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 The Sun that following Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attack – we could see a fresh war in Gaza or even a nuclear world conflict.
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It comes after tensions between the “sworn enemies” spiralled in an unprecedented escalation when Tehran fired an aerial barrage of missiles and drones at Israel.
Israeli PM Netanyahu’s war cabinet quickly warned of a “strategic but painful” revenge strike and world leaders urged caution to avoid an “uncontrollable war” spiralling in the Middle East.
In the early hours of Friday morning, Israel launched a limited strike on an air base in the city of Isfahan – next door to a nuclear site.
Reports later surfaced that Tel Aviv could have been “testing the waters” before unleashing a “major response on nuclear sites”.
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Explosions were also heard in Iraq and Syria in what appeared to be further hits on Iranian proxy terror groups across the Middle East.
It followed reports from two weeks ago that Israel had plans to strike Iranian nuclear hubs.
Professor Anthony Glees told The Sun that if Tel Aviv does attack nuclear sites, Iran could send its patchwork army of proxies to “wreak havoc on Israel”.
He warned it “would radically increase the chances of a wider war in the Middle East and even a Third World War”.
Former British Army commander and military analyst Hamish de Bretton-Gordon explained how yesterday’s strike in Iran will force Iran “back to the shadows” to resort to it’s “terror groups and proxies”.
And Dr Anahita Motazed Rad, an expert on Iran, told The Sun that Tehran could order its puppet armies to respond to an Israeli strike.
Days ago Iran wheeled out scores of gun-toting soldiers at its annual army day parade before issuing another warped warning that it would hit Israel again.
Iranian president Raisi snarled during the sabre-rattling ceremony that even the “smallest action” by Israel would spark a “fierce” response.
During a march in Tehran after Israel’s strikes yesterday, Iranians took to the streets to chant “Death to America, Death to Israel”.
The formidable regime also threatened to unleash a weapon it’s “never used before” amid fears of its ability to produce a nuclear bomb.
While Iran made clear it would respond in some concerning way when Israel inevitably hit back, it may not do so explicitly.
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A second war in Gaza
Glees told The Sun 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 The Sun 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”.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi warned this week of fears that Israel could target Iran’s nuclear sites.
He said Tehran has barricaded up its nuclear facilities over “security considerations”.
Glees told The Sun this kind of response from Israel could be the flame that sparks a fresh war in Palestine.
“This new war would start with the use of conventional weapons by both sides but if it became a more general war, engulfing all of us, it would almost certainly lead to nuclear weapons being deployed,” he said.
This new war would start with the use of conventional weapons by both sides but if it became a more general war, engulfing all of us, it would almost certainly lead to nuclear weapons being deployed
Anthony Glees
Glees said Israel is “terrified of a ‘second front’ opening up” in the north of the war-torn enclave, which would force it to fight two of Iran’s fiercest proxy groups.
The IDF is already facing a brutal war in Gaza against Iran-backed Hamas which has dragged on for more than half a year.
He warned: “Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, a vile quartet of revolutionary forces, can certainly wreak havoc on Israel.”
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‘Back to the shadows’
Former British tank commander Hamish de-Bretton Gordon told The Sun 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 The Sun: “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.”
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 The Sun: “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.'”
Director of think tank Henry Jackson Society Dr Alan Mendoza also told The Sun that Iran could seek revenge for Israel’s suspected blitz on its Damascus embassy via its proxies.
He said a retaliation might involve an “attempt to strike Israel again in an October 7, style war – this time with Lebanon”.
While Iran’s attack on Israel last Saturday largely failed thanks to Israeli and allied air defences, a ground effort from Hezbollah in Lebanon could mean something very different.
Ali Ansari, a professor of Iranian studies and a member of think tank RUSI, told The Sun that the Saturday attack “has been mocked around the Arab world”.
The failed blitz, he says, was embarrassing for Tehran.
Ansari explains that he doesn’t believe Hezbollah will get involved. But, he tells us “that could change… depending on what the Israelis do next”.
Ansari adds that Iran’s nuclear sites “would be a natural target” for Israel – the eventuality that Glees says could spark war.
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Hamas & the Houthis
Dr Anahita Motazed Rad, an expert in the Middle East, also told The Sun 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 The Sun 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.
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