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Source: https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/hjfcw7di11x
Israel Seeks to Target Iran's Critical Infrastructure, Continues Moving North Against Hizbullah in Lebanon
(Ynet News) Ron Ben-Yishai - The official American position, as reflected in statements from the Pentagon and the White House, opposes Israeli strikes on Iran's critical infrastructure. Washington is concerned that the Iranians will respond with barrages against oil facilities across the Gulf. However, Jerusalem believes that unless Iran's critical infrastructure is dealt a heavy blow, both the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian government will continue the hardline, defiant course they are now pursuing, both in negotiations with the U.S. and in missile and drone launches toward Israel and the Gulf states. It appears that President Trump is trying to bring the fighting to an end through diplomacy, but without giving up his main goals. If the war does not end soon through negotiations, the Pentagon is preparing a broad range of options, including special operations that would give the president the PR victory he is looking for, after which he could forgo a diplomatic agreement with the Iranians. Trump still has not decided which course of action he will choose. In Lebanon, there is not the slightest sign that Hizbullah is prepared to disarm, and there is no actor inside Lebanon capable of enforcing such a move, including the Lebanese government. Hizbullah is demonstrating that it, together with its Iranian patrons, remains the decisive force on Lebanese sovereign territory. That is evident in the case of the Iranian ambassador, whom the Lebanese government expelled but who has remained under Hizbullah's protection. The IDF is operating 12 brigade combat teams inside Lebanon, up to roughly the Litani River. These forces are drawing much of Hizbullah's fire onto themselves, thereby reducing the physical damage to Israel's north. They are also providing active defense that keeps Hizbullah cells from infiltrating frontline communities and has nearly eliminated direct anti-tank missile fire and sniper attacks on fence-line towns in the Galilee. The security zone up to the Litani is not meant to be a second version of the "security zone" from which the IDF withdrew in May 2000. There will be no Shiite communities in this sector, only a handful of Christian villages. There will be no South Lebanon Army, and Israeli forces will not sit in fixed outposts exposed to shelling and Hizbullah raids. Instead, the military intends to conduct a mobile defense based on advanced technological intelligence-gathering, minimizing Hizbullah's ability to strike our forces from a distance or raid them. This security zone is now taking shape.