Conflict Israel and other nearby countries

[EasterIssland]

Israel is at war with Gaza. However , this has dragged other countries in the area as well.
weve heard about the problems in West Bank (there is a thread) but also Lebanon where civilians have been killed and journalists have been targeted and killed

they’ve also attacked several airports in Siria.

ive read in the past there was a conflict as well with Yemen and read now this” Yemen's Houthis warn they will target all ships headed to Israel”

it doesn’t sound that post this war living in Israel is going to be safer than before

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/yemens-houthis-say-they-will-target-ships-red-sea-en-route-israel-2023-12-09/

The US has gone out on a limb to protect Israel, by vetoing UN motions and disparaging the ICC. It has lost some of its credibility with the world as a whole in doing this.

The US has been increasingly sidelined in MER for some time, and arguably it’s recent actions are at risk of accelerating this.

How Israel hopes to make peace in the long run with with its Muslim neighbours by its actions is beyond me.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tilakdoshi/2023/04/27/peace-breaks-out-in-the-middle-east-as-us-influence-declines-from-opec-to-opec/

Thank you for that.

There have evidently been extensive shifts and reshuffles happening.

You have to wonder how useful an ally Israel has become- happy to take US tax dollars , launch a brutal war war with no thought about the day after and give Hezbollah a really good excuse to start a genuinely dangerous offensive while Hamas reconstitutes on another border. There is every chance that Netanyahu wants this war with Hezbollah to prolong his political career and to take advantage of US support for Israel while it still exists. The loss of 1200 people is tragic but just a shadow of the capability of Hezbollah.

This war is doing nothing to weaken Iran and is drawing support from its proxies, putting Americans in general in danger and putting the Jewish diaspora at most risk since early in the last century. Israel, as long as Netanyahu is in power, is a completely untrustworthy ally.

One analyst wryly remarked that Saudi Arabia put religious extremists in jail, but Israelis put them in government. Jordan and Saudi Arabia are acting like the grown ups here- Israel is going down the tubes, led by religious fanatics with no world view other than to take every bit of historic Israel and Judea for themselves.

So all blame for this situation lies with Israel?
Interesting. Got it.
Also Georgia Meloni, with her neofacism background, is an interesting choice of person to quote!

I thought the blame was with the UK and US public, international aid and humanitarian organisations, and many countries all over the world, for not supporting the mass killing of Palestinians as a form of self defence.

Meanwhile, in Sudan about 2.5million
people could die of starvation by September. If we weren’t such hypocrites (UK govt), with our selective application of the law, perhaps more time could be spent on who is enabling that conflict.

Georgia Meloni has been a friend of Israel’s, it would be worth contemplating what she said and considering why she said it, rather than automatically looking for reasons to discredit her. I don’t agree with many of her views, but I agree with her assessment of this situation. When even your friends start telling you that you made a mistake, you really need to listen.

Of course not all the blame, but where is the reflection here about how Israel’s actions against Palestinians in both Gaza and WB (currently even) will support her future without the iron dome?

If the US has not been able to substantially alter the course of Israeli actions- what message does that give to the ME with regard to its current efficacy as a power broker in the region?

I think the lesson there, especially in a Presidential election year, is to not pay much attention to what the incumbent President says publicly.

It's more useful and practical to look at what the United States actually does.

Currently, Congress is discussing, debating and negotiating various elements of United States defence capabilities and so on. An example of that is the extension and strengthening of the United States-Israel Anti-Tunnel Cooperation which has been ongoing since 2016.

The Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate in the Pentagon has, according to the legislation, enabled Israel Defence Forces to discover “over 1,500 new tunnel shafts built under community structures including hospitals, schools, and homes in Gaza including 350 to 450 miles of tunnels" since 7th October 2023.

And “has produced technological advances in subterranean capabilities and monitoring, counter-unmanned aerial systems, maritime security, and robotics. Many of these technologies have been applicable to the Israel and Hamas conflict."

The United States* *and Israel militaries will conduct tunnel training together after that for the first time. A sure sign warfare has changed very significantly from the past.

In the long run, these military technological developments alongside a Coalition force between US CENTCOM, Israel Defence Force, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and others will provide stability to MER eventually. Various threats have to be faced down sooner or later rather than issuing rhetoric which changes nothing. That lack of action led to Hamas ruling Gaza since 2007 with increasing weapons capabilities, Iran strengthening its ability to destabilise MER & nuclear capability, Hezbollah improving their tunnels plus military tactics/strategies via Syrian war and so on.

Allowing all that to grow unchecked has the capability to destabilise Western economies too.

A military confrontation in MER has been long in the making and its certainly not reflective of the reality of the situation for anyone to even put most of the blame onto Israel.

The United States still has very significant military bases in MER, especially in Qatar who play both Western powers and Hamas at the same time.

The central theme has long been the tiny country of Israel under threat from larger neighbours since 1948. It cannot be expected that Western powers such as the United States and United Kingdom will abandon Israel to all that.

Military and economical might are entwined as you can see historically. That relationship is as strong as ever in the 21st Century.

This is why there has been so much protest in the US, people can see the hypocrisy. They see the disconnect between what is said and what actually happens. They see the condemnation of other governments actions by the US, and then US do the same as those governments.

Expecting a response that is targeted and in line with international law cannot be equated with ‘abandonment’. This is nonsense.

The leaders of Israel are exploiting their position as an ally. This must lead to consequences for them, you can’t reward leaders who do this. Their response and our governments support is putting all of us at risk.

The central theme for many is the oppression of Palestinian people and the way this has expressed itself in violence and conflict between the two states.

Also, it’s important to remember that the Israeli government emboldened Hamas as a way of causing division within Palestine, in the hopes it would prevent it from becoming a recognised state.

