HOW many buildings and military installations have been damaged in Israel since the US/Israel war with Iran began? The world does not know because the mainstream Western media are not reporting it? How many soldiers have been killed in Israel’s military incursion into South Lebanon? The world does not know because the Western mainstream media are not reporting it.
This has been the pattern with Western journalism since Israel became part of the ethnic and geopolitical Western world over 60 years ago. The world heard that Israel has one of the most formidable armed forces in the world. And we know that from Western media. The reality over those sixty years tells a different story. The reality of the decisive successes of Iran in attacking Israel since the war began is not shown to the world by the mainstream Western media. The battlefield success of Hezbollah in South Lebanon is not reported around the world.
Now, in a break with a tradition that is over 80 years old, the Western media, in the form of the BBC have resorted to telling the world just how successful Iran’s retaliation has been. In an article titled “Iran attacks damaged 20 US military sites since the start of the war, satellite images show”, the BBC describes Iranian military successes that no human living in the Western world believed they would ever see. I quote selected parts of the article
1. BBC Verify has used satellite imagery from other international providers combined with older images to track the damage caused by Iranian attacks. The facilities are in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain and Oman. The actual figure could be higher, with some analysts placing the number of bases hit as high as 28.
2. “Among the valuable hardware damaged were three state-of-the-art anti-ballistic missile battery systems at the Al Ruwais and Al Sader airbases in the UAE and Muwaffaq Salti Airbase in Jordan. The US is known to operate only eight of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries, which are deployed at bases around the globe and cost around $1bn (£766m) to manufacture. Each battery needs a crew of about 100 troops to operate it, while the interceptors it fires cost around $12.7m per round. Vice-Admiral Mark Mellett, the ex-head of the Irish Defence Forces, told BBC Verify that the batteries are at the core of a highly complex regional defence network that cannot be quickly or easily replaced”
3. “Elsewhere, Iranian attacks have also targeted Ali Al Salem Airbase and Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. Analysts at MAIAR identified destroyed fuel storage bunkers, aircraft hangars and troop accommodation in satellite images of the base, which was hit multiple times over the course of the conflict. And at Camp Arifjan, the defence intelligence company Janes identified extensive damage to satellite communications hardware.”
This is the first time a mainstream Western media organisation has brought this kind of reporting to the world. Since the Israeli bombing in Gaza right up to this date, the Western media have slanted their accounts of battlefield defeats by Israel. There are no records of Israeli deaths on the ground in Gaza since ground troops went into Gaza. What we know is what Israel tells the Western media, which they accept without questioning.
At the moment, Israeli soldiers are being picked off in South Lebanon. Israel puts its death toll at 26. When Israel says that you know the figure is three times that number. What this war has shown is what the Western media have obfuscated for over 80 years – Israel is no great fighting machine. Here is a country that bombs civilian targets in Gaza and Lebanon, killing over a hundred thousand civilians, but cannot fight a real war.
The world will never see a military engagement between Israel and Iran. The outcome is easily predictable. Israel is a mere 8000 square miles. In modern warfare, 8000 square miles can be reduced to rubble from intensive aerial attacks within hours. The Gulf countries want the war to come to an end. It is these countries that are urging the US to pursue a ceasefire.
If the war continues, these Gulf states may no longer be viable countries. The total square miles of Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are 39955. Put that at 40000. Iran could devastate 40,000 square miles in a day. Oman is 304 square miles, which is a tiny part of Mahaica. How can such a tiny enclave survive a war with Iran? For the fourth time, I ask, why doesn’t Iran finish the job?
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.