On October 7, it was announced that Iran’s parliament is drafting a defense and security pact, which will formally bind the Resistance, “and their supporting countries,” together in a common, collaborative military structure to counter external threats, “particularly from the US and Israel.” Unremarked upon in the West, this is a seismic move, representing the most monumental nail hammered into "Israel’s" coffin since Palestinian freedom fighters struck deep inside the Zionist entity’s putrid heart a year prior. The proclamation’s timing was absolutely no coincidence.

All the pact’s signatories - be they governments or Resistance movements - will provide “comprehensive” economic, military, and political assistance to one another, should they come under attack from the Zionist entity or its allies. Significantly, a dedicated joint military headquarters, to “facilitate coordination” between members of the Resistance, will also be established. This will serve as a “central command for managing military operations and crisis response, reinforcing operational capabilities through planned joint military exercises.”

The pact “aims not only to enhance military cooperation,” but also “bolster infrastructure development” for the Resistance - “collaboration in building military bases and training centers is expected to improve readiness against potential threats.” If implemented, Islamic Republic lawmakers believe “this alliance could significantly shift the balance of power in the region, presenting a formidable counterweight to Western influence seeking to wreak havoc in West Asia to Israel’s benefit.”

Of course, recent events have made it clear that West Asia’s “balance of power” has already decisively shifted in favor of the Resistance. The scale and severity of Iran’s unprecedented October 1 strike on the Zionist entity amply indicated Tehran not only didn’t expect retaliation of any serious kind to be forthcoming from "Israel" or its Western puppetmasters but had calculated that in the event Tel Aviv was sufficiently foolhardy to declare all-out war in response, the Resistance would inevitably prevail.

In the wake of that devastating assault, this journalist postulated Tehran had thrown down a gauntlet to its regional and international adversaries, safe in the knowledge any resultant conflict would mean the Zionist entity’s final end and the Empire’s concomitant retreat from West Asia more widely. The rapid emergence of a formal Resistance military alliance tends to confirm this analysis. Now, it is up to "Israel" to make the next move, which could well be its very last.

‘Military Response’

Hours before Iran struck the Zionist entity, Israeli occupation forces criminally launched an expanded aggression on Lebanon. True to form, the IOF have savagely targeted civilian areas and infrastructure ever since, claiming at least 1,400 innocent lives to date and injuring countless more. Initially framed by Israeli leaders and pliant Western journalists as a “limited ground intervention," based on “precise intelligence” on Hezbollah, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is already openly seeking to escalate it into an all-out war.

Netanyahu is evidently unconcerned that many statements he and his ministers have made since October 7, 2023, rank highly among the voluminous mountain of evidence the Zionist entity is acting with genocidal intent toward the Palestinians and may have contributed significantly to his ICC indictment for “crimes against humanity." On October 9, the Israeli leader unreservedly threatened Lebanon’s population with “destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza" if they failed to rise and help the IOF “free” their country from Hezbollah.

Such belligerence and depravity play well with Zionist entity audiences. One Israeli newscaster proudly toasted the September 27 assassination of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah live on air, while Tel Aviv’s education ministry actively encouraged schools to stage celebrations. Netanyahu’s approval ratings have soared since the IOF attempted to invade Lebanon. A sense that the settler colony had finally redeemed itself and regained an upper hand against the Resistance, after being dealt relentless economic and military blows since October 7, widely pervades locally.

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Yet, as The Guardian acknowledged on October 6, the IOF’s attempted invasion of Lebanon has already proven deeply ruinous. They have lost scores of soldiers, while Hezbollah “retains a potency fighting on its own terrain… where it has had almost two decades to prepare for this conflict.” Elsewhere, the outlet observed that Iran’s October 1st strike on Tel Aviv was:

“Not…as inconsequential as initially claimed by Israel’s leadership, and instead [shows] that a large-scale strike could not only overwhelm Israel’s anti-missile defences but that Tehran could accurately explode warheads on the targets it was aiming for, in this case several military bases. All of which raises serious questions as Israel prepares for a ‘significant’ military response to Iran.” 

