Slightly off topic why did the buffer zone not extend into the territory of the aggressor?

Because politics is the "art of the possible": extending the buffer zone 50-50 on both sides of the frontier would have been too much for Bolton to stomach as Israel's negotiation proxy in the UNSC, he'd have vetoed like a shot = no life-saving resolution to stop Israel bombing the Lebanese and get Israeli forces to vacate Southern Lebanon so its bombed and terrorized population could return safely to their homes and start rebuilding.

...why the US and its allies are so intensley disliked on the Arab street..

Re "unpopularity" of so-called "US allies" - it's not "who you are" (Europe) it's "what you do": in ME opinion-polls, France's popularity in the ME peaked sharply following its UNSC opposition to America's attack-plans against Iraq, and Italy is well-known for maintaining cordial relations with ME govts. and political forces (including Iran, Syria..) that the US won't even speak to.  When preparing the political ground for the UNIFIL mission our FM D'Alema exchanged very cordially visits with all Lebanese political leaders including Hizbollah spokesman Nabih Berri, with whom he was photographed cozily arm-in-arm - much to Israel's fury.

And since Israel's somewhat UN-pushed withdrawal from the areas it had invaded and occupied in Lebanon between the Israeli border and the Litani river, the Likud-zone of the Israeli media world has been fiercely and systematically attacking the French and Italian contingents for being "anti-Israeli" and "pro-Hizbollah"... even repeatedly accusing them - with no proof whatsoever! - of deliberately keeping both eyes tightly shut to let in arms shipments for Hizb. from Syria and Iran. And there have been reports of several armed standoffs between Israeli and French forces, plus Israeli mutterings about French jets patrolling Beirut's skies to protect Nasrallah's postwar maxi-rally... all of which is of course not lost on neighbouring Arab media.


"Ignoring moralities is always undesirable, but doing so systematically is really worrisome." Mohammed Khatami