Israel Preempts Hezbollah Attack

On August 25, Israel disrupted a planned, massive Hezbollah attack by preemptively striking and neutralizing roughly two-thirds of the projectiles that the terrorist group planned to launch from southern Lebanon. Hezbollah nevertheless managed to fire at least 230 rockets and 20 drones in retaliation for the Israeli strike that killed its most senior military commander, Fuad Shukr, on July 30.

Israel’s preemptive strike combined with its successful air defenses marked substantial victories that strengthened its deterrence and signaled its ability to thwart a large attack from Hezbollah. That Hezbollah delayed its retaliatory strike for almost four weeks, that it limited its attack relative to the 4,000 rockets it is capable of launching daily, and that Iran chose to stay out of the fighting entirely all demonstrate the deterrent impact of close U.S.-Israeli coordination and the deployment of strong military forces to the Middle East. These factors also indicate that neither Hezbollah nor Iran want to escalate to a full-scale war at this moment. To deter further escalation, the United States should maintain its strong deployment of naval and air assets in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean regions and closely coordinate with Israel to help defend against further Hezbollah or Iran-linked attacks.

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