Israel's preemptive strike doctrine likely lowers the political barrier to action in the face of the growing threat from Iran and its network of allies, but this change in policy is unlikely to prevent future attacks on Israel and rather increases the risk of sparking a larger regional war. On August 25, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) announced that it had launched a major preemptive strike on Hezbollah's arsenal and rocket launchers to prevent a mass strike on Israel. Israel claimed the strikes helped to mitigate the hail of rockets Hezbollah fired at Israel shortly thereafter, and were hailed by Israeli politicians and defense officials as a successful operation. The actual damage on the ground was less clear, with limited Hezbollah losses suggesting that the contours of the Lebanese militant group's August 25 attack on Israel were only marginally affected, but the IAF attack nonetheless demonstrated that Israel's preemptive strike doctrine had entered a phase where Hezbollah could no longer carry out attacks on Israel.…
