West Asia on the brink, West needs to step in

Israel has torpedoed whatever feeble chances there were of a ceasefire in West Asia, by killing Hamas politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh. Perceived to be the restrained and pragmatic one among the hardline Hamas leadership, Haniyeh was to represent the outfit in the talks, and conciliator Qatar is right in saying that there can’t be further progress with one of the interlocutors dead. But the repercussions go beyond the ceasefire. The threat of a wider war in West Asia is now real.

Haniyeh was killed in the Iranian capital, within hours of having attended the investiture of the country’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. This made a carefully calculated response by Iran, as was the case in April when Israel killed one of its military commanders in Syria, quite unlikely. A face-saver attack wouldn’t do, which is why Iran has ordered “direct” retaliation against Israel. At the same time, a bigger axis against Israel is evolving — apart from Iran, Turkiye has vowed revenge for the Gaza deaths. And Israel is already locked in conflict with the Yemeni Houthis and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Just hours before killing Haniyeh, Israel killed Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. Whether Israel can outmuscle this axis or not, a widening of the war will only mean more deaths, and, thereafter, more countries forced to fall in rank behind either side.

Israel’s allies — primarily the US — need to make it clear that it no longer has their support in a war that has killed over 40,000 civilians. Failure to get it to stop in Gaza, all October 7 justifications notwithstanding, has brought the region to the precipice. There can be no soft-pedalling now on telling Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has staked his political career on the war, to back off.

Unlock a world of Benefits with HT! From insightful newsletters to real-time news alerts and a personalized news feed – it’s all here, just a click away! –Login Now!