Hezbollah's plan was simple to execute but with the potential to inflict heavy damage on Israel. The Military Intelligence Directorate, Northern Command, the Operations Directorate, and the Israel Air Force (IAF) displayed impressive capabilities on Sunday.
Precise Intelligence translated into impressive countermeasures on the part of the air force and other branches of the IDF.
However, those who thought the event would end the fighting in the North were wrong.
Key to events lies in Iran
The military aimed to prevent Hezbollah's reaction and to show the terrorist organization and Iran Israel's intelligence capabilities and the strength of the IAF—nothing beyond that.
The key to what is happening lies in Tehran. The Iranians currently do not want a regional war and feel comfortable playing with fire. They are conveniently letting others do the "dirty work" for them in the fight against Israel and the United States.
In the meantime, Iran is continuing with its overarching goal: becoming a nuclear threshold state. Iran prefers that Israel invest all its resources in fighting in Gaza, on the northern border, as well as in the West Bank.
When Israel is busy in these arenas, its level of attention towards Iran's nuclear activities is low. Israel must break the Iranian equation. If Israel wants to live, it must organize an attack plan.
When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1991, the Americans built an international coalition. Within days, they dismantled the Iraqi army, returned the oil wells, and, along the way, the state of Kuwait to its citizens.
Israel must formulate a strategy: to see the big and distant picture and not give in to the petty desires of one political current or another.
Stopping the attack on Sunday was an impressive military feat, but it is like perfume on a summer day in late August—its intoxicating scent evaporates very quickly.