When Heads Grow Back: In Israel and Iran’s Fight, an Ending Is Hard to Write.
NEED TO KNOW
When Heads Grow Back: In Israel and Iran’s Fight, an Ending Is Hard to Write.
ISRAEL/ IRAN
When Israel struck Iranian targets early Friday, its aim was to cut off “the head of the snake.”
“Iran is more determined than ever to realize its vision of destroying Israel,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told top Israeli military officials ahead of the initial air strikes on Iran. “We are at a critical juncture – if we miss it, we will have no way to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons that threaten our existence. We have dealt with Iran’s proxies over the past year and a half, but now we are dealing with the head of the snake itself.”
But like the mythological Lernaean Hydra, analysts say Iran can grow back its head after it’s severed. As a result, underestimating Iran could have devastating consequences. And Israel, they add, doesn’t have a plan for “the day after.”
“Israel should have thought this through months ago,” said Thomas Warrick of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative and a former US counter-terrorism official, referring to a post-strike plan. But it’s clear it hasn’t.
So far, Israel and Iran have been trading missile and drone strikes for days. Israel initially attacked around 80 targets, including Iranian nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow. It also killed senior military commanders, nuclear scientists, and other top officials key to Iran’s weapons program and defense, including the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the head of Iran’s emergency command. By Sunday, it widened its targets to include gas fields, fuel depots, airports, and other energy, transport, and industrial infrastructure.
In Iran, more than 224 people have died in the conflict to date, with more than 1,200 injured.
Iran has responded with hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones, striking residential areas and critical infrastructure across Israel. While Israel’s defense systems have kept most of the missiles and drones from doing damage, it hasn’t prevented all of them from getting through: At least 24 people have been killed since Friday, and the strikes have also heavily damaged Israel’s largest oil refinery and hit homes and businesses.
Analysts say it’s likely Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose to attack Iran now because he believed the country was particularly vulnerable: Its proxies in Lebanon and Syria have been weakened over the past 18 months – in Hezbollah’s case due to Israel’s attacks on the group – while in Syria, regime change lost Iran a key ally.
At the same time, Israel was worried that American diplomatic overtures to Iran would allow the country to continue its nuclear program. The US and Iran were scheduled to meet for talks on Sunday in Oman, which were canceled after Iran pulled out due to the fighting with Israel.
Meanwhile, analysts also point to Israel’s wider goal: Regime change. On Friday, Netanyahu spoke directly to Iranians when he said in a televised message that, “This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard.”
Meanwhile, Iranian officials countered that they were left with no choice but to fight Israel, whose attacks were a “cowardly miscalculation” and “a sign of fear of our great nation.”
“Iran has never initiated a war but will not remain silent in the face of aggression,” said Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani, following Israeli strikes on Iran.
“Without exaggeration, we are in a state of war, a war that has been imposed on us… We did not want war and tried to prevent it,” she added.
Now, Israel intends to continue its strikes on Iran for at least two weeks. If it does, that means Iran will likely continue its attacks, too. Iran may be weakened but it is by no means powerless, analysts say. It has a well-developed arsenal and military, and relationships with terror groups such as al Qaeda, especially in Yemen, where groups such as the Houthis have been attacking Israel since October 2023, and in Iraq with pro-Iranian militias such as Kata’ib Hezbollah.
As a result, what happens next is anyone’s guess. Some warn of an all-out war breaking out between Israel and Iran, and possibly dragging in other countries in the region, wrote the BBC. Others say if Iran’s regime falls, it could leave a dangerous vacuum in the region. Meanwhile, the economic effects of the conflict are already reverberating around the globe, with oil prices spiking sharply after Israel’s attack. Analysts worry about a global economic shock at a time when most countries continue to grapple with the aftershocks of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
The wild card in this conflict is the United States. Long a staunch ally of Israel, it says it is not involved in the attacks on Iran. Still, according to Axios, the US is helping Israel defend itself against Iranian missiles. As a result, Iran has pledged retaliation against third parties who help Israel. The US has warned Iran, however, not to target US citizens, bases, or infrastructure in the region. “The consequences for Iran would be dire,” McCoy Pitt, a state department official, told a United Nations Security Council meeting Friday.
