If US can build military base off Gaza shore, Axis of Resistance can also sink it

By Wesam Bahrani

The move by the United States to start construction work on a "port system" off the Gaza shore to “provide aid for the starving people of Gaza”may appear to many as a humanitarian gesture. 

The US pier would be able to "receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelter," US President Joe Biden boasted during his State of the Union address last week. 

According to the Pentagon, the plan to build the floating military port will take up to 60 days, with more than 1,000 American troops will be engaged in the ambitious project. 

Observers have, however, rightly expressed skepticism over the purpose of this US port system, and they have every right to believe the Pentagon is planning a military base next to the blockaded strip. 

It is important to highlight the reasons why this is more to it than meets the eye.

Biden has spent the best part of the last six months spewing one lie after the other over the Gaza genocide, literally underestimating people's intelligence. The fact that Gaza already has a port, which Tel Aviv has blocked from operating since 2007, hasn't slipped anyone's mind. 

On the domestic front, the military operation may influence public opinion. Polls show a rising number of Americans are waking up to the fact that US-made bombs are being dropped on Palestinian children in Gaza, killing nearly 14,000 of them and orphaning some 20,000 others. 

With an election coming up, Biden's popularity has plummeted to record lows. The US president is now eager to appear before the American public under some humanitarian guise. 

After months of Israeli mass slaughter and starvation, backed by the US, it's difficult to comprehend that the man sitting in the Oval Office has suddenly turned into a messiah. 

Senior White House officials repeatedly stressed the need for a ceasefire in Gaza, "before the arrival of Ramadan". However, all moves were blocked and the genocidal war only turned worse.

It appears more likely now that American interests lie in reaching a ceasefire in the besieged Palestinian territory "before the arrival of the US election". 

Even Biden's calls for a ceasefire (hypocritical) haven't been timed on ethical, legal, or humanitarian standards, but based on US electoral interests and Israeli interests on the ground. 

The US failed to deliver aid to Gaza by land, which it could have done and opted instead to airdrop aid parcels from planes, a shameless exhibition that sparked a huge backlash from aid agencies. 

Not only because the PR stunt was "a drop in the bucket" of what Gaza needs but also because Washington was warned that airdrops are dangerous and could kill Palestinians, which they did.   

The US is certainly capable, and it has all the political and military means to stop the genocide in Gaza. Washington's use of veto power to enable and fuel genocide makes it not only a primary accomplice in the Israeli genocide but also the key mastermind and architect. 

Is the US seriously unable to pressure or demand the Israeli regime to open the four border crossings to deliver sufficient levels of aid to the starving 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza? 

As has become increasingly clear, famine in Gaza is imminent. And it’s already claiming lives.

Why isn’t the US as the key mastermind adhering to the interim ruling of the International Court of Justice, which demanded that the Israeli occupation take all measures to prevent genocide and death by starvation? 

Why isn’t the US halting its exports of arms to the Tel Aviv regime that are used against innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza – already killing nearly 32,000 of them in the past five months?

These questions, without answers, are enough to expose the deception and hypocrisy of the Joe Biden administration regarding aid for Gaza and the planned port's real objectives. 

Sending aid to Gaza doesn't require 60 days, but making plans for a port to establish a new US military naval base in the region would require 60 days. 

America will have a new military base on the shores of Gaza, not far from Lebanon, and 400 kilometers away from the Russian Hmeimim base. But what does America want from this floating port? 

Protecting its proxy regime in Tel Aviv and its supporters in the region tops the agenda.

Pressuring Hamas to accept Israeli ceasefire conditions, and aid the Israeli army in the possible invasion of Rafah, while sending another message to Hezbollah, Iran, and the Arab world.

In the event of war shifting from its Palestinian cradle to the region, the US and its allies are considering using the "floating port" to transport Gazans to other countries or areas.

The resistance groups in Gaza and the rest of the region are aware of this US-Zionist plot. 

The evidence on the ground suggests this US military base, when constructed, may not survive for too long. While the United States may be capable of building a military base off the Gaza shore, the Axis of Resistance is also capable of sinking it. 

The tactics used by the resistance in Gaza, at present, which envisages a long-term war of attrition, are based on setting ambushes and coordinating with Palestinian Islamic Jihad as well as other smaller resistance groups operating in the coastal strip. 

Palestinian resistance is capable of hitting the base, but it will also be a sitting duck for other regional resistance groups. After all, the blood of nearly 13,000 children is on the hands of Biden. 

Yemeni military (Ansarullah), Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha'abi and Hezbollah are also ready to launch their long-range drones or missiles if Americans actually go ahead with the foolhardy move.

The Axis of Resistance has proven time and again since October 7 that it is capable of staging sophisticated attacks against vital Israeli military interests. For instance, in the past week, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq struck the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv twice.

The current US administration continues to tie its foreign policies in West Asia and its international relations to what the Zionists desire, executing them for Tel Aviv's benefit. 

This move, however, is going to prove costly for both Washington and its illegitimate proxy in Tel Aviv.

Wesam Bahrani is an Iraqi journalist and commentator.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)

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