During the Maccabean Revolt (167-160 BCE), the Jews liberated the Land of Israel from the rule of the Seleucid Greek empire, based in Syria. The revolt’s leaders, the Hasmonean family, thereafter established a new royal dynasty that governed Judea for over century. But in the decades after the revolt sporadic fighting with the Seleucids continued, including a battle in which the Hasmoneans destroyed a Greek settlement known as Tel Iztabba (or Ictaba). Judy Siegel-Itzkovich describes new discoveries at the site:

Until now, it has been suggested by archaeologists that the [battle of Tel Iztabba occurred] between 111 BCE and 107 BCE. But according to new Israeli-German research, based on the remains of chicken bones, snail shells, and plant remains—as well as written evidence—the year, as well as the exact season in which this occurred, has been determined.

Analyzing the archaeological finds revealed residues containing marrow that served to produce eggshells during the laying season in spring. This indicates that the chickens were slaughtered in spring. . . . Botanical examinations of the remnants of flowers on the floors of the dwellings reveal that these plants flowered in spring.

Analysis of the objects is always accompanied by analysis of written evidence: “The contemporary Hebrew scroll of M’gillat Ta’anit [the Scroll of the Fast] about the Hasmonean conquest . . . reports the expulsion of the inhabitants in the Hebrew month of Sivan, which corresponds to our May/June,” [the archaeologists explained].

This underlines previous findings on Hellenistic warfare, as military offensives usually took place in spring and early summer.

Putting the evidence together, the researchers concluded that the conquest took place in Sivan of 107 BCE.

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.