The United States has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began and led to escalating conflict around the Middle East.

The United States has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began and led to escalating conflict around the Middle East, according to a report for Brown University’s Costs of War project, released on the anniversary of Hamas’ attacks on Israel.

An additional $4.86 billion has gone into stepped-up U.S. military operations in the region since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, researchers said in findings first provided to The Associated Press. That includes the costs of a Navy-led campaign to quell strikes on commercial shipping by Yemen’s Houthis, who are carrying them out in solidarity with the fellow Iranian-backed group Hamas.

The report — completed before Israel opened a second front, this one against Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, in late September — is one of the first tallies of estimated U.S. costs as the Biden administration backs Israel in its conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon and seeks to contain hostilities by Iran-allied armed groups in the region.

  • Sundial@lemm.ee
    61·
    3 months ago

    The only country in this conflict who actually wants the conflict is Israel. It’s quite clear Iran has been doing it’s best to hold back for the past year to avoid escalation. They don’t want a war any more than Americans do.

    • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      Iran doesn’t want a war on their own territory, they’ve been happily sending weapons and money to Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis to continue the fighting elsewhere.

      • Sundial@lemm.ee
        2·
        3 months ago

        If that were true then they would have entered the Israel-Gaza conflict and tried to keep it localized to the region. They haven’t because they are trying to stay away from that and not escalate it into some kind of regional war.