Three lines of thought have emerged: 1. The strikes were failures, exposing Iran’s limited deterrent capabilities and restoring Israel’s reputation as the dominant military power in the region and underscoring the support it continues to enjoy from the US and the Arab states, notwithstanding its genocidal assault on Gaza.
2. The incident was meaningless, a show choreographed well in advance designed to appease the masses in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East clamouring for retaliation in the wake of Israel’s attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus. All parties have agreed not to escalate. 3. Though most may think otherwise, the strikes were a success. They weren’t designed to inflict damage but to gather intelligence on the location and effectiveness of Israel’s missile defence system and its supporting network of US and Arab military bases in the region. See, for example, this report from Mondoweiss’ Middle East correspondent: https://mondoweiss.net/2024/04/why-irans-retaliatory-attack-against-israel-was-not-a-failure/?ml_recipient=118691787603707722&ml_link=118691730914543255&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2024-04-15&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation I agree the attacks were intended to be mainly symbolic and were telegraphed well in advance, but the net effect seems to have strengthened Israel’s military and political standing in the region. That said, the Iranians were caught between a rock and a hard place. The regime would have been even further weakened both at home and throughout the region had it allowed Israel’s attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus to have gone unanswered. . -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#29915): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/29915 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/105515975/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
