"[Joint statement announcing the signing of the] Mecca Joint Defence Agreement."

"[A] shared commitment to further strengthening collective security and to promoting peace, security and stability in the region and beyond."

Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan 

 

"The agreement does not represent an effort to establish a military axis or a sectarian bloc."

"Nor is it linked to any nuclear ambitions or arms race. Rather it is focused on building sustainable capabilities."

"[The agreement] does not constitute a threat to the security of any country in the region."

Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Rayed Krimly 

 

"[The alignment] is clearly oriented toward Iran and meant to address Iran's new strategic approach which is geared toward dominance of the broader Gulf region."

"[The fact that Turkey and Pakistan border Iran means they could exercise a different kind of leverage [on Tehran]."

Umar Karim, Saudi foreign policy expert, University of Birmingham, England

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sign a trilateral joint defense agreement Friday in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.  Murat Cetinmuhurdar / Anadolu via Getty Images

 

What an alliance. Saudi Arabia, the keeper of the holiest site in Islam; Mecca. Turkey, with its second-largest military within the membership of the North American Treaty Organization. And Pakistan, the sole Islamic country that possesses nuclear weapons. Saudi Arabia has been confronted by Iran over its custodianship of Mecca. Since Turkey is a member of NATO, should it be attacked by a regional antagonist like Iran, would that bring the NATO alliance into conflict to protect one of its members? As a nuclear power, Pakistan is not exactly the most stable of countries, beset by its own version of the Taliban. 

 

What an alliance of insecure, tribal, sectarian, ancient-antipathies-alive-to-the-present we have here. A trifecta of genuine Islamist Sunni states prepared to confront the Iranian Shi'ite Axis of 'Resistance'. Mind, they do have a lot in common. Each of those Sunni nations view the presence of a Jewish state in the Middle East as a grave offence against Islam's most sacred concept, that land once consecrated to Islam can never return to the aegis of another religion. Never mind that Judean ancestral heritage long predated the appearance of Islam by millennia.

 

As though to emphasize that the Sunni alliance is meant for the promotion of peace and stability in the region, only a few days earlier, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, stated that his country considers that "Israel is a threat to the entire Muslim world", calling for "a united military front" against it, just a day after Pakistan signed the joint defense agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkey. "In the context of Israel, all Muslim countries must unite. I have no doubt about this" said Asif.

 

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis attacked a Saudi Aramco refinery on Sunday, two days after Saudi Arabia forged a defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan. The alliance pledges mutual defense, which means an armed attack on any one member counts as an attack on all. But after Sunday’s attack, it was not immediately clear whether Turkey or Pakistan would respond.  Democracy Now

 

Not to be outdone by Pakistan, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan always has an opinion about Israel, with his opinions anything but friendly in the least, despite his sanctimonious statements in support of peace and stability in the region. Obviously peace and stability does not include Israel's presence. The champion of Hamas who celebrates the terrorist group's role in 'resistance', claims that Turkey feels threatened by Israel's attacks on Syria and Lebanon. In the former event, protecting the Syrian Druze community against deadly aggression, and in the latter, fighting back against Hezbollah terrorists sending rockets into Israeli communities in the Golan.

 

But for Erdogan it is Israel that is at fault for "aggression" that poses a threat to the world, and must be stopped. "If the Israeli thuggery is not stopped, the consequences will be borne by the entire region and all of humanity", Erdogan thundered in Turkey's parliament. "Israel must be stopped; this is the duty of humanity and the humanitarian front. History must not be allowed to repeat itself", he righteously spouted.

 

And as though modelled on NATO, the foreign ministry of Pakistan explained the pact would recognize that an attack on any member would be regarded as an attack on all; a rule that was "intended to strengthen collective deterrence". One, however, "not aimed at any particular country". 

 

This image taken from video broadcast by Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-controlled news channel, shows an explosion at the Sanaa International Airport compound during what the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said were several Saudi airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, July 13, 2026. (Al-Masirah TV via AP)

 

Saudi Arabia is being attacked anew by the Houthis in Yemen. That terrorist group is yet another Iranian proxy, doing the work for the Islamic Republic, the head of the snake that calls itself the Axis of Resistance. Yet that attack has gone unaddressed by this new coalition. Saudi Arabia has responded to the Houthi attacks by counterattacking them, and not the source of their orders, which is Iran. Iran is the sole source responsible for the agitation, fear and absolute instability wracking the region.

