The Arab-Israeli conflict is not the bloodiest Middle East conflict

Evidence

Certainly the Arab-Israeli conflict is not the only problem of the Middle East, nor is it by a long chalk the bloodiest. The Iraq-Iran war produced more casu­ alties than all the Arab-Israeli wars put together, including all the participants. The Gulf War of 1990–91, not to mention the civil wars in Lebanon and Iraq and elsewhere, would also score higher in sheer destructiveness. On a scale of bloodiness, the Arab-Israeli conflict would indeed rank rather low. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1596