The Israeli Defense Forces unleashed airstrikes on Iranian Quds Forces and militias allied with Tehran in Aqraba, Syria, Aug. 24, claiming their bombardment had thwarted a “large-scale attack of multiple killer drones on Israel.”
The following day two drones that Lebanese officials say were launched by Israeli forces crashed in Beirut, Lebanon, near an office of Hezbollah, an ally of Tehran.
Tel Aviv seeks to push back the expanding military and political influence of the Iranian regime in Iraq and Syria. The Iranian rulers’ intervention in conflicts there extends abroad the counterrevolution they carried out at home in the early 1980s, pushing back gains made by working people during the 1979 Iranian Revolution that toppled the U.S.- backed shah of Iran.
In July the Israeli Defense Forces bombed Tehran’s rocket bases in Iraq. Israeli spy agencies claim that Tehran has stationed missiles in Iraq that are capable of striking Israel. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calls for the destruction of Israel and the driving of Jews into the sea. Hamas, the governing party in the Gaza Strip, and Hezbollah share his Jew-hating tirades.
The attacks come as Washington steps up its pressure on Tehran, tightening the sanctions it imposes that intensify the economic and social crisis bearing down on working people in Iran.