From The Washington Note, which just earned a place on my blogroll:

Although I do not have independent confirmation, I heard the rumor from a well-placed source that Secretary of State Rice attempted to increase pressure on Israel to stand down and to demonstrate "restraint". The rumor is that she was told flatly by the Prime Minister's office to "back off".

This may or may not be true, but it does fit with the general inference that Israel has bitten off more than it can chew this time, and it's on a runaway offensive that even the United States can't tolerate. (And yeah, I know of Israel's historical adroitness in biting off more than it can chew.) Nobody, except the most of committed of martial idiots, can believe that bombing the crap out of Lebanon will make Hezbollah give up the Israelis soldiers. And what happens if the soldiers are transferred to Syria?