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In-Depth Issues:
Six Iranian Missiles Hit Five Israeli Military Bases during 12-Day War - Paul Nuki ( Telegraph-UK)
Iranian missiles appear to have directly hit five Israeli military facilities during the recent 12-day war, according to satellite radar data from academics at Oregon State University, seen by the Telegraph. The strikes have not been made public by Israel because of military censorship.
The IDF responded, "What we can say is that all relevant units maintained functional continuity throughout the operation."
The strikes on the military facilities are in addition to 36 others that caused significant damage to residential and industrial infrastructure.
That only 28 Israelis died is a testament to the country's sophisticated alert system and the disciplined use of bomb shelters and safe rooms by the population.
Saudi Report: 4,000 Hizbullah Fighters Killed in War with Israel, another 2,000 Deserted after Nasrallah's Death - Nurit Yohanan ( Times of Israel)
Saudi news channel Al-Hadath reported that 4,000 Hizbullah operatives, including fighters, commanders, and senior figures, were killed during the group's war with Israel, which ended in a ceasefire in November 2024.
In addition, 2,000 others deserted following the assassination of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah in September.
The report claims Hizbullah still maintains a force of 60,000.
80% of the territory south of Lebanon's Litani River - once under Hizbullah's exclusive control - is now controlled by the Lebanese Armed Forces.
Hizbullah has also shut down most of its training centers in the Beqaa Valley and southern Lebanon, and much of its medium and heavy-grade weaponry has either been destroyed by Israeli strikes or seized by the Lebanese army.
Hungary, Serbia, and the Czech Republic Came to Israel's Aid after Oct. 7 - Zvika Klein ( Jerusalem Post)
A senior Israeli defense official told me last week that "Israel's greatest allies imposed an arms embargo on Israel" after Oct. 7, 2023.
"Apart from the Americans, no one would supply us with equipment for offensive operations, or even sell us the parts to produce it ourselves, except Hungary, Serbia, and the Czech Republic."
Serbian weapons and ammunition exports reached 42.3 million euros in 2024, up from 1.4 million in 2023. Most of those shipments were 155 mm artillery shells.
Israel Owes Trump, but that Can't Mean Hamas's Survival - Jonathan S. Tobin ( JNS)
If, as both Jerusalem and the Pentagon say, Tehran's quest for a bomb has been set back at least two years - and can again be smashed by subsequent Israeli and American military efforts as needed - then President Trump has altered the strategic equation in the region in favor of the Jewish state and against its enemies.
This means that Israel is obligated to Trump above and beyond the normal deference owed to Israel's superpower ally.
It is now being widely reported that Israel has agreed to another ceasefire-hostage release deal with Hamas that is being pushed by the president.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated that any deal must not obligate Israel to end the war on Hamas without forcing the surrender of all remaining hostages and bodies, as well as the termination of Hamas rule in Gaza and the exile of all its leaders.
Should Washington force an end to the conflict without that happening, nothing will prevent Hamas from claiming victory.
The Regime's Humiliation Cannot Be Hidden from the Iranian People - Charles Lipson ( Telegraph-UK)
Will Iran's theocratic regime survive its humiliation at the hands of what the Ayatollah's regime calls the "Zionist entity"?
The sources of that humiliation cannot be hidden from the Iranian people, despite the regime's efforts to keep the information from them.
They know about the regime's defeat and its inability to control the skies over its own country.
They know the defeat came mainly at the hands of a Jewish state one tenth of Iran's size. They know the Israelis struck Iranian targets at will.
And they know the regime's costly, decades-long project to dominate the Middle East has failed.
Its proxy network has been smashed and so have the mullahs' efforts to spread Shia Islam by force.
Those disasters are too big to hide, even for a totalitarian regime.
Nor can it hide its isolation. None of its proxies could help in its hour of need because Israel had already decimated them.
Nor did help come from Iran's Great Power allies, Russia and China. They stayed silent.
The result is that Iran's Grand Strategy, like its military infrastructure, lies in ruins.
The writer is Professor of Political Science emeritus at the University of Chicago.
Hamas Caught on Camera Torturing Gazans ( Jerusalem Post)
Maj.-Gen. Ghassan Alian, the coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), shared a video on Thursday of Hamas torturing civilians in Gaza.
