Axis of Resistance : Asymmetric Deterrence and Rules of the Game in Contemporary Middle East Conflicts / Daniel Sobelman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sobelman, Daniel, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jewish-Arab relations.

Deterrence (Strategy).

Middle East--Relations--21st century.

Israel--Relations--21st century.

Israel--Relations--United States.

Middle East--Relations--United States.

United States--Relations--Middle East.

Hizballah (Lebanon).

Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-Islāmīyah.

Anṣār Allāh.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (293 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Albany, NY : State University of New York Press, [2025]

Summary:

An in-depth analysis of the primary conflicts animating the contemporary struggle over the regional order of the Middle East.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Emergence of a Resistance Community and Strategy

Variations of Resistance Failure and Success

The Argument

Resistance: Ideology, Geopolitics, Asymmetric Strategy

From Coordinated Discourse to Coordinated Action

Resistance as an Asymmetric Strategy

The Contours of Resistance Strategy

Hezbollah: The Primary Resistance Laboratory

The 2006 Lebanon War as a Resistance Model

The Resistance Challenge from Israel's Vantage Point

Case Selection, Research Design, Chapter Outline

Chapter 2 The Logic of Asymmetric Rules of the Game

Rules of the Game: A Quest for Limitations and Predictability

From Nuclear Armageddon to Limited War

From Nuclear to Conventional Limitations

Vulnerability, Cooperation, and Rules of the Game

Vulnerability, Power, and Asymmetric Conflicts

Asymmetric Bargaining on Limitations

A Model for Asymmetric Rules of the Game

Research Design

Chapter 3 Hezbollah versus Israel in Southern Lebanon

Historical Background

The Emergence of Rules of the Game

The Origins of Asymmetric Deterrence

Operation Accountability: Israel's First Major Attempt to Change the Rules

Operation Accountability Understandings, 1993 to 1996

Constructing an Intricate Language of Escalation

The Exclusion of Israel's Airpower from the Rules of the Game

Operation Grapes of Wrath: Would More Force Change the Rules?

Negotiating the April Understandings

Refining the Rules of the Game: Five Levels of Escalation

Bargaining Over the Use of Roadside Bombs

Assessing the Impact of the Understandings on Israel's Latitude

New Rules of the Game, 2000 to 2006: From Unilateral Pullout to the 2006 War

Coercive Bargaining over the New Status Quo

The Rules of the Game Come into Sharper Focus.

New Rules of the Game: Four Primary Areas

Shebaa Farms: Contested Land, Acceptable Playing Field

The Aerial Domain: Restraining Israel's Primary Asymmetric Asset

Tit-for-Tat Operations along the Israel-Lebanon Border

The Clandestine Realm: Assassinations, Intelligence, and Subversion

On the Path to War: The Unraveling of the Rules of the Game

The Emergence of Postwar Mutual Strategic Deterrence

Postwar Deterrent Equations: Offsetting Israel's Airpower

Dialogues of Deterrence: Bargaining over the Next War's Thresholds

The Campaign between the Wars: New Rules of the Game in the Syrian Arena

Would Strategic Deterrence Normalize Limited Friction?

Hezbollah's Model for Rules of the Game

Conclusion

Chapter 4 Hamas versus Israel in the Gaza Strip

The Hezbollah Connection

Hamas Seeks to Introduce Limited Attrition

Bargaining over Acceptable Rules of the Game

Rockets as a Coercive Instrument

Hamas Tries and Fails to Introduce Acceptable Level of Attrition

Raising the Threshold: The Great March of Return, 2018 to 2020

The Great March of Return: A New Coercive Instrument

Israeli Policy Adjustments

Fighting on the Lowest Rungs of Escalation Ladder

Expanding the Rules of the Game: Operation Guardian of the Walls, May 2021

New Deterrent Equations and Tighter Integration into the Axis of Resistance

Chapter 5 The Houthis versus Saudi Arabia in Yemen

Saudi Arabia Seeks Decisive Victory

Iranian and Hezbollah Prewar Support

Hezbollah Publicly Intervenes in the War

The Evolution of the Houthi Deterrent Efforts

The Houthi Missile Force Emerges

Precision-Guided Ballistic Missiles, Cruise Missiles, and Armed Drones

A New Class of Attacks: Balance of Deterrence Operations

Assessing Houthi Efforts to Establish Rules of the Game.

Houthi Association with the Axis of Resistance

Operational Convergence with the Axis of Resistance

Chapter 6 Iran versus Israel (and the United States) in the Syrian Arena

Background

On a Collision Course: Israel Escalates Offensive against Iran

Iran Fails to Change the Rules of the Game

Initial Strategic Outcome: Iran Relocates Eastward

In Search of Israeli Vulnerabilities

Conclusion and Discussion

Afterword

Hezbollah Initiates an Incremental, Rules-Based War of Attrition

The First Coordinated Multifront War: The Axis of Resistance Mobilizes

Looking Forward

Notes

References

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9798855800821