When word spread through Lebanon on Thursday that three rockets had been fired from Lebanese territory into northern Israel, the immediate fear was that the Hezbollah movement was culpable and that Israel would retaliate, triggering a new regional conflagration.
The tensions quickly subsided. Hezbollah denied responsibility, and Israel indicated it did not blame the Iranian-backed movement, a Hamas ally that is also the most powerful armed force in Lebanon.
But the incident demonstrated the very real danger that the Gaza conflict could spread beyond Gaza to Lebanon, opening a second front in the fighting for Israel and embroiling regional players.
Many analysts view the Gaza conflict as part of a broader struggle for influence under way in the Middle East between two main camps: the pro U S A camp which includes Israel and moderate Arab states such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan and the so called resistance axis, led by Iran and including Hezbollah and Hamas, and to a lesser degree Syria,
