Both Iran and Hamas deny Tehran had any involvement in the attack on Israel, but a top Hamas commander recently said Israeli retaliation would likely force allies into the fight.
Still, evidence is trickling out that shows Iran may have been more involved than they’re willing to admit. The Wall Street Journal reported Hamas leaders met with Iranian agents in Lebanon to plan the vicious invasion, and now videos appear to show some of the terrorists who infiltrated Israel were actually speaking Persian.
Amir Bar Shalom on Channel 12: I forwarded to the Shin Bet and Aman (IDF Intelligence) a number of videos showing the terrorists who infiltrated Israel, were speaking Persian. It seems that the Iranian involvement in the massacre is greater than initially thought.…
— Israel-Alma (@Israel_Alma_org) October 11, 2023
While the IDF is currently focused on Hamas with a massive military campaign at its border with Gaza in the south, military leaders are also watching the north, all too aware that enemies surround them.
“You’ve got, obviously Hamas in the south, in the Gaza Strip, but you also have Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia terrorist group in Lebanon. And you have other terrorist proxies surrounding Israel and this is no accident,” said Nathan Sales, former Ambassador at Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism under the Trump Administration.
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With reports of attacks now coming from Lebanon and Syria, Sales says this is all part of Iran’s desire to wipe Israel off the map.
“Iran is the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Iran is going to sponsor terrorism against Israel. Now, their main proxy for doing that over the years, over the decades, has been Hezbollah… What we haven’t really seen before was a level of sophistication from Hamas that has allowed it to carry out these sorts of ambitious operations like we saw over the weekend. The fact that Hamas is now capable of doing that has Iran’s fingerprints all over it,” Sales told CBN News.
REPORT: Iranian Officers Met Terror Group Reps to Plan Attacks on Israel
He says that while it’s clear Israel’s response to Hamas will be one of strength, there’s a risk it could spur other terrorist groups to attack.
“That is a true nightmare scenario, where one after the other, after the other, terrorist group starts piling on. I think terrorist organizations no matter what their ideology, understand strength, and so it’s really important for Israel to establish deterrence by showing if you come at us, it’s not going to end well for you,” Sales said.
As for Iran, Sales predicts, for now, it will most likely continue using these proxies.
“The saying goes, ‘They’re willing to fight to the last Palestinian,’ or ‘Iran is willing to fight to the very last Lebanese.’ It’s a way of insulating themselves from a cost of warfare, and also helps preserve a certain air of deniability. You know, ‘It wasn’t us, it was these other guys…’ No one should credit anything Iran says when they try to wipe their hands of the bloodshed in Israel,” said Sales.
He’s now calling on the Biden administration to do everything in its power to help Israel win. This includes financial pressure on Iran, in order to cut off funding to the terrorists fighting this war.
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