Israel Asks Iranians Living Near Military Sites To Evacuate
…..As Teheran Deploys New Missiles In Fresh Attacks
By Yadnom Awu/ Asaba
Israel continued its nationwide military assaults on Iran today,hitting air defence systems and strategic oil facilities.
It also issued a strong evacuation order on Iranians living proximate to military facilities.
The order following the Saturday night attacks by Teheran on major Israeli cities in which at least 10 persons died and hundreds of others were injured.
Cities hit by Iran include Tel- Aviv, the capital, which has been targetted for a second consecutive night of gunfire exchanges between both countries.
Israel, after its initial blitz of assaults on Iran ‘s nuclear facilities, nuclear scientists and military brass, had turned its attention to oil and gas assets, including the strategic South Pars Gas Field, the single largest in the World.
By issuing the evacuation order, Israel hopes to simultaneously attain two goals- degrade the offensive/ defensive capacity of Iran’s military, and reduce collateral cost, in civilian lives and infrastructure, which could enhance global condemnation of its controversial military operation, which China, Russia, Pakistan, all nuclear power states, and other interests, including the IAEA, had tagged dangerous and needless.
The IAEA is the Vienna- based International Atomic Energy Agency, through which the United Nations (UN) monitors nuclear programme development across the globe.
It has since called for an urgent end to the military conflict, drawing attention to the fact that nuclear sites are protected from attack under international law.
But, like America, which reportedly provided the vital resources for the initial Israeli attacks on Iran, Israel is insistent that only military action, rather than diplomacy, can help stop the Iranians from developing the dreaded nuclear weapon.
Israel, itself a nuclear weapon state, with an estimated 360-400 units of it, has refused to share intelligence ut said points to Iran’ s ambition for a nuclear weapon, it sign up to the Nuclear- Proliferation Treaty, NPT, under which regulatory and other talks on nuclear power development are held.
For now, the NPT talks are held between the two nuclear super powers of Russia, which has more stock than the rest of the world combined, and America, the first country to develop the dreaded weapon under its Manhattan Project.
Such talks are held under the aegis of the
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty( START).
Like Israel, the People’s Republic of Korea ( North Korea) is regarded as a rogue nuclear state, because of its refusal to disclose its real nuclear status, though it is said to have the bomb which it developed with the assistance of Russia.
The state of Russia is equally at the heart of Iran’s nuclear programme development, and it’s President, Vladimir Viktor Putin, has reportedly called his American counterpart, Donald Trump, to urge Israel to show restraint.
Israel , the only nuclear weapon state in the Middle East, seeks to prevent any other country in the region from acquiring the dreaded weapon which could tilt tactical and strategic military balance away from it.
Aside from its nuclear weapon, Israel has a wide range of global – level military assets which it either developed in liaison with, or sourced from, its Western allies, including America, Germany, France and Britain.
It is deploying such weapons in attacks across Iran, which, by official admission, has now begun deploying its more advanced missiles in strikes across the Jewish state.
Teheran on Saturday night, reportedly deployed for the first time, its advanced manoeuvreable ballistic missiles to evade Israel ‘s strong Anti- Missile Missile System, popularly called the Iron Dome.
Israel admitted that some of the new Iranian missiles successfully evaded its Iron Dome and caused at least 10 deaths and injuries to more than 300 others.