For all the wars and terrorism it has witnessed since 1948, the Middle East has not suffered a full-scale regional war directly involving outside powers such as the United States. Such a war now seems possible, as Iran is expected to retaliate after Israel orchestrated the assassination of a Hamas leader who was in Tehran to attend the new Iranian president’s inauguration. Israeli airstrikes also killed a military commander of Hezbollah in the militant group’s stronghold of Beirut.
The U.S. and U.K. are advising their citizens to leave Lebanon, and the Pentagon has dispatched a carrier strike group to the region. In the meantime, Israel’s war in Gaza grinds on with devastating consequences for Palestinian civilians. An Israeli airstrike on a Gaza shelter killed at least 30 people on Sunday, according to a Hamas-controlled Palestinian emergency agency. Israel said the school-turned-shelter was a Hamas “command and control center.”
In this episode of History As It Happens, Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft says the frightening escalation of hostilities involving cross-border assassinations is not in U.S. interests, as the American people are adamantly opposed to becoming involved in another war in the Middle East. Ms. Sheline resigned from her post in the State Department to protest the Biden administration’s support of Israel in Gaza.
“Americans are so tired of these wars in the Middle East and they have no stomach for a war with Iran. And yet that is exactly what [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is trying to bring about,” said Ms. Sheline, who said the administration must exert its considerable leverage to convince the Israeli government to cease provocative actions against Hezbollah and the militant rulers in Tehran.
History As It Happens is available at washingtontimes.com or wherever you find your podcasts.
