The international community was in an uproar after Iran held an airborne assault against Israel. Many nations saw these events unfold out of the blue but Iran and Israel have had many developments leading to these attacks.
A factor for their resentment began with Israel and the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Strip is a territory currently being run by the Islamic militant group Hamas. On October 7th, 2023, Hamas launched an unprompted attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip. As a response, Israel declared war against Hamas. Israel has conducted numerous aerial bombing campaigns and large-scale ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. During this time, Iran has publicly stated their support for Hamas and caused conflicts to flare.
“Today, the Palestinian movement is more cheerful than ever in the past seventy and eighty years,” Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei commented, “[t]he Palestinian youth and the anti-usurpation, anti-oppression and anti-Zionism movement are more cheerful, more lively, more ready than ever.”
The human toll has accumulated the deaths of over 34,000 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis to date. There have been demands from across the world to end this war. But without a ceasefire or a surrender, there is no end in sight. Currently, Israel is receiving military aid from the United States; meanwhile, Hamas is allegedly receiving funding from Iran. The financial support has further worsened the Israel-Hamas War. Unfortunately, Israel has stated that they are not compromising until Hamas has been defeated.
“We’ll clear them out of harm’s way, we’ll complete the job and achieve total victory, which is necessary to give a secure future for Israel,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated. “a better future for Gaza and a better future for the Middle East,”
Tensions would drastically increase after a lethal air strike occurred at the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, Syria. Seven people tragically lost their lives including General Mohammed Reza Zahedi and General Mohammad Hadi Haji-Rahimi. These generals were commanders in the Quds Force–an elite overseas branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Their deaths have caused outrage across Iran to hold those accountable. The Pentagon has stated that Israel is responsible for the airstrike but Israel has neither confirmed nor denied their involvement.
“According to our intelligence, this is no consulate and this is no embassy,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Hagari commented. “I repeat, this is no consulate and this is no embassy. This is a military building of Quds forces disguised as a civilian building in Damascus.”
Israel has acknowledged separate incidents regarding airstrikes in Syria targeting Iranian military installations. There have been reported over forty casualties due to these attacks. On April 13th, Iran launched a retaliation of over a barrage of 300 projectiles. These projectiles consisted of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. They would be sent across the airspaces of Jordan, Syria, and Iraq–creating a hazardous airspace across the Middle East. Luckily, several Jordan, US, and UK fighter jets were able to assist the IDF by intercepting the missiles.
“At my direction, to support the defense of Israel, the US military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week,” President Biden wrote. “Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our service members, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles.”
The interceptions led to minimal damage across Israel except for some damage to Nevatim Air Force base and one critical injury due to shrapnel. The world was at a standstill until an hour after the assault when Iran would make an official statement. This would be through a post on Iran’s X account:
“Conducted on the strength of Article 51 of the UN Charter pertaining to legitimate defense, Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus. The matter can be deemed concluded.”
A day later, the United Nations hosted an emergency security meeting. All of the nations attending would condemn the action of Iran and express that both nations should hold restraint to prevent any more conflict. Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, would cite Resolutions that Iran has violated along with other accusations. He would go on to use harsh comparisons using examples of the Third Reich at the meeting.
“Last night, the world witnessed an unprecedented escalation that serves as the clearest proof of when warnings are not heeded. […] Iran has been violating Security Council resolutions and the UN Charter for years. […] Iran’s strategy has been crystal clear–arm, fund, and train terror proxies across the globe to carry out Iran’s murderous scheme of domination.”
Iran’s Ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani would respond to Erdan’s bold claims. By citing examples from the Gaza conflict and the Damascus airstrike. Iravani would continue afterward to accuse the United Nations of not intervening during their previous conflicts.
“This concluded action was necessary and proportionate. It was precise and only targeted military objectives and carried out carefully to minimize the potential for escalation and prevent civilian harm. […] Iran has exercised maximum restraint, now it is time for the occupying regime to bear full responsibility for its consequences. This regime cannot avoid accountability.”
In response, Israel launched a retaliatory attack on Iran on April 18th. They used attack drones to focus on the Isfahan Province which contains several nuclear facilities and the Isfahan Air Force base. Urgent concerns were focused on the potential damage to those active nuclear reactors. Fortunately, Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency stated that the region has faced minimal damages from the attack.
These events in the past few months have caused turmoil in the Middle East. The international community hopes that both nations would restrain from any further conflict but the possibility of war is still on the table. Until this conflict is resolved, the fate of the Middle East is still undecided but many hope this comes to a close.
