The Houthis in Yemen are armed and trained by Iran, while Hamas has also received arms from Iran. In Syria, Iran also has considerable influence, and its own forces are based there. In Lebanon, Hezbollah has received hundreds of millions of dollars from Iran, and thousands of its fighters have trained in Iranian camps, according to the US State Department. Wave of attacks heightens fears of wider Middle East war ![]() Iran today continues to support militias in Iraq, according to a 2023 report prepared for the British House of Commons. The war in Iraq produced only one real winner, Iran, according to the official US Army history of the conflict. Meanwhile, during the same time period, the Middle East saw a surge of proxy forces allied in some fashion with Iran. This phenomenon was precipitated partly by the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. ![]() The use of armed drones by the US became a hallmark of the “war on terror,” and today, countries like Israel and groups like the Houthis have also adopted the tactic. It’s easy to forget that before the 9/11 attacks, there were no armed drones capable of carrying out targeted strikes far from the base of the attacker. The growing conflicts in the region are partly the result of advances in military technology over the past two decades and the growth of proxy warfare in the Middle East during the same time period. Iran’s leaders have promised to seek revenge against the terrorist group. Attacks by Sunni jihadist groups inside Iran have been relatively rare, and this attack marks a significant escalation by ISIS against Iran. ISIS is a Sunni jihadist group that regards the Shia clerics who run Iran as heretics. The Syrian regime was aided by Hezbollah fighters during the Syrian civil war, and it has publicly supported Hamas.Īdding to all of this on Thursday, ISIS claimed responsibility for two suicide attacks at a memorial service for the key Iranian military leader General Qassim Suleimani that killed at least 84 people. On Monday, Israel launched air strikes in the Syrian capital, Damascus, hitting what it said were Syrian military targets. Opinion: Netanyahu’s reckoning comes after the war. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP) Abir Sultan/AP Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel Sunday, Dec. There have been near-daily tit-for-tat exchanges of fire between them along the Israel-Lebanon border since October 7. Al-Arouri was killed in an area of Beirut dominated by Hezbollah, which has vowed to avenge his death. On Tuesday, a leader of Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed by a drone strike in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, adding to the growing tensions between Hezbollah and Israel. That followed the sinking by the US three days earlier of three Houthi speedboats in the Red Sea to prevent them from hijacking a commercial vessel. On Wednesday, the US and a dozen other allied nations warned the Houthis that they must stop their attacks on commercial shipping or face unspecified consequences. The Red Sea approach to the Suez Canal is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and some key shipping companies have suspended their operations in the area. ![]() Mohammed Hamoud/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Thousands of demonstrators gather at the call of the Iranian-backed Houthis to organize a demonstration in support of Gaza in Sanaa, Yemen on January 5, 2024. In purported support of Hamas, the Houthis, an Iranian-backed militia that controls much of Yemen, have launched 23 attacks at commercial vessels in the Red Sea since November 19 using a variety of missiles, drones and sea-based drones. The strike in Baghdad was a calculated risk by the Biden administration, especially since there are growing calls in Iraq to expel some 2,500 US troops that remain in the country on a mission to counter ISIS. The Baghdad strike has amplified those calls to expel US troops, according to the leading Arabic-language newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have launched at least 118 attacks against US troops in Syria and Iraq since the October 7 attack by Hamas inside Israel. That’s partly why US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting the Middle East this week: to try to stop the widening hostilities.Ĭonsider just the past few days: On Thursday, a US drone strike killed the leader of an Iranian-based militia in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. The danger of growing conflict is rising and threatens to entangle the United States.
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