Hezbo Declares Victory, Hamas Kidnaps Fox Reporter

Two big stories from the Middle East conflict today, and I think they're connected. First, Hezbo Head Honcho declares victory:

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah declared Monday that his guerrillas achieved a "strategic, historic victory" against Israel.

Nasrallah, speaking on the day a cease-fire took effect _ ending 34 days of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel _ called Monday "a great day."

"We are today before a strategic, historic victory, without exaggeration," the leader of the Shiite militant group said in a taped speech on Hezbollah's al-Manar TV.

The fact that al-Manar is still on the air is just another symbol that Israel lost this war.

Secondly, Fox correspondent Steve Centanni and his cameraman were kidnapped in Gaza:

Palestinian gunmen kidnapped two foreign journalists working for the Fox News Channel in Gaza on Monday, a witness and the U.S. television network said.

A Fox spokeswoman in New York named the two journalists as correspondent Steve Centanni, an American, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, from New Zealand.

A Fox news report said the network did not know who had seized them but that "negotiations were under way to secure their release".

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the abduction.

The witness said two vehicles blocked the journalists' transmission truck in the center of Gaza City and a masked man put a gun to a bodyguard's head, forcing him to the ground.

The kidnappers then sped away with the two journalists.

I wrote a few days ago that Israel had lost its first war, and what we saw today with the kidnapping is more evidence that Israel is now seen as a weakened nation in the eyes of their enemies. After Hezbo's triumphal declaration, Hamas decided it was time to fill the violence void by trying some of Hezbo's tactics and doing a little kidnapping. The fact that they chose an American reporter is also full of symbolism.

The war isn't over, folks, it's just the end of the first act.

UPDATE: Add a third story to the mix:

Syrian President Bashar Assad said his country is prepared for any war that may break out with Israel, adding that he is convinced that the chances for peace have decreased and that “the Golan Heights will be liberated by Syria.”

Everybody in the region is detecting political weakness in Israel, and that's a very dangerous situation for the Israelis.