Iran-backed Shi’ite armed groups in Iraq have ramped up rocket and missile attacks on Israel in recent weeks, raising concerns in Washington and among some Iranian allies of potential Israeli retaliation and regional escalation should they draw blood.

Though the attacks, often from hundreds of miles (kms) away, are not seen by western officials and Israeli experts as posing the same level of threat to Israel as point-blank strikes by Hamas and Hezbollah, they have increased in number and sophistication.

At least two have hit their targets and many have had to be shot down by U.S. and Israeli defences, according to U.S officials and public statements by the Israeli military.

New weaponry such as cruise missiles have been regularly used since May and are harder for air defences to destroy.

  • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.worldEnglish
    111·
    17 days ago

    This is not a surprise. Just as Israel’s far-right is resisting a ceasefire agreement, so is Hamas’s benefactor. If Hamas won’t attack, and the US is protecting the Red Sea from the Houthis, Iran will attack directly.

    Iran has been fighting this proxy war through Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis since 1985.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–Israel_proxy_conflict

    The absolute last thing the world needs is Trump in office during a hot war with Iran. That’s legitimately nuclear arms territory.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1810·
    17 days ago

    It’s hard to paint them as the baddies when they’re the only ones trying to stop a country ran by genocidal religious extremists from continuing their genocide that’s already been going on over half a year…

    • CyborganismEnglish
      191·
      17 days ago

      It’s been going on for far longer then that.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1612·
        17 days ago

        The human rights abuses have been going on pretty much the whole time Israel has existed…

        But what has been happening the past 7 months isn’t normal.

        And is only happening because our current president has spent a lifetime saying hell never stop supporting Israel.

        They’ve tried a lot to take it this far, but regardless of who was in office and what party they were from, the US president draws a line in the sand and Israel chills out some.

        They just don’t respect Biden, to the point when he draws a line, they immediately and obviously jump over it while yelling at Biden for drawing the line they didn’t care about.

        What is happening now is not normal, just look at how the last Dem president handled this shit:

        Biden recounted in private that when he was vice president in 2014 and Israel mounted a military assault on Gaza, Obama and his staff rejected his belief, held for decades, that the best way to approach the Israelis is to hug them close but not criticize them, the people familiar with his comments said.

        Instead, they said Biden has noted, Obama publicly admonished Israel’s actions and voiced concern for Palestinian civilian deaths early into the 2014 conflict. As a result, Biden has argued, Obama squandered any ability to influence the Israeli government as it invaded Gaza, said the people familiar with his comments.

        They said Biden’s message when he revisited the 2014 debate was: I was right then, and I am right now.

        https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/biden-obama-divide-closely-support-israel-rcna127107

        When it comes to Israel, either Biden is completely ignorant, or this is the result he wants.

        What Obama did cooled things down, what Biden says was the right move, leads to one of the largest and most destructive genocides in modern history.

        And he’s proud of it and bragging about how he knows more than anyone else, while refusing to listen to protestors, voters, and likely his advisors/campaign team.

        He’s going to keep doing whatever he wants, because he feels entitled to our votes because no matter what, trump is worse.

        America is at a very dangerous place right now because we have to accept anything that’s not trump and have no say in who that is.

        • CyborganismEnglish
          42·
          17 days ago

          I 💯 agree with you on this statement.

          • girlfreddyOPEnglish
            42·
            17 days ago

            Same. Really don’t understand the downvotes they got.

      • ralphio@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        17 days ago

        For these particular groups the article says the exact opposite.

        But on Nov. 2 they claimed their first ever attack on Israel.

        In general it is pretty rare for anyone to directly attack Israel other than groups they created through their various occupations, mainly Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.

        • CyborganismEnglish
          6·
          17 days ago

          No. Israel has started it’s genocide the day Zionism was created and militias started forcing Palestinians out of their homes and killing them in the first place.

          • ralphio@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            17 days ago

            Ah OK, I can’t read apparently. I thought you meant the attacks from Iraqi militias have been going on longer than the current Israeli invasion. I agree with your original comment.