by Shaumik Samar Ghosh

Reggae Pop Group Boney M’s ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’ a song inspired by Psalm 137:1–4, reminisces the pain of people after the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The psalm begins so, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion” and describes the captives being forced to sing songs for their oppressors in a foreign land, highlighting their longing for freedom.

These rivers Tigris and Euphrates are in present-day Iraq; that was once central to the Babylonian empire. For Rastas or Rastafarians, Babylon symbolises oppressive political systems, and the song resonates as a metaphor for living under injustice.

Be it any era, the order to send troops to battle is most momentous decision any nation can take, and the Trump administration and Israel did it in spite of many odds against them. It is imperative that lives will be lost – be it soldiers or civilians trapped in maelstrom of cross-attacks. The most important and first question in any war is - Why? If there’s an answer, it’ll decide whether the US/Israeli assault on Iran will turn out to be of any consequence or just plain anger and obliteration of a regime that had clandestinely been developing its own nuclear strengths, a claim that Iran has always out rightly rejected.

The war that broke out after the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026 has seen hundreds of civilian deaths, the worst being the school full of small girls – which the US has since been denying any role in and has assured of investigating the incident.

Iran’s targets are U.S military bases, wherever they are within the Middle East and West Asia. Attacks on oil tankers in Iran and the closure of Strait of Hormuz have impacted oil supply and crude prices shot up.

The prerogative to send troops to battle is the most consequential decision any national leader can take. It is indirect Hara-Kiri for one’s own troops, for those of the enemy, leaving endless suffering for all the civilians caught in the crossfire. The first question in any war is the most important one: Why? Iran and Israel don’t have any colonial history in common neither do they share borders, but the answers lie in history.

Weeks after launching the Middle East conflict, America’s president doesn’t seem even to have asked this question to himself! The answer will determine whether the US/Israeli attack on Iran and vice versa will turn out to be a short-lived stint of pointless destruction, or yet another gargantuan blow for the region, for America, and rest of the world.

As tensions rise, President Trump and global leaders intensify their demands for Iran to do away with its nuclear ambition. Iran's allies, mainly the Hezbollah and the PMF, considered the Shah’s private army face setbacks, as support from powers like Russia and China largely remain limited to just comforting words. Iran has with time developed seemingly robust allies in the form of armed resistance groups across the Middle East as part of its defence. This helped Iran protect itself from direct military strikes by the US or Israel, in spite of surmounting threats from the latter.

This particular ‘resistance axis’ includes groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza, which have been shaped by an ideology disseminated by Iran to a large extent. Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria too had an Iranian leaning. Iraq and Yemen exert a strong Iranian influence, with the PMF in Iraq and the Houthis in Yemen having close to 4,00,000 members.

Before Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Hezbollah's former leader Hassan Nasrallah and his cousin and successor Hashem Safieddine were also killed and mourners thronged in large numbers to see off the two in Beirut, Lebanon. The mass funeral was a display of solidarity after Hezbollah got weather-beaten in 2024’s war with Israel, which decimated majority of its leadership and thousands of fighters, also destroying major parts of south Lebanon.

The Ayatollah’s role extends beyond religious scholarship. As the Supreme Leader of Iran he serves as the apex authority for Shia Muslims in Iran. He issued religious rulings (Fatwas), oversees Sharia compliance, and is considered the vice-regent of Imam Mahdi, a central figure in Twelver Shia belief. Iran’s people in the past have been more than just divided – as they sought liberty from painful dogmas. Many protests against his regime within Iran are believed to be sponsored by the Western powers, but people don’t want to live under hardliners. This problem has been plaguing Iranian society in almost all spheres of life.

Twelver Shia Islam is the largest branch of Shia Islam, and Shia Muslims are expected to follow all religious, legal, and ethical matters by its head, which makes it rather esoteric than canonical. The teachings of Shia seminaries is largely viewed as anti Zionist and non liberal by nature. Any country or society cannot be ruled solely by religious laws.

While many you tubers and whistle-blowers are claiming that Iran has already won by the virtue of its 'Mosaic Defence', which is a tactic aimed to decentralise Iran's military command in order carry on fighting even if its top leadership were eliminated and this is what’s happening now. So, there are more than 30 commands, each functioning almost like a self-independent military unit. Every province was equipped with its own command configuration, logistics network, intelligence capability and quick access to the Basij militia, a volunteer militia within the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps).

Authority was intentionally pushed downwards and commanders could act without Tehran’s permission, if communication with the capital was cut off.

With no shared borders or any colonial history, Iran and Israel are now in open war. The answers lie in history. At the beginning of the 20th century, entire Middle East was controlled by the Ottoman Empire - a vast Islamic Empire that had ruled the region for more than 600 years. But by 1900, the Ottoman Empire was collapsing.

Corruption, military defeats, and domestic rebellions had weakened it beyond recovery. The Ottomans sided with Germany and when Germany lost in 1918, the Ottoman Empire dwindled completely. Britain and France stepped in and divided the Middle East between them, drawing borders that had never existed before, cutting across ethnic, religious, and tribal lines. Britain took control of a territory called Palestine, a strip of land on the eastern Mediterranean that was home to a majority Arab Muslim population, a considerable Arab Christian minority, and a small but still growing Jewish community.

It was the beginning of a chaos that would echo in times to come. For centuries, Jewish people across Europe had faced persecution, be it the pogroms in Russia, or facing inequity across the continent. A growing movement called Zionism had emerged in the late 19th century with a simple yet profound idea.

Coming to the point, the Rastafarians are not Jews, but displaced Africans who once dreamt of having their own homeland. So, it isn’t just a religious war. Today, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries have good relations with the entire world, and this hasn’t gone down too well with Iran.

As Iran tries it’s best to stifle American attacks, it ought to realise that it first needs to safeguard its own people and their interests; which includes trade, peaceful coexistence with its neighbours and have some kind of plebiscite that will enable social and regional reforms. Fighting on relentlessly will be of no consequence, until it complies with established international protocols. Hasn’t the world already suffered enough!

Shaumik Samar Ghosh is a writer and keen political and geopolitical analyst