- The number of non-state groups, as well as the unpredictability of both Israeli military operations and Iran’s potential responses, makes it difficult to forecast when specific incidents might flare up into a broader escalation.
- US military says it shot down 12 Houthi attack drones and five missiles fired by Houthi rebels over Red Sea
- Since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, Iran-backed Houthi rebels have targeted commercial vessels
The attacks, and other developments around the region, highlight an increasingly difficult balancing act for the Biden administration, which is trying to support Israel in its battle against the militant group Hamas, which killed 1,200 Israelis on October 7 and took more than 200 hostages. Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union.
The US has deployed aircraft carrier strike groups in an effort to deter Iran-backed forces in the region from striking Israel as it pursues an increasingly deadly ground war in densely populated urban areas in Gaza.
- But US officials also have put pressure on Israel to wind down its high-intensity operations in Gaza, which have killed nearly 21,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
- Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer met Tuesday in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
- The discussions, according to a White House official, involved the war itself, efforts to release the hostages in Gaza, limiting civilian casualties and planning a future for the region.
- Separately, US President Joe Biden spoke with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, on efforts to gain the release of hostages being held in Gaza and to bolster humanitarian assistance to the territory, the White House said on Tuesday evening.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in the Knesset that Israel was in the midst of a “multi-front war”, having already been attacked from seven different arenas – Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, Iraq, Yemen and Iran.
“We have already taken action against six of these seven, and I will say now in the clearest manner possible, that anyone who takes action against us will become a potential target,” he told the foreign affairs and defense committee. “There will be no immunity for anyone.”
(Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Reuters)
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