In the context of Civilization 6, this war in the Middle East is akin to spies discovering that the opponent is about to climb the technology tree to reach core strategic technologies, leading to a formal declaration of war.

First, they weaken the opponent to prevent them from focusing on climbing the technology tree, maintaining a significant advantage in military, weaponry, and technology.

If this is indeed the objective, it may be very difficult to stop in the short term... what a blunder!