How Is the Gaza War Affecting the Middle East?

The Middle East has faced growing instability, violence, and the risk of a wider war ever since October 7.    Most attention is understandably focused on Israel, where 1,200 people were killed in a single day, and Gaza, where the death toll is steadily climbing past 11,000, the majority children and women.    But the wider region is experiencing a level of violence that is cause for alarm: near-daily clashes between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel; steady attacks on the U.S. military in Iraq and Syria; and increasingly bold military initiatives by Yemen’s Houthi rebel forces.   How has the Gaza war changed the wider Middle East? What new dynamics are shaping conflicts and diplomacy among the regional powers and in the region’s many simmering conflicts? How will America’s bear hug of Israel affect other American interests in the Middle East?   Century International fellows Aron Lund, Sam Heller, and Thanassis Cambanis are joined by Michael Wahid Hanna from International Crisis Group to step back from the day-to-day developments of the Gaza war and assess the changing regional context.   Read:  Commentary: “It’s Time for a Ceasefire in Gaza—and Then a New Push for Peace,” by Thanassis Cambanis, Dahlia Scheindlin, and Sam Heller Commentary: “America Needs to Prevent a Regional War in the Middle East,” by Sam Heller and Thanassis Cambanis Participants: Sam Heller, fellow, Century International Aron Lund, fellow, Century International Michael Wahid Hanna, director, U.S. program, International Crisis Group Thanassis Cambanis, director, Century International