3 attacks in 3 countries israel is said to have hit targets linked to iran in syria in lebanon and in iraq so why is Benjamin Netanyahu escalating tension with iran will iran respond and if so how this is inside story. Thanks thanks thanks. Hello im denis welcome to inside story now israel is being blamed for a string of attacks against iranian allied forces in 3 countries over the weekend and thats raised tensions across the middle east early on monday 3 israeli airstrikes reportedly hit a base belonging to a Palestinian Group in lebanon in the town of khowst saya right on the border with syria now those attacks came a day after 2 israeli drones calls damage in the capital beirut one of them hit a building which howls the media office of the iranian backed hezbollah in the citys Southern Suburbs another israeli drone explain did in the air in the same area. Well Israeli Forces also carried out drone attacks in iraq and in syria israel did not respond to the accusations that its a sort killed at least one fighter from iraqs Popular Mobilisation forces but Benjamin Netanyahu says the operation in damascus which triggered syrian antiaircraft fire was to prevent a drone attack on israel by iran. If someone rises up to q you kill them 1st you know a complicated operation revealed that iran dispatched a special unit off to syria to kill israelis on the Golan Heights with explosive drugs id like to emphasize this was an initiative of iran and we prevented serious attacks that we will expose any attempt by iran to attack us and any iranian effort to hide behind excuses we will not tolerate a aggressions against israel from any country in the region any country that allows its territory to be used for aggression against israel will face the consequences and i repeat the country will face the consequences well israels actions triggered threats of retaliation from both iran and hezbollah and iranian government spokesman described the attacks as shameless violations of sovereignty and said theyll be a response as well as leader calls and a very Dangerous Development and. Enough is enough we will never allow israeli aircraft to attack lebanon or a target in lebanon on the israeli side will never feel safe that israeli drones that are coming to lebanon are not coming here to collect information they are suicidal drones that aim at killing us from now on we will face the israeli drones when they arrive in lebanon skies we will crush them we will drop them. Right time to introduce our guest now from tel aviv we have seth fronts menus middle east analyst for the. A recent post in tehran Mohammad Marandi is any iranian political analyst and professor at the university of tehran in london sami hamdi editor in chief of the National Interests journal welcome to your theft let me start with you in tel aviv so the frequency of israeli attacks are increasing increasing their widening in scope over the weekend without talking about 3 Different Countries multiple axes of conflict what is Benjamin Netanyahu up to whats the objective or i think 1st of all we have to be clear that some of these strikes are a legend but israel has taken responsibility for whats happened in syria and i think that obviously israel is trying to show that its not just hollow rhetoric and mean when israel says that iran cannot threaten israel from syria that it must not intrench there that israel is watching and that when iran in forces iranian proxies are staging drones or rockets especially very close to israels ceasefire lines then they may face some sort of action from israel and i think thats clear and israel has been doing that over the last several years right and this is saying with yousef i mean this is clearly mr security trying to burnish his credentials of course hes got an election in just a few weeks in september how does this play with the israeli public do they feel that this increased rebuffs ness if you like using airstrikes makes them safer. I dont think this is playing deeply to the elections i mean israel has admitted that it carried out more than a 1000 air strikes in the last several years so i think that you know netanyahu is the well known in israel would last 10 years hes managed the conflict very well i think for most peoples perspective most israelis know him if they object to certain aspects of netanyahu as rule it certainly is not usually the Security Issues so i think he is trusted and i think especially his kind of size on the world stage in terms of working with the russians and other others like the United States is something that most israelis feel comfortable or certain percentage in terms of the security aspect and also the most of the israeli Political Parties agree on the security aspect they all agree the iran is a threat to israel all right coming to terror on and Mohammad Marandi mohammed the central allegation by Benjamin Netanyahu is that this at least some of these strikes were preemptive in nature in that they were to thwart what he says was a planned attack by either iran or its allies on occupied Golan Heights using drones armed with missiles. Well i think its universally recognized that netanyahu is a very dishonest politician even though many politicians are dishonest but he is exceptional among them this whole claim that the netanyahu constantly makes about attacking iran in positions is nonsense if there have been no iranian soldiers killed in syria the recent or at any time in the past couple of years there was only one occasion well 2 occasions but one occasion where recently like a couple of years ago they struck an airbase where 70 iranians were work eld were murdered by the israelis and another instance which was before that but i wont get into that but the point is that you cannot hide in iran peoples deaths