Topics such as space exploration and the possibility of life on other planets are bound to raise religious questions, if only insofar as they force a reckoning with the vastness of the cosmos in comparison to humanity. Reflecting on the Voyager 1 space probe, which was launched in 1977 and continues to transmit data to earth from a distance of fifteen billion miles, the Catholic writer George Weigel takes to task those who respond to such marvels with “melancholy bordering on despair.”

Whether or not life forms “out there” will ever meet Voyager 1, I suggest that the very fact of this marvel of human creativity confounds despair: the despair that imagines the universe as an inexplicable accident, and that thinks of humanity as the random by-product of random, if fortuitous, cosmic biochemical processes. The intelligence and imagination that created Voyager 1, and that has kept us in contact with our “most distant emissary,” testify to the spiritual nature of human beings: creatures possessed of a reason that insistently probes the truth of things and a will to explore what has been discovered. No merely material compound of atoms and cells could have imagined, built, and operated Voyager 1.

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.