Senior UAE official warns prolonged war threatens Gulf region’s stability
Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has warned the conflict risks setting back the region. “The longer a war takes, the more dangerous it becomes,” he told reporters.
“I think any extended confrontation or war between Israel and Iran will only bring a very difficult aftermath.”
Gargash said de-escalation was “extremely important” and that there was “a path back to negotiations on these issues”.
“This war flies in the face of the regional order the Gulf countries want to build, which is focused on regional prosperity,” he added. “We feel that this is setting us back, not only us in the UAE, but I would say the region.”
Israel has ‘technological edge’ but Iran the upper hand in prolonged war
While “Israel has the technological edge in this war”, Iran has many other strengths as well, says Muhanad Seloom, an assistant professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.
Israel has had almost full control of the skies over Iran since the conflict broke out, but Iran is 70 times the size of Israel, he explained.
“[The Iranians] can take a lot of beatings, but they do have their own types of weapons that can actually hurt Israel, and Israel does not have the capacity to go along with this war, so they need a decisive victory or they have to achieve their strategic goals as soon as possible,” Seloom told Al Jazeera.
“We are at the critical stage of this conflict … because both sides did not declare it as a full war yet [but] both sides are increasing the velocity of their weapons.”
“If [the war] gets prolonged, it’s not in the interest of Israel. Israel cannot go very long in this war because most of the Israelis are in the bunkers, their economy is affected.”
Iran, on the other hand, has been in “emergency mood” for at least 40 years following the Iran-Iraq war, having active militias in Lebanon and Syria, being under severe sanctions, and having a different economy to that of Israel, Seloom said.
“So what we are looking at are two countries unlike each other [who] are at each other’s throats.”
Erdogan blames Netanyahu government as key hurdle to peace
Speaking to the attendees, Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Netanyahu is the biggest obstacle to regional peace.
“I call on countries with influence over Israel not to listen to its poison. A solution must be found via dialogue,” said Erdogan, referring to attacks on Iran, Gaza and other Middle East states.
Erdogan says Israeli attacks on Iran were intended to undermine nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran. “This incident also shows that Netanyahu [and his government] … do not want any issues or any matters to be solved diplomatically,” he said.
“Netanyahu’s Zionist ambitions have no other purpose than to drag our region and … the whole world into a big disaster.”
He also called on Muslim countries to increase their efforts to impose punitive measures against Israel on the basis of international law and United Nations resolutions.
Turkiye’s leader warns against ‘new Sykes-Picot order’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned against a “new Sykes-Picot order” in the Middle East.
“We will not allow the establishment of a new Sykes-Picot order in our region with borders to be drawn in blood,” Erdogan said at a summit of Islamic countries in Istanbul.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement, drawn up in 1916 by Britain and France during World War I, was a secret pact aimed to divide the post-Ottoman Middle East territories into British and French spheres of influence.
Erdogan expressed confidence in the resilience of the Iranian people during the current conflict. “We have no doubt the Iranian people, with their solidarity in the face of difficulties and strong state experience, will hopefully overcome these days,” he said.
