Your Weekend Reading: Struggling to Prevent a Regional War

World leaders are worried. With no end in sight and potential escalation looming, the conflict between Israel and Gaza could arguably erupt into a wider war in the days and weeks to come. “To prevent a regional conflagration” is how German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock described the task this weekend in Cairo, where officials from nations including the US, UK, China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan will meet. Just outside Gaza, thousands of Israeli troops are massed for a ground invasion Tel Aviv has said is aimed at destroying Hamas, the Iran-backed militant group that authorities said killed about 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7. But tensions are rising elsewhere. Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia also backed by Iran, said it had begun targeting sites in Israel, and US outposts in Syria and Iraq have come under fire. A US destroyer intercepted missiles and drones it said were headed toward Israel, reportedly fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are also backed by Iran. In cities across the region, major protests are erupting, from Cairo to Tehran (below).

US President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel this week was aimed partly at containing the violence. But the conflict was already inflamed before he arrived by a deadly explosion in a Gaza hospital compound. Still, Biden’s visit may have shifted the course of the expected Gaza invasion, from “coordinated strikes from the air, sea and land,” to a more targeted assault aimed at limiting civilian casualties. The death toll in Gaza is already about 3,700, according to local authorities. Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant on Friday outlined a three-stage assault, but the main thrust of Israeli troops could be further delayed under pressure from US and European governments seeking to buy time for secret talks to win the release of hundreds of hostages held by Hamas. It’s a perilous moment for the world, one which Biden underscored in his Oval Office address Thursday night. He cast the Mideast conflict and Russia’s war on Ukraine as parallel: US aid to each, Biden said, is “vital for America’s national security.”