Yemen Archives - Page 4 of 6 - CrossFireArarbia

Domination Space For Common Space

Dr Khairi Janbek
September 27, 2024

By Dr Khairi Janbek

When we think of contemporary Iran, one always believes that the Arab Middle East had always been dominated by the three Non-Arab American allies; Iran under of the Shah, Turkey and Israel.

One thinks that those “neighborhood police stations’ were the guarantors of stability through their convergence, and at times contradictions, in the age of Cold War and oil. However, the Shah of Iran was deposed and the Anti-communist Cold War ended, but that didn’t mean that oil stopped becoming important nor that Russia and China were no longer threats.

One would say, that the rehabilitation of Iran and possibly turning it into a negotiations partner aims at keeping the third angle of the police stations triangle going, because non of the Arab countries, no matter how much they tried, could never replace Iran, because no Arab police station is permitted to emerge as a third angle.

Having said that, it would be beyond naive to think that the expansion of Iran’s power and influence happened by stealth or escaped the notice of the US and NATO.

As the butcher of Gaza, Netanyahu, address the UN, Israel has launched a massive military strike in Beirut. Mobilize the working class against the escalating US-Israeli war in the Middle East, backed by the Democrats & Republicans! Stop the genocide in Gaza! #Lebanon #StopTheWar pic.twitter.com/KJ4LZWLdmF
— Joseph Kishore (@jkishore) September 27, 2024

After after all Iran grew to become a Red Sea country through its influence on the Houthis in Yemen, a Mediterranean country through its influence in Syria as well Lebanon through Hezbullah and the major Gulf country through its supporters in Iraq.

In fact this Iranian domination of space is what has created a common space between all its long-arm organisations in the region.

Essentially, if we compare Iran to an octopus, all those various groups are its tentacles, and they all serve the purpose of Iran’s strategic interests, albeit not through a push-button approach, but through not taking any action which would not please their Persian master.

Of course, this puts Iran in a strong position to be a major player in the region and an inescapable negotiations partner for the US, which is also convenient for the Americans, in order to remind their Arab allies who is their protector in a region policed by Turkey, Israel and Iran.

Of course this takes us to the point of saying that, for all intents and purposes, for the Americans a trusted adversary is more important than distrusted friends, and that it would be absurd to think that all those long arms of Iran in the Arab world can be amputated by military means; they certainly can be weakened, but without the consent of Iran and without the right price, so long as it remains behind them, nothing much can change.

At this point, from what one can only see, is that no one in their right mind or otherwise, will permit a war to emerge in which Israel is pitted against Iran and the US as well as NATO putting all their weight behind Israel and forcing the Arabs to choose their camp.

That would be the scenario of the end of the world as we know it, or with major civil wars in the Arab countries controlled by the tentacles of Iran, and which no one wants.

Dr Khairi Janbek is a Jordanian writer based in Paris, France

News

Sirens Blast in Tel Aviv as Yemeni Missile Hovers Over City

CrossFireArabia
September 27, 2024

Air raid sirens blasted in Tel Aviv, early Friday morning as explosions were heard in the city with the Israeli army stated the sirens were triggered by a missile launched from Yemen with an interceptor missile that also launched to counteract it.

“The Arrow air defense system successfully intercepted the missile launched from Yemen, and air raid sirens and explosions were heard after the missile was intercepted and shrapnel fell,” the Israeli army stated.

Israeli Channel 12 reported that 17 Israelis were injured while fleeing to shelters after the sirens were activated in Tel Aviv.

The leader of the Ansar Allah movement in Yemen, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, said on Thursday the battle is one and that “the aggression against the Lebanese people is within the framework of the aggression against the Palestinian people.”

On 15 September Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree, spoke of the carrying out of a qualitative military operation that targeted a military target in Jaffa, Israel, with a hypersonic missile.

“The missile succeeded in reaching its target, and the enemy’s defenses failed to intercept and confront it, and it traveled a distance of 2,040 kilometers within 11 and a half minutes,” he said.

