| DAILY ALERT |
Tuesday, October 1, 2024 |
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We wish our readers a Happy Jewish New Year!
Daily Alert will not appear on Thursday, Oct. 3 News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
The U.S. is moving military forces to deter an Iranian response following Israel's stepped-up air campaign against Hizbullah and the start of a ground operation in southern Lebanon, U.S. and Israeli officials said. The Defense Department is planning to bolster the number of Air Force F-15E, F-16 and A-10 warplanes deployed in the region, the Pentagon said Monday. F-15E and F-16s fighters played a major role in shooting down Iranian drones when Tehran mounted a missile and drone attack against Israel in April. The Pentagon is also keeping the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier battle group in the region, and the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier strike group will arrive in the region midweek, providing the U.S. with one carrier near the Red Sea and another in the Mediterranean. The U.S. has advised Israel to avoid a major ground invasion of Lebanon and instead pursue a more targeted incursion, U.S. officials said. They said an understanding was reached which would see Israeli troops target Hizbullah military sites and then pull back forces. An Israeli official said that the ground operation will feature "localized, limited raids against Hizbullah targets along the border with the objective of destroying the capabilities of the Radwan Forces," Hizbullah's special operations unit. (Wall Street Journal) Senior White House figures privately told Israel that the U.S. would support its decision to ramp up military pressure against Hizbullah. Presidential adviser Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East, told top Israeli officials in recent weeks that the U.S. agreed with Israel's broad strategy to shift its military focus to the north against Hizbullah in order to convince the group to engage in diplomatic talks to end the conflict. Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said, "We don't always ask for permission for everything we do," adding that the U.S. "would like to see a diplomatic solution, which we are not against." Some in the administration say that what looks like a rift is just the U.S. pursuing multiple routes at once. "Both things can be true - the U.S. can want diplomacy and support Israel's larger goals against Hizbullah," a senior U.S. official said. Behind the scenes, Hochstein, McGurk and other top U.S. national security officials are describing Israel's Lebanon operations as a history-defining moment - one that could reshape the Middle East for the better for years to come. Most of the top U.S. officials convening Monday at the White House agreed that the conflict could offer an opportunity to reduce Iran's influence in Lebanon and the region. The Biden administration wants to support Israel's actions against a U.S.-designated terrorist group that has killed Americans and threatens the region. But it is not completely comfortable endorsing Israel's campaign into Lebanese territory. (Politico) U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on Monday and reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself against Iran, Lebanese Hizbullah, Hamas, the Houthis, and other Iran-backed terrorist organizations. They agreed on the necessity of dismantling attack infrastructure along the border to ensure that Lebanese Hizbullah cannot conduct Oct. 7-style attacks on Israel's northern communities. They also discussed the serious consequences for Iran in the event Iran chooses to launch a direct military attack against Israel. (U.S. Defense Department) The targeted killing of Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah was received with joy by many Arab journalists and activists on social media, who called it a justified act that has made the world a safer place. Many thanked Israel and Allah for eliminating a man who was responsible for the killing of many Lebanese, Syrians and other Arabs. Lebanese-Iraqi journalist Hussain Abd Al-Hussain wrote: "I'm dancing with joy today like I did when Saddam [Hussein] fell in Baghdad." Saudi journalist Tariq Al-Homayed wrote: "Israel's intelligence infiltration of Hizbullah will remain the greatest story for decades to come." Kuwaiti liberal Jasem Al-Juraid wrote: "Thank you, Israel, for making the world a happier and safer place." Liberal Egyptian writer Dalia Ziada, who heads the MEEM Center for Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Studies, wrote: "A huge portion of Muslims are so relieved by Israel's successful hunting of the ideological heads of the Iran-sponsored proxies that have been wreaking havoc in the Middle East for decades." Saudi journalist Kassab Al-Otaibi wrote: "Iran's servants keep repeating that Hassan Nasr-al-Shaytan