13 built in the area as a base for an October 7-style attack on theGalilee—is already creating a different reality in southern Lebanon. Preventing Hezbollah from regaining control south of the Litani River, as well as preventing the recovery of its rocket and missile array, will be a major challenge for Israel’s security policy in the north. From the Israeli point of view, the contribution of the American administration to the effort to restore the political system in Lebanon so that it can exert counterpressure on Hezbollah is of great importance. Active American involvement in the Lebanese domestic arena is especially important in light of the changes wrought by the war in Lebanon. Forthefirsttime,Hezbollah’s leadershipwasseverely damaged, and the leader who led its moves in the Lebanese domestic arena is dead. The organization’s military capability has been significantly damaged, and Lebanon is facing a humanitarian disaster due to the displacement of over a million Lebanese from their homes. There is also significant damage to infrastructure in Beirut and south Lebanon that will require large-scale foreign aid for reconstruction. It seems that if the Trump administration acts in accordance with Israel’s interest in formulating an aid package from Arab sources that strengthens the moderate elements in the Lebanese domestic arena, there is a good chance that Iran’s paralyzing grip on the Lebanese political system will finally come to an end. The ultimate test of the strategic partnership will be the challenge of formulating a joint strategy to prevent Iran from acting immediately after the war to rebuild its proxy organizations, especially in the northern arena The war has demonstrated that Israel is a regional military power capable of severely damaging Iran’s proxies, the so-called “axis of resistance,” which formed the main component of its “ring of fire” on Israel’s borders. Iran’s enormous investment in terms of finances, weapons, training, and building military capacity has gone down the drain. At the same time, Israel has proven to the US that it is a security asset with military and technological superiority over its rivals. In addition, it seems that leading figures in the Trump administration were particularly impressed by the fact that the IDF fighters who accomplished these achievements were mostly uniformed civilians determined to defend their home and country. The two previous attempts by American administrations to shape a newpolicy in theMiddle East, in Afghanistan and Iraq, collapsed precisely because these basic components were lacking – a society determined to defend its country alongside technological advancement and a developed economic capability to support the military effort. Israel’s achievements in the military arena increase the confidence of the leading team in the Trump administration that Israel constitutes a first-rate strategic asset in the Middle East. It is to be hoped that this confidence will be translated into concrete steps that allow Israel to shape a security and political reality on both the northern border with Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip that will ensure the removal of the security threats to the civilian populations of both the Galilee and the western Negev and allow the residents of those areas to return. The ultimate test of the strategic partnership will be the challenge of formulating a joint strategy to prevent Iran from acting immediately after the war to rebuild its proxy organizations, especially in the northern arena. Beyond that, the Iranian nuclear issue will continue to be at the center of strategic dialogue between Israel and the United States. It is hoped that in the Trump era, a coherent strategy will be formulated for the first time—one that combines massive economic pressure with a credible and concrete military threat sufficient to deter Iran from advancing its plan to obtain nuclear weapons. Dialogue with President Trump and his administration’s leading security and foreign affairs team has already begun during the transition period. It is based on the assessment of both Israel and the Trump administration that a nuclear Iran would be a tremendous danger to the future of the Middle East and the free world and must be prevented at all costs.
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