“The US administration decided to invade Iraq in 2003 on false pretenses related to weapons of mass destruction which were not found,” Allazzeh recalled, adding that the promises made by Washington about liberating Iraqis and spreading democracy were never delivered. Instead, Washington is “leaving…behind them an armed conflict among tens of groups, severe corruption and a flabby administrative system.”

“Let’s be clear, the US does not want to totally leave Iraq. It will always want to keep a post inside Iraq – to monitor Iran’s activities in Iraq, Syria, their implication for Israel and to support [allied and pro-American] elements inside Iraq,” Askari, a professor emeritus at George Washington University, said.

“We declared this from the very beginning, immediately after the liberation of the first districts, towns, and villages, we did everything possible as soon as the situation allowed us to start peaceful reconstruction work. And we are consistently fulfilling the outlined plans,” Putin said.

“The will of the electorate is clear: the majority wants a center-right government under the leadership of the FPO,” former Freedom party of Austria (FPO) MEP Andreas Moelzer told Sputnik, commenting on Sunday’s election blowout, which saw the FPO nearly double its seat numbers from 31 to 58, and the Christian Democrat Austrian People’s Party (OVP) and Greens – which have governed the country since 2020, lose their parliamentary majority.

“Many people in Austria have fears if their children and grandchildren will be able to preserve their national and cultural identity due to the uncontrolled mass immigration during the last years. The people are dissatisfied because the European Union is unable or unwilling to protect its external borders,” Moelzer explained. Many Austrians also “dislike Brussels’ increasing influence” in general, “and fear further loss of sovereignty,” he said.

“Then there is the Ukraine policy of the current government which supports the hawkish policy of the EU. The sanctions against Russia have led to a dramatic increase of the inflation rate, and Austria’s neutrality is gradually [being] abolished as participation in the NATO ‘Sky Shield’ project shows,” Moelzer said. “For the overwhelming majority of Austrians, our neutrality is very important,” he stressed.

“In urban warfare, non-state actors like Hezbollah can inflict heavy damage on conventional military forces, making even limited operations perilous. Israel risks facing a situation similar to its prolonged struggle in Gaza, potentially drawing itself into a protracted conflict,” Rakipoglu, an assistant professor at Turkiye’s Mardin Artuklu University, and director of Turkish Studies at the Istanbul-based Mokha Center for Strategic Studies, explained.

“If a ground operation occurs, Israel is likely to face heavy losses. Hezbollah is a far stronger actor than Hamas, both financially and militarily, and Israel may incur substantial casualties without being able to neutralize Hezbollah entirely,” Rakipoglu warned.

On the other hand, “while Israel appears to gain from this, the move may increase global opposition to Israel, especially after violating international law with an attack on sovereign Lebanese territory,” Rakipoglu summed up.

“This is a pure Freudian projection. They are accusing others of what they are doing themselves,” Gajic said of RSF’s “Russian propaganda” claims. “Where were Reporters Without Borders when Radio Television of Serbia was bombed in 1999 and when 16 TV staff were murdered in cold blood?...There is no credibility from people like this who did not act when they should have,” the observer said.

“Serbs are now more militantly pro-Russian because we were in a war against NATO and actually NATO was conducting and still is conducting hybrid aggression against us. I think that this speaks volumes about the falsehood of the presumptions and of the conclusions [made by RSF, ed.]. You can see how unrealistic and completely detached these people are from the reality, and how they are not really conducting deep research to see what is going on and how come,” Gajic summed up.