On Wednesday, the IDF chief-of-staff Aviv Kochavi took the unusual step of commenting publicly on an airstrike last month, in which Israeli jets struck a convoy carrying Iranian weapons from Iran to Lebanon via Syria. Although the number of such strikes on targets in Syria over the past decade probably reaches into the thousands, Israeli officials rarely acknowledge specific incidents or discuss the details. These are all part of a larger “war between the wars” fought by the Jewish state and the Islamic Republic, one which extends into the high seas and cyberspace. Jonathan Schanzer writes:
Until now, the war between wars has been a somewhat limited strategy to combat future Iranian threats. Questions now linger about its long-term viability as a vehicle for broader strikes to address the immediate existential and strategic threats from Tehran and its proxies. Former officials note that the strategy may help contain the problem in Syria, and even beyond, but that Jerusalem has been deterred from handling the true threats: Hizballah’s growing precision-guided-munitions (PGM) stockpile in Lebanon, the appearance of additional PGM production facilities in Lebanon, and the construction of additional Iranian covert nuclear facilities, or, indeed, the overall advancement of Tehran’s nuclear program.
Such criticisms do not negate the impact of the daring and successful Israeli operations in the undeclared war over the course of a decade. But these dangers cannot be ignored. Jerusalem may thus soon find that it must test the unwritten rules of engagement with Tehran. It may need to conduct riskier, asymmetric operations, especially as Hizballah amasses additional PGMs and Tehran approaches Jerusalem’s red lines on the nuclear front.
Until then, the war between wars cannot stop.
Read more on Middle East Quarterly: https://www.meforum.org/63850/the-quiet-war-between-israel-and-iran