The headlines of recent days have been filled with airstrikes, missile interceptions, and military communiqués. The United States has continued its campaign against Iranian military targets, Israel remains engaged on multiple fronts, and Hezbollah’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon is still being dismantled.
Together, these developments have created a strategic opening that would have seemed unimaginable only a few years ago.
The IDF, working alongside an American administration willing to confront Tehran directly, have shown that Israel and its allies can strike their enemies effectively. Iran’s military capabilities have been degraded, Hezbollah has suffered significant setbacks, and Hamas has lost much of the infrastructure that enabled the October 7 massacre.
These are real achievements, but they are not yet victory.
Military campaigns can destroy launchers, command centers, and weapons stockpiles. They cannot, by themselves, create a durable security reality. History is filled with wars won on the battlefield and squandered through strategic drift. Israel has learned that lesson more than once.
Converting military achievements into lasting security gains
The challenge now is to convert military achievements into lasting security gains.
That begins with defining victory. Any definition of victory must also include the return of every hostage, living and dead, from Gaza. It must allow displaced Israelis to return home securely, with confidence that the threats across their borders have been removed. It must also ensure that the sacrifices of Israel’s soldiers produce a safer country rather than another temporary pause before the next war.
If Iran rebuilds its missile industry within a few years, the current operations will have achieved only a temporary reprieve. If Hezbollah returns to southern Lebanon under the cover of another unenforced international arrangement, residents of Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and Shlomi will remain under threat. If Hamas is weakened but Gaza again becomes fertile ground for an extremist army, Israel will have postponed the danger rather than removed it.
These questions should already be shaping decisions in Jerusalem and Washington.
Lebanon offers the clearest warning. For nearly two decades, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 was supposed to keep Hezbollah away from Israel’s border. Instead, Hezbollah built a vast missile arsenal, embedded military infrastructure inside civilian villages, and turned southern Lebanon into Iran’s forward operating base.
Israel cannot repeat that mistake. Any future arrangement must be judged by its enforcement mechanisms and by Israel’s ability to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding. Diplomatic promises have value only when backed by surveillance, consequences, and credible military power.
The same clarity is required regarding Iran. Tehran is vulnerable, although deterrence is never permanent. Iran’s leaders have repeatedly shown that they are willing to absorb setbacks when they believe time remains on their side.
The objective must therefore be broader than punishment. Iran must be prevented from restoring its missile, drone, and nuclear capabilities. That requires sustained Israeli military readiness, intelligence cooperation, economic pressure, strict verification, and clear consequences for renewed rearmament.
Coordination with Washington essential for cementing survival
Coordination with Washington is essential. Israel must also retain the freedom and capability to act whenever its security requires it. The US is Israel’s most important ally, but no Israeli government can outsource the country’s defense or place its survival in the hands of shifting international commitments.
Gaza also requires a defined outcome. Victory means preventing Hamas, or any successor organization committed to Israel’s destruction, from rebuilding military control. Any governing alternative must deny terrorist groups weapons, territory, and the ability to threaten Israeli communities. Reconstruction cannot become another mechanism for rearmament.
The current conflict has also deepened the alignment between Israel, the US, and pragmatic Arab states that see Iran as a common threat. That cooperation should become permanent. Integrated missile defense, intelligence sharing, and coordinated deterrence can form the basis of a regional security architecture capable of confronting Iran and its proxies over the long term.
Israel has spent years responding to crises. This moment offers an opportunity to shape the region.
The soldiers of the IDF have created a strategic opening. The task of Israel’s political leadership is to ensure that their achievements are not exchanged for vague promises, temporary quiet, or another unenforced agreement.
Winning the war is indispensable. Preventing Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas from rebuilding is the harder task and the true measure of victory.