Erdogan threatens Israel with military intervention

2024-07-30 08:37:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Erdogan threatens Israel with military intervention

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Israel with military intervention. "Just as we entered Nagorno-Karabakh, just as we entered Libya, we will do the same there," he said of Israel during an event organized by his ruling AKP party in Rize, on the Black Sea .

Erdogan referred to the Nagorno-Karabakh-uzt conflict, where he supported the side in the conflict, Azerbaijan, especially with drones. In civil war-torn Libya, Ankara supports the government recognized by the international community by providing it with military equipment and troops.

Quick response from Israel

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz quickly warned the Turkish president: "Erdogan is following in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein by threatening to attack Israel. He just needs to remember what happened there and how it ended," Katz wrote on the X platform.

In 2003, US troops invaded Iraq. The military intervention led to the fall of the then Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein. Three years later, Hussein was executed for the massacred Kurds and Shiites.

Relationships deteriorate drastically

Since the start of the war, relations between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated. Erdogan has called Hamas a "liberation organization" and compared Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.

In mid-July, Erdogan said his country would not approve future cooperation between NATO and its partner Israel until lasting peace is established in the Palestinian territories. The new threats from the Turkish head of state are directly related to the fear of the risk of increased war in the Middle East.

Hezbollah denies all responsibility

On Saturday, a rocket landed in the Druze locality of Madjdal Shams, in the Golan Heights. At least twelve people aged 10-20 have lost their lives there. Israel and the United States blame the Shiite militia Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, for the attack.

The Golan Heights is a strategically important rocky plateau. During the Six Day War in 1967, the territory was taken by Israel and annexed in 1981. This decision is not recognized at the international level.

Hezbollah said in a statement that it had nothing to do with the attack. According to the American information portal Axios, the militia explained to the UN that the explosion was caused by an Israeli defense missile.

Iran has also blamed Israel for the attack on Majdal Shams. Israel's Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, on the other hand, declared at the scene that it was a Falak rocket of Hezbollah. UN representatives called on both sides to show "the greatest possible restraint".

Netanyahu: Hezbollah will pay "high price"

A few hours after the attack, the Israeli prime minister declared that the Islamic militant terrorist organization would pay a "high price" for this attack. He said the government is preparing for a revenge attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

After more than four hours of deliberations, the Security Cabinet authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to "decide the course and timing of action against the terrorist organization Hezbollah," the Prime Minister's Office announced. /DW