Iran’s Proxy War Imperils Eastern Mediterranean

Israel-Hezbollah tensions have dramatically escalated following Hezbollah’s July 29 rocket attack, which killed 12 children in the Golan Heights, and Israel’s retaliatory targeted airstrike on Beirut, which killed Hezbollah’s seniormost military commander. The growing likelihood of full-scale war between Hezbollah and Israel threatens to put the eastern Mediterranean Sea in Hezbollah’s crosshairs. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has threatened both Israel—including with specific threats to attack its Karish and Leviathan gas fields in the Eastern Mediterranean—and Cyprus, a European Union (EU) member state that has increasingly tightened its relations with Israel.

A Hezbollah attack on any target in the Eastern Mediterranean would have far-reaching implications beyond Israel, including potentially for Egypt and Jordan as well as the EU and United States. Just as it has in the Red Sea, the United States needs to take a leading role in protecting this key global waterway—namely deploying naval and air assets to the region—by signaling to Hezbollah and Iran that provoking a full-scale war against Israel will result in an overwhelming and immediate response.

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