The Middle East is perilously close to all-out war. In the year since the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel, millions of people have been displaced from their homes in Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and now Lebanon, and tens of thousands killed.

In this episode, we speak to two experts from the Middle East, Mireille Rebeiz and Amnon Aran, to get a sense of the strategic calculations being made by both Israel and its neighbours at this frightening moment for the region. Rebeiz is chair of Middle East Studies at Dickinson College in the US and Aran is professor of International Relations, City St George's, University of London in the UK.

This episode was produced by Mend Mariwany and mixed by Michelle Macklem. Full credits for this episode are available.

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Further reading and listening:

• Does Hezbollah represent Lebanon? And what impact will the death of longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah have?
• October 7 marks 12 months of escalation into the ‘forever war’ now engulfing the Middle East
• A year of escalating conflict in the Middle East has ushered in a new era of regional displacement
• Inside the Oslo accords: a new podcast series marks 30 years since Israel-Palestine secret peace negotiations

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