Yesterday President Biden spoke with the Saudi king ahead of the release of a long-awaited CIA report on the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi operatives in 2018. While it is likely that the Biden administration will take the report’s conclusions as further reason to create more daylight between Washington and Riyadh, Dennis Ross and Robert Satloff urge the White House to find the right balance when it comes to dealing with this important but problematic ally:

Our disgust at certain Saudi actions notwithstanding, [the U.S.] retains real stakes in Saudi Arabia, as there is no significant issue in the Middle East where a successful strategy is possible without active Saudi support. From containing Iran to combatting terror, to building on Arab normalization with Israel (and using that to break the stalemate between Israelis and Palestinians) or trying to end or reduce conflicts in Yemen and Syria, we need Saudi cooperation. Moreover, to manage the transition from fossil fuels to renewables, we need a stable and predictable price of oil that makes wind, solar, and hydrogen alternatives competitive in terms of cost—while also preventing the sudden collapse of our oil and gas industry. Here again, the Saudis remain important.

Perhaps most of all, we have a stake in the fundamental change of Saudi social and economic norms being led by the same leader responsible for those impulsive, reckless actions [that have sparked recent American criticism]: the crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. For all his faults, the prince understands that his kingdom—and his family—won’t survive the eventual demise of a fossil-fuel economy without dramatic adjustment. His answer has been to implement a “revolution from above.”

In practice, this has meant expanding civil rights and economic opportunities for women, since the Saudi economy would forever languish without the contribution of half its population. It has meant reforming the legal code and school textbooks in ways that may seem modest to a foreign observer but are dramatic in the Saudi context. And it has meant empowering clerics that advocate a more tolerant, inclusive Islam, while imposing tight controls on those who refuse to discard the old ways. The U.S. has an interest in the success of this effort.

On Tuesday, a Hizballah drone attack injured three people in northern Israel. The next day, another attack, targeting an IDF base, injured eighteen people, six of them seriously, in Arab al-Amshe, also in the north. This second attack involved the simultaneous use of drones carrying explosives and guided antitank missiles. In both cases, the defensive systems that performed so successfully last weekend failed to stop the drones and missiles. Ron Ben-Yishai has a straightforward explanation as to why: the Lebanon-backed terrorist group is getting better at evading Israel defenses. He explains the three basis systems used to pilot these unmanned aircraft, and their practical effects:

These systems allow drones to act similarly to fighter jets, using “dead zones”—areas not visible to radar or other optical detection—to approach targets. They fly low initially, then ascend just before crashing and detonating on the target. The terrain of southern Lebanon is particularly conducive to such attacks.

But this requires skills that the terror group has honed over months of fighting against Israel. The latest attacks involved a large drone capable of carrying over 50 kg (110 lbs.) of explosives. The terrorists have likely analyzed Israel’s alert and interception systems, recognizing that shooting down their drones requires early detection to allow sufficient time for launching interceptors.

The IDF tries to detect any incoming drones on its radar, as it had done prior to the war. Despite Hizballah’s learning curve, the IDF’s technological edge offers an advantage. However, the military must recognize that any measure it takes is quickly observed and analyzed, and even the most effective defenses can be incomplete. The terrain near the Lebanon-Israel border continues to pose a challenge, necessitating technological solutions and significant financial investment.