Comparing Gaza with Mosul
![IDF troops in Gaza, November 2023. Photo credit: EYEPRESS via Reuters Connect.](https://static.jstribune.com/jst-site/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/23162129/idf3_n-1024x554.jpeg)
When the war broke out in Gaza, observers made a number of comparisons to the challenges faced by the US-backed anti-ISIS coalition in the battle of Mosul. I was in northern Iraq when it began in October 2016, and I covered the battles leading up to the liberation of the old city of Mosul in March and April 2017. […]
In Gaza, Israel Can Win the War But Not the Peace
![Largest Hamas tunnel in Gaza uncovered by Israeli troops, a few hundred metres from the Erez border crossing. The underground passage is part of an extensive network stretching over 2.5 miles (4km), according to the Israeli army, December 2023, Photo credit: Israel Defense Forces/Cover Imag via Reuters Connect.](https://static.jstribune.com/jst-site/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/10161354/tunnel_n-1024x554.jpeg)
The Israeli military can prevent more attacks like the one on October 7, but achieving genuine peace depends on the Palestinians. Two major questions loom over the ongoing Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip: can the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) achieve their military goals there? And can postwar political arrangements that will make future […]
Why is It So Difficult for Israel to Decipher Hamas?
![Hamas militants. Photo credit: Shutterstock / Abed Rahim Khatib.](https://static.jstribune.com/jst-site/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/01105623/hamas_n-1024x554.jpg)
As they were marching towards Jerusalem, the knights of the First Crusade lay siege to the city of Antioch in southern Anatolia from October 1097 to June 1098. They were approached there by envoys of the Fatimid dynasty ruling Egypt, who offered the Crusaders a plan to cooperate against the Seljuk state then in possession […]