By Alireza Hashemi
Resistance movements in the region have mounted pressure on the Israeli regime and its Western backers, pushing them on the back foot with a string of attacks on their interests, says an analyst.
Hasan Hanizadeh, an analyst of West Asian affairs, in conversation with the Press TV website, pointed to recent attacks on American military bases as well as Israel-linked ships amid the Israeli-American genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip.
The analyst said Yemen’s warning that it will block the passage of ships moving through the Red Sea toward the occupied Palestinian territories has increased the economic cost of the war for the regime.
The Yemeni military has carried out a spate of surgical strikes on Israel-linked ships in the strategic part of the Red Sea in recent weeks, sending shockwaves across the world and rattling the Tel Aviv regime.
The operations have forced major shipping companies to suspend their sailings in the Red Sea.
Stung by the extraordinary Yemeni solidarity with the Palestinian resistance, the United States on Tuesday announced a ten-nation maritime alliance to deter the Yemeni military.
Yemen’s defense minister, however, warned to turn the Red Sea into the graveyard of the US-led alliance.
“The poor Yemeni nation has rushed to Palestine’s support, launching many drone and missile attacks against the regime over the past two months. Now this recent announcement makes the regime really feel the pinch of the war,” Hanizadeh told the Press TV website.
He also referred to operations of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement against the Israeli military installations and attacks on US military bases in the region by Iraq’s Islamic resistance.
Increasing costs for regime
The Tehran-based analyst hastened to add that pro-Palestine rallies across the world would also increase the cost of war for Israel and push Washington to reconsider its unlimited support for Tel Aviv.
These actions by the Axis of Resistance, as well as growing protests in the occupied territories over the regime’s inability to free its captives, have severely hit Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future.
There have been massive anti-regime demonstrations in Tel Aviv in recent weeks, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli captives held by the Hamas resistance movement.
Israeli regime’s ongoing onslaught against Gaza, Hanizadeh stressed, is more of a liability to the regime than an asset, as its achievements in the war are negligible compared to the cost it pays.
The Israeli regime, he stated, has called up thousands of reservists for war on Gaza while most industrial and business activities in the occupied territories have come to a halt.
“Estimates show the disruption of business and industrial activities costs the regime at least one billion dollars per day, and the total cost now stands at over 60 billion dollars,” he told the Press TV website.
This is while the regime has suffered huge intelligence, military, and political blows since October 7, when Hamas launched its surprise multi-pronged military operation.
“Some estimates say the ground invasion of Gaza has left over two thousand Israeli soldiers dead, more than seven thousand injured and around 300 tanks destroyed. The Israeli war machine can’t bear such casualties,” Hanizadeh said.
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have prepared themselves for six months of war, knowing that the Israeli army has no great experience in urban warfare and that they hold the upper hand in the strip, he emphasized.
“The people in Gaza support resistance and are willing to pay the price for that,” the analyst noted.
“Islamic Jihad and Hamas have launched a war of attrition against Israel, using homegrown anti-tank and anti-personnel weapons to target invading forces in Gaza. They know Israel doesn’t benefit from a prolonged war.”
Muslim govts lack will to help Gaza
On the prospect of the Muslim world taking serious action against Israel, Hanizadeh said certain Muslim governments who are dependent on the West are yet to show a real will to do something for Gaza.
“Several Muslim and Arab countries remain indifferent to the heart-wrenching tragedy in Gaza and are yet to show real will to take practical measures to help them,” he told the Press TV website.
This is while Iran has used all the diplomatic means at its disposal to help put an end to Israel’s genocide against Gazans, Hanizadeh hastened to add, citing intense diplomatic efforts by Iran’s president and foreign minister to help Gaza.
“Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi’s speech at the OIC conference in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and the solutions he offered to help end the bombardment of Gaza shows Tehran is seriously working to find a way to ease the sufferings of Palestinians,” Hanizadeh said.
“But we haven’t seen such a serious will from many other governments in the region. So, I believe only Iran and its allies in the resistance front want and can take further action to stop Israel.”
