Hello Sarah,
I think the existence of proxies, as you mentioned, is remarkably significant. Whether Hezbollah as a proxy of Iran in Lebanon or the Syrian government apparatus as a proxy for Russian interests, these occurrences necessitate a close watch and viligant alertness on the part of every other Near East state. The point that you make that these proxies contribute to the prolonged nature of the conflicts I believe is fully true, not just because of the quantity of interests and resources, but because technology, weapons, and capital naturally changes hands in such instances and that is irreversible. I think of the U.S. supplying weapons and tech to defeat ISIS in Northern Syria, even after that conflict has been sorted, the military apparatus is still in the region.
