Iran vs Israel | What is happening? 

On the night of 1st October, Israel’s sky looked like this. These weren’t fireworks;

These were missiles. More than 180 ballistic missiles were sent towards Israel, by Iran. The order to launch these missiles was given directly by Iran’s Head of State and the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran’s IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Said “that more than 90% of the missiles successfully hit their target.”

But on the other hand, Israel says that most of the missiles were intercepted by Israel’s air defense system. The destruction caused by these missiles can be seen in many published images. You can see these craters.

Look at this, a 30 feet deep crater, right outside the Mossad’s headquarters. In southern Israel, there is the desert of Negev, where a large Israeli military base is situated.

Many missiles were targeted towards that. Although Israel says that it suffered damage in this attack, still, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu still says that they will retaliate.

“Iran made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it. The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.”

We are on the brink of World War 3?

The biggest question here is how did Iran get involved in this war? The war that began last year with Hamas’s attack, has now spread to many countries. Not only is Israel attacking Palestine but is also attacking Lebanon.

Many paramilitary groups and terrorist outfits like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis

Are involved in this war. And now, a country like Iran is directly involved in it.

Because of this, our right-wing media has announced World War 3 for probably the 26th time.

“We are on the brink of World War 3! WW3 has already started; WW3 is already upon us!”

How did things reach this point? And what else can we expect next?

Let’s understand the Conflict:

Let’s try to understand it in this article. Many countries are indeed involved in this war.

And if the situation continues to deteriorate like this, then it can gradually turn into a

Regional war in the Middle East. But calling it World War 3 is a big joke. Why am I saying this?

Because it is not the first time that Iran has attacked Israel this year. Only a few months ago, on 13th April, more than 300 drones and missiles were launched on Israel. If you look at it in terms of total machinery deployed, this April attack was bigger than the October attack, in which around 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 110 ballistic missiles were launched on Israel.

It is a different matter that our news channels were busy promoting Narendra Modi back in April due to our election season. Otherwise, the April attack was unique in many ways. It was the first time in decades that another country had attacked Israel.

Before this, during the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had launched missiles at Israel. But now, in April, what was the reason behind Iran’s attack? Iran calls it revenge,

Retaliation. 2 weeks before that, around 1st April, Israel carried out an airstrike on Syria’s capital city, Damascus.

In this airstrike, 7 Iranian officers lost their lives. Including a top general of the Iranian embassy. Now, if any country’s army officers are killed, no country will tolerate it. And here, Israel dropped a bomb on the embassy.

So the next question you will ask is why did Israel carry out this airstrike? Israel claimed that it wasn’t an embassy, rather, it was a military building. And the officer who died in the attack had close links to Hezbollah, according to Israel. What is Hezbollah and how is it linked to Iran?

Israeli Defence System:

But before that, let’s understand some technical details about Israel’s defence system.

When Israel was attacked in April, Israel received help from its allied countries. Like America, the UK, and even Jordan.

America had tackled around 80 drones and 6 ballistic missiles. British Royal Air Force’s Typhoon fighter jets took down several drones. And Israel’s F-35 stealth fighter jets

tackled 25 out of 30 cruise missiles.

If you look at the map, Iran and Israel are quite far apart. The shortest distance between the two countries is about 1,000 km. So if Iran attacks Israel with a drone, it would take a drone about 2 hours to reach Israel.

This is why with a solid intelligence system, it becomes easy to protect oneself. In terms of Israel’s on-ground defenses, the Iron Dome is their most famous defense system.

It protects the sky up to 10 km, in a radius of 70 km. If a rocket is launched from such a distance, then Iron Dome will effectively counter it.

Although it is called the Dome, it is not an actual shield around Israel. It is a missile system that detects the rockets before they hit the ground, and before they can explode,

It launches its rockets to counter those missiles. This is known as Interception.

You will see this word multiple times when reading news related to it. The Iron Dome intercepts short-range rockets only. If a missile is launched from a larger distance,

Israel has two more defense systems to counter it. One is the David Sling, for medium to long-range missiles.

It protects as high as 15 km in a radius of 300 km. But Iran is 1,000 km away. So the ballistic missiles that Iran launched in its October attack, neither the Iron Dome nor the David The sling can effectively counter them.

To intercept those missiles, there is a third defense system called the Arrow System.

Arrow 3 has the highest detection range in Israel. A range of 2,400 km.And a 100 km altitude.

If a missile is launched from almost space, the Arrow System can detect it too. During April’s attack, The Arrow 3 system intercepted a ballistic missile, this missile was outside the Earth’s atmosphere. These sound to be safe and secure systems.

