Status: 16.01.2024, 04:15 a.m.
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For more than 100 days, the Israeli military has been fighting the Islamist Hamas in Gaza. Could the war spread to the entire region? © Omar Ishaq/dpa
Israel's military has been fighting Hamas for more than 100 days. Could the war spread to the entire region? The Houthis, Hezbollah and Iran have conspired against Israel. The overview.
Tel Aviv/Gaza/Tehran - Following rocket attacks by Iran's Revolutionary Guards on targets in Iraq and Syria, international concern is growing about an extension of the Gaza war to the entire region. In view of repeated confrontations between the Israeli army and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah on the border between Lebanon and Israel, UN Secretary-General António Guterres had previously warned of a conflagration.
The attacks by the Houthi rebels from Yemen on shipping in the Red Sea also have the potential to draw more and more parties into the conflict. The Houthis, like the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah, belong to the so-called "Axis of Resistance", a network in the fight against Israel.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards are shelling targets in Iraq and Syria
Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said they fired several ballistic missiles at targets in Iraq and Syria. The attacks are revenge for, among other things, the devastating attack in the southern Iranian city of Kerman at the beginning of January and the killing of a high-ranking IRGC officer at the end of December, the IRGC web portal said in the night (local time).
The target of the attack in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil was a spy center of the Israeli secret service Mossad. According to eyewitnesses, several rockets landed near a new US consulate under construction. According to security sources, four civilians were killed. The U.S. government condemned the Iranian missile attack on Erbil. According to Iran, the attack in Syria was aimed at the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS).
According to the state news agency Irna, the shelling was the country's most far-reaching missile operation to date, with a distance of more than 1200,<> kilometers. This should also be a clear signal to the arch-enemy Israel. It would be about the same distance that rockets would need from the west of the country to reach Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
UN Secretary-General worried about escalation of Gaza war
With regard to the situation on the border between Israel and Lebanon, UN chief Guterres had already expressed great concern about an extension of the Gaza war to the wider region. "I am deeply concerned by what is unfolding," Guterres said. "It is my duty to convey this simple and direct message to all sides: stop playing with fire at the blue line, de-escalate and bring the violence to an end."
The blue line marks the border between Israel and Lebanon. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, there have been repeated confrontations between the Israeli army and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. It is allied with Hamas, but is considered much more powerful. In addition to an immediate ceasefire, Guterres reiterated his call for the release of all hostages and an investigation into the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas and others in the October 7 massacre.
Israel's Defense Minister: Intense Fighting in North Gaza Ended
According to the Ministry of Defense, the intensive fighting by Israeli forces against the Islamist Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip has ended. In the south of the cordoned-off coastal strip in the area of the city of Khan Yunis, the intensive phase of the ground offensive will soon be over, the newspaper "The Times of Israel" quoted Defense Minister Joav Galant as saying. "At the end of the war, there will be no military threat from the Gaza Strip. Hamas will not be able to control the Gaza Strip and act as a military force," he said. In order to secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages, military pressure must be maintained.
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Hamas Releases Hostage Video - Concern for the Lives of the Abductees
Hamas again released gruesome video footage of Israeli hostages. The video included a young woman talking about the alleged deaths of two male abductees in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said afterwards that they were very concerned for the lives of the two male hostages. He rejected Hamas' claim that they had been killed by the Israeli side. At the end of the Hamas video, a bloody male corpse can be seen.
More than three months after the October 7 massacre, in which terrorists from Hamas and other Palestinian organizations killed more than 1200,240 people in often bestial ways and abducted more than 136 others to the Gaza Strip, <> people are still being held in the coastal strip. Israel estimates that about two dozen of them are no longer alive.
Houthis attack freighters in the Red Sea again, according to US statements
The Yemeni Houthis again attacked a container ship in the Red Sea, according to US sources. The U.S. military's regional command said the rebels fired an anti-ship ballistic missile at the M/V Gibraltar Eagle. It was shot down from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen. According to the information, the ship was a US freighter sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands. There were no injuries or damage.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak justified the airstrikes against the Houthi rebels and threatened new actions if ships in the Red Sea continued to be attacked. "The threat to shipping must stop," Sunak told parliament in London. "Illegally detained ships and crews must be released. And we remain prepared to walk the talk."
What is becoming important today
Following Iran's missile attacks in Syria and Iraq, tensions in the region are likely to rise further. While the fighting in the Gaza Strip continues relentlessly, the humanitarian situation for the Palestinian civilian population remains catastrophic. Dpa