US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed tells columnist Ezra Klein that one of Israel’s “big war aims” in the conflict with Iran was “setting up for the annexation of southern Lebanon.”
The US and Israel jointly attacked the Islamic Republic on February 28, with the declared goals of thwarting its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and destabilizing the regime.
Two days later, the Hezbollah terror group attacked Israel from Lebanon, in support of Iran.
Israel responded with major airstrikes and a ground invasion, establishing a security zone in southern Lebanon that it has vowed to remain in until Hezbollah is disarmed.
Israeli officials have stressed the country has “no territorial ambitions” in southern Lebanon, which it has occupied and withdrawn from several times in the past amid prior conflicts.
El-Sayed has also been criticized this week for declining on Wednesday to explicitly condemn the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and for headlining a fundraiser with Arab-American journalist Osama Siblani, who is outspoken in his support for Hamas and Hezbollah, that same day.
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