Cost of Israeli Defence System:

You might feel that no matter what happens to Israel, It will always be protected.

But it is not so. The biggest point of failure of these defensive systems is money.

Operating these systems is extremely expensive.

As I said, to prevent any missile from hitting their country, these defense systems

Launch another missile targeting the first missile. The missile launched by the Iron Dome is called the Tamer Missile. One such missile costs $50,000. Second, their David Sling, the missiles launched by it, cost $1 million per missile. And then comes their Arrow System, the missiles launched by it cost several millions of US dollars per missile. In just one day, they had to spend around $200 million.

Shortcomings of any Defence System:

Imagine that. They don’t have an unlimited supply of missiles. If too many ballistic missiles are launched against Israel, their defense systems will fail. Due to the sheer quantity and lack of money.

This is why, after the attacks in October, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson

Nasser Kanaan stated that “these strikes were a limited act of self-defense. And the Western countries should praise them for not doing anything more devastating.”

This statement was like a threat; Iran threatened Israel and told them to be grateful that Iran let them off easily.

Iran’s weapons aren’t any less deadly. Some state-of-the-art missiles were also used in this attack. They were developed last year and used for the first time. Like the 2023 Fatah missiles. In this photo taken by the BBC, you can see how capable these missiles are. Their longest-range missiles are the Shahab-3, with a range of more than 2,000 km.

The missiles missing on this map, are the 2023 Fatah missiles. They are classified as Hypersonic Ballistic Missiles. Hypersonic means faster than the speed of sound.

They can fly at the speed of 18,000 km per hour, which is 15 times faster than the speed of sound.

It takes them only a few minutes to travel from Iran to Israel.

“We’re able to precisely hit any target, within the range of 870 miles. And there exists no system that can rival or counter this missile.”

Difference between Rocket and ballistic Missile:

Many people confuse rockets and missiles. These two words might sound similar, but in reality, they are vastly different. The rockets launched by Hamas towards Israel, are relatively small in size. They are launched from the ground in a projectile.

They need to make a rough estimate about where they would hit.

But on the other hand, ballistic missiles, are as tall as a three-story building and are equipped with precision targeting. The exact location where it would hit can be controlled. It can leave Earth’s atmosphere, and then come back to hit its target.

It is truly scary to see the dangerous weapons humans have built. This is why after the April attack, the United Nations Security council called an emergency meeting where the Secretary-General told both sides to diffuse and de-escalate.

The Proxy War in the Middle East:

Now, groups like Hezbollah and Houthis have been attacking Israel for years. Ever since Israel retaliated and bombed Gaza, the frequency of their attacks have also increased. These three groups, Hamas in Gaza, Houthis in Yemen, and Hezbollah in South Lebanon, are considered Iran’s proxy. That is, Iran funds them from behind the scenes, giving them money and support.

There’s a long history behind all of it. Talking about Hezbollah specifically, it is one of the most heavily Shia militant groups, that gained power in 1982 when Israel invaded Lebanon, The became an official entity in 1985, and made their manifesto, of eradicating Western powers from Lebanon, and demanded the destruction of the Israeli state.

Almost all Western countries, America and European countries, Consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization. Although the Indian government doesn’t. The southern part of Lebanon was occupied by Israel for nearly 22 years. It was Hezbollah who pushed Israel out of Lebanon in 2000.

In 2006, there was another war between Hezbollah and Israel which lasted for 34 days.

And none of them won this war. When you Lebanon on the map, a large part of it is under Hezbollah’s control.

This paramilitary group is more powerful than Lebanon’s own army to a large extent.

Today, the war between Hezbollah and Israel has been going on openly for the past few months. On 7th October 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, which began the war.

And the next day, on 8th October 2023, Hezbollah officially declared a state of war against Israel. On the other hand, if we talk about the Houthis, it was founded in the 1990s. The reason behind this was the Shia marginalization and increasing foreign influence in Yemen.

Houthis are considered a terrorist organization by many countries. And they oppose Yemen’s government. Interestingly, the Indian government does not consider the Houthis as a terrorist organization. Apart from Iran, it is said that Russia funds the Houthis too.

The Saudi government, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen share a border, Saudi Arabia supports the Yemeni government as are the Western countries. On this map, you can see that Saudi Arabia and Iran are two superpowers in the Middle East. These countries either support a neighboring government or the rebel groups opposing the government.

In Yemen, Saudi supports the government, and Iran favors the rebels.

In Iraq, Saudi favors the government, and Iran supports the Shia rebel groups.

It’s the same in Syria as well as Lebanon. Internationally speaking, Western countries including the US, and EU, favor Saudi most of the time, and countries like Russia and China, favor Iran more.

