During the Vietnam War I was stationed in Okinawa for one tour, where I was flying on RC135 aircraft over the Gulf of Tonkin. One day there was a local fair and I saw a sign for a “Habu – Mongoose Fight.” I had heard about the Mongoose but had never seen one. I had never heard of a “Habu.” The Habu is a pit viper found in Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, and parts of China. They are extremely rare, seldom seen in zoos and there are few photographs of a Habu.

I was both appalled and fascinated by the Habu – Mongoose fight. It seemed barbaric, because only one of the two participants would survive. The fight would take place is a large glass cage and people would place bets on who would win, the Habu or the Mongoose.

I always thought the Mongoose was immune to the snake’s venom, but that is not true. If a Mongoose gets bitten by a Habu, it dies. Then I thought the Mongoose would beat the Habu by biting it in the back of the neck. That wasn’t true either. What the Mongoose really does is unbelievable, unless you have seen it in person. It waits until the Habu strikes and then it snatches the fangs out of the snakes mouth. Only after the Habu has been defanged will the Mongoose start attacking the snake.

It became obvious that most “fights” were between a young Mongoose and a Habu. This was an even match, with the result seriously in doubt. But, if a Habu won, the next match would be against this bigger, older, more experienced Mongoose. When that happened, the Habu didn’t stand a chance.

Then I realized that this describes what is going on between Iran and Israel today. Iran, like the Habu, likes to believe that it can strike Israel and to deliver devastating blows. But when all those drones and missiles were launched against Israel, there were all snatched out of the sky, before they could land a blow, and destroyed. There are reports that upwards of 99% of those drones and missiles were shot down before doing any damage. Iran knew this, which is why they posted video of a massive forest fire in Chile, and pretended this was the result of its airstrikes on Israel. No one bought this nonsense.

Then, Israel launched an attack on Iran. Regardless of what Iran may be admitting, the reality is that those Israeli missiles probably hit exactly on target, and I seriously doubt that Iran shot down any of them. Israel sent Iran a message. Don’t mess with us, because we can stop you, but you can’t stop us.

Message received. Almost immediately Iran predictably lied about shooting down Israeli missiles and then said that because of this great victory, they didn’t need to attack Israel anymore. Right!

This is the other reality of a Habu – Mongoose fight. The minute the snake realizes it is in a cage with a Mongoose, it tries to leave. The snake knows it is engaged in a losing battle. The snake does try to attack the Mongoose, but mostly because it has no other option.

Israel sent another message to Iran. Do not think that you can continue to attack us, with your proxies, without any consequences. By attacking Israel directly, Iran made a huge tactical error. It gave Israel the opportunity to attack Iran directly. In addition, other people in the Middle East watched this fight and learned a valuable lesson. They know who really shot down all those drones and missiles. And they know who can strike back quickly and effectively.

Don’t provoke a Habu, that can be deadly, but not as deadly as a Habu provoking a Mongoose.

TDM