What Israel wants to achieve strategically before the US election?
Last Updated on October 21, 2024 5:36 am
The killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded the October 7 attacks on Israel last year, is a major victory for Israel. But after Sinwar’s assassination, Israel’s leaders are looking to secure several strategic gains beyond military victory. That is for Israel to redefine the territorial (landscape) territory and protect its borders from any future attacks. This information has emerged in the report of Reuters.
The US election is approaching. Before this, Israel is trying to inflict maximum damage on Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel is trying to use this time to create a ‘buffer zone’ before the new president takes office in January.
According to Western diplomats, Lebanese and Israeli officials and other regional sources, by intensifying military operations against Hezbollah and Hamas, Israel wants to ensure that its enemies and their main sponsor, Iran, do not regroup and pose a threat to Israeli citizens.
US President Joe Biden is expected to use Sinwar’s killing to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the Gaza war.
But Israeli leaders are looking forward to the end of Biden’s term and will seize the opportunity to elect the next president. Whether it’s Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris or Republican challenger Donald Trump.
David Schenker, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, is now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute think tank. He said that the idea of a new landscape and a new geopolitical change in the region is swirling in Israel’s mind.
Because according to Schenker, Israel no longer exists in the state of 2023. Prior to the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, Israel was in a position to withstand the threat of rocket attacks from Palestinian armed groups and other enemies. But that is no longer the case. Now Israel is able to respond appropriately.
Yahya Sinwar, the new head of Hamas, was killed in an Israeli airstrike last Thursday (October 17).
Meanwhile, Israel is accelerating military operations to push Hezbollah away from its northern border before any cease-fire deal can be considered. In addition, Israel is also planning to launch a counterattack in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on October 1. The attack was Iran’s second direct attack on Israel in six months.
An Israeli ground offensive launched into Lebanon last month was aimed at pushing Hezbollah back about 30 kilometers from its northern border. Driving behind the Litani River and completely disarming the armed Shia group despite Iran’s military support.
But Hezbollah does not accept disarmament citing the need to protect Lebanon from Israeli attacks. Since last year, its fighters have been fighting almost daily with Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.
Israel told several Arab states last year that it wanted to create a ‘buffer zone’ on the Palestinian side of the Gaza border. But Israel has not yet clarified how deep it will be or how it will function after the war ends.
In May, Israeli forces occupied the Philadelphia Corridor. The corridor is a narrow strip along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt. through which Israel could impose effective control over all land borders in the Palestinian territories.
So Israel says it will not agree to a permanent ceasefire without a guarantee that whoever runs it after the Gaza war will be able to prevent the corridor from being used to supply weapons to Hamas.
Source: Reuters