By Afshain Afzal

40 years after Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon and killing of French troops on 23 October 1983, French authorities told Lebanese prosecutors in March 2023, to detain two Islamic Jihad members namely Yousef al-Khalil and Sanaa al-Khalil suspected for involvement in the 1983 bombing at the US Marine Base in Beirut that killed dozens 241 American and 58 French troops. At the 79th UN General Assembly session, reacting over the proposal from the United States, France and other allies not to target Hezbollah, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on 28 September 2024, “Israel must also defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah is the quintessential terror organization in the world today. It has murdered more Americans and more Frenchmen than any group except Bin Laden.”

Presently non-existent, the Palestine Islamic Jihad was an Orthodox Muslim group established in 1981, seeking to establish an Islamic Palestinian state. It is totally misleading to associate the organization with Hezbollah or Tehran. The organization only exists in the manuals of Intelligence agencies, however, after the 7 October 2023, self-engineered attacks by Israeli and Western agencies, Palestine Islamic Jihad was created once again through Israeli media to share the blame on the organization along with Hamas. Israel is only carrying out genocide of orthodox Muslims, Hamas and allies and land intrusion of Lebanon is part of the strategy.

Prime Minister Netanyahu prematurely leaked out the future plans when he specifically mentioned the French killing by Hezbollah on 28 September, when the top French security personnel was killed on 29 September 2024. Earlier, 87 years old lady was killed when a building collapsed due to Israel's bombing on 23 September as per the media reports. The unidentified French military commander was suspected to be an Advisor of Hezbollah. If we recall, on 22 July 2013, the European Union declared Hezbollah as terrorist organization but the French continued to supply weapons to Hezbollah including US $ 3 billion in December 2013. Later, French Army Chief of Staff Admiral Edouard Guillaud and Advisor to French President Emmanuel Bonne visited Lebanon on 20 January 2014 and met Hezbollah leaders.

No doubt, these are all media-generated stories whereas Israel, America and other allies are on the same grid and want to target remaining Muslim Palestinians in Lebanon and elsewhere. Authentic sources have indicated that indirect talks between Washington and Tehran over nuclear negotiations have commenced and a deal is expected in months to come. It is high time that the Muslim nations and other allies keep united to bring peace in the Middle East and the rest of the world. We have seen that Tehran has calmed down her tone and is not ready to take revenge from Israel or America as she used to propagate earlier nor Hezbollah is going for an all-out war. The peaceful citizens of America, France, Israel and other nations must comprehend the evil plans to keep unrest in the world to sell arms and attain ownership over the energy resources around the world. Despite all, we can still hope that peace will finally win.