It is apparent that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thinks he is leading the Jewish state to a victory in the Middle East, but his recent attack on Iran's consulate in Syria, which was followed by an Iranian counterattack against Israel, tells a much different story.
Instead of showing the world that Israel is protected and ready for whatever comes its way, Netanyahu's plan is backfiring in that Iran was able to show the world that it can strike any Israeli target it chooses with ease.
While in its retaliation, Iran saw about 99 percent of its rockets intercepted by Israel's iron dome, with only one missile hitting its target in southern Israel, Iran sent a clear message that it has the weapons its needs at its disposal to keep Israel in check militarily.
For at least the third time in the past 14 years, Netanyahu tried to drag the United States into the fight against Iran. And for at least the third time, the U.S. has refused to play ball, allowing Israel to stand alone, effectively, if it wants to unleash a full-scale regional war in the Middle East.
Iran has maintained composure amid all this, patiently stating that it will not strike Israel again if there is a ceasefire in Gaza. Netanyahu is refusing to do that, instead promising to retaliate against Iran's retaliation. This means that things are about to get really ugly in the Middle East, thanks to Israel's refusal to stop the aggression.
"Tehran wanted to establish a precedent that it could hit Israel directly without triggering a full-scale war," writes David Hearst for Middle East Eye about the situation.
"It wanted to tell Israel that it could hit it. It wanted to tell the U.S. that Iran was a power in the Gulf that was here to stay and which controlled the Strait of Hormuz. It wanted to tell every Arab regime that kowtows to Israel that the same could happen to them."
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Israel eager for war
Again, Iran demonstrated amazing restraint in its counterattack on Israel. It launched swarms of cheap drones at the Jewish state after announcing its intentions a full eight hours in advance, giving Israel time to prepare.
Israel spent at least $1 billion defending itself – and possibly upwards of $1.3 billion – while Iran spent about one-tenth that amount launching the attack. This alone shows that Israel is wholly unprepared to pay for a unilateral war against Iran without more U.S. and Western funding.
"The weapons used were a free sample of its real firepower," Hearst says about Iran's counterattack.
"After the strike, Iran warned the U.S. that if Israel were to reply in kind, their bases just across the water in the Gulf and throughout Iraq would become targets, as they were after the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force in 2020."
Iran's message to the U.S. in all this was even more forceful in that Iran basically demonstrated that it is ready to attack Israel with ballistic missiles in defiance of the West, including direct warnings issued by President Biden.
"They could do the same against any U.S. ally in the Gulf region," Hearst notes. "Iran does not want a war, but it is capable of responding."
"So, if it does not want a war, the message to the U.S. is that it has to restrain its willful, adolescent child, Israel, the child that has been pampered by its parent for so long, it thinks it can do to the region whatever it wants."
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