By Akbar E. Torbat
It appears that the recent chain of terrors intensified after the helicopter crash of President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions on May 19, 2024. The assassinations of Palestinian leaders and Iran’s military advisors have continued to this date. Israel wishes to wipe out the Palestinian resistance movement in the surroundings of its occupied lands, which has failed. Israel assassinated Hamas’ founder, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, in 2004, yet after two decades, Hamas not only has not been wiped out, but it has become stronger. The only way to end the conflict is for the Westerners to give back Palestine to its native citizens and leave the region.
Recent Chain of Terrors
While the killing of Palestinians in the occupied territories has continued, a new chain of Israel terrors has begun. On September 17, Israel simultaneously blew up Hezbollah’s pagers. The Israel’s terror operation led to the death of about 37 people and the wounding of nearly 3,000 members of Hezbollah and Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, who was injured by the explosion of a pager. A day after the explosion of the pagers, the detonation of walkie-talkies and other electronic devices killed 14 people. Small amounts of explosives had been placed in the battery of each pager before reaching the hands of Hezbollah, and some of them had been given to their allies in Iran and Syria. The Pagers and walkie-talkies filled with concealed explosives were sold through a shell company that turned out to be owned by Israel’s Mossad.
This shows the importance of the role of intelligence and the influence of Israeli intelligence not only among Lebanon’s Hezbollah but also inside Iran. This once again proves the failure of the Islamic regime’s weak security apparatus, which is traditionally headed by a mullah.
As is seen, political assassinations have intensified since the crash of Raisi’s helicopter in May. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’s political office, was assassinated in Tehran on July 31, 2024. On September 27, 2024, Israel’s heavy bombardment of the Hezbollah headquarters using bunker-buster bombs led to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrollah and others with him. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians and wounded about 80,000, the most extensive genocide in recent history.
Iran claimed, according to Article 51 of the UN Charter, it has a legitimate right to attack Israel as its guest Ismael Haniya in Tehran, and Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan in Lebanon were assassinated by Israel, not to mention others who had been killed in many other circumstances.
Iran Responded
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed that it targeted three important Israeli military bases. On October 1, 2024, the Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force fired about 200 ballistic missiles at targets deep in the occupied territories. According to Iran’s military officials, in operation, Truthful Promise 2 (Vadeh Sadegh 2), three major air bases of Nevatim, Hatzerim Airbase, and Tel Nof, the centers of Israel’s armored forces as well as the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency in Tel Aviv, were targeted by Iranian missiles. The missiles used, included hypersonic missiles that take about 12 minutes to reach Israel from Iran, about 1800 Km. The modern missiles used included Kheibar Shekan, a solid-fuel medium-range, and Fattah-1, a hypersonic ballistic missile. That was the largest attack that has ever been launched against Israel.
Israel’s F-15-I Ra’am ‘Thunder’ fighter jets used to target Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon operate from Hatzirim and Tel Nof airbases. Both bases were targeted by heavy attacks in the Truthful Promise 2 operation. The Nevatim military airbase in the heart of the Negev desert is the strategic headquarters of Israel’s air forces. This airbase is the central location of Israel’s fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighters. In Iran’s attack, the largest number of ballistic missiles were chosen to target Nevatim. In just one video recorded by the Zionist settlers, at least 25 ballistic missiles hit the Nevatim base area. The Wall Street Journal reported that satellite images showed 32 missiles had landed at Nevatim, and one was stuck in a hangar there. That shows Israel’s multilayered air defense system, called Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow, are very weak in preventing such attacks. Netanyahu has ordered censorship of any reports regarding the damages that Iran’s attack has caused.
Israel has threatened to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities as well as the military bases and oil infrastructure. No doubt, Iran’s military leaders are aware of such threats and are prepared to defend them. On October 4, in a speech at the Friday Prayer, Ali Khamenei said Iran would destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa if the Zionist regime dared to attack Iran.
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Akbar E. Torbat is the author of “Politics of Oil and Nuclear Technology in Iran,” Palgrave Macmillan (2020). Farsi translation of the book is available here.
7 October 2024
Source: countercurrents.org