 

Yet the regional powers that have been targeted by the Islamic Republican Guard Corps that really run the country now, while seeking to protect themselves and their geographic installations from the destructive Iranian missiles and drones sent their way, fail repeatedly to go on the offensive and counter-attack, putting an end to decades of insecurity wrought by Shi'ite Iran in its deliberate goal to entirely destabilize the region and ensconce itself as the Persian uber-nation in control of the Arab Sunni Middle East.  

"Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are not trying to replace the United States. They are building the capacity to protect their interests when Washington cannot or will not do so."

"[Riyadh, in particular], wants several layers of security rather than one American umbrella [following the shock of the Iran war]."

Andreas Krieg, King's College London 

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accompanied by their ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defence, pose after signing a joint defence agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, August 7, 2026. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS

There are International Rules of War ... and There are International Rules of Israeli War

"Once a city of 270,000 at the southernmost area of the [Gaza] Strip, Rafah has been the focus of intense combat at various times since October 7, 2023."

"Today, the city lies in ruins. Driving on a newly paved road -- in a convoy of military vehicles with heavy protection -- we passed through piles of twisted rebar, demolished buildings and rubble."

"The intact shell of one building stood, in stark contrast to the desolation."

"After about 15 minutes we arrived at our destination -- a massive humanitarian aid complex that was near completion. The Israel Defense Forces' international spokesman, Lt.-Col. Nadav Shoshani explained that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-based not-for profit, will operate the centre which will have the capacity to provide millions of meals daily to displaced civilians."

Vivian Bercovici, Israeli journalist 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to IDF troops in Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border, July 18, 2024. (Avi Ohayon/GPO

 

The location of which she writes is not far from the Egyptian border. Egypt, it should be noted, has recently accused Israel of committing 'genocide'. Egypt, it should also be noted, has steadfastly refused to open its border with Gaza to permit Palestinians fleeing the conflict in Gaza to enter the Sinai. Should that be interpreted as Egypt placing itself deliberately in a position of complicity in genocide? After all, Egypt, until it marched on Israel in 1967, occupied Gaza, and many Gazans of today trace their ancestry to Egypt.

 

Israel is now, once again, fighting for its existence. This time, not against the massed armies of its neighbours, but the terrorist groups that some of its neighbours in the Middle East have supported. Could an existential situation be more complex than that of Israel, when it has finally been able to sign peace treaties with some of its Arab neighbours, while the terrorist groups in Yemen, Lebanon and Gaza along with those in Iraq, all loyal to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and by extension Qatar, seek to demolish the Jewish state? 

 

In responding to the violently lethal threats of Iran's proxy militias and Iran itself, Israel risks alienating its Arab neighbours with whom it has signed those peace agreements. Egypt, a case in point, has assembled its military in large numbers along its border with Israel, as though it is preparing to launch a war against a neighbour it has long since pledged peace with. And nor is Israel's plight one restrained to the Middle East. Its Western allies in Europe and elsewhere now accuse it of disproportional force against its enemies. 

Palestinians carry humanitarian aid that they gathered after an aid drop, as they walk in the al-Mawasi area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on August 18, 2025. (AFP)

 

These are death-cult Islamists whose charters declare their purpose is to destroy Israel and to kill Jews. In responding to the deadly attack of October 7, 2023, where thousands of terrorists crossed into southern Israel to rape and to maim, to plunder and to murder, Israel had little choice but to invade Gaza to hunt down Hamas's leaders and its operatives. In doing so, its northern border with Lebanon saw another terror group, Hezbollah, rain missiles down onto the Golan Heights at Israeli communities.

 

And before long, the Houthi terrorists in Yemen responded as well, attacking shipping in the Red Sea, asserting that any vessels with any connection to Israel would be targeted; in the process upsetting marine traffic internationally. Yet Israel's traditional allies, in the full knowledge that Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis and the Iranian Republic use their own civilian populations as shields to protect the 'mujahadeen' from Israel's military responses to their attacks, focus on the plight of the civilian population in Gaza where a 'moral' military prewarns citizens of attacks and does its utmost to minimize civilian casualties.

 

Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty attends an Arab officials’ meeting in Riyadh on January 12, 2025. (Fayez Nureldine / AFP)

 

During an all-out conflict when a nation is forced to commit itself to a war against those who relentlessly and continually attack its citizens, the internationally acknowledged rules of war affirm that such a nation has the right to defend itself and its population and to counter-attack the offender out for its blood. By concealing themselves among the population for cover, and by using civilian infrastructure for command bases and by firing off missiles from launch sites deliberately placed in crowded civilian areas, Hamas has with intention, placed its civilian population in direct line of danger.

