Ariel Rusila's Conflicts [Ex-BalkanPerspective]

The hostages kidnapped by Hamas – three men and one woman – were rescued alive in a joint rescue operation by the IDF, the security service Shin Bet and the Israeli police on June 8, 2024. In a daring daylight operation, this operation raided two different buildings in a Hamas-controlled area, amidst the civilian population, in the heart of the Gaza Strip. The rescue operation, which took pla ce after weeks of careful planning, involved hundreds of fighters from the IDF, Shin Bet and Israel Police. It is known as Operation Arnon – in honor of Yamam (Special Police Forces) officer, Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, who was wounded during the rescue of three male hostages and died an hour later in hospital. after his death the name of the operation was changed from “Seeds of Summer” to “Operation Arnon”. Between 100 and 274 Palestinians died during the rescue operation. The “Fauda”-style commando attack is a small reprieve for Israel’s intelligence, military, police and security authorities,...

“An Army needs to be large and smart; we are in the Middle East facing hundreds of millions of Arabs who want us dead. Just like that—dead.”  (Offer Drori/IsraelDefense) The war in Gaza has moved into a low-intensity phase where Israel carries out precision strikes against Hamas forces, searches for and destroys the initially more than 500 km tunnel network, and tries to return the remaining hostages alive or dead by armed means. At the current rate of progress, this final clean-up phase is estimated to last until the end of the current year. The alternative is for the ceasefire negotiations to proceed and the hostages to be released through it. A significantly more acute situation is what is happening in the north on the border between Israel and Lebanon, where Hezbollah has supported Hamas since 7/10 terrorist attacks. My assessment is that Israel will start a limited ground offensive this coming weekend at the earliest, and yet that the goals of this limited new war in Lebanon w...