How the Iran-Israel conflict began international

After Saturday's Israeli missile attack on Iran, fears of a major regional war have increased. Israel claims it attacked military installations. Iran reported that the attack was repelled, saying that there was not much damage.

The Israeli strike was a long-anticipated response to Iran's missile attack against Israel on October 2. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tehran at the time that Iran had “made a big mistake.”

This Israeli-Iranian counter-attack did not start suddenly. The point of regional tension has been widening since Israel started the war in Gaza almost a year ago. Here is an important timeline of the latest conflict between the two countries for the readers of RisingBD:

October 8, 2023: Israel-Hezbollah exchange fire

On October 7, the Palestinian independence organization Hamas attacked Israel. Israel started attacking Gaza that day. The next day, Lebanon's Hezbollah began exchanging fire across the Lebanon-Israel border. 1 thousand 139 people have been killed and more than 200 prisoners in Lebanon in the Israeli attack. The war in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

On October 8, Hezbollah said it launched guided rocket and artillery attacks on three military posts in Sheba Farm in the border region in “an expression of solidarity” with the Palestinians. Israel captured Sheba Farm from Lebanon during the 1967 Six Day War

The Israeli military said it fired another round of shelling at an area in Lebanon. From there, mortars were fired at the Israeli border.

Since then, almost daily exchange of fire has continued along the border. From October 7, 2023 to September 6 this year, there have been seven thousand 845 counter-attacks between the two forces. About 82 percent of these were carried out by Israeli forces.

April 1, 2024: Israel attacks the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria

An Israeli missile attack destroys the Iranian consulate in Damascus. IRGC (Revolutionary Forces of Iran) commander Major General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and 13 people including his deputy were killed in this incident.

Israel has long targeted Iranian military installations in Syria. However, this attack is the first time that a diplomatic compound has been targeted. Iran vowed to respond to the attack.

April 13, 2024: Iran attacks Israel

Almost two weeks after the deadly attack on the Iranian consulate in Syria, Iran launched nearly 300 missiles and drone strikes targeting Israel. This is the first time Iran has fired a missile directly into Israeli territory.

According to the Israeli military, most of the missiles were intercepted outside the country's borders with the help of the US, UK and France. Jordan also helped destroy some missiles that crossed its airspace.

A seven-year-old Israeli child was seriously injured by a missile fragment, while others suffered minor injuries. According to US officials, the Iranian airstrikes lasted five hours.

July 31, 2024: Assassination of Ismail Haniyah

Ismail Haniyeh, the political head of Hamas, was killed in the early hours of July 31 in Tehran, the capital of Iran. An airstrike took place in the building where he was staying. Hamas and Iran have blamed Israel for the killings. The day before, Haniyeh went to Tehran to attend the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has promised 'severe punishment' in this incident.

September 23-27, 2024: Israel kills more than seven hundred people in Lebanon

On September 23, Israel's military said it had carried out more than 650 airstrikes on about 1,600 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. These attacks ranged from Binte Jabil and Aitaroun in the south to Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley in the north.

In just four days from September 23 to September 27, the Israeli army carried out airstrikes across Lebanon, killing more than seven hundred people. Among the dead are 50 children and 94 women. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was also confirmed killed in the attack.

The Israeli military claimed to have used 85 so-called 'bunker buster' bombs on a residential suburb of Beirut. The use of such bombs in residential areas and other populated areas is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.

On September 24, Hezbollah retaliated with an airstrike targeting Israel's Atlet naval base south of Haifa.

October 2: Iranian missile attack on Israel

Iran says it has launched nearly 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killings of top leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Tehran claims it has used a hypersonic missile against Israel for the first time.

Israeli officials warned of harsh retaliation. Israel's allies have since been trying to convince Tel Aviv to limit the response. US President Joe Biden said he does not support Israel's attack on Iran's nuclear facilities or oil facilities.

How did the conflict escalate?

Denizal Jezik, an assistant professor at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, told Al Jazeera, “Washington and its proxies are shielding Israel from any accountability and ensuring that Netanyahu can continue the massacres in Gaza, colonial violence throughout the region, and anyone who tries to intervene.” can cope.'

He said that the international community failed to intervene in the genocide in Gaza, especially due to the US dominance and the power imbalance of the UN institutions.

“The Israeli government has made it clear that there is no final border line… (they) continue to use violence because they can,” Jezik said.