It's unclear where the anger of two billion Muslims will be directed—at Israel or Iran.
Author: Ali Askari, analyst (Germany), especially for Sangar
The situation in the Middle East continues to escalate.
The blitzkrieg by the United States and Israel against Iran has failed. The lightning-fast war promised by Trump and Netanyahu did not materialize. American and Israeli strikes on strategic and civilian targets, as well as losses among civilians and military personnel, have not broken Tehran’s resistance. Contrary to expectations, the Iranian population shows unity, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps demonstrates steadfastness, composure, and determination.
No one knows what comes next, and a sense of discouragement is beginning to grip even the staunchest optimists in the West. Igniting the Middle Eastern fire proved far easier than sustaining it, as the sparks from this fire now burn the arsonists themselves.
Among the strategic failures of the U.S. and Israel is the unwillingness of regional countries to participate in military operations against Iran. Forming an anti-Iranian coalition of Islamic Gulf states has not succeeded, and without it, the prospects of breaking Tehran’s resistance appear unrealistic.
Against this backdrop, a new threat has emerged that could further inflame the Middle Eastern conflict and shift it from a political and economic struggle into a religious one. According to sources within Middle Eastern intelligence agencies, Israel is prepared to sacrifice the most precious assets of Muslims worldwide — ancient Islamic holy sites. Tel Aviv is reportedly preparing a missile or drone strike on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, located in Jerusalem.
The Israeli plan is extremely simple: destroy the holy site and blame Iran. In doing so, Tel Aviv aims to achieve two objectives: first, eliminate one of the most revered mosques in the Muslim world, and second, to incite Muslims globally against Iranian Muslims. A split within the Islamic world is precisely what Israel and the U.S. need right now.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque is not merely a beautiful, historic, or ancient religious site. It is situated on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem and ranks among the three most venerated Islamic holy sites in the world, alongside Mecca and Medina. Its destruction would ignite a wave of outrage spanning a vast territory — from Indonesia to Nigeria. The question is: against whom will this outrage be directed?
The Temple Mount is one of the most sensitive points in the world. Any incident there can cause enduring pain that will be felt not just for years or decades, but for generations. In matters of religion, there is no temporal limitation — a barbaric attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque would stir the Islamic community across epochs. This is precisely the goal of those behind the barbaric continuation-of-war scenario: to draw Muslims into a prolonged confrontation in which their grandchildren and great-grandchildren will shed blood. A nuclear explosion might leave some people alive, but the destruction of Al-Aqsa will plant hatred in people’s hearts that will endure for centuries.
The only factor Tel Aviv stubbornly refuses to consider is the echo of a religious fire that will inevitably extend beyond the Islamic world. If an artificially provoked religious war in the Middle East escalates to the scale of a Third World War, it is unlikely that Israel could sit safely on the sidelines. Historical experience shows that in the Middle East, any fire eventually engulfs everyone.
