A victory of sorts for Israel as the danger in Lebanon to all becomes clear

AS THE dust settles following the recent war between Israel and Hezbollah, many in Israel are starting to recognise that despite some failures at the tactical level, from a strategic point of view Israel came out of this war pretty well, especially vis-a-vis Iran.

Make no mistake about it, the anger and anguish of the Israeli public towards the Government and the leadership is real. Israel has never experienced such a prolonged attack of missiles raining down on its territory. The immediate and extensive media coverage within Israel brought to public attention even the minutest of problems from the battlefield in real time.

The resulting protests in major cities, calling for a state inquiry, have borne fruit. The Government has acquiesced to the setting up of a commission, headed by a former Supreme Court judge who will investigate all aspects of Israel's handling of the conflict, from cabinet decisions to the provision of social services to areas directly affected by the missile barrage.

Senior officials are starting to take responsibility for their actions. This week the head of the Northern Command, General Udi Adam, resigned from the army. We can expect more of this as the inquiry gets under way.

All of this may give the impression that Israel has come out of this war in bad shape. That is not the case.

Israel's strategic objective in the recent war against Hezbollah was to create the conditions that would result in the Lebanese Government exercising full sovereignty over its entire territory. The UN Security Council Resolution 1701 goes beyond simply calling for this, as previous resolutions such as 1559 have done. It also provides a mandate for implementation via an expanded UNIFIL force.

There are some who claim that Hezbollah chose to launch the attacks against Israel on July 12 to divert the Group of Eight's attention away from Hezbollah's patron, Iran, and its nuclear program. True or not, one result of the war has been to expose the deep links between Iran and Hezbollah.

These links include massive financial support to the tune of billions of dollars, supply of advanced firepower such as unmanned aerial vehicles and long range missile launchers, training by Iran of Hezbollah operatives - both in Iran and inside Lebanon. Without Iran, Hezbollah would not have been able to build itself up as a fully fledged terrorist army.

Europe and the moderate Islamic world have now seen for themselves the massive build-up of military force that Hezbollah achieved with the aid of the Iranians and Syrians. Numerous articles in the Arab press are reporting the shock that the Lebanese themselves felt upon discovering that the south of their country had been turned into a military fortress, serving the interests of Iran and Syria.

A world that tolerates a power like Iran operating via proxies in other countries such as Lebanon is a very dangerous world. The next stage may be the operation via proxy terrorist cells in Brussels, Melbourne, Paris or Sydney.

Israel is right to be wary of Iran. The President of Iran openly stated that his solution to the crisis in the Middle East was to destroy Israel. This intent, combined with Iran's plans to develop nuclear weapons, has catapulted Iran to No.1 on the list of strategic threats to Israel.

If we view the recent conflict in Lebanon within the prism of the emerging Iranian threat, then the outcome of this round is clearly Israel 1, Iran 0. The forces of moderation in the Arab and Muslim world as well as others in the international community were able to identify Hezbollah for what it was - a terrorist army that provoked a conflict in the service of its patron, Iran.

As we look ahead, Israel can only hope that the resolve shown in dealing with Iran's subversive tactics in Lebanon that resulted in a positive UN resolution will be followed by a real commitment to tackle the emerging nuclear threat.

Australian-born Guy Spigelman is a captain in the reserves for the Israel Defence Forces Spokesperson's Unit and is an adviser to the Labor leader and Defence Minister, Amir Peretz.