iraq, pakistan, among, qatar, the uae, saudi arabia, cuba, venezuela, china and russia have all slamed the israeli air strike on iran's embassy in damascus, syria, yet the so-called flag batters of international law and conventions in the west have kept mum about israel's blatant violation of international law. the leader of iran's islamic revolution has vowed that iran will make the occupation regime regret its deadly

air strike on the iran embassy in damascus. welcome to the spotlight. i'm your host burus najafi. let's get it started. these are my guests in this episode of the spotlight. the venetsa independent journalist is joining me out of damascus. also with us is richard, he's a journalist and commentator in vienna. now welcome to the show. now beginning uh with the vanessa, let's first talk about the what the motive could be behind this uh operation, some - of the the majority actually of the experts and analysts so we've spoken to, speaking of provoking iran, israel trying to provoke iran into engaging in war so that israel could spread further instability and insecurity across the region. your thought on this? "well, i think uh, just

before christmas last year, yof gallans made it quite clear that they needed a victory in this war in order to survive, so in the middle east, so this is an existential war for israel, uh, it's been evident since october the 7th, that they are desperately losing the war in gaza against the relatively ill equipped palestinian resistance, they have had to evacuate from the northern occupied territories. more than 100 thousand settlers as far as we know in the contained war against hisbollah in southern lebanon, and so now they deem it necessary to expand the war, particularly into syria, because we have to remember that this is the fourth in a series of attacks in the last seven days and all of these attacks have been carried out in conjunction with an upsurge in attacks by the terror. groups across all the axies,

particularly in the northwest and in central syria, so you know the masks have fallen, people can now see exactly who is the real access of evil in the region, the real access of terrorism, those that are silent about this appalling attack, people in damascus are still in shock that this has actually happened, i mean this is escalation beyond expectations, so... israel wants to expand the war, um, the resistance access has been trying to restrict that expansion, but it remains to be seen uh, if if that remains the status quo. all right, now let me turn to vienna, richard, the uk just a couple hours ago summoned the israeli ambassador, and that because three british aid workers got killed in gaza, now when it comes to proportionality, you tell me what is then iran entitled to do now that it's lost several... of its senior nuclear scientists

and also military commanders at the hands of the israely regime. well, the israelis uh want the iranians to uh turn this into a full-blown war because it would suit them, but i think uh, you know, the the access of resistance, not just iran, but all of the uh resistance have proven over time that they are not uh ones to uh to be tricked or or to fall into trap. um, although it's understandable that iran's response um should be just disproportionate, i think that as as iran have said, and they always respond and they will do it at the right time, regarding the the british summoning over the the killing of three-aid workers, what's what's interesting is that we have a chorus, we have we have all of these western officials talking about the world central kitchen issue in gaza, which is important, but they're doing that to avoid talking about this

unprecedented attack on the embassy, i mean, speaking of proportionality, we we have to talk about this more, because you've never seen a so-called state. attacking the embassy of another state in a third state. i mean, this is violation of the un charter, it's a violation of the vienna convention, the geneva convention. it's so agregious, it's unprecedented. um, and the the fact that the british government don't even care enough to summon the israelis over that alone. uh, or any other ambassadors uh, that are in in europe or the west to be summoned over this issue is scandalous and it really shows you uh where their priorities lie. right. now. vanessa some observers uh citing uh the reason for israel uh to do this as an act of desperation and that's mostly uh thanks to the failures it's facing and gaza it's not been able to defeat one single resistance group in palestinian territories and also

maybe these anti netanyahu protests on the home turf you know host of you know issues the israeli economy and all that do you share the same view? yeah, absolutely, as i mentioned, you know, uh, israel is not only losing the strategic and military war, it's losing desperately the propaganda war, its entire edifice of propaganda that has propped it up for since it's creation as a as a illegal um settler colonial estate by the british, and then of course it was adopted by the states, the entire anti-semitism trope has has been destroyed, particularly of course. the case of professor david miller, that is now stated very clearly that being anti-zionism is acceptable, and and you know their entire defense for this genocide that they're committing, not only in gaza, but in

the west bank, which is based upon an entire series of lies that they produce from october the 7th onwards, that have now gradually been completely debunked, the world is seeing them as they are, and their economy has taken a massive hit, um, military moral is its lowest, settlers are leaving uh the the the the zionist entity itself, um, and the zianist entity is can only survive with settler support, so if settlers are starting to decide that it's no longer offering them security, they will leave, and then what is left, and also, you know, which country in its right mind now um is going to be looking at investment in the future in a country that is clearly responsible for genocide um of palestinians across the territories. now richard uh uh why shouldn't they learn a

