Israel-Iran Shadow War: New York Times

Conflicts in the Middle East tend to attract interventions and proxy wars with regional players trying to reduce the influence of rivals. A team of writers for the New York Times reports that a shadow war between Israel and Iran is escalating with Israel pushing back at Iran's expansion in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria. “Israel accuses Iran of trying to establish an overland arms-supply line through Iraq and northern Syria to Lebanon,” the article reports. Strikes by Israel in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq are described with the goal “to prevent Iran from equipping its Arab allies with precision-guided missiles, drones and other sophisticated weapons that could challenge Israel’s defenses.” For now the engagement has limits, and leaders claim they do not want to escalate into all-out war. Still, the writers point out that the series of attacks, weapons transfers, low-cost technologies like drones combined with harsh rhetoric could spin out of control at any time. Israel will have national elections September 17. Hostility between Israel and Iran has a long history that is expected to continue. – YaleGlobal