OIC FM's To Meet As Region Awaits Iranian Response To Haniyeh Killing

An extraordinary meeting of the Executive Committee of Foreign Ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), called by Iran and Pakistan in response to the killing of Hamas' political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week. The meeting is set to get underway in the coastal city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at around 1600 local time (0900ET, 1400BST, 1500CET).

• The OIC is a group of majority-Muslim nations or those with sizeable Muslim populations that includes most of the Middle East, North Africa, the Sahel and West Africa, Central Asia, and some nations of South Asia,and Southeast Asia. Notably, unlike the GCC, the OIC includes major majority-Muslim military powers such as Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey.
• The Middle East remains in a state of extremely heightened tensions, with Iran promising a response to the killing of Haniyeh, while claiming that it wants to avoid escalation. Depending on the nature of the response, potentially involving its proxies in the 'axis of resistance' such as Lebanese Hezbollah or the Houthis in Yemen, the avoidance of escalation could prove difficult.
• Many foreign nations have called on their citizens to leave Lebanon, with the risk of a broader Israel-Hezbollah war akin to that of 2006 and fears that a major escalation in military activity could see airstrikes putting Beirut's international airport out of action. The UK military has put more than 1,000 troops on standby to aid with evacuations.