As part of Israel’s effort to secure its borders amid Syria’s collapse, the IDF has taken up positions in the part of the Golan Heights that has served as a buffer zone between the two countries since 1974. Not long before, archaeologists made a new discovery in the Golan, a territory with a long and rich Jewish history going back to biblical times. Gavriel Fiske reports:

The latest excavations at Banias, an archaeological site and national park in the Golan Heights that abuts the border with Lebanon, have shown that a sacred cave long associated with the worship of the nature deity Pan was likely repurposed during the late 1st century CE by Agrippa II, the great-grandson of King Herod, as an ancient event hall in the Roman style.

After the Jewish Revolt against Roman rule (66–73 CE), Agrippa II, who had been raised in Rome and supported the Romans in the revolt, converted the cave site and immediate surroundings in front of the grotto into a nymphaeum-triclinium, a venue for Roman-style banquets in which water flowed around a central dining area and out through an aqueduct, according to Adi Erlich and . . . Ron Lavi of the University of Haifa’s Zinman Institute of Archaeology.

According to Josephus, after the Second Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE by Titus and his legions, the Roman general “went to Banias and Agrippa hosted him with games in which prisoners were executed,” . . . Erlich said.

For more than a year, the Iran-backed Houthis have been launching drones and missiles at ships traversing the Red Sea, as well as at Israeli territory, in support of Hamas. This development has drastically curtailed shipping through the Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, driving up trade prices. This week, the Trump administration began an extensive bombing campaign against the Houthis in an effort to reopen that crucial waterway. Burcu Ozcelik highlights another benefit of this action:

The administration has a broader geopolitical agenda—one that includes countering China’s economic leverage, particularly Beijing’s reliance on Iranian oil. By targeting the Houthis, the United States is not only safeguarding vital shipping lanes but also exerting pressure on the Iran-China energy nexus, a key component of Beijing’s strategic posture in the region.

China was the primary destination for up to 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports in 2024, underscoring the deepening economic ties between Beijing and Tehran despite U.S. sanctions. By helping fill Iranian coffers, China aids Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in financing proxies like the Houthis. Since October of last year, notable U.S. Treasury announcements have revealed covert links between China and the Houthis.

Striking the Houthis could trigger broader repercussions—not least by disrupting the flow of Iranian oil to China. While difficult to confirm, it is conceivable and has been reported, that the Houthis may have received financial or other forms of compensation from China (such as Chinese-made military components) in exchange for allowing freedom of passage for China-affiliated vessels in the Red Sea.