All right, Alexander, let's talk about the situation in the Middle East.

And let's start things off talking about the escalation outside of the war in Israel and in Gaza

because we had another U.S. airstrike in Syria.

This one, this air strike claimed to have targeted Iranian militia who were operating,

allegedly operating out of Syria and hitting the U.S. base, the illegal U.S. base in Syria.

So that was what the Pentagon said.

But it seems like these exchanges, these skirmishes between the United States and these various forces, militias in Iraq and in Syria, are becoming more commonplace.

And I think that's a very, very bad sign, given all the rhetoric that we've heard from the Biden White House about.

If you hit any of our U.S.

Resources military bases assets in the region well then we're gonna we're gonna

inflict the heavy price on you and they're speaking to Iran as they say this this

these these these statements so what's what are your thoughts on on the escalation that's happening outside of the war?

And Israel, then we'll probably get back to the war in Israel as well.

Well, I think the first thing to say is that in geopolitical terms, in global terms,

it's obviously the battle in Gaza that is getting the most attention

and it's understandable because we see the pictures every day. There's a humanitarian disaster there.

This is a politically fraught subject. But I would actually suggest that in fact it's these fights, these battles that are raging off behind the curtain, if you like, between these militias and the United States, which are clearly intensifying, that actually is the more dangerous and the more worrying event.

And you're absolutely correct.

All the indications are that the fighting between these militias and the United States is intensifying.

The US, as you rightly said, has just launched another big air strike on what it claims is a militia base.

There's now lots of pictures, if you really want to search for them, of rocket attacks and

missile attacks on American bases in Syria, especially. You're absolutely correct to say that these bases should not be in

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