On the other side - Zvi Bar'el in Haaretz:

‘Ostensibly, reports in Israel that the Netanyahu government might declare a unilateral cease-fire – if only to fend off a U.N. Security Council resolution to force it to end the war – may point to the beginning of a real initiative. But the problem, as Hochstein is well aware, is that there is no one on the Lebanese side who could sign an agreement.’

(…)

‘On Saturday, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati invited 24 of the 27 Sunni lawmakers to at least obtain their support for Security Council Resolution 1701 and a cease-fire. It was a strange meeting in which the prime minister, who is supposed to represent all the ethnicities, invited only members of his own ethnic group for a debate on the future of the entire country. True, the Lebanese Forces leader, Samir Geagea, plans to convene a meeting of purely Christian MPs, but he is not prime minister.
No consensus emerged from the Sunni meeting. Instead, a heated confrontation developed, in which MP Ashraf Rifi, a former justice minister and ex-head of the Internal Security Forces, presented a firm position. He not only demanded implementing Resolution 1701 but also disarming Hezbollah. "There's an international resolution and an Arab agreement to uproot Iranian arms in Lebanon and implement Resolution 1701," he said. Referring to Hezbollah's outsized control, he added, "We stressed the need to end the system of a 'state within a state' – one that takes decisions on war and peace independently from the Lebanese government's position."’

(…)

‘A survey by Jusoor For Studies, a Turkey-based research institute, found that while Iran has reduced the number of its basis in Syria, it still maintains the largest foreign force in the country.
A Turkish researcher unaffiliated with the institute told Haaretz that the intensity at which Israel is operating in Syria is also intended to persuade President Bashar Assad to stay out of Iran's "unity of fronts," to take major measures to reduce the Iranian presence in Syria, and at least to stop weapons transfers to Lebanon.
The researcher finds a clear clue of this intention in the Israeli strike on Saturday on a military camp near Idlib, which also hit Syrian army installations. "The specific strike in Idlib, where regime forces are deployed against rebel forces, is no coincidence," he said. "It seems Israel is signaling Assad that it considers itself free to deliberately strike Syrian army installations, targets that it had refrained from striking until now, at least not intentionally."’

Read the article here.

Assad got another warning. He is already on Israel’s leash.

The state within a state is rather bizarre indeed. But what isn’t bizarre in that region, or elsewhere in the world?

We will see whether Trump’s appetite for peace suddenly changes into an appetite for war. With Iran for example.

If unpredictability becomes policy, prepare for everything. Or become a stoic.