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Israel to continue killing spree if it faces no reaction: Analyst

Author and researcher in political affairs Ali Hamie (L) and journalist and political analyst Elijah Magnier debate the latest attack on an Israeli-owned merchant ship off the coast of Oman on Press TV’s Spotlight program.

A political analyst believes that the Israeli regime would continue its provocative measures and would go further on its killing spree if there is no reaction to its atrocious measures.

“Israel is used to see the reaction of every country or every group, in a way that if the Israelis attack and there’s no response, then they go further and then they continue the escalation and they continue killing,” Elijah Magnier, a journalist and political analyst, said during a debate on Press TV’s Spotlight program.

“What’s happening is very clear to me,” Magnier said in reference to the latest attack on an Israeli-owned merchant ship off the coast of Oman, pointing out that Israel has been bombing Syria and killing members of the resistance front for years.

He said the Israelis went further last week to escalate the situation by bombing al-Dabaa airport in al-Qusayr region in Syria, which killed two members of the resistance front. 

“This is an escalation that Iran and the Axis of Resistance cannot allow it to go through, otherwise, Israel will continue its escalations,” the political commentator remarked.

He said that interestingly, Iran is telling the Israelis “you have gone beyond the limit of the rule of engagement and because you have caused the death of the member of the Axis of Resistance, and that this time, you did not bomb a tent or an empty building, but you deliberately killed members of the Resistance.”

Magnier added that that’s why, according to Iran, there was a retaliation against the Israeli ship.

The Brussels-based journalist was referring to comments made by informed sources who told Al-Alam television that the attack on the Israeli ship was in retaliation for the Israeli attack on the al-Dabaa airport.

‘Israel after dragging Iran into war’

The other guest on the Spotlight program, Ali Hamie, argued that the Zionist entity benefits the most from such heightened tension and what’s going on in the region.

The Israelis want to see the ongoing talks in Vienna over the fate of the Iran nuclear deal fail, said Hamie, an author and researcher in political affairs.

Israeli is counting on dragging “Iran into a small war in the Middle East,” he said.

However, the United States does not want to be engaged in such a war, he added.

Hamie went on to say that in case the US helped the Israeli regime in waging a war against Iran, the Islamic Republic would be able to defend itself as a country that has the “fourth largest navy forces in the world.”

The Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned ship, came under attack about 152 nautical miles (280 km) northeast of the Omani port of Duqm on Thursday, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which provides maritime security information.

In a statement on Friday, Zodiac Maritime, the Israeli-owned firm managing the oil tanker, claimed that two crewmen, a Briton and a Romanian, were killed in the attack.

Israel has drawn a number of attacks against its ships in recent months, owing to its various assaults on cargo ships across the Persian Gulf region and elsewhere.

Earlier in July, a fire broke out on an Israeli-owned cargo ship after it was struck by an “unidentified weapon” in the northern Indian Ocean.

Israeli interests ‘legitimate targets’ of resistance

“The Israeli regime will not be able to engage in an all-out battle against the Axis of Resistance because it knows that this battle will cost it dearly and it will not be able to pay for it,” Hussein al-Kenany, an Iraqi expert on Middle East affairs, told Press TV.

Al-Kenany said he believed that the interests of the Israeli regime in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman and elsewhere are “legitimate targets” of resistance groups and others who seek to defend themselves against the regime in Tel Aviv.

He also said that despite the support Israel receives from the US and Western countries, “we are witnessing that the United States and Israel are obviously retreating, thanks to the strength of the resistance in Gaza, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.”

The Middle East affairs expert, however, added that Israel has an aggressive nature and will in one way or another continue its hostile and expansionist policies in the region, even if its aggressive measures are faced with reactions.


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