CrossFireArabia
The Grand Mufti of Oman, Sheikh Ahmed al-Khalili:
“We are very saddened by the assassination of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, who has been a significant thorn in the side of the Zionist project for over three decades.
We ask God to strengthen the resistance movements in Lebanon, Palestine, and all Muslim countries. We hope that Muslims will unite on common ground and put aside what divides them.”
Dr Khairi Janbek
By Dr Khairi Janbek
When we think of contemporary Iran, one always believes that the Arab Middle East had always been dominated by the three Non-Arab American allies; Iran under of the Shah, Turkey and Israel.
One thinks that those “neighborhood police stations’ were the guarantors of stability through their convergence, and at times contradictions, in the age of Cold War and oil. However, the Shah of Iran was deposed and the Anti-communist Cold War ended, but that didn’t mean that oil stopped becoming important nor that Russia and China were no longer threats.
One would say, that the rehabilitation of Iran and possibly turning it into a negotiations partner aims at keeping the third angle of the police stations triangle going, because non of the Arab countries, no matter how much they tried, could never replace Iran, because no Arab police station is permitted to emerge as a third angle.
Having said that, it would be beyond naive to think that the expansion of Iran’s power and influence happened by stealth or escaped the notice of the US and NATO.
After after all Iran grew to become a Red Sea country through its influence on the Houthis in Yemen, a Mediterranean country through its influence in Syria as well Lebanon through Hezbullah and the major Gulf country through its supporters in Iraq.
In fact this Iranian domination of space is what has created a common space between all its long-arm organisations in the region.
Essentially, if we compare Iran to an octopus, all those various groups are its tentacles, and they all serve the purpose of Iran’s strategic interests, albeit not through a push-button approach, but through not taking any action which would not please their Persian master.
Of course, this puts Iran in a strong position to be a major player in the region and an inescapable negotiations partner for the US, which is also convenient for the Americans, in order to remind their Arab allies who is their protector in a region policed by Turkey, Israel and Iran.
Of course this takes us to the point of saying that, for all intents and purposes, for the Americans a trusted adversary is more important than distrusted friends, and that it would be absurd to think that all those long arms of Iran in the Arab world can be amputated by military means; they certainly can be weakened, but without the consent of Iran and without the right price, so long as it remains behind them, nothing much can change.
At this point, from what one can only see, is that no one in their right mind or otherwise, will permit a war to emerge in which Israel is pitted against Iran and the US as well as NATO putting all their weight behind Israel and forcing the Arabs to choose their camp.
That would be the scenario of the end of the world as we know it, or with major civil wars in the Arab countries controlled by the tentacles of Iran, and which no one wants.
Dr Khairi Janbek is a Jordanian writer based in Paris, France
CrossFireArabia
Air raid sirens blasted in Tel Aviv, early Friday morning as explosions were heard in the city with the Israeli army stated the sirens were triggered by a missile launched from Yemen with an interceptor missile that also launched to counteract it.
“The Arrow air defense system successfully intercepted the missile launched from Yemen, and air raid sirens and explosions were heard after the missile was intercepted and shrapnel fell,” the Israeli army stated.
Israeli Channel 12 reported that 17 Israelis were injured while fleeing to shelters after the sirens were activated in Tel Aviv.
The leader of the Ansar Allah movement in Yemen, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, said on Thursday the battle is one and that “the aggression against the Lebanese people is within the framework of the aggression against the Palestinian people.”
On 15 September Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree, spoke of the carrying out of a qualitative military operation that targeted a military target in Jaffa, Israel, with a hypersonic missile.
“The missile succeeded in reaching its target, and the enemy’s defenses failed to intercept and confront it, and it traveled a distance of 2,040 kilometers within 11 and a half minutes,” he said.
For its part, the Israeli army said at the time that the initial investigation revealed that the missile launched by the Houthis at Israel crashed in the air.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the “Houthis” should “know that they will pay a heavy price for every attempt to harm us.”
Nine Israelis were injured while fleeing upon hearing the sirens of a missile attack on Tel Aviv that lies in central Israel.
Since dawn last Monday, Israeli forces have been launching waves of intensive airstrikes in an operation called “Arrow of the North”, targeting areas in southern and eastern Lebanon, which are considered strongholds of Hezbollah, leaving more than 600 dead and thousands wounded, with the death the toll is expected to rise.
In contrast, sirens continue to sound in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at military sites and settlements.
Since 8 October, 2023, Lebanese and Palestinian factions in Lebanon, most notably Hezbollah, have been exchanging daily shelling with the Israeli army across the “Blue Line” separating the country, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries, most of them on the Lebanese side.
These factions demand an end to the war that Israel has waged on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, which has left more than 137,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine according to Russia Today.
CrossFireArabia
Retired Israeli General Yitzhak Brik said the political and military bosses are leading Israel “toward ruin through a path with no exit.”
Brik explained despite the tactical achievements against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel’s strategic situation is deteriorating in terms of security and economy, as well as its relations with the countries of the world.
He added that Hezbollah, despite the targeting of its weapons and leaders, its missiles continue to destroy every part of northern Israel without stopping.
Brik stressed that the only way forward for Israel is to reach an exchange deal and stop the war in the Gaza Strip, in the hope that Hezbollah will stop firing.
It is noteworthy that since Monday morning, the Israeli army launched the most violent and extensive attack on Lebanon since the beginning of the confrontations with Hezbollah about a year ago, and the bombing resulted in the killing of more than 600 people, including children and women, and the wounding of more than 2,500, while official estimates indicate that about 400,000 people have been displaced according to Al Jazeera.
In return, Hezbollah launched rocket barrages targeting Israeli military bases and airports and areas in the Galilee, Safed, Haifa and others, causing material and human losses and the outbreak of fires.
The Israeli occupation army continues its aggression on the Gaza Strip for the 11th consecutive month, which has left 41,495 martyrs, in addition to 96,006 wounded, in addition to an unprecedented health and humanitarian crisis.
