Yesterday, a Palestinian stabbed a passenger on an Israeli bus—leaving him seriously wounded. The attack was but the latest in a wave of terror that has left eleven dead since last week, and threatens to become worse with the beginning of Ramadan this weekend. Yoav Limor explains what the Jewish state can do to curb the violence:

If there is one conclusion that needs to be reached, it is the need for Israel to regain control. . . . Israel cannot evade the need to launch a comprehensive wave of arrests and confiscation of illegal guns in the Arab sector as a way of thwarting attacks and creating deterrence. When it comes to the Palestinians, Israel will need to deploy more forces to prevent terrorist attacks, while trying to maintain a certain degree of normalcy during Ramadan.

An operation of this kind should be coordinated with the Palestinian Authority, which will now find itself embarrassed in light of the fact that the terrorist behind the Bnei Brak attack [on Tuesday] was one of its own. East Jerusalem will be the main challenge, as Jewish, Christian, and Muslim holidays are coinciding this year in a volatile time period that culminates with Independence Day.

It must call up forces, display a military presence, operate everywhere, at all times, to give the enemy—and the Israeli public—the sense that the government is in Jerusalem and not in the hands of anyone who grabs a gun and plots an attack.

Below, today’s newsletter will return to some other reflections on the one-year anniversary of the outbreak of the current war, but first something must be said of its recent progress. Israel has kept up its aerial and ground assault on Hizballah, and may have already killed the successor to Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader it eliminated less than two weeks ago. Matthew Levitt assesses the current state of the Lebanon-based terrorist group, which, in his view, is now “a shadow of its former self.” Indeed, he adds,

it is no exaggeration to say that the Hizballah of two weeks ago no longer exists. And since Hizballah was the backbone of Iran’s network of militant proxies, its so-called axis of resistance, Iran’s strategy of arming and deploying proxy groups throughout the region is suddenly at risk as well.

Hizballah’s attacks put increasing pressure on Israel, as intended, only that pressure did not lead Israelis to stop targeting Hamas so much as it chipped away at Israel’s fears about the cost of military action to address the military threats posed by Hizballah.

At the same time, Levitt explains, Hizballah still poses a serious threat, as it demonstrated last night when its missiles struck Haifa and Tiberias, injuring at least two people:

Hizballah still maintains an arsenal of rockets and a cadre of several thousand fighters. It will continue to pose potent military threats for Israel, Lebanon, and the wider region.

How will the group seek to avenge Nasrallah’s death amid these military setbacks? Hizballah is likely to resort to acts of international terrorism, which are overseen by one of the few elements of the group that has not yet lost key leaders.

But the true measure of whether the group will be able to reconstitute itself, even over many years, is whether Iran can restock Hizballah’s sophisticated arsenal. Tehran’s network of proxy groups—from Hizballah to Hamas to the Houthis—is only as dangerous as it is today because of Iran’s provision of weapons and money. Whatever Hizballah does next, Western governments must prioritize cutting off Tehran’s ability to arm and fund its proxies.