Israel’s attack on Iran marks the beginning of a new era for the Middle East

On 5 June 1967, Israel destroyed three Arab air forces with a devastating pre-emptive strike at the start of what became the Six-Day War. Overnight, Israel has undertaken what appears to be a similarly devastating pre-emptive attack, this time on Iranian nuclear, military and terror facilities.

But there is a key difference between the two strikes. In 1967, Israel was fighting to defend only itself. It had no allies in the region and little concern with what happened outside its own borders. Today, Israel is not only acting as a proxy for the West itself; it is acting against a tyrannical, terrorist regime. Iran has held its own people – as well as Lebanon and Syria – captive; it has spread poison across the rest of the region, funded and directed Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis to bring war and destruction across the region – not least in Gaza, where Iran’s sponsorship of Hamas has led to the current devastation – and led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in the region over the decades since the regime took power in Iran.