Critics feared it would plunge the Middle East into a wider war. That doomsday scenario has not come to pass, at least for now: Iran made only symbolic retaliation against America; soon after, a ceasefire ended the fighting between Iran and Israel.

A direct Iran-Israel war has shattered old balances, forcing Middle Eastern capitals and global powers to reassess strategies as nuclear fears and shifting alliances reshape the region’s future.

Even the prospect of civil war cannot be ruled out,' an expert tracking growing violence in the West Bank told Newsweek.