Iran under scrutiny: Recent strikes and potential escalation

What is happening outside the Palestinian arena is not disconnected from what is happening within it at all, including the exchange of fiery messages between Iran and Israel.

This article was originally published in, translated from online newspaper Al-Anbaa.

The latest of these was Saturday's Israeli strike on the Mazzeh area, just days after Iran targeted what it claimed to be a Mossad center in Erbil.

However, the implications of these messages can only be understood within the context of the ongoing war in Gaza and the developments on its supportive fronts from Lebanon to Iraq and Yemen.

Reuters reported, citing Iranian regional sources, that leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah are present in Yemen to direct Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea and supervise them.

All these field developments were commented on by Adib Abdel Massih, a member of the Renewal Bloc, pointing out the "existence of an assassination plan that Israel has been carrying out for a while, parallel to the war on Gaza and southern Lebanon. This is evident from the assassination campaign that Israel is carrying out against Hamas."

In an interview with the online newspaper Al-Anbaa, Abdel-Massih expected "forthcoming escalatory developments in the region at any time, posing a great danger to Lebanon as long as there is no internal unity in rejecting the expansion of the war."

He called on the Lebanese government and diplomacy to "decide to enable the Lebanese army to manage the crisis in the south, to show that there is an existing state capable of making the necessary decisions, not a weak state that dares not make decisions."

Regarding the possible outcomes, Abdel-Massih believed that "all eyes are now on Iran after receiving severe strikes in the past two days from Pakistan to Yemen and Syria."

"However, suppose it wants to escalate the war. In that case, it will not be in its favor because the international community will be against it and face military, economic, and financial sanctions," Abdel-Massih continued. 

As events escalate, there are no clear attempts to pressure towards diplomatic solutions, increasing concerns about things spiraling out of control.