lesson from their past mistakes like when they uh assassinated iran general suleimani, what did they gain? the resistance front even got a stronger. and got you know a boost in the arm, now they are again killing iranian commanders a lower level compared to general, the icon of the anti terror and anti das actually uh in this part of the world, mean without question they they gained nothing, the resistance got stronger, we can we can see the same pattern with hamas for example when the israelis thought okay if they assassinate sheikh ahmad that this will uh you know destroy hamas, look at hamas today uh, i mean they they've launched a full-blown war and they can't even defeat them, so imagine with iran how much stronger that is, it's you know the access of resistance has shown over time that uh no matter what actions the israelies in american state they are losing on the chessboard, they they

simply cannot get around um uh the the failures that they are you know experiencing uh at home so to speak and on the battlefield and this is actually why they ass fascinate, they they lash out like like a cat, clowing someone, um, because they are terrorists, deep down, this is who they really are, and uh, it it's not just the the assassination of the high ranking officials here, it's really we have to understand this is attack on iran itself, because that's really what it is, uh, you know, the they, the israelis have done this, these attacks on iran and its sovereignty before, and the same thing with syria, but this is on an unprecedented level, and you, you know, you look at the terror at el shifa hospital, this is something in my opinion that they were trying to hide um and and distract from, but again we we you know it's it's a deeper level here, the israelis are trying to find some kind of victory uh, they think that they can overcome their failures by assassinating people and it's not

going to happen and and i should point something out that they are doing this on multiple levels, we had a terrorist attack in in january in iran uh which you know is... supposedly claimed responsibility for it, we had another isis attack in russia, we had a recent terrorist attack in uh china, do you do we really think this is a coincidence that there are all these? assassinations, general musavi is another one and all these terrorist attacks by isis and al-qaeda known to have links to america and israel, it's not a coincidence, right? now venessa, richard mentioned something, and what the israel regime did is actually violation of iran, it's it means an attack on iran, buse sovereign country's diplomatic premises was targeted and hit, it was also the host countries, so it's a violation of international law and inventions, because it was diplomatic premises, both, the host

country was violated and also iran, so who should hold this regime accountable for such action? well, i mean, at at the end of the day, i mean the iranian foreign minister was quite clear that he holds washington responsible, washington, the uk and the eu and the allies of israel have continued. supplying weapons to israel to conduct and carry out the genocidal campaign in palestine, but they're also supplying the weapons to carry out these kind of assassinations, and it, as you've mentioned, it's not the first, particularly on syrian territory, and this was uh, what made it even more heinous for me and why everybody here is still in shock, this was around five o'clock in the afternoon, so two hours before ifta, the breaking of first during ramadan. "it was pack full of people, the equivalent to oxford circus uh in london, um, and as you said, it

targets what is effectively a diplomatic uh zone, it was the consular section, which is actually the residence if i understand that of ambassador, um, general zahidi was there uh, under diplomatic immunity, so this is actually a terrorist act, i mean, i consider israel to be a terrorist. state anyway for for all of its other actions, but this was a clear under international law, a terrorist act, and yet there has been the only country calling for emergency session at the un security council is russia, the the west is is saying absolutely nothing, in in response, for example, the us state department spokes person mumbled his way through his usual excuses for israel, and this is poling because this is pl. into abys of global insecurity. the last time that this kind of act took place was bombing by the us of the

chinese embassy in belgrade which killed three chinese diplomats for which the us apologized and said it was a mistake, whether we believe that or not is is by the by, but but this is unbelievable. israel is pushing the the boundaries of all conventions, human rights conventions, geneva convention. convention and yet the response imagine if for example russia um had bombed a us embassy on another country's territory, what would the response be, we would be at war, now exactly. now uh, richard veneza mentioned the role of the us, so to what extent could washington be blamed for such acts that would further actually embolden the televive regime to perpetrate more such crimes. also, let's bear in mind that it was us made fighter. jets was a 35 jets performing the strikes against the iran an embassy, the us are

absolutely responsible, it's as if an american pilot uh dropped it himself, the us air force dropped it themselves, there is absolutely no distinction here, and we really need to be clear on this, the united states and israel are one and they attacked iran together, the the the munitions, the payloads, the ordinances, every nut and bolt in that fighter jet. and the six missiles that were fired uh were manufactured by american companies, the american, the us government manufactured this and gave an export license and permission to give this to the zionists and then said nothing and continues to say nothing uh after you know we we have diplomats killed, i mean even if nobody was killed, the the symbolic act of attacking an embassy uh is is outrageous, it is beyond, it is uncomtional, it is truly beyond words, i still can't digest it, you know, even after 24 hours, it is so

