“There is a sense that a war is coming, that Iranian revenge is in the works. The Iranians will not be able to live with this humiliation for long,” Jacques Neriah told 103FM.
In 2024, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies distributed to Hezbollah operatives were discovered to have been booby-trapped with explosives by Israel, resulting in a deadly, large-scale attack that disrupted Hezbollah’s operational capability and revealed critical vulnerabilities in their communication network.
The Islamic Republic is dissatisfied with the Syrian government and wants to see it overthrown, Neriah added.
“The Syrians want the Israeli front to remain quiet. There is a strategic move here, where Syria, under the rule of al-Sharaa, has managed to break the chokehold that Iran tried to place around Israel. The fall of Bashar al-Assad led to the collapse of Hezbollah as a regional force. Iran views the al-Sharaa regime as something that needs to be toppled.”
Iran seeks to rebuild ‘Ring of Fire’
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs wrote in an analysis that Iran is working to bolster ties with its “Ring of Fire” proxy forces following what it described as a humiliating defeat by Israel’s military.
Israel launched surprise strikes on June 13 that killed senior Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists and damaged nuclear and air defense sites. Iran says 1,062 people were killed, including 786 military personnel and 276 civilians.
Tehran reaffirmed support for Hezbollah under its new leader Naim Qassem, resisting Beirut’s efforts to disarm the group, added the analysis.
“Iran is determined to prevent the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) from developing the strength to challenge Hezbollah in any future showdown.”