Israel’s enmity leads to challenges, its friendship to devastation
The assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, has made the already volatile Middle East even more dangerous with the prospect of a direct military conflict. Acting Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem stated in a televised speech on Monday, “We are waiting for Israeli soldiers to enter our territories so that Hezbollah’s fighters can confront them on the battlefield.” Hezbollah’s security sources seem unconcerned about the prospect of an Israeli ground invasion, saying they have been preparing for this moment for years and are continuously making preparations.
By Syed Ali
Hassan
Iran Daily’s correspondent
in Pakistan
Though Israeli soldiers haven’t suffered significant losses in guerrilla warfare with Hamas in Gaza or Hezbollah’s attacks in Israel’s northern occupied territories, casualties in ground warfare are inevitable. Jews fear death, as mentioned in the Quran (Surah Al-Jumu’ah), so Israel will not rely heavily on ground warfare and will likely retreat from it soon, despite having superior intelligence and air dominance. Hezbollah and other non-state armed groups are trained more for guerrilla warfare than traditional warfare, enabling them to surprise the enemy. In recent history, conventional armies have not succeeded in fighting guerrilla warfare; Vietnam is an old example, and Afghanistan is a modern one. The US and NATO forces witnessed failure and humiliation in Afghanistan’s guerrilla war.
During Israel’s ground operations in Gaza, Israeli soldiers were killed, but the fighters in Gaza had no open supply routes for weapons. They used their limited resources carefully. In Lebanon, however, Hezbollah is in a different position. Firstly, it has the support of its government, and secondly, it has more than one secure supply route for weapons. Hamas caused limited Israeli casualties in ground warfare, but that will not be the case in Lebanon. It’s not impossible for Hezbollah sympathizers from around the world to reach Lebanon.
In the 1980s, American and French forces in Lebanon could not withstand the nationalist fighters and were forced to leave Lebanon in disgrace. On the other hand, Israel has said it only wants to eliminate the military strength of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, which has posed a threat to Israel’s northern occupied areas for the past year. After October 7, 2023, Hezbollah turned Israel’s northern areas into hell for Jewish settlers, forcing 60,000 settlers to relocate to central Israel. Israel is concerned about the security of these crumbling northern regions and seeks to resettle Jewish settlers there to reduce the risk of losing control. It cannot be ignored that the evolving war situation in Western Asia will lead to bloodshed in the region and could have disastrous consequences for the entire world. The already fragile tensions are now moving toward a full-scale war, which could affect not only Lebanon and Israel but potentially other regional powers like Iran and Turkey as well.
Hezbollah, Iran’s primary military and political asset in the region, is already mourning the martyrdom of its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other key commanders. This raises an important question: What will Tehran’s response be in this situation? Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has sent a message to the Iranian people, hinting that they should stop their leadership from taking anti-Israel actions. Netanyahu’s fear is based on reality. Foolish friends and wise enemies are criticizing the Iranian government for not launching a direct war against Israel. Is there any doubt that Iran is currently the axis of Islamic resistance, backing Hezbollah, Hashd al-Shaabi, Ansarullah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad? These military forces have not only shaken Israel but the entire West and have, over the past year, exposed the human rights hypocrisy of Western governments.
The Islamic world should not be discouraged. The economic losses of Israel and the West won’t allow their arrogance to last long. The West’s paradise is soon to turn into hell. Sayyed Nasrallah was assassinated on America’s orders with bunker-buster bombs supplied by the US and Hezbollah has announced its preparedness for a long war. The peace Israel seeks has ended with Nasrallah’s passing because they have crossed the red line. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was the spiritual leader of Hezbollah and resistance movements worldwide, committed to fighting Israel. Hezbollah’s strength will never fade, but Israel’s racist ideology might. The Jews don’t realize they are merely pawns of the American devil, who could sacrifice them at any time to maintain its power.
The intensity of the regional war will lead to regional instability, threatening global energy markets and international security. The martyrdom of Hezbollah’s leader was not entirely unexpected. Israeli intelligence had been trying for years to eliminate Nasrallah. They spent millions of dollars on failed operations. Had the events of October 7 not occurred, it was only a matter of time before Israeli agencies would have eliminated this iron man, whom Israeli leadership viewed as a threat to their national security. Nasrallah hadn’t been seen in public for years, constantly moving from place to place. His martyrdom signals a clear conclusion.
We must also examine Saudi Arabia’s policy regarding Palestinians. Saudi eagerness to establish relations with Israel has paved the way for bloodshed in the Middle East, engulfing the entire region in flames. It must be remembered that Israel’s enmity leads to challenges and problems, but friendship with it brings nothing but destruction. Israel’s ambitions are expansionism, as expressed by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who said, “Israel’s reach extends across the Middle East, and any adversary can be our target at any time.” Even if Netanyahu’s words are not taken seriously, it must be acknowledged that Israel’s terrorist mentality can pose a threat to both the Middle East and the world at any time.