Iran-Led Axis Is Likely to Launch Joint Attack, but Can’t Reverse Israeli Gains in Gaza

Hezbollah fighters at a funeral in South Lebanon. (Photo: Shutterstock)

After the Hezbollah rocket attack in Majdal Shams on Saturday that left 12 children dead and dozens more injured, Israel found itself forced to carry out a muscular response.

The question was how.

Several options were on the table, some of them pushed loudly by prominent officials. Israel could have opted to finally embark on the long-anticipated war on Hezbollah, seeking to drive the Shiite terror army from southern Lebanon and degrade its military capabilities.

Alternatively, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could have opted for a limited air campaign across Lebanon, focusing on taking out key Hezbollah targets, both as punishment for the Golan Heights strike and to put Israel in a better position if and when war breaks out.

Or Israel could also have struck the Lebanese state itself, trying to compel it to rein Hezbollah in.

Read the full article at the Times of Israel.

Lazar Berman is the diplomatic correspondent at the Times of Israel, where he also covers Christian Affairs. He holds an M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University and taught at Salahuddin University in Iraqi Kurdistan. Berman is a reserve captain in the IDF’s Commando Brigade and served in a Bedouin unit during his active service.
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I recently witnessed something I haven’t seen in a long time. On Friday, August 16, 2024, a group of pro-Hamas activists packed up their signs and went home in the face of spirited and non-violent opposition from a coalition of pro-American Iranians and American Jews. The last time I saw anything like that happen was in 2006 or 2007, when I led a crowd of Israel supporters in chants in order to silence a heckler standing on the sidewalk near the town common in Amherst, Massachusetts. The ridicule was enough to prompt him and his fellow anti-Israel activists to walk away, as we cheered their departure. It was glorious.