With a new year, comes a regional war for Israel – analysis
Israel is expected to attack Iran relatively soon and with a power that it has never done before following Tehran’s October 1 direct assault on the Jewish state.
Over the New Year holiday and all of last week, the regional war that many wanted to avoid since October 7 has finally arrived.
Some still hope that it will be a smaller version of a regional war and not the maximal version, but there is no question that going into the new Jewish year, the war in Gaza is no longer the main or second main front.
Rather, Lebanon and Iran have replaced Hamas as the main antagonists for Israel, though the Gazan terror group is still in play, and there are still real threats from Yemen, Syrian militias, Iraqi militias, and Hamas terrorists in the West Bank.
Israel is expected to attack Iran relatively soon and with a power that it has never done before following Tehran’s October 1 direct assault on the Jewish state – the second of the year, but the harshest by far.
How soon it will attack depends on the status of the invasion of Lebanon. A quick strategic decision was made on Tuesday not to retaliate immediately but to keep the focus on pummeling Hezbollah and only to respond once there was confidence that the Lebanon invasion goals would be achieved.
That confidence was shaken on October 2 when multiple IDF units were ambushed by Hezbollah, but they have not had repeat success since. If the IDF avoids losses and feels that it is on track to eliminating the terrorist group’s forward Radwan positions in southern Lebanon within weeks, as originally planned, it may hit the Islamic Republic even before the invasion is wrapped up and potentially very soon.
If the invasion slows or faces setbacks, the attack on Iran could be delayed some weeks, and in some scenarios, even until after US Election Day on November 5.
