When President Trump welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Tuesday, their conversation will focus on a Middle East where Israel’s stunning military prowess — supported by its American patron — has tilted the balance of power more heavily in favor of the U.S. and its allies than at any point in decades. The challenge for Trump is how to take advantage of this moment.

It is difficult to exaggerate the impact of the blows delivered by Israel in recent months to our common adversary, the Islamic Republic of Iran and its so-called “axis of resistance.”

Lebanese Hezbollah, the jewel in the crown of Iran’s regional proxies, is in tatters, its leadership decapitated.

Hamas, which launched the war against Israel 16 months ago, has been battered beyond recognition. It survives as a shadow of its former self solely because Israeli domestic politics prevent the emergence of a political alternative.

Syria, once the key link connecting Tehran to Lebanon, has ended the horror of the Assad family tyranny after a weakened Iran and a distracted Russia stopped propping it up. The new regime in Damascus, whatever its other faults, considers the ayatollahs to be bitter enemies.

And Iran itself made the fateful error of launching direct assaults against Israel. This reckless act legitimized Arab participation in a U.S.-led regional missile defense that helped protect Israel. It also prompted Israel’s own reprisal attacks that exposed vast weaknesses in Iranian defenses.

In sum, this is a rare moment in the Middle East. Opportunity outweighs risk, and shrewdly applied American........

© The Hill