Topic:

Hezbollah

The WhatsApp Crisis Reveals Cracks in Iran’s Soft Power Strategy

Shay Attias | December 8, 2019

The “WhatsApp crisis” in Lebanon revealed a crack in Iran’s grand diplomatic strategy of using its proxies to push ideological soft power concurrently with hard power. Since 1979, Tehran has been trying to brand itself as the epicenter of the Islamic Revolution. That notion is being challenged—not by Lebanese tanks and Iraqi bullets but by citizens armed with smartphones.

Iran and Its Proxies Face the Costs of Imperialism

Prof. Hillel Frisch | November 25, 2019

In both Iraq and Lebanon, Shiites are participating in protests against Iranian-backed, Shiite-led governments. As protests and violence in Iraq and Lebanon continue, Iran is beginning to learn that imperialism in a world of mass politics and protest has unintended costs.

Hezbollah’s Demographic Problem Explains Its Restraint

Prof. Hillel Frisch | September 8, 2019

Hezbollah responded with restraint to Israel’s three-pronged attacks over the past two weeks in Syria, Iraq, and, above all, a neighborhood in Dahiya, the vast Shiite area in Beirut where Hezbollah is headquartered. The organization’s effort to avoid escalation reflects its demographic problem in Lebanon.

Israel’s New Existential Challenge

Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen | September 4, 2019

The creation of an Iranian military/terrorist axis along Israel’s northern and southern borders, comprising Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, lays the groundwork for the long-term multi-frontal attrition of the Jewish state.

The Prospect of an Iran-Israel Escalation

Yaakov Lappin | June 2, 2019

The recent rise in military tensions in the Persian Gulf between the US and Iran introduces a heightened possibility that Iran will activate proxies against Israel. In the event of further escalation, Jerusalem must assume that Tehran’s plans will include possible proxy attacks on Israeli territory and overseas Israeli targets.

Deterrence Is Not Everything

Col (Res.) Dr. Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen | December 13, 2018

Israel’s decisions a) to contain Hamas’s continuous provocations rather than use them as a casus belli and b) to refrain from an immediate military response to the discovery of Hezbollah tunnels into Israeli sovereign territory in the northern Galilee highlight the issue of deterrence as a core factor affecting the Israeli image in the region. Assuming the current Israeli modus operandi is the product of rational and thoughtful staff work, it can be inferred that deterrence is no longer either a decisive factor or even a strategic goal in the asymmetric conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s Strategic Symbiosis

Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen | December 10, 2018

A new strategic symbiosis has evolved over the past decade between Hezbollah and the Lebanese state, enabling the Islamist group to pursue its massive military buildup with impunity. This necessitates that Israel revisit its strategic doctrine vis-à-vis Lebanon and clarify to the Lebanese government the devastating consequences that could result from a new Hezbollah-induced war with Israel.

The Iranian Modus Operandi

Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Dany Shoham | December 6, 2018

Time and again in recent decades, Iran has used its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to attempt to deprive Israel of calm borders with its neighbors. As this problem is likely to recur in the context of the Gaza Strip, it is essential – and by no means impossible – to root it out from that area.

The Assad Regime Returns to the Golan

Dr. Yitzhak Degani | August 15, 2018

The Assad regime’s recapture of the Syrian Golan Heights is advantageous to Israel, in light of the Israeli-Russian understanding to predicate the situation there on the May 1974 disengagement. Even if the new arrangement does not lead to a forty-year-long de facto peace like the one that prevailed prior to the eruption of the Syrian civil war, Assad will need to focus on rebuilding his regime, reconstituting Syria, and ensuring the continuation of Alawite rule. In these circumstances, not only does military confrontation with Israel not entail any conceivable gains but it would likely wreck the regime’s fragile recovery.

Towards an Arab NATO?

Irina Tsukerman | July 27, 2018

The Arab Coalition in Yemen is facing three internal challenges: differences between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, Qatari meddling, and recent tensions between Saudi Arabia and Morocco. Despite these complications, new developments show that over the long run there is a likelihood of a strategic response to the stalemate in Yemen and to other Iran-related problems in the form of an upgrading of the scattered and divided Arab Coalition into a formal and organized infrastructure similar to NATO.

