Israeli military gains are showing signs of erosion, an Israeli military analyst warned, noting that battlefield success has yet to translate into a decisive victory, as Iran and resistance groups in Lebanon and Palestine continue to regroup and adapt.
Writing in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israeli journalist and military analyst Yossi Yehoshua said that despite the blows inflicted in operations throughout the last three years, Israel has not achieved a decisive outcome, defined as stripping its adversaries of the ability or will to keep fighting.
“A decisive victory means that the enemy has lost its ability or desire to continue the conflict in the long term. This has not yet happened,” Yehoshua wrote in in Yedioth Ahronoth.
He noted that Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, while impacted, have not withdrawn from the confrontation. Instead, they are working to rebuild capabilities, draw lessons, and shift tactics to sustain the conflict.
Yehoshua added that some of the immediate Israeli operational gains have begun to erode.
“Although Israeli forces maintain a deeper presence inside southern Lebanon, they no longer enjoy the broad freedom of action that characterized earlier stages of Operation Northern Arrows,” he said, referring to the Israeli name of the war on Lebanon.
The assessment echoes warning by Israeli military commanders who say that claims by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz of maintaining “absolute freedom of action” in southern Lebanon sharply contradict the reality on the ground.
Israeli military commanders say claims by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz of maintaining “absolute freedom of action” in southern Lebanon sharply contradict the reality on the ground, according to Israeli media reports on Wednesday.
— Al-Manar English (@manarenglish) June 24, 2026
The… pic.twitter.com/1uWYrEo9RV
Israeli newspaper Haaretz, on Wednesday, quoted Israeli commanders as saying that operational constraints and political ambiguity are increasingly shaping Israeli military activity in southern Lebanon.
Source: Hebrew media (translated and edited by Al-Manar)