There are moments in a nation’s history when it stops reacting and begins redefining the boundaries of its security and the horizon of its citizens’ future. Operation Roaring Lion is not another military strike or another round in an endless cycle: It is a moment of strategic recalibration.
For years, Israel fought a grinding war of attrition against the tentacles of the Iranian octopus – in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and beyond. Each proxy was armed, financed, trained, and directed by a single strategic command center in Tehran. The long-standing strategic failure was not a lack of capability: it was a lack of initiative.
For decades, Iran perfected a model of encirclement: waging war against Israel from the territory of other states in order to shield itself from direct retaliation. It armed, guided, and funded its proxies while remaining in the shadows, all the while advancing toward its ultimate “day of judgment” capability – a nuclear weapon.
On October 7, 2023, we learned in blood that ideology and intent cannot be dismissed as rhetoric. Words matter. When a regime openly calls for Israel’s destruction, we must assume it is serious. That realization marks the historic shift.
Some now warn of “regional war.” But we must lift our eyes from the weight of caution and recognize the scale of opportunity. Operation Roaring Lion has the potential to create a profound regional ripple effect. It could trigger a domino collapse of Iran’s forward military arms – Hezbollah, the Houthis, and other militias that function as Tehran’s ground forces.
From military confrontation to regional realignment
Countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have already identified Iran as a shared threat, may now be positioned to deepen overt regional cooperation. A stability axis can replace a terror axis.
For years, the region paid a heavy “uncertainty tax”: elevated risk premiums, expensive maritime insurance, delayed investments, and frozen infrastructure projects. A change in Iran’s regime would represent a dramatic regional shift – lower risk premiums, returning foreign capital, accelerated regional projects. A civilian trade corridor from the Gulf to the Mediterranean could replace Iran’s military land bridge. Logistics corridors, connected ports, electricity and gas grids – Israel could become a strategic junction, not merely a forward outpost.
Yet, in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, there is no room for euphoria. Economic opportunity requires active stewardship to ensure stable order. Those who know how to build a regional axis of shared interests and cooperation will transform a security achievement into a historic engine of growth.
History teaches us that regime collapse in our region is rarely sterile. A vacuum can breed chaos. Advanced weapons can leak to rogue actors; internal power struggles can ignite prolonged civil conflict. Strategic success, therefore, demands not only confronting the Iranian regime but also preparing the ground for what follows.
The confrontation with Iran is not a single event; it may be the beginning of a prolonged regional transformation whose end is impossible to foresee. Such transitions require resilience, continuity, adaptability – and above all, initiative.
Israel stands at a historic juncture. The elimination of Ayatollah Khamenei is not the elimination of an idea. The true challenge begins the day after. Iran now stands at its own crossroads – between deeper radicalization and internal chaos, or a change of course that reintegrates it into the international community with renewed state responsibility.
Israel must leverage the achievements of Operation Roaring Lion not merely to deter, but to shape. A sober security doctrine recognizes that confronting terror axes is essential for regional stability – but also that their weakening creates a rare opportunity to build a new order grounded in security, cooperation, and regional growth.
The writer is a retired IDF commander and the CEO of the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF). Buskila served as deputy brigade commander, battalion commander, and commander of the Southern Command infantry training base, responsible for preparing IDF soldiers and commanders for general combat in the Gaza Strip, including during Operation Protective Edge. Despite being wounded in combat, Buskila also served as a special operations officer in Central Command, responsible for classified operations carried out by an elite IDF unit across the West Bank.