The repeated Hezbollah attacks against the IDF, including the strike last night that left a dozen wo

The repeated Hezbollah attacks against the IDF, including the strike last night that left a dozen wounded and killed four Israeli soldiers and officers, are not skirmishes. They are part of a deliberate strategy by the Islamic Republic of Iran to use its proxy, Hezbollah, to attack Israel while testing the limits of the agreement it signed with the United States.

It would be very easy for the IRGC to order Hezbollah to stand down, at least for these days, or simply to abide by the terms of the ceasefire signed in 2024. They are choosing not to do that. Instead, they are directing Hezbollah to escalate. When Israel responds they go and threaten the U.S. that negotiations will collapse, blaming Israel.

Tehran wants to humiliate the United States and make sure it can revive its proxy network, and to establish an equation in which Iran enjoys sanctions relief, petrodollars, and reintegration into the global economy while continuing, through its proxies, to kill Israelis, Arabs and probably Americans, just as it has done for decades.

None of this is accidental. It is deliberate. The West does not fully understands that this is the real test; or worse- it does, and does not care. Tehran is trying to determine whether it can enjoy the benefits of normalization while continuing its campaign of terror.