After the Hostages: Israel’s Expanding War Map

As the hostages recover, Hamas is under pressure to return the remaining Israeli bodies; Syria re-aligns with Moscow; Hezbollah tries rebuilding under civilian cover - but the IDF is hitting back. Hard.

PS: the war is not over — not by a longshot, not locally, not regionally.

But at least — thank God — the remaining 20 living hostages are home from exactly two nearly eternal years of being buried alive in a Gazan hell, tortured, raped, beaten, starved, and crippled.

But, now, they are waking under soft sheets, in their own beds, with their loved ones near, awaiting a sumptous breakfast of anything they could dream of and a recovered lifetime to rehabilitate mind, body, and soul.

Reunited.

Meanwhile, Hamas is now under heavy American and Israeli pressure to return all of the 21 remaining bodies — or Israel will.

​Hamas had committed to returning the bodies of 28 slain hostages as part of a ceasefire deal, but has so far returned nine confirmed bodies, along with one other body that Israel determined was not that of a hostage. Hamas has claimed it cannot locate or reach any more of the remaining bodies due to rubble.

And they — one way or another — will be disarmed, and killed off or ejected from Gaza. Hopefully they’ll become “dead men walking” wherever they are hiding worldwide.

We’ve done this before — with the Nazis, with the perpetrators and architects of the 1972 Munich Olympic attack, with Iranian nuclear scientists, with Hezbollah targets in Operation BeeperGate, with Houthi leadership in Sa'ana, and, finally, in downtown Doha, Qatar.

Do we seem a tad vengeful? (snark trigger warning)

We didn't do this to teach them a lesson, we did it because we learned ours.

After the devastating invasion on October 7th, 2023 and two years of grueling war on seven fronts, and a concurrent tectonic explosion of Jew hatred worldwide, the pattern and message is clear: there will be no safe havens left for those who plan, execute, or conceal terror against Israelis or Jews.

Gaza: 2023-2025 (satellite images courtesy of FAFOtography).

---

Coordinator of the Prisoners of War and Missing Persons, Gal Hirsch, to the families of the abducted martyrs:

“The pressure on Hamas continues and will intensify.

Dear Families,
A lengthy operational discussion led by the Prime Minister has now concluded in Jerusalem, attended by senior members of the security establishment, the negotiating team, the Minister of Defense, and Minister Dermer.

A central topic was, of course, the return of the abducted martyrs.

During the discussion, there was a break for a conversation between the Prime Minister and President Trump. The issue of the return of the abducted martyrs was discussed during their conversation, after which the operational discussion continued, until now.

The contact between us and the Americans and the mediators continues continuously; the pressure on Hamas continues and will intensify.

We insist on the return of all your loved ones — our loved ones — as determined and agreed. We will not give up.”

---

Meanwhile, to the north — last night:

The IDF reports:

“Air Force fighter jets led by the Northern Command attacked terror infrastructures of the terrorist organization Hezbollah and the front organization ‘Green Without Borders’ in southern Lebanon.

Among the targets attacked was a quarry where Hezbollah produced concrete to rebuild terrorist assets destroyed during the Iron Swords war and Operation Northern Arrows.

This infrastructure allowed Hezbollah to restore terrorist activity under civilian cover.

In addition, a target belonging to ‘Green Without Borders’ was struck — an organization exposed in 2018 that disguises Hezbollah’s presence along the Israel-Lebanon border.

The existence of this infrastructure violates the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.

The IDF will continue to act to remove any threat to the State of Israel.”

More details are here, and an IDF illustration and footage are here →

And - this just in, Friday afternoon: reports of an explosion on a Hezbollah vehicle in southern Lebanon from an IAF drone strike:

---

And now — Syria

While the media gaze is fixed on Gaza and Lebanon, Syria is shifting underfoot.

Earlier this week, Syria’s new leader Ahmad al-Sharaa (formerly known as al-Joulani) met Putin in Moscow to discuss the future of Russia’s military bases and Assad’s post-regime exile, according to Reuters and AP reports.

Russia appears willing to tolerate ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Iranian arms transfers — a transactional nod to keep its bases untouched. Israel’s air force, in turn, has struck multiple sites in Damascus and southern Syria in recent months, including one that killed three Syrian troops last week, according to the AP.

The map below — from the Alma Research and Education Center — shows just how dense the Iranian and Hezbollah footprint in southern Syria remains:

---

In short:

The war is morphing, not ending.

Hamas is being crushed, Hezbollah’s camouflage stripped away, and Syria’s new power brokers are finding that Moscow and Jerusalem are now uncomfortably close partners in defining their skies.

---

This post is public so feel free to share it. Substack’s Stripe payment system isn’t available in Israel, so I’ve arranged an alternative for you to support my work. If you’re feeling generous, you can donate via PayPal.