outrageous, and as vanessa pointed out, the israelis, i mean, is there a law that they haven't broken in in any jurisdiction, in under any convention? i don't know at this point, but the americans have to be held responsible, and and a proper government, a real government, a one that cares about international law, a civilized government would have immediately, cut ties with the israelis uh, along time ago by the way, but after this act, let's say, cut ties and cut exports and held emergency session, called for emergency session at the un security council and apologized for for. providing these weapons, right? now venessa, there were multiple countries uh that and international bodies including united nations, for instance, they've all condemned this israeli act of terrorism, except the west, so what is this indicative of? well, i mean, as i said earlier, you know, the masks are off, the fact that these us backed zionist attacks on

syrian territory against uh iranian. um military against hezbullah, against the islamic resistance, against syrian uh arab army forces and national defense forces, because as i said we shouldn't forget israel carried out the attack in the northeast, israel violated syrian airspace and targeted east and west of aleppo, enabling a terrorist attack on on the western aleppo access, it carried out attack on the rese development center in jamriya on the morning of this assassination um there the fires were burning for for more than six hours and then finally uh this assassination so in one week you know israel has violated it it's effectively declared war multiple times and it's only

because of the restraint of the resistance access that we are not right now in a full-blown global war and the thing is that that israel keeps pushing, it keeps provoking, um, and even though the response from the resistance has been very much deterrant response, which is understandable, um, to, you know, where do we go next? are they going to bomb the presidential palace? are they going to uh bomb central tehran? mean, this is the thing, to what extent are israel going to push this, to what extent? they want to expand this war? yeah, i don't think they dare to do that in any way. now richard, tel aviv, what is it doing exactly? is it playing global bully, an outlaw or rogue regime? what is the israel is exactly doing given all the crimes? it's been committing in gaza, this recent terrorist attack and iran an embassy, is there anything on the planet that is not violable for this

regime? and then they depict about, they depict iran as a minist to regional security? no, there there is... nothing that the zianists will not do, what's funny to me is that today you can be arrested on the streets of london for saying you support hamas or you support the uh palestinian resistance and the the police who arrest you for this would have been killed by the israelis few decades ago because this is the nature of the israelis and they have done this so you know whether we look at the attacks on iran the attacks on on on britain there's a history since the very beginning. going back a century of the israelis behaving in this, they have effectively invented modern terrorism, and i and i really mean that in the literal full sense of of the term, the israelis invented modern terrorism, they they started mailing parcel bombs, letter bombs, planting bombs around london, why wouldn't they bomb their neighbors, this is how they stole the land, is it not, and so because iran is the only

one helping everyone to stand up for themselves and defend themselves, they try and go after iran, it's that simple. other explanation so uh richard, we have just one minute, so venessa, uh, what do you see on the horizon for the west asia region, given all this war mungering by the us and israel? i think, um, escalation is almost unavoidable, i mean as i said, inside syria now we have um increase in the terrorist attack across all axies, really everybody is waiting to see what iran's uh response will be. and then of course uh how uh the zionist will respond to that um so i think we're in abeyance but i think we're we're preparing for um further escalation okay uh that's all the time we have for this episode thank you so much vanessa billy and damascus richard methurst in vienna and thank you for watching

this edition of the spotlight i've been your host behruz i'll see you next time. why the atomic bomb? why all the power? you scientists are blamed for the weapons to be used, killing innocent people to get what?

it speaks with me, the saint of the soil, from the blood and the ashes, it speaks with me the sound. the rain from the battle and the victory victory.

oh palestine, i free you, oh palestine, i free you, oh palestine, i free you. "my every prayer is a cry to my enemy, and i cry out, cry out, cry out to the evil's enemy, the

flame within my heart will burn you, i cry out, and the thunder in my voice will deaten you." i cry out and the tornado within my soul, will will you away, my bleeding wound once felt those on forgotten, but aking. sorrow in me never gone, raise it will my anger in love, love of my land, anger

at your dead, raise it with my anger and love. love of my land, anger at your dear, wounded by hatred, i'm breathing, breathing, breathing, the magic perfume of my homeland palestine, wonded in love, my hands turn around the branches of was the olive tree seeking peace, seeking peace, but as long as the pillows of our children are drenching

blood, as long as you have the thor crown of evil force, i'm a flame and thunder and tornado. and i cry out, i cry out, oh my god, i pray you, i missed you, oh my son, i pray,

published statistics revealed that the despite all the sanctions and limitations, islamic republic of iran mine action center boasts the highest number of discovered mines in 2019.