In relation to protests in the United States, Iranian led disinformation campaign. Links are pre-2023. 👇

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1NZ1FE/

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-iranian-nationals-charged-cyber-enabled-disinformation-and-threat-campaign-designed#:~:text=An%20indictment%20was%20unsealed%20in,the%202020%20U.S.%20presidential%20election.

https://time.com/6071615/iran-disinformation-united-states/

https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/how-longstanding-iranian-disinformation-tactics-target-protests

Haaretz
Analysis
Zvi Bar’el

By Tying Lebanon Agreement to Gaza Truce, Hezbollah Obstructs the Deal All Sides Seek

Nasrallah's decision to tie the war's two fronts together has forced the U.S. to pressure Israel to reach a deal with Hamas in Gaza. But it seems that even the visit by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein to the region, which begins on Monday, is not expected to lead to a breakthrough.

U.S. presidential envoy Amos Hochstein, who is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Monday before continuing to Lebanon, can expect a minefield of obstacles. The most pressing goal of Hochstein, who despite his official title of "Senior Adviser for Energy and Investment" finds himself investing most of his energy in trying to calm the Israel-Lebanon conflict, is to prevent an all-out war that risks sucking the United States into its vortex.

Do you see any faults with the Israeli response @DownNative ?

Or have any thoughts on the genocidal comments made by the Israeli government? Imagine what they say in private.

The central theme has long been the tiny country of Israel under threat from larger neighbours since 1948. It cannot be expected that Western powers such as the United States and United Kingdom will abandon Israel to all that.
I wouldn’t bet on that for much longer. Too much of the tail wagging the dog and most Americans think they’ve had quite enough MER conflict. There is no appetite for being dragged further into this and particularly for anything involving boots on the ground. And that’s without the pictures of mutilated children that have managed to get out of Gaza despite the targeting of journalists.

The relationship between US and Israel is clear, although it will be interesting to see how this progresses over the next couple of decades given differing generational views.

Qatar has only agreed for the US bases to be there for another 10 years- and they play off the West with Hamas?

UAE is unhappy about US airplanes taking off from its land. US had to use their war ship to target Houthis.

Saudi Arabia wants development of its military resources, U.S. protection, nuclear power development and will only consider normalisation of relationship with Israel on the back of a 2SS. It’s managing to walk a wonderful line between Russia, China and the U.S.

Relations between Syria, Iran and other countries in ME are being fostered by third countries and improving.

From what I have read, the US don’t want a war in the north of Israel and Hezbollah- like the Houthis- have said their actions are a repercussions of lack of ceasefire in Gaza. Both Netanyahu nor Hamas have prevaricated about that. Netanyahu doesn’t have a plan for the day after fighting ends.

From what I can see- the likelihood of wider conflict drawing in Iran is dependent on Israel continuing to attack Gaza. If they stop this - hopefully Hezbollah will back off.

They should listen to their concerns, and take them seriously this time.

‘Parents said threatening court case to pull surveillance troops from northern border’

Families reportedly ask army officials why their kids haven’t been moved and if there is a plan to ensure their safety if fighting escalates, amid fears of Oct. 7 repeat

https://www.timesofisrael.com/parents-said-threatening-court-case-to-pull-surveillance-troops-from-northern-border/

Actually I was referring to respected Jewish American analyst Thomas Friedman. You are using what @DownNative might call the ad hominem argument
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/02/opinion/israel-saudi-arabia.html

They are calling them soldiers throughout.

But look at the photo. They may be soldiers but they are very young women. The very kind who were in that video released about a month ago, among them Naama Levy, of hostage girls being rounded up by Hamas fighters, their fate very likely horrendous.

Those girls who were left abandoned with no protection on Oct 7 some of whom were brutally murdered, some hostages, others sent back with PTSD.

It is an absolute outrage that now other girls have been put in this position again, just in the north instead.

Then people come on here and say, “Are you calling them soldiers? They are girls.” It is Israel calling them soldiers, and so will enemies. They should not be left there on the very most front line of attack there could be.

No wonder the families are threatening to sue the government. It is unbelievable the government has learned no lessons.

What I've noticed reading different threads (and not commenting much) is there are well thought out posts explaining why, what, who. Then there are the emotional ones with no substance eg it's a genocide, there's no food anywhere, to rescue 4 hostages they slaughtered everyone around. Emotional claims with no facts attached.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/18/hezbollah-publishes-surveillance-drone-footage-it-says-shows-locations-in-israel

i saw a video yesterday from Hezbollah where they disclose many militar bases and the iron dome.

https://x.com/ME_Observer_/status/1803053325857804698

And the nearby civilian areas of Kiryat Yam. Pretty threatening .

Yes seems like because of this video Israel government will decide to go for a war with hezbollah as per the guardians news

I don't know - it seems to me the current situation is a war in all but name up north. It has been burning up north all month, 60,000 civilians have been displaced for months and months, and they have been firing back and forth relentlessly. The barrages from Hezbollah have certainly stepped up in the last few weeks, they were sending hundreds of rockets daily at one point. It's worrying for sure.

The Israeli government consider ‘all out war’ against Hezbollah, which the US are said to not support, while simultaneously criticising the US, despite all the help they’ve provided in the face of mass criticism.

US cancels talks in Washington over Netanyahu’s complaint of weapons holdup – report

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/white-house-cancels-strategic-meeting-with-israeli-officials-after-netanyahu-claimed-us-withheld-weapons-report/

Haaretz (Israeli newspaper):
"Netanyahu is playing politics. That's the only thing he knows how to do. The video is just a prequel to his visit to Washington, where he invited himself in cahoots with the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives to address a joint session of Congress on July 24. He is doing so to hurt Biden and turn Israel into a larger partisan wedge issue ahead of the U.S. presidential election on November 5" – Alon Pinkas