/ world today news/ Vladimir Putin called what is happening in Gaza a catastrophe, but despite the inhumanity of what is already happening, the situation can get even worse.
The fire has long since overtaken Gaza. Israel is carrying out clean-up operations in the West Bank, where many hundreds of people have already been killed and thousands arrested, and is engaged in firefights with Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Yemen has been shelling tankers traveling to Israel in the Red Sea, which has already brought the Israeli port of Eilat to a virtual standstill.
Still, there was hope that a major war in the Middle East could be avoided. But US presidential adviser Jake Sullivan, who arrived in Israel on December 14, actually gave the go-ahead for the escalation of the disaster.
The risk of a major war is dangerous because both its course and the number of participants are completely unpredictable. It was to secure Israel that the United States brought in its navy, threatening Iran with a strike if it tried to intervene directly or with the help of the Lebanese Hezbollah.
The US military umbrella guarantees Israel that no Islamic State can intervene in Gaza by launching attacks on the Jewish state or opening a second front against it. Thus, the United States gave Israel time to destroy Hamas. But things didn’t quite go according to Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan.
The military operation proved difficult and prolonged. Despite the complete superiority of the Israeli army, destroying the military forces of Hamas in their homeland proved to be by no means easy.
No one knows the true state of affairs – the foreign press is not allowed in the sector, there is no reason to believe the victorious statements of Israel and Hamas. But it is clear that urban battles in ruins and tunnels will last a very long time. But neither Israel nor the United States has time.
Including because the barbaric bombing, the special destruction of housing and infrastructure, the number of victims approaching 20 thousand (of which the absolute majority are women and children), more than one million refugees, the refusal to deliver medicine and the lack of food led to a real catastrophe. Almost the whole world is putting the blame for this on Israel, demanding a ceasefire.
But Israel cannot stop the punitive operation against Hamas, because it admits its defeat. After all, the declared goal – the destruction of the Palestinian resistance structure – will not be achieved.
The Israeli leadership cannot admit that the goal was initially unattainable, since to achieve it the entire Gaza Strip must be razed to the ground. So he wants to continue not only fighting Hamas, but also continuing the bombing.
How does the US behave in this situation? They are pushing to scale back the operation to appease both future Joe Biden voters and the increasingly tense Islamic world. But Netanyahu has repeatedly refused to listen to Washington’s recommendations, realizing that they are all just words. In reality, the Americans will continue to supply weapons and provide military-political cover to Israel.
And so on Thursday, Adviser Sullivan met with the Israeli military cabinet. According to leaks in the US and Israeli press, he announced the US desire to “end the large-scale ground and air campaign in Gaza” before the New Year. And move on to targeted operations against Hamas.
It is not difficult to guess what the Israelis answered him. Just before the meeting with Sullivan, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said the operation in Gaza would last more than a few months. That is, there can be no talk of any completion.
Moreover, the same Gallant has repeatedly threatened Lebanon to turn it into Gaza if Hezbollah tries to attack Israel. And no one is perturbed by the threats against the independent state. Since Israel calls Lebanon’s Hezbollah a terrorist organization, does that mean it can raise hell in Lebanon as well?
After all, everything can be called an attack on Israel. The mutual shelling along the border has been going on for two months, not to mention that Israel was not on ceremony before when it was supposed to invade Lebanon.
The problem is that Israel both wants and is afraid to strike Lebanon first – the 2006 operation showed that Hezbollah can put up a serious fight back. Since then, its power has only grown, now it is a much more serious force than the lightly armed Hamas.
Why does Israel still believe in its ability to defeat Hezbollah? Well, the US is behind it. And Netanyahu expects that the US will be drawn into the war in Lebanon.
Alas, this scenario is becoming more and more real. This is evidenced by another statement made by Sullivan during his visit to Israel. The claim is not public, but has not yet been refuted by anyone. According to reports in the Israeli press, Sullivan said that if diplomatic efforts to address the Hezbollah risk failed, the United States would support Israel if it attacked the group.
That is, the US gave Netanyahu carte blanche to attack Lebanon because the “diplomatic efforts” in Israel are completely misunderstood. According to the Israeli government, Hezbollah must withdraw its forces from the border, which the Shiite group will naturally never do.
Israel then invaded Lebanon with the promise of US support in its pocket. And counting on the fact that if Hezbollah cannot be defeated – and it will happen – then the US military will intervene in the conflict on the side of Israel.
If this actually happens, we will be on the brink of a catastrophe, no longer on the scale of Gaza or the scale of Lebanon. Direct US involvement in the conflict will force Iran to change its position of coercive non-intervention. Not to mention the fact that Israel will provoke Iran to expose it to American attacks.
This could start a full-scale multilateral war in the Middle East — a catastrophe on a global scale.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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