Israel, Iran’s No-Longer-Proxy War: Now What ?
Deterrence has been Israel’s weapon to protect its existence and scare away any threats to its survival, as reported by CNN. However, did Iran destroy this weapon?
Few days ago, Iran directly attacked Israel after decades of proxy war. “We have decided to create a new equation,” said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami.
After a suspected Israeli strike on Iranian consular building in Syria on April 1, which killed seven Iranian officers including two senior commanders, Tehran vowed revenge, putting Israel and the US on high alert.
On Saturday morning, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized an Israeli-linked container ship, the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, near the Strait of Hormuz.
Later on Saturday, Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles towards Israel in an immense aerial attack.
Israel is swaying between Joe Biden’s warning to “take the win” and spare the region a wide scale conflict and calls from his hard right governing coalition to retaliate. Bezalel Smotrich is calling for “restore deterrence,” and popular Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir is demanding the Prime Minister to “go crazy.”
Between letting Iran get away with its attack or retaliating, Netanyahu’s political acumen is being intensely tested.
The global arena is full of voices condemning Iran’s attack, calling for restraint, dreading Israel’s acts in Gaza, and calling for imposing sanctions on Iran.
Iran will not attack Israel as long as the United States has its back, implied the former fighter pilot and former head of the IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate Amos Yadlin in his talk with CNN. Israel’s enemies can sniff the tension between Netanyahu and Biden administration.
The US abstaining at the UN Security Council ceasefire vote last month encouraged Hamas to be more stubborn in the hostage negotiations.
Netanyahu is currently facing the biggest fork in the road of his career.
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