![“Iran may have provided the know-how, the training, some of the financing, some of the parts, but I do not think they took any direct part in the operations or conflict [due to the major difficulties in coordination between fighters of different backgrounds],” Sarraf, who served as defence minister between 2016 and 2019, said.](/articlefiles/iranianfl_.png)
by Sarantis Michalopoulos
Iran, the main sponsor of the militant Islamist group Hamas, is unlikely to get involved in the ongoing war in the Middle East, but significant instability could still spread across the region, former Lebanese defence minister Yacoub Sarraf told Euractiv.
“Iran may have provided the know-how, the training, some of the financing, some of the parts, but I do not think they took any direct part in the operations or conflict [due to the major difficulties in coordination between fighters of different backgrounds],” Sarraf, who served as defence minister between 2016 and 2019, said.
“Iran will not react if not attacked,” he stressed in the exclusive interview, conducted after Israel declared an all-out war on Hamas following the Palestinian militants’ sudden and massive rocket assault on Israel on Saturday (7 October).
Nevertheless, Sarraf expressed fear that instability could erupt in Israel’s neighbour Egypt if humanitarian assistance is prevented from reaching Gaza, a tiny Palestinian enclave from which Hamas launched its attack, and in Jordan, if their airports are used for raids against Palestinian areas.
“If things are not pacified soon, we could see an uprising in the West Bank, Amman, Sinai, Golan Heights, and Lebanon, should the IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] go to a ground assault phase in Gaza,” he warned.
Israel’s envoy to the EU, echoing comments made by Israeli political leaders, told Euractiv in an interview earlier this week the EU should use its influence to convey a message to Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority to stay out of Israel’s fight in Gaza.
Speaking of other players in the region, Sarraf said Turkey “might have contributed to financial, technical aid” to Hamas at some point but ruled out the possibility that the Islamic State (ISIS) has an influence on Gaza.
“Hamas is an Islamic-affiliated organisation, yet despite the great poverty and a deep feeling of persecution, I do not believe ISIS has any influence in Gaza even if there may be some extremist groups.”
On Wednesday, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said: “We will wipe this thing called Hamas, ISIS-Gaza, off the face of the earth. It will cease to exist.”
‘EU lost its credibility’
Asked about the EU’s standing in the region, Sarraf criticised the bloc for fully aligning its foreign policy with Washington’s.
“The EU is unluckily aligned to US policy, making it lose its conciliatory positive contribution to de-escalation […] it is totally side-lined by the US while having lost its credibility and margin of movement with the Arabs,” he said.
According to him, the EU should now take a clear stand against the “systematic destruction of Gaza” and be the “proactive partner” to promote humanitarian aid to the Palestinian exclave to restore its confidence.
“The EU must ensure that whatever assistance [sent] is purely humanitarian and goes straight to Gaza, with no intermediaries”, the former Lebanese official said, referring to NGOs, IDF, and the Palestinian Authority.
“I would opt for direct distribution from the EU to the citizens of Gaza,” Sarraf said.
“If this happens, the EU will regain some confidence for future talks about prisoner exchange and future accords.”
The EU currently has two of its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) civilian missions in the region: the EU Border Assistance Mission for the Rafah Crossing Point (EUBAM Rafah) and the EU Police Mission for the Palestinian Territories (EUPOL COPPS).
Referring to humanitarian assistance, Sarraf emphasised that it is important to directly supply Gaza with medicines, field hospitals, morgues, and food.
“The EU should establish a humanitarian logistics base under EU control at Rafah Cross Point, on Egyptian territory, for assistance goods exclusively,” he explained, adding that Brussels should simultaneously mount pressure on Israel to reinstate water supply, electricity and telecommunications to Gaza.
Sarraf’s comments come after the flip-flopping by the European Commission over the last two days created the impression that the bloc was suspending most of its aid to the Palestinians.
It later clarified that humanitarian aid would continue while also launching a review of the development aid for the Palestinian Authority to see whether any of it has directly flowed to Hamas.
Contrary to development aid, which is granted to state authorities, the EU’s humanitarian aid – related to emergency measures, such as food, shelter and medicines – is distributed by “vetted and trusted” humanitarian partners, mostly UN agencies and international NGOs, which then assist directly to the beneficiaries, an EU source familiar with the matter said.
The same source added that these humanitarian partners ensure transparency when it comes to the distribution of aid and that “this is the international humanitarian architecture in place for decades”.
A projected tragedy
Sarraf warned that since the Israeli Defence Forces cleared the settlers from the Gaza Strip and transformed it “into a sealed enclave, it’s the largest detention centre in the world, stressing its dependence on external support.
“Utilities like water, electricity, telecom are controlled by Israel; imports, like medicine, food, construction material are sparsely dripped through entry points to some middlemen, making their prices rocket; entry and exit permits controlled by IDF,” he said.
Calling the whole situation “the perfect recipe for today’s tragedy”, he explained that Palestinians “smuggle goods, prepare weapons, modify civilian equipment and revolt once the situation becomes unbearable”.
Asked about the origin of the thousands of weapons found in Gaza, he said, “those rockets are rudimentary with very low technology involved. Which explains their lack of accuracy.”
“They managed to either produce them on site or smuggle them dismantled by tunnels or by bribing IDF/Egyptian controllers,” he added.
Sarraf also said Israel’s retaliatory strikes and systematic destruction of Gaza “are not the solution”.
“On the contrary, it will exacerbate and radicalise the positions and get them in a vicious circle of death,” he concluded.
*first published in: Euractiv.com
By: N. Peter Kramer
