In the Lebanese city of Sidon, once home to a vibrant Jewish presence, at least one synagogue, built in 1850, still stands in the former Jewish quarter, and legally belongs to the community. But its last congregants departed in 1982. Currently, a Syrian family lives in the men’s section and a Palestinian family in the women’s section. Rana Moussaoui writes:

On the walls, Hebrew renderings of the Book of Genesis and Jewish laws have been daubed over with red paint. But while little remains of the synagogue’s former life, its past has not been forgotten. “I’ve received visitors from Canada, France, and Brazil who showed me photos of their [Jewish-Lebanese] ancestors from Sidon,” said Muhammad, [one of the current residents].

In 2012, two rabbis from Neturei Karta—a sect of anti-Zionist Jews who believe that the state of Israel should not exist—prayed in the synagogue, much to the surprise of its residents. It was the first prayer held in the building for 40 years, and came as part of a tour that also included a visit to the nearby tomb of Zebulun, one of the sons of the biblical patriarch Jacob.

Nagi Gergi Zeidan, a specialist on the Jews of Lebanon, says the synagogue once housed 50 Torah scrolls dating to the Roman era, which were [rescued] by Israelis during their 1982 invasion.

Early Friday morning, Israel attacked military installations near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and nearby Natanz, the latter being one of the hubs of the country’s nuclear program. Jerusalem is not taking credit for the attack, and none of the details are too certain, but it seems that the attack involved multiple drones, likely launched from within Iran, as well as one or more missiles fired from Syrian or Iraqi airspace. Strikes on Syrian radar systems shortly beforehand probably helped make the attack possible, and there were reportedly strikes on Iraq as well.

Iran itself is downplaying the attack, but the S-300 air-defense batteries in Isfahan appear to have been destroyed or damaged. This is a sophisticated Russian-made system positioned to protect the Natanz nuclear installation. In other words, Israel has demonstrated that Iran’s best technology can’t protect the country’s skies from the IDF. As Yossi Kuperwasser puts it, the attack, combined with the response to the assault on April 13,

clarified to the Iranians that whereas we [Israelis] are not as vulnerable as they thought, they are more vulnerable than they thought. They have difficulty hitting us, but we have no difficulty hitting them.

Nobody knows exactly how the operation was carried out. . . . It is good that a question mark hovers over . . . what exactly Israel did. Let’s keep them wondering. It is good for deniability and good for keeping the enemy uncertain.

The fact that we chose targets that were in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility but were linked to the Iranian missile and air forces was a good message. It communicated that we can reach other targets as well but, as we don’t want escalation, we chose targets nearby that were involved in the attack against Israel. I think it sends the message that if we want to, we can send a stronger message. Israel is not seeking escalation at the moment.