Iranian media celebrate Sderot evacuation in bid to unite against Israel
Israel’s decision to evacuate Sderot on Sunday, as well as 28 other communities on the northern border, has raised eyebrows in pro-Iranian media.
Al Mayadeen celebrated this turn of events, an important move to note because the attack by Hamas on October 7 was designed to strike at 29 points and attack 20 communities. It is unlikely that Hamas believed it could take most of those areas, however; rather, it wanted to entrench itself in one or two and claim “victory.”
Most of the Hamas members who weren’t killed in the fighting retreated back to Gaza after the attack.
Al Mayadeen claims propaganda victories for what Iran calls the “resistance” and promotes the view that Iran and its proxies are making progress. Evacuations in Israel are just one example of this. In past wars, Israel did not evacuate so many communities, especially Sderot, which has always held up as an example of steadfastness in the face of rocket fire.
Al Mayadeen reports use Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel on Sunday as propaganda as well, claiming that Hezbollah carried out an attack near Hanita and damaged “technical equipment and a camera” near Metulla. They are similar to claims that Hamas attacked observation posts before its October 7 mass attack.
Meanwhile, Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad issued a statement threatening Israel and warning against a ground incursion into Gaza.
On another front, Iranian media accused Israel of a second airstrike in Aleppo this past week.
“Recently, Israel is focusing on stopping the operation of the Aleppo airport,” Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported. “The reason for the [Israeli attacks on Aleppo airport] is, on the one hand, the importance of the city of Aleppo – geographically, economically, etc. – and on the other hand, attention should be paid to the role and place of Aleppo in the Syrian war. Aleppo was the golden key to the failure of the project of the final disintegration of Syria. For this reason, Israel is constantly trying to disrupt the communication channels of Aleppo.”
Taken together, the reports in Iranian media outlets and propaganda media outside of Iran are sketching out multiple fronts of attack against Israel, which are all part of Iran’s effort to unify its various “arenas.” Iran successfully encouraged Hamas to attack Israel and pledged further cooperation, all while continuing to meet with and prop up Hezbollah.
The articles discuss Syria and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, perhaps indicating that they could also affect the West Bank. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, for instance, told reporters in Beirut that Hezbollah “has taken all the scenarios of a war into consideration, and Israel should stop its attacks on Gaza as soon as possible,” AP reported.