Israel Faces Escalating Conflict with Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas
Since Iran’s large missile and drone attack on Israel last weekend, Israel’s allies have warned its leaders to avoid responding in a way that could provoke a regional war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel appeared to rebuff those warnings on Wednesday, saying the country would “do everything necessary to defend itself.”
Here is a look at where Israel has been drawn into conflicts, some of which could escalate quickly:
Iran
Last Saturday, Iran launched its first direct attack on Israel. The attack itself caused little damage, as almost all the missiles and drones were intercepted by Israeli air defenses, supported by the United States, France, Britain, and Jordan. But it took a clandestine war between the two nations that has gone on for decades to a different level.
Tehran was responding to a strike on April 1 in which seven officers overseeing Iran’s operations in the Middle East died in an attack on the Iranian Embassy complex in Damascus, Syria. Iran said Israeli warplanes had conducted the strike and vowed to retaliate for what it considered an unusually brazen attack.
Iranian officials have signaled in recent months that they want to avoid a war with Israel. Officials in Israel and the United States have said that Israel miscalculated with its embassy strike, thinking that Iran would not react strongly. That strike, they said, effectively broke the unwritten rules of engagement in the long confrontation between the two sides. Israel has signaled that it will respond, and Iranian leaders have warned that if it does so, Iran will react forcefully, with deadlier weapons than in the last strike.
Lebanon
Instead of attacking Israel directly, Iran typically goes after it through groups in the region that it supports, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, its most powerful proxy. On Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a cross-border drone and missile attack in northern Israel that the Israeli military said had injured 14 soldiers, six of them severely.
It was one of the most damaging attacks in recent months by Hezbollah in its continuing clashes with Israel, and it came a day after Israel’s targeted killing of two Hezbollah commanders. The two sides have launched strikes and counterstrikes over the border since the start of the war in Gaza on Oct. 7.
The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border, and in recent months Israel has hit targets deeper into Lebanon’s interior.
Hezbollah, which traces its origins to resistance to Israel’s invasion in 1982, is a significant power in Lebanon, and Iran has given it significant financial support and training. Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said in January that his country would “increase the firepower against Hezbollah” until it withdrew.
Gaza
As tensions mount on other fronts, Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza continues. Palestinian health authorities say that more than 33,000 people have died there since October, though their statistics do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Hamas, took power in Gaza in 2007, and on Oct. 7 it led an attack on Israel in which Israeli authorities say around 1,200 people were killed. Israel aims to destroy Hamas and free the hostages who were taken in the attack, around 100 of whom are believed to remain in captivity.
Israel’s military has seriously damaged Hamas’s armed wing, according to experts. At the same time, Israeli airstrikes and the fighting have left much of Gaza in ruins, and the United Nations says that the population, much of which has been forced to flee their homes, faces famine.
Active fighting has subsided in the strip, and many Israeli troops have left, but Hamas and Israeli officials have suggested the war is not yet over. Analysts said the war seemed to have entered a new phase, one in which Israel continues to mount small-scale operations to prevent Hamas’s resurgence.
