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Like 9/11, will Hamas attack mean wider Mideast conflict?

It is being called Israel’s 9/11.

That may understate the impact of the Hamas ground invasion that last weekend swept, unimpeded, across the country’s southern border with Gaza, sowing terror. But one parallel with America’s ordeal is already clear.

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What happens in Gaza might very well not stay in Gaza. Israel’s reaction to the weekend Hamas attack could prompt a broader Mideast conflagration.

The political aftershocks of the attack will reverberate far beyond the sliver of Mediterranean land where it began.

Already, Mideast heavyweights Iran and Saudi Arabia are limbering up for a new round of their strategic tug of war. Suddenly, the United States finds itself more directly engaged in the region than it has been for a decade.

How all this plays out will depend not only on Israel’s government and military commanders, but also, first and foremost, on Iran.

Tehran controls Hezbollah, a surrogate Iranian army in Lebanon, across Israel’s northern border. If Hezbollah enters the fray, the war in Gaza would threaten to become a regional conflagration. Israel would inevitably attack Lebanon. The U.S. itself might well be drawn in militarily.

That is why President Joe Biden had a terse message Tuesday for anyone thinking of joining Hamas’ fight: “Don’t.”

In the back of his mind, surely, was a cautionary tale: the ways in which America’s response to 9/11 led Washington up unpredictable paths to long, costly, painful, and ultimately unsuccessful wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It is being called Israel’s 9/11.

That may understate the impact of the Hamas ground invasion that last weekend swept, unimpeded, across the country’s southern border with Gaza, sowing terror. But one parallel with America’s ordeal is already clear.

The political aftershocks of the attack will reverberate far beyond the sliver of Mediterranean land where it began.

Why We Wrote This

A story focused on

What happens in Gaza might very well not stay in Gaza. Israel’s reaction to the weekend Hamas attack could prompt a broader Mideast conflagration.

Already, Mideast heavyweights Iran and Saudi Arabia are limbering up for a new round of their strategic tug of war. Suddenly, the United States finds itself more directly engaged in the region than it has been for a decade.

And its engagement there could affect engagement elsewhere: in Ukraine, for example, which, until last Saturday morning, was top of America’s and its allies’ foreign policy agenda.

How all this plays out will depend on how, and how quickly, the immediate response to the attack by Hamas from Gaza ends. And that will depend not only on Israel’s government and military commanders, but also, first and foremost, on Iran.

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