It didn't take long after the Hamas attack on Israel for world leaders to start addressing the elephant in the room, the risk of a broader escalation.

Any country, any organization,

anyone thinking of taking advantage of the situation, I have one word, don't. That's President Biden on

October 10th, just three days after the attack. Since then, if the conflict hasn't

spilled into a full-blown regional war, it has at least begun to trickle.

First, it was exchanges of fire between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, along the northern border with Lebanon.

Then, as the civilian toll of Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip piled up,

Iran-backed Huthys in Yemen began targeting cargo ships in the Red Sea.

Ahmed Naji, with Crisis Group, says they are playing to broad popular support for the Palestinian cause.

They need to act to show their people. popular support for the Palestinian cause.

They need to act to show their people that they are the movement of actions,

not the movement of words.

And last week, American forces were pulled closer to the conflict.

A drone attack on a US base in northern Iraq wounded three service members.

The US responded with its own airstrikes on Iran-backed militias, though the Iraqi government said

civilians and police officers were injured.

Paul Salem, President and CEO of the Middle East Institute,

says neither the US nor Iran wants this to become a wider war.

Both sides have long experience with this type of, let's call it limited escalation. This is not new to the post-October 7 period it's been going on

effectively for years of course the risk is always there And in just the past few days, more attacks in Lebanon and Iran have again underscored that risk.

Consider this, whether or not Israel's war with Hamas officially sparks a wider war in the Middle East,

danger and violence are spreading beyond the borders of Israel and Gaza.

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