When in the early hours of October 7th, exactly one year ago, the Qassam brigades and Palestinian civilians by the thousands invaded the lands of Israel, no one could realize what was taking place.
One of the most powerful countries in the world, one of the countries with the most capable secret services, and the country with the most sophisticated surveillance systems on the planet – together with the USA had found itself at the mercy of Hamas's terrorist intentions. The price for Israel is heavy: more than 1000 civilians dead, more than 300 taken hostage by Hamas inside Gaza and terror everywhere.
Within a year of "Black Sabbath" Israel declares war on all who were in front or behind its plan of destruction. From October 8, 2023 until today, the country's forces have literally dismantled the Gaza Strip.
The ground presence of the Israeli army in the Strip is universal, while Ismail Haniya, the man who for years has been behind every plan of Hamas, has been dead for months. The cost to Palestinian civilians is enormous. More than 20.000 women and children have lost their lives out of a total of 41.000 dead from Israeli operations. But the front with Hamas is not closed for Tel Aviv as even today after the sweeping passage of Israel from the enclave, rockets are still falling in the southern parts of Israel.
When, a month ago, Israel's defense minister announced that the Gaza front is under the absolute control of the army, political and military analysts rushed to talk about the next day in the region. But for Israel, Gaza was just the beginning. Since mid-September, Tel Aviv has made it clear that it will "clean up" as soon as possible with Hezbollah in the North as well. The Shiite organization, from the first hours of the Israeli response to Gaza, started firing hundreds of rockets towards the Israeli north, openly declaring its partnership with Hamas. Israel within 20 days has on the one hand stripped the pro-Iranian organization of its entire leadership – not only Nasrallah is dead but also his successor – and on the other hand, with special units of its army, it is once again sweeping southern Lebanon after 2006. The second front is open and currently employs thousands of reservists as well as the bulk of Israeli fighters.
Israel, in the midst of all this war movement from the North to the South, was hit by a missile attack from Iran for the second time. The first attack on April 13 was also the first time in the history between the two countries that one of the two decided to strike directly and not with "intermediaries". The second one last Tuesday was for Israel and the occasion it was looking for to open a third – parallel front, perhaps the most essential for Tel Aviv.
Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that the response Iran will receive will be "harsh" and today he has all the options in his own hands: nuclear, oil, military infrastructure. This particular front, the third parallel for Tel Aviv, is not a front that "waits" and it should be taken for granted that Israel will move immediately...
Israel also has an open front with the Houthis from Yemen. Missiles and drones from the west of Yemen have hit targets even in Tel Aviv not long ago and have turned the passage through Aden into hell for all western ships. The allies of Israel, the USA and Britain have also been openly involved with the Houthis, who have, within a year, struck several targets from the air in the large port in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. For Tel Aviv, the Houthis are not a negligible quantity and it is a given that they will attempt, after Lebanon and Iran, to eliminate this threat as well.
The Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu himself and not his country, apart from the military, has his own open front with society. Netanyahu has not been able to bring back the October 7 hostages, and protests in Tel Aviv have been weekly and massive over the years. The escalation of the front in the North and the goal of eliminating Hezbollah has temporarily "frozen" internal attacks. But the problem is there and depending on the developments it will make its appearance again.
Source: protothema.gr
