Israel’s air force and intelligence services, working in tandem with their American counterparts, have dealt a series of devastating blows to Iran in the last week. For good reason, many people following the fighting, whatever their views on the wisdom of launching these attacks, have been awestruck by the spectacular successes that began with the decapitation of the Islamic Republic’s leadership, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Writing as an Israeli for whom the weakening of our country’s most deadly enemy is a welcome strategic development, I am deeply appreciative of the men and women in the forefront of this campaign.

But the brilliance of our fighter pilots, IDF intelligence and cyber units, and the Mossad should not blind us to the unsung heroes of this campaign: tens of thousands of combat reservists who once again answered their nation’s call and are serving in every place in which Israel must defend itself against potentially devastating threats. Iran is vastly outgunned in its head-to-head military conflict with US and Israel and is desperate to land a blow that will hammer at Israeli morale, boost Iranians’ pride, and ideally provide strategic assets. To this end, their Islamist regime has been seeking to act through its proxies and allies in the so-called “ring of fire” surrounding Israel, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza, and Houthis and Iraqi militias capable of infiltrating into the Jewish state through Jordan. The aim is to carry out mass-casualty attacks that sow terror among Israelis and, ideally, take live hostages who can serve as bargaining chips for a regime that otherwise lacks leverage.

What prevents Iran from carrying out this strategy is a living, mobile wall composed of thousands of platoons of men and women possessing courage and determination, who willingly put themselves in harm’s way on Israel’s borders and in the most dangerous parts of Judea and Samaria. Thanks to them, Israeli civilians can sleep well at night, knowing we will not wake up to discover that it is once again October 7th.

While I am deeply appreciative of all these combat reservists, I am personally acquainted with very few of them. But there are a few dozen I know well because they are students where I teach at Shalem College in Jerusalem. I think of them as very special people, but I believe they are also reflective of combat reservists as a group. In this short piece, I’ll limit myself to describing the roles played by three of them—who for reasons of security and discretion, I’ll refer to using an initial and without sharing identifying details on the units in which they serve.

Since October 7th, D, a student of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, has been in the reserves for over 320 days as platoon sergeant in a regional IDF brigade that has deployed in some of the most dangerous parts of Judea and Samaria. His unit was called up again last month and stationed in the northern West Bank, where Hamas terror groups have especially active. D’s nightmare, born of recent Israeli experience and current IDF assessments, is that Hamas operatives will carry out an attack in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem in which they kill tens of Israelis, or will infiltrate a nearby Israeli settlement and capture large numbers of hostages. These horrific scenarios are what cause him and his comrades to put in long hours in difficult conditions, aggressively search for terrorists, and keep their guard up—while rarely getting even a fraction of the credit they deserve. Their current stint might well be extended beyond the two months originally set, but D is unfazed as he believes he is in the right place at the right time, doing what his country needs.

A second grave danger is posed by Hezbollah, the militant Shiite group that Iran built up over four decades. Though severely weakened since October 7,  especially by the IDF’s coordinated air and ground campaign in fall 2024, this resourceful and unscrupulous organization has sought to revive offensive capabilities despite a November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon that forbids it from doing so. Earlier this week, Hezbollah joined the battle against the Jewish state by launching rockets and drones at civilian targets in northern Israel. To curtail the threat of aerial attacks and of a cross-border incursion aimed at killing civilians and taking hostages, Israel has struck back from the air and sent troops into Lebanon to neutralize and drive out Hezbollah operatives. Among the soldiers in this operation is P, the son of immigrants to Israel who, in between rounds of reserve duty, is studying philosophy and Jewish thought. He is a medic in a reconnaissance unit of a storied infantry brigade, and we exchanged a series of texts after P’s unit was told to prepare for possible action. Yesterday, he wrote that he was turning off his phone and would be unreachable—the Israeli way of indicating that you are preparing to enter a dangerous war zone. I don’t know what he’s thinking right now, but I’m keenly aware of what he’s doing: risking his life to keep my fellow citizens and me safe.

A third danger stems from the unscrupulous Iranian practice of firing explosive-laden ballistic missiles at civilian areas with the aim of causing maximal deaths, injuries, and mayhem. Their greatest “success” to date was when a missile carrying a ton of explosives landed directly on a synagogue in the densely populated city of Beit Shemesh, killing nine people and injuring fifty. The result was absolute chaos, which could have prevented emergency services from treating the wounded and rescuing people trapped under the rubble. What prevented this hellish scenario from materializing was the active involvement of IDF Search and Rescue units, working alongside the police. One such unit is commanded by V, a student in Shalem’s program of Strategy, Diplomacy, and Security. When I spoke with her nine months ago, she had already served 270 days in the reserves as commander of a company of 70 soldiers. I asked what drove her to continue saying yes to the call-ups and to shouldering so much responsibility. Her answer, as simple as it is powerful, has stayed with me: “I love this country, I’m a Zionist, this is my home, and I’m defending my home.” As fate would have it, her company is based in Jerusalem, walking distance from where I live. When I visited on her a couple of days ago, during one of her rare breaks, I met members of her unit, who range in age from their early twenties through their mid-fifties. I was struck by how this modest woman, in her mid-twenties, treated her soldiers with so much care while simultaneously being accepted as a source of authority who regularly makes life-and-death decisions. With guardians like this, it’s not hard to feel secure.

Were it not for the knowledge that D, P, V, and tens of thousands of other combat reservists would step forward yet again to defend our country, Israel would not have been able to launch the attack on Iran together with the U.S., nor would it be faring as well as it has so far. They are the unsung heroes of this war and all of us who recognize this truth would do well to sing about them.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)