President Joe Biden has directed his top aides to the Middle East to prevent a full-scale between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.
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"US officials are concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may see an expanded fight in Lebanon as key to his political survival amid domestic criticism of his government's failure to prevent Hamas's Oct. 7 attack, which killed an estimated 1,200 people and resulted in some 240 hostages being taken to Gaza," the report said.
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The report comes as Israeli officials have voiced their readiness to step up the hostilities with Hezbollah shall the security situation require it. "We prefer the path of an agreed-upon diplomatic settlement, but we are getting close to the point where the hourglass will turn over," Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Friday.
As Blinken toils to prevent a war between Israel and Hezbollah, someone should inform him that war is already ongoing, says @perry_dan pic.twitter.com/LQ5rO3uPDf
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) January 6, 2024
Additionally, Netanyahu earlier on Thursday stated: "We are resolute in bringing about fundamental change along our border with Lebanon, ensuring our citizens' safety and restoring peace to our northern region."
According to the WP, in private conversations, the White House warned Israel against escalation in Lebanon as officials fear the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) may struggle to succeed due to "its military assets and resources would be spread too thin given the conflict in Gaza," the report cited two people familiar with a new secret assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
"Officials fear that a full-scale conflict between Israel and Lebanon would surpass the bloodshed of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war on account of Hezbollah's substantially larger arsenal of long-range and precision weaponry," read the report based on interviews with over a dozen of administration officials and diplomats.
Bilal Saab, a Lebanon expert at the Middle East Institute, a Washington think tank, cited by the article, said that "the number of casualties in Lebanon could be anywhere from 300,000 to 500,000 and entail a massive evacuation of all of northern Israel."
Biden's administration appears alarmed that Hezbollah could strike deeper into Israeli territory than before, "hitting sensitive targets like petrochemical plants and nuclear reactors, and Iran may activate militias across the region."
Hezbollah on Saturday claimed launching over 60 rockets towards northern Israel in its "initial" revenge for assassination of the Deputy Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri earlier last week. The IDF confirmed approximately 40 launches.
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