Why is there no mention of the miracle of the candles burning for eight nights in Al Hanisim?
Answer
Somewhat related to Shalom's answer, the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l explains (Likkutei Sichos, vol. 25, pp. 235ff) that the miracle of the oil (a spiritual victory) overshadows the miracle of beating the Greek armies (a physical one) - because the latter was itself part of a larger spiritual war: they tried to make us "forget Your Torah and abandon the decrees of Your Will"; ordered the Jews to "write on the horn of an ox that you have no portion in the G-d of Israel"; etc.
So when we want to mention and describe the miracle of the military victory, we have to omit mention of the miracle of the oil. Conversely, when the Gemara explains מאי חנוכה, it mentions the victory only incidentally.
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