US-Israeli strikes on Iran: a reckoning with no clear ending

IN THE early hours of Saturday (Feb 28), the US and Israel launched one of the most consequential military operations that the Middle East has seen in decades.

Code-named Operation Epic Fury by the Pentagon and Operation Roaring Lion by the Israel Defense Forces, the joint strikes targeted Iran’s military infrastructure, nuclear programme and, ultimately, its head of state – killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the man who had shaped the Islamic Republic for more than three decades.

The world woke up to a different Middle East. The question now is whether it is a safer one.