming. This blog believes Operation Grim Beeper has severely hampered Hezbollah's command and control, which is why they haven't really punched back yet. Or they're hunkering down, hoping to avoid a knockout blow. Or what's left of Hezbollah's high command just doesn't know what to do.

So far, these are not the dark days we anticipated. We are reminded of Desert Storm, when the Coalition announced the ground offensive had begun and declared a news blackout. We woke up the next morning to news that the US army had smashed Saddam's lines, outflanked him, and were executing Schwarzkopf's famous Left Hook. Avoid overconfidence. Avoid complacency. Hezbollah will strike back. Things are going so bad for Hezbollah we're inclined to think their relative inertness is part of some grand plan. 

This morning, Arrows of the North continues...okay, wow, they nailed the head of Hezbollah's missile forces. We're beginning to think the imams are right. For their next trick the Israelis will offer Hezbollah a choice of steak or fish for the inflight meal. Stick with the lasagna. 

Alright, we read through Voodoo Genie and the Haig story. These are looking pretty good. Of course, tweaking remains but we say with great confidence that the rough drafts are complete. We also had a revelation.  The motivations in Morning Rory all wrong. Our protagonist should not want to head home after the show. He's afraid to go home because he snuck out. Ah, there we go. We still must needs figure out a few things about the girl, Aoife. Yes, we're getting our Irish on.