Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present)

The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and Israel, fought as part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflicts. The war began on 7 October 2023, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas led a surprise attack on Israel, in which 1,195 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed and 251 were taken hostage. Since the start of the Israeli offensive that followed, over 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed. Several studies in The Lancet indicate this figure is likely a significant undercount. A wide consensus of scholarship has concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The Israeli government and its supporters, including the United States, reject that conclusion.

On 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran targeting military and government sites and assassinating several Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The surprise attacks were launched during negotiations between Iran and the US regarding Iran's nuclear program. Iran responded with missile and drone strikes against Israel, US bases, and US-allied Arab countries in the Middle East, and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global trade.

The Twelve-Day War was an armed conflict between Iran and Israel which lasted from 13 to 24 June 2025. It began when Israel bombed military and nuclear facilities in Iran in a surprise attack, assassinating prominent military leaders, nuclear scientists, and politicians, killing civilians, and damaging or destroying air defenses. Iran retaliated with over 550 ballistic missiles and over 1,000 suicide drones, hitting civilian population centers, one hospital and at least twelve military, energy, and government sites. The United States intercepted Iranian attacks and bombed three Iranian nuclear sites on 22 June. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at a US base in Qatar. On 24 June, Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire under US pressure.

The 2025–2026 Iranian protests are a series of nationwide demonstrations against the government of Iran that began on 28 December 2025 amid a deepening economic crisis. The unrest followed a sharp depreciation of the Iranian rial, rising inflation, and widespread shortages linked to international sanctions and government mismanagement. This event has been the largest uprising in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, spreading to more than 200 cities across the country. The ensuing crackdown, reportedly carried out under orders by Ali Khamenei and senior officials to use live fire on protesters, resulted in massacres that left thousands of protesters dead, making them the largest massacres in modern Iranian history.

explosive device attacks in Lebanon and Syria

2024 Assassination of Hamas leader

2023 Houthi attacks on Red Sea

Iranian retaliatory strikes against Israel on 1 October 2024

2024 downfall of the Syrian government

multinational operation against Houthi for engagements with certain commercial ships

conflict between Hezbollah and Israel since 2023 till 2024

military invasion by Israel into Syria following the fall of the Assad regime

US–UK led airstrikes on Houthi-controlled Yemen in January 2024

Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon on 27 Sept. 2024

2024 Israeli attack in Syria

military conflict between Iran and Israel

mutual airstrikes and an Israeli ground offensive against pro-Iranian militias in Lebanon (23 September 2024 – ongoing)

The Middle Eastern crisis is an ongoing series of interrelated wars, conflicts, and heightened instability in the Middle East as a result of the Gaza war and genocide. It has primarily consisted of conflicts between Israel and Iran-backed militias that form the "Axis of Resistance", including Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen; Iran itself has also been involved. Allies of Israel, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, have also intervened militarily in various theaters. The crisis has involved nearly all Middle Eastern countries, significantly affecting the region as a whole.

2024 event in the Israel–Hamas war

March 2025 United States national security controversy

Israeli attacks against Iran

security and defense agreement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia

Israeli bombing in Al Hudaydah, Yemen, on 20 July 2024

15 January 2024 missile strikes in Iraq and Syria

largest military buildup in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq

ongoing military conflict in Middle East

United States air and naval strikes in Yemen

2024 assassination of the deputy leader of Hamas

rocket strike on a soccer pitch full of young people in Majdal Shams, Golan Heights

period of heightened tensions between Iran and the United States

Israeli airstrikes targeting top Houthi leaders in Sanaa

28 January 2024 attack on a US military outpost in Jordan

Israeli military operation against Houthi militants in 2025

protests outside of Iran against the Iranian regime

2024 attack in Lebanon

2024 Israeli airstrikes and raid in Syria

Muhaibib (), also spelled Mhaibib, is a municipality in the Marjayoun District in southern Lebanon.

2026 United States military action

attacks

Israeli military operation

2025 Israel/Gaza ceasfire line implemented by Israel

vehicles carrier built in 2002

series of airstrikes against various targets

Drone attack targeting Israeli Prime Minister's Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in the Israeli resort town of Caesarea.

2025 ceasefire between the United States and the Houthis

2024 Israeli drone attack in Dahieh, Beirut

2024 attack on Nabatieh, Lebanon

political crisis in Iran

Israeli attacks in Syria

Israeli killing of civilians

naval battle of Operation Prosperity Guardian

political and armed activity by Kurds in Iran

U.S. airstrike on a Yemeni oil terminal

displacement

January 2025