“Iran had long been saying it would happen, and on Tuesday the regime in Tehran got serious. Less than a day after Israel began its ground offensive in Lebanon, the Islamic Republic said it fired 200 rockets towards Israel. Sirens blared across the country, and according to Israeli forces, 180 rockets were intercepted. […] However, Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the international Counter Extremism Project and head of the office in Berlin, does not believe that an escalation is inevitable. "We are currently in a serious spiral of escalation, but one that can be ended at any time by one of the sides - Israel, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas," Schindler told the Tagesspiegel. The picture in the region is complicated: some states sympathize with the Palestinians, some have problems with the militias supported by Tehran or are more or less neutral towards the situation.”

"Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior adviser at the Counter Extremism Project and formerly UKs ambassador to Yemen, echoed these apprehensions, cautioning about the additional dangers posed by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, which form another component of Irans "axis of resistance that might expand the already tenuous situation across the Middle East."

"Hans-Jakob Schindler of the Berlin-based Counter Extremism Project breaks down Israel's four stated objectives for its land incursion into southern Lebanon. He told DW that keeping the Israeli operation against Hezbollah "limited, localized and targeted" will pose a challenge."

“After Iran has responded with ballistic missile attacks on Israel's ground offensive into Lebanon, Ask DW answers your questions. We'll be joined in the studio by DW's Middle East analyst Shani Rozanes and by security expert and senior director of the Counter-Extremism Project Hans-Jacob Schindler as well as journalist Karim El-Gawhary from Beirut.” 

"…Hans-Jakob Schindler sees three main reasons for the increasing violence in the West Bank. ‘On the one hand, Hamas, which has been under enormous military pressure in Gaza for months, is of course trying to activate its networks in the West Bank as well,’ the senior director of the international Counter Extremism Project told the Tagesspiegel. Secondly, attacks by radical settlers in the West Bank have steadily increased since October 2023. ‘This has caused the situation to escalate further.’ And thirdly, it can be assumed that Iran, whose announced retaliatory strike has so far failed to materialize, is trying to operate via the West Bank. ‘The Israeli security services regularly find weapons that Iran is trying to smuggle into the West Bank,’ says Schindler."

"The UN Secretary General is calling on Israel to immediately halt its large-scale military operation in the occupied West Bank. For now, Israel presses ahead, and claims to have killed some Palestinian militants in a gun battle in a mosque on Thursday. DW spoke with Hans-Jakob Schindler about Israel’s goals in the Palestinian territory."

"Edmund Fitton-Brown, Senior Advisor to the Counter Extremism Project and former Ambassador of the UK to Yemen said 'it could all very easily spiral out of control'."

"Edmund Fitton-Brown, Senior Advisor to the Counter Extremism Project and former Ambassador of the UK to Yemen, told MailOnline this evening 'it could all very easily spiral out of control'.

'In essence, I think Iran and Israel would both prefer to avoid escalation out of control,' he said.

'But Iran (and Hezbollah) both want to be seen to respond to the Israeli assassinations.

'Calibrating such responses in such a way as to save face and yet avoid escalation gets more difficult with each successive round of skirmishing.

'The US is also part of this picture, seeking both to restrain Israel and to deter Iran,' he said."