Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine), 02.10.2024
American imperialists and the Zionists are pushing for an all-out regional war. In response to the invasion of south Lebanon and the killing of leaders and simple civilians, Iran has launched an unprecedented attack against Israel, firing a barrage of around 200 missiles at the Zionist state. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday that it fired missiles at Israel in response to deadly Israeli attacks against people in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the assassinations of top IRGC, Hamas, and Hezbollah leaders.
Alarms sounded in entire Israel on Tuesday evening as the missiles fell on major cities and towns. Israel and the United States said their militaries worked together to shoot down most of the nearly 200 missiles.
We do not know how many Israelis were killed or injured because of the censorship. The Israeli army said only a “few” hits were recorded in central and southern parts of the country, while two people were injured from falling shrapnel in the Tel Aviv area.
The IRGC, in a statement, said that the missiles were aimed at military and security targets. That its attack was explicitly aimed at three military bases in the Tel Aviv area. That it was in response to the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoushan last week in Beirut, as well as the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July. The attack used Iran’s new Fatah hypersonic ballistic missiles for the first time, according to Iranian state media.
The Zionist army said it intercepted “a large number” of the 180 ballistic missiles launched by Iran but that there were “isolated” impacts in central and southern Israel. The IRGC said that 90 percent of the projectiles fired hit their targets.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the American military coordinated closely with its Israeli army to shoot down the missiles. Naval destroyers joined the Zionist air defense units in firing interceptors to shoot down the missiles, Sullivan told reporters at the White House. Sullivan said no deaths were reported in Israel.
Before the shooting of the missiles, US Secretary of War Lloyd Austin talked to Yoav Gallant, the Israeli war minister, saying that “we [the US] support Israel’s objective of dismantling Hezbollah’s infrastructure along the border.”
Only a day before Biden, the hypocrite, announced that he opposed Israel entering Lebanon. The US imperialists are saying they oppose a regional war, but if Israel attacks Iran in response to the missiles, it is likely for the USA to enter the war to support Israel. This will lead to all regional war, and Iran is expected to be backed by Russia sending weapons.
It was clear even before the past year that the Middle East was on the brink of regional war, and it was transparent amid Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians since October 2023.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel shortly after the Gaza war began in support of the Palestinians in the besieged enclave.
The Zionist army has been exchanging fire with Hezbollah across the Israel-Lebanon border since that time, displacing tens of thousands of people in Israel and one million in Lebanon.
In the past month, the Zionist military escalated its attacks on Lebanon, striking targets in the capital, Beirut, and assassinating Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, by using heavy American bombs that penetrate bunkers.
“Hezbollah said it confronted an Israeli infantry force that attempted to infiltrate the town of Odaisseh at dawn and “inflicted losses, forcing it to retreat”.[i]
While the Internationalist Socialist League, the section of the RCIT in Israel/Occupied Palestine, does not give Iran or Hezbollah political support, we stand with them against the Zionist state, the more dangerous power against the working class and the oppressed.
Defend Lebanon and Iran against the Zionist state and the US imperialism!
For Palestine, red and free from the river to the sea!
For the socialist federation of the Middle East!
Endnote:
[i] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/10/1/israels-war-on-gaza-israel-says-it-will-respond-to-iran-missile-attacks?update=3216319