Before Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the subsequent Gaza war, Saudi Arabia was inching toward a groundbreaking diplomatic deal with Israel in return for a US defence pact. But the Israeli assault on Gaza, and more recently on Iran, has hardened Riyadh’s stance and made it less likely to strike a deal anytime soon.

Even the prospect of civil war cannot be ruled out,' an expert tracking growing violence in the West Bank told Newsweek.

Critics feared it would plunge the Middle East into a wider war. That doomsday scenario has not come to pass, at least for now: Iran made only symbolic retaliation against America; soon after, a ceasefire ended the fighting between Iran and Israel.