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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem, William Christou in Beirut and Lili Bayer in Brussels

Risk of regional Middle East conflict acute after two weeks of airstrikes

A crowd of people, some holding the Iranian flag. A large image of Ismail Haniyeh is displayed on the side of a building
Iran’s reaction to the killing of Ismail Haniyeh could draw its proxies from across the Middle East, including Hezbollah, deeper into the conflict. Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/Reuters

Tel Aviv, Hodeidah, Majdal Shams, Baghdad, Beirut and now Tehran. Although the parties involved are loath to acknowledge that the war in Gaza is metastasising into a regional conflict, the last two weeks of airstrikes and targeted killings across the Middle East suggest the risk is becoming more acute.

In southern Beirut on Wednesday, rubble lay piled up at the foot of a collapsed building that had been struck by three Israeli missiles just hours before. The sound of heavy machinery filled the air, aiding the civil defence members searching for people trapped under debris as Hezbollah fighters clothed in black watched from impromptu roadblocks.

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