Implausible Deniability: Iran's "Ring of Fire" Complicity in HAMAS Attack in Israel: Destabilize the Middle East: Undermine Peace

As U.S. intelligence twists like a pretzel in stating that there is "no smoking gun" in Iran's involvement in the attack by Hamas in Israel, Israeli intelligence, as well as reporting by the?Wall Street Journal,?focus on?Iran in fact being directly involved, citing sources in Hamas and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militias in #Lebanon and #Gaza that the U.S. considers terrorist organizations.

"We kiss the hands of those who planned the attack on the Zionist regime," said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hailing Hamas victory and wearing a Palestinian scarf, in his first televised speech since the attack earlier this week.

#Iran uses #Hamas (and #Hizballah) as a shield to have plausible deniability so that the response will be against Hamas and not the Iranian state.

The reality of course is that Iran leverages and exploits its anti-Israel network of terrorist proxies and has been currently funding (at least $100 million/year), providing training, capabilities, weapons and technical support to Hamas and #Hezbollah for years to "wipe Israel off the map" (axis of resistance).

Tehran was clearly aware of the planning by Hamas for its operations against #Israel; perhaps, it may not have known the precise timing or scope of the Hamas attack mounted?last week is Israel, but we have to be real, and recognize that through its proxies, this was an Iranian-inspired and funded operation to harm Israel and undermine the various #peace Normalization agreements in place, and the ongoing Israel-#SaudiArabia negotiations.

U.S. officials in US Congress and #nationalsecurity circles have long said Iran provides Hamas with weapons and financing. Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, The White House, was frank as well recognizing Iran's?complicity in the attacks in Israel this past weekend. The U.S. Department of State?has recently called Iran the “leading state sponsor of terrorism” and that it has funded #terrorism across the Middle East, including by Hamas.

While it is commendable for the U.S. to warn Hezbollah and Iran not to escalate the conflict, we should also be more honest, clear-eyed, and recognize that today's bloodier conflicts are staged by puppet masters in Tehran, Moscow, Damascus and the new #multipolar power syndicates to undermine peace and a just, rules-based international order, foment greater insecurity, instability, and chaos in the world, and to counter democracies by augmenting their own revisionist-#revanchist power structures and influence across geo-political landscapes through deception, #disinformation #grayzones and asymmetrical warfare.

"Strategic Foresight: Anticipatory Security Policy Protocols to Manage the Kine-Dynamics of Future Power Conflicts and Global Threats"Copyright ?2023?David M. Luna (罗文礼) ??????

#authoritarianism #democracy #corruption? #security?#greatpowercompetition