A building in Beirut is in flames after being hit by an Israeli air attack. Photo / Lorenzo Tugnoli, for The Washington Post
In the nearly two years since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the country’s campaign to destroy the militant group in Gaza has sprawled into a web of interconnected conflicts across the region.
It has involved Israeli strikes in the Palestinian territories and five countries, with this week’s strike on Qatar expanding the campaign to the Gulf.
The Israeli military’s airstrike on the villa of a senior Hamas leader - located in an area filled with embassies and schools - in the Qatari capital, Doha, drew broad international condemnation.
Attacks against Israel have been launched from nearly as many states, though Qatar has never targeted it.
In Gaza, Israel has pushed to dismantle Hamas, unleashing a campaign of strikes that have reduced the territory to rubble and killed more than 60,000 Palestinians - prompting accusations of genocide.
Throughout the conflict, militants in Gaza have also launched rockets towards Israel and engaged in firefights with Israeli troops in the enclave.
Israel has also carried out fierce military operations in the occupied West Bank, destroying entire city blocks, bulldozing roads, and using drones to fire on cars and buildings it claims sheltered militants.
Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s leader Hasan Nasrallah in September 2024 in an airstrike, likely using United States-made 900kg bombs on a residential complex in southern Beirut, following a year of cross-border strikes between Israel and Lebanon.
Thousands of Hezbollah foot soldiers were killed or maimed in an unprecedented Israeli attack earlier that month when Mossad blew up thousands of pagers.
Israel also sent in ground troops to invade southern Lebanon before a ceasefire brokered by the US and France went into effect on November 27.
Lebanon has struggled to recover from the impacts of the conflict that has displaced tens of thousands of people and devastated villages across the country’s south.
Israel killed Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in a strike on a state guesthouse he was staying at in Tehran in July 2024, though it confirmed its role only months later.
Tensions between the regional rivals had been running high, with Iranian-backed proxies targeting Israel over the war in Gaza and Israel increasing its attacks on Iranian targets.
Earlier this year, Israel and Iran engaged in their most sustained and direct fighting during a 12-day conflict in June.
Israel launched attacks on Iranian nuclear and military targets that killed its senior military figures and nuclear scientists, prompting Tehran to respond with missile attacks.
The US carried out its own airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, setting back Tehran’s programme by months before Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
In July, Israel launched strikes across Syria, including on its capital Damascus, saying the attacks were meant to protect the country’s Druze minority following a sectarian conflict on Syria’s southern border - where Druze and Bedouin groups had clashed. Around 150,000 Druze live in northern Israel.
Earlier, Israel had carried out attacks on Iranian networks in Syria, including killing three top Iranian commanders in Damascus between December 2023 and April 2024.
Iran responded almost two weeks later by firing a wave of missiles and drones towards Israel.
In August, Israel launched a strike on Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, killing the Houthi-controlled government’s premier, Ahmad al-Rahawi, and several ministers during a meeting.
Israel has repeatedly targeted the rebel group, which has disrupted international shipping in the Red Sea over the war in Gaza.
The Houthis have frequently attacked Israel, including launching a drone this month that struck an airport in southern Israel, injuring one.
And in early May, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile that penetrated Israel’s air defence systems and landed outside Tel Aviv.
Israel’s strike on Qatar - its first time striking a target in the Gulf - hit a key US ally that is home to the largest US military base in the Middle East.
Doha has also hosted dozens of rounds of ceasefire talks to end the war in Gaza and facilitated hostage and prisoner swaps.
Hamas said in a statement that its leaders survived the attack, but it killed the son of Khalil al-Hayya, a central figure in the group.
Brett McGurk, former US President Joe Biden’s top Middle East adviser, writing on CNN, described the strike as “shocking”, partly because both the US and Israel had asked Qatar to host the Hamas leaders. “Such an act is unprecedented,” he said.
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