The military escalation of these hours between Iran, Israel and the United States reopens a wound we know all too well. The parallel with 2003 and the invasion of Iraq is not just rhetoric. Once again there is talk of a 'pre-emptive strike', once again regime change is evoked - more or less explicitly - as a solution. And once again a spiral is set in motion that threatens to ignite an entire region.

Regional war is not a fatality, it is a political choice. A choice rooted in a vision of power and domination that, in the name of security (whose?) produces permanent instability. We have already seen this in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan. External interventions that have destroyed entire countries and populations, weakened civil processes, and stifled transformations from below.

Today we are witnessing dramatic contradictions: in Iran and in the diasporas, there are those who rejoice at the death of the Supreme Guide, those who mourn her, and those who are astonished. But eliminating leading figures does not mean dismantling a pervasive political system that has lasted almost 50 years. It means exposing millions of people to unforeseeable suffering as well as completely denying their self-determination.

As an organisation that has been working in the region for over 30 years, we strongly condemn this new military adventure promoted by the US-Israel axis. It is a choice that dramatically weakens the paths of emancipation and change from below, the same ones that in 2011 and 2019 had animated the Arab springs against authoritarianism and injustice. Rights are not exported by bombing. Democracies are not born from rubble.

At the same time, we stigmatise the dominant media narrative, which uncritically repeats the formula of the 'preventive attack' and struggles to pronounce simple and necessary words: girls, civilians, families. In these hours, there is general talk of 'victims' in a girls' school hit in Iran, but the terrible toll tells of over one hundred girls killed. Words count.

We also denounce Italy's political irrelevance in this scenario, reduced to a logistical tool of a war that has not been publicly discussed or deliberated. Bases on Italian territory, such as Sigonella, cannot and must not be used to fuel regional conflict.

Our concern is greatest for the countries in which we operate and with which we work every day: in addition to Iran and the Gulf monarchies, the crisis is already affecting Lebanon and Iraq. And while international attention is focused on this new front, violence by Israeli settlers and military operations are intensifying in Gaza and the West Bank. The risk is that one war will overshadow the other, multiplying impunity.

We share some testimonies collected in these hours.

IRAN. VOICE FROM THE DIASPORA

One of our Iranian diaspora activists, who has always been critical of the regime in Tehran, tells us about the complexity of these hours

"I am experiencing mixed feelings. Iranian society is much more complex than how it is described in the West. There are those who celebrate, those who mourn, those who are afraid. But it is not by 'eliminating' senior religious and military officials that one dismantles a system rooted in 50 years. The risk is to plunge into a scenario of endless instability, as in Iraq or Syria. And in the meantime, the victims are civilians. There are already so many. They are children."

IRAQ. 'WE DO NOT WANT ANOTHER WAR'.

One of our Iraqi colleagues recounts:

"I was sitting in a bar when two rockets went over our heads. Everyone panicked. My wife called me, terrified. The war will only bring death and collapse. We absolutely do not want another conflict in Iraq. What is happening is a violation of international law: destruction of infrastructure, intimidation of civilians. To all parties involved: stop the bombing immediately. We must learn from the wars we have already endured. Iraq and its people deserve peace."

LEBANON. ESCAPE IN THE NIGHT

Dramatic news comes to us from Lebanon. After rockets were launched from the south towards Israel, the Israeli army's response hit the south of the country and the southern districts of Beirut. Dozens of civilians were killed along with Hezbollah exponents.

The highways were immediately stormed by fleeing families. Our colleague Zaynab, who lives in the south, fled in the night in shock, taking hours to reach a safer area in Mount Lebanon. Local partners, such as the organisation Amel, have some staff stranded in the south awaiting evacuation. An Israeli communiqué called for the total evacuation of 53 villages (!) in the south, while the shelling continues. Shelters have been reopened in Beirut and other areas of the country to accommodate displaced families. The scenario evokes that of 2024, with the fear of an Israeli ground operation. One of the schools supported by our Qalam project has been declared a shelter for displaced people. We are conducting rapid assessments to respond to the emergency.

Un Ponte Per strongly condemns the ongoing military escalation and any war strategy aimed at redrawing political balances by force.

We also condemn the total disregard for international law, now reduced to waste paper. We had built the legal instruments to avoid the omnipotence of the law of the strongest and today these instruments are trampled underfoot.

We demand an end to the instrumental use of territories and populations as theatres of war for imperialist and colonial interests. The people we work with - activists, teachers, health workers, local communities - ask for one simple thing: to live in peace, without being pawns in conflicts they did not choose.

We have already seen where this road leads. We cannot accept history repeating itself, yet again.