ANOTHER STABBING IN THE BACK IN THE MIDDLE EAST : HEZBOLLAH AND IRAN DE-ESCALATE. ABANDON HAMAS.

 

Yesterday Friday Nov 3, 2023 Hassan Nasrallah (the leader of the Hezbollah in Lebanon) delivered his long awaited and very long winded speech.

The gist is Nasrallah and the Hezbollah (and by extension Iran) will not be escalating their role in the present crisis in the Middle East. 

Hassan Nasrallah also said point blank that he had no prior knowledge and had nothing to do with the October 7th attack by Hamas.    

PLENTY HOT AIR, NO ESCALATION

• Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, gave first public address since Oct. 7 attack
• careful to avoid committing Hezbollah to any escalation or widening low-level war 
• "What is happening on Lebanon-Israel border may seem modest.." he said.

 WASHING THEIR HANDS OFF HAMAS

• October 7th attack was an exclusively Palestinian operation
• “operation was 100 % Palestinian in terms of both decision and execution"  
• The attack a surprise to him and Hamas' other allies
• attack was solely Palestinian, unrelated “to any international or regional issue”.
• Iran does not exercise any form of authority or control over these factions.

 

My Comments :

Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan has already expressed unhappiness  at Hassan Nasrallah's statement. Hamas was hoping for more support from Hezbollah (aka Iran).

Certainly neither Iran nor Hezbollah want any involvement in any more escalation of this crisis. This is a typical case of baling batu sembunyi tangan because both Iran and Hezbollah have long supported Hamas in Gaza. 

The Ayatollahs are not exactly standing on solid ground in Iran. Yesterday Friday Nov 3, 2023 there was a major explosion at an Iranian power plant.

On October 22nd there was another explosion at the Iranian Republican Guards Corps (IRGC) headquarters in Teheran.

In Lebanon there has been no real government since the Beirut port explosion in August 2020, which also caused the government of the day to resign. 13 months after that in September 2021 a caretaker prime minister was appointed who no one really cares about. 

Hassan Nasrallah's Hezbollah is still top dog in Lebanon but Hezbollah does not have any more support from Lebanon's other factions. 

Hezbollah lost much support even before that devastating Beirut port explosion which affected half of the city. The damage was estimated at US$15 billion and Beirut has not recovered from that disaster yet. The Lebanese blame Hezbollah for the blast because the port was under their control (meaning Hezbollah collected tolls).

The other factions in Lebanon want no part in this Hamas-Israel conflict and are totally opposed to Lebanon suffering any destruction as a result of any escalation by Hezbollah. Hence Hassan Nasrallah is quite alone in Lebanon.

So Hassan Nasrallah says about Hamas:

• October 7th attack was an exclusively Palestinian operation
• “operation was 100 % Palestinian in terms of both decision and execution"  
• The attack a surprise to him and Hamas' other allies
• attack was solely Palestinian, unrelated “to any international or regional issue”.
• Iran does not exercise any form of authority or control over these factions.

They are washing their hands off Hamas. This type of behaviour is typical for the Middle East. 

The Arabs and the Iranians are well versed with stabbing each other in the back.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.