"DW spoke with Middle East security expert Hans-Jakob Schindler about the risk of a further escalation in the Middle East after Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Iran."

“It was apparently intended to be an ultimate, devastating blow against Israel. This is suggested by new findings on the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023. According to the New York Times and the Washington Post, the terrorist strategists around their leader Jahia Sinwar planned their attack in detail for more than two years. […] Hans-Jakob Schindler calls Iran's reaction to Hamas's request "typical". The leadership of the Islamic Republic almost always avoids an open "no" in negotiations and prefers to use formulations such as "further clarification required", says the senior director of the international Counter Extremism Project and head of the Berlin office.”

"Israel says it's preparing a strong military retaliation after Iran launched more than 200 missiles into Israeli territory last week. Hans Jakob Schindler, Senior Director at the Counter Extremism Project, believes that only the US military could strike nuclear underground facilities in Iran and warns of the potential fallout."

"'The intelligence community is vast, but so are the number of priorities assigned to its staff,' said Norman Roule, former national intelligence manager for Iran and senior adviser to the Counter Extremism Project. 'Absent steady policymaker demand, the system moves resources — and demands on our partners — to targets that are perceived to have greater policymaker interest.'"

“... Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior adviser to the Counter-Extremism Project, a transatlantic thinktank and advocacy group, said it was predictable that the Houthis and other groups would make such threats. “We shouldn’t read too much into the rhetoric … the Palestinian groups do not have the capability to escalate outside the [occupied] West Bank, while the Israelis have been so successful in last couple of weeks that I don’t think Lebanese Hezbollah can come to Iran’s defence.” Hezbollah, the most powerful of Iran’s proxies and the keystone of the coalition, is reeling from the Israeli assassination campaign. The group has lost nearly 500 fighters since it started firing into Israel in support of its ally, Hamas, last October and was then drawn into a prolonged war of attrition.”

“Iran had long been saying it would happen, and on Tuesday the regime in Tehran got serious. Less than a day after Israel began its ground offensive in Lebanon, the Islamic Republic said it fired 200 rockets towards Israel. Sirens blared across the country, and according to Israeli forces, 180 rockets were intercepted. […] However, Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director of the international Counter Extremism Project and head of the office in Berlin, does not believe that an escalation is inevitable. "We are currently in a serious spiral of escalation, but one that can be ended at any time by one of the sides - Israel, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas," Schindler told the Tagesspiegel. The picture in the region is complicated: some states sympathize with the Palestinians, some have problems with the militias supported by Tehran or are more or less neutral towards the situation.”

"Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior adviser at the Counter Extremism Project and formerly UKs ambassador to Yemen, echoed these apprehensions, cautioning about the additional dangers posed by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, which form another component of Irans "axis of resistance that might expand the already tenuous situation across the Middle East."

"Edmund Fitton-Brown, Senior Advisor to the Counter Extremism Project and former Ambassador of the UK to Yemen, told MailOnline: 'Any successful upgrade of Houthi capabilities would also likely draw a kinetic Israeli response.'"

CEP Senior Director Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler quoted: “Tensions in the Middle East are reaching a new high. Terrorism specialist Hans-Jakob Schindler analyses the possible effects of the Israeli counterattacks on Lebanon and outlines scenarios for the future. What is Iran doing? Who needs to intervene urgently now?”

CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton-Brown: "Edmund Fitton-Brown, Senior Advisor to the Counter Extremism Project and former Ambassador of the UK to Yemen, told MailOnline early Wednesday that the claims are 'very concerning if true' and appear 'credible' so far as Iran and Russia are 'locked in a rejectionist-disruptor embrace'."