Iranian security officials helped the Palestinian terror group Hamas plan Saturday’s sneak attack on Israel – and gave the final go-ahead at a meeting last Monday in Beirut, an explosive new report said.
Officers from Iran’s notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have been working with the Gaza Strip-based terrorist organization since August to plan the October 7 attack, which sent thousands of rockets and gunmen over Israel’s fortified border, killing more than 700, the Wall Street Journal reported. Sunday.
The attack was the most serious violation of the Jewish state since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Iranian officials – as well as representatives from Iran-backed militant groups including Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah – refined tactical and strategic plans for the attack during several meetings in Beirut, according to the Journal, which cited senior members of both terror groups.
Iran helped plan Saturday’s attack on Israel, new report says. AFP via Getty Images Israel’s legendary intelligence service apparently missed warning signs of Saturday’s Hamas attack. AFP via Getty Images The attack has left more than 700 Israelis dead and thousands more injured. MOHAMMED SABER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
No wonder Iran helped plan the bloody chaos, some experts say.
“An attack of such scope could only happen after months of planning and would not have happened without coordination with Iran,” Lina Khatib, director of the SOAS Middle East Institute at the University of London, told the outlet.
“Hamas, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, does not make a decision on its own to engage in war without the express consent of Iran first.”
The overall plan is to eventually wage an active war with Israel on all fronts to finally shut it down with the help of Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the north and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, senior Hamas and Hezbollah members and an Iranian official told Journal.
US officials have not confirmed the report.
“We have yet to see evidence that Iran directed or was behind this attack, but there is definitely a long-standing relationship,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday on CNN.
Another US official supported Blinken’s statement when they said that the US does not “have any information at this time to support this account.”
The attack was called the biggest escalation of hostilities in the region in decades.REUTERS The attack on Israel came a day after the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. AFP via Getty Images
If Iran’s direct involvement is proven, it could spark even higher tensions in the already explosive region.
Although Iran’s delegation to the United Nations in New York did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised the attack in a post on X, the application formerly known as Twitter.
Khamenei wrote, “The Zionist Regime will be eliminated at the hands of the Palestinian people and the Resistance forces throughout the region.”
A senior Hamas official said the group planned the attack itself.
“This is the decision of Palestine and Hamas,” he said.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami appeared during an August meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader this summer. via REUTERS The border between Israel and Gaza is heavily armored, but gunmen charged straight through the lines Saturday. AFP via Getty Images Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei celebrated the attack, posting online that “the Zionist regime will be eliminated at the hands of the Palestinian people.” via REUTERS
The attack – which began in earnest Saturday morning at about 6:30am – has killed more than 1,100 people on both sides and injured thousands more.
The Israeli cabinet quickly invoked Article 40 Aleph, marking the first officially declared war since 1973.
On Sunday, Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed the Jewish state for a “long and difficult war” as his administration responded to the surprise attack.
“The war was forced upon us by a murderous attack by Hamas. The first phase ended in these few hours by destroying most of the enemy forces that had penetrated our territory,” Netanyahu said.
“We will restore security to the people of Israel, and we will win.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
