O n Tuesday, Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group in Lebanon, agreed to a cease-fire. The arrangement is a win for outgoing President Joe Biden, who has followed a hapless policy course through a calamitous year for the Middle East.

The alignment could produce a legacy-defining foreign-policy win for President Biden before he departs, and one fewer global crisis to handle for President-elect Donald Trump.

JONAH BLANK is Adjunct Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation and a Visiting Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute. From 1999 to 2009, he served as Senator Joe Biden’s Policy Director for South and Southeast Asia, and from 1999 to 2001 he also advised the senator on the Middle East.

US will make another push with Turkey, Egypt and others to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza in coming days. Read more at straitstimes.com.