The Stop the War Coalition has been warning over the last months that Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip, on the West Bank, on Lebanon and in Syria and Iraq, risk regional war. In the last few days that war has come closer. We call on all sides to show restraint and to stop this terrifying slide to wider conflict.
The Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel was a response to a series of attacks on Iranian personnel including most seriously the bombing of the Iranian Consulate in Damascus on 1 April, which killed several people including senior military commanders and which, under international law, represented an attack on Iranian territory.
That deliberately provocative attack was not condemned by the US, the UK or the UN Security Council. The Iranian leadership has said, if it had been, they would have felt no need to retaliate.
US, British and French forces have been actively involved in countering the Iranian drone and missile attacks. We demand that Israel does not launch further attacks on Iranian forces and start another cycle of escalation.
We also continue to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to UK arms sales to Israel. The evidence of war crimes carried out during the assault on Gaza is irrefutable. At least an important component of the Israeli leadership is actively seeking a more general war in the Middle East, and they wish to draw the US and its allies in to support it.
Opposing the logic of war and escalation means calling for an end to Western imperialist intervention in the region. There must be an end to Western support for Israel as it carries out genocide against the people of Gaza and tries to widen the conflict and a lasting settlement for a sovereign and free Palestine.
