One of the most basic and ancient tenets of international law is the sanctity of ambassadors and their embassies. But as I noted a couple weeks ago, the accusation of anti-Semite is so frequently raised as a shield to challenge Israel's conduct and policies that "[i]f you believe that Israel should be constrained by international law or basic human decency, you are an anti-Semite." So it is no surprise to me to have learned that Israel bombed the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, completely destroying the Iranian consulate located right next to the embassy proper, apparently in a bid to kill senior Iranian military officers. The air strike killed 11 people, including two Iranian generals. Iran has vowed revenge.
I don't actually care one whit that Iran lost a couple of its generals. But I do care that Israel grossly violated international law and norms by attacking an embassy. Embassies are not valid military targets. They are not valid civilian targets. They are, by their nature, simply not valid targets for military attacks.
This is also not an accident. Something like this would have required approval from the Israeli war cabinet and the Prime Minister. What it demonstrates is that Israel has a complete lack of regard for international rules and norms. And while Iran may not be able to directly attack Israel in response, there are many other avenues it could pursue including amping up its proxy war through Hezbollah, attack or harass shipping in the Gulf of Arabia, provide more assistance to the Houthis so they can attack shipping in the Red Sea, or, borrowing from Israel's play book, engage in campaign of assassination and bombings against Israeli targets around the world.
And, frankly, this may have been the goal of Israel in order to justify further aggression against Iran and/or Hezbollah, perhaps including dragging the U.S. into a conflict. Israel engaged in numerous provocative attacks against the PLO in the early 1980s in order to get the PLO to respond in kind and justify the invasion of Lebanon, so it's not like they haven't done this before.
Related:
- "Biden set to sell up to 50 F-15 fighter jets to Israel for $18 billion in biggest arms sale to Tel Aviv since start of war against Hamas"--Daily Mail.
- "Biden urged to stop Israel aid after airstrike in Gaza killed an American aid worker and six others: Progressives slam 'indiscriminate killing' that ended up in deaths of Jose Andres staff 'trying to feed starving people'"--Daily Mail.
- "US weighs selling new fighter jets, missiles and guidance kits to Israel"--Politico. Notable in the article is that the Biden Administration is transferring 1,800 MK-84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK-82 500-pound bombs preparatory for an offensive against Rafah on the south side of Gaza. The 2,000 lbs bombs purportedly can level an entire city block and penetrate up to 11 feet of concrete.
Want WWIII? This is how you get WWIII.
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