The new Middle East: Emergence of the coalition to contain Iran

FOR years, Iran has challenged Israel as well as other pro-American powers in the Middle East through an axis of proxies, which included the Hamas group ruling the Gaza Strip that attacked Israel on Oct 7 last year.

In addition, Iran activated Hizbollah, the Shi’ite guerrilla group in Lebanon that has been launching missile attacks against Israel since last October, and the Houthi group in Yemen that has been attacking Western vessels in the Red Sea as well as Israeli civilian and military targets.

In a way, Iran was able to shift the balance of power in the Middle East in its favour through indirect attacks on Israel and US forces by using its proxies and contending that it wasn’t responsible for those attacks.