The bombs are falling in more and more places: how the war in the Middle East is escalating on various fronts

The war in the Middle East is escalating. The United States and Israel are heavily bombing Iran, while there is little prospect of successful negotiations and threatening language from Washington is increasing. In Lebanon, Israel is now sending more troops across the border. A look at the battle scene, on various fronts.

IranDouble message from Trump

Will it be talk or fight in Iran? On the one hand, US President Donald Trump says that talks with Iran about an end to the war are “underway” and “going very well”. At the same time, he is sending ten thousand extra soldiers to the region and openly speculating about troops on the ground who, among other things, would have to capture the crucial oil island of Kharg.

On Sunday, Trump said in a interview with the Financial Times that he wants to “take away the oil” in this way, with a reference to the way in which the Americans took control of the Venezuelan oil industry at the beginning of this year. 90 percent of all Iranian oil is handled at Kharg. By taking Kharg, Trump would not control Iran’s oil production – the fuel is flown from the mainland to the island – but he would control Iran’s ability to export it.

Of the ten thousand additional American troops announced in the region, 3,500 have arrived. Among them are 2,200 Marines trained in amphibious landings and assaults. There would also be paratroopers among the new troops. This fuels speculation that Trump might want to launch a ground offensive.

Trump extended an earlier ultimatum to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz until next Monday. If Iran does not comply, the president threatens to bomb power stations – and to take Kharg. According to The Wall Street Journal would the president even consider forcibly ending the to seize Iranian uranium stockpiles when diplomatic talks fail.

Now that it is becoming increasingly clear that the war against Iran has all kinds of consequences for Trump that he himself did not want, the seizure of Kharg and/or the Iranian uranium stockpile would at least provide the president with a tangible result. Analysts do warn about the high risk factor of both operations; in the case of Kharg, they also point to the need to occupy the island for a longer period of time.

Negotiate and then bomb

The double signal from Washington should seem familiar to the Iranians. In the weeks leading up to this war, the same pattern was visible: Trump built up his forces during negotiations and then rudely broke off the talks with a military strike.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf now accuses the US of using diplomatic efforts as a cover to prepare ground operations. And a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry says the US proposals are “unrealistic, unreasonable, excessive and illogical” and that the US diplomatic position “cannot be trusted”.

Zoom in

It is not clear from the words of the negotiators that talks are underway, let alone that they are successful. Over the weekend, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia met in Islamabad. Pakistan said it was working to bring “the US and Iran to the negotiating table.” First let’s make sure they get into conversation at all.

For the time being, Washington only sent Tehran the same fifteen-point plan that it had presented before the war. Iran does not respond to that. According to observers, the Iranians do not have to agree to unfavorable agreements, because with their grip on the Gulf states, the Strait of Hormuz and therefore the global economy, they can continue to cause considerable pain to the Americans.

Universities and aluminum factories

Meanwhile, the US and Israel stepped up bombings last weekend. For example, bombs fell on two steel factories, two universities and a water reservoir. Iran fired back, including at a chemical plant in southern Israel, aluminum factories in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and a US air base in Saudi Arabia. In addition, Iran is threatening attacks on Israeli and American universities in the Middle East.

Further escalation came from the Houthis, Iran’s ally, who joined the battle after a month by firing a missile at Israel. There are fears that the Yemeni group will close the Red Sea, further damaging the global economy.

LebanonTargeted attack on journalists

As the bombs continue to fall on Tehran, Israel is also intensifying military action on the second major front of the war in the Middle East: Lebanon. Although this battle is related to the one in Iran, Israel is conducting it without US involvement.

Last week, Israel sent more troops across the border into Lebanon, with Israeli soldiers clashing with Hezbollah fighters. Lebanon is also continuously bombed by Israel. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, Israel has already killed more than a thousand people with those airstrikes. More than a million Lebanese have been displaced, out of a population of 5.9 million.

The Israeli bombs fall not only in areas controlled by Hezbollah, but also in the center of the capital Beirut. Israel has also ordered more Lebanese to leave: the evacuation area now extends to about forty kilometers from the Israeli border. Minister Israel Katz (Defence) speaks openly about the occupation of a large part of southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah-affiliated media

As before in Gaza, Israel is also targeting journalists and healthcare providers in Lebanon. On Saturday, the Israeli army killed three journalists from media affiliated with Hezbollah. The three were in a car that was designated as ‘press’ at the time. Lebanese media also reported Israeli attacks on a school and four ambulances.

Zoom in

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who condemned the assassination attempt on the journalists, pointed out in response that journalists should be considered citizens under the Geneva Conventions as long as they do not directly participate in hostile actions. Israel has its own interpretation of international law in which anyone affiliated with a hostile group is considered a terrorist.

An Indonesian peacekeeper has been killed in an explosion at a UN mission Unifil post in southern Lebanon during fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. A second was seriously injured. The UN has condemned the incident; It is still unclear who is responsible for the explosion.

West BankSettler violence spirals out of control

Israel is fighting on three other fronts: Gaza, the West Bank and Syria. It is also persistently restless there. For example, Israel bombed six people in Gaza this weekend and Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man in the West Bank. Israeli settlers also attacked Palestinians there again.

Settler violence against Palestinians is increasing rapidly. On Thursday, settlers set up four new settlement outposts in one day, wounding dozens of Palestinians and killing one. Four of the five new outposts – which are illegal under international law as well as under Israeli law – were established in territory officially under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government is doing little to combat settler violence. Six hundred Jews in the diaspora warned last week in an open letter against this impunity.

Goal: expulsion

While the Israeli government has regularly portrayed the perpetrators as a small, rogue and youthful group, according to research by the newspaper Haaretz that settler violence is structurally committed by hundreds of people, including adults. Bedouin and Palestinian communities are persistently harassed, often with firearms, with the aim of driving them out.

The perpetrators of violence are proud of their actions and publish monthly statistics about their actions, according to the newspaper. For example, they boasted that between mid-February and mid-March they had attacked twenty villages, burning sixteen houses, nineteen cars and two mosques. They also injured 37 Palestinians, smashed hundreds of house and car windows, uprooted hundreds of olive trees and punctured dozens of car tires.

At the start of the attack with Iran, it was warned that it would take attention away from Israeli violence in Palestinian territory. Even the Americans are now expressing their concerns, including Minister Marco Rubio (Foreign Affairs). Yet the colonists seem to be able to continue doing their business for the time being.

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