was killed defending Jerusalem. That is a lie....He died defending Iran." "Nasr-al-Shaytan" means "victory of Satan," a play on the name Nasrallah, which means "victory of God." (MEMRI) In an interview with CNN Turk, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims that a unit established to counter Israel had its leadership infiltrated by an agent of Mossad, Israel's national intelligence agency. "We established a unit to counter Israel, and the person at the head turned out to be a Mossad agent," overseeing 20 other agents who were responsible for stealing Iranian nuclear documents in 2018. The head of Iran's division aimed at thwarting Mossad operations was identified in 2021 as an Israeli spy. (Turkiye Today) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
IDF soldiers entered southern Lebanon as part of a ground assault on Monday night. "The IDF began limited, localized, and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hizbullah terrorist targets and infrastructure in southern Lebanon," Israel's military said Tuesday. The IDF ground invasion moved ahead much faster than expected as signs of Hizbullah's weakness grew in recent days. Senior IDF sources have been extremely surprised at how ineffective Hizbullah has been at responding to the onslaught against it over the last two weeks. They also said that a significant majority of Hizbullah's capability to retaliate has been harmed. Israel is sensitive to U.S. concerns to not be viewed as occupiers in Lebanon and to only frame the invasion in terms of restoring UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which obligated Hizbullah to remain north of the Litani River. The IDF has destroyed a wide range of long-range and medium-range missiles and rockets, which could threaten Haifa and Tel Aviv. Further, the IDF eliminated the commander of Hizbullah's medium-range rocket array, Eid Hassan, the military said Monday. Several other top Hizbullah rocket and drone commanders have been targeted in recent days. (Jerusalem Post) See also IDF: To Prevent an Oct. 7-Style Invasion, We Must Push Hizbullah Away from Our Borders - Amir Bohbot IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Tuesday that Hizbullah turned the Lebanese villages along the border into "military bases" to use "as a staging ground for an October 7-style invasion into Israeli homes" in a plan dubbed "conquer the Galilee." "If the state of Lebanon and the world can't push Hizbullah away from our borders, we have no choice but to do it ourselves." (Jerusalem Post) See also Lebanese Army Pulls Back from Israeli Border - Maya Gebeily (Reuters) IDF Arabic Spokesperson Lt.-Col. Avichay Adraee on Monday warned residents of certain neighborhoods in Beirut to evacuate, publishing a map of Hizbullah facilities that would be targeted. (Jerusalem Post) See also Israel Air Force Strikes Hizbullah Military Infrastructure in Beirut Israel Air Force jets conducted a precise strike on Hizbullah military infrastructure and weapons manufacturing facilities in the Beirut suburb of Dahieh on Monday night, the IDF said Tuesday. (Jerusalem Post) The Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes Sunday on the Houthi-controlled Hodeidah port and the nearby Ras Isa port in Yemen in response to three Houthi ballistic missile attacks on Israel in September. The strikes, 1,800 km. from Israel, were more extensive than those carried out by Israel in July. (Times of Israel) See also CNN Reporter Flies Aboard Israeli Tanker during Yemen Strike - Nic Robertson Aboard a 50-year-old Boeing 707, I am the first foreign journalist to be taken on an IDF combat mission more than a thousand miles from Israel aboard a fighter jet refuel tanker. Israel's invitation to join this mission came with no detail about the plane's destination. For an hour and a half, Israeli F35 fighter jets closed in behind the tanker to refuel. When the squadron commander shows me a map of the mission, I realize we are on the way to Hodeidah Port in Yemen. IDF spokesman Lt.-Col. Nadav Shoshani tells me that over the past two weeks, the Houthis have fired three long-range missiles at Israel. Shoshani told me the message of the Israeli attack was for Iran too. I ask the lead pilot on the tanker, a reservist veteran aviator, about his feelings when civilians are killed. We don't want to kill civilians, he tells me, and we use all the intelligence we have to avoid it. We are targeting the Houthis, he tells me. They are firing missiles at our civilians, endangering them. This embed wasn't just an object lesson in the lengths Israel will go to punish its enemies, but real-time evidence that dormant adversaries are emerging from the shadows, and Israel's war to thwart them is becoming regional. (CNN) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Targeted Killing of Hassan Nasrallah The Israeli airstrike that