FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
As Israel prepares to attack Gaza, the rest of the world is holding its breath.
We might think we've seen it all before - airstrikes, flattened buildings, funerals, heated rhetoric from both sides. But make no mistake, this time is different. And what happens next is extremely important for the region and the world. It is a dangerous moment.
Black Saturday, as the Israelis call it, has changed everything - at least for now. Rightly or wrongly, Israeli officials believe the threat this time could become existential. This fear will determine what they do next. This may seem crazy. As horrific and barbaric as it was, the attacks were confined to a small area, and Israel is a powerful country with powerful friends.
But what happened that day has undermined the mystique of Israel's military superiority. Its deterrence has been weakened tremendously and this could destabilize the region to the point of a much wider conflict. Since its inception, Israel has tried to project strength to survive among neighbors who want to destroy it.
Its forces have prevailed over Hamas in all previous conflicts. In its only war with Hezbollah in 2006, its army was effective enough to thwart any provocations by the Lebanese Shiite resistance militia since then.
But on Saturday, Israeli soldiers were massacred in their beds, militants on motorcycles overran the IDF at its bases.
Videos filmed by Hamas seen in the region show Israelis in uniform begging for mercy or lying dead. An untold number of Israeli soldiers were taken hostage.
Hamas turned into an effective guerrilla fighting force and got the best of one of the strongest armies in the world. The impact of all this is hard to overestimate.
Far from invincible, the Israeli army was exposed, vulnerable, and in this harsh area that could have been disastrous. So there is a major priority for Israel - to restore the power of its military deterrence. As I move to Gaza, everything else will be secondary. Her rules of engagement have changed.
More Israeli soldiers will die in this war than before, officials have already said. Cabinet ministers are saying the same about Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. Israel's sacred principles of protecting its own and leaving no one behind will be subordinated to the mission to destroy Hamas. This is a big break from the past, but an inevitable one, its leaders believe. Likewise with the civilians in Gaza. Israel has in the past taken more precautions than other militaries to avoid the unnecessary loss of civilian life, although critics will say it is not enough.
The military is already warning that the scale of its offensive will make it harder this time to avoid collateral damage. This is Israel's dilemma: show too much restraint and risk failing to restore its restraint. Go too far and you risk losing the support of allies and inflaming passions among enemies, drawing them into a much wider war.
Unprecedented scenes of suffering in Gaza may prompt Israel's enemies to escalate this conflict. Iran has warned as much. Its proxy militia, Hezbollah, may now be tempted to exploit Israel's weakness and wait for the right moment to strike. Israel's concerns are shared by its allies. They know that a weakened Israel destabilizes the region.
A major war in the region is bad news at the best of times, but with a major conflict already brewing in Ukraine, another one in the Middle East would be extremely dangerous geopolitically, as well as threatening recession. global.
Thus, leaders and diplomats are rushing to the region, offering support to Israel while privately seeking caution. America, Britain and others are sending warships and military assets to counter the threat of Hezbollah or Iran or others involved. As Israel prepares to attack Gaza, the rest of the world is holding its breath./ SkyNews.
Lini një Përgjigje