Since the Second World War, there have been over two dozen major armed conflicts and prolonged insurgencies in the oil-rich region, with Israel alone involved in about a dozen of them.
The Middle East is easily the most conflict-prone region in the world, and there's no sign the violence is going to end any time soon, says Seth J. Frantzman, a Middle East affairs analyst at the Jerusalem Post.
In an article for the newspaper on Monday, the observer asked why the region has so many more wars than any other place on Earth. The answer, he believes, is the region's complexity, its home to great power competition, and the sense of “impunity” that some regional powers have “to traffic weapons and send their armies across borders.”
Crowded Battlespace
At the same time, the observer suggests, advanced military technology such as drone swarms, long range missiles, and the means to defend against them, have added a new layer of complexity to these conflicts.
“This era sees a return to stronger states after the Arab Spring, as well as the chaos and rise of proxy groups and ungoverned spaces. The region is now seen as being up for grabs as the US begins to withdraw from areas like Syria or Afghanistan – and other states, such as Iran, Turkey, Russia and China are stepping in. This feeds conflicts as each country seeks greater hegemony and wants to take over areas in Syria, Libya or…
It all boils down to religion….