A woman holds a picture of martyred Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Photo: Al-Mayadeen.
By Shaher Ismail Al-Shaher – Aug 1, 2024
From the first day of Al-Aqsa Flood, the Zionist entity’s government realized that it had suffered a strategic defeat that represented an existential threat to the future of “Israel.”
The strategic defeat was compounded by “Israel’s” inability to eliminate the resistance. This has therefore made the occupation government focus on achieving any tactical victory in order to divert the settlers’ attention from their government’s failure and its inability to release the prisoners held by Hamas.
“Israel’s” targeting of the southern suburb of Beirut and Tehran and the martyrdom of Hezbollah’s second-in-command Fouad Shukr and Hamas’ top leader Ismail Haniyeh constitute a major development for the region. In particular, the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran is a major escalation and political folly apart from being another crime added to the Zionist entity’s extensive record of criminality and bloodshed. It will certainly not be the last.
“Israel’s” great desire to expand the scope of the war to include the entire region is partially because of Netanyahu’s belief that this will save him from the dark fate that awaits him.
Netanyahu, saturated with his Nazism and an inflated instinct for revenge against everyone he believes was responsible for what has happened, has brought “Israel” to its worst position since its establishment as a usurping entity and a cancerous body that could not assimilate with the region’s countries, despite all the attempts made by its leaders.
Washington’s unlimited support for “Israel” and the US presidential candidates’ need for support from the Zionist lobby have greatly contributed to “Israel” commiting whatever crimes it wants.
Netanyahu’s recent visit to the United States, his speech before Congress, the accompanying farce and applause, and the absolute support for him from Congress members captive to Zionist money to finance their election campaigns all contributed to increasing Netanyahu’s arrogance and enhancing his instinct for revenge.
The reaction of the US Congress not only stemmed from its members’ love for “Israel” or sympathy with Netanyahu, but also a hysterical response resulting from their resentment of China’s success in achieving reconciliation among Palestinian factions.
Majdal Shams and the rogue missile
Netanyahu, searching for a pretext to expand the scope of the war, used the Majdal Shams incident as a pretext to expand the war in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah denied responsibility for the incident and everyone should believe it, especially since the party has the courage to admit mistakes (if they occur) and apologize for them, and this is proven by historical precedents.
The people of Majdal Shams, Syrian patriots who support Hezbollah and the resistance and who refuse to serve in the ranks of the Zionist occupation, exposed Netanyahu’s lies and stripped them bare before public opinion.
The occupation’s treatment of the Arabs of Majdal Shams exposed its racism, as there are no shelters there, no Iron Dome to protect them. They are nothing but second-class citizens for the racist Zionist entity government.
Some Arab and Western countries tried to exaggerate “Israel’s” thrreats to Lebanon to spread panic and affect Lebanon economically. Lebanon is in the middle of an important tourist season, so these countries took the initiative to ask their citizens to leave Lebanon and stop flights heading there. In contrast, those countries forgot to ask their citizens to leave “Israel” despite the fact that “Israel” will also become unsafe if it resorts to war with Lebanon.
The preparations of Hezbollah and the axis of resistance and their seriousness in responding to the Zionist aggression have limited the “Israeli” options for a possible aggression. If “Israel” does invade Lebanon, it will be limited to a security operation in southern Lebanon, to which Hezbollah will respond with a similar operation, without a doubt.
Netanyahu’s desire to expand the war is still constrained, as all indications suggest that what Hamas possesses does not exceed 10% of Hezbollah’s strength, and therefore “Israel” will be unable to bear the consequences of a full war with Lebanon.
International pressure on “Israel” has not been able to prevent it from continuing the war, but it may affect its desire and ability to expand it.
Ismail Haniyeh’s Journey of Resistance: From Exile to Martyrdom
The crime of assassinating Ismail Haniyeh
The crime of assassinating martyr Ismail Haniyeh in Iran constituted a major escalation from the Israeli side, as it carried several political messages to Iran and the rest of the resistance axis.
