Confrontation between Iran and Israel

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for an immediate end to the "hostile acts" between Iran and Israel. Israeli forces bombed Iranian military targets in Syria on Wednesday night, after Israeli border posts on the Golan Heights were attacked from there. Commentators criticise Europe's unwillingness to intervene in the conflict.

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Die Welt (DE) /

Israel alone is acting with foresight

Israel is the only international player that understands how to deal with Iran, Die Welt comments:

“If the Europeans had put any thought into how to respond to Iran's expansionist tendencies in the Middle East since the signing of the nuclear deal, they would have made it more difficult for US President Donald Trump to sweep all agreements from the table. But now they're calling for a general de-escalation without realising that with its well-planned, comprehensive military strike Israel is the only country that is truly contributing to de-escalation. It has ensured that the Iranian terrorist regime and its henchmen are now weakened. ... If Europe had any sense of the dangers and the true situation in the region it would realise that Israel is also serving its interests. But that would require the kind of foresight that Europe lacks.”

Wiener Zeitung (AT) /

Escalation disastrous for Europe

The EU is being sidelined on the world stage as far as Iran is concerned, the Wiener Zeitung comments:

“For Europe, which urgently needs stability in its immediate vicinity, the recent developments are a disaster. Trump has ignored all warnings from his allies in Paris, Berlin and even London of the consequences of terminating the nuclear deal, and Netanyahu prefers to consult Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow than the Europeans before sending his bombers out on a mission. It's high time the EU became a player in its own right in foreign policy once more.”

Evenimentul Zilei (RO) /

Attacks not surprising

Evenimentul Zilei finds nothing surprising about Israel and Iran attacking each other:

“The presence of more and more of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard soldiers in Syria as well as numerous other Iranian and pro-Iranian forces, the Lebanese Hezbollah and a few local Alawite militias is making Israel increasingly nervous. ... Conversely, Iran feels freed from certain constraints that the nuclear deal imposed in its relations with the US, so that now Israel and above all the Golan Heights have become a legitimate target. From this point it's just a few steps to mutual attacks.”

Polityka (PL) /

The situation has never been this critical

Middle East expert Agnieszka Zagner warns on her blog on Polityka.pl of an escalation in the Middle East:

“The proxy war in Syria could turn into an open war. The danger of direct conflict is greater than ever. ... There are voices saying that Trump has given Israel a green light for battle with Iran by withdrawing from the nuclear deal, and that this could be part of a bigger plan. That, in turn, could mean that this won't be the last time this occurs. And that would be very bad news. For everyone.”