THE NEW YORK TIMES: U.S. forces and militias backed by Iran have launched tit-for-tat attacks, fueling concerns as Israeli forces also clash with Iranian-backed groups.
Neither Washington nor Tehran wants the conflict in the Gaza Strip to trigger a wider war in the region, officials in both capitals say.
But in the seven weeks since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Iranian-backed militias have launched more than 70 rocket and drone attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon, for its part, has responded with four rounds of airstrikes, killing as many as 15 people, U.S. officials say.
National security officials fear a miscalculation amid tit-for-tat attacks, combined with each side’s belief that the other does not want a larger fight, could trigger exactly that: a regional conflict, just two years after the United States ended 20 years of war in the Middle East and South Asia. » | Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt and Julian E. Barnes | Reporting from Washington | Wednesday, November 29, 2023
