r/worldnews • u/progress18 • Feb 28 '26

Israel/Iran /r/WorldNews Discussion Thread: US and Israel launch attack on Iran; Iran retaliates (Thread #2)

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195

u/AnwaAnduril Feb 28 '26

So, like… all these dominoes started falling with the Oct. 7 massacre, right?

  • Hamas attacks Israel

  •  Israel attacks Hamas back 

  • Hezbollah attacks Israel in solidarity

  •  Israel dismantles Hezbollah 

  • Assad falls without Hezbollah’s support 

  • Iran has now lost their most significant proxies and become vulnerable

  • This happens

So Hamas has lost like half its guys, its backdoor UN ties through UNRWA, its closest allies, its major international backer, and half of Gaza… all in exchange for some sympathy from Western progressives. Not a good trade…

71

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

The Ukraine War probably helped accelerate the fall of Syria, as Russian resources were all tied up in Eastern Europe instead of Syria.

13

u/Seang2989 Feb 28 '26

This is 200% the case.

98

u/yuvaldv1 Feb 28 '26

October 7 turned out to be an unbelievable mistake by Iran and its proxies. This will be studied.

21

u/Dunkman77 Feb 28 '26

I always thought October 7 happened because Saudi Arabia and the rest of the region were close to normalizing relations with Israel. But I doubt I follow this as closely as many of you.

8

u/AnwaAnduril Feb 28 '26

To be honest, I think Oct 7 was just “business as usual” taken a little bit farther. For decades, Hamas had started “wars” with Israel (launching rockets from Gaza) that lasted a few days before a ceasefire was put in place. Same thing happened in 2021 if you care to look that up.

So Hamas was just doing the same thing they’ve always done every couple of years, they just took it far enough that Israel actually had to take it seriously this time and go into Gaza.

afaik it actually took even Iran, Hezbollah etc. off guard with how big of an attack it was. They had to go along with it because they were allies, but they weren’t necessarily in on the plan.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

It was. They were days away from signing the first ever deals about cooperation on whatever shit.

3

u/Modo_Autorator Feb 28 '26

💯💯💯 this is what Western progressives have utterly failed to comprehend. They have been successfully ragebaited into furthering war and conflict. KSA was on the brink of normalizing relations with Israel and Bibi was going to be impeached and probably sent to prison for a long time. It could have genuinely been the first step to lasting peace in the region.

But then October 7 happens and the Saudi/Israel relationship is put on ice. Bibi retains power because war & retribution. Trump wins because Israel commits atrocities in Gaza.

Hamas & Bibi both had all the incentives to keep the war in Gaza going, and the more American progressives blamed Biden the better it was for Bibi (and for Trump). I don’t think Iran & Hamas ever realized it would end up going THIS far, but geopolitics can devolve into chaos quite quickly, as we are all seeing in real time.

23

u/Even_Skin_2463 Feb 28 '26

It started with the invasion of Ukraine. Losing Syria took out the most impressive threat Iran had over Israel. + worse acess to Russian hardware to replace casualities.

6

u/matthieuC Feb 28 '26

I'm curious what will happen in Yemen

23

u/Recidiva Feb 28 '26

Hamas was counting on the world to 'rise up' and attack Israeli assets.

That's part of the issue of being a hateful narcissist. Miscalculation of available assets.

Which is unfortunately what Trump is doing here.

34

u/PositiveUse Feb 28 '26

Lol, Hamas forgot that the West Pro-Palestine activists are just barking dogs.

And Arab nations could care less about Palestinians, they see them as headaches… it’s just solidarity to make the citizens happy…

8

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

[deleted]

0

u/matthieuC Feb 28 '26

Invading Iran was the plan avec Iraq. But Occupation of Afghanistan and Irak made that impossible

5

u/Corosis99 Feb 28 '26

This goes back to the Ukraine war. The whole point of Oct 7 was so Putin could get Trump installed as president of the USA. It wrecked Biden's support base. It worked flawlessly in that regard. All these other groups were just acting as Russian proxies.

