PREV Threads:
China Overshadows US, Saudi-Iran Deal Proves 'Major Setback' For israel
https://www.nairaland.com/7606107/china-overshadows-us-saudi-iran-deal

South Africa's Parliament Votes To Downgrade Diplomatic Ties With israel
https://www.nairaland.com/7606532/south-africas-parliament-votes-downgrade

---

This week Tehran and Riyadh were able to overcome their 7-year rift. But for one country, the news of a restored diplomatic relationship doesn’t come as a welcomed prospect.

Top israeli officials continued to trade blame following a Chinese-negotiated deal that has led to the restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran and a reduction in tensions in the Middle East.
After former Prime Ministers Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett claimed sitting israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was responsible for allowing Tehran and Riyadh to normalize their bilateral ties, an anonymous senior Israeli political official struck back on Friday, accusing the pair of laying the groundwork for the deal during their tenures.

"The contacts between [Iran and Saudi Arabia] started a year ago, during the term of the previous government, because there was a feeling of israeli and american weakness," the official reportedly stated, adding: "Weakness brings rapprochement with Iran, while strength pushes rapprochement away."

Lapid's office rejected that characterization as "delusional," and pointed out that "during the period of our government, an aviation agreement was signed with Saudi Arabia and the tripartite security agreement with Saudi Arabia and Egypt."

Lapid claimed that it’s actually Netanyahu who is responsible for an apparent deterioration in relations with the united states.

"All of this came to a halt when the most extreme government in israel’s history was established here, and it became clear to the Saudis that Netanyahu was weak and the americans stopped listening to him."


Lapid had previously lambasted the Iranian-Saudi detente as "a complete and dangerous failure of the israeli government's foreign policy." and claimed that the development was linked to a controversial push to overhaul the judicial system that’s led to massive street protests.

"This is what happens when you deal all day long with legal madness instead of doing what needs to be done vis-à-vis Iran and instead of strengthening relations with the united states."

Virtually every Middle Eastern nation may have welcomed the deal, but former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett seemed to concur with Lapid’s assessment.
"The renewal of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran is a serious and dangerous development for israel, a political victory for Iran and a fatal blow to the effort to build a regional coalition against Iran," he insisted.
"It is a resounding failure of the Netanyahu government, stemming from a combination of diplomatic neglect with general weakness and internal conflict in the country," Bennett claimed, adding, "the countries of the world and the region watch israel and see a country in conflict, with a dysfunctional government. And so these countries choose a side."
https://sputniknews.com/20230312/delusional-israeli-leaders-hit-out-at-each-other-after-iran-saudi-arabia-normalize-ties-1108301247.html

In the coming days, israel will begin to attack Syria/Palestine just to transfer it's anger and aggression on someone bc body dey pepper dem
God bless China, God bless Russia.

I don talk am

Israel strikes targets in Syria

The attack on Sunday left three military personnel injured, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency

Israel fired several missiles against neighboring Syria on Sunday morning, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) has claimed. Three Syrian service members reportedly sustained injuries as a result of the strike, with unspecified material damage inflicted as well.

The article quoted an anonymous source as describing Israeli “bursts of missiles from the direction of northern Lebanon, targeting some sites in the countryside of the Tartous and Hama provinces.”

According to SANA, at least some of the incoming rockets were intercepted by Syrian air defenses

Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that “two pro-Iran fighters were killed and three Syrian soldiers were wounded” on Sunday morning. The watchdog also alleged a “scientific research center” was located in one of the targeted areas, as quoted by the news agency AFP.

The alleged missile strike comes less than a month after a deadly attack on Damascus in mid-February, which local media claimed was launched from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights toward the Syrian capital.

While most of the missiles in the February attack were intercepted, at least one hit a residential building, claiming the lives of several civilians, Sana reported at the time. The death toll ended up reaching five, including one service member. Fifteen were reportedly injured, all of whom were allegedly civilians.

The attack came not long after a series of devastating earthquakes hit northern Syria.

In keeping with its policy, the Israel Defense Forces has not commented on the attack. Israel is believed to have carried out hundreds of strikes on Syrian territory since 2011. Damascus, in turn, has repeatedly protested the raids as a violation of its sovereignty.
https://www.rt.com/news/572836-syria-report-israel-missile-strike/

Praising Iran-Saudi Pact, China Says Agreement Will Help Rid Region of ‘External Interference’

The Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia moved to restore diplomatic relations Friday in a landmark agreement brokered by China, catching Washington off guard. The traditional regional rivals signed the deal after over seven years without ties.

China’s Foreign Ministry cast shade on Washington in a statement on the Iran-Saudi diplomatic agreement signed in Beijing, saying the deal would reduce the “interference” of outside powers in the region's affairs.

“With the concerted efforts of all parties concerned, the talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran in Beijing produced major outcomes…Their dialogue and the agreement set a good example of how countries in the region can resolve disputes and differences and achieve good neighborliness and friendship through dialogue and consultation This will help regional countries to get rid of external interference and take the future into their own hands,” the Ministry said in a statement Saturday.

Applauding the two countries’ commitment to adhering to the United Nations Charter and avoid meddling in one another’s affairs, Beijing indicated that such a commitment was “in line with the trend of the times,” and that China “applauds this and congratulates both sides.”
The Foreign Ministry did not mention the US by name, reiterating that the People’s Republic is opposed to geopolitical competition in the Middle East, and saying China “has no intention to and will not seek to fill a so-called vacuum or put up exclusive blocs” in the region.

Beijing’s emphasis on regional countries taking “the future into their own hands” echoes the policy pursued by Iran over the years, with Tehran touting a series of mechanisms for reconstructing the region’s security architecture, including through the so-called ‘Hormuz Peace Initiative’. The latter proposes establishing joint security in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman by regional countries, without the involvement of any “foreign forces,” including the United States or its allies.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been major rivals for decades owing to both religious considerations (the two countries informally consider themselves leaders of the Shia and Sunni sects of Islam, respectively) and geopolitical considerations. Riyadh’s traditionally close economic and security ties to the United States did not help matters in the past, with Tehran seeing the Saudis as one of Washington’s key regional allies alongside Israel. The neighbors across the Gulf broke off diplomatic relations completely in 2016 after the execution of a Saudi Shia cleric, and consequent protests outside Saudi diplomatic offices in Iran.

By 2019, the two countries had quietly resumed talks on normalizing relations, with Iraqi-brokered negotiations broken off in early 2020 after a US drone strike killed Revolutionary Guard Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani during a peace mission in Baghdad.

The push toward Iranian-Saudi rapprochement accelerated in 2021 as the Biden administration moved to ‘recalibrate’ its ties with the Kingdom, including by putting some weapons sales and intelligence support on hold amid the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. Saudi officials responded by floating a Yemen peace proposal, and expressing hopes that the Kingdom could “have a good and distinguished relationship” with its Iranian neighbors.

Saudi-US relations sunk to a new low last spring, with Riyadh reportedly refusing to return Biden’s phone calls after the latter called hoping to get the Kingdom to ramp up oil production in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis. Biden’s trip to the region for a summit meeting in Jeddah last summer and fist-bumping with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman apparently failed to convince Riyadh to change course on oil output. Months later, Riyadh signed a strategic partnership agreement with Beijing and expressed interest in joining the BRICS group, laying the groundwork for Friday’s deal with Iran (which penned a similar deal with China and also applied to join BRICS).
There's just so much content to mock the US with that..I'm overwhelmed
This must really sting so bad.

https://sputniknews.com/20230312/praising-iran-saudi-pact-china-says-agreement-will-help-rid-region-of-external-interference-1108316681.html