FLASH
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The risk of escalation of the conflict in the Middle East is very real.
This is the alarm given by the head of the CIA, William Burns during a conference in the state of Georgia on Monday evening.
According to American media , Burns estimated that neither Iran nor Israel wanted an all-out war, but that misjudgments by the leaders, or certain events such as military attacks that would cause an unexpected number of casualties, would lead the situation to explosion.
"We face the real risk of further escalation of the conflict. The Middle East is a region where complicated things happen all the time," said the CIA chief.
Burns says that a combination of intelligence sharing between the US and Israel and well-integrated defense systems allowed the massive missile attack by Iran to fail on October 1. According to him, the attack had exposed limitations in Tehran's military capabilities, but nevertheless added that these capabilities were powerful enough to be taken very seriously by both Israel and the US.
The CIA chief claimed that Israel had inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah, and was currently preparing retaliation against the Iranian attack. But even though he has scored a series of tactical successes, according to Burns, the challenge will be to combine force with intelligence and diplomacy to achieve a ceasefire in northern Lebanon as well as in Gaza.
Speaking a year after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping more than 250, Burns, who had led diplomatic negotiations last year alongside his counterparts from Qatar, Egypt and Israel, said there is hope that a diplomatic deal could happen to secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
"We've come close at least a few times, but it's been very elusive," he said.
Talks on Gaza had stalled in recent weeks after Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been banned from responding to updated proposals.
"What is at stake in Gaza is shaped by political will," Burns pointed out.
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