Since the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad is dependent on financial support from the Islamic Republic, Richard Goldberg argues that the U.S. should use economic measures against Tehran to retaliate for Assad’s chemical-weapons attacks on civilians, and to help prevent him from carrying out more of them:

The [American] president should . . . target the financial lifeblood of Iran’s strategic hold on Syria: the Central Bank of Iran. In January, Donald Trump promised to stop waiving sanctions on the bank unless Europe helped him fix Barack Obama’s nuclear deal. But the deal can never be truly fixed so long as Iran can use its central bank to spread evil outside its borders. It’s time for Trump to signal his intention to allow the sanctions waiver to expire.

Rather than using the windfall of sanctions relief provided under the nuclear deal to stabilize its economy, Iran’s central bank doubled down on sponsoring terrorism. In addition to financing the regime’s illicit missile program, proxy war in Yemen, and repression at home, the Central Bank of Iran underwrites Hizballah and the Revolutionary Guard Corps in the war for Assad’s survival. In effect, Assad’s use of chemical weapons is enabled if not directly subsidized by the bank.

If terrorism, missiles, and domestic repression weren’t enough reasons for France, Germany, and Britain to support the re-imposition of sanctions against the bank, perhaps the financing of crimes against humanity will be. When the French president Emmanuel Macron and the German chancellor Angela Merkel visit the White House later this month to ask for exceptions to these sanctions, Trump should push back hard. . . . Every waiver [of sanctions] helps Iran build another missile to wipe Israel off the map. Every exception increases the budget for Iranian terrorism. Every carve-out brings us more Shiite militias and [increases] the threat of Islamic State’s resurgence in Syria. . . .

The timing is perfect for the re-imposition of sanctions on the bank. This weekend, Iran’s currency cratered to a new record low. Protests are continuing throughout the country. The signs of regime instability and vulnerability to outside pressure are growing. Now is the ideal time to hit Iran’s central bank and shake the regime to its core.

On Tuesday, a Hizballah drone attack injured three people in northern Israel. The next day, another attack, targeting an IDF base, injured eighteen people, six of them seriously, in Arab al-Amshe, also in the north. This second attack involved the simultaneous use of drones carrying explosives and guided antitank missiles. In both cases, the defensive systems that performed so successfully last weekend failed to stop the drones and missiles. Ron Ben-Yishai has a straightforward explanation as to why: the Lebanon-backed terrorist group is getting better at evading Israel defenses. He explains the three basis systems used to pilot these unmanned aircraft, and their practical effects:

These systems allow drones to act similarly to fighter jets, using “dead zones”—areas not visible to radar or other optical detection—to approach targets. They fly low initially, then ascend just before crashing and detonating on the target. The terrain of southern Lebanon is particularly conducive to such attacks.

But this requires skills that the terror group has honed over months of fighting against Israel. The latest attacks involved a large drone capable of carrying over 50 kg (110 lbs.) of explosives. The terrorists have likely analyzed Israel’s alert and interception systems, recognizing that shooting down their drones requires early detection to allow sufficient time for launching interceptors.

The IDF tries to detect any incoming drones on its radar, as it had done prior to the war. Despite Hizballah’s learning curve, the IDF’s technological edge offers an advantage. However, the military must recognize that any measure it takes is quickly observed and analyzed, and even the most effective defenses can be incomplete. The terrain near the Lebanon-Israel border continues to pose a challenge, necessitating technological solutions and significant financial investment.