The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a vortex as a “mass… with a whirling or circular motion that tends to form a cavity or vacuum in the center of the circle and to draw toward this cavity or vacuum bodies subject to its action.”

That seems a fair way of describing the role that Lebanon has played for Israel, over much of the last half-century.

This year, Israel marks the 20th anniversary of the Second Lebanon War. I took part in that war as a reservist, in the eastern sector around al-Khiyam and Marjayoun.