Pages:12 3 ›

Russia Will Likely Collapse from the Inside

September 11, 2019 Emil Avdaliani

Russia is historically prone to internal collapse, as is shown by numerous examples from both the imperial and Soviet periods. The collapse usually takes place as Russia rests on the laurels of recent military victories while internal economic and social troubles grow. History teaches that the best way to deal with Russia is to keep intervention to a minimum and wait for its internal troubles to bring about its collapse.

The Day After an Iranian Nuclear Strike

September 10, 2019 Dr. Ori Nissim Levy

There is much discussion around the world about how to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. But few, if any, international bodies deal with the question of how to prepare for the day Iran achieves such capabilities, if that day has not already arrived.

“The Occupation” – How the EU Discriminates Against Israel

August 21, 2019 Prof. Hillel Frisch

Why does the EU single out Israeli “occupation” over other “occupations”? Because anti-Israeli, pro-Palestinian positions are one of the few rallying cries that unite Europe.

The Palestinians, Happiness, and the “Occupation”

August 15, 2019 Prof. Hillel Frisch

In an academic ranking of countries according to happiness level, the “Palestinian Territories” are far from the bottom of the list – something of a surprise, as the never-ending lamentations about the “Israeli occupation” would suggest a different outcome. The real tragedy is Tunisia, which achieved democracy but has not registered expected economic dividends. Its citizens are more discontented than the Palestinians.

The UN Agency for Palestinians Is Even Worse Than You Think It Is

August 11, 2019 Dr. Alex Joffe and Dr. Asaf Romirowsky

A corruption scandal involving sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation against whistleblowers, and lots of business-class travel has gripped the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). It represents a new low for UNRWA and is an indictment of the idea of an international agency dedicated to a single interest. But it’s also a unique opportunity to see behind the curtain of a billion-dollar UN bureaucracy and phase it out.

Palestinian Settler-Colonialism

September 3, 2017 Dr. Alex Joffe

The concept of “settler colonialism” has been applied with almost unique vehemence against Israel. But the fact that Jews are the indigenous population of the Southern Levant can be proved with ease. In contrast, historical and genealogical evidence shows Palestinians descend primarily from three primary groups: Muslim invaders, Arab immigrants, and local converts to Islam. The Muslim conquest of Byzantine Palestine in the 7th century CE is a textbook example of settler-colonialism, as is subsequent immigration, particularly during the 19th and 20th centuries under the Ottoman and British Empires. The application of the concept to Jews and Zionism by Palestinians is both ironic and unhelpful.

Myth: Israel Is the Largest Beneficiary of US Military Aid

February 10, 2017 Prof. Hillel Frisch

Many American detractors of Israel begin by citing that Israel receives the lion’s share of US military aid. The very suggestion conjures the demon of an all-powerful Israel lobby that has turned the US Congress into its pawn. But these figures, while reflecting official direct US military aid, are almost meaningless in comparison to the real costs and benefits of US military aid – above all, American boots on the ground. In reality, Israel receives only a small fraction of American military aid, and most of that was spent in the US to the benefit of the American economy.

The Oslo Disaster

September 4, 2016 Prof. Efraim Karsh

The Oslo diplomatic process is the starkest strategic blunder in Israel’s history and one of the worst calamities ever to have afflicted Israelis and Palestinians. Twenty three years after its euphoric launch on the White House lawn, the Oslo ‘peace process’ has substantially worsened the position of both parties, and made the prospects for peace and reconciliation ever more remote.

Hezbollah

The WhatsApp Crisis Reveals Cracks in Iran’s Soft Power Strategy

Iran and Its Proxies Face the Costs of Imperialism

Hezbollah’s Demographic Problem Explains Its Restraint

Israel’s New Existential Challenge

The Prospect of an Iran-Israel Escalation

Deterrence Is Not Everything

Lebanon’s Strategic Symbiosis

The Iranian Modus Operandi

The Assad Regime Returns to the Golan

Towards an Arab NATO?

Subscribe

Upcoming Events

Featured Articles

Russia Will Likely Collapse from the Inside

The Day After an Iranian Nuclear Strike

“The Occupation” – How the EU Discriminates Against Israel

The Palestinians, Happiness, and the “Occupation”

The UN Agency for Palestinians Is Even Worse Than You Think It Is

Palestinian Settler-Colonialism

Myth: Israel Is the Largest Beneficiary of US Military Aid

The Oslo Disaster

Connect on Facebook

Hezbollah

Subscribe

Subscribe to our mailing list

Upcoming Events

Featured Articles

Connect on Facebook