Diana Moukalled/Iran expands its influence while everybody watches/ديانا مقلد: إيران توسع نفوذها فيما الكل يتفرج

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Iran expands its influence while everybody watches
Diana Moukalled/ArabNews/Sptember 04/ 2017

It seems the world has suddenly awoken from its coma to see that Iran has achieved victories on various fronts in the region, namely in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. This is due to Iranian military and ideological policies and actions, and negligence on the part of regional and Western countries.

Iran has won the hypothetical war against Daesh in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, whose governments are largely subservient to Tehran, which has even established militias parallel to the armies in these countries.

These militias are directly supervised by Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who often travels between Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. We have all witnessed the demographic changes in Iraq and Syria, adding to the sectarian divides in those countries.

 The expansion of Iran’s militias under many pretexts shows a daring carelessness over borders. A concrete example is Hezbollah fighting in Syria and other fronts, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah saying it is ready to fight on any front in the future.

 Tehran has won the hypothetical war against Daesh in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, but its victory is the triumph of one evil side over another.
Worn-out speeches about respecting countries and their borders have become meaningless. How can we talk about sovereignty and borders when we see the massive bridge Iran has built to link it to Syria?

 There are destroyed cities, and separated populations that cannot be reunited, due to Tehran’s invasions of Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
Iran has beaten Daesh, but this is not a victory of good over evil, or of moderation over radicalism and extremism.
Tehran’s victory is the triumph of one evil side over another.

 In the three countries controlled by Iran, circumstances favor the emergence of satanic groups similar to Daesh. All we can do now is wait and observe.

• Diana Moukalled is a veteran journalist with extensive experience in both traditional and new media. She is also a columnist and freelance documentary producer. Twitter @dianamoukalled