Warnings about a region-wide escalation engulfing the entire Middle East have been circulating since the first fraught days after the 7 October Hamas terrorist atrocities. The most dangerous flashpoint is generally believed to be Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where lethal clashes between the powerful Shia militia Hezbollah and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have greatly intensified in recent days.
Sporadic Israeli airstrikes inside Syria, repeated limited attacks by Islamist militants on US bases in Iraq and US reprisal raids – such as that ordered by the president, Joe Biden, on Tuesday – fuel the narrative of an approaching, broader conflagration. Drone and missile attacks on Red Sea shipping by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, explicitly launched in support of Hamas and the Palestinians, are adding to the angst.
