Israel’s wars against Hamas and Hezbollah have changed the landscape of the Middle East. Experts see potential danger – or a chance for peace.
Posted: November 17th, 2024
By Tom Nagorski
Tom Nagorski is the Managing Editor for The Cipher Brief. He previously served as Global Editor for Grid and served as ABC News Managing Editor for International Coverage as well as Senior Broadcast Producer for World News Tonight.
DEEP DIVE — It may be the most consequential change to the Middle East since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks against Israel, and the wars that followed: Iran’s so-called “Ring of Fire” against Israel has been badly broken.
That “Ring” is the term for Iran’s strategy to encircle Israel with heavily-armed organizations. Time and again, Iran has used the militant organizations – Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, along with several smaller groups that operate in Iraq and in Syria – as proxies to terrorize Israel. Iran has provided funding, weaponry and training to these groups, which in turn have essentially done the dirty work for Tehran.