What the Hell is going on?

So, here we are, another day of horrible violence in the Middle East. Israel says they'll stop the attacks once their soldiers are freed. But what if Hezbollah doesn't free them, but kills them? What does Israel do then? Israel has reacted in exactly the way that Hezbollah wanted them too, by doing what the Israelis do best - beat the shit out of you. But in doing so, they've guaranteed that the democratic Lebanese government that's only been in place since March of '05 isn't going to last. C'mon, do you really think that Lebanon wants Hezbollah to be in their country, or has any control over what they do? The Israelis have to know that they don't, but they've bought into their whole mythos - "we don't take shit from anyone". That's all well and good, but isn't this some serious overkill? Two soldiers kidnapped, and how many ordinary Lebanese are dead now? 165 at last count, with 24 Israelis also killed. And no end in sight. All of this, coupled with the continued killings in Iraq and the tense situation in Iran, has done wonders for the oil companies, by the way. Gas prices are getting higher and higher.