So doing nothing causes escalation and reciprocal action causes escalation.
What’s the answer?
If that's actually the framework, then you need to respond not reciprocally or in kind or 'tit for tat', but to overwhelm. Speed, surprise, and violence (literal or metaphorical) of action.
Act. Do not be acted upon aka re acting.
The answer is fairly obvious, but it doesn’t sound nice, and mentioning it on this forum is forbidden as far as I understand.