Mansoura, EGYPT – The Middle East is on fire.
Saturday’s air strike against Iran by the United States and Israel targeted more than 10 Iranian cities, according to the BBC. The Iranian government accused Israel of bombing a girls’ school in Minab, which the BBC said killed more than 150 people.
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Iran responded after less than two hours.
Iranian missiles targeted several Arab capitals and main cities, Manama in Bahrain, Doha in Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait City in Kuwait.
Of course, one of the targeted cities was Tel Aviv in Israel.
The Iranian regime stated that its targets were mainly the U.S. military bases in these Arab countries, even though we have seen multiple videos of these missiles targeting airports, hotels and some residential places.
In Kuwait, an Iranian drone targeted the Kuwait City airport, causing severe damage to the airport infrastructure, according to Kuwait Times.
In the UAE, defense forces managed to take multiple missiles down, but some of them also hit Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The missiles managed to hit one of the most famous hotels in the city, which is Palm Jumeirah.
Dubai airport, which is one of the busiest airports in the world, suffered damage after an unprecedented attack hit it. Burj Al Arab, one of Dubai’s landmarks, was also on fire because of debris from an intercepted drone.
After several hours of the Iranian response, the U.S. and Israeli leaders started stating that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei wam dead. At first, the Iranian Media denied it, but after a few hours, the Iranian government confirmed his death.
On the Iranian streets, we have seen videos of people crying and calling for revenge for their leader, and others destroying some of his pictures in the main city squares.
Here in Egypt and in many other places in the Middle East, people are asking if Iran will be the second Iraq, and if the Iranian regime falls, who will be in charge?
I doubt the U.S. intentions in Iran. The U.S. doesn’t care whether Iran has a democratic regime or not. The U.S. only cares if the new regime will follow their orders or not.
While writing this piece, many Americans who hate Trump and the Republicans are angry because what Trump did wasn’t constitutional. But what Trump did was against international law, whether he had the approval of Congress or not.
I overheard a random conversation on the street yesterday between two old men. One of them asked when America will stop acting like the protector of democracy on Earth.
The American voices raised now against Trump’s military action seem not to be focused on his violation of international law, but more of a chance to rage against Republicans.
Whether we like or dislike what happened to Khamenei, we should understand that it’s against the law and it’s not ok for the U.S. to break international law with or without the approval of Congress.
Ahmed Elkhamisy is a Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