because their friends and family will immediately put them on. On the internet their pictures just like the 2 Lebanese Hezbollah members who were murdered the other night there their pictures came out immediately there is nothing to hide so when the israelis claim that their constantly as hiking iranian positions thats nonsense if they if they have evidence give the names of the people who were killed pictures of the iranian soldiers its not something very difficult to access but having and the reason why they do this is because that this rare these constantly strike Syrian Government positions but they want to find some sort of justification for these illegal acts these violations of syrian sovereignty in this way these are upset theyve been supporting isis and alqaeda on their border we know from the interview given on your own t. V. Network by the former head of mossad the relationship that existed with al qaida on the Syrian Border we know what this year the israelis were doing right every time the Syrian Government was pushing back on these groups on the golan on the Golan Heights the israelis would attack Syrian Government positions right ok but what we now see is an escalation where. All right lets leave it there and take that to sammy because weve got 2 competing narratives havent we essentially as ever in the region but one thing that i think most people will be able to agree upon and that is that tension has now ratcheted up significantly there are fears of a wider conflict how far would you say those fears justified. I think 1st of all we have to remember that every time there is an israeli election coming up there is always an uptick in violence whether thats blasting the palestinians with strikes or whether it is blasting another Common Threat netanyahu survives because he tells the israelis that there is a Common Threat and hes not too far from the truth this is the language of the occupier at the end of the day that we took peoples land and they will want it back so we have to make sure that we stick together in order to push them away over the iranians are a threat what i think is this is not new this is not the beginning this is the beginning this is part of the war that is ongoing under the covers while trump and the iranians have this staring match over who blinks 1st over the sanctions so because the reason trump doesnt want to go to war with the iranians is because hes aware that the iranians have proxies in syria iraq lebanon they are misled me and hes aware that if he goes to let me interrupt you and ask you then do you believe that what we what theyre saying that is a manifestation of the bigger conflict if you like in that potentially between the United States and iran with the white house offering almost complete support for Benjamin Netanyahu and his campaign for reelection. A statement he supported the airstrikes i do believe this is part of the Bigger Picture the u. A. E. And the israelis met not too long ago i think last week where they were discussing its well known that the u. A. E. And the saudis are very worried that trump is not hesitating to go to war with iran and the reason hes hesitating is because the iranians have power cards the iranians have militias in iraq they have militias in syria they have militias in lebanon or who are ready to fight for the sake of the iranian cause for the israelis and the u. A. E. To convince trying to go to war with the iranians they need to we can these particular proxies and this is why i believe that israelis bombing these particular targets is a bid in which to try to weaken those iranian proxies and give trump that appetite to war that he is actually losing because he is really see iran as a threat as do you eat as to the saudis by the way im not talking a more perspective im not saying one is right or one is wrong were talking about an occupier one side and a sectarian nationalist agenda on the other side. The u. A. E. And saudi and israel believe that iran is one of the biggest threats and iran hasnt played the americans in iraq and outplayed the americans in the other areas and the like so israel with the election coming up with netanyahu suffering with political damage domestically corruption allegations and the like he wants to unite israel as a Common Threat and the u. A. E. Wants to convince trump to go to war with iran and weve decided to do that by targeting iran all right mohammed coming back to you central to everybody who opposes iran at the moment central to their accusations against terror on is the desire to spread the revolution which was clearly stated in 1979 and furthermore. Dollars statement that the iranian government is seeking to establish what he called a crescent of shear influence throughout the middle east i mean isnt that the core problem which is why tehran is facing so many issues confronting its neighbors and of course United States. No i think thats the narrative that they and like to create after all the central cause in our region is the palestinian issue palestinians are almost universally sunny and that have the iranians have been a post of our tide in palestine since the since before the revolution so its not sectarian or for example in the case of bosnia when the boss is were being massacred and decimated the only country that really went to the aid of the pop bosnians and helped save the country with the iranians in bosnia was a sunny country or when isis attacked at or below the kurdish part of iraq even though iran was not happy with mr bott as ani but iran immediately sent troops in to protect the city and that for vented from falling it was about to fall there sunny kurdish. So i think that this is a narrative that the saudis the israelis the americans have a vested interested interest in promoting the