Israel Returns Fire on Iran and Its Proxies

Iran swore in a new President to chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” on Tuesday. But within hours death arrived for Iran’s proxy allies, in strikes that show Israel’s enemies aren’t safe anywhere. The media is fretting about a broader war, but that war is already here and it’s as likely the strikes have a deterrent effect on Tehran, even as it responds.

srael killed Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s top military commander, in a precision air strike on south Beirut on Tuesday. Some hours later Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s top political leader, was killed by an attack on his floor of a residence in Tehran, of all places. Israel hasn’t taken responsibility for the Tehran strike, but that’s the Occam’s razor explanation.

Shukr was wanted by the U.S. and Israel. The State Department had a $5 million bounty on his head for his “key role” in “planning and launching the 1983 attack on the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut” that killed 241 U.S. service members. He has been leading the development of Hezbollah’s missile arsenal and had helped command Hezbollah’s forces in Syria, aiding the Assad regime in slaughtering its own people. The 12 Druze children killed on a soccer field Saturday in Israel’s Golan Heights will be Shukr’s last victims.

Haniyeh’s terror career was nearly as long; it was always someone else’s turn to put on the suicide vest. He crafted the political strategy behind Hamas’s takeover of Gaza. Since 2017 he has lived in luxury hotels in Turkey and Qatar, where he celebrated Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre and dragged out hostage negotiations.

The assassinations send a powerful message. Even with Hezbollah on highest alert, Israel knew the precise location of a top leader. Remarkably, Israel was able to locate and kill Haniyeh in Iran’s capital, where he had attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president. Israel has shown it has the intel and military capability to strike at the center of Tehran, which funds and guides the proxies waging war on the Jewish state.

The press is fretting that the strikes will further delay negotiations over a Gaza cease-fire, and perhaps they will. But the evidence has shown that Hamas gives ground when it is most under military pressure. Israel recently killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif. The Hamas politicians remaining in Qatar now know their lives are also on the line if they continue to resist Israel’s reasonable terms. Al Qaeda and ISIS aren’t allowed “political wings” with terrorist diplomats in expensive suits. Why should Hamas be treated differently?

The U.S. had warned Israel not to strike Beirut after the soccer-field bombing, but Israel can’t grant the terrorists a safe zone while its north remains a no-go zone. Hezbollah started shooting on Oct. 8, in support of Hamas’s massacre, and it hasn’t stopped, more than 6,000 rockets and missiles later.

After the soccer-field attack, White House spokesman John Kirby said, “We certainly don’t believe that, as horrific as this attack was, that it needs to result in any kind of escalation.” More of the same, then, after Hezbollah kills 12 children and keeps firing?

Iran is pledging revenge, as it always does. But the strikes demonstrate that a larger conflict would not be one-sided and Iran itself could be targeted. That includes the leadership in Tehran. Will Iran put key assets at risk for its Arab proxies, or does that only work the other way around?

The U.S. can help Israel prevent a larger war by putting pressure on Hezbollah and Iran. Expediting weapons to Israel, including deep-penetrating bombs that would put Iran’s nuclear facilities at risk, would send a message, as would enforcing oil sanctions again.

Sending U.S. warships to the eastern Mediterranean, as after Oct. 7, would also make Iran think twice about Hezbollah’s next move. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s statement that U.S. forces are ready to help defend Israel from missile attacks was strong and overdue.

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Israel’s one-off strikes and statements signal that it would rather not fight a larger war, but the high-value targets suggest it isn’t shrinking in fear either. If this does escalate to an even larger war, it will be Iran’s doing.

Israel has a right to defend itself, but more than that it has the right and ample cause to defeat the terrorists who won’t let it live in peace.

This editorial was published August 1 by the Wall Street Journal.