Already, Israel has exchanged artillery fire with Hezbollah, and the terrorist’s masters in Tehran have given fulsome praise to Hamas for the attack.
Might Hezbollah join Hamas and hit Israel in the North while the IDF is occupied in the South?
Sarit Zehavi, the founder of the Alma Center, which is a research center in Israel dedicated to understanding their national security situation, told the Washington Examiner that there’s a chance Hezbollah could soon attack Israel with the country’s attention focused on the south.
“It’s just a matter of decision for Hezbollah, whether it wants to join in or not. I believe this decision was not made yet, and that’s why we’re not there yet, but maybe we’re not that far from this place,” she said. “Here in Israel, we are preparing for the scenario of war also from the north because we understand it was within the interest of Iran and Hezbollah to escalate the Israeli-Lebanese border. We see what is happening in the south as a part of a bigger plan to attack Israel and weaken the state of Israel from multiple fronts, and I guess this is what the Iranians now are trying to create.”
Since the signing of the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab states, there’s been a transformative wind sweeping across the Middle East, which threatens to upset the established power dynamics, particularly for Iran. Perceiving the potential Israeli–Saudi peace deal as a direct challenge to its hegemonic ambitions, Iran very likely made the bold decision to seize the opportunity and mobilize its terror proxies in Gaza.
The Hamas invasion and possible attack by Hezbollah show that Iran may see a coordinated attack by their proxies as the only way to stop Israel from achieving what would have been unthinkable a few decades ago: Peace between Arabs and Israelis. If they can goad Israel into a bloody enough response, the Arab street may prevent their governments from achieving peace. Seeing a lot of dead Palestinians on the news night after night is not doing much to assuage the anti-Israeli feelings of the Arab mob.
Was it a coincidence that Biden gifted Iran billions of dollars in recent months leading to this audacious attack by Hamas?
The Biden administration’s approach to Iran has further complicated the situation. Despite the glaring evidence of Iran’s malicious intent in the region, the administration’s efforts to reintegrate Iran into the international political order through a renewed nuclear deal is a grave strategic misstep. This approach not only disregards the security concerns of U.S. allies in the Middle East, such as Israel but also strengthens a regime that has consistently sponsored terrorism.
Related: What Went Wrong? How Hamas Managed to Stagger Israel
You have to wonder if Israel will punish Iran directly for the attack. Perhaps Prime Minister Netanyahu would take the opportunity and destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
If he does, Iran can’t say it hasn’t been warned.