Iranian Proxy Forces Poised for Invasion – Is a Second Front in Gaza Imminent?
Iranian backed proxy forces are “primed and ready” to invade Gaza and spark a second front in the ongoing war, a security expert has warned.
Middle East analysts told Central Recorder that following Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack – we could see a fresh war in Gaza or even a nuclear world conflict.
A Second Front in Gaza
Glees told Central Recorder Online that “Iranian backed Hezbollah forces are said to be primed and ready to go” in northern Gaza.
Hezbollah, forged with IRGC support and Iran’s largest proxy army, operate out of Lebanon above the Israeli border.
In recent months we have seen increased fighting in Lebanon as Israel focuses more efforts on targeting Hezbollah fighters.
Just days ago the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) took out a top Hezbollah commander in Lebanon, Ismail Yusaf Baz, who had planned missile strikes against Israel.
Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, a vile quartet of revolutionary forces, can certainly wreak havoc on Israel
Anthony Glees
Glees explains that if Israel does indeed target Iranian nuclear power plants as analysts have warned, Iran could send Hezbollah into the trenches on its behalf.
He told Central Recorder that Netanyahu, following six months of war in the Gaza Strip, may feel he has reached the stage of “all or nothing”.
Launching a strike against nuclear sites, Glees explains, “will seem tempting to Netanyahu”, but could be incredibly dangerous.
If it were to happen, he says, it “would radically increase the chances of a wider war in the Middle East and even a Third World War”.
‘Back to the shadows’
Former British tank commander Hamish de-Bretton Gordon told Central Recorder that Friday’s strike by Israel shows that it has Iran in a chokehold.
He said Tehran will have no choice now but to resort back to the proxies it has hidden behind across the Middle East for years.
The military expert told Central Recorder: “Israel has got its hand around Iran’s neck, squeezing it tight enough and Iran knows that the only way to get that strangle hold off is to cease conventionally trying to attack Israel, go back to the shadows.
They are over-matched in every area. The only way they can progress is how they’ve been doing it for the last 10 or 20 years, through their terror groups and through their proxies
Hamish de-Bretton Gordon
Hamish added he thinks the choice of Israel’s target – next to a nuclear base – was “significant”.
He told Central Recorder: “They’ve hit their target. Near Isfahan, a very militarised city. It’s hit a base. Perhaps the Iranian revolutionary guard core. We don’t know.
“The fact that it’s close to a nuclear facility, I think is significant. I think it’s really Israeli demonstrating: ‘Yeah, we can hit anywhere.'”
Hamas & the Houthis
Dr Anahita Motazed Rad, an expert in the Middle East, also told Central Recorder how Tehran might turn to its patchwork army of proxies after an Israeli revenge hit.
When asked about the frightening possibility, she said: “Possibly… definitely Hezbollah and even other proxies… inside Syria or Iraq and even Houthis inside Yemen.”
Hezbollah and even other proxies… inside Syria or Iraq and even Houthis inside Yemen [could attack Israel]
Anahita Motazed Rad
Iran, which is an “opportunistic” regime “just thinking about survival” could resort to terrifying measures if Israel hits out, she explains.
She told Central Recorder that the Iranian regime, which is struggling domestically as many people want to see a change in government, is at its “weakest point”.
Dr Rad thinks it’s “possible” Tehran, whose military capability is dwarfed by the IDF, might issue orders for Hamas to kill any remaining hostages in Gaza.
It could also use them to “bargain” with Israel, who far outweighs Iran’s military capability.
Iran’s third fierce proxy army – the Houthis – seemed to withdraw some of the nautical attacks in the Red Sea after joint US and UK strikes on their Yemen strongholds earlier this year.
But soon after Iran’s missile launch last weekend, the group endorsed Tehran’s attack.
And the following day they launched multiple drones at Israel in a coordinated ambush with Iran.