Seth J. Frantzman
On August 25, the Israel Defense Forces carried out airstrikes on dozens of targets in Lebanon, blunting a Hezbollah attack hours before the attack was expected to take place. The airstrikes, conducted by one hundred aircraft, were designed to preempt a large attack that could have wreaked havoc across central and northern Israel. Three days after preempting Hezbollah’s attacks, the IDF launched a large multi-pronged raid into Palestinian cities in the northern West Bank, aimed at defeating a growing wave of terror attacks.
The two IDF operations, seventy hours apart, illustrate a new strategy by Israel to take the initiative against Iranian-backed threats. This new strategy is important because Israel has largely been reacting to attacks since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed more than 1,000 people last year. The IDF’s reaction to that assault was to begin an air and ground offensive in Gaza. However, the war in Gaza has been slow going. The IDF recently redeployed and withdrew its 98th Division from Khan Younis. The division had been sent to southern Gaza for the second time because Hamas fighters kept returning to areas that the IDF had already taken and cleared.
Israel has been focused on the war in Gaza. It has chosen to react proportionately to threats by Hezbollah in northern Israel. Hezbollah, backed by Iran, has launched more than 7,500 rockets and 200 kamikaze drones at Israel over ten months. In addition, the Iran-backed Houthis have targeted Tel Aviv, Eilat, and commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Israel has only carried out one known retaliatory attack on the Houthis in the form of a strike on the port of Hodeidah. Iraqi-based militias and militias in Syria have also attacked Israel with drones. Israel has generally not responded to these attacks.
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