For anyone skeptical that the nearly year-long daily exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah was an actual war, all doubts were erased over the past ten days. Nevertheless, the fight against Hezbollah should not be viewed as a similar but larger version of Israel’s fight against Hamas. While the theory about escalation eventually forcing Hezbollah capitulation may appear to be repeating a tactic that has not yet proven true in Gaza, Hezbollah’s situation is distinctive. All of this gives Israel more leeway to operate against Hezbollah with less blowback than it has in Gaza. Despite Hezbollah firing rockets at northern Israeli communities starting on October 8, there remains a fiction in some quarters of Hezbollah restraint.