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GWYNNE DYER: Is history repeating itself with Middle East crisis?

The current war between the US and Iran closely parallels the 1967 war between Egypt and Israel that closed the Suez Canal for eight years

We don’t have to look very far to find a useful historical analogy for the current crisis in the Middle East.

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In 1967, Egypt closed the Strait of Tiran to Israeli ships, and Israel replied with a surprise air attack that destroyed almost the entire Egyptian air force on the ground.

Israel followed up with a ground offensive that reached the Suez Canal, which then remained closed for the next eight years.

Could something like this happen at the Strait of Hormuz now?

Of course it could. In fact, at this point in the confrontation in the Gulf, it will require a great deal of forbearance on both sides to avoid it.

Why peace isn’t likely to come quickly

Unfortunately, forbearance is a virtue conspicuously absent on either side. US President Donald Trump let himself be talked into a surprise ‘decapitation’ attack on Iran by his Israeli partner, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanhyahu, but it did not deliver the promised results. Dozens of Iranian leaders were killed, but the regime did not........

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