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‘Victory or martyrdom’: The liberation of Al-Quds is in reach

  • Robert Inlakesh Robert Inlakesh
  • Source: Al Mayadeen English
  • 20 Jun 2025 15:24
  • 4 Shares
15 Min Read

Robert Inlakesh argues that "Israel’s" strike on Iran has backfired, triggering a broader regional war that could lead to the liberation of Al‑Quds.

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  •  For a while, it appeared as if the war was over, but Iran has now breathed new life into the spirits of the people in Gaza. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)
    For a while, it appeared as if the war was over, but Iran has now breathed new life into the spirits of the people in Gaza. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

The unprovoked war of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran may have set in motion a series of events that will lead to what has long been referred to as the “final war of liberation”. Although this may seem hyperbolic, if the war does not end soon, the only end is regime change in Iran or regime change in occupied Palestine.

The Zionist Entity appears to have fallen to its own propaganda and went too far with its attack on Iran, believing that what it sought to achieve would cripple the Iranian capability to quickly mount a solid response and lead to a somewhat limited exchange. It is clear that this was a catastrophic miscalculation.

Throughout the 20 months of genocide that have been inflicted against the people of Gaza, the Zionist regime has failed to find an image of victory. Despite inflicting occasional tactical defeats against the Palestinian Resistance, Iran’s IRGC and most notably Hezbollah, through assassinations and intelligence operations that use terrorist tactics, the Zionists hadn’t strategically defeated any of its opposition.

Instead, Hamas and all of the other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza are still alive and well. Hezbollah survived. Despite the existential threat posed to the Lebanese Party, they still managed to defeat the Israeli ground invasion of southern Lebanon under the worst possible circumstances. Yemen, on the other hand, forced the US military to back off and continued firing upon the Zionist regime on a daily basis in support of Gaza.

While failing to win on any front, the despicable slaughter of innocent people, most notably in Gaza, but also in Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, turned most of the global public against the Israeli regime. This, as the Zionist project saw the closure of tens of thousands of businesses, the loss of investments, the escape of around a million citizens, and a steep economic decline.

Combined with all of this, the regime’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, began purging all critical voices of his rule and replacing senior officials with yes men and personal allies. Meanwhile, cracks within Israeli society began growing and periodically causing bursts of unrest.

The Israeli military never actually went after Hamas and the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza on the ground. Until this day, there is virtually no footage showing Israelis carrying out close quarters offensive combat missions and clashing directly with Palestinian fighters. Instead, they hid like cowards in their armored military vehicles, rushed into areas to set up secure positions and used their Air Force as cover, only occasionally launching special forces operations.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian armed groups launched daring ambushes against the invading occupation forces, as the Israelis almost always concluded their “operation” with an invasion of a major hospital that they took over and used as a military base.

Instead of fighting head on like a real army, the Israeli participation trophy force - which grants 19-year-olds the rank of Sergeant - carried out a genocide instead. Their goal? To solve the Gaza question. By expelling and exterminating the civilian population, while making Gaza uninhabitable, they foolishly believed this would eventually lead to the collapse of the Resistance. To their surprise, the Resistance only recruited more into its ranks and, with limited means, continued to resist.

The Zionists briefly paused their genocide, but soon after violated the ceasefire they agreed upon, only to escalate their daily slaughter of civilians. “Operation Gideon’s Chariots” was sold to the Israeli public as “phase 2” of the war on Gaza, yet it quickly became clear that it was simply more of the same. The difference being that the highly degraded Israeli army now sought to use the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” to aid a new displacement and starvation agenda, while contracting ISIS-linked gangsters to do their dirty work for them.

In Syria, the Zionist Entity continued invading new territory in the south and frequently committed bombing campaigns throughout the country. This is despite the new Syrian leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, working with the Israelis on security coordination and even signaling his intent to normalize ties.

In Lebanon, the Zionist regime refused to leave the south and committed well over 3,000 violations of the ceasefire since November 27, 2024. It continued to kidnap Lebanese civilians, carry out assassinations, bombard the south, Beqaa Valley, and even occasionally strike civilian buildings in Beirut. Israeli drones and fighter jets roamed the skies of Lebanon every day, and the Lebanese Army did not resist them with a single bullet. 

