The conflicts of the all world powers countries are known as world war. Powerful countries strive to exert control over their counterparts. World War I and World War II were major international conflicts in the 20th century. Gavrilo Princip, a South Slavic nationalist, successfully carried out the murder of the Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, which marked the beginning of World War I. The invasion of Poland by the Nazis in 1939 was the spark that ignited the war, which lasted for six bloody years until the Allies were able to defeat the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Japan, and Italy in 1945. Investigate the war’s impact on geopolitics and humanity, as well as the battles, leaders, and atrocities that occurred during the conflict.
Hamas and Israel
Most people have heard about the invasion of Israel by Hamas, but not many know how the war between these two groups could lead to a greater World War III at 6:30 a.m. on October 7th, 2023. Hamas militants paraglided into Israel and invaded a music festival, leaving hundreds dead and hundreds more taken as hostages and brought back into the Gaza Strip. What began as an initial invasion by Hamas has now turned into a global phenomenon, and there is talk of a potential World War III. Where countries are already taking action, the United States has sent naval ships to patrol in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, where these ships have already shot down rockets from the Houthi in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon, two extremely dangerous terrorist groups.
Role of Russia
Russia has blamed the United States for this war, accusing it of trying to profit from the conflict and ignoring the Palestinians’ request for the creation of a new independent Palestinian state. China has tried to remain relatively neutral, but it also has a strong dependence on the Arab countries nearby, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, for the majority of its oil. India has undergone a transformation, transitioning from an exclusive pro-Palestinian country to a more empathetic one towards Israel. When we shift our focus to the Middle East, we find that most of these countries, once united under the Ottoman Empire, essentially align with Palestine, making this war extremely decisive. Most of the world’s largest nations have some form of political or economic ties to the Middle East, seemingly forming two distinct sides. However, with all this chaos emerging between the world’s superpowers, what could potentially ignite the next global war in the near future?
The Basic Right of Life Snatched By Israel
After Hamas and Gaza made this initial invasion into Israel, air strikes began ramping up on both sides. Hamas has made their way into many Israeli towns on foot, while Israel has mostly relied on their high-tech air strikes. The fighting has decimated Gaza so far, and it hasn’t even been a full month yet. The price of water and food in Gaza has become only affordable for the rich; the entire strip has lost power, making communication extremely difficult; and the last remaining hospitals are on the verge of collapse. Israel has cut off any travel in or out of Gaza. Israel has instructed Palestinians to flee to the southern side of the strip, as air strikes won’t target this area. They also prohibited the entry of humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza for two weeks following the initial attack on October 21st, leaving the Palestinians without the essential supplies they need to survive.
Role of USA and Hezbollah
The US has been urging Israel to allow humanitarian aid trucks to enter Gaza each day through the Rafa border crossing. Israel is concerned that these resources are going straight to Hamas and aiding them in their fight against Israel rather than going towards the Palestinians. Who actually needs the support? Palestine has certainly been taking the greater toll from this war, given that it is a far poorer and less technologically advanced country. Both sides have clearly committed atrocities, with the fighting primarily occurring in Gaza and southern Israel. How exactly could this lead to a bigger world war? Well, the fighting has actually been more widespread than just Gaza and Israel, encompassing some of the world’s largest countries. On October 9th, just 2 days after the initial invasion, a terrorist group that operates in many Arab countries known as Hezbollah fired missiles from Lebanon into Northern Israel. Hezbollah has strong ties with Hamas and Gaza and has actively been trying to help Hamas win this war.
The Blame on the Iran
Hezbollah claims they have 150,000 rockets pointed at Israel. Scattered mainly amongst Lebanon Syria and Iran Already, 19,000 people have fled southern Lebanon out of fear that this area will become more violent as Israel intensifies its counter-strikes against Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Iran, over the years, has been funding Hezbollah, building the group up with training funding and weapons. The Iranian government sees Israel as an illegitimate country and has been using Hezbollah to indirectly attack Israel. Hezbollah is known to have 20,000 active fighters, making the militant group very capable of bringing even more chaos to the Middle East.
The Golan Heights captured by Israel
The Golan Heights turned over from Syria to Israel during the closing stages of the Six-Day War in 1967. During the war, Syrian inhabitants fled the area, establishing a new borderline under Israeli military control. Israel believes that the Golan Heights are an extremely valuable stretch of land because they separate the chaos and folding of the civil war in Syria from the safer Israeli towns. On the other side, Hezbollah and the other Arab countries have never formally recognized this as Israel Land, and the Golden Heights could very soon become a new battleground between Hezbollah and the Israeli military. Hezbollah isn’t just going after the Israeli military; he has another target in mind. The United States, with numerous military bases scattered throughout the Middle East, has been expanding its presence in the region to hopefully facilitate more peace in this hostile region ever since these initial Hamas attacks.
