What kind of proof do you want?

The heads of both Hezbollah and Hamas being treated not only as dignitaries while visiting in Tehran, but as friends of that nation? As in banquets, press conferences, and the head of the theological branch of the Iranian government escorting them to give honor to Kohemani's grave? Been done, Al-jazeera's website had the articles.

Or how about Hamas and Hezbolah are both a lot more real world to the people on the street than the PLA and the UN recognized Lebanese government? They do that with newspapers, television stations, schools and hospitals- all of which use equipment made in or donated by Iran and Syria. They hand out bags of rice and beans to the poor, clearly marked as gifts from the people of Iran, and powdered milk, oil and canned meat similiarly marked as of Syrian origion. That is based on pictures taken by the UN, BTW.

How's this for giggles- Hezbollah personnel being trained by Syrian and Iranian military and intelligence forces. That goes back 15, 20 years, but those guys are now the equivelent of thier flag-rank officers and are thier political leadership. And that is based on declassified US, UK and French intelligence material (I try to avoid the Isreali intell, it's not always the most honest when it reaches Reuters and the BBC.)

Things to keep in mind-

Up until a few years ago, Syria basically ran southern Lebanon and military occuption troops there. Hezbollah and Syrian forces routinely made joint patrols, just the same way US/UK forces do with the locals in Afganistan and Iraq. It took Syria's assassination of Lebenese politicos to get them out, and I would strongly doubt that there was no staybehind assets. Oh, and there were Iranian military exchange observers with the Syrians off and on.

A couple months ago, Syria and Iran signed a formal mutual security pact. IE, you hit me, you hit my friend. They've had military and technology and cultural exchanges for years, thier citizens don't need visas to go between the two countries and they have a lot of mutual business intrests. This just puts everything in black and white. Thier realation is very much like the US-UK-Canada connections.

Hamas has at least as power in the PLA does in Palistinian territory (due to the last election, they are the offical government); Hezbollah has seats in the Lebenese parliment and cabinet. Hamas sent some of their civil admin crowd to study under Hezbollah prior to that political campaign.

The Hamas administration in the Palestinian territories asked for loans from both Syrian and Iran. The Hezbollah-run bank is gaurenteed by Iranian underwriting.

Iran and Syria both recognized the Hamas administration in the Palastian territories before the UN observers stopped counting the votes. The reason why Hezbollah's canidate for the Lebenese PM was tossed off the ticket is that foreign-sourced campaign money is illegal there when they catch it.

So....

Here's what I think happened. Hamas wanted to impress everyone, so they execute a snatch and grab. The Isrealis go nuts. Hamas start squirming and whining, so thier allies in Hezbollah do thier normal thing to draw some of the heat off Gaza. The Isrealis start pounding away, becuase to them, it's on, the 1980s all over again.

Syria and Iran have been waiting for a while to get the Isrealis riled up, you don't need to do anything more than read english-edition papers online from Beruit, Damascus, Amman and Islamabad to see that. I will not be suprised if Syria enters into the fray to "save the Lebenese people" and/or one of thier planes (they have to have upped thier air defense patrols) is engaged by an Isreali one after someone (everyone will blame the otherside) crossed the border. 15 years of rebuilding Lebenon, completely erased.

Iran jumps in as part of thier treaty obligations with thier great friends and allies. They'll have to airlift or sealift troops.

By sea, they put Egypt in an uncomfortable possition- if Cairo says yes, they torque off Isreal and most of NATO; if they say no to moving Iranian troops and equipment through the Suez, they torque off the entire arab world and thier streets will explode. By air, the Iranians can fly over Saudi, who we would lean on (for what little bit of bug poop that's worth; and they might say yes, just as a favor to thier sidekick, Pakistan, who's nuclear weapons program was funded with Saudi loans and they are paying it back by selling tech specs to all kinds of people including Iran and Syria), Iraq (we will say no) or Turkey (who wants nothing to do with this mess, check out thier news). Or they can take the long way and embarrass the Egyptians. And if by Egypt, either by sea or by air, the Isrealis will have to prove that the civilian registered vessels REALLY did have military personnel and materiel aboard, becuase that is how they will be moved. Ask anyone who watches the Middle-east, and they will bet dollars to donuts that that civilian marked transports (and government owned with military reserve roles, but operating with merchant flight and sea plans) will be used. And Isreali won't care, they will shoot and the devil with world opinon.

The really scary possibility is that if Isreali goes into Syria, they will hit Damascus, try for a C3I kill. Birds with big blue Magden Davids on them over Damascus will cause Iran to try to strike at Tel Aviv and Jeruselum and various other places, most likely with intermediate range ballistic missiles. Guess which countries have troops UNDER the arcs of those things when the launch with payloads of who knows what. If one has a convient "oops", and lands on a US military facility, they can just say it was a maintence accident and they will make reperations.

And guess how the Isreal lobby in Washington will react?

It gets very interesting when we also remember that Iran and Syria both provide moral and material aid, including warm bodies, to the mayhem in Iraq. So far, only people with civilian ID, or we'd be seeing a lot of screaming in DC, but if you've studied the situation and apply common sense, you'd be left with no other option to but to assume that, even if you didn't read Damascus newspapers and read between the lines. :P

Oh, wait, let's just finish playing seven degrees of seperation here. Who gave us the intell on the Iraq WMD programs. The Isrealis! And how did we confirm it? We asked the Brits, who asked the Isrealis! While I don't they were setting us up, I don't think they mind having a bigger boogieman than them on that part of the world. Much less a bigger boogieman who they can sweet talk/bully/make sad puppy faces at/arm twist into covering thier butts if the fire gets out of control. I'm not saying that we were intentionally set up, but which comedy duo had the line "what a fine mess you've gotten us into"?

I have nothing against the people, or the land, but I HATE, DESPISE, and LOATHE Middle-eastern politics. Growing up, I learned how to watch not only the Warsaw Pact and the PRC, but also this whole convaluted, backstabbing, double dealing mess.

HYDROGEN FUELCELLS ROCK!!!!!!!!!

EDIT: Wow, that was both more and less wordy than I thought.