So you can see the alliances of these countries. and this is why Saudi Arabia

Takes a stand against Iran most of the time. Even though both are Muslim countries,

Saudi Arabia is Sunni-dominated and Iran is Shia-dominated.

Gaza Invasion by Israel:

The current war between Israel and Palestine began last year on October 7, 2024, when Hamas attacked Israel. After that, as retaliation Israel invaded Gaza. Israel bombed Gaza so heavily that the place isn’t livable anymore.

Most of the countries worldwide have called it a genocide. Between 7th October 2023 and 22nd September 2024, 41,431 Palestinians have been killed on record. More than half of them are children and women. More than 2 million people have been displaced.

Jonathan Glaser, a Jewish film director, won an Oscar last year for his film on the Holocaust.

While accepting the award, he made a statement, he talked about how the wounds of the Holocaust are used as an excuse to torture another community, and he refused to be associated with that kind of ‘Jewishness.’

Now, in this current war, Hezbollah turned out to be very powerful. In the Israeli-Lebanese border, more than 80,000 Israelis had to leave their cities and towns because of the daily rocket fires. Second, the Houthis have disrupted the Red Sea by attacking any passing ships with missiles. This has led to trade losses to the extent of nearly $1 trillion.

Iran Declares War on  Israel:

Before April’s attack, Iran was not involved in this war directly. Although it was attacking

through its proxies. But they issued an official statement on April 14.They said that if the Zionist regime attacks their interests, assets, people or citizens, then they will counterattack.

IRGC’s head Hossein Salami was the one to make this statement. Then on 31st July, there was a high-profile assassination in the Iranian capital Tehran. Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas was assassinated. Palestinian militant group Hamas said that its political leader Ismail Haniyeh, has been killed in Iran.

Who assassinated him? Officially no one took responsibility. But Israel is being suspected. After that in July, the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs said that blood “will never be wasted.”

Since then, the retaliation warnings have begun. Two months later, on 17th September,

there was the famous “Pager attack” on Hezbollah. The Pager devices carried by

many Hezbollah operatives exploded. This killed many people. and then on 20th September, there was another high-profile assassination.

Ibrahim Akil, the commander of Hezbollah’s Special Operations Forces Unit. These were Iranian proxies. So, obviously, the Iranian government was not happy with this.

But over the next few days, there were more high-profile assassinations.

On 25th September, Hezbollah’s missile unit’s leader was assassinated. On 27th September, IRGC’s Brigadier General Abbas Nilforoushan was killed in an air strike.

This airstrike targeted Hezbollah’s main headquarters. And in this air strike,

Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah was also killed. He had been Hezbollah’s General Secretary since 1992.

But despite losing their top leaders, the non-stop air strikes on Lebanon continue to date. Hezbollah has been launching rockets toward Israel too. The war has not stopped.

In the last week of September, around 1,000 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon.

The United Nations and the USA are continuously condemning these attacks. But Israel shows no signs of stopping. If we talk about Iran’s latest attack on 1st October,

Israel noticed no signs of any retaliatory air strikes by Iran.

But America was the first to anticipate this attack and informed Israel. On 1st October around 7:30 pm, the IDF confirmed that Iran had launched missiles toward Israel.

The entire country was engulfed in the warning sounds of sirens. An Iranian news agency cited IRGC saying that the reason behind this attack was the assassination of Hezbollah’s leader. Because Israel had carried out strikes on Lebanon, where Hezbollah’s leaders were assassinated, now Iran was retaliating against it.

The Current State of War between Iran and Israel:

This Iranian attack might have looked scary, but fortunately, only one person died in it.

A Palestinian person in the West Bank. Despite this, the Israeli Minister of Finance has threatened, that just like Gaza, Hezbollah, and Lebanon, they will make Iran regret attacking Israel.

Their Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said that Iran has made a terrible mistake and Israel will retaliate.

“We can defend ourselves and take revenge on our enemies.”

Overall, the point is, that this is a series of retaliations. Everyone is taking revenge

For something or the other. And innocent civilians are the ones to lose their lives.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez gave a statement condemning the overall conflict instead of blaming a particular country. We need to understand that whenever a situation like this occurs anywhere, the common people are the ones to suffer the most.

The Politician Started the War and People Bore it:

These politicians keep retaliating one after the other, taking revenge after revenge,

Often their people do not support them. Looking at the tit-for-tat approaches of these governments, Mahatma Gandhi’s Statement fits aptly here.

“An eye for an eye ends up making the whole world blind.”

If we want to stop this war from progressing further, then we need to move forward on Mahatma Gandhi’s path of peace.