Analysts warn that there is a likelihood of the US being dragged into the conflict, especially as military experts say it’s impossible to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities without US help.
“Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military facilities was in direct defiance of (US President Donald) Trump’s call for caution and negotiation,” said Richard LeBaron of the Atlantic Council, who has served as a diplomat in Israel and Kuwait. “The question now is not whether, but how, the United States will be dragged into a war it doesn’t want, and that Gulf states fear.”
Meanwhile, some say Netanyahu’s motivation for attacking Iran was to stay in power after his government nearly collapsed last week and to “rescue” his legacy from his failure to stop Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed more than 1,200 Israelis. “But there is a danger of overreach,” wrote the Economist. “Netanyahu may have to settle for a strike that will neuter the Iranian nuclear threat for a few more years but set up a future conflagration.”
That means, as columnist David Ignatius noted in the Washington Post, that the conflict between the two longtime enemies won’t end anytime soon: “As many decades have taught the United States and Israel both, conflicts with Iran are easy to start and hard to end.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
In Germany, Syrian Doctor Gets Life For Assad-Era Torture
GERMANY
A German court on Monday sentenced a Syrian doctor to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity committed during the regime of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad, the latest case under Germany’s principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows the country’s courts to prosecute crimes committed abroad, Al Jazeera reported.
The Frankfurter Higher Regional Court found the 40-year-old defendant, identified as Alaa Mousa, guilty of committing acts of torture between 2011 and 2012 during the early days of Syria’s civil war.
Prosecutors accused Mousa of torturing patients at military hospitals in the capital Damascus and the city of Homs, with many victims accused of being members of the opposition, and those believed to have participated in the uprising against Assad’s regime.
Instead of receiving treatment, patients were subjected to extreme abuse, with some dying as a result.
More than 50 witnesses detailed Mousa’s horrific acts, including pouring flammable liquid on a prisoner’s wounds and injecting a detainee with a deadly substance while the man was trying to defend himself.
One prisoner described the Damascus hospital as a “slaughterhouse.”
The doctor denied the allegations, claiming that they were part of a conspiracy against him, but admitted to witnessing abuses in the facilities.
However, the court ultimately convicted him of two murders and eight counts of torture, concluding that his actions supported Assad’s “inhumane and repressive” campaign against dissent.
The Syrian doctor had moved to Germany in 2015 and worked in various clinics as an orthopedic doctor until his arrest in 2020, after victims recognized him in a documentary about Homs, the Guardian noted.
Observers said Mousa’s trial was made possible under Germany’s principle of universal jurisdiction that allows domestic courts to try individuals for international crimes regardless of where they have occurred.
In 2021, a German court convicted a former Syrian intelligence officer, Eyad al-Gharib, of crimes against humanity over his role in the arrest and transport of prisoners to detention centers where they were subjected to systematic torture.
Overtourism Triggers Protests in Southern Europe
EUROPE
Thousands of people took to the streets in southern Europe on Sunday to protest against over-tourism, saying that the excessive level of tourism is raising the cost of living, deepening the housing crisis, and making city centers unlivable, Sky News reported.
Protests broke out in Barcelona, Granada, Ibiza, and Palma in Spain; Lisbon in Portugal; and Venice, Genoa, Palermo, Milan, and Naples in Italy.
The main demonstrations took place in Barcelona, where people fired water pistols at tourists, stores, and set off colored smoke, according to Reuters.
Protesters chanted “your holidays, my misery,” while holding up banners reading “mass tourism kills the city” and “their greed brings us ruin.” Some people attached stickers saying “Neighborhood self-defense, tourist go home” on shop windows and hotels.
The tourists targeted by water pistols in Palma, the capital of Mallorca, laughed it off, the Associated Press noted. The main Balearic Island, where 5,000 demonstrators gathered, is one of the many examples where housing prices have skyrocketed, as many places are being converted to short-term rentals. Locals say they can’t afford to live in their neighborhoods anymore.
