International reactions to the 2006 Lebanon War 39% disapproved, and 16% were not sure. When asked to think about the events of the past week in the Middle East, 54% of Americans answered that their sympathies are more with Israel, 11% answered more with Arab nations, 11% both, 11% neither, and 13% not sure. In August 2006, University of Chicago political scientist John Mearsheimer accused Israel of using the kidnapping of its soldiers by Hezbollah as an excuse to attack Lebanon and start the 2006 Lebanon War. Mearsheimer stated that "Israel had been planning to strike at Hezbollah for months. Key Israelis had briefed the administration about
Iraqi diaspora in Western Asia Iraqi diaspora in Western Asia The Iraqi diaspora in Western Asia is mostly located in Syria, Jordan, Iran and Lebanon, in addition to the well established numbers in the Persian Gulf states and Israel. As a result of the Iraq War, the Iraqi refugee crisis is the largest in Western Asia in 60 years, since 1948 when the State of Israel was established. Most of the recent Iraqi immigrants fleeing to Iran and Lebanon are believed to be Shia. Religion often determines which countries the Iraqi people will apply asylum for, decades ago most of the Iraqi Jews fled to