The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the US-supported Israeli Zionist regime for its recent attacks which all aim to escalate the war in the Middle East.

Israel carried out last week the brazen assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in his residence in Tehran, Iran and of Hezbollah senior commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, both in a space of a few hours. The attacks are clearly aimed at further inflaming tensions and ignite a bigger armed conflict to satiate the war obsession of the Zionist leaders of Israel.

These attacks were carried out amid Israel’s relentless genocidal war in Gaza, dropping bombs on refugee camps and areas of humanitarian services, and killing Palestinians in their numbers. Israel also has intensified its campaign of killings in the West Bank. Two weeks ago, Israel also launched missile attacks on military bases in Yemen. In April, it also carried out the assassination of two Iranian generals in Tehran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria, to which Iran has responded with a telegraphed and measured retaliation.

Israel carried out the most recent attacks emboldened by assurances by the Biden government of continuing military and political support, expressed during a state visit to the US by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a week prior.

The public posture of the US government calling for a de-escalation of conflicts is exposed as pure hypocrisy as it has already ordered the sailing of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to the Middle East to support Israel, and ordered all its citizens to leave Lebanon in apparent preparation to mount a strike against the country. The US call for de-escalation while revving-up their war machine, is no different from the US calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, while continuing to supply Israel with bombs and jetfighters.

The repeated attacks and escalation of conflict by the US-supported Israel must be condemned by the peace-loving peoples around the world. The aim of these attacks is to invite an even bigger retaliation by Iran and Lebanon. Israel hopes to spark an even wider conflict in the Middle East, in order to pave the way for greater US military intervention and attacks against countries which have opposed Israeli Zionism and US hegemonism in the Middle East. This scenario must be opposed at all costs as this will bring a greater catastrophe to millions of people in the region.