(Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security) Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror - It is important to remember that the war did not break out because Israel wanted it. The war is Israel's response to Hamas's barbaric assault on civilian communities on Oct. 7, 2023, and it was Hizbullah that opened fire on northern Israel the day after the attack. The outbreak of war was rooted in Iran's ambitions and preparations for Israel's collapse and destruction. To this end, Iran conceived and implemented the "Ring of Fire" around Israel - a coordinated campaign from all fronts conducted by terror movements built with Iranian support with the aim of destroying Israel. The war's end must make clear to the world, especially the Muslim world, that radical Islamic movements, both Sunni and Shiite, bring disaster to their people and destruction to their believers. Hizbullah is Iran's most robust proxy; the greater the damage done to Hizbullah, the more Iran is weakened. After Iran on two occasions fired hundreds of missiles at Israel, the actual extent of its military power was revealed, and effectively the Iranian strategy collapsed. The Israeli operation on Oct. 26, in which 20 targets in Iran were hit, made clear to the Iranians the price of direct confrontation with Israel and its weakness in the face of the capabilities Israel demonstrated. Israel is not operating as in previous wars to achieve "threat postponement" on its borders but based on the understanding that threats must be destroyed (Hamas) or at least drastically reduced in intensity (Hizbullah). In Lebanon, no Hizbullah personnel and no Hizbullah infrastructure should remain in the south, which should become a buffer zone mostly without residents and without the presence of any entity threatening Israel. The IDF will oversee this. The buffer zone's purpose is to prevent flat-trajectory fire toward Israeli communities and to push Hizbullah's ground forces beyond the range of executing a surprise Oct. 7-style attack. In both Syria and Lebanon, the IDF should employ the same kind of campaign between wars as it did in Syria over the last dozen years to continue degrading Hizbullah's capabilities and not allow it to rebuild. The writer was national security adviser to the Israeli prime minister and chairman of Israel's National Security Council.
2024-12-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive