On Thursday morning, Israel destroyed an Islamic State (IS) cell on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. While IS is on the run in much of Syria, in the past year its presence has been expanding in the Golan and the adjacent area as fighters fleeing other parts of the country regroup there. The cell destroyed by Israel seemed to be preparing an attack. Yoav Limor comments on the volatile situation:

Tensions on the Golan border will likely persist for some time, until the situation on the ground is stabilized. During this time, there are enough elements active in the area who can exploit the situation to cause mayhem. It’s doubtful the Iranians or Hizballah will be the immediate agents of this mayhem, as they work according to an organized plan of action and longer-term goals. The danger could come from IS refugees looking to channel their jihad anywhere they can or to go out in a final blaze of glory; or other rebel groups who, after working with Israel in the past, will seek to exculpate themselves [in the eyes of their countrymen] by attacking it.

The IDF is aware of these dangers, and therefore won’t reduce its forces on the Golan for the foreseeable future, despite the end of the Syrian civil war. . . . The IDF will revisit this deployment down the line, but its operational plan for 2019 is to change nothing.

Russia will play a central role in molding this post-war reality. It could send a military-police force to the area and deploy it along the border. From Israel’s perspective, this would be both beneficial and detrimental. On the one it would provide an address for Israel to turn to [with complaints about violations of the 1974 armistice with Syria]; on the other hand, there is reason to be concerned that the Russians (much like the UN force in Lebanon) will not only fail to lift a finger against potential threats but will impede Israel’s ability to thwart them.

As for IS, its impending expulsion from Syria does not portend its ultimate demise. Beyond the Sinai Peninsula, which is flooded with fighters who continue hounding Egyptian security forces, other branches—from Africa to the Far East—ensure that the fundamental ideology serving as the bedrock for the organization that has tormented the world since 2014 is still alive and kicking.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.