Just when Biden thought he was out, Hamas has pulled the US back in

(Originally published Oct. 11 in “What in the World“) The U.S. deployed a second aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean as Israel stepped up air strikes against Gaza in preparations for a ground assault against the Palestinian enclave.

U.S. President Joe Biden said the U.S. was also stepping up shipments of ammunition to Israel. Though where this ammo is coming from given the stark shortages facing the Pentagon after shoveling its own stockpile to Ukraine is anyone’s guess. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of sowing discord in the Middle East to help pull Western support away from the war in Ukraine.

Israel, meanwhile, faced sporadic rocket fire from Syria and southern Lebanon, stoking fears that the war might expand beyond Gaza. Whether or not Iran’s other clients in the region throw in against Israel (the two U.S. carriers are meant to give them pause), the outbreak of a new war dashes any hope that the U.S. could finally end its military presence in the restive region. As Brookings vice president Suzanne Maloney writes in Foreign Affairs, Iran may have instigated Hamas’ surprise attack, but the war seems almost certain to scotch normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.