New Lebanese President – It's All about Iran
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JERUSALEM, Israel – For Israel, the election of 81-year-old Michel Aoun as Lebanon's new president is more about Iran than Lebanon.
In order to understand the election in context, it's necessary to "zoom out" and take a broader look at the region, an Israeli expert, who asked not to be named, told CBN News.
Aoun, a Maronite Christian, was sworn in as president this week after a more than two-year vacancy in the post. Most notably, he did so with the backing of Hezbollah, Iran's proxy in Lebanon.
Iran considers the election a victory for the "Islamic Resistance" movement in Lebanon, i.e. Hezbollah, Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Iranian leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, told the Iranian Tasnim news agency.
Aoun's election is part of the "land bridge the Iranians are building from Iran to the Mediterranean Sea," the Israeli expert said.
The Iranians are getting stronger in Iraq and the battle against ISIS for Mosul is important to them, he explained. They are backing President (Bashar) Assad in Syria and now they have Aoun aligned with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The expert said it's "very scary" because Iran is using in an "intelligent way" – the "incapacity" of the U.S. and Europe – to deal with the situation to further their goals.
"The Shiite crescent is becoming a reality from Tehran to the Mediterranean," he emphasized.
ISIS is "so bad" that it's easy to be in a coalition against it. But the day ISIS falls, that's when the "big trouble" will start. With all the players involved, the situation "could easily get out of control," he concluded.
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