Iran’s Rocket Attack on Israel – Here’s What’s Going on Between Nations

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The situation in the Middle East is more precarious than it has been in a long time: Iran launched a massive rocket attack on Israel after Israel launched a ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Islamic Republic had already attacked the Jewish state with drones in April; it was the first direct military attack on Israel. At that time, Israel immediately retaliated; an explosion occurred near the Isfahan airport deep in the interior of Iran. How and when Israel will respond this time is unclear.

A direct attack on enemy territory represents a dangerous escalation in the decades-long conflict between Iran and Israel, but relations between the two countries have not always been so adversarial. Overview.

middle east outsider

Israel is only half the size of Switzerland (it has no occupied territory) and has a slightly larger population, but is a dwarf compared to Iran: the Islamic republic is 40 times the size of Switzerland and has nearly 90 million inhabitants. Both countries are in their own way outsiders in the Middle East: Israel is the only Jewish-majority country in the region (and the world), and Iran – as opposed to most Sunni-majority Arab countries – has a predominantly Shiite population. Mainly and non-Arab population.

In Jewish tradition, Persia was considered a friendly country since biblical times, as Jews enjoyed important freedoms in the Persian Empire. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran's once-large Jewish community dwindled to just a few thousand members. Jews are a recognized religious minority in Iran but face discrimination; many immigrate to Israel. Today, approximately 250,000 Iranian-Israelis live there, some of whom still retain Persian culture and traditions.

Strong friendship under the king's rule

Iran's relations with Israel were initially cautious: Iran was one of 13 countries that voted against the 1947 UN Partition Plan, which envisioned a Jewish and an Arab state in the British mandate for Palestine. After the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, Iran also voted against admitting the new country to the United Nations. Iran, by contrast, is the first Muslim-majority country after Turkey to officially recognize Israel. Among Iran's Muslim population, however, sympathy for the Palestinians predominates.

Under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (right), relations between Iran and Israel were mostly friendly.Image source: Associated Press

Relations between Iran and Israel improved significantly after a 1953 coup orchestrated by the United States and Britain overthrew the democratically elected government and replaced it with a pro-Western shah's regime. Israel sees non-Arab Iran as a natural ally on the eastern edge of the Arab Circle. Both countries sided with the United States in the Cold War, while Arab countries such as Egypt and Iraq temporarily leaned toward the Soviet Union. After the 1967 Six-Day War, Iran met most of Israel's oil needs; trade between the two countries was brisk.

The Ice Age after the Islamic Revolution

Good relations ended after the 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew the king and brought the mullahs' regime to power in Tehran. The Islamic regime describes the Jewish state as a “little Satan” (along with the “big Satan”, the United States) and has severed all official ties with Israel. Since then, Iranian citizens are no longer allowed to travel to Israel, which is considered “occupied Palestine.” Iran's official statement denies Israel's right to exist and advocates the liberation of Jerusalem.

Shortly after the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, returned from exile. Khomeini adopted a sharply anti-Israel approach. Photo credit: AP New York

Still, there is cooperation (albeit covert) between the two countries, who both fear Iraq is highly armed. In 1980, when Iraq attacked a revolution-weakened Iran, Israel provided a large supply of weapons to the Islamic Republic, albeit in secret. Last but not least, Jerusalem hopes this will improve relations with Tehran.

geopolitical realignment

Relations between Iran and Israel remain tense, also because Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and Iran supports Shiite militias there. However, the situation did not escalate as both countries had a common enemy, namely Iraq and the Soviet Union. This common threat disappeared with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and Iraq's defeat in the Second Gulf War, significantly reducing its military potential.

The “Shiite Crescent” stretches from Bahrain through Iran, Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. Map: Wikimedia

After the US invasion in 2003, Iraq almost completely disappeared from the scene as a power factor. Tehran's influence began to become increasingly apparent in Shiite-dominated countries, which gave the Mullah regime an opportunity to step up its export of revolutionary policies to Arab countries. The so-called Shiite Crescent stretching from Iran to Lebanon has come increasingly under Iranian influence, especially since the civil war broke out in 2011, with the Syrian regime surviving with Iranian support.

regional power with nuclear program

Iran thus established itself as a regional power. This heightens contrasts with Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally and Sunni hegemon in the region. Meanwhile, Israel is increasingly concerned that Iran will follow through on its threats of annihilation against the Jewish state. These concerns are exacerbated by the fact that Iran is developing intermediate-range missiles and advancing its nuclear program. This development led to rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, along with waning interest in the Palestinian cause.

Iranian missiles can reach anywhere in Israel. Image: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Tehran's Pliers

Hezbollah, the Shia militia in southern Lebanon, was greatly encouraged by the 1982 Israeli invasion and may have initially served the mullahs in Tehran primarily to export the Islamic revolution to Lebanon. However, with the failure of Israel's attempt to destroy Hezbollah in 2006, it became clear that Iran could attack Israel indirectly through this terrorist organization. The militias were not only able to withstand an attack by a force that far outnumbered the Israeli military in conventional strength, but also blanketed northern Israel with rockets.

While Hezbollah threatens Israel's northern flank, Israel faces Hamas in the south, which controls the Gaza Strip. Hamas is a radical Islamist group but Sunni-oriented, which itself hinders an alliance with Shiite Iran. The terror group is hated by conservative Arab countries because it has its roots in the radical Muslim Brotherhood, so it seeks support in Tehran. This gives Iran a pair of pincers that can threaten Israel from two fronts without attacking Israel itself.

Hezbollah is Israel's sworn enemy. Image: aro1.com

indirect war

Until the latest escalation, the conflict between Israel and Iran had been an indirect war, in which militias allied to Tehran – in addition to Hezbollah and Hamas and Yemen's Houthis – attacked Israel on Iran's behalf. The Syrian regime also belongs to this so-called axis of resistance. Israel, in turn, has repeatedly attacked Iranian positions in Syria and Lebanon. This indirect war is also waged through cyberattacks and the destruction of enemy infrastructure. In particular, since the beginning of Iran's nuclear program, Israel's foreign intelligence agency Mossad has murdered many Iranian nuclear scientists and sabotaged Iran's nuclear facilities. The targeted killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran at the end of July may have alarmed the mullah regime.

The Israel-Iran conflict is complex: In addition to ideological-religious factors – namely the mullahs’ avowed goals of wiping the “Zionist entity” off the map and liberating Jerusalem – Iran’s drive for regional dominance also plays a role . Despite its Shiite nature, Iran is exploiting the hostility of a large portion of the Arab population toward Israel in order to be accepted as the dominant power in a predominantly Sunni environment.