Attack on US Embassy in Riyadh and New Wave of Israeli Strikes on Tehran

The situation in the Middle East has entered a phase of open, multilateral conflict, moving beyond the previous framework of proxy wars. A key turning point was the drone attack on the United States Embassy in Riyadh, which caused a fire on the diplomatic compound grounds. The Donald Trump administration has promised a decisive response, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio justified preemptive US strikes on Iran as necessary to prevent Tehran from carrying out retaliation for earlier Israeli attacks. Meanwhile, Israel continues its "wave of attacks" on targets in Tehran itself, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued in an interview with Fox News that inaction would lead within months to a situation where Iran's nuclear program would become "untouchable". Relations between Iran and Israel have been hostile since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, but direct clashes on this scale represent a departure from the decades-long strategy of shadow warfare. Simultaneously, the battlefronts are multiplying. The Iranian Navy reportedly lost all its vessels in the Gulf of Oman as a result of a US operation, amounting to a de facto naval blockade of the country. Alarming reports are also coming from Afghanistan, where explosions were recorded in Kabul and clashes occurred on the border with Pakistan, suggesting the destabilization of the entire Central Asian region. In Lebanon, the Israeli army is calling for civilians to evacuate areas near the headquarters of the Al-Manar television station, linked to Hezbollah, heightening fears of a full-scale ground invasion. Lebanon's ambassador to France openly expressed concern that Israeli troops may soon cross the border. Hezbollah remains a key element of Iran's axis of resistance, explaining the intensity of the bombings in Lebanon. Despite the escalation, there are minor humanitarian gestures – Israel announced a plan to reopen a crossing point for aid into the Gaza Strip. However, the overall diplomatic balance indicates Tehran's deepening isolation. Washington issued an unprecedented warning to its citizens, urging them to leave immediately from over a dozen Middle Eastern countries, signaling an expected further expansion of the theater of war. „You are not going to have a war without end.” — Benjamin Netanyahu In cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, missile defense systems are operating at maximum capacity, protecting critical infrastructure from potential conflict spillover. Prime Minister Netanyahu assures that the conflict will not last for years, but the dynamics of events over the last 72 hours suggest the region is on the brink of the largest armed confrontation in decades. In Israel itself, the Purim holiday is being celebrated in shelters, which best illustrates the state of permanent threat in which civilian society on both sides of the barricade finds itself.