To Bearded Bruce
Methinks there is too much mock horror in your posting.

On the scale of things the Israeli air,sea and land attack on Lebanon last year dwarfed the present conflict and   destroyed much of its infrastructure and slaughtered thousands, mostly civilians ,who were blown up sheltering in homes or strafed and rocketed while fleeing in cars.

The Lebanese army then barely did anything to defend the country but has since gained heart [and American weapons ] to take on a very small fundamentalist group while smashing up a refugee camp and killing more civilians in the process.

This is part of the wider geo political game being played by the USA and I think is aimed at ultimately breaking Syria.
Indymedia UK carried this week an excellent article claiming that the Israelis were the likely killers of Hariri whose murder last year sparked off much of the present unrest.
IFOR