The United States will likely carry out more targeted assassinations and potentially abductions in the greater Middle East in the coming year, but while some targets, like extremists and militia leaders, carry less risk, others, like Iranian leaders, open the door to potentially significant retaliation or even another round of regional war. The U.S. abduction of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro on Jan. 3 aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump's long-standing preference for using targeted high-risk commando raids and assassinations to achieve policy goals. In the Middle East, the United States has a long history of targeted assassinations, particularly of extremists, but Trump has long suggested that leaders from Iran to Yemen to the Gaza Strip may also suffer Maduro's fate. However, while the United States possesses the technical and military capabilities to conduct such operations across the vast geography of the Middle East, each operation would carry its own risks...
