It was never just about Gaza. Since October, the Middle East has been in a regional war that, over the next few weeks, is likely to break into the open. After Israel’s airstrike on Beirut and assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, Iran is promising a different approach. Following the killing of Qassem Soleimani in 2020, and the Israeli attack on Iran’s consulate in Damascus, they promised enteqam: revenge. Today, they say mojazat – punishment, or khun-khahi: literally ‘a desire for blood’.
Israel has three outstanding blood debts accumulated over the past few weeks from across the self-styled ‘Axis of Resistance’. It bombed Hodeidah, the Houthi-controlled port in Yemen, in broad daylight. It killed a top Hezbollah commander – who was also wanted by the United States for the 1983 Beirut bombings – in the middle of Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold. It humiliated the Iranian regime by assassinating the political chairman of Hamas, hours after he hugged and kissed the Supreme Leader.
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