reason why iran is powerful is not because it has proxies across the region but because it has allies across the region whether in iraq or syria these are not mercenaries or in lebanon or yemen or elsewhere these are not mercenaries these are people who are treated as irans allies whereas what the United States and the saudis do is they give checks they give out money to their people they dont have any they dont support any popular causes they support saudi arabia the emirates which are both on the decline in both have failed in and are declining regimes in my opinion so the United States the problem that the United States has is that it is defending its israel to the hilt and. Netanyahu like trump is the worst possible space of the Israeli Regime because he is he is so explicitly racist that even mainstream Democratic Candidates in the United States her rivals in races ok. For the united sleds go to tell of eve now and seth is it your understanding then the Benjamin Netanyahu. A would like a direct conflict with iran or b. Does he understand the riskiness of the gamble that hes taking insofar as to tensions are now so increased and it also increases the risk of miscalculation. I dont think that anyone in israel wants another conflict i mean israelis have lived with conflict for 70 years and they are aware of for instance of hezbollahs rocket threats of more than 100000 rockets there is the us says can reach all of israel i dont think that iran wants a conflict the americans on a conflict either in the region has been through many years a vicious conflict against isis and the genocide it carried out so no one really wants a conflict but i think that you know israel has its National Security interests and he has said that he doesnt want well istic missiles being transferred to his bolo or precision guidance or drawings i think israels been quite clear on so i dont think israel if you look at netanyahu is record since he came to power in fact there have not been large numbers of conflict and the main interest of the government of israel is to protect its civility serve the countrys economically successful right sammy weve heard from the leader of hezbollah following the 2 drones that a claim to have come from israel that there will be retaliate. Has another rather claimed that the cease fire arrangement set out in the u. N. Security Council Resolution that actually put an end to the 2006 conflict is now being broke and he said that this cannot be tolerated again do you expect hezbollah or at least to mount some sort of retaliation that could take the region closer to all out conflict. I think surface right when he says that nobody actually wants conflict in the region the reason being is this at the end of the day israelis dont want to fight with their own forces against the iranians like i said earlier i think this is part of trying to get trump to do the fighting instead trunk doesnt want to do the fighting so he doesnt want to do the fighting you either dont want to do the fighting the iranians are happy theyre expanding all of this chaos and the like helps them to continue expanding once upon a time they were only within their borders then they oh and 980 they had the war with saddam and since then theyve been pushing forward backing groups with their cultural offices and the like in iraq in syria in lebanon and yemen in other words the status quo suits them they dont want to go to war either so no party actually wants to go to war or rather no party wants to use their own troops to go to war everybody wants to cause the u. S. To do the fighting and trance policy is clear the u. S. Troops will not do the fighting so i dont think lebanon or hezbollah will necessarily retaliate i think they were learned to know to use the rhetoric has been a slow use the rhetoric all to boost their own particular support but its important to understand something here we should not talk about israel or indeed the uranian agendas in the region as if they are legitimate agendas when israel is talking about preserving its security its doing so at the expense of an entire population this is not israel innocently sitting by and saying you know what guys we came here very nicely were living and were all want to be friends and therefore. Us israel took an entire populations that had one justice to one less than the right israel took some of the population and is trying to defend it this is the reality of whats taken is defending an illegitimate occupation and this is why it is always under threat right now we are in a situation where we know that iran is struggling its struggling its under this campaign of maximum pressure where it is being starved of any access to revenue iran really cant even contemplate can it entering into another costly kind of conflict wouldnt it be advisable therefore for the iranian authorities to perhaps dial down to perhaps withdraw to parts ask its allies and its proxies to be a good little bit quiet right now given the harsh reality on the ground. Well the harsh reality on the ground is that the saudis and them are atis with american support carrying out genocide in yemen the harsh reality is the Israeli Regime is bombing iraq hes bombing the syrians and theyve attempted and assassinate assassination yesterday in lebanon so its not as if things are quiet is this really regime that is carrying out aggression and the reason why so many people in this region see you iran as a friend is because they see no one else supporting their cars like the palestinians in gaza like the people in yemen and lebanon and in the case of iraq when we see that thousands of american troops are in the country yet they allowed drones to strike iranian iraqi forces iraqi forces that fought isis then obviously the sentiment in iraq is going