January 8, 2024
Could the Israel-Gaza war spark a wider conflict involving the US, Iran or others?
By Rajan Menon and Daniel DePetris
Soon after Hamas’s 7 October attack and Israel’s retaliatory bombing campaign in Gaza, pundits began debating the odds of escalation. For its part, the Biden administration has tried to prevent the fighting between Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from spreading to other areas of the Middle East, if only to spare the roughly 45,000 US troops based there from another ill-fated war.
“Escalation” lacks a singular meaning. For some, it connotes a vast increase in death and destruction after at least one warring party starts using weapons that are far more powerful than it had employed previously. For others, escalation refers to wars that spread because additional countries or armed groups decide to join the fighting.
Israel’s war in Gaza has already escalated in both these respects, albeit only to a limited extent.
Authors
Rajan
Menon
Non-Resident Senior Fellow
Daniel
DePetris
Fellow
More on Middle East
October 29, 2024
By Rajan Menon
October 28, 2024