Haniyeh is the only president of an elected Palestinian government, living in Qatar, and moving within a triangle (Qatar-Turkey-Iran).
“Israel’s” choice of Tehran as the place to assassinate Haniyeh aims at embarrassing Iran and putting more pressure on it, especially because “Israel” has good relations with Turkey and Qatar but not with Iran.
The operation constituted a great embarrassment to Tehran as the host country, responsible for protecting its visitors, and therefore it will not hesitate to avenge its sovereignty as well as the blood of Haniyeh and other martyrs.
The operation also showed Iran’s need to enhance its security and intelligence, to search for the “fifth column” within its territory, and to learn from what happened and to employ it positively to increase public awareness of the magnitude of the risks the country faces.
The security breach that occurred in Iran can happen in any country in the world, and the attempt to assassinate Trump is just an example of that, with the difference that what happened in the United States is from within the disintegrated and divided US interior. The attack in Tehran was done by its enemies from abroad, and therefore its internal environment is still strong and cohesive, but that does not negate the presence of some enemy agents on its territory.
Iran’s response to what happened is inevitable, as confirmed by the leader of the revolution and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sayyid Ali Khamenei, and the new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. President Pezeshkian’s challenges began the first day of taking office and he will be tasked with strengthening the internal front to face external challenges.
It seems that “Israel” wanted, from the first day of a “reformist” president taking office in Iran, to add fuel to the fire to increase tension between Tehran and the US and to prevent any dialogue or rapprochement between them.
Iran has become a direct party in confronting the Zionist entity, and its role in just supporting the axis of resistance is no longer sufficient, as the coming days will witness a direct Iranian response to the assassination.
The response and counter-response will lead us to a regional war whose timeline cannot be predicted, but what is certain is that it will end with the victory of the resistance and the defeat of “Israel.”
What happened in Iran and the region does not seem to have been unexpected. It will not be the last of the challenges, and perhaps not even the most dangerous, which was what Russian President Vladimir Putin had referred to during his recent meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s refusal to comment on the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh confirms the United States’ involvement and participation in the attack, or at least giving the green light to “Israel.”
Leaks issued by some Hebrew media outlets spoke about launching the missile from Qatar . If proven true, this would exhibit “Israel’s” desire to sow conflict in the region, especially since Haniyeh lives in Qatar. It also expresses “Israel’s” dissatisfaction with the mediation role played by both Egypt and Qatar to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
Turkey’s reaction was a result of the distinguished relations between Ankara and Hamas, and the intellectual and ideological intersections between the Justice and Development party and the Hamas movement.
The assassination attempt against the head of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council and army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan with a drone, while he was participating in a graduation ceremony for military college students at the Gebeit military institute in the Red Sea state, cannot be separated from what is happening in the region. Clearly “Israel” is tampering with Sudan’s security, in collusion with some Arab countries.
All indications point to war, and the possibilities are escalating greatly, but its occurrence is not certain.
It seems that Gaza is the safest place for the Zionist entity to attack while also the most difficult for it to achieve results in eliminating the resistance leaders there. Without eliminating the resistance, the normalizing Arab regimes will not be able to deploy their “security forces” in Gaza on behalf of “Israel.”
The assassination policy practiced by “Israel” threatens regional security and will lead to expanding the scope of conflict in the region to a situation that will be difficult to control.
It seems that the battle has become existential for both sides, and there is no longer any option but resistance, considering that the other option (the Oslo option) has been tried and has not led to any notable results.
The Iranian response will be calm and studied, especially since the Iranian political mind does not deal with the policy of reactions, and therefore it will be an effective, painful response commensurate with the magnitude of the event and its repercussions.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/DZ/SC
Shaher Ismail Al Shaher
Shaher Ismail Al Shaher is a professor of international relations at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China.
