Rafi Schwartz
While Israeli forces and Hamas militants engage in a brutal Gaza conflict over the last year, Israel has also waged a separate war against Hezbollah, bombing suspected militant sites across Lebanon in response to months of rocket bombardments on Israel's north. The two fronts were, for a time, taken as a sign that a broader regional war was not merely possible but already underway.
However, the U.S.-France-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has succeeded in reducing hostilities between the two adversaries. And, in turn, the fragile detente has refocused attention back on the Gaza Strip, where a diminished Hamas remains a potent force.
Is Hamas more isolated now?
Hamas is "feeling the pressure" stemming from Hezbollah's ceasefire agreement, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on CBS' "Face the Nation." Hezbollah has been "one of [Hamas'] main partners in crime" and the truce undercuts their belief that the Lebanese militia would be "with them till the end." The Palestinian group had long hoped a "wider war in the Middle East would help deliver the organization a victory in its war with Israel," The New York Times said. But the Hezbollah ceasefire "left that strategy in tatters" and potentially removed "Hamas' most important ally from the fight."
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