Re: Remember the kidnapped soldiers
The war started because of the two kidnapped and the other 8 dead soldiers but its main objective was not to get those two soldiers back. If that was the case Israel would have send in ground troops immediately and not wait for two weeks to do so. Also early on they hinted that the two kidnapped soldiers were already on their way to Syria or Iran.
The main purpose was to get Hezbollah out of South Lebanon and second to have a international security force who can check Hezbollah activity unlike the current UN force to be placed in the demilitarized zone in South Lebanon. Now with the cease fire plans approved by Lebanon, Israel is trying for a last minute push to increase the demilitarized zone as much as possible in order to make Hezbollah rockets unreachable to Israel. Thus we also see more casualties on the Israeli side in the last couple of days.