The first signs did not come with a declaration or a warning. They came as flashes in the Gulf sky, as sirens cut through the stillness of cities that had long believed they could stay outside the direct line of fire.
For decades, West Asia had learned to live with tension. Proxy battles, covert strikes, deniable operations and quiet escalations had defined the region’s uneasy equilibrium. But what unfolded in recent weeks broke that pattern. Iran did not just respond to the joint strikes by the United States and Israel, it widened the battlefield.
