354: Chapter 354 Dark Clouds Rise over Haifa

The Pentagon's battle damage report on the Persian Gulf naval engagement was upgraded to "Top Secret—Not for External Distribution" within two weeks. However, fragments of information continued to leak through social media and commercial satellite imagery. A retired Ticonderoga-class cruiser captain slipped up during a CNN interview, saying: "This isn't the naval warfare we're familiar with. We are being bitten to death by ants."

Gaza, outskirts of the Port of Eilat.

Sinwar's second phase of the "Blade of Dawn" offensive was launched simultaneously against the backdrop of a joint land and sea blockade. While Houssa sank tankers in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and Persian speedboats swarmed destroyers in the Persian Gulf, Sinwar's 2nd Brigade completed the total encirclement of the Port of Eilat. The last highway east of the port—a desolate sandy road leading to Aqaba, Jordan—was cut off by a Resistance Organization anti-tank team. Three Squid Nation Defense Forces armored vehicles attempting to flee were hit one after another by Kornet missiles at a bend in the road, their wreckage blocking the entire path.

Meanwhile, Sinwar turned the spearhead of his offensive northward. His target was no longer the remaining defenders in the south of the city—third-rate troops already trapped in the port and out of ammunition and food—but Haifa. It was the largest port city in northern Squid Nation, a center for the refining industry, and the last operational crude oil import terminal.

At 5:30 AM, twelve improved Ayyash-250 rockets soared into the sky from six mobile launch sites in northern Gaza. The prototype for these rockets was a simple weapon homemade by Hamas, but Sinwar had used a technology package exchanged for system points to perform critical upgrades: adding a simple inertial navigation system and miniature thrusters for terminal ballistic correction, reducing the circular error probable from several kilometers to within a hundred meters.

A hundred meters was still not enough to accurately "hit" a specific target. But Sinwar's target was not a military stronghold. His target was the Haifa Refinery—a massive industrial facility covering over three square kilometers, consisting of dozens of oil storage tanks, distillation towers, pipelines, and loading platforms. For such a target, a hundred-meter precision was sufficient. Out of the twelve rockets, four veered off target and fell into the sea, and six scattered across different areas of the refinery, but two hit vital spots.

The first hit the main oil pipeline connecting the distillation towers to the finished product tank area. The pipeline was filled with semi-finished naphtha at a high temperature of sixty degrees—it ignited instantly, and the flames spread along the pipe at a speed of over a hundred meters per second, detonating valves, flanges, and connection pipes along the way. The second fell in the crude oil storage area, piercing the wall of a floating-roof tank about fifty meters in diameter, filled with 80,000 cubic meters of crude oil. Crude oil gushed from the breach and was ignited by the pipeline's flames, sending up a pillar of thick black smoke hundreds of meters high.

The Haifa Refinery burned continuously for nine full hours starting from 5:40 AM. The black smoke blotted out the sun and spread across the globe through countless mobile phone videos and satellite photos on social media.

In Istanbul, Ankara, Cairo, and Doha, people shared the photo on their phones that would later be known as the "Dark Clouds Over Haifa"—a massive pillar of black smoke rising from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, spreading into a distorted mushroom shape in the blue sky. Someone printed it as a giant poster and held it up outside the venue of that day's emergency UN Security Council meeting.

Sinwar stood on the top floor of a bombed-out six-story residential building in northern Gaza, looking at the thick smoke on the northern horizon through binoculars. He lowered them and said to the adjutant beside him: "Tell Houssa the port is blocked. Tell our Persian friends, well struck. We've lit a fire on our side as well."

Three minutes later, encrypted communication channels simultaneously connected Sana'a, Tehran, and Gaza. Three text message confirmation prompts popped up on the screen:

"Received. Tanker sunk, strait blockade in progress. —Houssa"

"Speedboats have withdrawn. Submarines on standby. Losses acceptable. —Qasem Soleimani (Revolutionary Guard Navy Commander)"

Sinwar looked at the screen, a faint, barely noticeable curve appearing at the corner of his mouth. He pulled up the combat log column and typed a line in Arabic: "Port remains under siege. Rockets hit Haifa. Smoke is rising. Three fronts advancing simultaneously."

He paused for a moment and added another sentence: "Thank Zhang Cheng for me."

In the underground command post of the Republic Palace in Sana'a, Houssa finished reading the summary of battle results on the encrypted channel and closed his tablet. The coffee dregs at the bottom of his cup had gone cold, but a rare calm appeared on his face reflected in the blue light of the screen—the kind of patience a hunter typically has when the prey has lost too much blood.

In Persia's underground command center, Brigadier General Hajizadeh, after receiving simultaneous confirmations from multiple parties, ordered the readiness level of the mobile launch batteries near the Strait of Hormuz to be raised to the highest level, but did not issue a specific attack order. He translated the "Three Fronts Advancing" confirmation note co-signed by Houssa and Sinwar into Persian and personally delivered it to the Supreme Leader's office.

The note ended with only one line: "Today, we have locked three of their blood vessels."

When Zhang Cheng received the encrypted briefing, he was having dinner at the Presidential Palace in Naypyidaw. He finished reading the echoes of the iron anvils roaring simultaneously from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Persian Gulf, and Gaza, and gently set the tablet down beside his napkin. Li Lanzhi saw that his hand was steady as he picked up food; in his bowl was still the shredded pork with garlic sauce she had just stir-fried that evening.

Seeing Li Lanzhi looking at him, he smiled and pointed his chopsticks toward the screen: "This fire isn't the last fire they'll set. But it is certainly the last fire they'll dare to light themselves."

Outside the window, the night in Naypyidaw was as quiet as usual, but on the screen, the red dots were turning blue one by one. Those were nodes of fall, blockade, interception, and blazing fire. The pieces of the USA and its allies in the Middle East were being taken one by one.

Old K attached a supplementary assessment report to the communication link, ending with his usual restrained wording: "Based on the current situation, if the enemy wishes to restore control over shipping in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, they will need to commit at least three times their current naval strength stationed in the Middle East. This scale of reinforcement will substantially weaken their force deployment in the Western Pacific."

Zhang Cheng took a screenshot of this postscript and sent it to Zhao Gang.

In less than five minutes, Zhao Gang replied: "The Chief told me to give you four words: Add more cumin."

Dragon Nation, Kyoto, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Briefing Hall.

3:00 PM sharp, routine press conference. The Blue Hall was packed with reporters from domestic and foreign media, with camera lenses, voice recorders, and laptops densely lined up in front of the press podium. The air was thick with the tension unique to wartime—every phrasing would be infinitely interpreted, and every pause could become a headline.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hua Chunying walked onto the stage as usual. She wore a dark blue suit and skirt, her hair tucked meticulously behind her ears, her expression as calm as water. She gave a slight nod to the reporters below and then opened the folder in front of her.

"Good afternoon, members of the press. I have several pieces of news to release today, after which I will answer your questions."

She first read out several routine items regarding economic and trade cooperation between Dragon Nation and ASEAN countries, and the progress of infrastructure projects with African countries. Then came a brief announcement regarding the progress of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor: "Various projects are proceeding according to plan. Track laying for the domestic section of the Yunnan-Myanmar Railway has been completed, and the overseas section from Kyaukpyu to Mandalay is undergoing intensified construction." The wording was restrained, lasting only two minutes.