In the video compilation, masked members of Hamas can be seen repeatedly beating citizens with metal pipes and the butts of machine guns, punching and kicking clearly wounded people, and shooting individuals in the legs until they can no longer stand.
"Hamas's spectacles of horror, intended to spread terror and brutality, are tools for sowing fear and harming the people of Gaza - all to preserve the group's power and survival," Alian said.
"Hamas stops at nothing, no matter how cruel or cynical toward its own people, in order to maintain its strength and hold the residents hostage to protect its status."
Israeli Collaborators Expose Palestinian Authority's Systematic Torture - Yifat Erlich ( Israel Hayom)
Are we aware that the Palestinian Authority employs horrifying torture practices?
In June 2025, the Jerusalem District Court received nine civil lawsuits against the Palestinian Authority from collaborators who endured torture and imprisonment by the PA under Mahmoud Abbas' rule.
Attorney Barak Kedem, whose law firm has represented collaborators, said, "There's no difference between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. People think the horrors we saw on October 7 were Hamas, but the PA carries out the same horrors."
"It's a different party, but exactly the same people who would commit the same horrors, only ten times worse, because the PA is much larger and has more capabilities and resources. If they had the opportunity, they would do October 7 squared."
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Hamas Injures Two American Aid Workers in Gaza Attack - Alexander Cornwell
The U.S. on Saturday blamed Hamas for a grenade attack that injured two American aid workers from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation at a food distribution site in Gaza. The injured Americans were in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said, "This act of violence against the people actually bringing relief to Gazans lays bare the depravity of Hamas. GHF has contributed over 62 million meals - nothing will stop these courageous aid workers." (Reuters)
- Israel and Syria in U.S.-Brokered Talks to Restore Border Calm - Ben Hubbard
Syria and Israel are engaged in "meaningful" talks through the U.S. that aim to restore calm along their border, according to Thomas J. Barrack Jr., the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria.
He said the U.S. wanted Syria to join the Abraham Accords, which established diplomatic relations between Israel and four Arab states during President Trump's first term. But Barrack cautioned that Syria's new president, Ahmed al-Shara, "cannot be seen by his own people to be forced or coerced into the Abraham Accords, so he has to work slowly." (New York Times)
- Nuclear Inspectors Leave Iran - Erika Solomon
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that its inspectors have left Iran, after the country suspended cooperation with the UN watchdog.
Uranium enriched at low levels can be used as fuel for producing energy, while highly enriched uranium can be used to make a nuclear weapon. The IAEA reported in May that Iran was stockpiling 882 pounds of highly enriched uranium, which could enable building multiple bombs.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stressed on Friday the "crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible." (New York Times)
- A New Palestinian Offer for Peace with Israel - Elliot Kaufman
"We want cooperation with Israel, we want coexistence," says Sheikh Wadee' al-Jaabari, 48, leader of the most influential clan in the West Bank city of Hebron, south of Jerusalem. Sheikh Jaabari and four other leading Hebron sheikhs have signed a letter pledging peace and full recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Their plan is for Hebron to break out of the Palestinian Authority, establish an emirate of its own, and join the Abraham Accords.
Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat, a former mayor of Jerusalem, has brought Jaabari and other sheikhs to his home and met with them more than a dozen times since February. They asked him to present the letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The letter seeks a timetable for negotiations to join the Abraham Accords and "a fair and decent arrangement that would replace the Oslo Accords, which only brought damage, death, economic disaster and destruction." The Oslo Accords, agreed to by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1990s, "have brought upon us the corrupt Palestinian Authority, instead of recognizing the traditional, authentic local leadership."
The sheikhs propose that Israel admit workers from Hebron - a valuable source of income for Palestinian communities. Most permits for Palestinians to work in Israel were suspended after Oct. 7.
The sheikhs pledge "zero tolerance" for terrorism by workers, "in contrast to the current situation in which the Palestinian Authority pays tributes to the terrorists."
"Nobody in Israel believes in the PA, and you won't find many Palestinians who do either," Barkat says. "Sheikh Jaabari wants peace with Israel and to join the Abraham Accords, with the support of his fellow sheikhs. Who in Israel is going to say no?"
