Israel’s covert operations in Lebanon, Syria and Iran over the last decade or two are probably the most successful long-term clandestine programs in Israel’s history.
The most famous of these operations is the beeper operation which took more than 10 years to plan, setup and implement, that was so successful that it will have long-term ramifications for decades. Terrorists in Lebanon are limping around or missing an eye or have some other major facial defect due to the effectiveness of Israel planting mini explosives in thousands of beepers that were used by the Hezbollah. This meant that Israel was not merely listening in on Hezbollah conversations. They had GPS real-time information on the whereabouts of the entire terrorist organization for several years leading up to the October 7th debacle and the successful beeper attack.
That is how Israel knew where the most serious underground tunnel setups in Lebanon were located in order to launch tens of thousands of missiles at Israel. Most of these missiles have been destroyed by Israel in their War against Lebanon. That is also how Israel knew the exact land routes that Iran used via Syria to supply and resupply the Hezbollah. All of these routes are now under constant Israeli watch via the so-called “Syrian” Hermon. In a relatively quiet fashion, all of Israel’s military brass and political leadership agreed that there is no way that Israel should leave that super strategic mountain ridge. The implications for keeping Lebanon from resupplying are just too great.
But Israel’s attacks on Iran with the US were even more effective strategically as Israel literally scared the living daylights out of Iran’s new leadership by killing off the previous leadership of Iran. Plain and simple, Israel did kill their way to achieving relative calm in the Middle East. JD Vance may be eloquent when confronted by television panelists attacking Trump policy positions, but on foreign policy attitudes, he is dead wrong if he thinks that the way to achieving calm in the Middle East is not through use of overwhelming force.
It is true that occasionally it is better to use crippling economic sanctions and diplomacy. The present Phase II plan of the Trump administration to economically strangle Iran into submission or civil war is probably the prudent move at this point. But it would not be effective if it was Phase I. In the Middle East, if sanctions are not coupled with intimidating force, it will be construed as weakness and encourage more Arab lies and terror buildup. Israel, under Netanyahu’s leadership, and through the brilliance of many Mossad operatives, and the Hand of G-d guiding them all, has mastered the art of intimidation of Arab terrorists hell-bent on destruction.