 

It uses the statistics it gathers on casualties among the civilian population, to convince the international community of Israel's intention to commit 'genocide', a charge that is not only a risible slander, but one that reality itself denies. What other country at war in the annals of international conflict through the ages has ever been expected to defend itself and obliterate an enemy sworn to its destruction, while also protecting a civilian population and to feed it, while its enemies are known to hijack humanitarian aid meant to avoid starvation among Gaza's civilians?

 

Hamas has in its possession, the remnants of 250 hostages it originally kidnapped from Israel and took to Gaza to torture and starve and even slaughter, because Jewish bodies, alive or dead are bargaining chips of great value to the Hamas terror machinery knowing full well that Israel attempts to move heaven and earth to rescue its people imprisoned in the underground hellscape of Gaza, including those held for ransom by Palestinian civilians in Gaza, who support the sadistic cruelty of their leaders in savaging Jewish lives.

 

 

"The Muwasi-adjacent site will be operated by GHF and offer ready access to food and other life essentials in a safe, controlled environment."

"Civilians will walk a 500-metre path, flat and secure, far from Hamas fighters or criminal gangs."

"Once inside the complex they will receive food aid to last several days and within minutes return to their temporary shelters in Muwasi."

"To avoid panics and crowd surges the centre would be operational 24/7 if necessary and supplies will be delivered by truck using the same road we took. At a minimum, basic life necessities will be available."

Vivian Bercovici, Israeli journalist 

Restoring Syria, Stabilizing the Middle East

"[Syria is at a] turning point [as is the rest of the Middle East]."

"If we can now all come together to support the Syrian people and the Syrian government in actually taking charge, and building a prosperous stable secure Syria, that will impact all of the region."

Prince Faisal bin Farhan, foreign minister of Saudi Arabia 

 

"[Gulf countries see an opportunity to] reshape the regional order, [as Syrians devote  themselves to rebuilding lives for themselves out of the rubble of 14 years of civil war]."

"[We still have Yemen that's in trouble -- Sudan, Libya -- but for one time in many years, one story is not one of blood and war and destruction and that's where we want to go."

"A healthy region means a healthy Gulf."

Bader Al-Saif assistant professor of history, Kuwait University 

Ahmed al-Shara and his delegation welcomed in the UAE  Stimson

 

While now-ousted Alawite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was still barrel-bombing and chemical weapons-spraying majority Sunni Syrians, the Arab League which had banished him from their midst, did a U-turn and welcomed him back to be seated amongst them as a member in good standing. This, while Assad continued his loyalty to the Islamic Republic of Iran which sponsored Syria's persecution of its defiant majority Sunni population, when Russia had entered the civil war to aerially bombard Sunni strongholds in Syria.

 

The sectarian violence that internally displaced millions of Syrians, with millions more becoming refugees reflected traditional violent antipathy between the two major branches of Islam, Sunni and Shia. While Iran established its two-pronged 'axis of resistance' by cultivating, training and arming proxy militias in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Gaza for its long-range aspiration of Shi'ite conquest of the Middle East, its plans also included the destruction of the sole non-Muslim state in the region, the Jewish state of Israel.

 

When Hamas took agency to invade southern Israel with thousands of its terrorist operatives to launch a massive bloodbath among Israeli farming communities near the Gaza border, deliberately and with detailed planning to impose a horrendous savagery of mass rape, mutilation, and widespread carnage that saw entire families burned to death in their  homes -- children, the elderly, women and foreign farm workers violently abducted to serve as hostages, an unprepared Israel while mourning its losses responded by invading Gaza to root out and destroy the Palestinian terror groups to completely neutralize their functionality.

 

Iran's related terror proxies attacked Israel in defence of Hamas; Hezbollah on the northern border, and the Houthis from Yemen. Shia militias in Iraq, and Assad's Syrian forces as well as the Islamic Republican Guard Corps al Quds division driving Iran to send missiles into Israel posed a pincer threat to the Jewish state. The Israeli military fought them all, and decimated both Hezbollah and Hamas, targeting their leaders, their command posts and their weapons caches, leaving them utterly diminished as organized fighting forces. 