Jaabari says the clans governed their own localities for hundreds of years. Then "the Israeli state decided for us. It brought the PLO and told the Palestinians: 'Take this.'" Another sheikh said, "The PLO called itself a liberation movement. But once they got control, they act only to steal the money of the people. They don't have the right to represent us - not them and not Hamas, only we ourselves."
The sheikhs say they can remove the PA from Hebron in a week, or a day, depending on how aggressively they move. "Just don't get involved," one Hebron sheikh advises Israel. (Wall Street Journal)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Israel: Hamas Wants Unacceptable Changes to Gaza Deal
Israel has deemed the changes Hamas attempted to make to the recent proposal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement "unacceptable," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement Saturday night.
At the same time, an Israeli negotiation team went to Qatar on Sunday "to continue the negotiations for the return of our hostages based on the Qatari proposal that Israel has agreed to."
The deal under discussion would see the release of eight live hostages on the first day and two more released on day 50, leaving some 10 Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity.
(Jerusalem Post)
- IDF Killed 1,200 Terrorists in Latest Gaza Offensive - Amir Bohbot
On May 16, Israel announced the start of its latest offensive operation in Gaza. Since then, the IDF has killed more than 1,200 terrorists. In just the past few days, over 100 terrorists were killed, including a naval force commander and seven senior terrorists who were sitting in a cafe. Contrary to reports, security sources said they were not innocent students. Additionally, a company commander from the Nukhba unit who participated in the Oct. 7 massacre and the direct murder of Israelis was killed.
Senior officers in the Southern Command added that the terrorists are being forced to shift to fighting above ground, where ground, air, and intelligence forces are working against them.
(Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
War with Iran
- Steinitz: We Set Back Iran's Nuclear Program "at least Two to Four Years" - Yuval Steinitz interviewed by Amichai Stein
Chairman of the Board of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Yuval Steinitz, a former member of the security cabinet, was among the key architects of the security doctrine that placed the Iranian nuclear program at the top of Israel's national threat assessment. He said the recent attack on Iran will result in a
delay of "at least two to four years" in Iran's nuclear program.
"That's a dramatic setback. Especially in weaponization - what we call the 'finalization' phase. The enrichment they'd nearly mastered also suffered a setback. But the weaponization part? The parts and people needed to build the bomb: We might have wiped that clean."
In 2011-2012, a strike against Iran's nuclear program was considered but ultimately shelved. Steinitz said, "The plan on the table then would have delivered limited damage; maybe delayed Iran by a year or two, but not dismantled the program. And the costs? Hizbullah was at full strength, Iron Dome was barely operational."
"It's not enough to hit 20 or 30% of the nuclear program. That kind of partial damage only strengthens their motivation to rebuild. You have to destroy 70, 80, even 90% - leave them facing a decision to start from scratch. That's what changes their calculus. I'd say we damaged about 80% of the enrichment capacity and possibly 100% of the weaponization effort."
"We targeted the brains. Scientists, senior engineers, lab technicians - eliminated. Experimental facilities - obliterated. Fordow was partially hit, but Natanz was likely wiped out. The conversion facility at Isfahan, which takes uranium gas and prepares it for use in a weapon - that was hit, too....Even if they have some enriched uranium left, they won't be able to weaponize it for a long time."
"When people talk about the war, they focus on ballistic missiles, some of which managed to hit Israel. But let's not forget - Iran launched around 1,200 drones and cruise missiles. And only one hit anything significant....The rest were downed." (Jerusalem Post)
- Iranians Can Survive a Total War that Lasts a Long Time - Sudarsan Raghavan
The brutal war fought four decades ago between Iran and Iraq "really looms large in terms of the entire way in which [the Iranians] see themselves under siege, permanently under threat," said Vali Nasr, an Iran expert at Johns Hopkins University. "The mindset of the country now is that it dodged a bullet and that it still has to contend with a long-term danger."
Iran's leaders have a genuine confidence in their ability to hold out against foreign threats. "They know that they can survive a total war that lasts a long time," said Afshon Ostovar, an Iran military expert and associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. "They know they can tolerate a lot more than maybe the Israelis can tolerate." (Wall Street Journal)
- A Year of Setbacks for Iran - Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
The Iranian government declared "victory" following a ceasefire with Israel that ended the devastating 12-day war. But the reality is stark: In the past year and a half, the Islamic Republic has watched its foundational pillars of influence crumble: its military prestige has been shattered, its nuclear deterrent set back, its closest regional allies have been weakened or lost entirely, and its "Axis of Resistance" has been weakened. These are deep structural wounds that may take decades to heal - if they ever do.
