In the early hours of June 13, Israel launched an unprecedented and illegal military assault deep into Iranian territory, striking nuclear facilities, government buildings and residential areas in what it dubbed "Operation Rising Lion". Far from a defensive maneuver, this was a calculated escalation designed to ignite a broader regional war, deflect global scrutiny from its ongoing genocide in Gaza and edge closer to the goal of Eretz Israel.

This is not self-defense. This is empire in motion.

According to reports, Israeli fighter jets targeted not only Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities at Natanz and Fordow but also civilian apartment blocks in Tehran, killing several senior military leaders and civilians. Among the dead were Major General Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of Iran's conventional military, and Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - a deliberate attempt to decapitate Iran's military command structure.

As commentator Belén Fernández noted, "Israel thrives on perpetual upheaval and mass killing, all the while portraying itself as the victim of the folks it is slaughtering." The latest strike, she argues, represents Netanyahu's continued use of war as a political escape hatch - one that shields him from mounting corruption charges and domestic unrest, while solidifying Israel's regional dominance.

Just as troubling is the geopolitical context. This brazen attack came just days before planned negotiations between........

© The Express Tribune