The unhinged settler-colonial entity made its expansionist endeavors crystal clear and its leader, Netanyahu, constantly mouthed off about “total victory” in a “seven front war”. Meanwhile, the United States and most Western European leaders stood by and watched it all happen, not even bothering to condemn, let alone halt all trade or apply sanctions.

The Israelis stood plausibly accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and its Prime Minister became a wanted war criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Every major rights group, including B’Tselem, accused the Zionist entity of Genocide in Gaza. Millions around the world took to the streets, week-in week-out, pleading with their governments to take action. The students across North America and in different nations in Europe stood up, many sacrificing their degrees and possible future employment.

In the end, the Zionist Entity faced no real punishment from the so-called “international community”, beyond occasional statements and a few brave leaderships that took limited actions to impose a price.

What happened in the past 20 months is the death of International Law and Human Rights, these concepts now rest under the rubble of Gaza, along with the bodies of thousands of children who are yet to be recovered.

Iran finally took off the gloves

During this period of time, Iran received blow after blow. Its embassy in Damascus was bombed, Hamas leader Ismail Hanniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, and top IRGC officials were assassinated time and time again. 

Then came the terrorist pager attacks in Lebanon, which injured thousands, including many civilians, and even killed women and children. The cornerstones of the West’s so-called “liberal free press” who we have been told uphold the gold standard of journalism? They praised the pager attack that even former CIA Director Leon Panetta called terrorism.

Donald Trump took office, his campaign bankrolled by a who's who of Zionist billionaires like Miriam Adelson, then proceeded to threaten taking over Gaza and turning it into a sleazy ruling class casino. The unserious, mentally incompetent front man for the war machine only encouraged Israeli militaristic-adventurism further.

For some time, it appeared as if Gaza was going to be continuously crushed without anyone stepping in to stop it, beyond Yemen, which proved itself the only nation on earth to be dedicated enough to the cause of justice to wage a military intervention with its limited means from so far away. Fatigue and a sense of hopelessness swept its way across the region, especially after Hezbollah exited the fight.

But when all else seemed lost, one power remained standing in the way of the bloodthirsty Zionist regime’s plot, as its US allies frothed at the mouth, waiting to prey on the remains of the steadfast Palestinian people: that power was Iran.

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The final goal for the Zionist Entity was to deliver a blow to the Iranian people, one that could lead to a gradual regime change. However, when the Israeli regime delivered its blows, it went too far, and the Iranians delivered responses beyond what anybody had anticipated. Enough was enough.

The Israeli Miscalculation

When the Zionist regime launched its initial assault against Iran, it made a series of mistakes. The first was to target densely populated civilian areas, which caused horrifying scenes that will never leave the minds of the Iranian people: a toddler laying dead in the street and a mother trapped under the rubble, with countless civilians slaughtered in apartment complexes.

The second major mistake was the assumption that the assassinations of key IRGC leaders would put Iran into a state of confusion and temporarily incapacitate them. All the military contacts I spoke to at the time had given estimates that Iran would take 2-5 days to recover. To everyone’s surprise, Iran replaced its leaders, got its air defenses back online, and launched its first devastating missile strikes, all within 15 hours.

Another miscalculation was the obvious belief that the Islamic Republic could be depended upon to strike back in a limited and measured way. So far, it appears as if the only contingency in the event of what happened was to try and desperately pursue regime change as soon as possible.

The IRGC shook the entire world with their maximum impact strikes, followed by a strategy of draining the Israeli-Western-Arab air defenses guarding the Zionist Entity. Iran’s attacks were truly devastating and shocked even their most ardent supporters.

An issue which the Israelis now face is that even if there was to be a ceasefire signed tomorrow, their population will likely begin to flee, and their “security” myths will collapse. This will be the overarching message to the Israeli public, that you are surrounded by enemies who you cannot defeat and are still determined to end your ethno-supremacist regime.

Therefore, Benjamin Netanyahu quickly appeared to desperately shift to option two: regime change by any means. The Israelis even pulled out their pathetic weasley puppet, the son of the deposed Shah of Iran. This Zionist controlled collaborator has repeatedly released videos claiming that the Islamic Republic is falling apart, desperately trying to incite civil war in order to help the Zionist regime destroy his own nation. Yet, none of his speeches have led to even a single recorded protest inside Iran so far.

In fact, due to the brutal nature of the Israeli assault on Iran’s civilian areas, many Iranians who otherwise hate their government with a passion have sided with it against the Zionist regime’s brutality, understanding that the assault is aimed at destroying them.

