Lebanese women mourn at the funerals of nine people killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese village of Jibshit. The funerals were held in the city of Sidon on Sunday. Israel carried out strikes across Lebanon on Saturday, with raids also targeting a highway not far from Beirut outside of Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds. Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel to avenge the killing of the Iranian leader. Israel has responded with broad strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive.
Image: MAHMOUD ZAYYAT / AFP
IF YOU are wondering at the use of the term "West Asia", this is the de-colonised term used to describe the region more commonly known as "the Middle East".
West Asia is synonymous with a cycle of violence.
After October 7, 2023, we witnessed a dramatic escalation in the levels of violence perpetrated against the peoples of this region. In many quarters, the current escalation is being regarded as the furtherance of the pseudo-religious "Greater Israel project" which refers to the expansion of Israel’s borders into areas of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq and the total seizure of Palestine.
Syria’s government was toppled by a coalition of militia groups, backed predominantly by the US, Israel and Turkey.
The new Syrian president is Ahmad al-Sharaa, formerly the head of a Sunni paramilitary group known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), with known affiliations to al-Qaeda. Under his leadership, paramilitary groups have begun systematic attacks on non-Sunni communities.
Recently, this former al-Qaeda leader was proudly hosted at the White House. Amid the upheaval, Israel seized the strategic Golan Heights from Syria, violating the internationally-recognised border between the countries. Israeli forces have now begun a low-intensity ethnic cleansing campaign targeting Syrian communities living in the Golan Heights.
Lebanon is no better. Israeli forces heavily bombed Beirut, the capital, and systematically bombed the entirety of South Lebanon, forcibly displacing over a million civilians. Ancient villages, churches, shrines and mosques are destroyed. Hospitals have been bombed, medical teams and journalists targeted with airstrikes. It is a replication of the horrors inflicted on Gaza, with a cruel disregard for civilian casualties.
The only force preventing Israel from occupying South Lebanon are the Lebanese freedom fighters under Hezbollah, who have inflicted heavy casualties on the invading Israelis, and prevented the Israeli regime from achieving its stated goal of consolidating control over all Lebanese territory south of the Litani River.
Syria and Lebanon are both weak states, with a precarious state apparatus, and fractured, weak military. Their diametric opposite is Iran, a consolidated nation-state, with an established state apparatus and organised military. Iran was unlawfully attacked by the US and Israel, assisted by client states in the Gulf region like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait.
Unlike Syria and Lebanon, Iran effectively defended itself by adopting an "asymmetrical" military strategy. Instead of attempting to defend its territorial integrity with outdated fighter planes, Iran invested in developing advanced missile and drones. Following the illegal US and Israeli attack on Iran, these missiles and drones were used in retaliatory strikes targeting key military and energy infrastructure in Israel and the Gulf Arab states.
US/Israeli military bases were heavily damaged, several aircraft destroyed, with an unconfirmed number of military personnel killed and wounded. The ferocity of the Iranian counter-attack forced the ignominious abandonment of US military bases in the region. Iran leveraged its geographic advantages by blockading the Straits of Hormuz for any shipping vessels connected to the US and its allies. This immediately cut 20% of the world’ soil supply and sent prices rocketing throughout the globe. A large percentage of the world’s fertiliser supply has also been obstructed, and there are increasing concerns regarding global food security.
The economic shock inflicted by Iran’s asymmetric strategy has hit global markets, and the ensuing panic resulted in the Trump administration initiating negotiations with Iran. There is supposed to be a tenuous "ceasefire" in place, but there have already been breaches. The true impact of this war of aggression has yet to be determined.
The US's military capabilities in the region have been severely degraded, and its allies are now reconsidering the value of their "security agreements" with the US, after realising that US military bases on their territories are not protective and actually make them targets. There is increasing suspicion that the Israelis are directing the agenda, not the US.
In Syria, Lebanon and Iran, thousands of civilians have been killed. It is ethnic cleansing, ecocide, medicide and domicide all over again. It’s the model that Israel developed in Gaza, and these are the words that we were forced to learn after witnessing Israel’s relentless genocide of the Palestinian people.
Which brings us to Palestine.
The genocide has not stopped. There is no ceasefire. We see less news of Gaza because Israel has murdered most of the Palestinian journalists there. Those who remain continue to tell the story of their people. That story is horrific. Israel limits the entry of humanitarian aid, and carries out daily airstrikes on civilians. Almost a thousand civilians have been killed in Gaza since the "ceasefire" was announced, and Israel continues to expand its area of operations, forcing the Palestinians into an ever-shrinking area of land.
There is little functioning infrastructure remaining to sustain the population of Gaza, yet they are still defiant, and improvisation is the order of the day. On the West Bank, Israeli settler gangs commit daily attacks on Palestinian communities. Many have been forced off land that they have lived on for generations. States and institutions have not done enough to contain Israel’s genocidal conduct, and there is once more a civilian, humanitarian mission to breach the siege on Gaza.
The "Global Sumud Flotilla" has approximately 1,000 participants, including South Africans. Larger than ever, there is a distinct chance of overwhelming the Israeli naval blockade by sheer numbers and delivering humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel illegally attacked part of the flotilla in international waters almost 1,000km from Israeli waters, abducting and assaulting civilian humanitarians.
Two of the flotilla organisers were taken to Israel to face terrorism charges, but were released after a week and deported. The flotilla, however, is still sailing towards Gaza. The US and Israel have operated with general impunity, repeatedly breaching international law. We now face the consequences of the international community’s inaction. An expansionist Israel, economic instability throughout a world in crisis, and civilians stepping in where governments fear to tread.
Yesh Govender
Image: File
Yesh Govender is the campaigns co-ordinator for the South Africa Palestine Movement and a Global Sumud (SA) steering committee member.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.