Canadian Iranian journalist and documentary filmmaker
Iran, through its proxies, has encircled Israel in a multi-front war that is slowly expanding as more violent and new fronts emerge. A former IDF spokesperson is now calling on the Israeli government to take the fight directly to the root cause: Iran.
Former IDF combat commander in Lebanon and Gaza, Lt.- Col (ret) Jonathan Conricus, told Iran International in an interview that Israel needs to hold the Islamic Republic responsible.
"Israel has an interest and should be taking the war to Iran. I think the Israeli strategy should be very clear that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for directly funding and arming terrorist organizations that are killing Israelis," said Conricus.
The next time that one of Iran-backed proxies strike Israel, Conricus would like to see Israel retaliate directly against the Islamic Republic. That would include options like Iran's facilities, military, strategic infrastructure, and the government.
“All of the targets are kosher and, on the table, and they will be attacked by Israel because Iran has been aggressive against Israel for so long."
He made it clear that Iranian people are not Israel's enemy and that civilians should not be targeted.
For years, Israel's strategy has been one to retaliate against Iranian proxies without directly involving Iran. Israel is believed to have disrupted Iran’s nuclear ambitions by going after various facilities and scientists. It likely has strong intelligence on Tehran’s nuclear weapons program, which has increased its total stockpile of highly enriched nuclear fuel and is reportedly close to becoming a nuclear power.
In an interview with Iran International, the former IDF spokesperson said Israel's current strategy of dealing with Iran's proxies while trying to undermine its nuclear ambitions is not working, but Iran's plan has proven to work.
"I'm sad to admit it," said Conricus, "But the Iranian strategy of encircling Israel with terrorist organizations and fighting a war of attrition is working for Iran, and they are not paying the price for their aggression."
Conricus, who is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), would like Israel to change the equation and formulate a comprehensive national strategy that has economic, political, and military components, which would undermine Iran's ruling system. He wants Israel to take a leadership role in that fight.
"The people are not our enemy, but the Islamic Republic regime, the Revolutionary Guard, the Basij, the secret police and the evil, oppressive regime of Iran..weaken them. And when an opportunity comes also to help brave Iranians fight against the regime.”
Iran planting the seeds for a new front?
Israeli's Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted to X on Monday "The Iranian terror octopus is working to establish an eastern terror front against Israel and moderate states in the region. We must cut off the octopus's tentacles."
Katz was referring to the escalation in the West Bank, also known Judea and Samaria in Israel, where violence has increased, and recent videos posted to social media show armed militants with ISIS and Hamas flags.
Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, a journalist and analyst who covers Israeli news and politics, posted to X on Monday a photo that was reportedly taken in Jenin where terrorist organizations allegedly run the refugee camps.
He posted that the image was from a funeral in the city. He wrote that "Sources in the army said, "We will find those in these pictures and get to them eventually." But more operations are just a band-aid. The answer is to bring governance back to Jenin, Tulkarem, and other cities where the PA has lost its grip. Otherwise, the rest of the cities of the West Bank will all look like this eventually.
Conricus, who served in the IDF for 24 years, said there’s been a slow and steady escalation of terrorism in the region. Jihadi sentiments existed before the Israel-Hamas conflict, but the key difference now is the increased availability of weapons. These weapons, allegedly originating from Iran, are funneled through Iraq and Syria and smuggled via Jordan, a US ally.
The former IDF spokesperson said the Palestinian Authority can't control it, and that in the last three weeks, five Palestinian suicide bombers were dispatched, with two of them detonating prematurely, while the other cases were thwarted.
“The Palestinian Authority, if you listen to their communications in Arabic and in English, they speak about the Iranians. They say that they're seeing Iranian influence in Judea and Samaria,” said Conricus.
Three Israeli civilians were killed in a shooting at the Allenby Crossing on the border between the West Bank and Jordan, Israeli authorities said Sunday.
