It’s a part of an infinite proxy war between the USSR and their successors Russia and China, against the interests of the USA and Europe.

Iran is a puppet state for China, currently, and they provided weapons and funds for Hamas leading up to the October music festival attack and capture of hostages reigniting the war and consequently the Gaza Genocide. Previously the Russian backed Syria was also a key player but they collapsed recently due to civil war (revolutionaries partially funded by the USA and UK).

Israel is supposed to be the USA’s “puppet state” in the same vein, but tbh they’re so rogue and don’t fuckin listen on anything and they’ve got so much economic ties to Russia such as Abromovich steel and international distribution that they’re just a bad friend that the USA is stuck with because the second best friend they had in the region, Afghanistan, fell due to Trump incompetently releasing 5,000 Taliban fighters from US Custody, and number 3 is Iraq and the USA spent a long time waging war in Iraq for virtually no reason due to Bush incompetence and oil executive greed but I guess we’re sort of cool for now.

The USA and NATO often cooperate with Saudi Arabia as a way to fight extremism in the region, though they’re not US allies and they are often much more aggressive than the USA are in their tactics.

Basically, the cold war isn’t over.