Yesterday, the United States and Iran raised with words – and actions – their latent confrontation on the board of Israel and Gaza, which, paradoxically, seems to contain the beginning of the Israeli ground offensive on the strip.
The Pentagon yesterday announced an increase in military deployment in the region “in the face of the escalation of Iran and its allied forces,” in the words of the Secretary of Defense, David Lloyd Austin. These are the sophisticated THADD air defense system, and the sending of more Patriot missiles, which are added to the two aircraft carriers anchored off the coasts of Israel and Lebanon. Tehran, for its part, warned of the risk that the situation could become “uncontrollable.” In short, everyone doubles down…
Israeli bombings in the last 24 hours have caused 266 deaths in the Gaza Strip, of which 117 were children, according to the Health Department controlled by Hamas. The humanitarian situation is deteriorating despite the slow arrival of aid since Saturday (yesterday there were 19 trucks, far below the 450 that entered daily before the war). And by admitted mistake, an Israeli tank fired at an Egyptian post, causing no deaths but aggravating the unrest in Cairo.
And yet, the great fear, the mother of all concerns, is the increase in hostilities between the US and Israel and the Iranian regime, which is moving its pawns in the area in a fight whose only apparent “advantage” It is the postponement of the start of the land war in Gaza, of a virulence that would aggravate the risk of war spilling over into a region of precarious balance.
“We are concerned about the possibility that Iran’s proxies will increase their attacks on our military personnel and our citizens,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted yesterday on CBS. That is to say, there is fear of terrorist attacks or kidnappings throughout the region.
In very similar terms, Defense Secretary David Lloyd Austin warned on ABC: “Our advice to those seeking to extend the (Gaza) conflict is: don’t do it. “We are seeing a significant escalation of attacks against our troops and our citizens throughout the region.”
From Tehran, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahiah warned – the verb of the day – the United States and Israel that the war in Gaza could have consequences for them. “I warn the United States and Israel that if they do not stop the crime against humanity and the genocide in Gaza, anything is possible and the region will be out of control.”
The facts that support this dangerous crossing of gloves are scattered although connected, all of them in the last 48 hours. The terrorist organization Hizbullah launched anti-tank missiles from its stronghold in southern Lebanon, and the resulting Israeli response caused an unknown number of casualties. Consequently, the Israeli Government has decided to evacuate another 14 communities near Lebanon, adding to the previous 28 plus the city of Kiryat Shmona. Far from appeasing, the Lebanese spotlight remains on and is frightening due to its destabilizing capacity, in a State, Lebanon, incapable of controlling Hizbullah and very fragile.
In a visit to Israeli troops deployed on the border with Lebanon, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that “if Hizbullah decides to enter the fray, it will long for the second Lebanon war. “He will be making the worst mistake of his life,” according to a statement from the prime minister’s office. “We will hit Hizbullah with a force it cannot even imagine and the consequences for them and for Lebanon will be devastating,” Beniamin Netanyahu said.
Another incident far from Gaza, but connected, was the missile attack on a United States air base in Iraq on the night of Saturday to Sunday, without causing any deaths. In parallel, Washington yesterday began to evacuate all its non-essential personnel in Iraq. In turn, the Syrian airports of Aleppo and Damascus were hit yesterday by missiles that prevented their operation throughout Sunday. Syria accused Israel of the attack, something it routinely denies.
The tension confirms that the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7 aspired to shake the precarious balance of the Middle East, in the air due to the accelerated rapprochement of Saudi Arabia and Israel, which has now been derailed with the deaths in Gaza and the unrest in the Arab world.
Those harmed by such normalization were the Palestinians – whose cause no longer counted when it came to recognizing the State of Israel – and the regime in Tehran, which saw its two great enemies moving closer. And with the Russian fleet at its base in Syria. On the rebound, the focus of world attention shifted from Ukraine to the Middle East. Many interests, which fundamentally overshadow the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza, harmed by everyone and at times the puppets in a global game that lives very tense hours.
Israel has, therefore, two open sources, to which is now added the West Bank, the least problematic, but not for that reason non-existent. In an unprecedented event, Israeli aircraft destroyed a mosque in Jenin, where a Palestinian group was taking refuge and was preparing to commit an attack, according to the Israeli version. In contrast, the Palestinian National Authority, chaired by Mahmoud Abbas, maintains a de facto equidistance. It regrets what it considers Israeli excesses, but it is the first enemy of Hamas in the region, since they were expelled from the strip in 2007, where the provisional capital of Palestine was initially going to be in the process of being recognized as a State, in accordance with the Oslo agreements. The animosity is total and symbolizes the divisions that have so weakened the so-called Palestinian cause.