The gunman, from Jordan, carried out the attack in a commercial cargo area under Israeli control where Jordanian trucks offload cargo entering the West Bank, officials said.
The IDF is also investigating after a young Turkish American woman, Aysenur Eygi, was shot and killed in the West Bank on Friday, according to US and Palestinian officials, while she was taking part in a protest near Nablus.
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), said the West Bank and Jordan have the “Iranian target on their backs."
Iran is reportedly working to destabilize the Kingdom and capitalize on the sympathies many in the West Bank have towards civilians in Gaza, and to arm them to create more fronts in the "ring of fire" against Israel.
It’s all part of Tehran strategy of a slow “death by a thousand cuts” approach towards Isarel according to Taleblu.
Israeli PM: the situation in the north must change
Over to the north, the likelihood of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah has intensified, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructing the Israeli military on Sunday to prepare to “change the situation in the North.”
National Unity party leader Benny Gantz, who left Netanyahu’s government in June, warned that the conflict may be imminent, saying it is already unfolding “too late.”
US Central Command chief Michael Kurilla arrived in Israel on Sunday for meetings with senior Israeli security officials in a visit focused on threats from Hezbollah and Iran.
Since October 7, Hezbollah has launched daily attacks against Northern Israel – employing rockets, anti-tank missiles, and explosive UAVs at both military and civilian targets.
Hezbollah has reportedly as many as 150,000 missiles and rockets pointed at Israel.
Seventy thousand Northern Israelis, living within a 5-kilometer radius of the Lebanon border, evacuated after October 7 and remain displaced within their own country. While Hezbollah initially targeted these "ghost town" areas, the Iran-backed group is now increasingly focusing on non-evacuated zones, escalating the conflict in more populated regions.
Israel Channel 12, citing Israeli security sources, said that the war with Hezbollah is “approaching."
Taleblu, who specializes in Iranian security, told Iran International it’s too early to tell whether Lebanon will get dragged into a larger scale war with Israel.
“Israel is facing something of a multi-front war brought to you by the Islamic Republic. But ultimately, based on how the response to the escalation goes, if the Islamic Republic doubles down, if it brings in more weapons transfers, more technology, or if it tries to respond again, it certainly does have the potential to spiral,” he said.
For many Northerners, they're already facing a war, but Hezbollah's strategy, said Conricus is to “keep this situation of instability, where Israel is split between dealing with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
The number of rockets has increased and so too has the range. And it’s all about a balancing act.
“They [Hezbollah] have to escalate incrementally, but they must be careful not to escalate too much,” said Conricus, who emphasized that too much escalation would trigger an Israeli response that would not be to Hezbollah's benefit.
Another front: Syria
Israel launched strikes on military sites in Syria on Sunday, reportedly killing at least 25 people, injuring dozens, according to Syrian state media.
The ariel strikes took place in Western Syria at 4 different locations, which are believed to be bases for Iranian forces and militia, housing what’s known as the Scientific Studies and Research Center (CERS), allegedly producing weapons.
Israel claims the CERS manufactures precise surface-to-surface missiles. Israel’s Alma, an institute focused on threats to northern Israel, has revealed in a detailed report that the CERS manufactures chemical, biological, and potentially nuclear weapons”.
Conricus said it’s believed there may have been an attempt by Iran to deliver the weapons to Hezbollah, but that Israel intercepted those weapons before they could be sent.
The Islamic Republic responded by blaming Israel, with the country's foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani saying at a news conference in Tehran Monday "we strongly condemn this criminal attack by the Zionist regime on Syrian soil."
Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out, Israel regularly targets military sites in Syria linked to Iran, but the intensity of Sunday's strike and death toll was significant.
The former IDF commander said those facilities have been struck in the past and he sees only one path forward as a solution:
“We can defeat Hamas and then defeat Hezbollah but if we don't deal with the root cause of instability and terrorism in the Middle East. We won't solve our problems long term. It's high time for Israel to change its strategy against the Islamic Republic of Iran."
