[Laurent Rizzotti]

First, what is this discussion of taking Tunis ? To take it you will have to cross the whole of Vichy French-held Tunisia, and that was not a brillant political idea. The Syria-Lebanon affair was a bloody campaign, and lasted more than a month, for a smaller territory that was far more difficult for the French to supply/reinforce and for the Axis to assist.

Taking Tripoli will be hard enough. I think that the British Army vehicles when they stopped were probably in a poor state, and supply lines were hard stretched. Even if ports were captured, I'm not sure they could be used at full capacity.

Then to come back to the BofB, while both the English and German rank of file and civilians were thinking the invasion will come, I wonder what the leaders of both sides thought of it ?

Especially, I wonder if the British sent reinforcements to Middle East during the summer of 1940. IMHO, this will be a sign that they thought an invasion was unlikely, as these is no reason to keep your backyard garden under guard if your house is open to everybody. Suez was important, but less than London.