Professor Dr Julian Lindley-French

“The real cause I consider to be the one which was formerly most kept out of sight. The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired the Lacedaemon (Sparta), made war inevitable”.

Thucydides

It is a year since the barbarism of Hamas murdered over 1200 Israelis in the most disgusting manner possible.  In that year many tens of thousands of innocents and not-so-innocent have been killed, maimed and broken in Gaza and now Lebanon, whilst Israel has been under constant attack.  As ever, the West has wrung its hands and called repeatedly for cease-fires which they know have little or no chance of happening and, frankly, few want.  Why? The Wars of the Levant have been caused by Iran. The goal of the Iranian Supreme Authority is the expunging of the state of Israel, control over all Shia Muslim communities in the region, the suppression of Sunni Muslims and the expulsion of all Sunni Muslim powers, most notably, Saudi Arabia, and the West.

Tehran’s strategy has five main lines of action. First, to keep Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in a state of profound crisis. Second, to manipulate the Israel-Palestinian struggle to that end. Third, to use proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah to both threaten Israel and foment crisis across the region with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) the primary agent. Fourth, construct a nuclear weapon to neutralise the Israeli arsenal at Dimona and ultimately enable Tehran to conduct both regular and irregular war against Israel.  Fifth, to build a relationship with Russia that Tehran hopes could counter the influence of the US in the region.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/athens-sparta-israel-iran-professor-dr-julian-lindley-french-q1mee/