Tomorrow’s weapons of war
By Jim Fletcher
For years, we fretted about Hezbollah’s stockpiles of rockets and missiles. It was claimed that possibly 150,000 were aimed at Israel’s heartland—the “breadbasket” just east of Tel Aviv. Remember, in the 1967 and 1973 wars, it was the stated goal of Syria and Egypt that they would meet up in Tel Aviv and cut the country in half, then destroy it.
But in the last two years, Hezbollah’s long-reigning chief, Nasrallah, is gone, IDF dead. Many more operatives were maimed in the brilliant “pager” operation. In fact, Israel’s innovations in war are so superior to that of anyone else, their brain-trust is working on scenarios no one else has thought about.
But just when we thought the northern threat was neutralized for a good long while, we discover this week that the gargoyles making up Hezbollah—Lebanon’s terror arm—are now stockpiling drones. And they are very dangerous.
As The Jerusalem Post reports:
“There is no magic for hermetically stopping Hezbollah'sFirst Person View (FPV) drones, which use technology and manual operators that make them harder to jam and much more deadly, the air force said on Friday.
It is estimated that removing American restraints I Lebanon, allowing Israel to go north of the Litani River, would reduce attacks on Israelis by 80 percent. When all is said and done, America officially does not care so much about Jewish lives.
And here’s a disturbing thought:
“Positive change in combating Hezbollah drones would come if US allowed Israel to strike north of Litani River, air force says.”
Frankly, Donald Trump’s Middle East initiatives have been disappointing. Now, to be fair, he is dealing with things we don’t know about, and it’s likely his reticence to really confronting Iran probably has as much to do with our (unfortunately) global economy as it does military concerns. Still, it’s easy to fantasize what things would be like if he hadn’t slammed on the brakes last summer. The American insistence of restraining Israel is a time-honored tradition among America’s presidents, stretching back to Ike.
What we do know diplomatically and geopolitically the last seven decades or so is that America, like the rest of the West, prefers status quo over the bold attempts to fully win wars. If we can manage the world, that’s okay by us. Or I should say our overlords, whether they have been the Dulles brothers or, dare we say, the clueless shingle of “Witkoff & Kushner.” Actually finishing-off Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran appears to be uncomfortable for the West. Meanwhile, Israel stays in a state of emergency, lo these 78 years.
It has become so frustrating watching American presidents handcuff Israel while allowing the Arabs free reign. And we—I—erred thinking it was only Democrat presidents that got it wrong. Nope.
George W. Bush’s Middle East legacy is tragic and infuriating, I now see. If we can trust what we see on the surface, Bush and his team put withering pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw from Gaza. That will prove to be one of modern history’s worst geopolitical blunders. Removing 8,000 Israelis from a paradise they had carved out of a hellhole was disastrous. The Arabs immediately destroyed life-giving Israeli infrastructure and it’s been downhill ever since. Terror tunnels are still being destroyed, almost three years after 10/7. And though it will be years before Gaza is rebuilt (one of the few things Steve Witkoff actually got right), it is still a fact that a radicalized Arab community sits on Israel’s southern border.
I mentioned Hezbollah’s new drones at the outset to make the point that Israel’s mortal enemy, the modern Amalek, will never stop until he is forced to stop.
And that moment is not yet here.