From Tehran to Tel Aviv
- Saharsh Bharadwaj
- May 2, 2024
- 2 min read
The Iran-Israel conflict is one that has been simmering for the last 40 years, since the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon. This was in retaliation to a series of attacks on Israel carried out by Palestinian militants from Lebanese soil. This was amidst the wider hostilities of the Lebanese Civil War. During the Lebanese Civil War, Iran and Syria both facilitated the formation of a militant organization known as Hezbollah. Their main aim was to end the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon and establish their control over the same. They also possessed a disdain for the neo-colonialism of the P5 nations and believed that Israel too was trying to do the same over Lebanon. Iran has been a supporter of Hezbollah as both of them follow the same subsect of Islam, Shia Islam. Many have gone as far to call Hezbollah a proxy of Iran.
The simmering conflict came to a boil on April 1st, 2024. A war torn Israel, diverted its attention from the Gaza Strip to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria. This was the first time where the proxy war transitioned into a direct attack from one country to another. Israel justifies the attack as Iran supports militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, both of whom Israel has a conflict with on different fronts (namely the Gaza Strip and the Lebanon Border). While Iran has held Israel accountable, Israel has not taken credit for the attack yet, possibly due to them being held actionable for violation of International Law.
As a response to this, Iran closed down the Hormuz Strait which is vital in oil transportation and also seized a ship on speculation of it being a “Zionist ship”. Iran has been accused of piracy for attempting to monopolize the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran further launched a retaliatory attack on April 13th, launching around 200 targeted aerial units towards various bases across Israel. Iran provided prior notice about the strike they were conducting, further depicting that the purpose of the strike was merely for asserting themselves and not for causing damage to life and property. Iran claims that there has been only minor damage to one Israeli base. Israel claims that they intercepted the majority of the units offshore and only a few managed to even enter Israeli territory. Yet, Israel too did not sit back and let their justice not be served as they responded with their own strike on April 19th to signal that Israel has the ability to strike inside Iran as well.
Many individuals believe that this conflict can escalate into a situation of mass war, with many netizens terming it “The First Battle of the Third World War”. Others put their faith in the world behaving more rationally and diffusing the tensions of the situation.
This conflict actually serves as a crucial test in the effectiveness of the United Nations. Can the policy of dialogue, debate and de-escalation actually work in practice? Or will the Middle East region turn into a battlefield? Only time will tell.
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