Middle Orient

Dozens of pairs of shoes were placed in front of the White House on Monday by pro-Palestinian demonstrators as a reminder of the children killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza. “In honor of the children killed in Palestine,” read a sign. The protesters, gathered at Lafayette Square in Washington, marked …

The Israeli army announced this morning that it had killed a high-ranking commander of the Lebanese group Hezbollah in an airstrike on southern Beirut. On Monday evening, they had announced plans for a “precise and guided” attack on the southern suburbs of Beirut. In a statement, the Israeli army reported …

On the night of September 30, 2024, the IDF began a limited ground maneuver in south Lebanon. The forces eliminated hundreds of terrorist operatives, and located and destroyed terrorist facilities hidden in civilian sites. Ten IDF soldiers were killed. The IDF continued airstrikes on Hezbollah terrorist targets in the Dahiyeh …

A year of conflict has ushered in a new era of mass displacement in the Middle East. Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent sustained Israeli bombardment of Gaza, Israel has expanded its operations on multiple fronts to include the West Bank, Yemen, Syria and …

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) deployed a third division—the 91st Division—to southern Lebanon on October 7 for “focused and delimited” ground operations against Lebanese Hezbollah.[i] The 91st Division joins the 36th and 98th divisions in southern Lebanon shortly after Israel announced that it would expand ground operations against Hezbollah.[ii] The …

And How It Can Regain Its Strategic Edge The massacre of October 7, 2023, was one of the most horrific atrocities perpetrated since World War II. On that day, Hamas-led militants kidnapped Israeli children, raped Israeli women, beheaded Israeli men, and burned alive entire Israeli families in their homes. But …

How the Country’s Military Success Is Producing Political Failure Last October 7, Hamas surprised Israel’s famed military and intelligence agencies. Both had known, for years, about the Palestinian armed group’s preparations to invade Israel and kill and kidnap its soldiers and citizens. But they failed to believe that it would …

The Israeli war on the Gaza Strip is managed according to changing rules, depending on the military situation, the local reactions of Hamas and Israel, and foreign pressures. This means that the war will not proceed according to any prepared plans, decisive objectives, or rules. Therefore, this paper addresses the …

some of days of war have passed, yet the possible consequences remain enigmatic to observers, as this conflict presents multiple potential outcomes at the Israeli, Palestinian, regional, and international levels. This position assessment aims to explore the most likely scenarios for future developments. On October 7, 2023, Hamas initiated Operation …

The turbulent year since Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel draws to a close, marked by a sharp escalation in conflict between Israel and Iran and its proxies. Four CFR experts assess the changes since the attacks. One year after Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel, Elliott Abrams examines the extraordinary response …