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Could someone explain the first couple of principal components of this conflict to a historically illiterate like me?

Israel, Oil, Shia vs Sunni conflict, US ambitions, old school dictators vs democratic movements vs religious fundamentalists.

I think that covers most things, except Turkey. Turkey has a whole secular vs religious plus embrace Europe and the West vs embrace the Middle East thing going on.

Basically a short summary is difficult because the history is enormous and intertwined.

Proxy wars among larger powers.

Syria demonstrates this principal most clearly. It's the US (or the West if you prefer) vs Russia for controlling influence in the region.

It all comes down to 'Whose land is it anyway?'

Some of the issues go back thousands of years. In a sense, it also shows the genius of Prophet Mohammad. From a historical point of view, one of his greatest achievements was to unite the Arabs. That's something that was never done before or since. So, simplifying it as just a land dispute isn't right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-evIyrrjTTY

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