Last year, 26 million tourists visited Barcelona, a city of 1.6 million people. The city government had said that it would prohibit short-term rentals to tourists by 2028 to make life in the city more affordable for residents.
In Venice, locals protested to oppose the construction of two hotels that will add around 1,500 new beds to the city.
Spain is expecting 99 million tourists in 2025, a record, as the world’s second-most popular destination after France.
Anti-tourism protests have become more common in southern Europe over the past few years. Still, tourism made up 12 percent of Spain’s economy last year.
Nigerian Police Crack Down on Protests After Deadly Attacks
NIGERIA
Nigerian police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of protesters in the central city of Makurdi on Sunday, as frustration grew over the deadly attacks in a nearby town that killed more than 100 people, France 24 reported.
On Friday, gunmen attacked the village of Yelewata in the central state of Benue, a region that has experienced a surge in violence due to clashes between Muslim Fulani herders and predominantly Christian farmers, who are competing over land and resources, Arab News wrote.
Authorities generally blame the violence on Fulani herders but the group says they are victims of violence and land seizures, too.
Attacks in this region are often motivated by religious or ethnic tensions. Two weeks ago, gunmen murdered 25 people in two incidents in Benue, and in April, more than 150 people were killed across Benue and also Plateau state.
Demonstrators said they want authorities to take action to stop the cycle of violence.
Local journalist John Shiaondo told Agence France-Presse that he was covering “peaceful protests” when the police started firing tear gas at the thousands of protesters. He said that many left the demonstrations out of fear for their safety.
A spokesperson for Benue state’s governor told AFP that “the protesters were given specific time by the security to make their peaceful protest and disperse.”
Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia said Sunday they were moving quickly to find the perpetrators of the attack, identify the victims, and get justice for them.
However, Amnesty International labeled the attack as “horrifying,” saying it “shows the security measures (the) government claims to be implementing in the state are not working.”
DISCOVERIES
Crab Signaling
Some animals have reflectors inside their eyes, like cats and crocodiles, to help them see better in low-light conditions.
Now, scientists have found that a species of crab has developed a built-in headlamp structure on its face that brightens its visual signals in the dark mangrove forest where it lives, to help it communicate with other crabs.
“These facial bands are, to our knowledge, the first example of light-focusing, external, macro signaling structures in animals,” researchers wrote in a new study.
Previous research had already noticed unusually bright facial bands in the crabs (Parasesarma eumolpe), with pigments derived from diet-dependent carotenoids, and that the colors fade when crabs are starved and brighten when they are fed. It was not clear, however, how the color remained bright in the dark.
Understanding what the bands are used for is important to trace how they have evolved in the crabs, and researchers speculated that they could need them for social interactions.
To study how facial bands convey increased brightness and why, researchers observed the behavior of 56 adult crabs at the Mandai Kechil mangrove in Singapore. Here, they measured body orientation, signaling angles, and spatial distances between interacting individuals.
This showed that the concave structure of these bands works like a headlamp reflector, boosting their brightness at the ideal angle for crab-to-crab signaling.
Then, researchers used 10 crabs of each sex to test whether brightness and band colors played a role in influencing the crabs’ ability to communicate using their facial bands. They used a spectrometer to shine light on the colored bands on their face, which scientists already knew were blue for males and green for females.
The study found that crabs were more likely to approach crabs with brighter bands and preferred band colors that matched their own.
Researchers also realized that most of the light striking the bands is reflected forward in a narrow, concentrated beam. When crabs face each other at the typical interaction distance, which is between 2 and 20 inches, most of the light is in the other crab’s eyes, which makes the face bands seem much brighter compared with the rest of the crab, according to Science.
These facial bands are not only used as visual markers but also as optical devices, directing light in a specific direction to improve signal detection in dark environments.
The study didn’t decode the meaning encrypted in the band messaging but researchers say that the dimly lit environment of the mangrove forest likely favored this angular signal design, which allows crabs to communicate from sheltered positions, reducing the risk of encountering predators.