Israel-Palestine Conflict Explodes During Holy Time for Three Faiths
For the past few years, Hamas and other anti-Israel forces have made a show of launching rockets into Israel around Passover. This time, the rocket launches come on the heels of increased violence in and around the Holy sites in Jerusalem, and Israeli police raids in the West Bank.
In early April, 2023, Hamas and allied forces (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) launched rockets into Israel and Israeli-controlled territory from Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. Israel, as usual, responded in kind, launching retaliatory strikes into all three locations. Israel made a point of holding the Assad regime in Syria accountable for any attacks from Syrian territory. If you will recall, Syria is a client state of both Iran and Russia.
In addition, Iran seems to be preparing to retaliate against Israel for the recent killing of Iranian agents in Syria. The word is that Iran may hit Israeli-owned civilian shipping in and near the Persian Gulf. Because of this threat, the U.S. is sending attack submarines to the area in case of trouble.
Add to this new spate of violence, American troops in eastern Syria (yes, they are still there), undergo frequent rocket attacks from Iran-allied Shiite militia groups. American retaliation against those Iranian proxies is not stopping these attacks. Not all violence in the Middle East over the past decade has involved Israel; Iran and Saudi Arabia have waged a bloody proxy conflict in Yemen, which may be coming to an end. Recently, Chinese diplomacy brokered a deal between the leading Sunni and Shiite powers. Talks are now underway, brokered by Oman, between the two sides in the Yemen War.
Map of Yemen
Add to this, a lot of domestic political turmoil in Israel that may tempt the Netanyahu administration to show toughness against Israel’s enemies.
The Middle East has been in a crisis situation for years, but the violence of the past week or so seems more heightened and concerning. Coming at a time of the year when very important religious observances by the three main faiths of Middle Eastern origin, Muslim (Ramadan), Jewish (Passover), and Christian (Easter), intersect, is an odd coincidence that can only heighten the military and political turmoil.
For further reading on the recent Israeli-Palestinian fighting:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/08/world/middleeast/us-submarine-middle-east-iran.html
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/08/middleeast/jordan-warns-israel-al-aqsa-mosque-intl-hnk/index.html
