The country’s latest attacks were meant to send a message to its enemies. But they are also a sign it’s losing faith in the US.
The Middle East has reached yet another explosive juncture. The region is bracing for impact as Iran and its proxies — notably Hezbollah and the Houthis — presumably plot their retaliation for a recent series of audacious Israeli attacks. The United States is scrambling to help Israeli defend itself — and desperately trying to avoid a larger, more devastating war. The irony is that one reason Israel is now hitting so many enemies so aggressively is that the Jewish state is losing faith in America’s ability to manage the Middle East.
The record of the past few weeks has been remarkable. The IDF claims to have killed Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s military chief, in Gaza in mid-July. A week later, following a Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv, Israel responded with a crippling aerial raid on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
