This week on
More than 100 days of fighting following the October 7 hamas terror attacks in Israel.
A humanitarian catastrophe for civilians living in Palestinian Territories.
The violence spills into the region and abroad as proxies join the fight.
Plus, allegations of war crimes and demands for a cease fire.
Now... on ... Expanding Tensions.
Hi I’m VOA’s Jessica Jerreat. This week on The Inside Story, we look at the escalating tensions in the Middle East, as the Israel-Hamas war creates a humanitarian catastrophe and the UN calls for an immediate ceasefire. The far-reaching consequences of this conflict show no sign of easing, with a case against Israel at the Hague and strikes against Iran-backed Houthis as they attack key trade routes.
Up first we take a look at those Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the escalating counterstrikes by the U.S. and its allies. The US is re-designating the Houthis a terrorist organization. Here’s Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb on Iran's efforts to destabilize the Red Sea and beyond.
The U.S. on Wednesday called Houthi militants a terror group, after about 30 attacks on international shipping lanes since mid-November.
If the Houthis cease attacks, we can reconsider the decision.
If not, the United States and Britain could launch more attacks against Houthi radar sites, launch sites and drone and missile facilities inside Yemen.
The Houthis need to ask themselves how much of their capability do they want degraded and disrupted in light of these illegal reckless and dangerous attacks.
It is exceptionally long overdue. And it's still not even a complete restoration.
Critics of the administration, like FDD’s Behnam Ben Taleblu, say more needs to be done against the Houthis, who serve as proxies for their military supplier, Iran.
This is a neo-colonial project the Islamic Republic is engaging in to establish proxies and poke holes across the Arab heartland of the Middle East, to be able to have them fight the ideal ideological adversary of the Islamic Republic, which is the Jewish state in the Middle East.
Iran supplies illicit weapons to violent proxies across the Middle East: in Gaza, Lebanon Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
This month, U.S. forces boarded this small boat off the coast of Somalia and confiscated several advanced conventional weapons bound for Yemen and made by Iran.
Iran denies supplying the Houthis with missiles, despite repeated evidence to the contrary.
Iran has this proxy strategy which aims to put distance between it and threats, and to create deniability. But with this newfound missile power, the regime is actually quite content in showcasing this itself.
Tehran carried out deadly missile strikes inside Iraq and Pakistan this week, angering its neighbors. Islamabad recalled its Iranian ambassador, as Iraqis in the northern Kurdish region launched massive protests.
Carla Babb, Voa News, The Pentagon.
January 14 marked 100 days since the terror attack in southern Israel, in which Hamas killed 1,200 people and seized 240 hostages.
The Israeli military response has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, with Gaza health authorities putting the figure at over twenty-four thousand.
The scale of casualties prompted rallies worldwide, including here in Washington where pro-Palestinian supporters called for a ceasefire. Veronica Balderas Iglesias examines the effect of the conflict on civilians.
It has been 100 days since Hamas fighters launched a terrorist incursion into Israel, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping about 240 others.
At least 105 of them have been released since the October 7 incursion, but many are still being held captive and missed by their loved ones.
(Im)prisoned without food, without light, without water, without any human conditions.
Israel's air and ground military operations in Gaza, which aim to destroy the militant group, have killed an estimated 24,000 Palestinians, a large percentage of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
More than 85% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have been displaced.Among them, Heba Bakr, who is six months pregnant.
I will have a child. I am worried about my due date; where am I going to give birth? How they will treat me when I give birth.
From the Vatican, Pope Francis renewed his calls for peace.
War itself is a crime against humanity. People need peace; the world needs peace.
Demonstrations in Rome,London and Washington over the weekend, also demanded an end to the war, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not bowing to public pressure.