From Gaza to Ukraine, brute force threatens to triumph in 2024

Assassinations, atrocities and invasions, along with uncertain US leadership, presage a year of rising violence

Assassination is a two-edged sword. Last week's targeted killing in Beirut of Hamas's deputy leader is but the latest of many covert attacks on individuals in Iran and the Arab sphere attributed to agents of Israel. Do prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials in Jerusalem ever consider the possibility they may be paid back in kind?

Hamas may not have the expertise and reach, although a booby-trap bomb requires no particular skill. But Iran does and maybe Hezbollah, too. Israel's assassination in December of a top Iranian general in Syria, plus last week's atrocity in southern Iran - claimed by Islamic State terrorists but officially blamed on Israel - could goad Tehran's more rabid hardliners into seeking an eye for an eye.