killed Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah also eviscerated decades of myths and assumptions about Hizbullah's military might, along with its stature as a regional powerhouse. In the space of 10 days, a militia that had boasted one of the Middle East's most formidable arsenals and broadest strategic reach has been brought to its knees by Israeli attacks against its communications network, its top commanders, and now its leader in the presumed safety of a bunker in Beirut. Hizbullah appears to have gravely overestimated its own strength and underestimated Israel's willingness to take it on, along with the extent to which Israeli intelligence had penetrated the organization. Hizbullah's rocket attacks are reaching deeper into Israel than previously, but they have been largely ineffectual. Most of the missiles have been intercepted by Israeli defenses, and although there has been damage to Israeli property, there have been few casualties. (Washington Post) In a display of military and intelligence prowess reminiscent of its victory over Arab armies in the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel has delivered a series of devastating preemptive blows on Hizbullah, culminating in the death of its longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday. It's a much-deserved comeuppance for an Iranian proxy militia, guilty of many terrorist deeds. As President Joe Biden noted Saturday, Nasrallah's death brings "a measure of justice" for Hizbullah's victims, who include 241 American and 58 French peacekeeping troops whom Hizbullah slaughtered in 1983 Beirut truck bombings. Hizbullah's unilateral rocketing of northern Israel beginning last Oct. 8 had no rationale except to support Hamas's ghastly attack on Israel. Now, its Iranian-supplied arsenal, warehoused across Lebanon, stands at risk of destruction, which in turn could portend the reduction of the long-standing Hizbullah threat to overwhelm Israel with a missile barrage. (Washington Post) Even after the Holocaust; even after the attempt by the Arab world to strangle the country at the very moment of its birth; even after the Soviet anti-Zionist campaign that led to the "Zionism is racism" resolution of 1975; even after the UN's "world conference against racism" of 2001, which dissolved into an orgy of Jew-hate; and after many other examples of downright bigotry, Jerusalem continued to believe that the world would be on its side if it would only do the right thing and be seen to be doing so. Nobody believes this today. Hizbullah - widely recognized as a savage jihadi organization - began its entirely unprovoked rocket campaign against its democratic neighbor on Oct. 8. While rockets rained down on deserted towns and villages for almost a year, Jerusalem responded only tactically and maintained strategic patience. Fast-forward to the global reaction to Israel's recent escalation, when enough was finally enough. The international community erupted in condemnation, accusing Israel of breaking "international law." Then, whereas the media had all but ignored the plight of the thousands of Israeli families that have become refugees in their own country, it joined in a chorus of sympathy for the Lebanese civilians fleeing the battle zone. For all the lip-service paid to Israel's right to defend itself, when it comes to the crunch, the Jewish state is allowed to do only one thing. It is allowed to die. The single lesson of Oct. 7 was that if an enemy wishes to kill you and prepares to do so, sooner or later he will find a way to make his move. Is it possible to defend the killing of Nasrallah and the escalation in Lebanon on moral grounds? Taking a life is a sin. But which is the greater sin, to kill a jihadi aggressor or to allow your family to be massacred? Western finger-waggers have the luxury of warm beds, secure borders and a dearth of rockets pointed at their homes. Israel has no such privilege. It is time to let go of fantasies of how we wish the world to be and recognize the stark reality: the Jewish state is on the front line of a war between an alliance of autocracies and the overly-docile Free World. There is nothing pleasant about killing in self-defense, but tragically there can be worse sins. The writer is editor of the Jewish Chronicle-UK. (Substack) By killing Hizbullah's chief, Hassan Nasrallah, Israel has done the world, and the Lebanese people, an unequivocal favor. Nasrallah's death marks a major move forward in helping to free Lebanon of Hizbullah's reign of terror. I have many friends in Lebanon and know for a fact that this is one development that the majority of them are happily welcoming. Hizbullah has become the largest non-state military in the world and has repeatedly launched unprovoked attacks on Israel, bringing ruin upon Lebanon's people. It also intervened in the Syrian civil war to keep the war criminal Bashar al-Assad in power. Nasrallah's