I reiterate my apology to those who were wounded by my words

Why? No one was injured by your words. Some seized on them to feign injury and get rid of you, and it worked. But apologize? Really?

The leaders of Hezbollah are evil men. More important, they are enemy combatants. When they are killed, even in "brilliant" operations, there is collateral damage. But Israel owed no more concern for Lebanese bystanders than the allies owed non German civilians. The operation is rendered more brilliant by the relatively small number of civilian casualties.

The injuries and deaths are regrettable, but they belong to Hezbollah. It is the job of the Lebanese to get rid of Hezbollah, and the consequences of not doing so are to be blamed on Hezbollah. That an organization has taken an entire country hostage does not oblige its enemy to say "Well played" and go home.

The only question about Israel's current assault on Hezbollah is whether it will leave Israel better off. If not, and especially if predictably so, then it was not brilliant but foolish. Maybe it really is all about Netanyahu staying our of jail. But that has nothing to do with whether anyone was injured by praise for the tactic merely because it killed and injured people one wishes were not harmed.