Whether it is Trump’s diktat to Bibi to finish the job before re-entering the White House or Biden-Blinken persistence that finally paid off—the fact is that peace should always be a more desirable enterprise than starting a factory of war
One year after the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas, the world watches as the aftermath continues to unfold—an unprecedented conflict marked by destruction, displacement, and a stark failure of diplomacy. Gaza lies in ruins, Israel mourns its losses, and the prospect of peace seems more elusive than ever.
The untimely death of President Ebrahim Raisi has caused a leadership vacuum, as he was mostly slated to succeed the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamanei, who is 85 and is said to be ailing.
If Rafah, which Netanyahu calls the last bastion of Hamas, is fully invaded amid large-scale casualties, then the region may not see peace for years to come.
From Iran's perspective, Israel breached a critical threshold by attacking its diplomatic mission, which Tehran deemed its sovereign territory.
The latest escalation between Israel and Iran marks a significant change in the adversarial relationship between the two antagonists. Not since the first Persian Gulf War of 1990-91, when the Iraqi military under Saddam Hussein struck Israel with SCUD missiles, have the Israelis been subjected to a missile attack on the scale the Iranians executed. Tehran’s most recent salvo involved a combination of drones and missiles. The missile barrage consisted of a mixture of cruise and ballistic missiles. Israel’s missile defences intercepted an estimated 331 missiles launched by the Iranians.
Iran called its attack on Israel a 'defensive response' to the strike on Iran's consulate in Syria's Damascus allegedly by Tel Aviv. It was followed by a warning of a more severe attack if 'Israeli regime make(s) another mistake'
The Middle East is on tenterhooks, again. A dangerous slide into an all-out war is being feared by most even as few seem capable of doing anything substantial to stem it. Nations are rationalising their actions based on their worst fears about their adversaries. And the US, the only major power still capable of significantly influencing the trends on the ground, is at a loss as it tries to stand by its long-time ally while also reassuring others who want a de-escalation. The politics of the Middle East has never been for the faint-hearted, and in this day and age when global dysfunction is at an all-time high, the region's fissures are ready to explode in unprecedented ways.