The war that began on June 13, 2025, was a strategic humiliation for Iran. What started with a surprise Israeli operation rapidly evolved into one of the most precise and crippling military campaigns the Islamic Republic has ever faced. Within a short time, Israel eliminated more than 30 senior Iranian military figures, including the architects of Iran's warfare strategy, its ballistic missile programs, and its regional proxy operations. Israel proceeded to bombard many high-value military targets deep inside Iranian territory. Iran's ability to retaliate was feeble at best.
In the end, Tehran was forced into accepting a ceasefire under pressure - from a position of desperation. One of the most shocking revelations of the war was just how easily and thoroughly Israel was able to dominate Iran's airspace, striking targets from Tehran to Isfahan without any significant resistance. This was a strategic disaster. Iran has spent decades cultivating the image of a self-reliant military power capable of defending its skies. That illusion has now been obliterated.
To the average Iranian - and to the government's regional allies - the message was unmistakable: a small country like Israel, with the backing of the U.S., can dismantle Iran's defenses in a matter of days. The psychological impact of this defeat is enormous and will linger long after the physical damage has been repaired.
Moreover, the blow to Iran's nuclear program strips the government of its ability to use the threat of nuclear escalation to extract concessions from the West, to rally domestic unity, or to scare its neighbors. Iran's enemies now see it as weakened and the era of Iran projecting power into the region without serious pushback may be over. (Al-Arabiya)
- It's Time to End the Quiet Toleration of Hatred and Extremism - Damien Egan MP
There is a quiet toleration of hatred and extremism which has gone on for far too long. Two weeks ago,
anti-Israel demonstrators in London carried photographs of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with the words "Choose the right side of history." Others chanted: "We Stand with Iran."
Put to one side the fact that "standing with Iran" willfully ignores the huge dangers - not just to Israel, but to the UK and our other regional allies - posed by Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as its support for international terrorism and proxy armies which have brought bloodshed and chaos across the Middle East.
Instead, we should ask: why would anybody think - as the Islamic Human Rights Commission which printed the banners appears to believe - that Iran's ageing regime is "on the right side of history"? The Iranian regime has presided over the wholesale and violent suppression of the human rights of the people of Iran for decades. Khamenei's regime violently put down peaceful protests in 2009, 2019-20 and 2022-3. It executes hundreds of people each year. It treats women as second-class citizens; persecutes ethnic and religious minorities, refugees and migrants; and murders gay people.
The ever-rising tide of extremism within the anti-Israel movement must be called out and confronted. In 2021, the Commission on Countering Extremism warned of a "gaping chasm in the law that allows hateful extremists to operate with impunity." A noisy and fanatical minority have been allowed to poison and dominate debate, and abuse and intimidate their opponents. It's time to put an end to our collective indifference to extremism. Enough is enough.
The writer is a Labour member of the British Parliament for Bristol North East. (Jewish News-UK)
Hizbullah
- Tehran Is Pressing Hizbullah Not to Give Up Its Weapons - Yaakov Lappin
The U.S. is pushing for a tangible disarmament process by Hizbullah in Lebanon. An American framework
links a potential Israeli withdrawal from disputed border points to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) taking control of Hizbullah's remaining arsenal of illegal weapons.
Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, a Middle East specialist at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs and former deputy head for assessment of Israeli Military Intelligence, said, "One should not expect aggressive action by the Lebanese army against Hizbullah. It is clear to everyone that Hizbullah is doing what it can to hide its weapons and is aware of the criticism rising against it. It is totally subject to Tehran's decision, and Tehran is asking it not to surrender to American demands. Handing over its weapons cancels Hizbullah's role...in the Lebanese political system."
Col. (res.) Barak Ben-Zur, a former head of the Research Unit in the Israel Security Agency, said the key to a long-term solution lies in Damascus via a comprehensive political-security settlement with the new Syrian regime under Ahmad al-Sharaa. Such an agreement would place a major obstacle in the path of Hizbullah's return to its former status. "Establishing a relationship...between Syria and Israel will make it possible to nullify the Iranian influence and its translation into practical steps on the ground."
