On Thursday night, sirens rang in Central Tel Aviv as dark smoke billowed from explosions. Meanwhile, strong smells from the burning rent the air close to Israel’s Ben Gurion airport. However, the CNN crew on site had not witnessed any casualties by the time of going to press.
Word has it that Iran was targeting the Ben Gurion airport, Israel’s major gateway for international flights, also considered one of the most secure airports in the world. Reports indicate that an airbase closeby was also hit.
The city of Tel Aviv, which sits on the Mediterranean coast, is Israel’s important economic hub. Hence, Iran’s attempt to destroy its infrastructure is a bid to maximize the impact on Israel.
Congress and Senate Fail to Restrain Trump
Earlier this week, the US Senate tried to cap President Trump’s authority to make unilateral decisions regarding the ongoing war, but failed. Yesterday, Congress failed on a similar attempt. This means that Trump can continue to design the trajectory this US/Israel-Iran war takes single-handedly.
The vote in Congress was mainly a Republican-versus-Democrat affair, with the motion defeated 219 to 212.
Tehran Continues Its Widespread Bombardments
Meanwhile, Tehran has kept Israel busy intercepting the numerous drones and missiles it continues to shoot. On Thursday, Tel Aviv had what looked like a star-studded sky, as Iran’s missiles and Israel’s interceptors met with impact.
Even without reports of human casualties, there was evidence of property destruction in Tel Aviv.
Trump Determined to Cause Chaos In Iran
Trump is disappointed that the people of Iran did not rise against their government as he had hoped. He must also be disappointed that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRG) has held fort so well, even after the combined efforts of the US and Israel managed to eliminate Iran’s top military officials in the early days of this war.
Now he wants to escalate a plan he and Prime Minister Netanyahu have had for some time now. The two want to bring the Kurds into the picture.
It has been rumored that the US CIA is seeking out Kurdish fighters in the region, but now it seems there has been a real plan to have them join in the war. America wants to use the Kurds in Iran and Iraq to sabotage Iran’s efforts from within Iran.
There are over 30 million Kurds across the world, with no territory to call their own. Hence, they have been a source of trouble in the four countries they mainly reside in, including Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.
However, in Iraq, there has been some mutual understanding, and the Kurds live in certain Iraqi areas with minimal interference from the government. There is a region in Iraq where Kurds live semi-autonomously, and this should make it easy for the US and Israel to engage and recruit them for the war.
Some of the US allies, such as Qatar, might be surprised by Trump’s move to engage the Kurds, considering that Qatar considers Kurdish forces a terrorist group.
Iran Seems Miles Ahead in Planning
Iran must have anticipated the move by its enemies to engage the Kurds. Hence, by Thursday, Iran was already striking the Kurdish bases in the mountains close to its border with Iraq. One of the places Iran successfully hit was Sulaimaniyah, a city within the Kurdish-occupied area.
Yesterday, Iran told the media that Tehran had strategically used 30 drones to hit areas occupied by the Kurds, and three missiles to hit their headquarters.
It is a Wait-and-See scenario.
Iran is not underestimating the Kurds’ potential contribution to the ongoing war. The regime appreciates the fact that the Kurds in the northern part of Iraq and along Iran’s border with Iraq have a sizeable number of fighters when combined.
That is why Tehran has been trying to weaken the Kurds’ capacity to fight. On Wednesday, people passing close to the Erbil airport in Iraq could be seen looking at debris from a building that an Iranian drone had shattered. Erbil is in Iraq’s Ankawa district, a Kurdish-governed area.
Israel Might Soon Have Boots on the Ground
In recent days, Israel has concentrated its bombing in areas where Iran borders Iraq. Apparently, this has been a strategic move to weaken the Iranian forces there and possibly cause them to retreat.
This way, Israeli soldiers and Kurdish fighters can easily penetrate Iran from Iraq. This is the deduction of Soufan Center, a think-tank based in the US.
Meanwhile, it is uncertain how the war will unfold in the coming days. What is certain is that the war is going to take longer than either the US or Israel expected. The Trump administration admitted yesterday that it is likely to take around eight weeks. This is much longer than the five weeks the president had mentioned a few days ago.
As the US and Israel re-strategize on how to weaken the Iranian side, neither the duo nor Iran is letting go of the other’s strongholds. Major news networks continue to report the sounds of sirens in Doha and Abu Dhabi following attacks by Iran, and smoke billowing in Tehran as the US and Israel continue to weaken the capital. Considering the intensity of this war, the damage could have been much more serious were it not for the capacity of the countries involved to intercept the attacking missiles and drones.