A woman chants slogans as she holds an Iranian flag during an anti-Israeli gathering in Tehran on April 19, 2024. Israel reportedly retaliated against Iran on April 19 for its drone-and-missile assault on Israel a week earlier.
(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Israel’s latest missile strike on Iran may be more a face-saving exercise aimed at satisfying members of its coalition government than a true escalation of hostilities.
Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, meets his Omani counterpart, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, in Tehran on July 17, 2023.
Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
A long-running conflict between adversaries Israel and Iran fell short of open confrontation – until both countries took more direct aim at each other.
Esmail Ghaani, head of Iran’s expeditionary Quds Force, speaks at a ceremony in Tehran on April 14, 2022.
AP Photo/Vahid Salemi
Esmail Ghaani took control of the unconventional warfare wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps following the killing of predecessor Qassem Soleimani.
Many people in Yemen and throughout the Middle East believe terror groups are a tool that Western-backed oppressive regimes have long used to maintain power.
The Shia militant groups operating in Iraq, Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East share political and ideological connections, yet they also have their own nationalist goals.
In this photo released by the Iranian Presidency Office, President Ebrahim Raisi, right, greets the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, at the start of their meeting at his office in Tehran in June 2023.
(Iranian Presidency Office, via AP)
The US and UK strikes on the Houthis will have limited impact on the group’s Red Sea attacks – and could cause Middle East tensions to spiral out of control.
A U.K. military aircraft takes off to participate in a joint U.S.-U.K. mission against Houthis.
UK Ministry of Defence/Anadolu via Getty Images
In the wake of US attacks against Houthi militants in Yemen, a scholar of presidential power to use the military examines the history and present of the laws around US military action.
A billboard depicts the leaders of the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images
With geopolitical tension and uncertainty rising, New Zealand’s ruling coalition faces urgent questions about defence spending, alliances and its independent foreign policy.
This image provided by the U.S. Navy shows an aircraft launching from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea on Jan. 22, 2024. American and British forces bombed targets in eight locations used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, the second time the two allies have done so.
(Kaitlin Watt/U.S. Navy via AP)
Since the outset of Israel’s invasion of Gaza, the West has aimed to prevent the conflict from escalating regionally. But strikes on the Houthis in Yemen by the U.S. and the U.K. may ensure it will.
An Iran-aligned group has attacked ships in the Red Sea that it believes are heading to Israel, causing several companies to pause or divert shipments.
The Houthis are not mere Iranian proxies in the war. Their support for the Palestinians is also aimed at garnering domestic and international support for the group’s position in Yemen.
The Socotra Dragon Tree, Dracaena cinnabari, is one of the archipelago’s unique species.
Zaruba Ondrej/Shutterstock
Eleonora Ardemagni, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Catholic University of Milan
Long a well-kept secret, the archipelago of Socotra is one of the most biodiverse on earth. But the Emirates have other plans for its main island, with which it has long cultivated ties.
A poster of rebel leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi is held aloft during anti-Israel protests in Yemen.
Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images
After eight years of bombs, missiles, destruction and hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, it is the Yemeni people who have lost the most in this war.
Teaching Assistant ("New Conflicts") Catholic University of Milan, Senior Associate Research Fellow at ISPI, and Adjunct Professor at ASERI ("Yemen: Drivers of Conflict and Security Implications"), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Catholic University of Milan