Where do we stand today?

No one needs lengthy explanations to understand the present moment. We are living at a moment in history shaped by men who only recognize dominance and subjugation.

The Trump-Netanyahu alliance is moving toward something far more dangerous than what we have already witnessed. Its power lies not only in its capacity for unrestrained violence, but in ability to paralyze. Western and Arab silence and complicity reflects the range of ties linking these actors to the imperialist project.

October 7 did not emerge in vacuum. When Palestinians reached a breaking point, confrontation became inevitable. Blaming the resistance for what followed ignores a simple truth: the machinery of destruction Israel unleashed was never meant to sit idle. It was built for this moment, to be used against every perceived enemy, near or far.

From Palestine to Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran, the targets were always defined. Israel believes it requires no moral, political, or legal authorization to eliminate its enemies. It acted on the premise that its opponents form a single front, even if spread across borders. It shaped the battlefield accordingly and largely on its own terms.

In the first phase, Israel sought to weaken what it sees as Tehran’s outer ring: Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq. By the time it moved directly against Iran last June, Israel assumed the ground had been prepared. The fall of Assad further encouraged the idea that the “center” could be struck decisively. Trump did not oppose this objective, though his engagement came with constraints and calculations of his own.

Yet the results fell short. Iran was not transformed. Hezbollah was not erased. Gaza did not surrender. And insecurity persists around Israel’s borders. This has pushed Israeli strategy toward a second round: reverse the order, strike the core harder, then return to finish what remains.

Those clinging to outdated frameworks of thought and action will face mounting costs. Israel sees the coming phase as decisive, not only against Iran, but against what it calls the remaining extensions of that front.

In a political landscape shaped by history, memory, and religious inheritance, hesitation carries its own risks. It is worth recalling a saying attributed to Imam Ali – whose legacy informs many of today’s resistance movements: “If you fear something, step into it, for the hardship of avoiding it may be greater than what you fear.” Endless calculation can lead do paralysis, especially when circumstances demand quite the opposite.

Too much is at stake for passivity, and time is a luxury we cannot afford at a time when the struggle is not only redefining our survival, but the very shape of the rest of our lives.

First published on Al-Akhbar.

The post No room for hesitation in a decisive war appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

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