1. Why are Iran and Israel enemies?
They were allies that began in the 1950s during the reign of Iran’s last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, but their friendship came to an abrupt end with the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. imperialist powers in the Middle East. Iran has regularly backed groups fighting Israel, notably Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas. Israel sees Iran’s potential to build nuclear weapons as a threat to its existence and is believed to be behind sabotage of the country’s nuclear program.
2. What happened to Iran’s ammunition depot?
An Iranian official said three unmanned drones had targeted a defense ministry complex near the capital city of Isfahan. One of them crashed into a building, causing minor damage. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported that Israel was to blame. The attack comes amid Western accusations against Iran of supplying Russia with military drones for use in its war with Ukraine.
3. Where did the shadow war begin?
Lebanon is the oldest front in combat and will be fought indirectly. In response to Israel’s invasion of the country’s south in 1982, a militia that would later become Hezbollah was formed by Lebanese Muslims belonging to Iran’s predominant Shia branch of Islam. Their group has, to some extent, become agents of Iran’s top security force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. along have built what they say is a vast arsenal of rockets and missiles. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked Hezbollah’s rocket pipelines inside Lebanon, according to media reports. The militia occasionally retaliated by firing rockets at Israel and attacking Israeli forces along the border. In 2011, when Syria erupted into civil war, the adjacent battlefield between Israel and Iran opened up.
4. What happened in Syria?
During the course of the Syrian war, Iran supported ally President Bashar al-Assad by building an internal fleet to facilitate the overland transfer of weapons intended for Hezbollah from Iran to Lebanon via Iraq and Syria. building a military presence. To stop the flow of weapons and counter this second hostile presence on the northern border, Israel has carried out airstrikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria. According to media reports, several Iranians have died.
5. What Happened at Sea?
TIT-FOR-TAT attacks on merchant ships began in 2019. Neither Israel nor Iran have admitted responsibility for the attacks on the interconnected ships, but are widely believed to be behind them. Life is rarely lost, but in July 2021, a British and Romanian crew were killed when an Israeli-operated ship was attacked in the Gulf of Oman by drones that US officials have linked to Iran. member died. Previous targets have included Iranian tankers carrying oil bound for Syria. An Iranian ship off the coast of Yemen that served as a floating base for the Revolutionary Guard. and cargo ships belonging to or associated with the Israelis.
6. What about previous attacks in both countries?
Iran has mostly absorbed Israeli attacks on its interests in Syria, but in 2018 Iranian forces moved toward Israeli positions on the Golan Heights, a plateau Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 war and later annexed. and launched a barrage of missiles. Israel responded with far greater strength. Israel is widely believed to be behind the assassination of five Iranian nuclear scientists in Tehran since 2010 and several attacks on nuclear facilities inside Iran.April 2021, Iran accused Israel and vowed revenge for the explosion at Iran’s largest uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. It was the second time in less than a year that the site had suffered a suspicious explosion. Israel neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for either attack. In October 2021, an Iranian general said Israel was likely behind the cyber attack that crippled petrol stations across Iran.
7. What about the possibility of all-out war?
The biggest risk has to do with Iran’s nuclear program. The country’s leaders say they have no ambition to build nuclear weapons. The Israelis suggest otherwise, pointing to a cache of documents their intelligence services stole from Iran in 2018. Israeli officials have repeatedly hinted that if Iran reaches the brink of its weapons capabilities, it will use air power to attack its nuclear program, as it did in Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007. .
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