 

The Israeli aerial bombardment of Iran neutralized many of the terror state's primary political, scientific and military figures, targeted military bases destroying missile production sites, and bombing the country's nuclear sites and facilities with the intention of destroying its capacity to further enrich uranium to weapons-grade state. Israel, in the course of several years militarily responding to the Hamas imposition of conflict was able to dismantle and neutralize the rabid threat of Islamist terrorism cultivated by Iran.

 

An opportunity that was grasped by a coalition of Syrian 'rebels' comprised of Syrian Islamist groups that were themselves terrorists, events leading to Bashar al-Assad fleeing to Russia for haven, and a former terrorist linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL, Ahmed al Sharaa, ensconced as Syria's new president, seeking to present as a moderate, a reformer, to take Syria into a new direction and restore it as a fulcrum of the Middle East, taking its place among the other nations with full accreditation. 

"I am 'ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start'." 

"It gives them a chance for greatness. The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful." 

"I felt very strongly that this would give them a chance. It's not going to be easy anyway, so gives them a good strong chance. And, it was my honour to do so."

"We made a speech last night, and that was the thing that got the biggest applause from the room."

U.S. President Donald Trump at Gulf Cooperation Council

In this photo released by the Saudi Royal Palace, Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, left, shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump in Riyadh. (Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace/The Associated Press)

 

Saudi Arabia and Qatar paid off Syria's $15.5 million World Bank debt, a pittance for them, but enabling Syria to be once more eligible for grants to fund reconstruction. The Mediterranean port of Tartus in Syria once handed to Russia as a naval base, is now to be developed by D World owned by the gulf emirate of Dubai. Once an integral part of Tehran's 'crescent of influence' along with Iraq and Lebanon, Syria is now poised to return to the Sunni Islam majority world of the Middle East. 

 

The hostility between the Sunni states and Iran, fearing that the Islamic Republic's brand of Islam could penetrate their own minority Shia populations with its  revolutionary ideology zeal leading to mass instability is being put to rest. As is the fear that Iran could succeed in its conquest aspirations to become the premier influence in the region. Iran's interference in Saudi Arabia, bombing its oil fields, its missiles shot at Qatar to hit American bases there, signed its influence death-warrant.

 

And now that the Arab majority Sunni Muslim states recognize Israel's critical role in vanquishing the aspirations of the Persian Shi'ites, and greater cooperation leading to normalization between them with Israel through membership in the Abraham Accords has been accepted, their mission to restore relations within the Arab League and to establish opportunities for economic development and political stability has sprung into action.  

 

In this photo provided by the Saudi Ministry of Media, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greets Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, left, during his arrival at the royal palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (Saudi Ministry of Media via AP)

 

Israel's Relentless Drive to Destroy Hamas

"It is time for the countries of the world to take seriously our unwavering commitment to bring back all our hostages home and defeat the enemy."

"Nothing will stop us from fighting to free our hostages, who have been held in brutal Hamas captivity for 527 days."

"We will show no mercy against our enemies while our hostages languish in Hamas terror tunnels."

Danny Danon, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations

Israeli troops in southern Gaza. Pic: IDF handout

Extensive strikes have been conducted against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military on Monday, negating a ceasefire that had exacerbated the pain of Israel's hostage families in the terrorists' hollow gestures of complying with the rules of hostage return while mocking the process as a generous gesture on the part of the Palestinian terrorists. The 'ceasefire' that had given Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other such groups the opportunity to recruit, rearm and reaffirm their ironclad intention to continue planning and executing attacks on Israel for which the October 7, 2023 invasion and savagery remains their model.

 

In essence, the 'ceasefire' had ended itself when Israeli intelligence analyzed the intention of Hamas leaders to carry on with their death mission for Israel, leading to the inescapable conclusion that the only fitting response to the situation would be a return to Israel's original goal of wiping out the entirety of the Hamas organization; fighters, leaders, weapons stocks, organizational capability. The essentially vital target, the removal of the Hamas leadership.

 

To that end, it was confirmed by the Israel Defense Forces that "the Hamas prime minister and a senior government figure in the Gaza Strip", Essam al-Dalis was among a number of senior terrorists eliminated in the early stages of the campaign. As is usual for the IDF, a vital warning had been issued Tuesday urging residents of Gaza within specific areas to immediately evacuate, as the Israeli forces' operations intensified. 

