Rising conflict in the Middle East sparking concerns over a wider war in the region

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Pasoans are among many across the world who have been watching the Israel-Hamas conflict over the last year. Now, they're among those concerned a wider war may be brewing, after several deadly strikes over the past week.

Saturday, a rocket strike killed 12 people, who were mostly children, at a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

Israel blamed the Iran-backed militant group, Hezbollah, for the attack. Hezbollah officials denied the group's involvement in the airstrike.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Hezbollah “will pay a heavy price for this attack, one that it has not paid so far.”

Netanyahu seemed to follow-through on that comment, after an Israeli airstrike Tuesday killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander in Beruit, Lebanon. Israeli officials had blamed that commander, Fu’ad Shukr, for the deadly attack in Golan Heights.

And just hours after Shukr's death Tuesday, Iranian officials said an airstrike killed a top Hamas political leader in Tehran, Iran's capital. The nation's officials blamed Israel for the strike.

Israel has kept quiet about the strike that killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, but had previously pledged to kill him and others over the group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

These recent developments have sparked global concern over whether the ongoing war in the Middle East will spread. El Pasoans are set to weigh in Wednesday. They include an outspoken supporter of Israel, and a woman who immigrated to El Paso from Lebanon, and survived airstrikes there decades ago.

Tune into ABC-7 at 4 Wednesday afternoon to hear from a foreign affairs expert on the threat of a wider war in the Middle East. ABC-7 will also be speaking to both sides of the issue, and will bring you their thoughts as soon as they become available.