The Israel-Hamas war has already forced U.S. military action. Is war with Hezbollah next?

• Washington has dispatched Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other key diplomats to the region for several high-stakes meetings with Arab and Israeli leaders.
• Hezbollah, considered to be among the most heavily armed non-state groups in the world, is estimated to have ten times the military capability of Hamas.
• An all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah would be devastating for both sides.

Is a wider Middle East war — expanding beyond the borders of Gaza and Israel — inevitable?

The question is in sharp focus following a series of dramatic escalations around the region in the last few days: targeted killings of Hamas and Hezbollah commanders in Lebanon, a powerful Hezbollah attack on an Israeli Air Force command post, and U.S. and U.K. airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen after the Iran-backed rebels attacked dozens of ships in the Red Sea.

Washington has dispatched Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other key diplomats to the region for several high-stakes meetings with Arab and Israeli leaders.

"This is a moment of profound tension for the region," the State Department chief told reporters in Doha on Jan. 7. "This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and suffering."

An all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah — the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shia militant organization designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. and UK — would be devastating for both sides.

Hezbollah, considered to be among the most heavily armed non-state groups in the world, is estimated to have ten times the military capability of Hamas, and previous wars between the two have ended without clear victory on either side.

Lebanon, meanwhile, is in the midst of economic and political crisis, its infrastructure