Iran’s proxy war against Israel and the U.S. is escalating. Iran’s most powerful proxy, Hizballah, has now warned of a regional war if Israel continues its action in Gaza, and has unveiled “powerful Russian anti-ship missiles” as a “threat against U.S. warships.” This week, despite American warnings not to escalate, Hizballah fired 20 rockets into Israel, “setting off sirens in the Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights.” Hizballah is calling Iran’s proxies the “Axis of Resistance.”
Meanwhile, at least 45 U.S. service members have reportedly been injured in attacks from Iran proxies, nineteen of them with traumatic brain injury. To Iran and its proxies, the exchange of fire with America and Israel is nothing less than jihad, while the West downplays the critical importance of this fact.
According to the doctrine of Mahdism, part of preparing for the reappearance of the 12th Imam is removing all obstacles and barriers to his return. Against this backdrop, Iran’s hardline clergy affiliated with the IRGC claim religious hadiths state that the “Jewish state will be destroyed before Mahdi’s arrival.” According to these accounts, which are legitimized through religious scripture, “Sh’ia Muslims will be on the side of the war against Jews” prior to the reappearance of Mahdi. As such, the collapse of
“Israeli regime and Zionist Jews” at the behest of “Iran and the Resistance Axis” will take place “prior to the emergence of Mahdi.”
The Mahdi is the Shias’ 12th Imam, aka the Hidden Imam.
Only a no-nonsense maneuver of deterrence could possibly keep Iran at bay. America’s longtime policy of appeasement under Obama and Biden is clearly ineffective.
“Hezbollah’s anti-ship missiles bolster its threat to US navy,” by Laila Bassam and Tom Perry, Reuters, November 8, 2023:
BEIRUT, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Powerful Russian anti-ship missiles acquired by Hezbollah give it the means to deliver on its leader’s veiled threat against U.S. warships and underline the grave risks of any regional war, sources familiar with the group’s arsenal say.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Washington last week his group had something in store for the U.S. vessels deployed to the region since war erupted last month between the Palestinian group Hamas and Israel, shaking the wider Middle East.
Two sources in Lebanon familiar with the Iran-backed group’s arsenal say he was referring to Hezbollah’s greatly enhanced anti-ship missile capabilities, including the Russian-made Yakhont missile with a range of 300 km (186 miles).
Reports by media and analysts have for years indicated that Hezbollah acquired Yakhont missiles in Syria after deploying there more than a decade ago to help President Bashar al-Assad fight a civil war….
Washington says its Mediterranean naval deployment – comprising two aircraft carriers and their supporting ships – aims to prevent the conflict from spreading by deterring Iran, which backs groups including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad….
Nasrallah said in a speech on Friday that the U.S. warships in the Mediterranean “do not scare us, and will not scare us”.
“We have prepared for the fleets with which you threaten us,” he said….