At this point the UN or someone is supposed to step in and save the terrorists so that they can go off, regroup, and then strike Israel again later. That's what happened in 1982 when the IDF had Arafat's PLO surrounded in Beirut. They could have wiped the PLO out, but instead they agreed to let them escape to Tunisia. And the rest is history recurring again and again.
Kofi Annan is trying to do a repeat of that, but Israel will have none of it this time. Israel will not be taking advice from the likes of Russia and France. Instead they are preparing along the lines of Colin Powell's classic battle plan, "First we cut them off, then we kill them." The bombing of ports and air strips is the cutting off part. The killing part is coming.
Iran and Syria, for their part, show no signs of wanting to leap to Hezbollah's defense.
At this point we should all pretty much know that it's not the occupied territories but the existence of Israel itself that is the "problem" in the Middle East. All that diplomacy and all of those concessions were offered to people who were bargaining in bad faith the whole time. Israel has given up territory for peace only to see it used to stage more terrorist attacks.
So now it's time to take care of business. Hopes for peace through diplomacy are dead in Israel. Instead the people are united and of one purpose behind the government's determination to secure the northern border once and for all.