19
April
2024
The violent clashes between Israel and Iran have been going on for many years. For example, Israel has repeatedly sabotaged the Iranian nuclear program and, among other things, carried out partly comprehensive cyber attacks (Stuxnet) and committed murders of Iranian nuclear scientists. Israeli attacks on Iranian targets have increased, especially since 2013. At that time, Tehran began to use its support for Syria's President Bashar al Assad to supply Lebanese Hezbollah with weapons via Syrian routes and to strengthen militias close to him in Syria itself - both with the aim of positioning pro-Iranian forces on Israel's northern border. Israel has repeatedly tried to prevent this with airstrikes. His airstrikes have increased especially since 2017, the year in which Assad's government began to stabilize. An analysis presented by the Washington Middle East Institute (MEI) counts 226 publicly documented Israeli airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria from 2013 to August 2023. 1] Others call far higher numbers.
The clashes after the Hamas massacre of the 7th have a new level of escalation. October 2023 reached. Hizbollah, close to Iran, began to engage in renewed fighting with the Israeli forces; the Yemeni Houthi, also supported by Tehran, went into attacks on ships related to Israel in the Red Sea. Both understand this as a measure of support for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and as a means to emphasize the demand for an end to the war. Tel Aviv then went on to specifically murder commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards or the Quds Brigade. From the beginning of December to the end of March alone, according to the census of the US journal Foreign Affairs, "almost a dozen" of them were killed by Israeli attacks. 2] On the 25th In December, Israel killed the then probably most powerful of all Iranian commanders in Syria, Sayyed Razi Mousavi, by an air raid. 3] Tehran had to watch as its military leadership in Syria was systematically eliminated by Israeli airstrikes.
The Israeli air raid on the Iranian consulate in Damascus was then a new quality. On the one hand, seven Iranian commanders were killed, among them Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a brigadier general of the Quds Brigade responsible for foreign operations, and his deputy. On the other hand, the attack with the consulate hit a building that enjoys special diplomatic protection; warlike attacks on such facilities are rare and are considered particularly serious. The London think tank Chatham House stated on the 12th. April, the Israeli air raid represented "an unprecedented escalation of Israel against Iran"; it could, it was said, "be the spark that sets fire to the Middle East." 4] The Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebensya declared in the UN Security Council that "an attack on a diplomatic mission" could even be regarded as a "Casus Belli." 5] Apart from that, Iran must already react to the attack for simple practical reasons, according to the Chatham House statement; because if Iranian commanders are not even safe from Israeli bombs in a diplomatic mission, they are nowhere.
The Western states have accepted the Israeli air raid on the Iranian consulate in Damascus with a certain frown, but in fact idly. In contrast, they reacted with sharp rejection and concrete measures to Iran's reaction in the night from Saturday to Sunday. Iran attacked Israel with probably more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. The fact that most of them could be intercepted and that only little damage was caused to an Israeli military airfield was due to the fact that Tehran had informed the Arab neighboring states as well as the USA - the latter mediated via Turkey - about the time of the attack. This enabled Israel to adapt to the attack and to organize not only Western (USA, Great Britain, France), but also Arab (Jordan, Saudi Arabia) support in the defense against the airstrike. A corresponding report by the Iranian Foreign Minister was confirmed, among other things, by Turkish insiders. 6] Tehran has thus avoided serious, probably war-triggering damage in Israel, but at the same time made it clear that if its red lines continue to be crossed, it is capable of comprehensive counterattacks.
The EU has responded by announcing a further tightening of its Iran sanctions on Tuesday evening. As the EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell announced after a meeting with the EU foreign ministers, Brussels is preparing a further restriction of trade with Iran. 7] Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had already campaigned for this on Monday.[ 8] Baerbock also spoke out in favor of new punitive measures against Tehran before the meeting of the G7 foreign ministers on Capri. Yesterday Thursday, the USA and Great Britain announced a further tightening of the sanctions against Iran against the background of the G7 meeting of foreign ministers. 9] Israel's attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, on the other hand, remains without consequences.
There is sharp criticism of the double standards expressed in it. Russia's UN ambassador Nebensya, for example, spoke of a "parade of hypocrisy." 10] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also stated that the West was there - once again - with double standards.[ 11] While the Iranian projectiles had "triggered moral indignation in western capitals", there was "no comparable condemnation of Israel's murderous attack on Gaza," the Pakistani newspaper Dawn said yesterday Thursday, for example: "These double standards are frightening." 12]
[1] Navvar Şaban: Israel's Response to Iran in Syria: Choosing Between Escalation and Accomodation. mei.edu 17.11.2023.
[2] Ali Vaez: The Middle East Could Still Explode. foreignaffairs.com 15.04.2024.
[3], [4] Haid Haid: The strike on Iran's consulate in Syria could be the spark that ignites the Middle East. chathamhouse.org 12.04.2024.
[5] Russian envoy calls UN Security Council meeting on Iran strike parade of hypocrisy. tass.com 14.04.2024.
[6] Iran told Turkey in advance of its operation against Israel, Turkish source says. reuters.com 14.04.2024.
[7] EU plans new Iran sanctions. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 17.04.2024.
[8] Baerbock calls for tightening of sanctions. deutschlandfunk.de 15.04.2024.
[9] Iran sanctions: US and UK extend measures against Tehran. bbc.co.uk 18.04.2024.
[10] Russian envoy calls UN Security Council meeting on Iran strike parade of hypocrisy. tass.com 14.04.2024.
[11] Erdogan accuses Western nations of double standards, blames Israel for escalation of Mideast crisis. msn.com 17.04.2024.
[12] Never-ending suffering. dawn.com 18.04.2024.