Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan: tens of thousands of people demonstrated in the Middle East in support of the Palestinians on Friday, the seventh day of a war between Israel and Hamas triggered by an unprecedented and bloody attack by the Palestinian movement.
During a demonstration organized in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, more than a thousand people expressed their solidarity with the Palestinians.
“Hezbollah tracks the enemy’s movements. We are fully prepared and we will take action at the right time,” warned Hezbollah number two, Naïm Qassem, while fears of seeing the powerful armed movement open a new front against Israel from Lebanon are great.
In Baghdad, tens of thousands of Iraqis gathered in Tahrir Square to chant “No to the occupation!” No to America! “.
Gathered at the call of Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr “in support of Gaza” and against Israel, they brandished Palestinian and Iraqi flags. Israeli flags were trampled and burned, according to an AFP photographer.
In response to the Hamas attack, on October 7, Israel launched destructive air raids against the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, and declared a “complete siege” of the Palestinian territory, already under land, air and sea blockade. Israeli for over 15 years.
In Israel, at least 1,300 people were killed and in the Gaza Strip, 1,799 died, according to official reports.
In Egypt, videos posted on social media show hundreds of protesters chanting solidarity with Gaza at the Al-Azhar mosque.
“Arab and Muslim countries have the duty and responsibility to urgently provide humanitarian aid and relief to the Palestinians in Gaza,” said Al-Azhar University, the highest institution of Sunni Islam, in a press release widely relayed on Palestinian social networks.
“Talk about Palestine!” »
In Tehran, demonstrators waved Iranian, Palestinian and Hezbollah flags. They held banners reading: “Down with America” and “Down with Israel,” noted an AFP journalist. Similar rallies took place in other cities across Iran.
Iran supports Hamas financially and militarily. The Israeli state is their common enemy, and the Palestinian movement seeks its destruction.
In Jordan, a neighboring country of Israel to which it is linked by a peace treaty, more than 20,000 people gathered in Amman, at the call in particular of the Muslim Brotherhood and several left-wing groups.
More remarkable: in a mosque in Riyadh, the Saudi capital where demonstrations are banned, an AFP journalist saw a police officer handcuffing a worshiper who interrupted Friday prayers by calling out to the imam, “Speak about Palestine!” Gaza is under bombs! »
The imam replied that the sacred place “was not made for politics”, before the man was arrested.
A rally also took place in Bahrain, a small Gulf kingdom.
In Algiers, a thousand people took to the streets to express their support for the Palestinians.
Pakistan, Afghanistan
The protests have affected Muslim countries outside the region.
In Pakistan, thousands of people demonstrated after weekly Friday prayers.
“We took to the streets to make our leaders understand that they need not be afraid of the United States and that the public wants them to be on the side of Palestine, not that of Israel and America,” said Shahid Husain, a protester, in Peshawar.
In neighboring Afghanistan, a few hundred people took part in demonstrations in Kabul and Jalalabad (East), organized at the initiative of the Taliban authorities.
In France, where President Emmanuel Macron called on Israel for a “strong” but “fair” response to the Hamas attack, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin ordered a ban on “pro-demonstrations.” Palestinians, because they are likely to generate disturbances to public order.”
On October 7, hundreds of Hamas fighters infiltrated Israel in vehicles and from the air, killing civilians in the streets, in their homes or at a music festival, spreading terror in a barrage of rockets.
During this attack, they kidnapped dozens of Israeli, foreign and binational hostages.
Israel responded by announcing a war to destroy the capacity for action of Hamas, a movement described as a “terrorist” organization by the United States and the European Union, constantly shelling the Gaza Strip and deploying tens of thousands of soldiers around the Palestinian enclave and on its northern border with Lebanon.