Originally posted by dontreally
I think I understand Natanyahu's strategy now. When Israel attacks Iran's nuclear facilities, they'll be having to worry about simultaneous attacks from Irans Shabab missiles, Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south. By getting rid of Hamas' missile capabilities and destroying their government facilities/training centers/bomb factories etc, Israel freed themselves from having to allocate military resources to attending to a southern barrage of missiles from Hamas.

Clever tactic. I don't see Israel entering Gaza for a ground offensive. They've done what they needed to do.

But Israel also wanted to deplete a Hamas arsenal it sees as part of Iran's preparations in case of war with Israel.

The latest fighting brings to the forefront one of the pivotal questions posed by the revolutions that swept across the Arab Middle East in the past two years: Where would key Arab and Muslim players stand in case of a confrontation between Iran and the West, particularly if Israel and the Palestinians became one of the epicenters of fighting?

In case of a war with Iran, however, specifically one involving Israel, what would Turkey, a NATO member but withering critic of Israel, do? What could the West expect from Egypt, with its president's Muslim Brotherhood ties? What about Qatar, a strong backer of Hamas but an important U.S. friend in the region?