Knowing there's a conflict over the East (5)
I believe the answer is:
aware
'knowing' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a conflict over the east' is the wordplay.
'conflict' becomes 'war' (war is a kind of conflict).
'over' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, some letters go over others).
'the east' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'a'+'war'+'e'='AWARE'
'there's' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for aware that I've seen before include "Having knowledge (of fact)" , "Acquainted with or mindful of" , "Informed; conscious" , "Conscious or having knowledge of" , "Knowing (of something)" .)