It is complicated to understand what has been happening in the Middle East since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th. There are already almost a dozen countries involved in regions as far away as Gaza or Pakistan, with countless names of terrorist groups (of which the Houthis are almost old acquaintances) and with cross-country attacks, regions targeted by up to three different countries were bombed and the constant threat of a regional war involving powerful nuclear powers.
A good metaphor for understanding how we got to this point is to imagine some dominoes standing upright next to each other and draw on the “domino effect” or “snowball effect” that is the essence of dominoes so well Are defined. Geopolitics. The theory has no recognized father, but is usually attributed to American President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who, in full logic of the time, attributed it to the communist world. The message was clear: If the spread in one country was not stopped, it would spiral to its neighbors.
Following this line of reasoning, Hamas, with its invasion of Israel and its attack on Jewish settlements and a music festival, is the finger driving the line of chips. resulting in more than 1,100 deaths. The terrorist attack forces the response of Israel, which begins the military operation in Gaza with two fundamental objectives: the release of the hostages held by Hamas and the destruction of all of this group's facilities. With its fall, the Israeli token also destroys that of Lebanon, which is involved in the attacks by the terrorist group Hezbollah from its soil and the corresponding Israeli response.
The fourth file is that of the West Bank, which records clashes with the military actions of the Israeli Defense Forces the last country in the region that had been spared up to this point: Syriawhich will suffer several different cross-attacks over the weeks.
The conflict extends into 2024
The year 2023 ends with five pieces of this complicated board, but that was nothing more than a point. In January, attacks by terrorists from Yemen's Houthi faction on ships entering the Red Sea and the resulting global threat forced the intervention of an international coalition of 20 countries Bombing by American and British air forces. The conflict has already spread to the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
But there are still three chips left to drop. One of them is Iraq, whose territory is under attack from Iran itself, which claims to have discovered members of the Mossad, Israel's secret service. The conflict is reaching a new dimension with the arrival of the Ayatollah regime, which, after bombing Iraq, undertakes an unexpected – and very dangerous – maneuver by bombing Sunni groups (the majority Muslim faction in rival Saudi Arabia) on Pakistani soil .
The attack further expands the conflict both geographically and strategically, forcing Pakistan to respond with a similar attack on Iranian soil, this time against facilities believed to be harboring hostile terrorist groups. This means that 10 countries are now involved.
Another would be missing: South Africa, which between the attacks filed a lawsuit accusing Israel of genocide at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.
A total of 11 countries took part in just four months. Will the domino effect end here? The Eisenhower Doctrine would certainly have advised earlier intervention.
