Muslim Brotherhood rallies around Iran, calls for Islamic unity against Israel
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the most powerful political entities in the Middle East, has rallied around Iran in the wake of Israel's devastating strikes on the country and urged disparate Muslim groups to unite and 'confront the Zionist entity'.
In a letter addressed to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday, the acting head of the movement, Salah Abdel Haq, said his group expressed 'full support' for the Islamic Republic as Israel's assault stretched into a second week.
Haq described Israel's attacks as a broader assault on the resistance axis in the region, saying they mark 'a new phase of aggression against Palestine', driven by Israel's goal of weakening regional powers with the backing of the United States and other western states.
'We are one nation, in the religious, spiritual, civilisational, and geopolitical senses alike,' he said, adding that Israel 'does not differentiate between our ethnicities or sects'.
'Our primary weapon… is the unity of the Islamic Ummah,' he said, before calling on Muslim forces to overcome past divisions and redirect their focus toward 'confronting the Zionist entity'.
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Haq's letter came as Hezbollah released a statement expressing support for Khamenei following threats by Israeli and US leaders that he could be killed.
'Threats to assassinate [Khamenei] are foolish and reckless, and will have disastrous consequences… Merely uttering them is an offence to hundreds of millions of believers and those connected to Islam, and it is utterly reprehensible. Today, we are more determined and united around him.'
Regional fallout
On Thursday, sources close to Hezbollah told Middle East Eye that the Lebanese group could join the hostilities if the United States intervened directly, or if Iran's supreme leader was killed.
Those scenarios would 'shift the calculations' and may push the group into the conflict.
A senior Iranian official echoed one of the red lines, telling Al Jazeera that Hezbollah would intervene if Washington did.
Earlier on Thursday, Iranian ballistic missiles struck several cities across Israel, with extensive damage reported at the Israeli stock exchange building in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv, as well as a major hospital in the south of the country.
Khamenei assassination could draw Hezbollah into Israel-Iran hostilities, say sources Read More »
Images seen by MEE showed shattered glass and debris strewn onto the streets outside the stock exchange, with damage also reported at several nearby offices and residential buildings.
Meanwhile, at least 40 people were reported injured when a missile struck near the Soroka hospital in Beersheba, the latest ballistic missile strike to successfully evade Israel's air defences.
Iran denied claims that it directly attacked the hospital, saying it launched a 'precise and direct' attack on a nearby Israeli military target.
'The target of attack was the large [Israeli army] Command and Intelligence headquarters and the military intelligence camp in the Gav-Yam Technology Park,' the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported.
In response, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Khamenei 'can no longer be allowed to exist'.
'Khamenei openly declares that he wants Israel destroyed - he personally gives the order to fire on hospitals,' Katz said at the scene.
'Such a man can no longer be allowed to exist.'
When asked about Katz's comments, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu replied that 'no one is immune', but added that 'in war, I believe one must choose words carefully and execute actions with precision.'
Later on Thursday, the White House said that US President Donald Trump would decide within the next two weeks whether the US would get directly involved in the conflict.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had set the timeframe, as he believed there was a 'substantial chance of negotiations' with Iran 'in the near future'.
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