In a dangerous escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, Israel has responded to the kidnapping of two soldiers by members of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terror group by striking and blockading the country by land, air and sea. Hezbollah is believed to have conducted the act against the Israeli soldiers as a gesture of solidarity to the militant wing of Hamas, which is also funded and armed by the Iranian government. Israel pledged to hold the Lebanese government liable for the Hezbollah actions, which it described as an "act of war." The Lebanese government claims that 47 people have been killed and 103 injured following two days of Israeli military attacks.

On Thursday, German editorialists look to the Middle East with universal dismay -- with some saying there is little hope for putting out the "forest fire" that the Middle East has become.

Memories of the 1982 Lebanon war have been reawakened, writes the center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Following the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants, Israel has again invaded the southern part of the country. Although it is Shiite, Hezbollah is in many ways similar to the Sunni Hamas movement in the Palestinian Authority, it writes, "both are militant organizations that conduct terrorist attacks, but at the same time they both have political wings that have seats and posts in the parliaments in Ramallah and Beirut." Israel has long complained about the enormous influence the Iran-backed Hezbollah has in the West Bank and Gaza, even more so now given Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's verbal fantasies of Israel's destruction. This all bodes very poorly for the region: "There is nothing left of the atmosphere of hope that followed Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last year. Israeli troops have invaded Gaza again in their search for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit -- actions that bring suffering to the civilian population. Nor is anything happening politically." Indeed, both sides are disappointed: Israel because it hasn't been rewarded by the other side for clearing Gaza. Hamas sees Israel's withdrawal more as a product of its own perseverance that any act of reason on Jerusalem's part. For their part, the Palestinians are bitter that the Israelis may unilaterally set the borders without any discussion or negotiations. And now, as Hezbollah's host, Lebanon is having major trouble again. Israel has long demanded that the country disarm the Hezbollah. But how is that supposed to happen given that at least 40 percent of the Lebanese population is Shiite? "At the moment," the paper concludes, "the spiral of violence appears unstoppable."

The leftist Die Tageszeitung cautions Israel against overreacting. "A frenzied military strike or the possible reoccupation of southern Lebanon would only further internationalize and escalate the problem," the paper writes. "It wouldn't solve anything. Israel, Hezbollah and the military faction of the Hamas are equally to blame for the senseless escalation of violence in the Middle East. It also underscores how badly political intervention from outside is needed in order to deescalate the situation." Now a high price is being paid for the fact that the United States, the European Union and the United Nations didn't force the Israelis and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Worse yet is the latent thinking that it wouldn't be such a terrible thing if Israeli tanks flattened the Hamas government. "Even though a political-diplomatic intervention is needed more now than ever," the paper concludes, "it will be much, much harder for that to happen. Now the international community is going to have to play fire brigade yet again, but this time without much hope of putting out the fire."

Just over six years ago, then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak pulled the last troops out of the so-called security zone in southern Lebanon, the center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung reminds its readers. Despite the withdrawal, however, "the Hezbollah militants never stopped firing their Katyusha rockets at Israel." And on Wednesday, they were gloating over the fact that, after attacking a border post, they were able to take two Israeli soldiers hostage. "The parallels to the Gaza Strip are palpable," the paper continues. "The terrorist groups operating are continuing their rocket attacks, despite the fact that Israel withdrew all of its soldiers and settlers from Gaza. And both Hamas, which governs the Palestinians, and Hezbollah would love nothing better than to see Israel's destruction." Ehud Olmert, Israel's new prime minister, who is also relatively inexperienced when it comes to military matters, declared on Wednesday that both Hezbollah and Hamas are testing Israel's stability and that they will pay a high price for it. "A further escalation seems unavoidable," the paper laments.

The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung describes the Middle East as a forest in a dry summer: "One spark is enough to make everything go up in flames." Of course, Israel responded swiftly to Hezbollah's provocation. In doing so, however, a localized conflict now threatens to become a regional war. Israeli politicians keep coming up with new countries to blame for what is happening. This time it's Syria. After all, Hamas's intellectual figurehead is living there in exile. Ultimately, Jerusalem argues, Iran is behind this. Tehran supplies the Palestinian Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah and the Syrian government with money and weapons as well as orders. But the paper warns that Israeli leaders are just setting up a trap for themselves. "Convinced of its military power, Israel is "completely certain that it will be able to shape the circumstances in the Middle East to its liking." In recent decades, it has slid from crisis to crisis without any solution emerging. The editorial warns that both Hamas and Hezbollah know Israel well and "the longer this fight lasts and the higher the death toll, the more difficult it will be for the international community to only react with vague appeals."