WORLD WAR

Expert Wider: fight hotting up |China testing how West reacts

- CHRIS HUGHES

A FORMER British counter-terror chief has warned that the deadly conflicts involving Israel, Ukraine and Russia could develop into a "modern World War Three".

Colonel Richard Kemp, once head of counter-terrorism in the UK's Joint Intelligence Committee, is in Tel Aviv as it braces for an attack by Iran.

He believes a major strike by Tehran and its Hezbollah and Houthi proxies is inevitable and fears Israel's response could be devastating.

The Mirror met Col Kemp in Tel Aviv, where he has been observing the war since the October 7 Hamas attacks triggered the conflict in Gaza.

Asked if a war between Iran and Israel could spark a wider regional escalation and possibly even world war, Col Kemp said: "I think we are already seeing a wider regional conflict. Israel is at war on several fronts. What we are talking about is a possible 'modern World War Three'. In some ways, it's happening now in Russia, where the US, the UK, and other Ukrainian allies, are not necessarily directly involved with troops on the ground, but are certainly involved with supplying advanced munitions.

"They are being used, in the case of some weapons, for Ukrainians to attack on Russian sovereign territory.

"So that is already hotting up.

"And of course Russia is believed to have supplied more sophisticated air defence systems to Iran."

Col Kemp believes China would also pose a major threat.