One year after the Hamas massacre on October 7th, the war has expanded into a regional conflict, involving Lebanon and later Iran. In Gaza, the death toll has reached nearly 42,000. Most of Hamas’ leadership – except for Yahya Sinwar – has been killed, as well as Hasan Nasrallah and much of Hezbollah’s leadership. Meanwhile, 97 Israeli hostages remain in Hamas’ hands, and violence in the West Bank has become increasingly frequent, with many analysts warning of a potential “Gaza-fication” of the area. Reset DOC reached Prof. Olivier Roy, Professor of Political Science at the European University Institute (Florence).
Analyses
Middle East
- Riccardo Cristiano 2 October 2024According to the BBC, the missile attack on Hezbollah’s general command bunker is said to have caused 492 casualties, in addition to the wounded. The Israeli army has announced the killing, among others, of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and nearly the entire senior leadership of the party. The number of Lebanese casualties, especially in southern Lebanon and the Shiite neighborhoods of Beirut, remains unknown, as no one can yet account for those trapped beneath the rubble. Israeli forces have gained control of strategic positions near the border, while hand-to-hand combat between Hezbollah militants and Israeli soldiers has already claimed eight Israeli lives. Despite these developments, few believe Hezbollah will disappear
- Claudia De Martino 6 September 2024The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) claim to have eliminated 17,000 of the original 27,000 Hamas militants, including three of the group’s top four commanders – Ismail Haniyeh, Mohammed Deif, Salal al-Aruri – leaving only Yahya Sinwar, for the current leader, still at large. However, the Israeli government’s ultimate objectives remain unclear.
- Renzo Guolo 29 August 2024One piece is still missing in the tragic Middle East conflict. After the August 25 clash between Israel and Hezbollah – of which both sides have only provided partial accounts tailored to their internal and external propaganda – an anticipated Iranian retaliation remains pending, announced but postponed to a “timely moment.”
- Ilaria Romano 7 August 2024Since the end of the war of liberation against ISIS in 2017, Iraq has experienced a situation of relative stability, meaning the absence of open conflict, regularly undermined by internal and regional crises. Involved in the tensions between Iran and Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza, due to the ties of Iraqi Shiite militias with Tehran, the country has also worsened its relations with the United States, which still maintains military outposts on its territory
- Marina Forti 31 July 2024A reformist has become the new president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a scenario unthinkable just two months ago. This unexpected outcome follows the political crisis triggered by the sudden death of former President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19, 2024.
- Vanessa Breidy 31 July 2024Twenty-four hours after Israel’s declaration of war following October 7, 2023, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah announced a “war of support for Gaza” from South Lebanon. This declaration was made solely by the political armed party Hezbollah, not the Lebanese government, thus constituting a clear violation of Lebanese state sovereignty and the rule of law. This breach has elicited varied reactions from Lebanese parties, with some Christian parties declaring the inevitability of political system reform and emphasizing the necessity of opening up the debate as soon as the war ends.
- Renzo Guolo 3 July 2024In the Iranian presidential elections, the moderate reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and the hard-line conservative Saeed Jalili are heading to a runoff. This is the result of the first round of elections held to designate Ebrahim Raisi’s successor, who died in a plane crash in May. The elections require a candidate to secure 50 percent of the votes to be elected in the first round.
- Renzo Guolo 24 May 2024The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, almost certainly the designated heir of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has exposed the contradictions at the heart of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Said contradictions lie both in the country’s institutional denomination – a true political oxymoron – and in its constitutional architecture, formed in 1979 when the revolution was still developing, and not yet wholly wedded to its Islamist matrix.
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