Aug 1, 2024
At around 2 am local time on Wednesday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran in an apparent attack by Israel. The attack came hours after an Israeli strike killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. The United States denied foreknowledge of either attack and had previously warned Israel against striking Beirut.
The United States is either a party to the recent assassinations by Israel or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes there is no one behind the wheel in the White House freeing him to take any action without repercussions from the United States, veteran war correspondent Elijah Magnier told Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Wednesday.
The attacks could not “happen without the approval of the Americans unless Benjamin Netanyahu believes there is nobody in the White House,” Magnier explained. “Which most probably in some cases is the reality, because we don’t know who’s leading America today.”
After concerns over his mental acuity became too large to ignore, US President Joe Biden ended his campaign for reelection but said he planned to finish his current term in office. The President was silent for three days following that announcement then gave an 11-minute speech that appeared to not include any press. He has only made sporadic appearances since and has not taken questions from the media.
On Sunday, it was reported that US officials warned Israel against attacking Beirut, saying that it may be a “red line” for Hezbollah. A few days later, Israel not only struck southern Beirut but assassinated a guest of the Iranian government following President Masoud Pezeshkian’s inauguration.
“It is obvious that Netanyahu wants a wider war. He wants to force the Americans to come in because America cannot leave Israel on its own because it’s part of its doctrine,” explained Magnier. “They have to support the Israelis by all means, even if they disagree with the way Benjamin Netanyahu is conducting the war.”
“Either [the Americans] cannot control Netanyahu and he’s doing whatever he wants and is dragging the US administration behind him, or, they know, and they are saying they don’t know,” explained Magnier, noting that either way they are complicit. “If they really don’t want the war, why do they continue supplying the Israelis with tens of thousands of [munitions]? Without this ammunition, Israel cannot go to war. So, there’s a big difference between what they are saying and what they are doing.”
While Iran showed extreme restraint after Israel bombed its consulate in Syria, Israel is giving them no choice but to respond.
“Today, we have Netanyahu cornering everybody – the Americans, the Iranians, the Syrians, the Lebanese, the Yemeni and the Iraqis – and saying ‘Come to the battlefield, I want a bigger war.’ That’s the message we understand.
If they don’t respond, he’s going to continue hitting them. If they respond – this is what he wants – then they have to play in his field. So what is the solution? This is where everybody is stuck now. They have to respond.”
On Tuesday, the Iranian mission to the UN warned that its response will be “special operations.”
“The response to an assassination will indeed be special operations– harder and intended to instill deep regret in the perpetrator,” the mission wrote on X.
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