Israeli has expanded fight beyond freeing soldiers

JERUSALEM — Ehud Olmert's effort to free three captured soldiers has become a broad campaign to alter the strategic balance of the Middle East — an enormous gamble for an Israeli prime minister facing growing domestic pressure to hit Islamic militants hard.

Israel's assault on Lebanon, which has already killed more than 70 people and turned much of the country into a battlefield, could backfire if it becomes a protracted quagmire, provokes war with Syria or exposes Israelis to increasingly deadly attacks.

But Olmert — who replaced Ariel Sharon when he suffered a stroke seven month ago — likely sees Israel's simultaneous offensives in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon as a way to strike a decisive blow not only against Hezbollah and Hamas but also against the interests of Syria and Iran, which bankroll and arm the militants.

Because of widespread Israeli support for strong action against Hezbollah, which penetrated Israel's northern border and captured two soldiers this week, Olmert could be in even bigger trouble if he backs down.

"After the provocations from Hezbollah in the last five or six years, the government would not be able to survive if it did not take this action," said Israeli Mideast expert Eyal Zisser.

Support for Israel's campaign in Lebanon has come from some unlikely sources, including Yossi Beilin, Israel's best known leftist, and Orna Shimoni, who played a leading role in pressing Israel to withdraw from Lebanon in 2000 after an 18-year occupation.

Hezbollah raised the stakes this week by firing hundreds of rockets into Israel, including two that hit the northern city of Haifa on Thursday — proving to Israel and the world that the range of its missiles had been vastly expanded. Days earlier, Hamas-linked militants in the Gaza Strip staged a similar display, hitting the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon for the first time.

Israel is fighting militants on two fronts after a pair of brazen cross-border raids — one outside the Gaza Strip on June 25 and another on Israel's northern border with Lebanon on Wednesday. In the two raids, Hamas and Hezbollah seized three Israeli soldiers and killed another 10.

Israel has also raised the stakes by declaring an ambitious mission that extends far beyond freedom for captured soldiers: to halt rocket fire from Gaza, to push back Hezbollah guerrillas from Israel's northern border and to dissolve their increasingly sophisticated weapons capability.

Israeli Cabinet Minister Isaac Herzog said Israel wants to "change the rules of the game."