{"id":42830,"date":"2024-10-07T03:05:11","date_gmt":"2024-10-06T21:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=42830"},"modified":"2025-05-05T20:48:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T15:18:07","slug":"how-major-powers-are-seeing-the-conflicts-in-the-west-asian-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/how-major-powers-are-seeing-the-conflicts-in-the-west-asian-region\/","title":{"rendered":"How Major Powers are Seeing the Conflicts in the West Asian Region"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>What Israel is Doing?<\/li>\n<li>What is the Position of the Arab States on West Asian Conflicts?<\/li>\n<li>What is the Approach of the West, Russia and China Towards West Asian Conflicts?<\/li>\n<li>What is the View of New Delhi on West Asian Conflicts?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The terrorist attacks by Hamas (on October 7, 2023) on Israel has sparked the West Asia crisis.<\/li>\n<li>On the anniversary of the October 7 attacks, the article tries to analyse the current scenario from the perspective of Israel, West, the Arab states in the region, and New Delhi.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>What Israel is Doing?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Attacks on Gaza:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Since the October 7 attacks, operations by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have caused a heavy death toll in Gaza.<\/li>\n<li>While the international opinion in favour of <strong>Palestinian statehood<\/strong> has strengthened over the past year, Israeli political opinion <strong>rejecting Palestinian sovereignty<\/strong> has strengthened at the same time.<\/li>\n<li>For the time being, the initial criticism of Israel&#8217;s security apparatus&#8217;s October 7, 2023, failure has faded away.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Attacking Iran-backed \u201caxis of resistance\u201d groups:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Israel has made an effort to maintain its military edge against the Iran-backed &#8211; <strong>Hezbollah <\/strong>(Lebanon-based) and the <strong>Houthis <\/strong>(Yemen-based) &#8211; by carrying out strikes in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon.<\/li>\n<li>Both (Hezbollah and Houthis) were carrying out rocket and missile attacks on Israel since late last year.<\/li>\n<li>The Houthi attacks disrupted international shipping in the Red Sea, and imposed economic costs on countries far beyond the theatre of the conflict.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ignoring calls for peace: <\/strong>Israel has ignored a call for ceasefire by the UNSC and US advice of restraint.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Retaliating Iran:<\/strong> Israel also retaliated after Iran launched an unprecedented cruise missile and drone barrage against it (in April), and has vowed to make the regime in Tehran pay for a second wave of aerial attacks on October 1.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>What is the Position of the Arab States on West Asian Conflicts?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Remained committed to the goal of geo-economic reset:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Major Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and UAE have <strong>remained committed to the process of a geopolitical and geo-economics reset<\/strong> in the Middle East that was underway before October 2023.<\/li>\n<li>But the <strong>war has brought the issue of Palestinian sovereignty front and centre<\/strong>, with all the regional powers beginning to see it as a necessary condition for long-term peace.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Maintaining relations with both Israel and Iran:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Rather than giving up on attempts to restore relations with Israel, these countries seem to be<strong> trying to use it as leverage to resolve the Palestine issue<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>This can be drawn from the sustenance of the <strong>2020 Abraham Accords<\/strong> despite the highest death toll in Gaza in decades.<\/li>\n<li>According to the Abraham Accords, the regional stability needed for economic development <strong>requires peace with not just Israel, but also Iran<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>As a result, Saudi Arabia stayed out of the US- and UK-led naval coalition to strike at the Yemeni (Houthis) group.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>What is the Approach of the West, Russia and China Towards West Asian Conflicts?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>West:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pro-Israel:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Led by the US (which successfully mediated between Iran and Israel in April), the western countries have warned all actors against further escalation, and committed to humanitarian aid for Gaza.<\/li>\n<li>However, they stand by Israel, in case it breaches any red line.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Awaiting the US presidential election: <\/strong>This is because the incoming administration may seek to enable (under Donald Trump) or curb (as Kamala Harris) Israel\u2019s war effort.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Russia:<\/strong> The war in Ukraine limits President Vladimir Putin\u2019s ability to influence Middle Eastern events, despite Moscow having shown interest \u2014 including hosting Hamas and Iranian leaders in October 2023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>China<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>In the midst of the crisis, Beijing has sharply criticised Israel while concentrating on strengthening its strategic and economic ties with Iran and the Arab world.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>However, China remains restrained in its security and military involvement in the Middle East &#8211; a long-standing position that has ensured continued US dominance in the region.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>What is the View of New Delhi on West Asian Conflicts?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Telephonic diplomacy:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Indian PM spoke to Netanyahu on the phone both in October 2023 and 2024, <strong>expressing concern and offering solidarity.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>He also spoke to President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine,<strong> reiterating India\u2019s commitment to the two-state solution.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Keeping terrorism issue and the question of Israel and Palestine separate<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>This has allowed New Delhi to express sympathy and support for Israel after the October 7 terrorist attacks while refraining from backing its two-state solution of Palestinian sovereignty.<\/li>\n<li>Emphasising the close connection between sustainable peace and a two-state solution, India has continuously supported UNGA resolutions that demand Israel to leave the occupied territory.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Prior to the new crisis, India sought to spearhead the effort to capitalise on the regional reset through the planned India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.<\/li>\n<li>However, the success of India&#8217;s connectivity ambitions hinges not just on a truce in Gaza and Lebanon but also on how the Arab governments handle the aftermath of the conflict.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q.1. What were the 2020 Abraham Accords?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Abraham Accords are bilateral agreements on Arab\u2013Israeli normalisation signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and between Israel and Bahrain on September 15, 2020.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q.2. What is the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The IMEC will comprise two separate corridors, the east corridor connecting India to the Gulf and northern corridor connecting Gulf to Europe. The corridor will provide reliable and cost-effective cross-border ship to rail transit networks to supplement existing maritime routes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-global\/expert-explains-a-year-of-war-in-west-asia-9607255\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Expert Explains: A year of war in West Asia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the anniversary of the October 7 attacks, it is important to analyse the current scenario in the region from the perspective of Israel, West, the Arab states in the region, and New Delhi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":42831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}