The Guardian: The Middle East is sliding to the brink of a broader regional conflict

Since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7 and the latter's ferocious response in Gaza, the Middle East has been on the brink of a regional war.

According to the British newspaper “The Guardian”, “Within hours of the outbreak of the Gaza war, Hezbollah in Lebanon began firing on towns and villages in northern Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians, which led to Israeli air strikes in response, and Houthi forces in Yemen attacked ships.” In the Red Sea with a connection to Israel. For its part, the United States transferred two aircraft carriers and their accompanying strike groups to the region, as American bases in Syria and Iraq were subjected to repeated attacks from groups linked to Iran, sparking rapid retaliation from Washington. At the same time, protests broke out in the West Bank continued to bomb civilians in Gaza, and extremist Jewish settlers quickly sought to ride the wave of Israeli anger by seizing Palestinian land and terrorizing its residents.

The newspaper continued, “All the events that preceded have the potential to ignite a major fire in the Middle East, and the past few days have shown how easy it is to escalate, and whether intended or not, it can push Israel into an open confrontation with Iran, and also attracts the United States. An Israeli air strike outside Damascus killed a prominent figure in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Mr. Radhi Mousavi, who was responsible for military liaison between Syria and Iran. After Mousavi's death, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard issued a statement declaring that "the usurping and brutal Zionist regime will pay the price for this crime."

The newspaper added, “At the same time, Tehran’s Houthi allies fired on the US-led “Prosperity Guardian” naval task force that was assembled to protect shipping in the Red Sea. American warships shot down dozens of drones as well as a group of ballistic missiles. For their part, US Central Command issued a statement saying that Washington had "every reason to believe that these attacks were fully enhanced by Iran."

According to the newspaper, “If an American warship is attacked, US President Joe Biden will be under intense pressure to provide a decisive response.” On Thursday, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wrote a comment in an American newspaper expressing the view of many on the hard-line side of the establishment. The wish in both Israel and the United States is that they are doomed to fight Iran's proxies indefinitely until Iran is captured outright. “Iran's evil empire must be overthrown,” Bennett wrote in the Wall Street Journal. The United States and Israel must set a clear goal: toppling the evil Iranian regime. "This is not only possible, but it is vital for the safety and security of the Middle East and the entire civilized world."

The newspaper continued, “On Friday, the United Nations Security Council convened to discuss violence in the West Bank, but the session quickly descended into discussion of a regional war. Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan dismissed the issue of settler violence in the West Bank as a distraction from the threat posed by Hezbollah in Lebanon. “The situation in northern Israel is reaching the point of no return,” Erdan said, echoing an increasingly frequent warning from Israeli officials that their country would take matters into its own hands, perhaps by establishing a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. “If these attacks continue, I repeat, the situation will escalate and may lead to a full-scale war. Lebanon must be held accountable for the aggression carried out from its territory.”

The newspaper added, “Mohamed Khaled Al-Khayari, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, told members of the Security Council that although most of the exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel was around the border, some strikes went deep into the other party’s territory, which “raises the specter of A conflict that cannot be contained and has devastating consequences for the peoples of both countries.” Al-Khayari added, “The risk of miscalculation and further escalation is increasing as the conflict in Gaza continues.” Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE envoy, expressed the Arab world’s concern that in the absence of “resolutions Daring and perhaps uncomfortable” to stop the drift toward regional conflict, “the alternative is for the hellscape in Gaza to spill over into the West Bank, Israel, Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East.” 

According to the newspaper, “ Khaled El-Guindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said the disproportionate number of Palestinian deaths showed that Israeli forces were waging an exaggerated campaign in an attempt to deter an uprising in the West Bank in solidarity with Gaza. 

He added: "The Israeli mentality is that they believe they are preventing a third intifada. But I think the way they are operating is probably more like causing it to happen." 

He pointed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a particularly explosive element in the combustible situation in the region. 

The 

Khaled El-Guindy said: “Netanyahu, frankly, is the one who dictates the conditions on all fronts, in Gaza, on the borders of Lebanon, and throughout the region, for reasons related to him. This is his war. I believe that with every day that passes, we are getting closer to the regional expansion of this chaos.” "