For its part, the Israeli army said at the time that the initial investigation revealed that the missile launched by the Houthis at Israel crashed in the air.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the “Houthis” should “know that they will pay a heavy price for every attempt to harm us.”

Nine Israelis were injured while fleeing upon hearing the sirens of a missile attack on Tel Aviv that lies in central Israel.

Since dawn last Monday, Israeli forces have been launching waves of intensive airstrikes in an operation called “Arrow of the North”, targeting areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, which are considered strongholds of Hezbollah, leaving more than 600 dead and thousands wounded, with the death the toll is expected to rise.

In contrast, sirens continue to sound in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at military sites and settlements.

Since 8 October, 2023, Lebanese and Palestinian factions in Lebanon, most notably Hezbollah, have been exchanging daily shelling with the Israeli army across the “Blue Line” separating the country, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries, most of them on the Lebanese side.

These factions demand an end to the war that Israel has waged on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, which has left more than 137,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine according to Russia Today.

Analyses

Duwairi: Israel Not in Position For ‘Ground War’

CrossFireArabia
September 25, 2024

Military expert Major-General Fayez Al-Duwairi said the Lebanese Hezbollah’s bombing of the Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv is a qualitative but a disciplined shift so that things do not develop into a large-scale ground battle both sides are trying to avoid so far.

Earlier Wednesday, Hezbollah announced targeting the Mossad headquarters in the suburbs of Tel Aviv with a “Qader I” ballistic missile, in a precedent move since the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip about a year ago.

The party stated it targeted Mossad headquarters because it “is responsible for assassinating leaders and blowing up communication devices.”

According to Al-Duwairi, the party did not target Tel Aviv directly but rather targeted a military headquarters responsible for blowing up the pagers, which means it is an operation similar to the assassinations carried out by Israel in the Beirut suburb.

Therefore, he believes that the targetting does not mean bringing Tel Aviv into the unfolding battle, saying current Israel’s operations in Lebanon do not aim to destroy the suburb randomly. He added this reflects the keenness of both parties not to escalate in a way that leads to an open ground war, even if the comprehensive war is already underway.

No ground war yet

He explained the ground operation is the missing part of the comprehensive war between the two sides, suggesting Israel will continue to maintain this situation for another period in the hope of breaking Hezbollah’s will and subjecting it to its dictates.

He said Israel is using the Gaza Strip approach in Lebanon, but warned that the military solution will not be achieved and that Hezbollah will not retreat beyond the Litani River as Israel wants.

Al-Duwairi described Hezbollah’s operations as a war of pressure on the Israeli economy and society and not a war of attrition, noting the latter is based on targeting the civilian and military dimensions and that will only be completed through a ground confrontation.

He expected that a ground war would only break out if Netanyahu felt that the current pressure would not force Hezbollah to retreat. However, he pointed out that Israel previously remained in the Litani area for 20 years and was forced to leave due to the Lebanese resistance.

Hezbollah must rely on itself

He said the situation in southern Lebanon is completely different from Gaza, noting that Hezbollah will not deploy its forces on every square meter but will rely on the combat contracts that will grant it the desired victory in the end, because a ground confrontation means great losses for the occupation army.

Regarding Hezbollah’s strengths in a ground war, Al-Duwairi said they are represented in its ability to manage the battle and activate the unity of the arenas in Yemen and Iraq in an effective manner and not symbolically as is the case now according to Al Jazeera.

Opinion

A Middle East Powder Keg

Dr Khairi Janbek
September 25, 2024

By Dr Khairi Janbek

Like Dorian Grey in Oscar Wild’s novel, we hated the face of Arab political realism in the 20th century when we saw it, and hated it more in the 21st century when we stopped seeing it.

Without much ado, the current ongoing war, or perhaps more accurately wars, in the Middle East, started by opportunists for opportunistic goals that converged. Hamas with its 7th October attacks knowing only too well that Israel has the most right-wing and racist government in its history, and must have known that the its retaliation would be most severe.

