Is the assignment operator really “just” an operator?

Question

My question was triggered by this discussion on SO, which did not lead to an answer that would really explain the issue. I am "rewriting" it here in a slightly differe

Answer 1

Probably because the other interpretation does not work:

irb(main):003:0> (1 && a) = 3
Traceback (most recent call last):
        3: from /home/w/.rbenv/versions/2.7/bin/irb:23:in `
'
        2: from /home/w/.rbenv/versions/2.7/bin/irb:23:in `load'
        1: from /home/w/.rbenv/versions/2.7.1/lib/ruby/gems/2.7.0/gems/irb-1.2.3/exe/irb:11:in `'
SyntaxError ((irb):3: syntax error, unexpected '=', expecting `end')
(1 && a) = 3
         ^

So, perhaps Ruby parenthesizes 1 && a = 3 in the only way that is legally interpretable by the language.