Paul Rogers, writing again for OpenDemocracy, in his latest analysis (Hit Beirut, target Tehran) suggests that the current US support for Israel's bombardment of Lebanon is at least in part a preparation for wider action against Iran. He raises the possibility that by attacking Hizbollah (OK, I know they're doing much more than that in their destruction of the country's infrastructure and taking of innocent lives) they are weakening their ability to retaliate if one or both countries decide to attack Iran later in the year.
With this in mind, encouraging our own decision-makers to push for diplomatic approaches to both conflicts would still seem worth doing. Whether or not we describe what is happening as a 'proportionate' or 'disproportionate', it is certainly profoundly damaging, both in the immediate region and more widely.
