The war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas has led to an escalation of tensions in the Middle East.
Foreign factors, primarily Iran and its regional allies, have also intervened in the conflict.
Iran denied involvement in the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel, but expressed support for what it called a "devastating earthquake" against Israel.
In the beginning, Iran did not engage in direct conflict with Israel.
However, Israel has clashed both directly and indirectly with Iran-backed groups that describe themselves as the "Axis of Resistance".
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Among them are the Lebanese military-political organization Hezbollah, the Houthi movement in Yemen and various armed groups in Iraq.
Some of these groups have been designated as terrorist organizations by the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK) and other countries.
Hezbollah's role in the conflict
Because of the war in Gaza, the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah boiled up again, and this Lebanese organization started targeting the northern areas of Israel "as a sign of support for Hamas".
On October 8, just a few hours after the Hamas attack on Israel, Hezbollah launched an attack on the Sheba farms, a strip on the border of Lebanon and Syria occupied by Israel.
Hezbollah soon announced its support for the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas, saying it was in direct contact with the leadership of the "Palestinian resistance both inside and outside" the region.
The Israeli army quickly responded to the attack on the Sheba farms by striking a Hezbollah tent in the area, in which Lebanese citizens were wounded, the Lebanese army said.
The Houthis join the conflict
About a month after the start of the war in Gaza, Yemen's Houthis joined forces against Israel.
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said on November 14 that the Houthis would target all ships owned and operated by Israeli companies.
The Houthis later began attacking all ships in the Red Sea bound for Israel, especially near the Bab el Mandeb Strait, a strategic sea route.
These attacks had a significant impact on world trade, forcing ships to take circuitous routes thousands of kilometers longer.
In December 2023, the Houthis said they attacked two Israeli ships that ignored warnings from their naval forces.
The Houthis carried out this attack a few weeks after they captured a ship owned by an Israeli businessman.
In January of this year, the US bombed Yemen after a Houthi missile attack on a British oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden.
The Houthis claimed that US and British jets targeted Ras Isa, a major oil export terminal, in Yemen's western Hodeida province.
It was one of many airstrikes by an international coalition formed to protect ships sailing in the region.
Israel kills prominent figures of enemy forces in Lebanon
The situation further worsened due to increased Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon.
On January 2, 2024, Israel bombed the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, where mostly Shiites live, and killed Saleh al-Aruri, the deputy leader of Hamas and the organization's first man in the West Bank.
Israel said Aruri was a key link between Hamas and Hezbollah.
Just days later, Hezbollah fired about 40 rockets at Israel's air traffic control base atop Mount Merona in the north of the country, calling it a "preliminary response" to Aruri's murder.
An Israeli airstrike on January 8 in southern Lebanon killed Wissam Tawil, deputy commander of Radwan, an elite unit of Hezbollah, whom Israel accused of organizing the attack on the Mount Meronu base.
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Shiite factions in Iran are joining the conflict
At the end of January, three American soldiers were killed and 22 injured in a drone attack on a US military base in northeastern Jordan, near the border with Syria, known as "Tower 34".
Jordan stated that the strike was not on its territory, but in Syria.
US President Joseph Biden condemned the attack, claiming the involvement of Iranian-backed extremist militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq, and vowed to hold those involved accountable.
Direct involvement of Iran
Iran does not recognize Israel's right to a state, but has previously avoided direct conflict with Israel.
However, at the beginning of April, Israel attacked the Iranian consulate in Damascus, in which several officers of the Guard Corps of the Islamic Revolution, also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, were killed.
Brigadier General Muhamed Reza Zahedi was among the victims.
Later that month, Iran launched its first direct attack on Israel, using drones and cruise missiles.
Iran claimed that its target was an Israeli airbase in the Negev region in the south of the country.
The Israeli military said most of the missiles were intercepted before they reached Israeli territory.
Israel responded with a limited strike against an air defense system in Iran, although it did not officially claim responsibility for the attack.
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Escalation of conflicts and threats to the region
From late June to early July this year, tensions between Hezbollah and Israel rose sharply.
Hezbollah stepped up its attacks, and several more of its members were killed in assassinations.
On July 7, Hezbollah fired many rockets at northern Israel, one of the targets being the Israeli base on Mount Meron.
A few days later, in a rocket attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, 12 children and young people were killed while they were playing football.
Although Hezbollah denied responsibility, Israel retaliated by bombing seven Hezbollah targets in Lebanese territory.
In July, Israel carried out an airstrike on Yemen's Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Israel's largest attack to date on the Iran-backed Houthis.
Nine people died in the attack, and more than 80 people were injured.
It was carried out a day after the Houthis carried out a drone attack on Tel Aviv that killed one person and wounded eight others.
At the end of the month, several important people were killed in assassinations.
Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an airstrike on the southern outskirts of Beirut.
A few hours later, Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian Hamas, was killed during his visit to Tehran, where he attended the inauguration of the new Iranian president.
Iran blamed Israel for the assassination, which did not claim responsibility.
All of these developments have fueled speculation that long-standing tensions between Israel and Iran could escalate into an immediate, larger-scale conflict that could ignite the entire region.
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