Civilians were called  upon by IDF spokesperson Avichay Adrace, to relocate to designated shelters located in western Gaza City and Khan Yunis to avoid becoming casualties of the attacks. Citing local Gaza health officials, the Associated Press reported that over 400 Palestinians had been killed in the overnight airstrikes. No one can actually be assured of the veracity of any such claims made by either Hamas or any of its operating arms. Hamas, in any event, reporting on casualties makes no differentiation between civilians and its terrorist operatives.

 

Pic: IDF handout

"[An Israeli official] claimed that in recent days during the ceasefire Hamas has been preparing to carry out new attacks against Israel and has taken steps to rearm."

"The official said the IDF kept the operational plan top secret and within a relatively small circle in order to surprise Hamas."

Axios Report

 

"[The IDF is] attacking targets of the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip in order to achieve the objectives of the war as they have been determined by the political echelon including the release of all of our hostages, the living and the deceased."

"Israel will, from now on, act against Hamas with increasing military strength."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Office statement

The attack coincided with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Somewhat similar to Egypt and Syria attacking Israel in 1973 on Yom Kippur, the Judaic holy Day of Atonement. There is an interpretation that this could signal a full resumption of the war, incited by Hamas when terrorists invaded southern Israel on October 7, 2023, thousands of terrorists primed to enact a scene straight out of Hell, complete with mass rape, mutilation, torching of family homes with the residents huddled for safety in their 'safe rooms', where the mostly civilian population of southern Israel's farming kibbutzim were targeted for annihilation.

 

Hamas terrorists stand in formation ahead of a hostage release in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Hamas's plans included the hostage-taking of families, the elderly, infants, teens, women, foreign farm workers and Israeli soldiers. Even the dead were considered useful pawns as hostages, bundled off with the terrified living hostages to the extensive tunnel systems of Gaza, to be confined in dark, dank underground cells without natural light, breathing foetid air, and experiencing a lack of adequate food and water and medical supplies. The remaining two dozen hostages believed to still be alive, remain in terrorist hands.

 

"We are shocked, angry and terrified by the deliberate dismantling of the process to return our loved ones from the terrible captivity of Hamas", mourned the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. And one can only commiserate with their anguish, hoping against hope that their loved ones will somehow be returned to them. Hamas enjoys its sadistic cat-and-mouse games with vulnerable and helpless captives.

 

While the United States and Israel have been stepping up attacks across the region this week, the retaliatory campaign against Hamas is being carried out with a view to bringing Israel's goal of eradicating the terrorist group entirely, closer to accomplishment as an end-game goal. In concert with the U.S. launching strikes against Yemen's Houthis spurred on by Iran, Israel has targeted Iran's terrorist proxies in Lebanon and Syria.

 

Israeli soldiers patrol a street in northern Gaza on Wednesday. The Israeli military launched a new ground offensive in Gaza, a day after Israel 'broke a ceasefire' with a punishing series of airstrikes. Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

"[U.S. President Donald Trump] has made it clear: Hamas, the Houthis, Iran, all those who seek to terrorize not just Israel but also the United States of America will see a price to pay."

"All hell will break loose."

"[All of] the terrorists in the Middle East [should take Trump] very seriously when he says he is not afraid to stand for law-abiding people ... and our friend and ally Israel."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt

Outlawing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps/Terrorist Central

"It's influencing the political and the social landscape of Canada. It's influencing the youth and mobilizing them against Western values against Canadian security, in very subtle ways and sometimes in very overt ways." 

"It's the same issue with respect to China, how they have been operating. The Islamic Republic is no different."

"In terms of the evidence before the Liberal government, nothing substantial has changed since six years ago. We all know that in 2020 the IRGC shot down [Ukrainian Airlines] PS752, killing all 175 passengers, including 55 Canadian citizens. If that wasn't sufficient evidence, I don't know what else the Liberal government was looking for."

"We welcome the change in the government's attitude after six years of not doing anything about it and giving all sorts of excuses why they were not listing IRGC as a terrorist entity despite all the evidence that they admitted existed. The evidence was there. It was just a question of political will."

"[Six years of inaction has allowed the IRGC to] spread their tentacles in Canada. Their numbers have increased. Their influence has increased. We are going to feel that influence and the impact of them being in Canada and within our systems and institutions for decades to come."

