Expert in conflicts in the Near and Middle East, journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet, senior reporter for CNEWS, delivers her analysis on the ongoing conflagration in the region, one year to the day after the massacres of Hamas terrorists on October 7 2023.
She says she is “not very optimistic for the future”. While this Monday, October 7, 2024 marks the first sad anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack against the Israeli population, CNEWS senior reporter Anne-Isabelle Tollet remains, to say the least, reserved about the future.
A specialist in conflicts in the Near and Middle East, “AI”, his nickname, believes that positive developments in the war are unlikely, especially after the massive attack carried out by Iran against the Jewish state last week.
On Tuesday evening, the Islamic Republic launched some 200 missiles towards Israel, in its second direct attack against its sworn enemy, after missile and drone attacks in April.
“The Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has just announced that Israel does not have much longer,” supports the journalist, citing comments from the ayatollah, who even welcomed the fight of the Lebanese Hezbollah.
An Iranian strike on Israel is feared on October 7
From the point of view of the Islamists, the supreme guide has thus rendered a “vital service to the entire region”, she underlines. In this context, “there is no longer even a need to wonder if there is a risk of escalation, we are already there,” laments Anne-Isabelle Tollet.
Worse still: a new attack by Iran on Israel could be feared this Monday, October 7: “They are in favor of launching attacks on important dates. An Iranian strike is therefore to be feared,” she predicts.
The journalist knows perfectly well the mechanics at work in the region, having specialized for more than ten years in sensitive areas such as Afghanistan or Pakistan. She had also mobilized for more than ten years to save Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2010.
Concerning Iran, Anne-Isabelle Tollet benefits from certain expertise, a country in which she has visited several times. A year ago, on October 7, 2023, the same day of the bloody Hamas attack, she was in Iran when Israel was attacked by Hamas.
From this experience, in direct contact with the Iranian people, she drew a new book “The Forbidden Journey. A clandestine dive into today’s Iran” published last month by Le Cherche midi. A valuable testimony far from the propaganda of the mullahs made against the Hebrew State.
“I was in the streets, accompanied by my local guide Colette, when we noticed a sudden joy among the Iranian people, without really understanding why.” It was when she returned to her hotel room, once the television was on, that she learned that it was a Hamas attack on Israel.
“The Iranians were very supportive of the Israelis”
“On TV, I mostly witnessed simple propaganda. We talked about the attack in Gaza without mentioning the response.” Arriving clandestinely in the country, in the evening, the great reporter went out of her way “like a teenager” to meet the Iranian people. And finally, contrary to what local TV wanted you to believe: “the Iranians were very supportive of the Israelis”.
In the streets, highly educated youth chanted “Down with the dictator!”, showing that they totally condemned the Hamas attacks, no matter what the authorities wanted people to believe. “Young people are very aware of what is happening around them,” assures Anne-Isabelle Tollet. There is general fed up with this hostage-taking of a democratic dictatorship.”
Sent to Israel a week after the attacks, the journalist could not help but try to find out how the survivors nestled in the kibbutzim felt, and how they perceived the Iranian conflict. “Here again, the Israelis are very supportive of the Iranians. It is the local media that is trying to make people believe that there is a war between the two peoples, when in reality, on both sides, everyone knows what they are up to and supports each other.”
However, as for possible aid from the Iranians to Israel, the question is not current. “Before wanting to go to war to help someone, the Iranian people must first succeed in saving themselves from the local authorities,” explains Anne-Isabelle Tollet. A civil war between the police and the government against the people which could well end quickly, given that “60% of the Iranian population is under 30 years old”.
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