[Simplicius76Substack] There are some very strange happenings in the Middle East which underscore the historic shifts grumbling just beneath the surface, ready to break through.
Firstly, to set the stage we turn to Israel, which appears to be concealing an operation that has gone off the rails, and is not yielding any of the expected results—and in fact has done little more than turn the world against them, creating a shockwave of anti-Israeli fervor that will steer sentiment for generations.
As we now know, Israel has withdrawn many of its brigades from the north, citing ‘rest and rotation’ when in reality it appears to be ‘reconstitution’, as the brigades took major attritional losses. Now in the wake of that, the latest bombshell reports state that resistance fighters have re-infiltrated the entire north, leaving the map looking like that of below:
I myself was skeptical—could Israel really have abandoned the entire north after “claiming” to have captured it?
But here’s the double bombshell: even ISW admitted it:
| Two maps can be seen at the link. |
What does this mean? Has Israel suffered a total defeat in the north? Or have they “cleansed” it of ‘Hamas’ and are now taking a victory lap? To be completely fair and unbiased, we can’t say for certain as there is a deliberate informational blackout, particularly given all the reports we’ve seen from CNN and co. which openly state nothing is allowed to be aired without the full editorial oversight and approval of the IDF.
All we can do is infer from a variety of objective observations, such as the distinct lack of any mass eliminations or captures of resistance fighters, which is very telling.
Now, at the worst possible time, Iran has decided to turn the screws on Israel, creating extremely unfavorable conditions by locking down the maritime chokepoints, as well as putting unprecedented pressure on Israel’s top ally of the US, militarily, all across the region.
Even as of this writing, a new US-flagged ship, the Maersk Detroit, was said to be attacked by the Houthis in the Red Sea, though US CENTCOM claims the three missiles were all repulsed. The US Navy has been relegated to a glorified escort, but since the al-Mandab strait has effectively become a warzone, it has nonetheless crippled commerce. 
|
