Russia at the start of a week wherein Israel's military says it's fighting "in the heart" of Gaza City has accused the West of pushing the Middle East towards major war. To the north of Israel, Hezbollah has continued rocket and artillery attacks. The US meanwhile has positioned no less than two carrier strike groups and a nuclear-powered submarine in regional waters, which officials say is a message to Iran.
The new provocative words by Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov come as American media headlines have accused Russia of turning against Israel. "We can see the Anglo-Saxons literally pushing the Middle East to the brink of a big war," he told an audience gathered for a Russian expo in Moscow.
He further accused the US and its allies of creating millions of new refugees and spawning further terrorism given its 'unconditional' support to Israel and its war on Gaza. He also spoke broadly of Washington's military interventions in the Middle East and North Africa.
He reportedly also named Ukraine, Iraq, Libya and Syria as places where this reckless policy is on full display. "The outcome of this policy also includes a surge in terrorism and extremism, broken lives, shattered families and millions-strong refugee flows," he added.
According to more of the top diplomat's words as translated in TASS:
Lavrov also noted that the methods that the US and its satellites were using included attempts to sow chaos in various parts of the world, set countries and nations against one another, and raise ethnic and religious tensions.
"The West is used to solving its own problems at the expense of others and exploiting someone else’s resources," he explained.
While officially Israel and Russia have enjoyed stable relations, which is surprising given the past decade of the Syrian war where the two are on opposite sides, the Kremlin has clearly been increasingly critical of Israel and its biggest backers.
Putin had said in an Oct. 30 televised address that "there is no justification for the terrible events taking place in Gaza now, where hundreds of thousands of innocent people are being killed indiscriminately, without having anywhere to flee or hide from the bombing."
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