Iranian Official: Gaza Is Part Of Three-Way Israeli Plot

A prominent Iranian politician has characterized Israeli operations against Gaza as the third phase of Israel's current plot to destabilize the Middle East region.

Mohsen Rezai, a former Revolutionary Guards commander and current member of a state arbitrating body, said the first two phases of Israel's strategy were the civil wars provoked in Syria and Iraq. Rezai told a gathering in Tehran University on Wednesday that Israel had planned Salafist and Sunni attacks against the governments of Iraq and Syria.

Its attack on Gaza "is the third phase of a large operation" — and its aim, to "recover the morale it has lost over the last 10 years" and "fully exploit" the regional mayhem, IRNA reported.

In contrast with certain incendiary declarations of Iranian clerics and officials, Rezai did not accuse the West or particular states of backing international terrorism, but said certain, possibly Western states, were "unwittingly" conniving with Israel's plans.

Iran is currently discussing its nuclear program with the West in a process seen in recent months as a tentative and precarious rapprochement with the international community.

Rezai said "if the states accused of backing terrorism in Syria and Iraq do nothing against Israel, this is proof they are working with Israel." Arab states must force Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza he said, "otherwise they are all partners in this crime. Arab leaders ... should know that if they remain silent, the flames of this fire will engulf them."

On Thursday, as Israel continued to bomb Gaza to punish Hamas authorities for the recent killings of three Israeli teenagers, Hamas legislator Mushir al-Masri told Iran's official IRNA agency that there was "no talk of a ceasefire" for now and militants had yet to use up "all their capacities to resist" Israel.

Al-Masri told the agency in Gaza that there could not be talks of a ceasefire as long as Israelis were killing "families and especially children." He added, without specifying how, that the Israelis would soon pay for their actions. "The resistance has many capabilities to fight the Zionist enemy, which it has not yet used, and what it has done so far has amazed both friends and enemies."

— Ahmad Shayegan

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Iranian Official: Gaza Is Part Of Three-Way Israeli Plot

A prominent Iranian politician has characterized Israeli operations against Gaza as the third phase of Israel's current plot to destabilize the Middle East region.

Its attack on Gaza "is the third phase of a large operation" — and its aim, to "recover the morale it has lost over the last 10 years" and "fully exploit" the regional mayhem, IRNA reported.

Iran is currently discussing its nuclear program with the West in a process seen in recent months as a tentative and precarious rapprochement with the international community.

— Ahmad Shayegan

WORLDCRUNCH

Premium stories from Worldcrunch's own network of multi-lingual journalists in over 30 countries.

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What's Driving More Venezuelans To Migrate To The U.S.

With dimmed hopes of a transition from the economic crisis and repressive regime of Nicolas Maduro, many Venezuelans increasingly see the United States, rather than Latin America, as the place to rebuild a life..

Photo of a family of Migrants from Venezuela crossing the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum

Migrants from Venezuela crossed the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum.

David Peinado via Zuma Press

Julio Borges

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Migration has too many elements to count. Beyond the matter of leaving your homeland, the process creates a gaping emptiness inside the migrant — and outside, in their lives. If forced upon someone, it can cause psychological and anthropological harm, as it involves the destruction of roots. That's in fact the case of millions of Venezuelans who have left their country without plans for the future or pleasurable intentions.

Their experience is comparable to paddling desperately in shark-infested waters. As many Mexicans will concur, it is one thing to take a plane, and another to pay a coyote to smuggle you to some place 'safe.'

Venezuela's mass emigration of recent years has evolved in time. Initially, it was the middle and upper classes and especially their youth, migrating to escape the socialist regime's socio-political and economic policies. Evidently, they sought countries with better work, study and business opportunities like the United States, Panama or Spain. The process intensified after 2017 when the regime's erosion of democratic structures and unrelenting economic vandalism were harming all Venezuelans.