Israel is set to stay trapped in a multifront war facing tremendous political and diplomatic pressures for a ceasefire.
Author
Khinvraj Jangid, Associate Professor and Director, Centre for Israel Studies, Jindal School of International Affairs, OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Summary
Smoke rises over Beirut’s southern suburbs after a strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon,Smoke rises over Beirut’s southern suburbs after a strike, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon. (Reuters)
There are times in international politics, especially during wars, when countries gamble on assumptions that “the enemy” will collapse or blink first. Iran gambled that Israel, deeply divided internally for two years, would not be able to sustain a multifront war. Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 last year. A day later, Hezbollah opened the front in the north of Israel, declaring its support for Hamas. Hezbollah is not an independent actor or organic resistance movement. Israel’s military invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and later, the occupation of southern Lebanese territory until 2000, helped Hezbollah increase its appeal to an extent.
Iran created Hezbollah to spread the Shia revolution. Its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps mobilised the Shia population of Lebanon for the Shia cause. Anti-Zionism, anti-Israelism and even anti-Americanism are tools to hide Iran’s true agenda. Iranian clerics would, arguably, not wage war against Israel for the sake of the Sunni Palestinians. Iran has an ideological mindset driven by Shia Islam for millenarian goals. It works with grand strategic objectives, and real wars can be disastrous.
Published in: The Indian Express
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