He noted that the dismantling of Iran's forward intelligence and air defense network in Syria and Lebanon, which had been able to supply early alerts to the Iranian air-defense network and supplied Iran with ongoing intelligence on Israeli air and ground activity, was one of the crucial enablers for the surprise Israeli attack on Iran on June 13. (JNS)
- Why Didn't Hizbullah Join Iran in the War Against Israel? - Maj. (res.) Tal Beeri
During the Israel-Iran war of June 13-24, 2025, Hizbullah chose not to engage militarily alongside Iran against Israel. In our assessment, there is a large gap between the existing presentation of Hizbullah's supposed weakness and the actual reality. Hizbullah's Shi'ite base continues to be maintained and supported by Hizbullah's broad civilian infrastructure that functions in parallel to the collapsing and non-functioning Lebanese state infrastructure.
The claim that Hizbullah is deterred creates a dangerous illusion. On Nov. 20, 2024, a week before the ceasefire, Ibrahim Al-Amin - editor-in-chief of Al-Akhbar, Hizbullah's main mouthpiece - wrote that "the current confrontation is just another round in the war against Israel which must be destroyed, and for this purpose, Hizbullah will act to restore its capabilities and re-empower itself."
This is the essence of Hizbullah's core ideology: there is no peace. There are no compromises. There is one ideology - continuous armed resistance. The rifle on Hizbullah's flag is not a decoration. It is a statement. The concept of "deterrence" holds no real meaning within the worldview of an ideologically driven, religious extremist organization such as Hizbullah (and similarly, Hamas).
Hizbullah's decisions regarding any military/terrorist activity and the initiation of war are made based on a religious directive. In our assessment, no religious directive was issued for Hizbullah to join the war on Iran's side against Israel. It did not come from the Supreme Leader in Iran or the current leader of Hizbullah.
Israel damaged Hizbullah's military capabilities very severely - but did not crush them. Had the religious directive come, Hizbullah would have joined the war on Iran's side.
Hizbullah is actively restoring military capabilities and laying the groundwork for potential terrorist operations against Israel - both from within Lebanese territory and abroad. Hizbullah can currently, at any given moment, carry out activity against Israel.
The writer served for 20 years in IDF Military Intelligence.
(Alma Research and Education Center)
Observations:
- Two weeks after Oct. 7, Dr. Raphael BenLevi, who focused on Iranian affairs in the IDF Military Intelligence Research Division, wrote, "In Iran's strategic chess match, Hamas serves as a pawn, Hizbullah functions as a rook - while the nuclear program represents the queen."
- Following the Iran operation, he explained that "From a historical standpoint, this military operation establishes Israel in the most secure and powerful position it has occupied since achieving statehood. The campaign restored Israel's reputation as a formidable military and technological force possessing exceptional capabilities."
- "While this recent offensive hasn't eliminated all threats facing us, it provides a crucial historical insight. Whenever we seized the initiative against our adversaries, opportunities multiplied and we achieved remarkable success....Conversely, each instance of hesitation cost us dearly."
- He sees a "fundamental flaw" in "liberal theories that minimize cultural distinctions while treating humans as purely rational actors. No 'universal rationality' governs international relations....The underlying long-term forces remain cultural, ideological, and frequently theological in nature....Iranian hostility toward us defies explanation through purely materialist analysis."
- "Idealistic thinkers conceptualize the international arena as a cooperative environment where armed conflict represents an aberration and peaceful coexistence constitutes the standard operating procedure. They maintain absolute confidence that every international actor functions according to identical logic - pursuing economic prosperity and material advancement - believing that presenting appropriate diplomatic proposals will inevitably generate reciprocal cooperation."
- "However, when confronting regimes such as Iran or Hamas, which operate through entirely different moral frameworks and frequently pursue theological-revolutionary objectives incompatible with compromise, this worldview can manifest as perilously delusional thinking."
- "The ayatollahs' regime despises America not for particular policies but for fundamental values it represents. American diplomatic architecture cannot process this reality, repeatedly returning to fantasies about engaging regime officials to discover underlying 'little Americans' seeking personal fulfillment. This represents persistent error rooted in cultural blindness."
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