The uneven calculus of Mideast victory

Another Hizbullah worry is "maintaining the supply lines of weaponry along the Syria-Lebanese border," says Ranstorp. A stated aim of Israel is to disrupt that flow.

Perhaps more important, says Ranstorp, is how Hizbullah will deal with the question of disarmament, as required by UN Security Council Resolution 1559, and which is likely be part of any comprehensive solution.

"How will they sabotage it? How can they wriggle or maneuver out of it?" asks Ranstorp. "It is not about eliminating Hizbullah, but rather to undermine the legitimacy as to why they have a right to be the [armed] resistance."

But questions about disarming Hizbullah – raised widely during the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon last year when troops of Syria, one of the group's strongest backers, withdrew from Lebanon – are not being asked today, in the heat of conflict.

"We're hoping this is the last war in Lebanon.... The final outcome should be where the Lebanese government is in control," says Farid el-Khazen, a Lebanese parliamentarian and political science professor at the American University of Beirut.

"[But] At this stage of the war, we are all dependent on the outcome of military operations," says Mr. Khazen. "A large-scale Israeli ground offensive ... will be difficult for Hizbullah to deal with," because the guerrillas have "limited capability in the end, and Israel has a huge army."

"It's not a matter of victory or defeat; Hizbullah will continue to be," says Khazen. He hopes for a peace deal that will "reach a new equilibrium [of] not war, not peace," but does not think "Israel will stop short of impairing Hizbullah, somehow."

In a report Thursday, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Israel of war crimes, by noting a "systematic failure" to distinguish between civilians and combatants during attacks, and instances in which Israeli forces "appear to have deliberately targeted civilians."

"Researchers found numerous cases in which the [Israeli Defense Forces] launched artillery and air attacks with limited or dubious military objectives but excessive civilian cost," HRW said in a statement.

"Hizbullah fighters must not hide behind civilians – that's an absolute – but the image that Israel has promoted of such shielding as the cause of so high a civilian death toll is wrong," HRW executive director Kenneth Roth said in the statement.

Israel accuses Hizbullah of using civilians as a "human shield," and operating amongst the population to raise the civilian death toll and win international sympathy. After Qana, Israel released footage from drones that appeared to show examples of rocket launchers firing from behind buildings.

"They say, 'You use civilians as a shield,' but the civilians themselves are Hizbullah – your son, your brother, your father are fighters," says Ibrahim Mussawi, the foreign news editor of the Hizbullah's Al-Manar television.

"In the south, there are orchards and valleys," says Mr. Mussawi. "You do not need to use buildings for cover. To kill more people.... To kill your sister, your brother ... This is not acceptable."

He says the secretive and small Hizbullah, with just a few thousand fighters, operate in such a way that it will be "impossible" for Israel to crush them.

"[Israeli forces] spent 18 years in Lebanon trying to do what they now want to do in a month," says Mussawi. "The military operations management of Hizbullah is still intact ... [their] rocket capability means they are prepared to go into a lengthy war."

Zeinab Jaber exemplifies why analysts say Israel's deepening offensive in Lebanon will not dislodge Hizbullah.

In the ruins of her destroyed apartment block of Haret Hreik, Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut's crowded southern suburbs, she digs with grimy hands for any evidence of her family's daily life.

Empty-handed, and with gritty dust clinging to her shoes and pant legs, Ms. Jaber climbs a mountain of pulverized concrete and twisted girders.

"Hizbullah are not terrorists!" Jaber shouts, holding out her arm like a fiery preacher. "Israel and America are terrorists! We take our children to Hizbullah, and God save Nasrallah!"

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