The Guardian went on to record that due to Israel’s “fast metastasising multi-front war” against the Resistance, the Zionist entity’s “military and intelligence superiority is faltering on several fronts.” The past year has also “seriously exposed Israel’s newly minted operational doctrine, which planned for fighting short decisive wars against non-state actors…with the aim of avoiding being drawn into extended conflicts of attrition.” Instead, “the opposite has happened.” And the ranks of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Resistance groups have swelled every step of the way.

‘Deterrent Effect’

The secret of the Resistance's success was spelled out in a little-noticed article published in June by the elite imperial journal Foreign Affairs. Unequivocally titled "Hamas Is Winning," it sets out in forensic detail “why Israel’s failing strategy makes its enemy stronger,” and how “according to the measures that matter, Hamas is stronger today than it was” on October 7, 2023. The “growing” group has since “evolved into a tenacious and deadly guerrilla force in Gaza”, launching “lethal operations” in areas previously "cleared” by the IOF “easily”.

Foreign Affairs attributes such “overarching failure” to “a gross misunderstanding of the sources of Hamas’ power.” The Zionist entity has, to its “great detriment”, failed to comprehend that “the carnage and devastation it has unleashed in Gaza has only made its enemy stronger.” Hamas’ “key source” of support is its “potential to gain supporters from the local community” and “ability to recruit, especially its ability to attract new generations of the fighters and operatives.”

This support means Hamas can “replenish its ranks, gain resources, avoid detection, and generally have more access to the human and material resources necessary” to wage war against the Zionist entity. Average Palestinians, “often either angry over the loss of family members or friends or more generally enraged at [Israel’s] use of heavy military force,” have joined Hamas in droves or provided assistance of some kind to the group due to its “tremendous support” among the residents of Gaza.

Cited surveys of Palestinian opinion reinforce this conclusion. Five polls conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research over the 12 months from June 2023 “present a striking finding” - “on virtually every measure, Hamas has more support among Palestinians today than before October 7th.” In all, “twice as many” Palestinians favor Hamas over its primary rival Fatah - 40% compared to 20%. And 73% of Palestinians overall believe Hamas “was right to launch” that historic attack.

There has also “especially" been a rise in support for armed resistance against the Zionist entity among Palestinians in the West Bank. There, surveys find backing for the group is now “on par with the consistently high levels of support” for Hamas strikes on "Israel" in Gaza. No wonder - 60% of Palestinians in Gaza report having a family member killed in the current war, while over three-quarters report having a family member killed or injured, both numbers significantly higher than in December 2023. 

Accordingly, Foreign Affairs records that Hamas has swelled in size to “roughly ten times the number of fighters” who carried out the October 7 operation. Meanwhile, “more than 80% of the group’s underground tunnel network remains usable for planning, storing weapons, and evading Israeli surveillance, capture, and attacks,” and “most” of its “top leadership in Gaza remains intact.” The IOF’s “punishment” of Palestinians “is not having a significant deterrent effect” on residents of Gaza or the West Bank, or “[reducing] their support for Hamas.”

Foreign Affairs concedes this phenomenon is not restricted to Hamas, but all components of the indefatigable Resistance. Support for Hezbollah “flourished” among Shiites during the Zionist entity’s savage 1982 - 1999 occupation of South Lebanon, the outlet notes. This resulted in the group “evolving from a small clandestine” armed faction “into a mainstream political party” in Beirut, with a dedicated military wing comprising at least 40,000 fighters today. Foreign Affairs closed out its damning appraisal of "Israel’s" war against Hamas with a stark conclusion:

“The war will go on and on, more Palestinians will die, and the threat to Israel will only grow.”

The horrors of the Zionist entity’s invasion of Lebanon will likely endure apace for some time. But so too its total economic, military, and political collapse. Meanwhile, every day the Resistance is galvanized, pullulating in strength, its mere existence winning hearts and minds within and without West Asia in ever-greater numbers. The new, dedicated pact binding anti-Zionist governments and Palestine freedom fighter movements together finally signs "Israel’s" death warrant for it was already written.