Iranian Expansion in Gaza A Possible Alternative
Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra said that it was impossible to reconsider the Taif Accord and amend it before stability was attained in Lebanon. He said that Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun went too far in adopting the Syrian strategies toward what was happening in Lebanon, having “proposed in his [Aoun] defense strategy the theory of generalizing resistance, according to the Gaza model. We are seeing now to where this model has led,” Zahra commented.
In an interview with al-Sayyad magazine on Saturday, Zahra said that the united Lebanese-Syrian track, as well as the Syrian manipulation of Lebanese politics had ended when the Syria was forced to withdraw its army from Lebanon in 2005. Zahra regretted Aoun’s “sudden” and “unjustified” call for reviving the old Lebanese-Syrian relations theory through calling for direct negotiations with Israel.
Zahra also expressed his disappointment toward what was happening in Gaza. He said that Hamas provoked Israel into this war, because it was in Hamas’ interests for a military confrontation to happen in an attempt to change the public opinion and rally more supporters. Zahra said it was known that Hamas was integrally linked to Iran on many levels such as arms, money, and perhaps ideology and its expectations in the Middle East.
Zahra added that the situation in Gaza instigated worries that the Iranian regime might expand the confrontation and include more than one faction in the Gaza assault, in an attempt to find an alternative to answering to the international community.