HAMAS-ISRAELI PROXY WAR 2023: ITS REGIONAL CONSEQUENCES AND LESSONS FOR WEST AFRICAN LEADERSHIP

The study focusses on the ongoing proxy wars in the Middle East between Hamas and the state of Israel in terms of the supports given to Hamas by Hezbollah, Houthi and other militant groups affiliated to Iran, and highlighted regional consequences and lessons for West Africa leadership. It adopted case studies research design, whereby a particular case is intensively studied in a manner that the nuances and implications are seen as architype for generalisation. The paper relies chiefly on secondary data which are sourced from textbooks, scholarly journals, publications of governmental and non-governmental organisations, and the internet. The data were qualitatively presented and analysed thematically. The study argued that Hamas – Israeli conflict of 2023 is an architype of proxy war, with regional and global consequences. It highlighted lessons to learn by West African leadership, given the renewed interest of Russia and China in the subregion which may lead to proxy wars with the West, especially France, and the impacts of intensive spread of Islamic fundamentalism in the region. It concluded that being an agent of a proxy war is a political gambling with short term benefit, but proxy wars leave behind wreckages and loss of lives, difficult to replace. Therefore, political actors in West Africa should avoid becoming proxy agents for imperial ambition of any power bloc.