With little of interest from domestic opinion writers this morning, we offer two pieces from the Israeli press on regional issues of interest to many of our readers:

Former US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro believes Saad Hariri’s sudden resignation as prime minister of Lebanon is all about Iran, he writes in an op-ed for Haaretz. He says Saudi Arabia is potentially trying to maneuver Israel into a direct confrontation with Iran. “It is plausible that the Saudis are trying to create the context for a different means of contesting Iran in Lebanon: an Israeli-Hezbollah war… With Assad clearly having survived the challenge posed by Saudi-backed rebels, the Saudi leadership may hope to move its confrontation with Iran from Syria to Lebanon. By pulling Hariri out of his office, they may hope to ensure that Hezbollah gets stuck with the blame and responsibility for Lebanon’s challenges, from caring for Syrian refugees to mopping up Al Qaida and ISIS affiliates. That could, the Saudis may believe, lead Hezbollah to seek an accelerated confrontation with Israel as a means of unifying Lebanese support for their dominance… Israeli leaders will want to take care not to find themselves backed into a premature confrontation by the maneuvers of their allies who sit in Riyadh,” Shapiro posits.

Anshel Pfeffer writes in another Haaretz piece saying “practically everyone” in the Middle East wants a war, “but no one wants to fight it themselves.”

Separately, Mark Langfan, Chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel, argues in Arutz Sheva that Israel should be included as part of the US Middle East CENTCOM combatant command structure instead of EUCOM. “The time is ripe for change… Israel now stands as the pivot point hub of any effective defense against Iran. Therefore, the time has come for the US Combatant command structure to politically morph to meet this new reality… More importantly, it is vital for the United States to actively project to the Arabs of the Levant and Egypt that Israel is a vital component to the Arabs’ protection,” he writes.