death should kickstart efforts to comprehensively change the status quo. The writer is the former chief editor of the Associated Press in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. (Forward) On May 26, 2000, during victory celebrations following the IDF's withdrawal from Lebanon, Hizbullah's leader Hassan Nasrallah declared: "Israel...is actually weaker than a spider's web....Israeli society is war-weary and lacks the resilience to endure a bloody conflict or suffer casualties. Israel may appear strong from the outside, but it's easily destroyed and defeated." However, the events of recent weeks are forcing Israel's adversaries, and others, to reassess their fundamental assumptions. They're confronted with Israel's unexpected stamina in a prolonged, multi-front war and its willingness to take bold, calculated risks. They failed to grasp the profound impact of Oct. 7 and the seismic shift it triggered in Israeli thinking and behavior. Israel's sustained military actions clearly demonstrate its determination to effect fundamental change. Nasrallah joins the long list of terrorist leaders who bought into the flawed "spider web" theory. Their demise stands as a testament to its failure. The writer, a former Israeli national security advisor, is chairman of the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy in Jerusalem. (Israel Hayom) Not since King Harold, his brothers and much of the Saxon nobility were wiped out in the Battle of Hastings almost 1,000 years ago has one side annihilated the leadership of its enemy so suddenly and thoroughly. On Friday, in a series of surgically precise strikes, Israel killed Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah, along with around 20 senior militia commanders. By any sane rationale, the war between Israel and Hizbullah should be over. But fanatics are neither sane nor rational. This is a fighting force whose lower ranks are obsessed with martyrdom. They have been comprehensively defeated but that does not mean they will surrender. There is still a mass of weapons at the disposal of local commanders eager to burnish their own combat reputations and leadership ambitions. The writer is director of the Crisis Research Institute in Oxford. (Mail On Sunday-UK) After Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah was targeted and killed in an Israeli air raid, the overwhelming majority of people posting comments on social media from Arab and Islamic countries are positive. Many go beyond that to outward gloating. There are videos of people handing out sweets in the streets, and an overwhelming sense of joy at what looks like the end of Hizbullah as we know it, as Israel continues to target its commanders. During the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah, mass demonstrations by protestors declaring their allegiance to Nasrallah were held daily across Arab and Islamic countries. What changed? Hizbullah is an ideological party based on loyalty to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Hizbullah's fealty to Khomeini is what pushed the party to engage in civil wars in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and to intervene in the protests in Bahrain years ago. These interventions by Hizbullah were against the Muslim citizens in those countries, most of whom were engaged in revolts against tyrannical dictatorial regimes. Hizbullah's support for criminal and corrupt regimes has had a much stronger impact on the Arab and Islamic masses than Hizbullah's attacks on Israel. Hizbullah's involvement in repressive actions in neighboring countries elevated strongman leaders who oppressed their fellow Muslims, which angered enough people that Israel was able to recruit a large base for espionage missions. From the perspective of the overwhelming majority of Arab and Muslim peoples, Hizbullah is a destructive element that fuels sectarian conflicts and supports authoritarian regimes as long as the Supreme Leader of Iran wishes to support them. The writer is a former member of the Jordanian Senate. (Newsweek) Restoring Israel's Deterrence Maj. John Spencer, who heads Urban Warfare Studies at West Point, said, "Everything that the world has heard about Gaza has actually been counterfactual. It has been wrong. What Israel has done to protect civilians, and despite what Hamas has wanted, has been an amazing achievement that I didn't even, personally as an urban warfare scholar, think was possible." "Israel has once again proven that when attacked, it can achieve the impossible. Its actions in Gaza since Oct. 7 - despite Hamas's 15 years of fortification and preparation, 385 miles of tunnels, a strategy of human shields, the hostage crisis, and simultaneous attacks from Hizbullah, Iran, and the Houthis - are unprecedented. No other army in the world has done this, and I believe none is capable of it. Some might interpret this as Israeli