The third Israel-Lebanon war commenced after Israel’s forces entered Lebanon on 1st October 2024. Israel and its Western allies have long been misleading the world that the former’s war is merely against Hamas.
Escalating Conflict in the Middle East
In these unprecedented times, Israel has opened a new war front in the Middle East after heavily bombing Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen simultaneously. A few days back, Israel assassinated the chief political leader and a religious figure of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in aerial strikes. His death was seen as a major blow to the Iranian-backed Shiite proxy group, Hezbollah. However, the organization is unlikely to crumble under the weight of his assassination. This organization is largely a byproduct of the Lebanese Civil War in the 1970s and the Israel-Lebanon War in the 1980s.
Hassan Nasrallah, since assuming the leadership of the organization, maintained cordial ties with Iran to gain military and financial assistance. Israel’s three-month siege of Beirut in 2006 elevated his stature among the Shias and other Muslims of the country due to his successful resistance against the Israeli army. Hezbollah opened the northern front against Israel after the start of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza to assist Hamas. However, the Netanyahu administration used these Hezbollah attacks to its advantage. Netanyahu personally seeks to expand this war besides Israel’s expansionist ambitions. His political survival relies on prolonging the war. Corruption charges were filed against him and investigations against him were suspended after October 7, 2023, due to the start of a war with Hamas. He spurned all the international urgings for a peace deal during his recent address at the UN summit.
United States Hypocritic Role
The Biden administration is equally responsible for all the war crimes the Israeli Defense forces are committing in Gaza and Lebanon. US President Biden is playing a duplicitous role in the ongoing crisis. The United States has vetoed multiple UN resolutions seeking a ceasefire in Gaza. Israel is the largest recipient of US military and financial aid since its inception. The United States has provided Israel with more than $12 million in arms supplies in the previous year despite the latter’s massacre of innocent civilians, killing over 43000 Palestinians. A few days back, Israel received an additional 8.7 billion USD in military assistance. While talking about the Israel-Hamas war, Biden has always discussed the “horrors of October 7”, he never mentioned the war crimes of the Israeli Defense forces or the deaths and sufferings of innocent Palestinian civilians. Recently, the USA has announced to send additional troops to the Middle East to protect Israel.
The US officials have always been fumbling over the questions of journalists about Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure and hospitals. This US attitude has provided Israel with impunity to conduct ethnic cleansing and atrocities in Gaza, Lebanon, and other Syrian countries. Israel has also shunned the UN resolution and the decision of the International Court of Justice due to Western support. Israel’s assassination of different high-profile leaders of Iranian state and regional proxies posit that the country is least interested in a ceasefire. Israel has been encouraged and emboldened by the US assistance to expand the war to Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon. Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon has exposed the world to novel threats. Netanyahu’s administration is using similar arguments to justify this invasion, which it used for killing civilians in Gaza.
Iran’s Response and Regional Dynamics
The US state officials have adopted a lame-duck attitude over all the actions of Israel. Following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, US officials have stated that Israel informed them about its plan of “limited ground operation” in Lebanon. Despite being aware of the consequences of this invasion, the US allowed Israel to conduct this misadventure. This ground invasion of Lebanon has exposed the whole Middle Eastern region to a wider war. This invasion left Iran with no other option but to attack Israel. Iran attacked Israel with almost 200 missiles and projectiles on 1st October 2024, successfully hitting three Israeli military bases, to avenge Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah, and other leaders of the “Axis of Resistance”. There was already a perception among the Muslim world and beyond that Iran was betraying the axis of resistance. However, Iran’s attack on Israel has rejected all such accusations.
Moreover, Iran seeks to demonstrate that it holds the potential to challenge all its enemies and is strong enough to support its proxy groups. Iran would have lost its credibility solemnly if it did not respond to the assassinations of prominent figures of its regional proxies. Iran has warned the US of serious consequences in case of retaliation by Israel. Iran still seeks to prevent a full-scale war with Israel or any other country, despite being prepared for a larger war. However, Israel will likely retaliate to these Iranian strikes. This would lead to a serious escalation in the Middle East. Russia, China, and the US have their strategic interests in the region. The US involvement in a wider regional war would be threatening to Russia, as the former is the largest supporter of Ukraine. Involvement of any of the three superpowers of the world could lead to the involvement of the other two superpowers as well, leading to a third world war, which could result in unprecedented devastation around the globe.
Abbas Hashemite – is a political observer and research analyst for regional and global geopolitical issues. He is currently working as an independent researcher and journalist, exclusively for “New Eastern Outlook”
