Middle East violence tests US effort to avert regional conflagration

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In the past two weeks, American forces have killed Houthi militants in the Red Sea and a senior official in an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq, as well as striking Hizbollah targets in Iraq.

The Houthis have mounted repeated attacks in the Red Sea, prompting shipping companies to avoid the vital sea lane.

Washington’s close ally Israel widened its campaign against Hamas to Beirut this week, risking drawing Lebanon-based and Iran-backed Hizbollah into its conflict with Hamas. Increased Israeli raids in the West Bank and clashes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians are also stoking tensions.

Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began last autumn, US president Joe Biden has sought to avoid full-scale war in the Middle East. His administration has said that Washington’s actions were retaliation against aggression and threats.

But the mounting violence across the region threatens to drag the US into a wider conflagration.

“We’re certainly edging closer to a wider regional war, more so than at any point since the beginning of the conflict,” said Jonathan Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council and a former senior intelligence official. “Any of the actors in one of those locations could get into a spiral with Israel and/or the US, which could be enough to trigger a full-scale war that brings in the others.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be in the Middle East this weekend and next week for his fourth trip since October, seeking to mitigate the risk of a wider conflict.

American officials said their policies aimed to tread a line between hostilities and total war.

“We will act very forcefully when it comes to any threats against our people or our interests. We’re also going to do so in a very smart way that does not potentially draw us in deep to a situation that…