weakness. As a military analyst, I see it as a testament to Israel's unique capabilities." "Until now, Hizbullah and Iran doubted Israel's resolve to destroy Hizbullah....But we're seeing a shift. Israel is demonstrating not just capability, but willingness to act. This week's attacks present Hizbullah with a stark choice about their survival." "Oct. 7 has been transformative for Israel, the Middle East, and hopefully, the world. The Iranian regime's grand strategy aims to destroy Israel, and then target the U.S., using proxy armies. The approach to these terrorist proxies was misguided, not just by Israel but globally." "Yet, as in past crises, Israel has demonstrated its ability to achieve the seemingly impossible when attacked. Moreover, Israel's allies have shown it doesn't stand alone. As an American, I take pride in U.S. military efforts to intercept Iranian rockets, missiles, and drones, with support from Arab nations like Saudi Arabia and Jordan." "I believe Israel's strength has been proven. I think Hamas and Hizbullah expected to inflict much more damage, but Israel's power has been displayed to the world." "I don't think the Iranians will abandon their strategy to destroy Israel, but they'll need to recalculate their approach....So they'll be more cautious about Israel's strength now, but they still believe they can achieve their long-term goal." (Israel Hayom) The restoration of Israel's deterrence power will require Israel to continue the fight and resist international, and especially U.S., calls for a ceasefire. As America's own history proves after Japan's disastrous surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, persistence in war, even after initial setbacks, can ultimately lead to triumph. Hamas's onslaught of Oct. 7 ravaged the perception of Israeli power. That impression was essential to deterring Iran and its terrorist proxies and helped convince Arab countries to make peace. Israel's image as a military powerhouse strengthened our international standing, stimulated our economy, and advanced our efforts to integrate into the region. Oct. 7 all but obliterated that image. Israel must not agree to a ceasefire that will allow Hizbullah to rearm and rebuild its command structure. In Lebanon, Israel's objective is to vastly reduce Hizbullah's ability as a fighting force and drive it north of the Litani River. A ceasefire that enables Hizbullah to remain deployed along our northern border and resume daily firing at our citizens will not enable tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to return to their homes. The dangers of failing to continue our counteroffensive against Hizbullah far outweigh those of waging one. At stake is Israel's ability to achieve long-term peace and security - in short, to survive. Unlike America's most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that ended inconclusively with ignominious withdrawals, Israel is fighting an existential war on our own borders. Only by resisting pressure for a ceasefire that leaves Hizbullah unbowed can Israel fully restore our deterrence power and regain our regional preeminence. The image of an Israel both willing and able to defend itself must never again be questioned. The writer is a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and Deputy Minister for Diplomacy. (Times of Israel) Israeli Security The instigators of the current war - Hamas and Islamic Jihad from Gaza, their radical supporters in the West Bank, Hizbullah from Lebanon, the Houthis from Yemen, Shiite militias from Syria and Iraq, and the Iranian regional power that arms, finances and inspires them - all proudly seek to bring about the destruction of the Jewish state and its people. Their grievance is not limited to occupation or alleged maltreatment but concerns the very existence of Israel. The role model they educate their children to glorify is the "Martyr" killer of Jews. These proxies wage war from amidst their civilian population, directly against the Israeli civilian population. Positioning their rockets and arsenals in schools, hospitals, mosques and nurseries, they present Israel with a choice between acquiescing in the slaughter of Israel's children, and causing, in the course of disabling their war machine, civilian casualties on the Arab side. They have repeatedly demonstrated that they are willing to sacrifice their own civilians so that Israel will be embarrassed, criticized, and eventually stopped by its Western allies from effectively responding to the radical Arab aggression. The destruction in Gaza was not Israel's war objective; the Palestinian insistence to use civilian structures for military positions, arsenals, tunnel shafts and booby-traps made it inevitable. This strategy proved to work to some extent, when an unholy alliance of media, international organizations, as well as confused students and an assortment of old and new