By Wesam Bahrani
The foolhardy move to carry out a dastardly act of terrorism in the Syrian capital – bombing the Iranian embassy’s consular affairs building – is the latest example of how the Israeli regime flouts international law.
It is also a reminder that the regime is bound to perish, like all illegitimate entities are. They come with an expiry date and the West-backed Zionist entity’s time has come.
The cowardly attack on the Iranian embassy’s consular affairs section in Damascus in blatant violation of all international conventions smacks of utter frustration and a realization that the illegitimate entity’s days are numbered.
It is the case of a dying and decaying regime resorting to desperate acts following its crushing defeat to the Axis of Resistance both in Gaza and across the region.
The occupying regime should have surrendered a long time ago, but the inflated ego of Benjamin Netanyahu, the embattled Israeli premier, got the better of him. But why target an Iranian diplomatic mission?
International law is not something the apartheid regime is familiar with. Illegitimate entities cannot be expected to comply with international legal conventions. And it has been well-documented in the besieged Gaza Strip since October 7.
It’s been almost six months since the Israeli regime launched a genocidal war against 2.3 million Palestinians in the coastal Palestinian territory, and the numbers speak for themselves.
Despite the unprecedented toll of death, destruction and deliberate starvation in the world’s largest concentration camp, the Palestinian resistance has not been subdued and the people of Palestine have also refused to retreat or surrender.
The steadily growing worldwide support for the Palestinian cause has also never been higher and brighter, with even Israeli occupation cheerleaders in the West loathing and cursing the regime for its war crimes.
One recent poll by the Ramallah-based and German-funded Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) revealed that Hamas maintains strong popularity in Gaza, the resistance group that Israel wants to eliminate.
The figure is higher than the approval rating during polls conducted before Operation Al-Aqsa Storm (Al-Aqsa Flood) on October 7 and comes despite the Israeli regime expanding its genocidal war crimes against civilians in the blockaded territory.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the Al-Quds Brigades, and other Gaza-based armed resistance factions affiliated with the resistance movement have in recent months turned the tiny territory into Vietnam for the Israeli occupation forces with their daily resistance operations.
Making matters worse for Netanyahu and his fascist regime, the Gaza resistance has turned the Israeli settler population against its own extremist leaders with millions pouring out into the streets of Tel Aviv every day to call for Netanyahu’s ouster.
Settlers are unleashing their anger and frustration against Netanyahu and his far-right Zionist regime for failing to achieve any of its stated objectives in Gaza, including the release of captives held by the resistance in the coastal territory.
In the Israeli-occupied Palestinian lands, the regime’s Hebrew Maariv newspaper – the go-to outlet for the Israeli settler thought process that conducts surveys regularly for the settler population — documented some grim statistics.
In its first survey after the genocidal Israeli war against Gaza, on October 8, a massive 95 percent of Israeli settlers supported a war on the Gaza Strip. Not only against Hama but against all Palestinians there.
It explains why Netanyahu struck a confident tone after launching the unbridled aggression as his approval rating had plummeted for most of 2023. It was time to regain the goodwill of settlers by killing Palestinian women and children.
By the end of December, Maariv put that number of support for the US-Israeli genocide at 74 percent and it now stands at 57 percent. The projection strongly suggests a falling trend, with Netanyahu drowning along with it.
This is how Netanyahu and the wider Israeli mafia backed by Washington DC became desperate. They can’t afford to lose power, enter yet another election, and return to the reports of civil war erupting among Israeli settlers that surfaced in 2023.
The ouster of Netanyahu, a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal are essentially the demands of the settler population today, who are back on the streets in massive numbers.
Over the past six months, the captives in Gaza haven’t been freed militarily, Hamas is far from being “eliminated” according to US intelligence, and the number of Israeli military casualties is surging by the day.
There are more than 100,000 Palestinians killed and injured, and thousands of others are missing, presumably dead under the rubble, the majority of whom are women and children. Children have been executed in cold blood and women have been raped and killed, as per human rights groups.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced due to the regime’s policy of bombings and siege, using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinian civilians.
Still, the occupying regime and its Western backers have failed to break the will and resilience of Palestinians in Gaza. They stand firm and resolute, not ready to let the oppressor win.
Israeli is isolated on the world stage having violated an International Court of Justice ruling on genocide and yet another UN Security Council resolution. On the other hand, the blood of Palestinian children has formed a global coalition voicing its disgust at the usurping regime.
In the Western world, especially the US and the UK, public outcry forced the UN Security Council resolution to pass with American and British leaders having one eye on their proxy regime and another on the ballot boxes back home as their own future in office is now under risk because of complicity in the Gaza genocide.
The bravery of South Africa to take the occupying regime to the ICJ, backed now by Ireland and other countries, is a testament to the bravery of Gazans in exposing the child-murdering regime and its illegal occupation and apartheid.
The positions and measures taken by Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile for instance, or for that matter, the statements given by the Spanish foreign minister, or a senior official in the Biden administration stepping down over Gaza speak volumes.
It Is yet another reflection of the ability to withstand extreme hardships of children, women, men, and elderly in Gaza against the occupation that has resulted in global support for the Palestinian cause, putting Palestine back on the minds and the map of the international community.
This global backing for Gaza, which has significantly swelled now, started decades ago with unwavering and unconditional support from the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was Iran that gave voice to voiceless Palestinians and helped the Palestinian resistance become self-reliant.
It would be safe to suggest that the Al-Aqsa Storm wouldn’t have been possible had Iran not been in the picture all these years. This was even acknowledged by Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhaleh during his visit to Tehran last week.
Having failed to achieve anything in the Gaza Strip and with mounting pressure both domestically and globally, the Israeli apartheid regime has taken its anger out on the number one supporter of the Palestinian cause – Iran.
The terrorist attack against the Iranian consulate in Damascus with half a dozen missile strikes that assassinated a senior Iranian military advisor, his deputy, and other Iranian military personnel at the diplomatic mission is another clear act of desperation by the Israeli regime.
It is hard to imagine the dying and decaying regime making such a foolhardy move without a green light from its US sponsors and the Israeli lobby.
What both parties fail to apprehend is that this act of terrorism will only make Iran’s support for the Palestinian struggle firmer.
Many martyrs have left the door open for others to liberate Palestine from its brutal occupation. The countdown for the liberation of Palestine and the annihilation of the Israeli regime has begun.
Monday’s attack was the last nail in the coffin of the dying and decaying regime regime.
Wesam Bahrani is an Iraqi journalist and commentator.
(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)
