Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that a series of blows launched by Israel against arch-enemy Iran and its allies it has triggered a “chain reaction” ready to transform the entire Middle East. “The historic events we witness today are a chain reaction,” Netanyahu said in a video address to the Iranian people. Among the triggers, Netanyahu cited “the pounding of Hamas” in the Gaza Strip, “the decimation of Hezbollah” in Lebanon and the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah, and “the blows we have dealt to the terror axis of Iranian regime”. Netanyahu said Iran had spent tens of billions of dollars to support the now-toppled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well as the armed groups Hamas and Hezbollah. “The only thing Israel wants is to defend our state, but cBy doing so we are defending civilization against barbarism” he said. Netanyahu said he believes the Iranian people want peace, “but you suffer under the rule of a regime that subjugates you and threatens us.””One day all this will change. One day Iran will be free,” the Israeli leader said, adding that “we will realize that future together much sooner than you think.”
Iran is a long-time ally of the Assad family, whose decade-long rule in Syria ended at the weekend when a whirlwind rebel offensive captured the capital Damascus. Assad has long played a strategic role in Iran’s anti-Israel “axis of resistance”, particularly in facilitating the supply of weapons to Tehran’s ally Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.
Last Thursday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps strongly condemned “the abuse of the current instability in Syria by the United States and the Zionist regime”, referring to Israel. Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel, violence has attracted Iran-aligned militants to the region. During the war, Iran also conducted two direct attacks on Israel using hundreds of missiles.