Yaakov Lappin, JNS

Before successful American bombing attacks on key Iranian nuclear sites Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz early on June 22, Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion” dealt a “severe blow” to Iran’s ability to produce centrifuges for uranium enrichment, and has rendered more than half — some 200 — of its surface-to-surface missile arsenal inoperable, Israeli assessments have found.

While the Israel Defense Forces is gaining ground against Hamas by the day, destroying it as a military force will take time, according to former IDF officers.

On the day after Israel’s coalition passed into law the so-called “reasonableness bill,” part of its controversial judicial reform plan, Israel Defense Forces senior command is now in uncharted territory.

The Israel Defense Forces’ intensified security operation in Jenin began overnight July 3 and looked to be on track to achieving its goal of shattering the concept of Jenin as a terrorist haven out of reach of the Israeli military.

The fact that the Israel Defense Forces needed to call in air support for ground forces in Jenin on June 19 is a signal of a significant escalation in this Palestinian city, which has become a hornet’s nest of terrorism.