The UK, perpetually sad with its standing as a former imperial energy, is in search of to play an outsized function in Israel’s safety by directing its army and intelligence companies to Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen at this time.
On October 8, veteran British reporter Robert Peston printed a Remarkable post on the social media platform X. Citing inside info from “authorities and intelligence sources”, Peston claimed that the Palestinian resistance operation Al-Aqsa Flood would inevitably develop right into a full-fledged regional struggle, one which might be “as destabilizing to the worldwide safety like Putin’s assault on Ukraine.” The journalist warned:
“We’re within the early levels of a battle with implications for big components of the world.”
What makes this revelation much more astonishing is the velocity with which British intelligence grew to become conscious of impending upheaval in West Asia, simply over 24 hours after the unprecedented assault on Israel by Palestinian freedom fighters.
The urgency to organize Western audiences for the approaching disaster hints at a deeper narrative – that London could have had a hand in igniting battle throughout the area, a macabre plan that has performed out ever since.
Secret army alliances: SAS in Gaza
It goes with out saying that Britain’s involvement in Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is shrouded in intense secrecy. In December 2020, London and Tel Aviv signed a army cooperation settlement described by Ministry of Protection officers as an “necessary piece of protection diplomacy” that “strengthens” army ties between the 2 international locations whereas offering “a mechanism to plan our joint exercise .”
Nevertheless, the content material of this settlement stays hidden not solely from atypical British residents but in addition from elected lawmakers.
Hypothesis is arising over whether or not the settlement commits Britain to defend Israel within the occasion of an assault, probably explaining the obvious involvement of the infamous SAS within the occupation military’s assaults on Palestinians.
Mainstream media stories in late October steered that the elite squadron was “on standby” at British army and intelligence bases in neighboring Cyprus, making ready to hold out daring hostage rescue operations in Gaza.
Subsequent articles steered that UK particular operations troops have been “coaching in Lebanon to rescue Britons” in West Asia ought to they be caught within the struggle in Gaza, or “taken hostage” by the Lebanese resistance, Hezbollah or its allies.
A senior British Military official boasted that these forces had “constructed up a really shut relationship” with their counterparts in Beirut, which “offers an perception and affect into Lebanese decision-making and to see issues from throughout the northern border, which clearly considerations Israel.”
The secrecy surrounding these actions prompted Britain’s Protection and Safety Media Advisory (DSMA) Committee to situation D-messages to British information media, warning in opposition to revealing delicate details about SAS operations in West Asia.
As common, there was no additional reporting of SAS’s curiosity in Gaza from the mainstream British media. But the DSMA’s reference to “safety, intelligence and counter-terrorism operations” factors to a a lot completely different function for his or her presence within the area than merely hostage rescue.
Impartial research of Declassified UK strengthen this suspicion and reveal 33 army transport flights touring to Tel Aviv from the identical British bases in Cyprus the place SAS brokers are stationed.
These flights, together with each day for the fortnight following Israel’s assault on Gaza, aren’t mere coincidence. As just lately as December 12, the unbiased media revealed how Britain secretly deployed 500 extra troops to its Cyprus bases in response to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
This info was handed on to a parliamentarian by a British minister. It was additionally revealed that Britain was sending extra troops to the occupying energy and its neighbors Egypt and Lebanon, justified solely by obscure references to “operational safety causes.”
Limitless entry to Lebanon?
The twenty first of November, The cradle introduced a covert initiative by Britain to make sure unimpeded entry to Lebanese territory for its armed forces.
A leaked doc on the proposals neither gave a rationale for London doing so nor specified the precise mission British military troopers would perform in Beirut – a departure from common transparency in such MoUs.
Had the memo been accepted, it might have given “everybody [British] army personnel” an unprecedented entry to Lebanon’s land, air and sea territory, and circumvent the necessity for “prior diplomatic authorization” for “emergency missions”.
The character of those missions was not specified. Basically, British troopers would have been allowed to journey in uniform with their weapons seen wherever in Lebanon, whereas having fun with immunity from arrest or prosecution for committing any crime.
These daring provisions draw disturbing parallels to the NATO-drafted Rambouillet settlement offered to Yugoslavia in 1999, the place rejection grew to become a pretext for a US-led army strike.
On the time, a senior State Division official fortunately admitted to having “intentionally [setting] the bar larger” than the Yugoslav authorities might probably settle for.
But London had good cause to consider that Beirut would capitulate to its exorbitant calls for this time. As extensively documented by The cradleover a few years, British intelligence has run a number of covert operations to infiltrate top-level Lebanese army, safety and intelligence companies, whereas deploying its operatives and allies in key authorities ministries.
Every of those operations was supported by a memorandum of understanding, the exact phrases of which have by no means been made public by both occasion.
After designating Hezbollah, a distinguished Lebanese political occasion, as a banned terrorist group, Britain is maintaining an in depth eye on the resistance group’s army wing from a listening publish on Mount Olympus in Cyprus. This strategic oversight is justified by the expectation of potential involvement in a battle with Iran if a “struggle of annihilation” unfolds in Gaza.
East of Suez
The “struggle of annihilation” is now properly beneath method. The leaked memorandum between Britain and Lebanon, if adopted, might have positioned British troops strategically within the Levantine state, probably escalating tensions to the brink of full-scale struggle.
Whereas the explanations for the memorandum’s non-adoption stay unclear, a brand new battle zone within the Crimson Sea could divert consideration. The US, together with allies together with Britain, has launched a “maritime safety mission” in response to operations by Yemen’s Ansarallah-aligned armed forces in opposition to Israel-bound industrial vessels, resulting in important disruption to important delivery routes.
The worldwide coalition, regardless of its present of pressure, faces challenges and Sanaa reveals no indicators of backing down. The operational prices of intercepting low-cost assault drones are elevating considerations amongst senior Pentagon officers in regards to the effectiveness of the mission.
For Britain, the US-led initiative is according to its strategic targets outlined within the March 2021 ‘built-in protection evaluate’, a plan to rule the waves once more, guaranteeing “freedom of navigation within the Gulf of Aden.”
This renewed naval focus serves as a marked departure from Britain’s 1967 withdrawal from the area often called ‘East of Suez’ – a transfer thought of symbolic of the decline of the British Empire.
As The cradle revealed in April that British intelligence carried out covert psychological warfare operations to pressure the Yemenis to just accept an unfair UN peace plan to finish Saudi Arabia’s devastating air struggle in opposition to Sanaa.
With Ansarallah’s resistance to neo-colonial stress, coupled with the failure of such psychological ways, the stage is ready for a battle with probably far-reaching penalties – a disturbing prospect as Robert Peston’s intelligence sources predict on 8 October.