Listen to the article
Ladies and gentlemen, get your popcorn ready, because the latest big-budget action film has just been released… except it’s not a film, but reality! The premiere of this geopolitical superproduction was screened on the night of April 13 to 14, 2024, and it is now available on your favorite social networks. On this fateful night, Iran decided to put on a pyrotechnic show worthy of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters by launching over 300 drones and missiles onto Israeli territory. A scenario fit for a Michael Bay movie, except the explosions and damage are very real.
The pitch? Iran, like a James Bond villain, decides to retaliate for an Israeli strike against its consulate in Damascus by launching an unprecedented attack. The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, take on the role of super-villains, firing dozens of missiles and drones at specific targets within Israeli territory. Meanwhile, Iran’s allies, Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthi rebels, play supporting roles by conducting their own anti-Israeli attacks.
But don’t panic, because Israel, like an action movie hero, anticipated the attack and closed its airspace, while closely monitoring the killer drones sent by Iran. The Israeli military, worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, claims to have intercepted the “vast majority” of the Iranian projectiles, thus saving the nation from chaos and destruction.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese watched this fireworks display with knotted stomachs, fully aware that their country is invariably collateral damage in such events. Lebanon, the eternal playground of regional powers, once again finds itself caught between Iran’s ambitions and Israel’s determination to defend itself.
In short, the night of April 13 to 14, 2024 will go down in history as the day when geopolitics merged with Hollywood to offer us a spectacle as grandiose as it is frightening. But make no mistake, behind the special effects and thunderous declarations are real stakes and potentially disastrous consequences for the region, especially for Lebanon, a powerless spectator of this geopolitical action film.
So let’s keep our eyes open and our heads cool in the face of this life-sized action film, because unlike Hollywood, there’s no guaranteed happy ending. And if Iran and Israel decide to make a sequel, let’s hope they opt for an intimate art-house film rather than another big-budget action movie. Because in such productions, collateral damage like Lebanon never gets a say in the final script.
