Listening to media reports following the events of last Saturday, you’d believe Israel’s military might was victorious in overwhelming Iran’s retaliatory strike.
It’s interesting how the spin machine has worked to try and create a perception of victory when Iran’s strike not only embarrassed the Israelis but achieved more than the intent of trying to wreak havoc and mayhem.
Sparking a major war was never Iran’s intention - intelligence gathering, depletion of Israel’s missile defences, and sending Israel a message was—and it did that without taking any lives.
Iran gave Israel a masterful lesson in the art of gamesmanship and chess. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise given chess was invented by the Iranians.
The strategic thinking for Iran was to not only send a message but map and flush out exactly where Israel’s missile defences were and the extent of its defence capabilities—Iran got exactly what it wanted. However, as is expected, the media has declared what Iran has achieved as a failure, obviously, the strategic analysts on the big bucks at the networks know extraordinarily little—that’s been demonstrated consistently over the years.
Economically alone, Saturday’s fireworks session cost Israel alone more than $1.3bn, that’s not factoring in what it would have cost the US, the UK, the French or Jordanians. Compare that to Iran and the cost was close to several million—for a the right to defend themselves that gave them so much more in terms of military and strategic intelligence. That’s not a bad return for such a small outlay along with the devastating message it sent to Israel, the US, and other Western powers. Iran’s here to stay and we won’t be intimidated.
Multiple news outlets interpreted Iran’s strategic strike as a failure to have any impact and—incapable and failing to destroy Israeli infrastructure. It’s a distorted reality when the lie is so delusional that the frauds who pose as experts are clowns masquerading as clowns—incapable of understanding Iran giving the US and Israel a 72-hour notice of what its intentions were and what it was going to retaliate with—second-rate drones, cruise, and ballistic missiles.
The success of Saturday’s retaliation has reshaped the military and geopolitics throughout the Middle East. Iran's successful strike against Israel, bypassing its heralded Iron Dome defence system, is a significant shift of power to Iran.
Iran’s deployment of a combination of advanced missiles equipped with sophisticated radar-evading capabilities. Sources speculate these could include enhanced speed and manoeuvrability features that outpaced the Iron Dome's response algorithms.
The exact number remains undisclosed, but the high volume and coordinated launch pattern suggest a deliberate strategy to overwhelm Israel’s Iron Dome defence system.
Israel’s Iron Dome has been celebrated for its high interception rates in past conflicts, however, on Saturday it failed to neutralize Iran’s wave of missile and drone attack. The Iron Dome is not so Iron. The immediate consequence for Israel is a stark reassessment of its military strategies and defence capabilities.
Confidence in the Iron Dome and other missile defence systems like David's Sling and Arrow is now shaky prompting calls for urgent upgrades.
Psychologically for Israel, the strike has severely dented the Israeli public's perception of their highly publicised security apparatus. Historically, Israel’s strategic superiority has been a cornerstone of its national identity and political narrative, or so Israelis believed, but Saturday’s strike by Iran has dispelled that long-held belief.
Following the events of Saturday, and how Israel’s Iron Dome defence system was exposed as a tin pot shield, may have significant repercussions potentially that inevitably lead to significant political upheaval, affecting the current leadership along with drastic shifts in defence policy.
Saturday’s demonstration of Iran’s offensive capability significantly boosts its standing in the "Axis of Resistance," which includes Hezbollah, various Iraqi militias, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
These groups might now perceive an emboldened pathway to challenge Israeli actions in the region more aggressively. Iran’s success of Saturday not only redefines the powershift in the Middle East, will now begin to alter Arab perceptions, with those countries who sought to normalize relations with Israel via the Abraham Accords are now watching closely—possibly reconsidering their security and diplomatic calculations about Israel's capability to act as a regional bulwark against Iran.
The perception of Israeli invulnerability has been a crucial element in the accords, and its erosion could lead to a cooling of newly warmed relations.
With the US having been Israel's longtime principal ally, along with NATO members, they’re now beginning to find themselves at a strategic crossroad, where a push to either shore up Israel’s defences with advanced technologies or to recalibrate the regional military posture to prevent escalation into a broader conflict.
Furthermore, an attempt to counter Iran’s growing dominance and military might will likely see Israel accelerate its military technology development, possibly introducing new layers to its missile defence architecture and enhancing its offensive cyber capabilities.
A significant increase in military spending could be anticipated as part of this overhaul but that’s dependent on the US continuing its military and financial support—all predicated on Israel deescalating any talks of retaliation.
There’ll be no help from big brother if committing suicide is Israel’s agenda, especially with psychopaths like Netanyahu, Gavriel, Goland, and Schmoltritz at the helm. World War III is not an option and the Biden administration must make it abundantly clear.
With the shift in military perceptions around Israel's deterrence capabilities under question, Palestinian groups are now beginning to feel emboldened to increase pressure on Israeli fronts.
The implications of Iran's successful strike are profoundly multidimensional, extending beyond immediate military strategies to affect regional alignments, global diplomatic relations, and the internal political landscapes of the countries involved.
Israel which has for decades been seen as the pinnacle of military innovation and supremacy in the Middle East, however, following last week’s strike, it is now considered anything but, as it faces a period of critical introspection and reactive policymaking the entire region holds its breath, watching the old certainties dissolve into a new, uncertain geopolitical era.
thank you, george hazim, for your sobering, broad-spectrum insights and comprehensive exegesis of middle east dynamics, particularly as they are currently unfolding between israeli sociopaths and the more sagacious and 'sober' iranians.
Hey George,
I think your sentiment is echoed by Scott Ritter, Col. Doug Macgregor, Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatowski and also my favourite dude Judge Nepolitano,
many blessings