Israel widens shadow war with Iran

Israel’s military campaign against Iran, long conducted through shadowy missile strikes in Syria, has burst into the open at a pivotal moment for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Behind recent strikes in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon are a confluence of geopolitical and domestic factors. Israel’s offensive seeks to reinforce Mr Netanyahu’s message that Iranian threats will be ­targeted wherever they are detected in the region.

“Iran is working on a broad front to carry out murderous ­terrorist attacks against the state of Israel,” Mr Netanyahu said ­yesterday. “Israel will continue to defend its security however that may be necessary.”

On the weekend, Israel struck a military site in Syria to prevent planned attacks from Iran­ian forces, and went on high alert in anticipation of a response from Iran.

On Sunday, Lebanese officials blamed Israel for two drones that fell on Beirut. Later that day, a drone attack in Iraq killed two members of an Iranian-aligned militia. In the latest strike, on Monday, Israeli aircraft hit a base in eastern Lebanon of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group backed by Tehran and the government of Syria.

Israel’s efforts to counter Iran reflect a high-wire act for Mr Netanyahu, who touts himself as the nation’s chief protector but now risks saddling Israel with multiple conflicts just weeks ahead of ­elections on September 17.

Some analysts warn that ­Israel’s enemies, including Iran, could exploit the sensitive political ­moment to goad Israel into a bigger fight. “Multiple engagements that are highly public on multiple fronts, with perhaps a political context attached to them, could incentivise one or more of Israel’s enemies to try to escalate into a much more expansive conflict,” said Daniel Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel who is now at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.

Read the article by Felicia Schwartz in The Australian.