After years of dead-end air campaigns, pinpoint use of ground forces may offer way out

Two Israeli officers made the rare decision to issue a stark warning in an official IDF journal. Israel’s military, they cautioned, is at a dead end.

Writing in the wake of a series of three “deterrence operations,” Brig. Gen. Tamir Yadai and Lt. Col. Eran Ortal pointed out that the conflicts were part of a predictable and worrying pattern: Israel’s air force carries out an opening strike that kills a senior commander and temporarily knocks the enemy off balance; Israel decides to continue the operation; the IDF then struggles to keep pressure on the enemy, who recovers and fights back; Jerusalem turns to the international community to help bring the fight to a close; Israel enjoys a limited period of quiet before the next round. READ MORE