Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Iran, amid its rapproachment with the United States, has disclosed its strategy to establish an insurgency presence in all countries that neighbor Israel.

A senior Iranian commander said Teheran has formulated a strategy meant to surround Israel with hostile states. Basij commander Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi said Iran was working with proxies in the Levant to establish militias to attack Israel from Egypt and Jordan.

“Today Israel is surrounded by resistance,” Naqdi said. “Following the Basij in Palestine and Lebanon, the Syrian Basij was formed. The Jordanian and Egyptian Basij will follow.”

In remarks reported by the official Iranian Students News Agency, Naqdi said Iran would establish units of the Basij throughout the Levant. Basij, assigned internal and border security, has been sponsored by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“The growing elements of Iranian hegemony in the region coincides with the decline of American hegemony since the Islamic revolution in 1979,” Naqdi said.

[On Jan. 16, purported Sunni Islamists continued their campaign against Iran’s leading proxy, Hizbullah. A car bomb exploded near a Hizbullah stronghold in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and four people were reported killed and 30 injured.]

The remarks by the general on Jan. 14 contrasted with that by Iran’s new
president Hassan Rowhani. Over the last few months, Rowhani assured the West
that Iran did not have any hostile designs on the Middle East.

“These units [in Egypt and Jordan] would draw on the experience of those
in Palestine and Lebanon,” Naqdi said.

  Basij, Gen. Mohammed Reza Naqdi, Hassan Rowhani, Iran general’s ‘surround Israel’ strategy contradicts Rowhani assurances, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps