Middle East Conflict: Links To Jerusalem, Iran's Support For Gaza, Its Allies Hezbollah, Houthis - Explained

Tensions in the Middle East region are closest to break into a broader war than ever at present with Iran launching missiles at Israel on Tuesday, October 1, amid the ongoing deadly conflict between the Israel and Lebanese militant outfit Hezbollah, which Tehran supports.

Israel's military said it identified dozens of missiles launched from Iran shortly after 7:30 pm on Tuesday, triggering sirens across the country, and sending Israelis in protected areas.

Israel, which hosts the largest population of Jews in the world, is a country surrounded by other countries that are not very friendly to it and also by territories like Jerusalem and West Bank, which it has occupied and displaced scores of people from - primarily Palestinian Arabs.

Explained | Key Players, Issues

Iran-Israel Tensions: Iran and Israel have mostly refrained from directly attacking each other, making the Iranian missile salvo of Tuesday at Israeli territories a massive escalation in the Middle East conflict that stems mainly from the war on Gaza. Iran said the missiles were in response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guard General Abbas Nilforushan, both killed in an Israeli airstrike last week in Lebanon's Beirut. Iran also mentioned Ismail Haniyeh, a top leader of the Hamas who was assassinated in Tehran in a suspected Israeli attack in July. Iran warned this attack represented only a "first wave", without elaborating.

Israel's Lebanon Op: Israeli strikes have killed over 1,000 people in Lebanon over the past two weeks, nearly a quarter of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. The strikes at Lebanon began after Hezbollah fired missiles towards Israel in retaliation to the wave of explosions in handheld pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to outfit's members that took place on September 17 and 18 in Parts of Lebanon, killing 37 people and injuring thousands.

ALSO READ | Israel-Hezbollah Tensions: Deadly Strikes On, Full-On War Closer Than Ever & 'Nowhere To Go' For People

What Is Hezbollah: Hezbollah, Lebanon's most powerful armed force, is a close ally and a proxy of Iran, which supports Palestinian groups like Hamas. Iran had threatened to retaliate for the killing of a senior Palestinian militant group Hamas's leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in an explosion in Iran's Tehran in July that was widely blamed on Israel, which has not said whether it was involved. Later Israeli military claimed responsibility for a targeted strike that killed one of Hezbollah's founding members Fouad Shukur in July itself. Iran's proxies, Houthis in Yemen as well as Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed groups, are also called the “axis of resistance.”

Israel-Hezbollah Clashes: Israel and Hezbollah have carried out repeated strikes against each other since the war on Gaza began on October 7 following Palestinian militant group Hamas attack on Israeli territories. They came close to an all-out war following the wave of explosions in Lebanon that hit pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members earlier in September, killing at least 37 people, including two children, and leaving about 3,000 injured.

ALSO READ: Hezbollah Chief's 'Bury Phones' Plea Was Israel's Opportunity | Pager Plan Decoded

Gaza Conflict: The conflict in the Middle East primarily stems from Israel's war on Gaza, a narrow strip of land sandwiched between Israel and the Mediterranean Sea and has a short southern border with Egypt. The Hamas, after winning the 2006 Palestinian elections, has been ruling in Gaza strip. Hamas is an Islamist outfit, designated as a terrorist group by the UK and many other countries.

Palestine: The State of Palestine is a partially recognised entity in the Middle East that claims the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip as its territories. However, much of this land is occupied by Israel. Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip due to years of displacement and conflict. After the establishment of Israel in 1948, many Palestinians were forced to leave their homes, and subsequent wars, such as the 1967 Six-Day War led to Israel occupying the Gaza Strip. Although Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, it remains under a blockade, and Palestinians continue to live there, facing severe restrictions and ongoing conflict.

ALSO READ | Israeli Minister's Visit To Al-Aqsa Mosque With Thousands Of Jews Condemned

Jerusalem: While the current conflict is known for having stemmed from the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, its root lies in Jerusalem, a city sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as it contains some of the holiest sites in the world for each religion. The Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem is important to Muslims as it is considered Islam's third holiest site, after Mecca and Medina. Jews believe the compound was once home to the Biblical Jewish temples, while Christians believe that Jesus taught many of his lessons on the Temple Mount. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is administered by Jordan, but access to the site itself is controlled by Israeli security forces, which have been accused of blocking Palestenians from praying there. 

What Happened on October 7: Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that has been designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the United States, infiltrated from the Gaza Strip into bordering areas in Israel under what the outfit later termed was ‘Operation Al Aqsa Flood’. Many purported videos on the internet showed Hamas entering Israel in vehicles like pickup trucks, boats, and even with motorised paragliders to breach the security barrier and attack Israeli towns, residents, and military posts. This escalated into a full-blown war between the two sides after Israel’s Netanyahu vowed to exact a price for the October 7 massacre.

ALSO READ | David's Sling, Iron Dome And More: Israel's Defence System Explained

How Al Aqsa Was Linked To Oct 7 Attack: While there have been smaller conflicts between Hamas and Israelis, there were no major engagements between the two sides since the 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis. Some reports cited anonymous sources close to Hamas, claiming that the outfit reduced military activity in a bid to deceive Israel into believing Hamas was not a threat. Mohammed Deif, commander of the attack, named the operation "Al-Aqsa Flood" in reference to the 2022 Al-Aqsa clashes, in which Israeli police raided the mosque at the disputed Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem following clashes between Palestinians and police.

Iran's Support For Gaza, Its Allies: Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the two militant movements in Gaza are supported by Iran, which has created allies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and of Shiite militias in Iraq. Iran sponsored existing groups with overlapping goals, such as PIJ and Hamas in the Palestinian territories and the Houthis in Yemen also are fighting Israel. Houthis are armed by Iran and seized a decade ago most of Yemen's north and its capital, Sanaa, pushing the country's internationally recognised government into exile. Since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in the Gaza Strip a year ago, the Houthis have targeted shipping throughout the key Red Sea corridor - as part of a campaign they say aims at pressuring Israel and the West over the war. The Houthis initially targeted vessels claimed to be linked to Israel, but later included all commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden using small boats, short-range missiles and drones.