It’s been one year since the animals of Hamas attacked several areas across southern Israel killing more than 1200 and taking 251 hostage. At least 60 live hostages and the remains of 30 more are still being held by the terrorist group in Gaza.
We all remember the images of that day. Corpses strewn on the roadside, houses burnt, the heartbreaking images from the Nova music festival.
Since that day, Iran’s proxies in the region, Hamas and Hezbollah, have suffered incredible losses.
The IDF has eliminated most of the senior Hamas leadership in Gaza. Hamas political leader Ismael Haniyeh was killed in a bombing in an IRGC Tehran safe-house. Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas chief in Gaza has not been seen in months. And the vast majority of Hamas fighting units have been destroyed.
Hezbollah, the Lebanese analog to Hamas, started launching rockets into northern Israel on October 8. A few weeks ago, Israel finally responded with a complex pager attack. This was followed up by a series of air-and-missile attacks that took out all of Hezbollah’s senior leadership. Their replacements do not seem to have a very long shelf-life either.
The Israelis aren’t done yet. As I write this (1800ish Sunday evening on the East Coast) the Iranians have closed all of their airports and their airspace in anticipation of an Israeli strike. Whether or not that is going to happen remains to be seen.