This week, tensions are running at an all-time high in the Middle East as it is being hailed as the most dangerous week of the ongoing year-long war in the region. There are strong apprehensions that Israel could deliver one of the heaviest bombardments against Iran and its terror proxies to avenge the horrific terror attack that unfolded on 7th October last year.
There are reports that Israel is planning major kinetic action to commemorate the first anniversary of one of the deadliest terror attacks on Israeli soil. Reacting to the built-up, Western Nations including France and the US have been urging the Jewish nation to excercise restraint.
The White House has officially advised Israel not to target Iran’s oil fields. On its part, French President Emmanuel Macron went further. He demanded an arms embargo against Israel which prompted a sharp response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Referring to Macron and other Western leaders, Netanyahu said shame on those leaders who are calling for an arms embargo on Israel. He also described their call as “a disgrace”. Netanyahu submitted that Israel would win with or without their support while noting that the Jewish nation is fighting a war on “seven fronts”.
Israel has maintained that their pending response to Iranian missile attacks will be “serious and significant”. Additionally, it has also not ruled out the possibility of striking Iran’s Nuclear sites, an idea which was also pushed by Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump.
In this article, we will analyse the aftermath of the infamous 7th October terror attack and how the subsequent military offensive by Israel has been reshaping the new Middle East.
7th October terror onslaughter that spelled doom in the Middle East
7th October 2023, the fateful day that marked a watershed moment in the history of the Middle East. The date demarcates the history before and after the terrorist attack. It was seen as one of the major security failures of Israeli security and famed intelligence agencies, MOSSAD and Shin Bet.
It all began on 7th October, last year when thousands of armed men associated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched a major surprise terror attack in southern Israel. The terrorists entered several km inside Israeli territories, on a day when it was celebrating the Jewish holiday, Simchat Torah.
Under “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm”, thousands of Hamas and PIJ terrorists stormed into Israel, from land, air, and sea which was accompanied by a barrage of rocket attacks from Gaza. Images that emerged from the terror attack, showed that terrorists also used parachutes to infiltrate into Israel.
After killing Israeli border security personnel, the armed Palestinian terrorists wreaked havoc on unsuspecting Israeli and foreign nationals. With the intent to spread terror and use it for further radicalisation back home, the Hamas terrorists used cameras to record their killing spree. A few videos even captured their glee as they killed Jewish families in one Kibbutz after another.
The armed fanatics, killed over 1,200, kidnapped over 250, raped, and even paraded lifeless, bruised, and battered bodies of women in a public glare to terrorise the public psyche. In one infamous case, Hamas terrorists were seen parading the lifeless and semi-naked body of a woman who was later identified as a German girl, Shani Louk. She was attending the Nova Music festival, which became the site of mass killings. While parading her body, Hamas terrorists were seen spitting on her body while shouting Allahu Akbar.
In the meantime, other Iran-backed Islamic terror groups, Hezbollah and Yemen-based Houthis, also joined the onslaught against Israel. On their part, they too have been launching barrages of missiles and rocket attacks on Israel, even militarising the Red Sea and jeopardising the trade routes passing through the Middle East.
Apart from terrorist groups, Islamists and Western propaganda outlets like Al-Jazeera and others went overboard to whitewash the terror attack and justify the 7th October terror attack as an outcome of a “resistance” movement. As part of their whitewashing drive, they were often caught spreading lies about the Israeli response. One infamous case included the falsehood on blast on Al-Shifa Hospital which was serving as the Headquarters of Hamas terror group. While a misfired Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket hit the Hospital, smear campaigns were widely circulated against Israel.
It was even reported that photojournalists from the Associated Press (AP), CNN, Reuters, and others were present at the Israel-Gaza border to “live report” the Hamas terror attack, unraveling not just “vulture journalism” but also how, they had no qualms in being an active part of terrorist attack.
Furthermore, throughout this year-long war in the Middle East, anti-Semitic incidents has surged globally be it the case of Pro-Palestinian protesters raising anti-Israel, anti-Jewish remarks, vandalising and even hijacking academic campuses in the United States of America, and storming an airport in Russia.
Israel redrawing the map in the Middle East, getting the region rid of Iran’s terror industry
In response to the 7th October terror attack, Israel swung into a “state of war” and launched a major military offensive, under Operation Swords of Iron to dismantle the terror infrastructure of Hamas. Ever since then, Israel has been retaliating against Iran-backed terrorist groups, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis, radicalisation among Arab citizens in Israel, and off late against Iran itself.
It has neutralised the top leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah, the communication network of Hezbollah was crippled in a series of mysterious pager and walkie-talkie blasts. The Jewish nation has also pulverised Hamas-ruled Gaza, steamrolling ground operations up to the Rafah border with Egypt. Israel and the US have also launched strikes against Houthis in Yemen.
According to the Israeli military, since the start of the war, 13,200 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza. Another 12,400 were fired from Lebanon, while 60 came from Syria, 180 from Yemen, and 400 from Iran. On its part, the Jewish nation has bombed more than 40,000 targets, found 4,700 tunnel shafts, and destroyed 1,000 rocket launcher sites in Gaza. At the end of the Israel-Iran war, the region’s maps could be redrawn, with Israel ending up again dominating and controlling territories in Gaza, and Lebanon, increasing the land boundary of the Jewish nation.
The year-long war in the Middle East witnessed a few brief periods of lull because of ceasefire agreements between Hamas and Israel. Contrary to its stern policy, the Jewish nation, was coerced by the Western powers, to release countless dreaded terrorists to ensure the release of several Israeli hostages kept in Gaza.
Other than the ceasefire stint, the Middle East has been on the boil all throughout the year. While the region has witnessed major conflicts in the preceding decades, the outcome of the 7th October terror attack on Israel has brought the region to the cusp of a major shake-up. There is also a major reshuffle in Iran on the cards, something along the lines of US invasion of Iraq or reversing the Islamisation that crept in after the Iranian revolution.