anti-Semites, chose to blame the targets of genocidal aggression for defending themselves. Israel's challenge in Lebanon is similar to the one it had in Gaza: to prove that it can levy a cost of war that even a society that does not care about its people can't bear for long. Israel needs to prove again that it can recuperate, continue to offer its people a good and ever improving life, and disregard the self-righteous denunciations. Threatened for more than a century, the Jews proved that they can develop productive enterprise in their ancestral homeland, even as their enemies stagnate, fail and crumble. When this war is over, many will realize how significant it has been for all democracies. What looms is the threat of unscrupulous radicals finding a way to undermine and destroy strong and developed democracies, using their scruples and vulnerabilities as the proverbial Achilles' heel. If terrorists can do this with impunity, civilized pluralistic societies stand no chance. Having one hand tied behind their back may be necessary for such societies to uphold their values even in times of crisis. Now they are being bullied by self-appointed moral gatekeepers to suicidally tie the other hand too. Israel did what it had to do in Gaza. It will in Lebanon, Yemen and Syria. If need be, at a very high cost, in Iran. The writer heads the International Graduate Program in National Security Studies at the University of Haifa. (Times of India) Let's all give thanks to the Israel Defense Forces for the operations that have not only gutted Hizbullah, but at long last took out the thugs most responsible for the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that slaughtered 220 Marines and 21 other U.S. service members. Seven U.S. presidents had failed to bring that basic justice. While Western "friends" of Israel still keep mewling that the only path to Mideast peace starts with the creation of a Palestinian state, the barriers to Mideast peace are now: 1) The Tehran regime and its imperialist ambitions, and 2) the refusal to recognize that Israel can and will continue to exist. Israel's Arab neighbors have slowly been coming to accept the latter truth, their attention focused by the growing Iranian threat. Mideast peace progressed by leaps and bounds with the Abraham Accords, but slowed to a crawl when the Biden team re-embraced the two-state delusion, plus the even more fantastical obsession with reaching an entente with the "Death to America" Tehran regime. After Hizbullah shot thousands of missiles into Israel and the IDF finally began to move against Hizbullah, Team Biden rushed to call for a ceasefire - between Israel and Lebanon, not even daring to call out Hizbullah. This war was supposed to see Iran's proxies keep everyone busy while Iran went nuclear. Instead, the war is steadily destroying those proxies. (New York Post) The idea was simple: When a big war with Israel broke out, all the members of the Iranian-backed network of militias known as the "axis of resistance" would join the fight in their shared goal of destroying the Jewish state. Iran invested tremendous resources to build each group's fighting abilities and connect them to one another. But the axis's response as Israel has pummeled Hizbullah in Lebanon has so far been feeble, suggesting that the axis is weaker than expected. Israel's swift series of attacks on Hizbullah over the last two weeks has shaken the other members of the axis, who seemed to have been unprepared for the possibility that Hizbullah could suffer such crippling losses. Tehran appears to be torn between a desire to retaliate against Israel and fear that doing so might lead Israel to attack Iran directly. "They are in a strategic bind, because if they do nothing it will further weaken them and weaken their credibility and their deterrence," said Kawa Hassan, a fellow at the Stimson Center's Middle East and North Africa Program. But if the Iranians respond, that would risk provoking Israel at a time when it appears "really ready to go after them." (New York Times) Israel and the West Western foreign-policy elites desperately want to believe that we live in a stable, rules-based international order and that successful foreign policy in our enlightened era depends less on military strength and more on diplomacy, respect for international law, and scrupulous attention to human rights. Nowhere is the game of "Let's Pretend" more assiduously practiced than in Western Middle East policy. In the real world, Iran is a malign and restless power whose fanatical ambition can only be resisted by force. The Palestinian people, whatever the historical rights and wrongs of their predicament, currently lack the leadership, institutions and national consensus that could make a two-state solution work. UNRWA, whatever else it does, enables and nourishes terrorism. The international laws of war have limited relevance