Capitalizing on the Weakening of Hamas and Hezbollah

While it remains unclear whether Israel and Iran will engage in a conflict that proves difficult to contain, there are now possibilities for dramatic change for the better in the region. This will require Israel to keep in mind that its remarkable military achievements need to be translated into political outcomes. Consider that Israel has destroyed 23 of Hamas’s 24 battalions, together with its command-and-control structures and a significant part of its military infrastructure (arms depots, weapon labs and production facilities, and tunnels). Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated at the United Nations that 90% of Hamas’s rockets are gone. Israel has also dramatically weakened Hezbollah—Iran’s most important proxy, which provided shock troops for interventions across the region and trained other Iranian-backed militias, helping them to develop and produce their own weapons. Hezbollah’s weakening denies Iran one of its main tools of intimidation and coercion...

Read the full article on the Project Syndicate website.