The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has returned to the Middle East for the fourth time in three months as he warned Israel’s war against Hamas risked spreading throughout the region.
Recent intensifying violence between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, increasing attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, and strikes by Tehran-linked groups on US bases in Iraq, have created an increasingly febrile atmosphere across the Middle East.
Israel admitted on Sunday that a Hezbollah rocket barrage the previous night damaged a strategic airbase in northern Israel. Images released by Hezbollah appeared to show a fire on or beside a dome at the Mt Meron base, which is less than 10km from the border with Lebanon.
Images released by Hezbollah of the Mt Meron base. Photograph: Hezbollah
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declined to comment on the extent of the damage and said backup systems meant the country’s air defences continued to function. But the successful hit on a sensitive military facility underlines Hezbollah’s capacity.
Israel’s security officials acknowledge the group would present a far more formidable enemy than Hamas if exchanges of cross-border fire escalate into a full conflict.
Blinken addressed the threat the conflict could spread in comments on Sunday night. “This is a moment of profound tension in the region. This is a conflict that could easily metastasise, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering,” Blinken told a news conference in Doha alongside Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
The US secretary of state has already visited Jordan, Turkey and Greece on a tour that will also include stops in Israel, the West Bank, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
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The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the Biden administration had warned Israel against a significant escalation in Lebanon, while also citing a secret US Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that Israel would struggle to fight conflicts on two fronts, in Gaza and Lebanon.
The paper also reported that early in the Gaza war, Joe Biden called Netanyahu up to three times a day to dissuade Israel from launching a war on Hezbollah simultaneously, amid fears “all hell would break loose” in the region.
With border clashes continuing on Sunday morning, Lebanon reported that the IDF had shelled in the region of Khiam and Majdel Zoun.
Blinken’s tour follows a stark warning delivered in Beirut by the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, that it was “imperative” to avoid a regional escalation in the Middle East. He warned Israel that “nobody will win from a regional conflict”.
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Fears that the conflict could spread have been growing since Israel’s assassination last week of a top Hamas…
2024-01-07 17:40:27
Article from www.theguardian.com
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