There may be daily bombings in the Gaza Strip, which is 41 kilometers long and 12 kilometers wide, but 83 days after Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel, the conflict has become increasingly regional. “We are at war on multiple fronts,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned during a hearing at the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee.
“We are under attack from seven fronts: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria [o nome que os israelitas dão à Cisjordânia ocupada]Iraq, Yemen and Iran,” the minister added, saying that Israel “has already responded and taken action on six of these fronts.” A message for Iran, whose financing and weapons are behind much of the regional destabilization is not yet directly involved in the conflict, despite the fact that Tehran has done so.
Gaza: Death and Destruction in the Aftermath of Hamas
Israel declared war on Hamas on the day it was attacked by surprise, on October 7, and immediately began bombing the Gaza Strip, which has been controlled by the terrorist group since 2007, and continued the ground operation from October 27. Since then, an estimated 60% of the homes in the enclave have been destroyed. Authorities report more than 21,000 deaths and two million displaced south amid hunger and disease – in addition to bombings.
Israel’s goal is to destroy Hamas – a mission it is said to have almost accomplished in the north and is now focusing on the center and south of the area – and free the terrorist group’s approximately one hundred hostages. still has, and ensuring that Gaza will not again pose a risk to its security. Objectives far from being achieved, under pressure from the international community to at least negotiate a new humanitarian pause allowing the access of aid (this comes in a trickle and with enormous risks for those distributing it) and the release of more hostages.
Israel warns the war could last months (or even years), with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refusing to consider what might happen after the conflict ends. Meanwhile, the human crisis is worsening and tensions are rising in other areas.
Lebanon: Hezbollah maintains the border with iron and fire
Since October 7, there have been almost daily firefights between the Lebanese Shia militia of Hezbollah and the Israeli army on the border between the two countries, leading to the evacuation of several locations on the Israeli side. Yesterday alone, 34 rockets were fired from the Lebanese side after the Israelis killed a militant and two more civilians. Since the attacks began, at least 150 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 19 civilians (including journalists), and 11 in Israel, including four civilians.
Despite the tension, efforts have been made to prevent a formal declaration of war by Hezbollah on Israel – such as the one in 2006. The powerful Shiite group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a rare speech on the first month of the commemoration of the war in Gaza that the group practically waged from day one, diverting Israel’s attention from what would otherwise have been focused on the Palestinian enclave. The Israelites say they are on standby.
Syria: Iranian commander killed increases tension
Although the border between Israel and Syria is calm (compared to the border between Israel and Lebanon), Iranian-backed groups have launched attacks on Israel and its allies, particularly on US bases in the country. The Israelis (more than the Americans) similarly retaliated by reportedly bombing the airports of Aleppo and Damascus (they never confirmed responsibility). But on Monday the situation deteriorated.
An attack on a neighborhood on the outskirts of Damascus resulted in the death of an Iranian general, Sayyed Razi Mousavi, an advisor to the Revolutionary Guards and reportedly responsible for coordinating the military alliance between Syria and Iran. Tehran pointed the finger at Israel, which neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the killing of Mousavi – who was close to General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards unit who was killed by the US in 2020 – reveals weakness on Israel’s side. “This act is a sign of the Zionist regime’s frustration and its weakness in the region, for which it will certainly pay the price,” he said, as quoted by Iranian media. The Revolutionary Guard also vowed to take revenge.
For years, Israel has attacked suspected Iranian targets in Syria, a country where Tehran’s influence grew thanks to its support for Bashar al-Assad’s regime after the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. The president, who returned to the international community after years of isolation has maintained silence on the war in Gaza, but the government has accused Israel of ‘fascism’ and ‘genocide’.
West Bank: daily raids and settler violence
Attention may be focused on the Gaza Strip, but Israeli forces have also multiplied their operations in the occupied West Bank – Judea and Samaria – in the nomenclature used by Gallant. Yesterday, at least six Palestinians aged between 16 and 29 were killed in a drone strike during an Israeli assault on the Nur Shams refugee camp, near the city of Tulkarem.
Violence in the area erupted after the outbreak of war in Gaza, which left more than 300 people dead – including at least 75 children – in military raids and settler attacks. At least 7,000 Israelis live in settlements that the international community considers illegal. More than 4,700 Palestinians were also detained (a dozen alone on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday). More than the three hundred who were released during the humanitarian pause in exchange for a hundred hostages in the hands of Hamas.
In addition, there were the economic consequences of the war: businesses were closed due to restrictions on movement and a hundred thousand Palestinians were not allowed to work in Israel. Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, where the Bible says Jesus was born, were canceled due to the war and the city was bombed on the 25th.
Iraq: US retaliates after attacks on bases and injuries
This is another front where the situation has deteriorated. On Tuesday, the US launched an airstrike on three positions of Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-linked group that is part of a new movement called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. The bombings, which were approved by President Joe Biden, came after three US soldiers were injured (one of them seriously) in a suicide drone attack on one of their bases, in Irbil, Kurdistan.
Since October 17 – when Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital was bombed and hundreds of people killed (the finger was pointed at Israel, which blamed Palestinian Islamic Jihad for a failed rocket launch) – there have been more than a hundred attacks on the US been. bases in Iraq and Syria. However, this was the first time that the military had suffered injuries, prompting Washington’s response. However, the bombings were criticized by the Iraqi government, which denounced the violation of its sovereignty.
Yemen: Red Sea ships under fire
The Bar al-Mandeb Strait, which is up to 50 kilometers wide, lies between Yemen and Eritrea and Djibouti and is the gateway to the Red Sea and then to the Suez Canal, through which 30% of maritime container traffic passes. On November 19, Houthi rebels, who control the capital and most of Yemen’s inhabited areas, filmed the attack on a ship with alleged ties to Israel in the Red Sea, marking the start of a campaign against commercial ships sailing through the region . .
Although no injuries or deaths have been reported in the approximately fifteen attacks, many shipping companies have chosen to flee the area and opt for the longer (and therefore more expensive) crossing around the African continent. The US has formed a coalition with nine other countries to try to protect the ships. For the Houthis, backed by Iran and under pressure after a decade of civil war against the Saudi-backed government, such actions have helped boost their internal popularity. Therefore, these attacks – like those with missiles and drones against Israel – are unlikely to stop anytime soon. There are fears that there will be an escalation of the situation (for example if a US military ship is attacked) that could force a new response from Washington.
Iran: the puppet master who is not yet directly involved
Despite being behind many of the groups that have increased tension in the region—financing and arming rebels in Yemen, supporting Shiite militias in Lebanon or Syria—Iran has not yet acted directly against Israel. This is a scenario that the West has tried to avoid from the start, with the US warning Iran through diplomatic channels about an escalation of the conflict at the regional level.
“So far, both Iran and the US have acted within the framework of rational actors, because they are aware of the danger of a large-scale military conflict,” said Ali Akbar Dareini, writer and researcher at the Center for Strategic Studies in Iran. , told Al-Jazeera, Tehran. “In an election year, killing American soldiers would completely eliminate Biden’s chances of re-election,” he added.
Tehran is not yet involved in the conflict, but it continues to use inflammatory rhetoric and continues to enrich uranium (it will already be 60%), as yet another sign of resistance against the US – and on the eve of the anniversary of the assassination on General Soleimani, January 3.
Source: DN
