As Israel ponders its response to Iran, as allies urge restraint, as battles targeting Tehran proxies rage in Lebanon, let's begin with a simple fact of geography: Iran and Israel don’t share a common border. Since October 8, Tehran has been touting a so-called axis of resistance; what Israelis brand a ring of fire, with Iranian-backed militants in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and Syria ... to which the US would add Iraq.
With the past two weeks of military successes, are we seeing a short run that restores a measure of aura for Israeli might, or something more profound that could deal a blow to these non-state actors and upend the region's balance in ways unseen since the 1979 Iranian revolution?
