Has the ground war begun?

I don’t know if this was just an isolated sortie, or if the ground war has finally begun:

Two Israeli soldiers and a Hezbollah militant have been killed in fierce fighting in southern Lebanon.

Clashes erupted after Israeli tanks and infantry crossed the border in search of Hezbollah weapons and facilities.

Lebanese PM Fouad Siniora says 300 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive. At least 55 civilians died in fresh air strikes on Wednesday.

Barrages of Hezbollah rockets have been fired into northern Israel, where two children were killed in Nazareth.

It was the first rocket attack on the largest predominantly Arab city in Israel and rocket-fire also targeted other cities including Haifa and Tiberias.

Twenty-nine Israelis have died – including 15 civilians killed by rocket attacks – since the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah militants began last Wednesday.

Regarding the attack on Nazareth, I suspect some people are thinking that this was a PR misstep for Hezbollah. I’m not so sure. For one thing, to the extent that the Muslim Arabs haven’t entirely killed or driven out all the Christian Arabs, many of the latter make their home in Nazareth. To Hezbollah, they’re expendable. In any event, to the extent that Nazarene Arabs have made their peace with Israel they are, to Hezbollah, as much the enemy as the Jews are.

Talking to Technorati: Israel, Nazareth, Arab Christians, Hezbollah, Hizbollah, Lebanon