Mojdeh Shahriari, Vancouver human rights lawyer, co-founder, Stop IRGC

People take part in a a protest against the Iranian government on April 21 in Montreal (John Kenney / MONTREAL GAZETTE)

 

In 1976 when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile in France to head a revolution that removed the Shah of Iran from power, in turn installing a theocratic regime with himself at its head, it was understood that a fundamentalist Islamist Shiite government had taken power in the country, with Khomeini as its Supreme Leader. Despite which, the extent of the reach of the Islamic Republic of Iran since that time in influencing Middle East affairs and international relations far afield might never have been imagined.

 

In the close aftermath of the revolutionary change in government in Iran, many Iranians knew they could not remain in their country of birth. From a fairly open society, with good international relations with non-Muslim countries -- including Israel -- the Islamic Republic was destined to become a divisive power broker in the Middle East. Under the ruling Ayatollahs and their Islamic Republican Guard Corps the intention was to restore Iran to its historical influence as the supreme regional power. 

 

In the predominately Arab Muslim Middle East, Iranians, though Muslim, are not Arab but Persians, the Aryans that Adolf Hitler was adamant were a superior 'race'. There is also a sectarian divide between Iran and the other Muslim countries of the Middle East which are majority Sunni Muslim, while Iran is Shiite, a relative minority. From its very inception in 1976 the Islamic Republic set out to gain a commanding influence within the Middle East, and to elevate the status of Shiite Islam. An unsubtle state of confrontation between Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia ensued.

Iran's ambitions rose to challenge Saudi Arabia as custodian of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in its aspirations to become the supreme Islamic authority commanding the Middle East. Iran's animus toward the Jewish State of Israel surpassed that of any Arab state by a wide margin. And Iran courted the disaffected populations of minority-status Shiites in Arab countries. The al-Quds division of the IRGC founded an Islamist Shiite group in Lebanon, training and arming it as a proxy militant arm it could control.

 

The IRGC is a major military, political and economic force in Iran   EPA

Hezbollah came to world notice when in 1983 it undertook a truck-suicide bombing on an American military base, a marine corps barracks in Beirut against UN-affiliated peace envoys, killing 241 American soldiers. Another suicide bomber soon afterward killed 58 French UN-assigned paratroopers. This was Hezbollah, a newly-minted terrorist group, doing the bidding of its masterminds in Tehran. Since that time, Hezbollah has been a terror-creation of Iran, tasked to do its bidding, with a major focus on Israel, and on suicide-mission attacks abroad on Jewish enclaves.

 

There is also a Western infiltration component to the Islamic Republic's aspiration for dominance. Those Iranians who fled a revolutionary Islamist Iran they had no wish to live within, have found themselves, in the past decade, being targeted for their anti-Islamist, anti-Ayatollah, anti-terrorist attitudes. The Trudeau government in Canada has allowed the infiltration of Iranian agents and personnel, including senior leaders of the IRGC to have easy access to Canadian society at all levels, to enter on visas, to establish residency and to undermine the democratic freedoms of the Iranian expatriate population.

 

Their scheme in Canada, as it is elsewhere in the free world, is to destabilize all the institutions that make the West a free world, undermining the social and cultural values of nations of the West. Although Iranian-Canadians have made it clear to the Trudeau government that they have reason to fear the entry of representatives of the Iranian regime to Canada who intimidate and threaten them, the very fact that those involved in the most extremes of human rights abuses have entry to Canada is in and of itself inexcusable.

 

Finally, although all parties in Canada's Parliament have long supported a move to outlaw the presence of Iranian regime representatives in Canada, on a number of occasions voting unanimously to place them on a terror list and impose sanctions, the Trudeau government chose not to take appropriate action. Until last week, when it finally did. "Based on their actions, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the IRGC has knowingly carried out, attempted to carry out, participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity", explained the government's minister of public safety. Stating something that has long been known.

"This process of IRGC spreading its influence throughout the Western world has been going for a very long time, unfortunately, and they have been able to infiltrate many of our academic institutions, our professional institutions and they have been money-laundering [in Canada]."

"Everyone is looking for an assassination plot or something like that, and of course they do that, and they are known for it and their terrorist activities all over the world, but they have been infiltrating and interfering with our institutions for decades and in the past six years this has intensified."

"So it has been a huge disaster, in my view. In 2018, Parliament unanimously voted to immediately list the IRGC and I never heard any reasonable explanation from the Liberal government why they were dragging their feet. Something political has changed for them in terms of their calculation of the cost benefit of listing the IRGC."

Mojdeh Shahriari, Vancouver human rights lawyer

Members of the Revolutionary Guards attend a parliamentary session in Tehran. Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images