Displaying items by tag: fears of escalation

As Israel’s war on Gaza pushes into its fourth month, fears of regional escalation are growing, with several nations and armed groups targeting each other’s territories and common waters, and the USA boosting its military assets in the region. Last week, Iran launched attacks in Syria and Iraq after members of its elite forces were killed in Damascus allegedly in Israeli attacks. Tit-for-tat attacks between Iran and Pakistan threatened to open a new military front, but diplomacy has helped cool the tempers, for now. The Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen has been targeting commercial and military ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea as a response to the war in Gaza. This has prompted a number of air strikes against them by the USA and the UK. Many companies are now sending their ships on a longer and costlier journey around the African continent. Meanwhile, almost daily cross-border artillery firing and drone attacks between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters are threatening to open another front. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been forced to flee their homes.