The war has stopped for now. Israel is once again involved in a ceasefire with shooting. And again a terrorist group it fought is claiming to be both victorious and the victim.
The rest of Lebanon is certainly the victim. (Remember the old maps that compliment the latter article.)
It is still a time for prayer.
UPDATE: Nasrallah reminds us Hezbollah cannot quit, for it has been insulted.
UPDATE: Noah Pollak writes that the current ceasefire really favors Saudia Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, and in the long run the most important victory might be the timely combination of crippling Hezbollah and showing the "rational actor" Arab states that the U.S. and Israel are happy to favor them when Iran hits the fan.
UPDATE: Matthew Yglesias writes that the leaders of Hezbollah and Israel did not expect or desire the kind of war that happened, which is why the wishful thinking of the ceasefire was so readily accepted. He describes France as the hero: neither Hezbollah nor Israel could suggest a cease-fire; whomever did would end the current fighting but look foolish; France valued the short-term saving of lives over the saving of face and was willing to accept the international ridicule of wishful dreaming for the sake of temporary peace.
