Orientul Mijlociu

As the Pope landed in Indonesia last week to urge a united front against religious extremism, it was the quick action of police that saved his life, uncovering a desperate plot to assassinate him with a bow and arrow, and a drone.

Numerous attempts have been foiled in the millennium since the last Pope was assassinated – but it was what police found during a raid of one of the suspect’s houses that rang alarm bells.

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Iran has built a network of Shiite militias, now fighting across the Middle East, whose fighters number in the tens of thousands. These militias include battle-hardened fighters as well as poorly trained recruits. They hail from countries across the Muslim world and have varying motivations and interests, but they have one thing in common: they project the Islamic Republic’s power and promote its revolutionary ideology. Iran’s Shiite foreign legion has played an indispensable role in preserving the Assad regime in Syria, but all the groups have expressed a readiness to wage war against all enemies of the Islamic Republic.

This is no longer a small matter after the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian Ambassador to share their concerns with him about his country’s support of this project.

Iran’s continued opposition to the Zangezur Corridor was touched upon here last month, where it was concluded that it’s relying on false pretexts to advance what it regards as its national interests. Since then, the Iranian Foreign Minister implied that the project would redraw regional borders, after which his institution summoned the Russian Ambassador to share their concerns given Moscow’s support of it. Here are five observations about this policy’s motivations and consequences:

For many years now, Hezbollah has served as a major instrument of Iran to take over Lebanon, not only as a territory but as a sovereign state. Many Western countries would like to avoid that and invest in the former “Pearl of the Middle East”, led by France. These efforts are futile in view of the Iranian circumvention apparatus, who’s main mechanism is allocated in the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon. No matter how much pressure is put on a state level, Hezbollah will survive and even prosper, as long as one does not put an end to Hezbollah’s control over these main smuggling routes.

Three decades have passed since Hassan Nasrallah came into power as the general secretary of Hezbollah, shortly after the elimination of Abbas al-Musawi. Over the years there have been several attempts to outline his personality, all of which clearly missed the true story behind this infamous terrorist, and in some cases even disproportionally praised him.

Iran-backed terrorist groups, including Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and Hamas, have proliferated in number and strengthened their presence in the West Bank in recent years. The groups have established battalions (Katibat) in Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarm and beyond. Iranian arms and funding have primarily fueled this violent escalation.
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FDD’s Long War Journal has identified 26 West Bank branches belonging to established terrorist organizations, and two independent armed groups.

Abstract: The key mission of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) is to defend the Iranian Islamic Revolution and create armed militias in the countries of its “Axis of Resistance.” Its organization is opaque and complex, coordinating combat operations with soft-power actions aimed at, among other initiatives, establishing a Pax Irania in the Middle East, a ‘peace’ of which it is the initiator and guarantor. Although the Quds Force’s apparatus in Syria has been under pressure from Israeli airstrikes, Tehran is sticking to its mission set: infiltrating Syrian civil society and sending fighters to the north, where the civil war will one day end, and to the south, on the edge of the Golan Heights, to establish a base against Israel if necessary.

At least 18 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes on a number of military sites in central Syria, the Syrian health minister says.

State news agency Sana cited Hassan al-Ghabbash as saying another 37 people were injured in the attacks in the vicinity of Masyaf, in Hama province, on Sunday night.

Latest Developments

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on September 7 called for the formation of an Islamic alliance to halt what he called “the growing threat of expansionism” from the Jewish state. Falsely claiming that Israeli officials “openly state” their desire to occupy the entire region, Erdogan maintained that an alliance of Islamic countries is the “only step that will stop Israeli arrogance, Israeli banditry, and Israeli state terrorism.” Erdogan alleged that, after Gaza, “the turn will come for other countries in the region. It will come for Lebanon, Syria. They will set their eyes on our homeland between the Tigris and the Euphrates.” He then applauded Hamas — an Iran-backed, U.S.-designated terrorist organization — for “defending Gaza” and “Islamic lands,” including Turkey.

A Jordanian truck driver killed three Israelis present at the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank on September 8.[1] The driver arrived at the Israeli-controlled side of the border crossing, exited his vehicle, and opened fire at Israeli forces working there.[2] Israeli forces at the border crossing killed the shooter.[3] The gunman killed three Israeli civilians working at the border crossing.[4] The Israel Airports Authority—the Israeli government entity responsible for airports and land-to-land border crossings—closed Allenby Bridge, the Rabin crossing, and Jordan River crossing with Jordan until further notice following the shooting attack.[5]