When Israel launched its campaign amid the ongoing war with Iran, the Netanyahu administration articulated two tightly linked strategic objectives: collapse the Islamic Republic of Iran, and eliminate the decades-long threat posed by Hezbollah to Israeli security. For 44 years, the Lebanese Shiite militia has remained a persistent menace along Israel’s northern border, and Israeli policymakers reasoned that cutting off Hezbollah’s core Iranian patron would force the group to collapse. Past efforts to disarm Hezbollah via direct military strikes and internationally backed disarmament initiatives had both fallen short, leaving this two-pronged strategy as the government’s preferred path forward.