NOURNEWS- In the aftermath of the Hamas operation deep into the occupied lands named the Al Aqsa Storm operation on 7th of October, the Zionist regime started an ethnic cleansing bloodbath in Gaza which according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor - Geneva-based independent organization - so far, has claimed the lives of more than 20,031 Palestinians, including 8,176 children.
Since then, due to obvious racism, barbaric, apartheid and criminal actions of the Zionist regime, the public opinion of the world has seen the true colors of the Israel and its main supporters, the US. But, outside the US-Zionist lobby’s defeat in PR dimensions of this war, despite the massacre of innocent civilian population of Gaza, the occupier regime has not been able to achieve any of its goals in Gaza and has been forced to accept Hamas’ terms in the recent Qatari-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, which as John Bolton has admitted, this ceasefire is a “major victory” for Hamas and an even bigger defeat for Israel.
Meanwhile, the Resistance Axis’ current assessment of the Gaza war is that both the US and Israel seek a protracted conflict - possibly even an endless war that transforms the Gaza Strip into a permanent battlefield to ensure that Israel no longer faces Palestinian deterrence capabilities.
On the other hand, the Axis continues to pursue all avenues to advance and accelerate a ceasefire in Gaza, including military options. The current “truce” didn’t emerge in a vacuum – it follows painful blows against occupation forces in the Gaza Strip, a sharp escalation of clashes in the occupied West Bank, and a gradual increase in the pace and severity of attacks in the region.
Axis officials believe that conciliatory-sounding US statements, which sometimes suggest that a de-escalation phase is imminent, are nothing but an American "public relations party" to repair a public image heavily damaged by unstinting US support for Israel’s continuing massacre of Palestinians in Gaza.
They based their observations on the fact that Israel continues to adhere to its initial military goals, modified from the plan to occupy the entire Gaza Strip. Tel Aviv’s objectives today are, first, to occupy the entire north of Gaza; second, to displace all of its inhabitants, more than 800,000 of whom are still living under siege and bombardment.
And third, to continue the besiegement of southern Gaza - exerting military pressure through intensive airstrikes and special operations to force Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions to surrender.
In light of these realities, the Axis of Resistance is pursuing its own West Asian escalation to pressure its adversaries to deescalate. That bar jumped considerably the past week when Yemen’s Ansarullah captured an Israeli-linked ship in regional waterways.
In accordance, From Yemen, the Ansarullah movement has launched several rounds of missile and drone attacks on southern parts of the occupied territories since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza in the wake of Al-Aqsa Storm operation which shattered the false worldwide narration regarding the military, information and overall capabilities of Israel being undefeatable and one of the greatest armies in the world.
In the early days of the past week, the Houthis took control of an Israeli ship on Yemen’s Red Sea coast in a shocking operation. In this regard, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree on 19 November warned that “all ships affiliated with or engaging with” Israel “will become legitimate targets,” urging all entities to avoid such activities.
Furthermore, Hezam al-Assad, a member of the political bureau of the Ansarullah resistance movement, told al-Araby al-Jadeed podcast that the seizure of the Israeli ship named “Galaxy Leader” by the Yemeni forces “is just the beginning of upcoming naval operations that will target Israel’s naval vessels, battleships, or commercial ships.”
Al-Assad stressed that Yemen’s involvement in the war in Gaza is “a pure Yemeni decision”, noting that some coordination is taking place with the axis of resistance. But, since then and before the real implementation of Gaza’s ceasefire on Friday, 24 November, one other Israeli affiliated ship named CMA CGM Symi has been target of a drone attack in the Indian Ocean and another Israeli ship named Zim Luanda, sailing from Israel to China has been seized by Yemenis Ansarullah movement.
The most important point regarding Houthis’ pure Yemeni decisions and actions in the Red Sea is that, in the aftermath of each of these operations – alleged drone attack on CMA CGM Symi, the seizure of the Zim Luanda and Galaxy Leader by Yemen’s Ansarullah – the US-Zionist lobby has tried to blame Iran for these actions.
In case of Galaxy Leader, the Prime Minister's Office of the Zionist regime claimed the involvement of the Islamic Republic of Iran in this incident and announced: Tehran is behind the seizure of a ship in the south of the Red Sea and near the territorial waters of Yemen.
In the case of the alleged drone attack on CMA CGM Symi, the Associated Press reported on Saturday citing a US defense official who remains anonymous: An Israeli owned ship was targeted in the Indian Ocean on Friday in a suspected drone attack by using Iranian made a triangle-shaped, bomb-carrying Shahed-136. But the US official did not provide any evidence of an Iranian link to the attack, and said “we continue to monitor the situation closely”
Furthermore, risk management company Ambrey told AP on this matter; “The attack is likely to have been targeted due to the vessel’s Israeli affiliation through (Israeli-owned shipping management company) Eastern Pacific Shipping,”.
The Symi is owned by the Singapore-headquartered Eastern Pacific Shipping, belonging to the Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer. In 2011, the UK newspaper The Sunday Times reported that ships owned by the Ofer family had been used to transport elite Israeli special forces units to conduct operations, including assassinations, in the region.
According to the AP, the vessel’s crew had been behaving as though they believed the ship may face a threat as they had switched off its tracking system since Tuesday, after leaving Dubai’s Jebel Ali port. The ship had done the same earlier when travelling through the Red Sea past Yemen due to their fear of Yemen's Ansarullah. It is noteworthy to say; According to sources such as the Al-Mayadeen outlet, the strike was conducted shortly before the start of the four-day ceasefire on Friday.
Once again, even though high ranking officials of the resistance and Iranian top officials have repeatedly said that Al Aqsa Storm operation is a purely Palestinian movement, and while the resistance groups are coordinating with each other, all the groups are independent, the US and its largest proxy military base (Israel) in the West Asia are trying to blame Iran for their own actions, its consequences, and hide their mounting defeats.
But at the current stage of the conflict, these discrepancies and accusations are considered totally irrelevant by officials in the region’s Axis of Resistance. They note instead that Washington continues to maintain its pace of arms support for Israel, as it has done since the war’s onset, while sticking to its refusal to entertain any permanent ceasefire.
In addition, the US has reduced neither its level of involvement in the management of military operations in the Gaza Strip, nor its reinforcement of missile defense systems to counter any Yemeni or Iraqi rocket attacks on Israeli positions.
The attack on Israeli or Israeli affiliated ships in the Red Sea is disaster for Tel Aviv, which depends primarily on maritime transportation for its imports and exports. If this becomes a pattern, Israeli-linked ships will be uninsurable, and hiring crews will become impossible. It is also a nightmare scenario for Washington, which wants the Gaza war to continue while its regional position enjoys complete calm.
But as the defeat of the US and the Zionist regime are becoming more obvious to the steadfast resistance of the resistance fronts of the region, Washington and Tel Aviv are facing more pressure to blame other countries such as Iran and escape from the direct consequences of their one-sided and aggression, and the latest attempt by US defense officials to blame Iran in extent of its drone being used against Israeli ships is a sad attempt that proves the aforementioned points.
BY: Homayoun Barkhor
NOURNEWS