If we are to try and understand the Israeli perspective in launching their assault, it has to be assumed that their logic revolved around similar talking points circulated in the leading Israeli and American pro-war think tanks. The most influential think tank over the Trump administration, The Heritage Foundation, argued in a 6-page brief, that the Israelis should attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and trigger a containable conflict.

All the so-called foreign policy experts were echoing the same sentiments, that they believed taking out the Iranian nuclear program could be achieved without triggering an all-out war. It is likely that what emboldened the Zionists to launch such a devastating attack on civilian areas in Tehran, was the belief that Iran would respond in a restrained way and practice the same “strategic patience” it has for decades.

If it also believes its own nonsense about “destroying Hezbollah” too, it will be in for an even bigger shock in the future.

While it is true that for some time the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance did not take the view that the ongoing multi-front war was existential, or should be considered the “final war”, the aggression, unimaginable brutality, and recklessness committed by the Zionist regime has now made them all see the war this way. Why? Because the Zionists were defeated on October 7, 2023, and have never recovered, going crazy and turning a single tactical defeat into an existential war for the regime's very survival.

The capture of Al-Quds?

If there is no ceasefire, which would be an acknowledgment of strategic defeat by the Israelis, the war will continue to escalate and drag on. Even with US involvement, it does not change this predicament, in fact, it only accelerates the process.

It would be foolish to assume that the Israelis don’t have more tricks up their sleeves, most likely involving Mossad operations, assassinations, and terrorist attacks. It could also launch hybrid warfare attacks and stir internal unrest. So, this should not be ruled out.

But one thing is for certain, this is the opportunity for everyone who was ever wronged by the Zionist Entity to rise up to the moment in history. Although the spark will be Iran’s missile strikes, defeating the Israelis completely is something that would have to be achieved on the ground.

When the Israeli air defenses are depleted and its air fields destroyed, greatly hindering the effectiveness of its air force, then a ground offensive from multiple fronts will succeed. Yet, such a ground offensive would have to be all out, with the objective of capturing occupied al-Quds. Hamas and Hezbollah would have to be the main actors in this ground war.

Alternatively, if the groups do not want to risk it all for such an offensive, then there is the opportunity for Hezbollah to liberate southern Lebanon and to return its prestige, avenging the assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and all of the nation’s fallen sons and daughters. While on the other hand, the Palestinian resistance can launch a campaign inside Gaza to force the Israeli military to retreat. Either way, the options are all going to be costly.

If the occupying entity was truly seeking its survival by any means, it would be begging for a ceasefire, in fact, it would never have attacked Iran illegally to begin with. Yet, arrogance got the better of it.

The fact is that what this criminal settler-colonial entity has committed over the past 20 months will never go away, and the people of the region will never stop resisting its tyranny. With every new nation that it attacks, with each child that it slaughters, it brings its end closer. 

In his first speech following the beginning of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the martyred Secretary General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, gave a boxing analogy to the war with the Zionist entity. He said: so far, points were being scored against the enemy, but the knockout blow had not yet been landed. 

After tiring the Israeli opponent out over many rounds, the big blows have started landing, and they are wobbling. Now we wait for the moment when the haymaker lands and sends the Israelis to canvas.

“It’s a Jihad of victory of martyrdom” has been the Palestinian slogan in their fight against the Israelis during this genocide. For a while, it appeared as if the war was over, but Iran has now breathed new life into the spirits of the people in Gaza. 

None of this had to be this way, but the Israelis chose to commit genocide, and the US chose to back them. The corporate media and most Western governments were also fully complicit; now they have allowed the Israelis to get so carried away with their illegal aggression that they have gone too far this time. Even if Iran and Lebanon are reduced to rubble, so too will the Zionist regime. Even nuclear weapons will not save it.

Evil terrorist regimes that commit genocides and attempt to conquer all their neighbors are not built to last. Eventually, they fall to pieces, because they make the mistake of thinking they are more powerful than God and that their lives are more precious than the lives of others. All fascists eventually fall, because humanity eventually wins one way or another.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • Al-Quds
  • Palestine
  • Israel
  • war on Iran
Robert Inlakesh

Robert Inlakesh

Political Analyst, Journalist, and Documentary Filmmaker.

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