Hezbollah watches on as Iran and Israel battle, for now
When Israel bombed Iran and assassinated several IRGC commanders on Friday, Hezbollah released a statement condemning the attacks and offering condolences for the slain officers.
Analysts say the statement was a clear sign that Hezbollah would not be entering the battle in support of Iran.
“Currently, there is no need for Hezbollah to intervene, as Iranian missiles are capable of confronting the Israeli occupation,” said Qassem Kassir, a Lebanese political analyst supportive of the group. “However, if the situation escalates into a full-scale war, nothing prevents the situation from changing.”
Others say Hezbollah’s lack of action may indicate it does not have the means to intervene militarily.
That’s because the Israeli campaign on Lebanon has left Hezbollah’s political leadership battered. Many of the group’s most senior military figures, including longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, were assassinated. The group’s political hegemony is now being challenged by the Lebanese state, with pressure from the US and Israel, as it moves to disarm Hezbollah and bring the use of force under the state’s exclusive authority.
Mourners stand near the bodies of people, wrapped in Hezbollah and Amal flags, who were killed in an Israeli strike on the town of Deir Qanoun Ras al-Ain in Tyre, southern Lebanon, on November 11, 2024
The danger is, they're likely standing by until Israel is weakened enough, just like the US is standing by until Iran is weakened enough...
Iran-Israel conflict raises alarm in Pakistan amid fears over own security
Pakistan and Iran fired missiles into each other’s territory during a brief military escalation between the neighbours in January 2024.
Now, 17 months later, after Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities and assassinated multiple Iranian generals and nuclear scientists, Pakistan has been quick to condemn the Israeli military action.
Islamabad described the Israeli strikes as violations of Iran’s territorial sovereignty and labelled them “blatant provocations”.
Analysts now say the deepening conflict is sparking fears due to Islamabad’s complex ties with Tehran and the prospect of the Israeli military extending its aerial influence close to the Pakistani border.
A man looks at flames rising from an oil storage facility after it appeared to have been struck by an Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, early on June 15
Israel attacks Iran where thousands of Jewish people call home
Lost in coverage of the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel is the Iranian Jewish community that has called the country home for centuries.
- According to estimates, between 17,000 and 25,000 Iranian Jews are living mostly in larger cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Hamedan and Tabriz.
- Next to Israel, Iran has the largest number of people of the Jewish faith in the Middle East. Iran’s parliament, the Majlis, has one reserved seat for the Jewish community.
- In Isfahan, one of the city’s most prominent synagogues is located next to a mosque called Al Aqsa, and in Tehran, there are at least 50 synagogues spread across the city.
- The Jewish community also runs a hospital in Tehran that caters to all patients regardless of their religious affiliation.
- Jewish ties to the country date back as far as 2,700 years ago, Younes Hamami Lalehzar, a senior rabbi at Abrishami Synagogue in Tehran, once told me in an interview.
- It is believed that Jewish heroine Esther and her uncle, Mordechai, are buried in the western city of Hamedan. According to Jewish biblical text, Esther was married to the Persian king, Xerxes.
- In more recent history, the country gave safe haven to Jews who fled the Spanish Inquisition. During German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s rampage of Europe, Polish Jews sought refuge in Iran.
- But there have also been periods of unrest, such as the forced conversion of Jews to Islam during the Safavid and Qajar era, and the migration of thousands of Iranian Jews to the US and Israel following the 1979 Islamic revolution.
