Israel carried out Sunday's strike on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, which killed a prominent Hezbollah fighter, a senior Iranian general and five other Hezbollah members.
In and interview to Mehr News, Dr. Franklin Lamb, an American international lawyer and former Professor of International Law based in Beirut and Damascus believed the timing of the attack suggested local political considerations by the Zionist regime with respect to the upcoming elections and Netanyahu's poll numbers.
Hezbollah has threatened retaliation over alleged Israeli terrorist attack. Hezbollah sources told As-Safir that the attack would “draw a painful and unexpected response, but we can assume that it will be controlled and beneath the level that could escalate into all-out war,” reminding a roadside bomb attack in October 2014 that injured two Israeli soldiers.
Franklin Lamb believes retaliation on behalf of Hezbollah groups is likely since they have also experienced several other recent Israeli attacks in Syria and along the Lebanese southern border.
Israel is believed to have conducted at least five previous airstrikes in Syria over the past two years. The strike on Sunday, in which Israeli helicopters fired missiles at Hezbollah vehicles traveling in a Syrian-controlled portion of the Golan Heights raised regional tensions and made reactions by many countries over the terrorist attack.
Mr. Lamb calls the attack as a "clear violation of Article 2 (4) of the UN charter and an act of war." He says the attack was a "state terrorism which requires an international reaction beyond just condemnation of the attack and taking no measures to respond."
“The UN and the international community must do more than just condemning the criminal attack,” added he.
Franklin Lamb urges the UN and international community to sanction the Zionist regime. Formerly, Syria had sent a letter to the United Nations to protest the Israeli airstrikes on its soil by imposing sanctions on Israel, stating that the attacks had proved the regime’s direct support for the opposition group fighting against the government.
He believes Obama administration also should show its position on the recent attack and 'cut off foreign aid to the regime' as a way to show it decries the terrorist acts.
Dr. Franklin Lamb is an American international lawyer and former Professor of International Law at Northwestern College of Law in Oregon, who is based in Beirut and Damascus. Author of 'US Preparing for a Post-Israel Middle East?' and 'The Case for Palestinian Civil Rights in Lebanon' was a former Assistant Counsel of the US House Judiciary Committee at the US Congress. Lamb is director of the Americans Concerned for Middle East Peace, Beirut-Washington DC, Board Member of The Sabra Shatila Foundation and works with the Palestine Civil Rights Campaign-Lebanon.
Interview by: Lachin Rezaiian
LR/HRGH
MNA
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