"… Just as Israel has come under attack from drones and missiles fired by Iran’s allied militias in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, so has Israel struck out at targets in all those countries. Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former British ambassador to Yemen and now a senior adviser with the Counter Extremism Project, tells the BBC: "The Houthis have continued to try to attack Israel and have known intent to try to upgrade their capabilities to make their attacks more effective". He says there is little cost to Israel here "because they are not attacking a legitimate sovereign entity". This year Israel has struck targets in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Gaza, the West Bank and is widely believed to be behind the assassination of the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July. With the firm backing of the US and its warships poised offshore, Israel has set course to take on almost all its enemies at once."