For the last few years, it seems war has pretty much become the norm in many parts of the world. Every day, you put on the news it’s either stories about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel’s war on Gaza or civil war in Sudan. And those are just the ones that receive most of the coverage in international media. There are so many conflicts happening all over the world that don’t receive nearly as much coverage.
We are edging closer and closer to the one-year anniversary of the October 7th attack, and the Israeli war on Gaza is still ongoing. Moreover, Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, recently went on the record to say a ceasefire is not even close to being agreed on. This is despite the fact that we have seen massive protests this week within Israel calling for a ceasefire deal that would bring an end to the war, after the bodies of six hostages had been recovered in Gaza.
At first, it seemed as if the anger that had been on display in the streets of Israel may mark a turning point for the Netanyahu administration. However, those hopes have all but faded away at this point. It is very likely that the war may still be going on up until the October seven anniversary. Maybe even for many weeks or months after that. This is despite the fact that over 40 000 Palestinians within Gaza have reportedly died since the start of the war.
Meanwhile, cross border strikes between Israel and Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon continue to take place. And this week we saw a massive raids by the Israel Defence Force (IDF) in Jenin in the West Bank that has seen the deaths of around over 30 Palestinians. The IDF has claimed that the raids had been targeted at Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants operating within the area and claim to have killed over 36 gunmen and detained around 46 wanted Palestinians, according to the Times of Israel.
However, these raids within the West Bank saw incredible amounts of damage to communities within the Jenin refugee camp. Israeli bulldozers demolished streets and other infrastructure around Jenin as they conducted their raids. The IDF claims the reason they demolish the streets is to avoid their vehicles being caught by explosives that may have been planted in the streets by militants. However, the damage caused by these bulldozers often cuts off these communities from access to water, plumbing and electricity.
Moreover, these raids also saw the deaths of civilians within Jenin. Reports of civilians unlucky enough to be in the area being caught in the crossfire have to been coming to light in the aftermath of these raids. And the recent news of a US citizen who had been shot and killed by the IDF has made international headlines. The Times of Israel reports how Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, an activist with the International Solidarity movement, had been shot and killed by IDF troops while attending a protest against settlement expansion within the West Bank.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to drag on with no end in sight. As Russia has continued to make gains within eastern Ukraine. We have witnessed a new front opening up, however, this time on Russian soil, after Ukrainian forces stormed Russia’s Kursk region. Over one month has passed, and Ukrainian troops remain within the Russian Oblast, and Ukraine has revealed its intention to hold onto the land it has captured for the foreseeable future.
The majority of analysts believe that the reason for Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk was to provide some relief to Ukrainian troops on the front line by removing some Russian troops from the front lines to handle the incursion into the Kursk region. However, that appears to not be the case, because Russia has continued pushing ahead, despite the incursion by Ukrainian troops into Russian soil.
In Sudan, hope of a ceasefire agreement between the RSF and the Sudanese army faded after the Sudanese army failed to show up for the US-lead ceasefire talks that had been scheduled in Switzerland. Meanwhile, reports of widespread famine among the Sudanese population continues. Similarly, as with the other major conflicts taking place right now, it is difficult to imagine where an end to the fighting will come from, as both sides remain deeply entrenched in their conflict. As the millions of Sudanese civilians continue to bear the brunt of the conflict.
And those are just the most high-profile conflicts that tend to receive much international attention (though international media tends to overlook Sudan as well). There are thousands of conflicts taking place all over the world. Whether you are talking about terrorist groups within West Africa, M23 rebels operating in the DRC, the ongoing civil war in Myanmar or gang violence in Ecuador. There are conflicts all around the world.
It will always be difficult for me to understand how so many militants and soldiers can be so willing to put their lives on the line for such conflicts. How one can be so willing to commit acts that are so clearly unjust. Why are humans willing to commit such atrocities to one another? We all have a finite amount of time on this planet. Why would anyone want to use that finite time killing another person? Why are people so willing to die for the ambitions of a handful of people in positions of power? It is not as if we ever see the government officials or militant group leaders themselves going out and dying for their cause. It is typically the young men that are sent out to kill each other, while they just sit back and watch from afar as it all unfolds.
And I am not saying fighting is never justified. There are many men who have put their lives on the line for noble causes, and they deserve to be honoured for their sacrifices. However, there are also so many soldiers willing to commit terrible acts without any thought whatsoever. The famous song Zombie by Fela Kuti often comes to mind when discussing this topic. He would use the metaphor of zombies to criticise Nigerian soldiers operating under oppressive military regimes.
When I look at many of the major conflicts taking place today, it is difficult for me to understand why they justify the deaths of so many people. We often look back at the past and like to think of ourselves in the modern day being much smarter than those who came before us. One would think we should have already moved past participating in such destructive wars, but we haven’t.
We would like to think that because of how much more technically and intellectually advanced humans have become, we are perhaps more rational than those who came before us. Yet here we are still killing each other in large numbers.