It stands the reason to think the more severe the better, because this is likely to involve what is called as the axis of resistance in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and as a bonus Iran as well. But closer to home, Israel by making Gaza uninhabitable to the people is expected to cause an exodus towards Egypt thus bringing it into the conflict, and the inevitable thought of Israel moving into the West Bank, and the likely push out of the Palestinians towards Jordan will bring the country into the conflict as well.

For Israel, with its most extremist right wing and racist government, the attacks couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. The situation presented them with the opportunity of attempting to put what were merely theoretical ideas in their minds, into practical policies. Of course the root of what became a policy, is the rejection of an independent Palestinian state and the death of the two-state solution, by starting with breaking the Hamas grip in Gaza and transforming the area into a buffer zone with possible rebuilding of colonies/settlements on the area.

Here’s a little reminder for when you hear things like, Israel has shown “restraint” or its indiscriminate bombing and terror attacks in Lebanon are “self defense.”

Over 80% of the attacks between Israel and Hezbollah after October were carried out by Israel. pic.twitter.com/jcvQDMn37I
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) September 24, 2024

This is while the Gazans can be completely dependent on the good will of Israel for their survival, however, if the Arabs want to rebuild Gaza then by all means, but let them this time protect their investments by keeping actively the peace, and if Egypt can be persuaded to voluntarily taken in some Gazan refugees all the better!

Of course all eyes are also on the West Bank. Here Israel’s aim, one would say, is to turn the area into a “bantustan” totally dependent on Israel, with the trimmings of municipal power to the PNA to manage internal affairs while real control of the economic, political domains remain in Israel’s hands.

The Palestinians here would also be dependent on the Israeli economy, and relations between the West Bank and Jordan would be only possible with Israeli consent. If of course, Jordan would accept taking displaced Palestinians from the West Bank voluntarily, all the better as well.

Having said all that, where do we stand now after so much recent death and destruction? A total war? Whatever does that actually mean when Jordan has already its own war against drugs, Egypt and its problems with Ethiopia, Somalia, Syria between the hammer of Israel and the anvil of Iran, Iraq a soup for Americans, Iranian partisans and a non-descript government, Yemen teetering on the brink of losing the existential battle, while Iran obsessed with its nuclear programme. One would hazard a guess that total war means, the killing of Israeli civilians by Hezbollah.

Dr Janbek is a Jordanian writer based in Paris, France

News

‘Palestine 2’ Hypersonic Missile is 5 Times The Speed of Sound

CrossFireArabia
September 17, 2024

The Yemeni Ansar Allah Houthi Group published in a videoclip, Monday, scenes from the launch of a hypersonic ballistic missile launched at a military target in the occupied city of Jaffa that is now also known as Tel Aviv.

The Houthis named the missile “Palestine 2”, while its range reaching 2,150 km, and operates on solid fuel in two stages, and is characterized by stealth technology and a speed of up to 16 Mach.

The latest “Palestine 2” missile has a high maneuverability to bypass the latest air defense systems, including the Iron Dome, according to the Houthi war media in a report by Quds Press.

The Yemeni Houthis launched a new “hypersonic” ballistic missile, Sunday, at a “military target” in the city of Jaffa, hours after the Israeli army announced that a missile fell in an “open area” in the Tel Aviv area in the center of the country.

The “hypersonic” missile is a type of deadly weapon, reaching a speed of five times the speed of sound and sometimes more. It does not follow a curved path but has the ability to evade during flight, making it easy to penetrate air defenses and hinders its tracking by radars, and flies at low altitudes compared to ordinary ballistic missiles.

The Israeli occupation army has continued its aggression on the Gaza Strip for 346 days, with American and European support, as its airplanes bomb the vicinity of hospitals, buildings, towers and homes of Palestinian civilians and destroy them over the heads of their residents, and prevents the entry of water, food, medicine and fuel.

The ongoing aggression by the occupation on Gaza has led to the martyrdom of more than 41,226 martyrs, the injury of 95,413 others, and the displacement of 90% of the population of the Strip, according to data from the United Nations.