On Jan. 6, the head of the Institute for National Security Studies, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, presented President Reuven Rivlin with his think tank’s annual strategic assessment for Israel and index of the security threats it faces in 2020. This year’s report by the leading Tel Aviv University institute, rated among the top 50 in the world in the field of security and international relations studies, was presented three days after the assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani.
The document was completed prior to Soleimani’s killing, but the institute updated it, saying the targeted strike against Soleimani bolstered its assessment about the likelihood of an escalation and the need for Israel to decide on a new security strategy. The assassination creates a new context and could potentially generate a strategic change, the extent of which it is too early to predict, the researchers wrote. The implications of the killing for US policy on Iran’s regional activity and possible Iranian retaliation must be examined in-depth, they added.
