Iran targeting Israel in dangerous Middle East Game. Can India resolve crisis?
Peace could be achieved on Israel’s northern borders by truly implementing UN resolution 1701 but no global power has the heft to enforce it
It has been virtually a year since the Hamas terrorist group took Israel’s massive security apparatus by total surprise and attacked across Gaza killing 1200 innocents, abducting another 251 as war booty by using medieval war instruments of rape, murder, arson, pillage and mayhem.
Even now, 101 Israelis are still in custody of Hamas with the possibility of only 66 being alive and time running out fast for them. Hundreds of Hamas combatants and innocents have died in Israeli lethal retaliation since then, and today the Jew nation under Benjamin Netanyahu is battling adversaries on seven fronts—Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, West Bank, Iraq, Syria and Iran.
But the principal adversary of Israel is Iran who is using its terror proxies to attack Tel Aviv and in turn, putting the entire Middle East to the sword.
ALSO READ: Why Israeli attack on Hezbollah’s communication was a tipping point
Using its high asymmetry of superior military power vis-à-vis Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel has been successful in reducing the Sunni terrorist army with proper command and control in Gaza to a terror gang run by Yahya Sinwar after the elimination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.
The military capabilities of the Shia terrorist group in Lebanon have been heavily degraded with Israel successful in bringing down Hezbollah’s command and control structure in the past two weeks through attacks on communication networks and eliminating the top military commanders this month.
The Middle East is currently in flames with Sunni powers like Saudi Arabia and UAE forced to watch on the sides and the United States no longer the guarantor of peace and security in the region.
The area and the world at large are sitting on a powder keg waiting to explode on any trigger. The million-dollar question today is to how to stop this dance of death which has serious global security ramifications for the future.
ALSO READ: Why Hamas cannot be allowed to get away by Israel
Prima facie Iran is nearly 2000 kilometers away from Israel and the two countries had workable ties in the early 1970s. But then the world went topsy-turvy with 1979 turning out to be a watershed with the Shia Islamic revolution in Iran, the siege of Mecca by Islamic terrorists, and the erstwhile Soviet Union occupying Afghanistan.
The three milestone events radicalised the entire Islamic world to such a level that its consequences are still unfolding with politicians weaponizing the religion to grab power. To consolidate power and gain legitimacy, the Ayatollahs of Iran decided to target the US and Israel as an instrument of its broader ambition and standing in the Islamic world.
ALSO READ: Understanding Iran's game: Wants to destroy Israel, considers US ‘Big Satan’
Using its Quds force covert apparatus, Iran built terror proxies in the region to attack Israel and in turn radicalize the entire Arab streets in the Islamic world. This systematic radicalization of the Arab world using political Islam has instigated Muslims all over the world and made them mere tools of the never-ending Iranian revolution.
Other vested interests have joined the radical platform to suit their gripe against their own countries. Currently, all the non-state terror proxies of Iran are attacking Israel, caring two hoots for the two-state solution and the legitimate voice for the Palestinian homeland. Hezbollah has crippled Lebanon and operates in Syria, Hamas has taken over Gaza, Kaitab Hezbollah operates in Iraq and Shia Houthi rebels are targeting international shipping in the Red Sea and off the Gulf of Aden with the decimation of Israel as the main objective.
The voice of Arab moderates has been drowned by extremists and enlightened Sunni powers are mute spectators to violence lest they incur the wrath of totally radicalized Arab streets.
The matters have been made worse with the US power no longer viewed as licit in the Middle East, Russia grappling with war in Ukraine and China still to acquire the political and military heft to become global arbitrator of peace. The UN, on the other hand, has been reduced to a talk shop for political posturing with no muscle to enforce peace in any part of the world.
While retaliation of an outraged Israel against Hamas non-state combatants in Gaza was a justified answer to the October 7 butchery, Netanyahu's war in Gaza lost legitimacy on the streets of Jerusalem after reports of hundreds getting killed on the strip as collateral damage became public.
The war-weary Israelis also started questioning the political leadership after IDF raids into the West Bank as part of counter-terror operations after one year of maximum violence and mayhem. But then the Iranian proxy Hezbollah stepped in by targeting Israeli cities with missiles as far as Haifa and Nazareth on the northern borders, resulting in evacuation of settled Jews in the region.
Israelis running out of safe spaces
The targeting of Israel by Iran with missiles on April 13 and the constant attacks by non-state actors like Hezbollah and its allies in Syria has restored the legitimacy of Netanyahu as the Ayatollahs want to wipe off the Jewish nation from the face of the earth.
Today Israelis are running out of safe and secure space with missiles coming in from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. The Jews have been left with no options as it is a question of their survival in the face of an enemy like Iran and its deadly proxies who had standing armies and credible stand-off weapons.
Given the current bleak scenario, the conflagration in the Middle East will remain simmering with neither Netanyahu or Hassan Nasrallah having the stomach for an all-out war. Hamas leadership has been decimated but the radical ideology will not die and the world will see terror attacks in the future as there is no space for moderates in Gaza.
Peace could be achieved on Israel’s northern borders by truly implementing UN resolution 1701 but no global power has the heft to enforce it by disarming Hezbollah and demilitarizing Lebanon-Israel borders. With the present Biden administration involved in taking on Russia in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin showing no signs of giving up on his military adventure, the global objective today is to contain the war in the Middle East and not pursue total peace.
Saudi Arabia, UAE forced to put detente with Israel on hold
Sunni powers like Saudi Arabia and UAE have been forced to put détente with Israel on hold as extremists on the Arab streets will bay for their blood. Even though the answer lies in a two-state solution, Iran wants to keep the pot on a permanent boil and Israel wants more space to settle Jews coming permanently to the promised land.
With Ayatollahs facing internal dissent and challenges from within, Iranian leadership will use the war against Israel to distract its citizens from the massive economic problems within the Shia nation. Countries like Turkey and Qatar will use the war to settle their scores in the Islamic world and so will the politicians ruling countries in the periphery of the Middle East.
China and middle European powers may back anti-Israel resolutions in the UN but these have no meaning as none can enforce it or tell both Israel and Iran to back off. All in all, the Middle East is in an utter mess with none having a viable solution for peace. And this is a sure recipe for disaster.
India's role in resolving the Middle East crisis?
India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi can play a role as this is the only country which can talk to Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, UAE, US, Russia to come up with a viable solution. Yesterday, PM Modi met Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in New York to discuss the current issue. The Middle East is in utter mess with none having a viable solution for peace.
