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Israel-Lebanon Cross-Border Attacks
On Wednesday, June 5, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu communicated Israel’s preparation “for a very intense operation” against Hezbollah in Lebanon after days of intensified conflict between the two parties. This announcement was followed by Israeli strikes against Hezbollah infrastructure in the Roysat Abu Laban area and rocket launches in the Kharayeb area in southern Lebanon.
As the border violence escalated, Human Rights Watch released a report demonstrating that Israel’s use of white phosphorus in Lebanon is “putting civilians at grave risk” and contributing to the displacement of nearly 100,000 people. It cited white phosphorus as being utilized in 17 Lebanese municipalities since October.
A Middle East Policy article by Daniel Sobelman explores Hezbollah’s coercive influence over Israel as the two clash on the border with Lebanon.
Houthis Detain Aid Staff
On Thursday, June 6, Houthi rebels conducted a series of raids “target[ing] Yemeni employees working for the United Nations and other international aid organizations” and abducted more than a dozen aid workers, including 11 United Nations employees. The operation was described as a blackmail effort to achieve economic and political gains.
An article in Middle East Policy shows how the use of American drone strikes has exacerbated anti-US and anti-Western sentiment in Yemen.
Bahrain Interest in Restoring Relations with Iran
On Friday, June 7, Iranian news outlets, citing presidential adviser Mohammad Jamshidi, reported that “Bahrain has sent a message to Iran through Russia to normalise relations with Iran.” This development follows multiple public statements by Bahraini officials indicating openness to restoring ties with Iran.
The two countries severed relations eight years ago in line with tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Mohammed Torki Bani Salameh studies Bahrain’s revised national security strategy in a Middle East Policy article as the country navigates regional dynamics.
Iran Approves Presidential Candidates
On Sunday, June 9, Iran announced the six candidates, out of 80 registrants, who were approved by the Guardian Council for the June 28 presidential elections. The final list includes five conservative or ultraconservative leaders: parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, former interior minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Tehran mayor Alireza Zakani, and incumbent vice president Amirhossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi.
Reformist parliamentarian, Massoud Pezeshkian, who “has been outspoken against the government’s lack of transparency during nationwide protests which were triggered by the September 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini,” was also authorized to run.
An article in Middle East Policy by Mahmood Monshipouri and Ramtin Zamiri examines how the recent protest movement in Iran represents a growing dissatisfaction with the state’s governance.
Ongoing: The Gaza War
On Thursday, June 6, Israel conducted an airstrike on an UNRWA-operated school in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, killing 40 people, including several women and children, and injuring 74. Israel’s Defense Forces stated that a Hamas compound was located in the school and that the group’s fighters were killed in the operation.
According to a U.S. defense official, Israel had used the U.S.-made bomb “improperly” in the strike “because the bomb is intended to cause low collateral damage but caused a high number of casualties.”
On Saturday, June 8, Israel announced that four hostages, taken from the music festival on October 7, were rescued in an operation on the Nuseirat refugee camp that killed 274 Palestinians and injured 700. International parties, including the European Union, have described the attack as “a massacre,” and Hamas’s military spokesman stated that Israel had also killed captives during the raid.
Middle East Policy has published a special issue on the Gaza war, featuring interviews with key players and contributions that explore the sparks fueling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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