to turn further against the United States of western think tanks in western media constantly protrade the United States and israel as a for that protagonist in this story and they somehow think that the rest of the world automatically assumes the same whereas the people who are on the ground see things as they exactly opposite so as long as Israeli Regime carries out strikes then it has to expect a response and i believe that say it has nasser alone will definitely retaliate against israelis because he said he will do so the only thing that prevents israeli rid the regime in israel from aggression is the fear of retaliation if the Israeli Regime concludes that they can strike with impunity then they will do so but i think that its very important to keep in mind the what your previous said correctly and that is that the United States does not want to war in iran doesnt want to war in iran of course has seen the failure of the maximum Pressure Campaign despite the hardship that the americans have been trying to impose on ordinary iranians and they have made life difficult for women and children and i think the. Probably proud of their actions like they are and you live in syria and yemen and venezuela and everywhere else in iraq and afghanistan where theyve created so much devastation but in the case of iran its failed the currency has stabilized actually strengthened in the past few months the economy has leveled out or either merican to have failed and thats why they began a new campaign for try to begin taking tankers but the iranians do not want to initiate conflict the americans know that the iranians do not want to do so but the run into will not allow the americans to carry out an attack on the country without being ok all right our top point do so all right israelis want to learn the hard way they will seth coming back to you then. What weve heard is that all players to this potential conflicts are unwilling to enter into a conflict nobody really wants a fight but i cant help but think that this is it an exceedingly risky. Policy to pursue you on the part of Benjamin Netanyahu as i said earlier the risk of there being a miscalculation mohamed is of the impression that hezbollah will indeed retaliate is this something that the israeli public before they get they get ready to vote because i understand hes netanyahu is running neck and neck in this particular race as well is this something that is going to secure him the votes that he needs to have a significant victory in the election i dont thing it relates their election because i think that the main competitor against that you know the former chief of staff when he gets in his generals or share the same consensus in terms of israels National Security and all the more aware some of them probably for against groups like hezbollah or. These groups that are supported by iran they know exactly where the threat is and look last year for instance in february in may there was an iranian. Drawn flown from syria into israeli air space there was rockets fired near the golan so this isnt a question of retaliation this is an ongoing kind of simmering conflict and youre right in there could be for instance a miscalculation by one side or another they could spiral out of control hopefully that will not happen and certainly iran hopefully will understand the message in terms of its allies in terms of taking israels seriously or id get to give the final word to you sami if you can be really brief please because we are running out of time but give us a just what you think is the significance of the fact that these are weapons depos in iraq have now been targeted in many saying that these have been struck by israeli airstrikes i dont think it affects irans capabilities much iran doesnt just rely on the fact i mean 100 made a very valid point when he says that iran governs by ideology has an arsenal of believes in irans ideology headed amitie believes in irans ideology its not like checks coming out of any of they give it to islam or whoever and then they betray them later on and this is the issue here iran is it promotes the Grassroots Movement im not saying this is a good thing but this is the reason that they have been able to dominate this is why the americans launched the hearts and minds because they realize that no matter how much they batter the share populations in iraq or indeed in syria or the like it just seemed to make iran stronger because iran seemed to be that resistance in the face of american aggression the reality is you have 2 very competing good genders in the region israel and iran both are detrimental to the region and both are now trying to fight each other under a simmering conflict without it going into an all out war none of them want to all out war everybody wants the u. S. To do the fighting where the u. S. Is refusing right to do the fighting and this is what we have skirmishes all right sammy handy in london thank you very much indeed Mohammad Marandi in terror on thank you and seth fronts been in tel aviv thank you all very much indeed and as ever thank you. For watching the show you can see it again anytime you like by going to the web site al jazeera dot com should you want more discussion you can go to our Facebook Page at facebook dot com forward slash a. J. Inside story and theres always the twitter sphere. At a. J. Inside story im at dennis for me of the whole team here and its by phone now. After user and friend a dramatic transformation is emerging. Aljazeera goes on a journey with 4 diverse ethiopian. To tell inspirational stories the most us entering into them months i was approached to principals and teachers instance i was sometimes frightened. By ethiopia coming soon on aljazeera. 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