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The Iran-Israel War Is Here
(Wall Street Journal) Jonathan Spyer - The regime in Tehran favors the destruction of the Jewish state. This is a longstanding aim, dating to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. What's brought it to the fore is that Iran has emerged in the past half decade as the prime beneficiary of the collapse of the Iraqi, Syrian and Lebanese states. This has substantially increased its capacity to menace Israel, which has noticed and responded. Iranian proxies today dominate Lebanon (Hizbullah), constitute the single strongest politico-military force in Iraq (Popular Mobilization Units, or PMU), and maintain an independent, powerful military infrastructure in Syria. This nexus, against which Israel is currently engaged, brings Iran to the Syrian and Lebanese borders with Israel. Tehran seeks the transformation of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon into Iranian satrapies, and it has made considerable advances toward its goal. Israel's involvement is entirely reactive, pushing back against Iranian domination and destroying the missile caches that bring it within Iran's range. Israel is largely alone in this fight. The U.S. is certainly aware of Israel's actions against Iran and may tacitly support them. Yet the White House shows no signs of wishing to play an active part in the military challenge to Iranian infrastructure-building across the Middle East. The writer is director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis.