Three Weeks of War in the Middle East
Get caught up.
Displaced family members sit around a fire outside their tent along the seafront in Beirut on March 18. Israel has killed hundreds of Lebanese in a bombing campaign it says is directed at Iranian ally Hezbollah, part of what’s become a wider regional war.
Photographer: Dimitar Dilkoff/Getty Images
Three weeks after the US and Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran amid ongoing negotiations over its nuclear program, President Donald Trump has found himself in a situation very different from his earlier effort at regime change.
With thousands dead, a widening war, spiking oil prices and now destroyed energy infrastructure, he is seeking $200 billion from Congress to continue a conflict which Democrats and some Republicans are quick to note was one of choice, since there is no public evidence the US faced an imminent threat. The funding request also comes as the US surpasses $39 trillion in debt, with the latest $1 trillion added in the past five months.