Iran
Early on, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei denied any responsibility behind the horror Hamas attacks on October 7, but the Middle Eastern country is known to have a long history of training and arming proxy militia groups from Gaza to Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria.
In October 2021, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed his organization had a huge 100,000 trained fighters.
A year earlier in 2020, the US State Department estimated Iran gave Hezbollah $700million a year. In the past, Iran had historically given $100 million annually to Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
During recent days, Hezbollah militants and Israeli soldiers have traded fire across the highly-disputed Lebanon-Israel border, with the Shiite Muslim political party with an armed wing of the same name reporting a number of deaths.
But in a chilling warning, Hezbollah has vowed to escalate if Israel begins a promised ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, while Israel has vowed to aggressively retaliate.
Last weekend, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned Israel that the Middle East could spiral out of control if it goes ahead with planned strikes on Gaza, while also blaming the US for providing military support to Tel Aviv.
He told a news conference in Tehran: “I warn the US and its proxy Israel that if they do not immediately stop the crime against humanity and genocide in Gaza, anything is possible at any moment and the region will go out of control.”
Amir-Abdollahian also warned the results could be “severe, bitter” and “have far-reaching repercussions”, both regionally and for those advocating for war.
China
China had publicly remained relatively tight-lipped over the Iseael-Hamas conflict for more than a week before it finally broke its silence.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi reportedly told his Saudi Arabia counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in a call on October 15: “Israel’s actions have gone beyond self-defense and it should heed the call of the international community and the Secretary-General of the United Nations to stop its collective punishment of the people in Gaza.
But a few days later, China’s aggression towards Israel on the matter appeared to significantly shift when President Xi Jinping made comments during a meeting with Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly in Beijing last Thursday.
He said, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV: “The top priority now is a ceasefire as soon as possible, to avoid the conflict from expanding or even spiraling out of control and causing a serious humanitarian crisis.”
On Monday, Wang’s tone had changed dramatically from a week earlier, stating Israel’s “right to self-defense”.
But he also urged Israel to abide by international humanitarian law and protect the safety of Palestinian civilians in its war against and called for peace talks between the two sides.
He reportedly said in a call with his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen: Every country has the right to self-defense, but every country should abide by international humanitarian law and protect the safety of civilians.
“As long as [any resolution] is conducive to peace, China will firmly support it; as long as [any resolution] is conducive to Palestinian-Israeli reconciliation, China will do its best.”
Speaking to the international media, he said: “Well, why not? We have had very stable business relations with Israel. We’ve had friendly relations with Palestine for decades.
“Our friends know about this. Russia could in my opinion make a contribution to the peace process.”
But in a bizarre twist last week, Putin was publicly thanked by Hamas for Russia’s “tireless efforts” to stop Israel’s “aggression” against the Gaza territory.
A statement from the terrorist group posted on Telegram and circulated in Russian state media read: “We in Hamas appreciate the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the ongoing Zionist aggression against our people.”
Hamas also noted the Russian president “does not accept the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the cutting off of humanitarian aid and attacks on unarmed civilians, according to a report by CNN.