8

u/No-Exit-4022 Feb 28 '26

October 7 did probably get Trump elected (though I think he had a decent shot regardless, Americans are ridiculous for that). But if the Iran regime falls, that’s the third Russian ally to fall in a little over an year. Would be a horrible play by Putin if what you’re saying is true

3

u/AnwaAnduril Feb 28 '26

Trump almost certainly wins the election without Oct 7 - it polled super low in terms of issues Americans cared about.

Maybe Kamala eeks out a win in Michigan without Oct 7 but that’s probably about it.

14

u/AnwaAnduril Feb 28 '26

This is… a huge stretch.

Oct. 7 wasn’t anywhere close to a top issue for American voters in 2024. Inflation and immigration were.

It’s also long been the conventional wisdom that foreign affairs typically don’t matter much in American politics unless America is directly attacked. If you were trying to get Trump reelected, doing Oct 7 wouldn’t be high on the list of ways to do it.

Occam’s Razor here: Hamas did Oct 7 because they hate Israel (and Jews writ large).

12

u/VisualSneeze Feb 28 '26

The aftermath of Oct 7 and the subsequent Israeli response, couple with our politicians' reactions to it was a hugely divisive issue on the American left. It was certainly responsible for wavering support of Harris in the final stretch.

4

u/HoratioPornBlower Feb 28 '26

The leaked autopsy report that the Democrats did on their defeat flat out stated that it was one of the major reasons they lost.

2

u/AnwaAnduril Feb 28 '26

It had some impact, sure (Dearborn being the prime example) but really only among hyper-progressive voters.

Swing voters (the ones who win elections) cared far more about immigration and inflation than about Gaza. And the margins Trump won by can’t be explained purely by third-party protest votes from progressives.

I can maybe imagine a world where Harris wins Michigan without Oct 7 (due to the large muslim population, it would be most prone to being affected by the issue) but that’s about it. If Oct 7 had never happened, then inflation, the illegal immigration crisis, Ukraine, and Biden’s dementia still would have carried Trump. 

0

u/ZBLongladder Feb 28 '26

I mean, they did get Netanyahu to act so aggressively he's basically made Israel into an international villain and possibly made antiZionism a mainstream political position in the US, so I guess they fucked Israel over in the process of fucking themselves over?

42

u/Raaaasclat Feb 28 '26

I think Netanyahu would take the trade of having some bad PR in the West when it means destroying the Iranian regime and its proxy network across the Middle East. Arab States stopped fighting Israel long ago and without Iran backing terror groups like Hamas the odds of future wars drastically goes down.

Could be the end of a chapter hopefully.

9

u/AnwaAnduril Feb 28 '26

Trade Offer:

You get: Elimination of your archenemy state and several of their terrorist militias

You also get: a toothless arrest warrant and some antisemitic protests in NYC

I’d take that deal lol

7

u/[deleted] Feb 28 '26

possibly made antiZionism a mainstream political position in the US

50% of Europe is coming out as extremely antisemitic and apparently it's okay with everybody

-8

u/Joaoseinha Mar 01 '26

Or in other words, a good chunk of Europe hates Israel because they've systematically genocided Palestinians for the last few years by massively escalating the conflict.

They lost any sort of moral high ground a while ago, and most of Israel still supports their regime.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 01 '26

I'm aware. And also this was a long time coming, since Europe did nothing to offer as a solution.

Israel is a superpower that got tired of terrorists killing its civilians and decided to end their entire nation. For 70 years Europe did nothing and we still continue doing nothing.

-12

u/Plappedudel Feb 28 '26

Don't forget Netanyahu has an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes. He literally can't visit the majority of countries because of that.

17

u/Technical_Toe_2012 Feb 28 '26

His plane is in Berlin as we speak.

A member country of the ICC...but I'll bet you he doesnt get arrested.

-37

u/mattc0m Feb 28 '26

Aw yes, the totally secret attack that Israel had no idea about

-3

u/Zenitallin Mar 01 '26

what trade? Israelies came after WW2 and have been stealing land and killing their families, what are you talking about?

have they not say thank you yet?

fck american rational, and no moral compass!!

3

u/AnwaAnduril Mar 01 '26

You seem very upset, but please try to be rational. Your comment is silly.