in a region in which the UN Charter itself is largely a dead letter. Real peace is not on the table for Israel or any state in the Middle East anytime soon. But in the West's view, peace with Iran is just a couple of diplomatic meetings away. Until the West shakes off the dream that we live on a post-historical planet, Israelis and Arabs alike will have to disregard Western advice to chart their own courses. The writer, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, is Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College. (Wall Street Journal) On Sep. 26, the U.S. joined nine other countries and the EU to demand a three-week ceasefire across the Lebanon-Israel border. Israel isn't fighting Lebanon. Israel wants nothing to do with Lebanon. The IDF left there 24 years ago. Israel is attempting to restore deterrence against Hizbullah. Since the atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023, Hizbullah has fired rockets into Israel's north, turning it into a ghost zone of abandoned communities and uprooted lives. That Israelis have put up with such disruption for so long is a reminder of their fortitude and clarity of purpose. Now that Hamas is devastated, this allows Israel to turn to Hizbullah. If Hizbullah doesn't stand down, there is no way other than a ground incursion to diminish the threat. Diplomacy hasn't worked. Biden's joint statement reads as if negotiations haven't been tried. On the contrary: U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein has been traversing the region for months. It's not Israel that has made Hochstein look like a fool. It's the terrorist psychopaths he treats as good-faith interlocutors. In Hizbullah's case, a deal has been on the table since 2006. Move your forces back. Stop trying to kill Israelis. Peace is elusive because Hizbullah's not interested. Rather than building sandcastles in the UN, President Biden could try applying to our besieged ally in the Middle East the same rhetorical and material support he bestows on Ukraine. Israel would be right to ignore him - and to do what's necessary to restore balance to the region and Israelis to their homes. The writer is director of Domestic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. (Washington Free Beacon) The U.S. and Europe should build on Israel's military breakthrough against Hizbullah to put more pressure on Iran and its proxy network. By going on the offensive, Israel has done enormous damage to Hizbullah's ability to wage war. Hizbullah's leaders are dead or hiding in bunkers. The rain of missiles and rockets on Tel Aviv that Israel has long feared hasn't materialized. This is a triumph for the Israel Defense Forces but it's also an enormous favor to U.S. interests and the West. Hizbullah was essentially Iran's front-line offensive force. It was an insurance policy that Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei could call on if Israel moved to strike Iran's nuclear sites. One place to start putting Iran and its proxies on the defensive is against the Houthis in Yemen. They've been winning their battle against the U.S. and global shipping in the Red Sea as the Biden Administration has been content to let the U.S. Navy play whack-a-missile. The next time the Houthis attack, the U.S. can unleash the same sustained havoc on them that Israel has on Hizbullah. (Wall Street Journal) It would be difficult to overstate Hizbullah commander Hassan Nasrallah's significance to the terrorist organization he led and the blow to it represented by his death. He led an organization estimated to be capable of fielding upwards of 50,000 fighters with around 150,000 missiles, rockets, and drones at its disposal. He was the most reliable of Iran's proxies, the commander of its strongest militia in the region. And now he's gone. This is good news for the West, but the Biden administration and its European allies aren't acting like it. From the outset of Israeli operations against Hizbullah, Israel's supposed Western allies have called on Jerusalem to stand down. Israel has refused because it would get nothing from a premature cessation of operations whereas Hizbullah would win a new lease on life. The Israelis are acting fast because they know their supporters in the West, who stand as much to gain from Hizbullah's decimation as Israel does, don't have the stomach for a protracted counterterrorism operation. Israel's victories have come in short succession out of sheer necessity. Nasrallah's death does not neutralize the threat posed by Hizbullah. But the devastating blows Israel has meted out against an organization that is an enemy of the West with American blood on its hands are staggering. They should be celebrated. (National Review) Observations: Israel Defends Itself - and May Save Western Civilization - Gerard Baker (Wall Street Journal)
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