Israel

In the wake of Israel's inconclusive summer war with Hizballah, many unanswered questions remain about the conduct and implications of the conflict. For example, were Israel's military achievements worth the apparent costs, including a weakened overall deterrence posture and the shelving of further unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank? And

Who won the summer war between Israel and Hizbullah? Right after the ceasefire, Hizbullah and its Iranian patrons declared the war a "divine victory," and the Economist concurred, running this headline across its cover: "Nasrallah Wins the War." Israel sank into a funk of self-recrimination. But a few weeks later

President Bashar al-Adad of Syria is skittishly stamping his foot like a warhorse, restrained from galloping forward only by a tight grip on the reins. He is trying to tell us that he can hardly hold back from opening a front on the Golan Heights, after more than 30 years

On September 11, 2006, advisors to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and prime minister Ismail Haniyeh announced that the two had reached agreement on the formation of a national unity government after months of on-again, off-again discussions. The core of the agreement appears to be that Haniyeh will remain prime minister

From the outset, there was no “victory” to be had in this war, no resounding knockout. Still, the final score, on points, should have turned out very different from this. The perception that we’ve ended in a draw is actually a great achievement for Hizballah, one that all terror organizations

On August 23, 2006, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Daniel Christman, Emile El-Hokayem, and Michael Eisenstadt addressed The Washington Institute’s Special Policy Forum. General Christman is senior vice president for international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and previously served as assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

David Makovsky, an expert on Israeli politics, says in the aftermath of the month-long Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, questions are being raised about the viability of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. “There are going to be a lot of questions on whether the Olmert government can survive,” Makovsky says

Earlier this week, Israel began its long-anticipated ground offensive in Lebanon intended to degrade Hizballah's military apparatus, pacify Israel's northern border with Lebanon, and lay the foundation for what is now frequently referred to as a "sustainable ceasefire." Reaching a consensus on the precise meaning of the term "sustainable" will

As Lebanon plunges deeper into ruin and chaos as a result of Hizballah’s “gang war” tactics against Israel’s expanded military campaign to degrade the power of the Islamist party, Hizballah, Syria, and its allies in Lebanon are devising plans to subvert an international agreement on a multinational force to guard