Orientul Mijlociu

On Saturday, 7 October 2023, the Palestinian militant movement Hamas, launched a sudden attack on Israel, which has so far resulted in the deaths of more than 1,400 Israelis, with approximately 3,000 people wounded, and the capture of around 240 soldiers and civilians. On the first day of the attack, Israel declared a state of war, called upon reserve forces to prepare for a ground intervention and initiated an extensive campaign of aerial bombardment in the Gaza Strip, resulting in over 10,000 casualties.

The Defense Department currently has four lines of effort in the Middle East, said Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, who briefed the media Monday.

As many as 700,000 Israeli settlers are living illegally in the occupied West Bank as settler violence surges.

Since Israel unleashed its brutal bombing campaign in Gaza on October 7 in the wake of a deadly Hamas attack, settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem have more than doubled from an average of three to eight incidents a day, according to the United Nations.

On November 3, 2023, Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah delivered a speech
entitled “Martyrs who died on the way to Jerusalem.” it was Nasrallah’s first public
appearance since the outbreak of Operation Iron Swords. The speech, which raised high
expectations in the Arab world, claimed the war in Gaza was completely Palestinian. He
threatened the United States and Israel and emphasized that “all options are open.

A war monitor said at least 34 Syrian soldiers and pro-government fighters were killed in an Islamic State attack in the central desert in one of the deadliest assaults by the group this year.

At least 34 Syrian soldiers and pro-government fighters were killed and several others injured in one of the deadliest attacks attributed to the Islamic State in Syria, a war monitor reported on Wednesday.

White House and Pentagon officials have said they will hold Iran accountable for attacks on US bases by Iranian proxies.

US troops in Iraq and Syria came under a spate of new rocket and drone attacks over the weekend, as the Pentagon sent an Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine into the region to join two aircraft carrier strike groups in a bid to deter Iran and its proxies from exploiting Israel’s war in Gaza.

Interviews with faction leaders reveal anger with Hamas over starting a unilateral conflict, but also a determination to get involved if Hezbollah greenlights such a move and Israel invades Gaza.

Iranian-backed Iraqi armed factions are unlikely to participate directly in the Israel-Hamas war as long as it is solely led by the Palestinian militant group, amid a split in the decision to target US military bases in Iraq and Syria among these same factions, commanders of Iranian-backed armed groups told Al-Monitor.

Lebanese militia Hezbollah will step up attacks on bordering Israeli areas and US military sites in the Middle East up to a “complete confrontation” if Israel continues its offensive in the Gaza Strip, Naim Qassem, the group’s deputy secretary general, said in an interview with NBC News.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Wednesday killing a “senior Hamas weapons developer” in an airstrike on the Gaza Strip.

“IDF troops are continuing to operate inside the Gaza Strip to kill terrorists and direct aircraft to strike terror infrastructure. Based on Israeli Security Agency (ISA) and IDF intelligence, an IDF fighter jet killed Mohsen Abu Zina, Hamas’ Head of Weapons and Industries in its manufacturing department,” the IDF said in a statement.

Israeli ground forces were battling Hamas fighters deep inside Gaza’s largest city, Israel said Tuesday. The push signals a major new stage in the month-old conflict, and its leaders foresee controlling the enclave’s security after the war.