US Military Movements In Iraq, Syria Seen As Threat To Iran Proxies

Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili said that “the majority of cultural and artistic activities should take place in mosques.” He added that he has the support of Ebrahim Raisi's administration, which comprises many active mosque-going members, who are rallying around the slogan of "returning to mosques."

Esmaili’s remarks come as growing numbers of Iranians are becoming weary of the regime's justification of Islam as the base of its brutal dictatorship, reflected by months of violent protest since September in the wake of the death in morality policy custody of Mahsa Amini, arrested for the inappropriate use of her hijab.

In February, a senior Iranian cleric said 50,000 out of 75,000 mosques across the country had been closed due to a sharp decline in attendance.

Mohammad Abolghassem Doulabi, who serves as the intermediary between Ebrahim Raisi's administration and the country's seminaries, expressed concern over the reduced worship participation calling it a "worrying admission" for a state that has been constructed around the principles of Islam.

The attack left one Syrian soldier injured and "caused some material damage," the Syrian state news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.

A London-based Syrian group (SOHR) monitoring the conflict in the war-stricken country reported that three areas were hit that contain warehouses and military positions of Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian militias, but said no casualties were reported.

Two targets were in Al-Kaswa area that were also attacked on August 7.

SOHR says it has documented 23 attacks in 2023: 18 airstrikes and five rocket attacks by ground forces, during which Israel targeted several positions in Syria, destroying nearly 52 targets, including buildings, weapons and ammunitions warehouses, headquarters, centers and vehicles. These strikes killed 59 combatants and injured 61 others.

Israel has for years been carrying out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that started in 2011.

Iran has spent tens of billions of dollars in Syria and deployed tens of thousands of Revolutionary Guards and militia forces consisting of Afghans, Iraqis, and Syrians. In addition, Iran’s strongest proxy force, the Lebanese Hezbollah has been the backbone of Tehran’s effort to keep Bashar al-Assad in power.

The term "purification" was coined by former Majles Speaker Ali Larijani to characterize ultraconservative allies of President Ebrahim Raisi, who wish to dominate the government by pushing out all other politicians and officials.

Mansoor Haqiqatpoor told Entekhab website on Saturday that "the refit between Speaker Ghalibaf and President Ebrahim Raisi has developed into a political faultline."

He said: "I do not think these conflicts are part of a political show. These are real conflicts. This is the continuation of the political purification initiative, and those who are behind it see Ghalibaf as an obstacle on the way to reaching their objectives and wish to get rid of him."

According to Entekhab, conflicts between Ghalibaf and Raisi have been intensifying recently as the ultraconservative Paydari Party, where the bulk of Raisi's supporters are, has been launching more serious attacks on Ghalibaf, blaming him for the government's problems. 

Haqiqatpoor went on to say that Paydari's members had started challenging Ghalibaf's authority from the very beginning of the current Majles in 2020. He reiterated that after getting rid of former Speakers Larijani and Nateq Nouri and former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Paydari Party now seems to be adamant to omit Ghalibaf from the Iranian political scene. 

He added that the ruling ultraconservatives are too arrogant to accept their responsibility in the government's economic, political and cultural failures and try to put the blame on Ghalibaf. 

Haqiqatpoor said that Ghalibaf has now realized that the presence of reformists and moderates in the parliament would have been in his interest because they could have counterbalanced Paydari's pressure. 

He said: "I hope those on top of the government, - presumably Khamenei and his aides - are intelligent enough to prevent handing over the government to a group that would push the Islamic Republic toward an abyss."

In the meantime, a similar purification process appears to be going on in the Iranian academic centers. A university professor, Ali Sharifi Zarchi wrote in a tweet on August 18 that "based on a document circulating in Iran's academic circles, the Raisi administration has secretly started the urgent process of hiring 15,000 faculty members without observing due scientific standards. This is a catastrophe, which, for instance, leads to hiring 100 non-experts for every medical school." Calling on the academics to protest against the action, Zarchi wrote: "The silence of the academic and scientific community [in the face of this action] will be a treason against Iran."

Meanwhile, Iranian journalist Maryam Shokrani has confirmed Zarchi's warning and further reported that "According to Farhikhtegan daily, following the dismissal of a large number of faculty members at the University of Tehran, Sharif University, Teachers Training University, and the University of Science and Technology and several medical schools have been demoted."

In another development, reformist journalist Mohammad Sadeq Javadi Hesar reminded the Raisi administration that what has kept the country backward is the absence of experts rather than the need for political purification. He added that getting rid of experts and highly qualified personnel has deprived the country of the growth and development it deserves. 

He further said that the political purification is based on the old idea of insiders versus outsiders which has divided the country and alienated many for several decades now.

“We are in the midst of a terrorist assault encouraged, directed and financed by Iran and its proxies,” Netanyahu said as he visited the site of the attack.

A spokesperson for the Islamist Hamas group, backed by Iran that governs Gaza, Hazem Qassem, praised the attack and said it was a response to Israel's ongoing assaults on Palestinians.

Netanyahu was briefed by officials on the deadly attack and received an intelligence update on the area, especially Iranian efforts in the region and the intensive operational activity of the security forces in Judea and Samaria.

Israel, which was already hunting for a Palestinian suspected of shooting and killing two Israelis on Saturday, said it saw involvement from arch-foe Iran in the recent escalation of violence.

"The significant change that is taking place on the ground, it is related to Iranian funding and to the proliferation of weapons under the Iranian directive. Iran seeks every means to harm the citizens of Israel," said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. He did not give any other details.

Since March when Iran reached an agreement to re-establish ties with Saudi Arabia it has intensified calls on Palestinians to attack Israeli targets

“It must be understood that a considerable portion of this terrorist wave comes as a result of outside guidance. We are using means, and we will use yet more, both offensive and defensive, to settle accounts with the murderers and those who dispatch them, near and far,” Netanyahu said.

Seqati, the former director of Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Gilan province, that acts as a hijab watchdog, was dismissed last month after a sex tape with a young man was leaked online. The video swiftly spread across social media platforms, raising a storm of controversy and public outcry.

On Monday, Hassan Norouzi called for the severest punishment. "If the allegations against Reza Seqati are substantiated, there is an unequivocal necessity for imposing stringent consequences. He must face the full force of the law and be shoved off the mountain and be killed to teach a lesson to others."

Seqati, who is married with three children, is a staunch advocate of mandatory hijab. During his tenure at the ministry of culture, he has made many attempts to enforce conservative cultural norms within the Gilan province. His initiatives included the launch of a hijab hypermarket and the establishment of a hijab exhibition, both aimed at promoting "Iranian-Islamic culture."

Shortly after the incident occurred last month, Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf criticized not the content of the video but the act of leaking it to the public, saying that goes against Sharia law. This is a typical response from the regime, to focus on discrediting the source of evidence, rather than addressing the underlying issues of corruption or forbidden activities.

However, Sharia in Iran clearly forbids homosexuality among men and says it is punishable by death, a stance which now seems to be taken by the government.