In a world already teetering on the edge of multiple crises, the recent Israeli attack on Iran has not only heightened regional tensions but also exposed the dangerous game being played by certain global actors. This act of aggression comes on the heels of the Indian incursion into Pakistani territory earlier in May, which was effectively repelled by Pakistan on 7 May through a calculated and courageous response. While the threat of a prolonged conflict between two nuclear-armed neighbours was fortunately averted, the winds of war appear to have shifted eastward, now blowing over Iran with unsettling force.

This is not the first time Israel has launched strikes on Iranian soil. Over the years, Tel Aviv has carried out numerous covert and overt operations aimed at sabotaging Iran’s nuclear programme and military assets. On 27 November 2020, the assassination of prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in Absard, Damavand County, near Tehran, was widely attributed to Israel, though the latter never officially accepted responsibility. Earlier, in 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Mossad had obtained a vast cache of Iranian nuclear documents — a move seen as part of Israel's broader psychological warfare against Tehran.

More recently, Israel has increased the frequency and intensity of its aerial strikes on Iranian positions in Syria, with hundreds of such attacks recorded over the past decade. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Israel carried out over 1,200 airstrikes between 2013 and 2023, many of which targeted Iranian........

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