The 1983 Beirut truck bombing was the deadliest attack on U.S. forces abroad since World War II.
AP Photo/Bill Foley
More than 240 US personnel died in truck bombing – remembered as the worst day in his career by Gen. Alfred M. Gray Jr., who died on March 20, 2024.
The Israeli Iron Dome air defence system launches to intercept missiles fired from Iran in central Israel on April 14, 2024, after Iran launched its first direct military attack against Israel.
(AP Photo/Tomer Neuberg)
Despite launching an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory, Iran is still trying to avoid a larger war.
Hezbollah fighters hold the group’s flag during a rally to mark Jerusalem day in Beirut, Lebanon, April 14, 2023.
(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Since the war began, Israel has exchanged tit-for-tat cross-border attacks with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. It is imperative to prioritize diplomatic solutions that end the violence.
A military spouse hugs a U.S. soldier at Joint Base Langley-Eustis ahead of deployment on March 12, 2024.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
President Reagan said sending troops to Lebanon was his ‘greatest regret.’ Other presidents left office with similar misgivings. Could leaving troops in Syria and Iraq be the next strategic mistake?
A U.N. navy vessel seen through barbed wire patrols the Mediterranean Sea off the Lebanese coast.
AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari
A maritime border agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel seemed like a step toward peaceful relations. But now both countries are getting ready for what looks like an unavoidable war.
Armed and dangerous: fighters from Iran’s Quds Force at a funeral for comrades killed in the February 2 US airstrikes in Iraq.
EPA-EFE/Ahmed Jalil
Iran funds a large network of armed groups across the Middle East as part of its ambition to replace the US as regional power.
EPA-EFE/Michael Reynolds
The Biden administration has calibrated its strikes so as not to provoke a wider armed conflict in the region.
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)
Iran prefers to engage Israel through its proxies, but the risk of escalation makes this a dangerous strategy.
A billboard depicts the leaders of the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images
Iran has expanded its network of partners across the Middle East. But it isn’t a simple case of Tehran dictating the terms of the alliance.
P.jowdy/Shutterstock
Conflict between Lebanon and Israel looms – it would throw the Lebanese economy further into crisis.
Hezbollah commander Wissam al-Tawil, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Hezbollah Military Media, via AP
Israel and Hezbollah are engaged in tit-for-tat attacks, but a diplomatic path still exists to avoid an escalation.
Divisions: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will find it hard to negotiate a peace deal with support from the extreme right of his cabinet.
EPA-EFE/Ronen Zvulun/pool
Facing opposition to a peace deal within his own cabinet, Israel’s prime minister will find it difficult to agree an international peace deal and hold on to power.
Hassan Ammar/Associated Press/Alamy Stock Photo
It appears that, for now at least, Iran is happy to allow Gaza to be the epicentre of Middle East conflict. But all that could change quickly.
Min Htet San/EPA
From Myanmar to Pakistan, these countries have long-simmering conflicts or increasingly dissatisfied publics that could worsen in the new year.
A shell that appears to be white phosphorus from Israeli artillery explodes over a house in al-Bustan, a Lebanese border village with Israel, on October 15.
Hussein Malla/AP
The use of such incendiary devices is only legal under very specific circumstances. A careful examination of the evidence is now required.
EPA-EFE/Wael Hamzeh
Israel is effectively fighting a war on two fronts.
Militant: Hamas is believed to have teamed up with five different groups to launch its attacks on October 7.
Mamoun Wazwa/Imago/Alamy Stock Photo
Israel is fighting a broad coalition of armed Palestinian militias in Gaza − and then there’s Hezbollah, just across the border in Lebanon.
Debbie Hill/UPI/Alamy Live News
Some of the best analysis from our coverage of the war in Gaza.
Peace plan: Lebanese caretaker prime minister, Najib Azmi Mikati.
EPA-EFE/Miguel Rodriguez
Lebanon has problems enough of its own without a major conflict on its border.
On 25 October, a poster in Tehran shows Muslim peoples marching with their national flags towards the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
Atta Kenare/AFP
While Iran is wary of entering into direct war with Israel, Tehran has been lending support to Yemen’s Houthis, Irak’s Shia militias as well as the Lebanese Hezbollah.