In a high-risk move, Israel ramps up escalation against Hezbollah
Over the past few days, the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has entered a precarious new phase, with Israel carrying out both unconventional attacks and heavy airstrikes against the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, while Hezbollah has responded with an increase in retaliatory fire.
Pakistan’s shifting positions on the plight of Palestinians and relations with Israel
It is ironic that Pakistan and Israel are both countries created in the name of religion, at around the same time, and yet they have no formal relations. While Pakistan’s animosity toward Israel is rooted in the displacement of Palestinians, it has also served as a means of burnishing the country’s credentials within the community of Muslim nations and pushing back against India, which maintains increasingly close ties with Israel.
For nearly two decades, Palestinian leadership has been fractured. Along with a basic division between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, numerous other groups have competed for influence. In late July, leaders of all 14 Palestinian political factions, including Fatah and Hamas, met in Beijing to issue a call for national unity.
Israel and the Axis of Resistance in the wake of the Gaza war
Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack touched off a destructive war with Israel and a limited but fierce regional conflagration between Israel and the Iran-led “Axis of Resistance,” with Lebanese Hezbollah at the forefront. The ongoing conflict has been multi-fronted, multi-faceted, dynamic, and already highly consequential. While a clear bottom line remains elusive, exploring the war’s primary origins and evolution offers useful indicators.
Ten months after October 7, Israel’s reality is gloomy, but with some silver linings
More than 300 days after the Hamas terror attack of October 7th, Israel is stuck in a war that the majority of its society wants to see end, with a governing coalition that most of its population wants to see changed. Just a couple of weeks after US officials stated that we are “closer now than we’ve been before” to an Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza, Israel finds itself instead as close as it has ever been to a war with the Iran-led axis.
Monday Briefing: The Middle East is the closest it has ever been to an all-out war
After 10 months of Israel’s war on Gaza, the US administration has lost control over its ally and the fear of its opponents. As a result, Washington has only limited, if any, impact on the cost-benefit escalation calculus of the fighting sides. The Middle East is today the closest it has ever been to an all-out multi-front regional war.
A waiting game as the region teeters on the brink of full-blown war
Israel’s targeted killing of Hezbollah military leader Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran are explosive events for the region. Coming within 12 hours of each other, they were also an earthquake within the “Axis of Resistance” — but not one likely to encourage de-escalation. Far from it.
Special Briefing: The regional impact of Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination
In a new special briefing, scholars from across MEI weigh in with their thoughts on the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and the potential regional impact.
