Israel launched airstrikes that destroyed part of the Syrian Defense Ministry and a facility near the presidential palace in Damascus on Wednesday, killing three people. This comes weeks after Israel launched unprovoked strikes on Iran, which led to a brief war that killed over 900 Iranians and 29 people in Israel. Adam Shatz, U.S. editor at the London Review of Books, says Israel’s motivation in the Middle East is to “settle accounts with any force in the region that might challenge its domination.” He also notes violent language around foreign policy has become “banal” in many Western countries. “It’s not simply Trump and the far right who speak blithely about overthrowing foreign governments, about bombing other foreign populations. It’s people who have a reputation … for being liberals and moderates,” says Shatz.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.