The Role of the USA Military
The US has launched an invasion in an attempt to counter Iran’s financial support for Hamas and Hezbollah. These US military bases have been undergoing missile strikes from Iran-backed militant groups like Hezbollah and even the Houthis in Yemen. On October 19th, the Houthis in Yemen fired five missiles north in the direction of Israel. Positioned in the Red Sea, the USS Carney shot down these missiles as they made their way north up the Red Sea. Iran has supported the Houthis for years because they have continuously threatened Saudi Arabia, which is another one of America’s top allies. This is primarily due to the fact that a significant portion of the United States’ oil supply originates from this region. Recently, as US military bases in the Middle East have been expanding, they have been facing an increasing number of air strikes from these Iran-backed militant groups. 23 times since October 17th, the United States has had shoot-down missiles come towards their air bases, namely the all-Assad Air Base in Iraq and the all-Tom Garrison Base in Syria.
USA Handling the War?
Although we successfully shot down the majority of the missiles, some did detonate at these bases, injuring 21 US troops. So far, these are somewhat regular attacks, but the number of missiles arriving at these bases has dramatically increased since then. The Hamas Invasion has led the United States to send more naval ships to patrol in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf with 2,000 US troops aboard. Israel and the United States have rejected the United Nations’ urgent call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, arguing that it falls short of Israel’s right to self-defense. Israel also argues that there was a ceasefire in place before October 7th. However, Hamas broke the ceasefire, signaling the impending war. Another country that has been very critical of the United States handling of the war in the Middle East is Russia, which claims the United States is involved solely for financial incentives. Vladimir Putin, the leader of Russia, has responded to the war by asserting that Israel is retaliating against an unprecedentedly brutal attack by employing its own cruel methods. Russia has also described Israel’s actions as unacceptable, given that Israel is sending air strikes into a city with 2 million people. The relationship between Israel and Russia has been traditionally strong but has since weakened, with Putin coming after Israel’s retaliation.
Invasion of Ukraine
Russia has also recently argued that the US needs constant chaos in the Middle East, as US private military contractors have profited immensely from this Middle East violence. The US has allocated $5 trillion to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with the majority of the funds going to these private military contractors. These companies boasted so many employees that they outnumbered the actual troops fighting in Afghanistan by a ratio of three to one, a tactic Putin used to deflect attention from his invasion of Ukraine. He draws attention to the issues in the Middle East, thereby enhancing Putin’s chances of winning the war with Ukraine by directing more financial resources and attention towards the region. While Russia has never explicitly stated that this is their goal, Ukraine will lose some support from Western allies and ultimately face a tougher time defeating Russia.
Role of the China
China has also been calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East. China has always supported a two-nation state with Israel and Palestine, but as stated, Israel’s bombardment of civilians in Gaza has gone beyond the scope of self-defense. The Chinese Secretary of Defense also avoided condemning the extreme violence that Hamas has committed against civilians. People perceive China as trying to exert pressure on the US by positioning itself as a peace-seeking neutral power, whereas the US has unambiguously supported one side of the conflict for different reasons. China may be hesitant to fully support one side because a large portion of their sanctioned oil comes from Iran, and as we mentioned earlier, Iran has been a longtime enemy of Israel. If China were to break their alliance with Iran, this would certainly hurt their ability to cheaply import oil. China, like Russia, understands that increasing focus on the Middle East is crucial.
USA Clash with China on Taiwan
The less notice they receive when they attempt to make a more serious move on Taiwan, the less noticeable they will be. The United States currently patrols Taiwan, but China continues to view Taiwan as a Chinese province. Although the fight for Taiwan hasn’t been violent yet, China continues to send more and more jets to however around Taiwan’s airspace, signaling a threat to the United States. The Chinese Communist Party also conducts more than 2 million cyberattacks on Taiwan every month, including malicious emails and disinformation that reach the people of Taiwan. An invasion of Taiwan could be China’s next big move to assert itself as the world’s most dominant country.
Conclusive Remarks
What positions would the various parties take? If we start with Israel and Palestine in this hypothetical World War III and expand outward, Israel would align with the Western alliances, whereas Palestine would align with the Eastern alliances. Lebanon Syria Iran and Yemen would also be eastern allies. Saudi Arabia is likely to align with the West, while Turkey would align with the East. Ukraine and most of the EU would support the West, while Afghanistan and Pakistan endorse the East. Finally, the United States and Canada would undoubtedly align themselves with the West. India Australia Japan and South Korea, along with Russia, China, and North Korea, are likely to align with the East. Although this isn’t certain, most of these countries would likely support these sides in World War III. But hope for the best; the world cannot bear any World War III.
We pray for the peace and prosperity of all nations.
UN will play role to give the rights of nations like Palestine.
This is personal opinion of the writers, the facts explained on the bases of research work and lectures.
Dr. Abid Hussain Nawaz, PhD, Assistant Professor
Dr. Ghulam Abbas, PhD, Assistant Professor
i appreciated
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