While not the most just or most popular ruler, Herod the Great—who ruled Judea from 37 to 4 BCE—was an ambitious builder, littering his kingdom with impressive structures. His massive expansion of the Temple complex in Jerusalem includes what is now known as the Western Wall, as well as a vast semi-enclosed building at the southern end of the Temple Mount, known as the royal stoa or portico. With a roof, and rows of columns in lieu of walls, the portico could be used for public gathering and commerce, and was described by the ancient historian Josephus as “more noteworthy than any [similar structure] under the sun.” The Biblical Archaeological Society describes what creating such a structure entailed:

The undertaking itself involved building beyond the topological boundaries of the Temple Mount. Massive retaining walls were constructed to hold the fill dirt needed to create the surface on which to build the royal portico. Recent excavations of this area revealed the ritual baths of houses that must have been dismantled in order to expand the Temple Mount for the project.

None of the masonry of the royal portico survived in place, which made it very difficult for modern archaeologists to know what it looked like. Yet, architectural fragments that had fallen to the foot of the southern enclosure wall, after the severe damage from the Roman sack of Jerusalem in 70 CE, have been found [in] archaeological excavations.

To date, more than 500 architectural decoration fragments dated to the Herodian period have been unearthed. . . . Many of the extensive decorative elements are reflected in modern Jerusalem, but some show a unique combination of eastern and western influences.

Most likely, it was the Israeli Air Force that attacked eastern Syria Monday night, apparently destroying a convoy carrying Iranian weapons. Yoav Limor comments:

Israel reportedly carried out 32 attacks in Syria in 2022, and since early 2023 it has already struck 25 times in the country—at the very least. . . . The Iranian-Israeli clash stands out in the wake of the dramatic events in the region, chiefly among them is the effort to strike a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and later on with various other Muslim-Sunni states. Iran is trying to torpedo this process and has even publicly warned Saudi Arabia not to “gamble on a losing horse” because Israel’s demise is near. Riyadh is unlikely to heed that demand, for its own reasons.

Despite the thaw in relations between the kingdom and the Islamic Republic—including the exchange of ambassadors—the Saudis remain very suspicious of the Iranians. A strategic manifestation of that is that Riyadh is trying to forge a defense pact with the U.S.; a tactical manifestation took place this week when Saudi soccer players refused to play a match in Iran because of a bust of the former Revolutionary Guard commander Qassem Suleimani, [a master terrorist whose militias have wreaked havoc throughout the Middle East, including within Saudi borders].

Of course, Israel is trying to bring Saudi Arabia into its orbit and to create a strong common front against Iran. The attack in Syria is ostensibly unrelated to the normalization process and is meant to prevent the terrorists on Israel’s northern border from laying their hands on sophisticated arms, but it nevertheless serves as a clear reminder for Riyadh that it must not scale back its fight against the constant danger posed by Iran.