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‘Absolutely no reason’ Middle East should be in this position
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, has said the region faces “an extremely explosive situation that can very quickly escalate into a full-scale, regional war” just weeks before the US election on November 5.
“And there’s absolutely no reason why we should be here. The only reason we’re here is because Biden appears incapable or unwilling to say no to Benjamin Netanyahu,” Parsi told Al Jazeera.
As we’ve been reporting, senior US officials said on Tuesday that Iran would face “serious consequences” for its missile attacks against Israel.
Asked specifically if Iran’s nuclear programme was a “legitimate target for an Israeli response”, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that he wasn’t “ruling anything out” or “ruling anything in”.
“We want to have these conversations directly with our Israeli counterparts over the coming days,” he told reporters.
“It’s clear that this was an unacceptable attack, and as we made clear before this attack, there will be consequences for it, but I think it’s appropriate that we discuss those consequences with our Israeli counterparts before we talk about them publicly.”
Lebanon: Displaced families face lack of food, healthcare
A vast majority of Lebanese families that have been forcibly displaced by recent Israeli attacks cannot meet their basic needs, including access to food, shelter and healthcare, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is warning.
The humanitarian group said 82 percent of the 200 displaced families it surveyed reported struggling to access food while others reported lacking shelter materials, hygiene products and clean drinking water, among other necessities.
Nearly half of all those affected – 47 percent – were children, the IRC said.
“We are witnessing alarming gaps in health care, with critical shortages of medication and limited access to services affecting the elderly, children and those with chronic conditions,” Juan Gabriel Wells, the group’s Lebanon country director, said in a statement.
“Syrian refugees are also facing a dire situation. Many are now forced to live in makeshift shelters, tents, cars, or even garages, facing not only poor living conditions but also barriers to accessing basic services. These families, often with young children, are struggling to access even the most basic services like health care and clean water.”
Displaced children play at a makeshift encampment at a beach in Beirut, October 1
Iran’s rocket attacks constitute second ‘warning shot’ to Israel
Negar Mortazavi, a senior fellow with the Center for International Policy, has said that the Iranian government likely felt that if it didn’t respond to recent Israeli escalations, Israel’s attacks were “just going to grow and continue”.
Mortazavi told Al Jazeera that Iranian missile and drone attacks against Israel in April – two weeks after a deadly Israeli strike on the country’s consulate in Syria – were an initial “warning shot” and an effort to “escalate to de-escalate”.
“I think it looks like the messaging is the same” from Iran on its latest missile barrage, Mortazavi explained. “They’re framing this as another warning shot.”
She also noted that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian described Iran’s attacks in a social media post as “a response to Israeli attacks on their sovereignty”.
“But at the same time, [Pezeshkian reiterated] the message that they don’t want war,” Mortazavi said.
US’s Harris ‘on same page’ as Biden, offers ‘total support for Israel’
Kamala Harris was in the Situation Room for part of the morning with the president being briefed by the National Security team. There is the possibility that she could be the next president should she defeat Donald Trump.
Her spoken comments were very much on the same page as what we’ve heard from others in the Biden administration. Basically painting Iran as the aggressor and saying, once again, that mantra from the US government of offering total support for Israel.
It was interesting to see the statements from all US departments – the State Department, the Pentagon, and the White House – about the ongoing discussion and coordination with Israel during this attack. It’s kind of unprecedented in terms of direct US participation in an ongoing attack.
We had confirmation from all these departments that there was constant coordination and discussion with their Israeli counterparts.
