The powder keg on which the Middle East region stands is on the verge of exploding, turning the ongoing war between the Israelis and Palestinians in the Palestinian Gaza Strip into a broader conflict in the region, with the strikes directed by the United States on targets in Iraq, which it said were specific to armed factions linked to Iran, in the time when the Yemeni Houthi group intensified its targeting of commercial ships heading to Israel through the Red Sea.

Last Monday evening, the US Department of Defense announced the bombing of 3 facilities linked to the Iranian-backed Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, which Washington says was behind an attack that injured three Americans in Iraq.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement: “Although we do not seek to escalate the conflict in the region, we are committed to being fully prepared to take any necessary measures to protect our personnel and facilities”.

The next day, the Houthi group, also supported by Iran, renewed its attacks on ships in the Red Sea, and the MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company confirmed that its container ship, MSC United, had been attacked on its way to Pakistan.

Although Iran denied providing assistance to the attacks launched by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea, it pledged to make Israel pay the price for its killing of General Reza Mousavi, a leader in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in an aerial bombardment that targeted a suburb of Damascus.

Aaron David Miller, a former American diplomat and research fellow at the Carnegie Peace Research Institute, warns that “it has become clear that the longer the war between Israel and Hamas continues with such intensity, the greater the possibility of escalation of the regional conflict.”

In an analysis published by Bloomberg News Agency, American political analyst Ian Marlow said that the number of unofficial armed groups and unexpected military operations by Israel, and the potential Iranian response to them, make it difficult to predict when any incident will occur that could ignite a broader conflict. But Miller said that the United States may have to act more harshly if any of the armed groups in the region kill American soldiers, adding: “If we were directly attacked, and Americans died, a bigger and heavier response would be necessary.”

Marlow, a former correspondent for the Global and Mail newspaper in the Asia-Pacific region, adds that the attacks and other recent developments in the region highlight the increasing difficulty facing the administration of US President Joe Biden in moving in a balanced manner, while supporting Israel in its war with the movement. Hamas and other Palestinian factions launched an attack on Israeli settlements and military bases in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip, on October 7th.

The United States deployed aircraft carrier groups in the region with the aim of deterring regional powers loyal to Iran from attacking Israel, which is waging a ground war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the martyrdom of about 21,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

On a related level; Ron Dermer, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs, visited Washington and met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, where the talks dealt with the war in Gaza, efforts to release Israeli detainees and prisoners held by Palestinian factions in Gaza, and reducing losses among Palestinian civilians. According to the White House, in addition to the future of the Gaza Strip after the end of the war.

To Israeli officials, who are concerned about attacks by Lebanese Hezbollah and other anti-Israeli armed groups in the region, the current conflict already looks like the broader war that Washington is trying to avoid.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant told the Israeli Knesset that Israel is fighting a multi-front war, and that it is under attack from 7 fronts: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, Iraq, Yemen, and Iran, adding that Israel “is already responding on 6 of the seven fronts.” We will now say with the utmost clarity that anyone who takes action against us will become a potential target.”

Finally, Ian Marlow believes that all indications indicate that the situation in the Middle East is approaching the moment of a big explosion in light of the continuation of the war in Gaza and the attacks of armed groups opposed to both Israel and the United States and the two countries’ response to them.

Source: Sama News