What are routes out of this 'dangerous moment' in Middle East? - BBC News

BBC's Paul Adams asks whether US strikes on Iraq and Syria made a regional conflagration more likely.

3 FebruaryShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsIsrael-Gaza warBy Paul AdamsBBC NewsAs expected, Friday night's US strikes were carefully calibrated, going further than the US has gone in Iraq and Syria in recent months - but stopping short of directly attacking Iran, the power Washington says is behind much of the Middle East's recent instability.

Is a wider conflagration in the region now more likely - or are there other ways out of what the US has described as this "dangerous moment"?

And is a ceasefire in Gaza one of those ways?

First of all, let's look at what the Americans have actually done.

The attacks were widespread - 85 targets at seven sites across Iraq and Syria - and designed to degrade the capabilities of pro-Iranian militias and their Iranian backers, the Quds Force (the expeditionary wing of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68167920?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

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