According to senior US sources, there is a genuine and growing fear of a war spreading beyond the Gaza Strip, which has prompted the Pentagon to raise the alert level for rapid deployment of additional US soldiers and move weapons systems closer to the area, a new column by Axios CEO Jim VandeHei and co-founder Mike Allen, "Behind the Curtain", wrote. 

Just three days prior, "Behind the Curtain" revealed five "global threats" that were causing concern for top US officials at the same time: "the Russia-China axis, "Israel"-Hamas, North Korea, weaponized fake videos hitting every battlefield and Iran's saber-rattling."

Why would that matter? The US officials are on edge due to "Israel" and Iran's heated language, which includes open threats to escalate the conflict.

According to a senior administration official, "It's quite a dangerous situation," and "It could all veer off the rails quickly. The whole region could be in conflict."

This is one of the main reasons Biden and his war cabinet are trying to slow down the Israeli invasion of Gaza with a complex game of 'carrot-and-stick'. They need time to get ready for what they suspect would be an Iranian escalation, which includes quickly deploying additional air defense systems in the area, sources told Barak Ravid of Axios.

According to Lloyd Austin, the US Defense Secretary, who spoke to ABC's This Week, "We're seeing a prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and people throughout the region."

What is happening?

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• If the Gaza attacks continue, Iran's foreign minister warned "Israel" on Sunday that "the region will go out of control."
• "Israel" Defense Forces reported that the Lebanese Hezbollah have increased their cross-border strikes on the northern region of "Israel".
• "Israel" intensified its airstrikes on three fronts: the West Bank, southern Lebanon, and Gaza.
• Nir Barkat, "Israel's" minister of economics, stated to the London Mail on Sunday that "we will not just retaliate to those fronts, but we will go to the head of the snake, which is Iran," if Hezbollah enters the war.

US Cabinet members are expressing their concern about escalation while the country is prepared to retaliate forcefully against any attack on US soldiers.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press", "We expect that there's a likelihood of escalation ... by Iranian proxies directed against our forces ... We are taking steps to make sure that we can effectively defend our people and respond decisively if we need to," adding that "This is not what we want, not what we're looking for."

What does that mean?

The most important determinant is how "Israel's" anticipated onslaught in Gaza in the south is received by Hezbollah, which is present on the border with Palestine. "If Hezbollah decides to light up northern Israel ... it would be a serious adversary that would require serious resources from Israel to deal with," the high-ranking official told Axios.

Furthermore, the US is urging "Israel" to "go in smartly. The biggest way to see this escalate, see other groups come in, is to go in a reckless fashion," the official said. "It's impossible to say what they're going to do. The country is absolutely traumatized, as you would expect."

The three-part strategy of the occupation is to "deter Hezbollah and other regional players, expedite the delivery of supplies to the Palestinian people, and underscore that the Palestinian people are not at war with Hamas."

To facilitate more hostage releases, the US is allegedly quietly pushing "Israel" to postpone a ground invasion in Gaza. 

According to a New York Times report, The US believes "Israel" "would struggle in a two-front war and that such a conflict could draw in both the United States and Iran, [Hezbollah's] main supporter."

In summary, there is a significant chance of armed conflict spreading throughout the Middle East, and this risk will persist for some time.

Read: How the war on Gaza is tilting global power toward Russia, China: WSJ