Calm After the Storm? 

Calm after the Storm?

At press time, a potential cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah was taking shape. Yossi Kuperwasser, a career military officer who once led the research division of the IDF’s Military Intelligence and served as director general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, and now a senior manager at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, shared his insights with Mishpacha.

Military Objective

The Litani River boundary is within reach, but Israel’s priority is to secure the strategic high ground overlooking its northern communities.

“We are trying to impose the heaviest cost on Hezbollah to push them toward accepting a new arrangement for Lebanon’s future — one that strips them of their pre-October 6 status and prevents them from redeploying along the border to threaten our security,” Kuperwasser explained. “This should enable northern residents to safely return home.”

Three-Pronged Strategy

1. Targeting leadership: “We are striking Hezbollah’s leadership and operators, eliminating as many as possible. This effort has been highly effective.”
2. Securing the border: “We’ve launched extensive operations to clear Hezbollah’s positions in Lebanon’s south. We discovered tunnels filled with weapons and facilities, which we have neutralized. Moving forward, Hezbollah will not return to these areas— whether by force or through a diplomatic arrangement, but under Israeli oversight, not UNIFIL or the Lebanese Armed Forces.”
3. Cutting off arms supplies: “We are disrupting Hezbollah’s rearmament efforts, carrying out operations in Syria and along its border to block Iranian weapons transfers.”

Short-Term Goals

Kuperwasser emphasized progress in degrading Hezbollah’s capabilities on the border but acknowledged the main objective: enabling northern residents to return.